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With “shelter-in-place” orders in place for much of the country, many businesses have told their employees to work from home. Because of this, videoconferencing apps are now a must-have. In fact, the number of people using Skype and Zoom, which are two of the most well-known names in this field, has gone up.
Since both platforms recently made changes to their apps—Zoom to stop bad actors from interrupting meetings and Skype to make it easier for new users to get started—we thought it would be a good time to compare them. Here are the things you should know before your next meeting.
Zoom vs Skype features
| Zoom | Skype |
|---|---|
| Presenters can share their whole desktop or individual applications. | Audio and HD video calling. |
| Primary camera view will automatically toggle to the active speaker. | Call recording and Live subtitles. |
| Feature-rich mobile apps for iOS and Android. | Private conversations. |
Zoom vs Skype: Video quality
Video quality is one of the most important things to think about. You don’t want your next presentation to look fuzzy, so you’ll be glad to hear that both Zoom and Skype can use up to 1080p video. Your hardware and data connection have to be up to the task. Check out the link below to find a good webcam. Luckily, most current internet connections far surpass developer recommendations.
Skype recommends an up and down speed of 1.5Mbps for high definition calls, while Zoom’s highest settings require 3.8Mbps up and 3Mbps down. The biggest difference is that Zoom doesn’t automatically turn on 1080p resolutions. Instead, you have to manually change the settings, and the team has to turn on HD or higher resolutions on their end. If not, you will have to use 720p video. You can download this app from its official website.
Zoom vs Skype: Plans Tiers and Pricing
Skype’s free video calling service, Meet Now, is often used by small groups and individuals. Microsoft Teams, which has more features than Skype and is better for most business users, has replaced Skype for Business as a video conferencing service.
Microsoft Teams plans cost between $5 and $12.50 per user per month. Zoom has four plans: one free and three paid. The Zoom Pro plan costs $14.99 per month per licence and includes streaming from social media, 1 GB of cloud recording per licence, and the ability for up to 100 people to join a meeting at once.
The Zoom Business plan costs $19.99 per month per licence and is available to businesses that buy at least 10 licences. With the Zoom Business plan, you can have up to 300 people join your meeting and get transcripts of what was said. Organizations that buy 50 or more licences can use the Zoom Enterprise plan. Each licence costs $19.99 per month.
Zoom vs Skype : Security
Skype has a good reputation for system security and comes with end-to-end encryption. For real-time content, all Zoom plans come with TLS encryption and AES-256 encryption. Enabling Zoom’s end-to-end encryption, which is available on all plans, keeps all meeting participants’ communications safe by encrypting data while it’s in transit using cryptographic keys.
Recently, there have been questions about how safe Zoom is. Zoombombing, when someone who wasn’t invited shows up at a Zoom meeting, made headlines in 2020, when the platform was struggling to keep up with its skyrocketing growth due to COVID-19. Zoom has made a number of changes to its security and encryption to make it harder for people to sneak into meetings and give users more protection.
which is better ?
Both tools make it easier to talk to people far away, but you should think about a few things before picking one over the other. Skype is by far the easier app to use, mostly because it has been around longer as a consumer app.
Simply put, more people know how to use it already. But because it only lets 50 people join, it’s best for small businesses and teams. Zoom is the best choice for large businesses because it can support a lot of people and has a lot of business features.
Skype pros and cons
Pros:
- It offers a secure calling experience
- The service has become much better
Cons:
- There are no real face-to-face interaction
Zoom pros and cons
Pros:
- Ads-free navigation.
- Add virtual backgrounds
- Supports Large Audiences
Cons:
- Lack of Comment Control
- HD Video Is Not the Standard
FAQs
Why is everyone using Zoom instead of Skype?
If you ignore Zoom’s history, it’s easy to see why it’s become so popular recently: it’s a very stable and reliable video platform that’s easy to access, easy to use, and doesn’t have any unnecessary features. They were some of the reasons why Microsoft paid US$8.5 billion for Skype ten years ago.
What are the weaknesses of Skype?
People who use the free version may find the ads annoying. Some callers and texters have been dropped, and slow internet connections can lower the quality of calls. International calls cost money, Skype doesn’t give you much or any access to emergency services, you can’t really talk to people face-to-face, and there’s no way to translate languages.
Why is Zoom quality better than Skype?
Skype recommends an up and down speed of 1.5Mbps for high definition calls, while Zoom’s highest settings require 3.8Mbps up and 3Mbps down. The biggest difference is that Zoom doesn’t automatically turn on 1080p resolutions.