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8 Best Video Chat Software for Business in 2021 (w/ Free Options)

Are you looking for the best video chat software for your business?

With remote working more common, many businesses need a way to communicate with their teams and clients over video.

There are a ton of great video chat solutions in the market, but how do you pick the right software for your business?

In this article, we’ll share the best video chat software for small businesses and highlight their different features, so you can choose the best video chat software to fit your needs.

What Kind of Video Chat Software is Right for You?

Video chat software and video calling apps are synonymous with applications like FaceTime, Google Duo, WhatsApp, Viber, and the Facebook Messenger.

However, you may require more professional tools and functionality to support your business, instead of simply communicating with friends and family.

The right video chat software will have a variety of features to make business communication much easier:

• Real-time live video chat for team meetings
• Collaboration, screen sharing, and file sharing tools
• Screen recording for reviewing meetings later
• Transcription services to improve team accessibility
• Integrations to simply make calls from software you’re already using
• Group video and one on one live video meetings

That being said, let’s take a look at the top video chat software you can use along with your WordPress business website.

1. RingCentral

RingCentral offers one of the best video conferencing software for small businesses (called Glip). They have some of the most feature-rich video chat software in the market.

You’ll find features like video call scheduling, screen sharing, annotations, live chat messaging, and much more.

This video software integrates with dozens of other tools you’re already using in your business, like Slack, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace (G Suite), and more.

These integrations let you launch video conference calls directly from these third-party platforms.

If you’re already using the RingCentral platform for your business phone system, then adding this tool to your communication workflow is simple.

The video chat software is optimized to run on all modern web browsers with minimal setup. This means you’ll spend less time on technical tasks and more time on your video chats and meetings.

Pricing: Glip by RingCentral offers free video chat for up to 200 users on a single call. Your call durations can be up to 24 hours long. Custom pricing plans are available with more advanced features.

2. Zoom

Zoom is one of the most popular video chat apps in the world. This tool has seen a ton of growth since the start of the pandemic.

It’s known for being easy to use and only takes a few clicks to host your own Zoom meeting with bundled instant messaging.

Plus, it’s cross platform compatible. You can host video chats across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices no matter if you’re using an Android, Windows, Apple, or Linux device.

Their primary focus is helping teams collaborate by holding video meetings quickly and easily. There are additional features like searchable transcripts, screen sharing, and collaborative note taking.

You’ll find other unique features, like the ability to run live polls, annotate your videos, add whiteboarding, and more.

Note: Our team uses Zoom for our internal team meetings and video calls, where our team can join via video or audio only. Our team leads have Pro plans, which extends the length of meetings beyond 40 minutes.

Pricing: Zoom has free version available for up to 100 participants with a 40 minute time limit. Paid plans start at $149.90 per year, and offers support for up to 1,000 members and additional collaboration tools.

3. GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is a popular video conference app for small businesses on the go. It’s very versatile and offers video chat, video conferencing, and even screen sharing.

One main standout feature are the user friendly mobile apps for Android and iOS. Both of these mobile apps let you start and create virtual meetings on the go with ease.

Video call quality is very high, no matter how your team chooses to connect to the call.

Beyond the mobile features there’s support for meeting recording and transcription, end to end encryption, integrated scheduling, and HIPAA compliance support for businesses in the medical space.

GoToMeeting also has a family of other products like GoToWebinar for running live webinars, and GoToConnect for your business phone.

Pricing: GoToMeeting starts at $12 per month, for up to 150 meeting participants. Plans scale up depending on how many users you need to support.

Higher level plans increase the number of participants to 250 and give you more admin features. For larger businesses, the Enterprise plan supports up to 3,000 participants.

4. Nextiva

Nextiva is one of the best business phone system providers in the market. They’ve recently added video conference software to their list of offerings.

The platform is fully cloud based and includes a desktop and mobile app. The audio and video quality is incredibly high, so no glitching or lag during important meetings.

It’s not the most feature rich video chat software, but it does include useful features like, screen sharing, file sharing, live streaming, and webinar support.

If you’re already using the Nextiva as your business VoIP phone, then it’s easy to add video conferencing and screen sharing features to the way your business communicates.

Pricing: Nextiva video conferencing starts at $25.95 per month for up to 250 participants. Unlimited participants start at $35.95 per month.

5. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a popular a video chat service for businesses who use the Microsoft 365 ecosystem of apps.

You can easily host virtual face to face video meetings with a couple of clicks from the application.

It’s also well suited for large businesses, since you’ll find additional features that let you set up video meetings for up to 10,000 members, and host webinars for your team or the public.

This tool has a wide range of features to enhance your video meetings including, screen sharing, call recording, live captioning, and live group chat during video calls.

Mobile, desktop, and Bluetooth conferencing headsets can be used to join in on any call.

Pricing: Microsoft Teams starts at $5 per user per month, which gives you support for up to 300 meeting participants.

6. Google Meet / G Suite Apps

Google Meet is video chat software that’s part of the Google Workplace platform (formerly G Suite).

If you’re an active Google user, then this will integrate seamlessly with your other tools like Google Calendar, Chrome, Google Forms, Gmail, and more.

It’s designed specifically for small business owners and is an enhanced version of Google Hangouts. The goal of this high quality video chat software is to help you interact with third-party clients and customers simply.

It has a fully web-based interface, so there’s no external third-party software to install. It includes a dial in phone number, so team members can join in via voice call if necessary.

Pricing: Google Meet is entirely free to use. You can sign up for Google Workforce Essentials, which starts at $6 per month per user and gives you access to additional video chat features.

7. Ooma Meetings

Ooma is a popular business VOIP phone provider that offers high quality one to one and team video conferencing solutions.

It offers standard features like live HD video chat, host muting, and a meet now link for instant virtual meetings.

One unique feature of this tool is that two or more people can share their screens at the same time. This lets your virtual teams collaborate easily and share information faster.

You can have up to 25 users on the same video call across mobile, desktop, and within their browsers.

There’s also an in-depth virtual meeting manager, so you can easily plan and manage your video calls across your entire business.

Pricing: Ooma Meetings is available with the Ooma Office Pro plan that starts at $24.95 per month.

8. Skype

Skype is one of the longest running video chat software in the market today. It’s entirely free to use and install, and you can use it across nearly all modern operating systems and browsers.

The free tier supports video calling for up to 50 users. It has simple features like screen sharing, the ability to blur screen backgrounds, live subtitling, a basic chat feature, and more.

Overall, it doesn’t pack the same level of features as other tools on this list. But, it’s a great free choice for simple video chat needs.

Pricing: Skype has a free forever plan, while paid business plans start at $5 per month.

Which is the Best Video Chat Software (Expert Pick)?

All of the popular video chat software mentioned above will help you hold video chats with your team members and clients. However, you still need the best tool for your needs.

If you want video chat software that can manage all of your digital and business communication needs, then RingCentral (Grip) is a great choice.

If you’re looking for a standalone video chat service that’s simple to use and can be scaled, then Zoom is a great choice.

GoToMeeting and Microsoft Teams are both great options too, and allow for video chatting across multiple different platforms and devices.

We hope this article has helped you find the best video chat software for your small business. You may also want to see our list of the best live chat software and best push notification software for WordPress.

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