Video Conferencing

Share leader, commoditized basic meetings, real moat is Zoom Phone cross-sell.

Zoom Meetings remains the share leader in video conferencing for SMB and mid-market. Zoom Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) went public in 2019, peaked near $568 in October 2020 during the pandemic, and has since reset to a steady-state $60-80/share collaboration vendor with material AI investment. The core meetings product covers one-to-fifty meetings, large meeting tiers up to 1,000 participants, breakout rooms, polls, recording, and AI Companion (transcripts, summaries, action items, Q&A clustering, real-time chat coaching). Strengths: largest installed base in the category, lowest friction for Zoom-anchored organizations, AI Companion bundled at no incremental cost across paid tiers, genuinely best-in-class meeting reliability and audio / video quality at scale, and aggressive 2024-2025 AI feature velocity. Best fit for SMB and mid-market organizations (10-2,000 employees) where Zoom is already the de facto meeting tool, and especially for buyers also evaluating Zoom Phone for unified communications. Trade-offs: the meeting product itself is increasingly commoditized (every leader now has bundled AI transcription and summaries), Zoom is no longer growing meeting seats meaningfully, the AI Companion bundle accelerates the commoditization, and for any organization already paying for Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 the Teams bundle math is structurally hard to beat. The strategic moat in 2026 is no longer the meeting product, it is Zoom Phone (UCaaS) cross-sell and Zoom Contact Center.

The Microsoft 365 bundle is the most important fact in enterprise video conferencing.

Microsoft Teams is the enterprise consolidation play in video conferencing. Launched November 2017 as the successor to Skype for Business, Teams is bundled into Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 (and most Business plans), which means the unit economics of buying a separate meeting platform are structurally untenable for any organization already paying for Microsoft 365. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported Teams crossing 320M+ monthly active users by 2024 and the 2023 EU regulatory unbundling (Microsoft was forced to offer Microsoft 365 without Teams in the EU as a result of Slack and Salesforce competition complaints) confirmed how strategic the bundle is. The product covers one-to-many meetings up to 1,000 participants (10,000+ in webinar / view-only mode), persistent chat and channels, file collaboration on SharePoint / OneDrive, voice via Teams Phone, and Copilot AI (transcription, summarization, action items, meeting recap, real-time translation). Strengths: bundled pricing for Microsoft 365 customers (effectively $0 incremental for meetings), deep integration with Outlook, SharePoint, OneDrive, Office apps, Copilot AI integrated across the Microsoft 365 stack, enterprise compliance posture (FedRAMP High, HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001), and aggressive AI feature velocity in 2024-2025. Best fit for any organization on Microsoft 365 E3 or E5, and especially for enterprises consolidating UC into Microsoft. Trade-offs: the meeting product itself is below Zoom on raw quality (audio fidelity, screen-share latency, large-meeting reliability), the UX is busier and less learnable than Zoom or Google Meet, the chat / channels / files surface area makes Teams cognitively heavier than a meeting-only tool, and outside Microsoft 365 ecosystems Teams is structurally less compelling (the bundle is the moat).

Google Workspace bundled video meetings with aggressive 2025 Gemini AI feature velocity.

Google Meet is the meeting product bundled into Google Workspace. Originally launched as Hangouts Meet in 2017 and rebranded to Google Meet in 2020 during the pandemic, the product covers one-to-many meetings up to 1,000 participants (Enterprise tier), with deep Gmail / Google Calendar / Google Drive integration and aggressive 2024-2025 Gemini AI feature velocity (auto note-taking, summarization, real-time translated captions in 60+ languages, "take notes for me," meeting recap). Strengths: bundled into Google Workspace at no incremental cost, browser-first attendance with no install required, aggressive Gemini AI feature velocity in 2025, real-time translated captions strongest in category, deep Gmail / Calendar / Drive integration, simpler UX than Microsoft Teams, and strong enterprise compliance (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA via BAA). Best fit for any organization on Google Workspace, especially education, lifestyle SMB, and modern mid-market shops. Trade-offs: enterprise feature gaps versus Teams (less deep ecosystem integration outside Google, smaller third-party integration count, weaker UC story versus Teams Phone or Zoom Phone), Google Workspace adoption lower than Microsoft 365 in regulated and large enterprises, and the strategic priority of Meet inside Alphabet has historically been less stable than Microsoft Teams or Zoom Meetings (Hangouts → Meet rebrand legacy).

Cisco-anchored meetings with hardware codec differentiation; declining share but real for regulated enterprises.

Webex Meetings is the original enterprise video conferencing platform. Founded 1995, acquired by Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) in 2007 for $3.2B, and modernized through the 2018-2024 Webex Suite rebranding. The product covers one-to-many meetings, hybrid meeting room integration with Cisco hardware (Cisco Room Bar Pro, Webex Board, Webex Desk), Webex Calling for UCaaS, and Webex AI Assistant (transcripts, summaries, action items, real-time translation in 100+ languages). Strengths: Cisco-anchored stability and global infrastructure, FedRAMP authorization (one of three category leaders alongside Zoom and Teams), strong hardware codec ecosystem (Cisco Room Bar Pro AI codec is a meaningful enterprise differentiator), enterprise-grade compliance (FedRAMP High, HIPAA via BAA, ISO 27001), strong fit for regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, government, defense), and mature global data residency. Best fit for Cisco-anchored enterprises (1,000-50,000+ employees) prioritizing hardware integration, FedRAMP authorization, and regulated-industry compliance. Trade-offs: meeting product share is declining as Microsoft Teams wins enterprise consolidation, UX historically dated relative to Zoom and Google Meet (improving in 2024-2025), pricing opaque and bundled into broader Cisco / Webex Suite contracts (verified buyer disclosures show wide variance), Cisco strategic priority for Webex versus other Cisco product lines has fluctuated, and outside Cisco-anchored regulated enterprises Webex is less compelling than Zoom or Teams.

Long-running mid-market meetings under Vista Equity ownership.

GoTo Meeting is the long-running mid-market video conferencing platform from GoTo (formerly LogMeIn / Citrix). The product was originally launched by Citrix in 2004, became part of LogMeIn after the 2017 spin-off and merger, and the parent company was taken private by Vista Equity Partners and Elliott Management in 2020 for approximately $4.3B before rebranding from LogMeIn to GoTo in 2022. The product covers one-to-many meetings up to 250 participants (3,000 in webinar mode), recording, transcription, and integration with the broader GoTo Connect (UCaaS) suite. Strengths: 20+ year track record (one of the original web meeting platforms), reliable mid-market fit, predictable feature set under PE ownership, public pricing (rare in this category at enterprise tier), broad SMB and mid-market installed base, strong reliability, and native integration with GoTo Connect for UCaaS bundling. Best fit for mid-market organizations (50-2,000 employees) wanting a reliable, no-surprises meeting platform without enterprise complexity, especially those also evaluating GoTo Connect for unified communications. Trade-offs: Vista Equity PE ownership has created legitimate concerns about innovation pace and pricing pressure (consistent with Vista playbook of operating-margin focus over growth), modern AI features are behind Zoom AI Companion and Google Meet Gemini, brand confusion lingers from the LogMeIn-to-GoTo rebrand, and customer support quality has been flagged as inconsistent post-PE.

Best-in-category modern meeting UX with material vendor stability uncertainty.

Around is the modern meeting UX leader in video conferencing. Founded 2017 with a fundamentally different design from Zoom and Google Meet, floating circular tiles instead of grid view, AI-driven audio noise suppression that is genuinely best-in-class, and a "lightweight always-on call" UX model designed for distributed teams in continuous collaboration. The company raised aggressively during 2020-2021 (Series A from Floodgate, Slack Fund, Maven Ventures), and built a passionate user base among design teams, remote-first engineering teams, and startup founders. Strengths: best-in-category modern UX (the floating-tile design is genuinely better for small-team meetings), best-in-class AI-driven audio noise suppression, strong fit for distributed remote-first teams in continuous collaboration, founder-led culture, and modern macOS-first product engineering. Trade-offs (and a critical disclosure): in late 2024, multiple sources reported that Around was winding down operations, including reports of layoffs and uncertainty about future product investment. As of May 2026 the product is still operational and the website is still live, but vendor stability is a legitimate buyer concern and we recommend any buyer signing a contract beyond 12 months do explicit vendor-stability diligence with Around's sales team. Other trade-offs: Narrower customer base than peers, narrow integration ecosystem, no FedRAMP or HIPAA compliance, and macOS-first means weaker Windows experience.

Browser-first Norwegian meeting platform with embedded-meetings API for product builders.

Whereby is the Norwegian browser-first video meeting platform, founded 2013 (originally as appear.in, rebranded to Whereby in 2017) and headquartered in Oslo. The product covers two distinct use cases: (1) Whereby for Teams, a browser-first meeting tool with persistent room URLs, no install required, and a strong fit for external customer meetings and low-friction collaboration; and (2) Whereby Embedded, a meeting infrastructure API that lets product teams embed video into their own applications (telehealth platforms, education platforms, customer support tools). The Embedded API has become a meaningful B2B SaaS revenue driver and is the strategic differentiator versus Zoom and Google Meet. Strengths: browser-first attendance with no install required (genuinely the best browser meeting UX in the category), persistent meeting room URLs (you book a room once, not a meeting every time), GDPR-native architecture (Norwegian / EU data residency by default), Embedded API for product builders, strong fit for telehealth and education, transparent SMB pricing. Best fit for SMB and mid-market teams (5-500 employees) prioritizing low-friction external meetings and product teams embedding video in their own applications. Trade-offs: Smaller deployed base versus Zoom or Google Meet, weaker enterprise compliance posture (no FedRAMP, no HIPAA at base tier, HIPAA available on Embedded with BAA), narrow integration ecosystem versus leaders, and the standalone meeting product is below Zoom on advanced features (large meetings, breakout rooms, polling).

AI-anchored meetings that are strongest as part of the Dialpad UC suite.

Dialpad Meetings is the meetings product within the broader Dialpad unified communications suite. Dialpad was founded 2011 and has positioned aggressively as the AI-anchored UC platform, Dialpad Ai (their AI engine) was launched well before Zoom AI Companion or Microsoft Copilot and remains a meaningful competitive differentiator. The product covers one-to-many meetings up to 150 participants, AI transcription and summarization (in real-time during the call, not after), AI-driven coaching and sentiment analysis, and tight integration with Dialpad Talk (UCaaS), Dialpad Contact Center, and Dialpad Sell. Strengths: best-in-class AI engine across meetings + calls + contact center (the integration is the moat), real-time transcription and summarization, strong fit as part of broader Dialpad UC consolidation, modern UX, founder-led culture, transparent SMB pricing, and meaningful compliance posture (SOC 2, HIPAA via BAA). Best fit for organizations consolidating into Dialpad UC (calls + meetings + messaging + contact center as one platform). Trade-offs: as a standalone meetings tool the value proposition is weaker than Zoom or Google Meet (the bundle is the moat), 150-participant cap is below Zoom and Teams large-meeting tiers, integration ecosystem narrower than Zoom or Microsoft Teams, and outside the Dialpad UC ecosystem the meetings product alone is rarely the right choice.

Sunset by Verizon in February 2024. Included for category-history transparency.

BlueJeans was a long-running enterprise video conferencing platform, founded 2009 and acquired by Verizon (NYSE:VZ) in May 2020 for approximately $400M during the early pandemic surge. The product had a strong enterprise customer base in financial services, healthcare, and regulated industries, with mature compliance (HIPAA, FedRAMP Moderate) and best-in-class meeting reliability. After four years under Verizon ownership, the product was officially sunset on February 14, 2024 and the service was discontinued. We include BlueJeans in this ranking explicitly for category-history transparency and as an honest warning to any legacy customer still running it: the product is no longer supported, security patches are no longer issued, and migration to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, or Webex is no longer optional. The story matters because it is one of the cleanest examples of how the post-COVID category consolidation worked: a product with strong technical fundamentals, real enterprise customers, and a $400M acquisition price was shut down four years later because the parent (Verizon) could not justify the unit economics versus the bundled platforms (Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet). Strengths (historical): mature compliance posture (FedRAMP Moderate, HIPAA via BAA), strong meeting reliability, enterprise focus, and integration with Dolby Voice for audio quality. Why we still rank it: as a buyer warning, as a category-history datapoint, and as a flag to any organization that is somehow still on it that migration is now urgent.

Open-source self-hostable meetings under 8x8 stewardship; niche but real for privacy-first orgs.

Jitsi Meet is the open-source video conferencing platform under 8x8 (NYSE:EGHT) stewardship. Originally founded in 2003 as a SIP softphone, Jitsi was acquired by Atlassian in 2015, divested to 8x8 in 2018, and 8x8 has continued maintaining the open-source codebase and the public meet.jit.si free hosted instance. The product covers two distinct deployment models: (1) Jitsi as a Service (JaaS), 8x8's commercial hosted offering with API, SSO, and enterprise features; and (2) Jitsi Meet self-hosted, the open-source codebase deployed by privacy-first organizations, EU public sector, and product teams embedding video. Strengths: open-source codebase (Apache 2.0 license), full self-host capability for privacy-first orgs, no per-user licensing costs for self-hosted, strong fit for EU public sector and government, mature WebRTC architecture, and active developer community. Best fit for privacy-first organizations, EU public sector, and product teams embedding video where licensing economics or data sovereignty matter more than commercial polish. Trade-offs: standalone product UX is below commercial leaders (Zoom, Google Meet, Around), self-hosting requires meaningful DevOps capacity, JaaS commercial offering has limited brand recognition versus 8x8's core UCaaS business, AI features are minimal versus Zoom AI Companion or Microsoft Copilot, and 8x8 strategic priority for Jitsi versus its core 8x8 UCaaS business has been historically uneven.