Video calls are becoming more popular in recent years, whether for work, school, or personal use. Not everyone has an iPhone and is able to FaceTime when they want to see a friend's face, and services like Snapchat that enable video calling among all users aren't super fleshed out.
Google Meet and Skype are two popular video calling choices that are well-established and reliable, but is one better than the other? Let's look at these two services side by side!
Google Meet vs. Skype: Ease of Use
Both Google Meet and Skype are fairly easy to use, even for someone who's not tech-savvy. Each service is intuitive and practically holds your hand all the way up to the call once you click on the link to open the video call.
The only reason Skype might have a slight advantage over Google Meet is because it doesn't require you to create an account. While you can join other people's Google Meet calls without having a Google account, you'll need one in order to create your own meetings. All you need to join a Skype call is the unique link from your host. You can also create and host a free meeting via Skype's Meet Now webpage.
Google Meet vs. Skype: Features
Fundamentally, Google Meet and Skype are extremely similar services. Both allow you to make video calls to friends, family, and colleagues. Any differences between the two lie in the small details, like meeting length, international calling ability, and other unique features.
1. Meeting Length
Skype's free version allows users to meet for up to 24 hours at a time. Google's free version only allows up to 60 minutes per meeting. If you pay for a premium Google Workspace account, you can get up to 24 hours available per meeting.
For work purposes, 60 minutes should be plenty. But if you're planning to use Skype or Google Meet for personal reasons, Skype might have the advantage here. Personal video chats can easily last longer than an hour.
2. Number of Participants
You can have a total of 100 people in a single Skype call with the free version. So if you're hosting a video call, you can invite up to 99 other people.
Google offers the same 100 participant maximum for its free plan that Skype does. However, Google Meet can have more participants with a paid Workspace plan, whereas Skype doesn't offer any paid plans for extra participants.
The Business Starter plan for $6 per month has the same 100 participant maximum as the free plan. With the Business Standard plan for $12 per month, you can have up to 150 participants; and with the Business Plus plan for $18 per month, you can have up to 500 participants.
3. Apps & Integrations
Both Skype and Google Meet have plenty of integration opportunities. However, all of these integrations involve incorporating Google Meet or Skype into another service, rather than the other way around. Zapier offers a ton of seamless Google Meet integrations, while Make offers plenty for Skype.
4. International Meetings
With Google Meet, you can make free video calls to anyone worldwide. However, if you want to call international dial-in numbers, you'll need to purchase a Google Workspace plan and live in a country that supports the Google Meet Global Dialing service.
The Business Starter plan for $6 per month supports the service, as well as all the more expensive plans above it. This add-on doesn't charge a monthly subscription, but instead, charges you per minute spent on a call.
Skype also allows participants from all over the world to join in a call for free. This is what makes Skype one of the best free calling apps over Wi-Fi, for almost every country. On the other hand, Skype charges you when you use premium features like voice mail, SMS texts, or make phone calls outside of Skype.
5. Visual Effects
Though there are additional Chrome apps you can download for extra visual effects, there are also quite a few built into Google Meet. Before you join a meeting, on the screen where you turn your camera and microphone on or off, there's a Visual Effects button in the bottom right corner. Clicking on this brings up an array of backgrounds and effects, including the option to blur your background if it's messy, and you just want to show your face.
Similarly, Skype allows you to change up your background during a meeting as well as add a fun mask over your face, like a panda or a puppy. Skype also offers something called Together mode, which takes you and all the other meeting participants and puts your faces on a unique background, like an airplane or a festive birthday party scene.
Then, users have long been able to use Call Reactions, where you throw up an emoji on the screen instead of speaking, but now you can also use Super Reactions, which are more interactive emojis.
Google Meet vs. Skype: Platform Compatibility
Google Meet works with all popular operating systems, including:
- The current version and two previous major releases of Apple macOS, Microsoft Windows, Chrome OS, Ubuntu, and other Debian-based Linux distributions.
- Android 5.0 and up as well as iOS 13 and up.
- Web browsers, like Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari.
Skype is available on all the platforms Google Meet is on, and then some:
- Windows 7 or higher, Windows 10 Version 15 or higher, Windows 11 Version 15 or higher.
- macOS X 10.11 or higher.
- Linux versions Ubuntu 14.04+, Debian 8.0+, OpenSUSE 13.3+, Fedora Linux 24+.
- Android OS 4.04 or higher for smartphones and tablets.
- ChromeOS version M53 or higher.
- iOS 12.2 or higher for iPads and iPhones.
- Amazon Fire OS 7 or higher.
- Most web browsers, including Edge, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.
- Xbox version 12.1815.210.107 for Xbox Series X/S or Xbox One.
Google Meet vs. Skype: Pricing
Google Meet
For personal use, most people can skate by with Google Meet's free plan. With a free Google Account, you can create a video meeting, invite up to 100 participants, and meet for up to an hour per meeting. The only reason to entertain a paid plan is if you need longer meeting times, the ability to invite more participants, or special features, like recording meetings, more Google Drive space, or an international dial-in phone number.
Paid plans for Google Meet aren't just for Google Meet; instead, you upgrade your Google Account, which gives you upgrades to the whole Google Workspace suite of products, like Docs, Drive, and Sheets. Google's Business Starter Plan costs $6 per month and, while it doesn't increase the maximum number of participants, it does increase the meeting time from 60 minutes to 24 hours.
With the Business Standard Plan for $12 per month, you can have up to 150 participants, meetings up to 24 hours long, and access to special features like meeting recording, noise cancellation, and breakout rooms. Then, the Business Plus Plan for $18 per month gives you all the features of previous plans, as well as a max of 500 participants.
Skype
Skype's video services are completely free to all users, and you don't even have to create an account with Skype to use the service. With a free link, you can set up a video call with up to 99 other participants for up to 24 hours per meeting. These meetings are even free for international participants.
The only time you would ever need to pay for anything from Skype is if you want a mobile or landline phone number to access voice mail, send SMS texts, or make calls to a landline or cell outside of Skype.
Which Video Calling App Is Better?
Both Google Meet and Skype are excellent choices for video calls, with a wide array of features and an intuitive interface. That said, Skype is likely the better option for personal calls among friends and family.
Google Meet is better for small and large businesses who have the funds available to pay for a premium Google Workspace account and gain some extra features.