Google Meet Review, Pricing & Features

What is Google Meet?

Google Meet is a video conferencing software platform that works in conjunction with Google Chat. Any individual or business who uses Gmail is able to instantly add a Google Meet video to calendar events. Non-Gmail users who are added to a Google Meet event are also able to join videos directly from a link.

While Google Meet is more basic than advanced video conferencing tools like Zoom and Skype, it’s the easiest platform to use if you already use Gmail or Google Workspace.

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Table of Contents

• What is Google Meet?
• Google Meet Review Summary
• Google Meet Pricing & Cost
• Google Meet Key Features
  • Creating Meetings
  • Meeting Features
  • In-Meeting Capabilities
  • Security
• Google Meet Customer Support
• Google Meet vs. Competitors
• Is Google Meet Right For You?

Google Meet Review Summary

Google Meet was launched in 2017 and replaced Google Hangouts in 2021. It is a web-only platform that users can also access from mobile applications. The platform is entirely free and is also available as an add-on with Google Workspace, where it costs $8 per active user per month.

With features like screen sharing, hand-raising, and in-video chat, Google Meet is a fantastic resource for businesses to conduct both internal and external calls. The platform is, however, less feature-rich than other alternatives due to its lack of webinar capabilities. Correspondingly, it’s also one of the most straightforward platforms to use.

Google Meet requires a fairly strong internet connection to use and the video can lag or freeze frequently. This is not unique to Google Meet, though it’s certainly something to take into consideration.

Overall, if you already use Gmail and Google Workspace for your business, we highly recommend Google Meet due to the affordability, ease of use, and 100-attendee limit.

Google Meet Pricing & Cost

Google Meet is free for all users who have a Gmail account. If you purchase Google Workspace, which comes with more features and applications, you’ll pay at least $8 per active user per month.

There’s also a separate suite of tools for colleges and schools, called G Suite for Education, which is priced individually.

Google Meet Key Features

This review will give you an overview of Google Meet’s features, usability, and customer service availability. We’ll make notes about where the software either shines or falls short in terms of the above three sections. We’ll also include real images of Google Meet to give you a sense of what it’s like to work with the tool.

To learn more about how we research and rate software tools, read about SoftwarePundit’s review methodology.

Creating Meetings

When you’re in your Gmail calendar, you can add a Google Meet link to any meeting by selecting this button.

This will generate a unique Google Meet link that all participants who were invited to the meeting will be able to click and join instantly. The call will also have a “Join by Phone” option that allows users to dial into the meeting with a PIN number.

Meeting Features

Though Google Meet lacks webinar and event features, which most competitors offer, it enables its customers to have up to 100 participants on the most restrictive plan, and all plans have unlimited meetings.

Attendee Limits

With the free Google Meet plan, up to 100 participants can join a call. This is fairly standard for a free video conferencing software. Paid plans enable up to 250 people to join a call at once.

In-Meeting Chat

During a meeting, you can send messages to all attendees. Unlike some competitors, Google Meet will delete all messages and they will not be saved once the call ends.

Background Edits

With Google Meet, users can blur or change their video backgrounds to protect their privacy during meetings. This is particularly valuable if your team works remotely or travels frequently.

In-Meeting Capabilities

During a meeting, your screen will look something like this.

Participants can mute themselves and turn their cameras on and off at any time. The person who is speaking will have rings appear around their circle, as can be seen in the center box in the image.

Closed Captioning

If you click the “CC” button at the bottom of your screen during a Google Meet call, the video will auto-generate transcriptions of what each participant is saying. When we tested this feature, we found that it’s not flawless, but works very well and accurately captures most words.

Screen Sharing

All participants can share their screens during a call. You’ll be able to share a tab, a window, or your entire screen. These options make sure you can share exactly what you want, and none of what you don’t want.

Whiteboard

During calls, users can use a tool called “Whiteboarding,” where they can actively brainstorm and sketch with other participants. This is a fairly niche tool that many businesses will not need, but it’s a neat additional feature.

Security

All Google Meet calls are encrypted. Each meeting is given a 10-character long meeting ID, which makes it very difficult to break into or guess the code of a meeting. Meeting creators and calendar owners can remove or mute participants who cause problems during meetings.

Meeting Approvals

If attendees are outside of your organization or are not on the list of invited attendees, you will be shown a message when a new person tries to join the meeting. You’ll be able to manually admit or deny entry to each of these participants.

Google Meet Customer Support

Because Google is a massive company with hundreds of millions of customers, it’s very difficult to get in touch with a member of their support team. However, because Google is such a large company, there are countless resources available for customers to solve problems on their own.

Google Meet Alternatives & Competitors

Google Meet competes with many popular video conferencing software tools, though as mentioned, it is not quite as advanced as many of them. A list of alternatives can be found below.

For an article that compares Google Meet to all its competitors at once, read our Google Meet Competitors & Alternatives article.

One-to-One Comparisons

We've written articles that directly compare Google Meet to its competitors. Some one-to-one comparisons can be found below:

Is Google Meet Right For You?

Google Meet is a high-quality, straightforward video conferencing software that requires no installation or setup. You simply click one button to add video calls to your meetings, and can collaborate and share screens with your teammates.

Despite needing a fairly strong internet connection, Google Meet is reliable and easy to use. Any organization that uses Google Workspace or Gmail will benefit from this video software, and won’t need to worry about external colleagues or customers having trouble joining video calls.

With that said, if you need a sophisticated video conferencing solution for large webinars or sales, you’ll probably need a more advanced tool like Zoom or Microsoft Teams.

If you are interested in trying Google Meet, sign up here.