Best free video conferencing software for small businesses

Best free video conferencing tools

Below, we’ve listed the eight best-known free video conferencing tools for businesses. These are not in rank order. Instead, each has been selected because of its unique strengths and status as a remote working tool that’s favoured by SMEs.

Zoom – best for external meetings with clients

Zoom is synonymous with video conferencing. As the market leader in remote working tools, it took the world by storm during the pandemic and has continued to be favoured by companies for its ease-of-use and advanced, HD audio.

Easily Zoom’s best feature is that anyone can use the tool – the only conferencing equipment needed is a computer and a link. Rivals like Microsoft Teams block key features such as messaging from guest users. That makes Zoom ideal for those making and taking lots of external calls with clients.

What features do you get on the Free plan?

Zoom Free permits users to host meetings for up to 40 minutes. While not a huge issue for internal video calls between team members (managers will simply have to keep one eye on the clock), it could be disastrous if your clients are expecting hour-long sessions.

Other features include:

• Up to 100 attendees per meeting
• Whiteboard
• Team chat
• Mail and calendar integrations

What do you miss out on without paying?

• Zoom Pro – £129.90 per user, per year 
• Zoom Business – £174.90 per user, per year 

The main incentive to upgrade to Zoom Pro is longer meeting times. With this plan, you’ll get up to 30 hours per meeting, plus cloud storage to record the meeting or make notes.

See how Zoom compares to some of the other top providers in our head to head guides:

• Google Meet vs Zoom
• Microsoft Teams vs Zoom

Google Meet – best for those with a Gmail account

Google Meet is the easiest way to set up a virtual meeting because it’s completely free for anyone with a Google Account (including a personal Gmail address). You can invite up to 100 participants and meet for up to one hour per meeting at no cost (this is considerably longer than Zoom’s 40-minute cap).

For mobile calls and 1:1s, there’s no time limit at all. So if you have just one employee, then Google Meet might be the best option.

What features do you get on the Free plan?

The free version of Google Meet is less generous than Zoom for collaboration features. You’ll essentially only be able to host calls, although there is also an internal chat box.

Unlike Zoom, participants also need to sign into their Google Account or be approved to join by the meeting organiser. However, because there is no app to download, Google Meet is much easier to set up than Microsoft Teams because you can attend video calls in your browser.

What do you miss out on without paying?

• Business Starter – £5 per user, per month
• Business Standard – £10 per user, per month

The biggest incentive to upgrade to Google Workspace’s Business Starter plan is that it will give you access to a business Gmail account. You can then tailor the address by adding a more professional-looking, unique domain.

Sole traders can purchase a Google Workspace account, which offers access to a business email, for £6.69 per month (billed annually).

We detail Microsoft Teams below, but you can also check out our full Google Meet vs Teams guide for an in-depth head to head.

Microsoft Teams – best for those with an Outlook account

Microsoft is the biggest supplier of business software in the UK, so it’s not surprising its Teams video conferencing has become so popular. Teams is recognised for its impressive app integrations because they align with the Microsoft 365 suite.

This creates a comprehensive platform for sole traders to manage their business from. For example, a dropshipper can make sales documents in Word, forecast revenue in Excel, and house sales documents in SharePoint.

What features do you get on the Free plan?

Users can schedule group audio or video calls with a maximum of 100 attendees for up to 60 minutes. There is no cap on 1:1 meetings, unlike with Zoom. These can last up to 30 hours, giving plenty of freedom for personalised client sessions.

You’ll get up to 5GB of cloud storage to share important documents and presentations, as well as store transcripts and video recordings on any device.

What do you miss out on without paying?

• Microsoft Teams Essentials – £3.30 per user, per month

Cheaper than Zoom and Google Meet, the Microsoft Teams Essentials plan supports 12 additional features, including 300 participants per meeting; a phone and web help desk; data encryption for meetings, chats, and calls; and access to Microsoft Whiteboard.

Users can also upgrade to Microsoft 365 Business Basic at £4.90 per user, per month, for a custom domain address and business email, which is just cheaper than Google Meet.

FreeConference – best for a team of five or less

FreeConference is a challenger brand in the video conferencing community. While still not as well-known as Teams or Zoom, it has carved out a niche for itself by offering a generous feature list and completely ditching call time caps.

All video calls made using the free plan can last up to 12 hours. You’ll only be able to host five participants in total, but the advantage is that teams of five employees could realistically use FreeConference as the main collaboration tool.

What features do you get on the Free plan?

As well as video calling, the FreeConference free tier has:

• Whiteboards
• Internal chatting
• Password-free entry
• Document sharing
• Email support

What do you miss out on without paying?

• FreeConference Starter – $9.99 (est. £7.86) per user, per month 

Firms who sell abroad might consider paying for FreeConference Starter. Upgrading provides access to toll-free international dial-in numbers, meaning clients phoning in from abroad won’t pay to join the meeting; an easy way to improve the customer experience.

Toll-free numbers also mean your callers won’t have to listen to a branded “FreeConference” message at the beginning of every video meeting.

Jitsi as a Service (JaaS) Dev – best for developers

Jitsi as a Service (JaaS) Dev is a free version of the open-source platform, Jitsi Meet. Offered by 8×8, a cloud communication provider, it supports 25 monthly active users and is ideal for tech-savvy sole traders, like freelance web designers.

Jitsi Dev’s unique selling point is its specialist API, a low-level JavaScript API that allows users to host the video functionalities of Jitsi Meet directly on their website. Users can also customise the tool so it works with whatever third-party tools and applications you desire.

Technophobes be aware: this does require a high-level of coding and technical expertise.

What features do you get on the Free plan?

Following an update in August 2023, users now need a Google account to sign up to JaaS. Once authenticated, you’ll gain access to the following JaaS Dev features:

• Recording
• Internal chat
• Live streaming
• End-to-end encryption

What do you miss out on without paying?

• JaaS Basic – $99 (£78) per month

JaaS Basic is a paid-for plan that provides additional features for businesses with more than 25 employees. This payment tier means you’ll be able to host 500 participants in a video call, and you’ll also have priority support.

JaaS Basic is also a bit easier to use than JaaS Dev. Its third-party add-ons are pre-built and tested with popular business tools, so you won’t have to build these yourself.

Whereby – best for one-time clients

Whereby is a relatively new name in the video meeting game, but it is already contending with Teams and Zoom thanks to its ease-of-use.

While rivals require users to download an app or set up an account, Whereby is browser-based. Participants simply click to join a call. As a result, we think Whereby is best for sole traders who sell Direct-to-Consumer (D2C), like tax preparation specialists or travel agencies.

What features do you get on the Free plan?

Whereby’s free plan gives you 45 minutes in one meeting room with up to 100 participants (although, as with Google Meet, 1:1 meetings have no time limit).

Notably, you can also embed Whereby onto your website so that visitors can jump on a call without having to open a new tab. Embedding won’t be as complicated as JaaS Dev, as Whereby’s code is pre-built.

What do you miss out on without paying?

• Whereby Pro – $6.69 (£5.50 per user, per month) 

Upgrading to Whereby Pro gives you access to three meeting rooms with custom links, each of which can be fully customised using your branding and has room capacity for 100 people.

The ability to separate callers into distinct groups could be worth the spend, particularly if you host group workshops or training sessions as part of your business.