Zoom vs Zoom Webinars
We give Zoom a 2.6 GPA and Zoom Webinars a 2.2, out of 4.0. Zoom grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Zoom
Video meetings bundled with team chat, phone and AI notes
Zoom Webinars
Zoom's own webinar product, licensed per host by audience size
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAZoomGood | 2.2GPAZoom WebinarsFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CWorkplace Pro is $14.16 a user a month on yearly billing, double the $7 this category typically starts at, and it still tops out at 100 people. Single sign-on and 300-person meetings wait for Business at $18.33, and the year is taken in one payment up front. | CThe entry license is $83.33 a month billed annually ($1,000 a year, or $129 by the month), and it's for 500 attendees, so a 100-person webinar still pays for 500. That's dearer than GoTo Webinar's entry plan and about double WebinarJam's Starter, though not out of line for this category. |
| Free plan and trial | CBasic gives you unlimited meetings for 100 people, instant messaging, 3 whiteboards and AI summaries for 3 meetings a month. Then the clock: nearly every meeting on a free account ends at 40 minutes, one-to-ones included, and recordings save only to your own computer. | FNothing free. There's no free plan or free trial on the webinar page, and the free Zoom Workplace plan covers meetings only. |
| Features | CThe meeting is excellent and the bundle around it is wide: team chat, whiteboards, clips, mail, calendar and a booking page. But the plan ladder is full of walls. 300 people needs Business, 500 is a $50-a-month add-on, and the phone system, webinars and Rooms come only with Enterprise through sales. | CA deep live product: branded registration, polls, Q&A, breakout rooms, AI captions in more than 20 languages, streaming to YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook, and audiences up to 100,000. The gap: simulive sessions and the backstage need Webinars Plus at $290.83. |
| Ease of use | B4.66 on the App Store from about 3.2 million ratings, just under our top mark. The thing it's genuinely best at is joining: the person you're calling already knows what to do with the link, and guests need no account or plan. | BNo rating of its own on record. It's a license added to a Zoom account, so hosts work in an app many already run and attendees join the way they join any Zoom call. Registration and polls are set up inside Zoom. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone, Android and a browser extension, which is the whole field. Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Salesforce and ServiceNow connect. Commenters do say the browser version is the poor relation and that Zoom nudges you to download instead. | AWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, plus Salesforce, streaming to YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook, and separate tracks for Premiere, Final Cut and DaVinci. On iOS you join as an attendee or panelist only. |
| Best for | video meetings anyone can join | big webinars for teams already on Zoom |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Zoom and Zoom Webinars. How we grade
Where they differ
- Zoom starts at $14.16 per user / month, billed annually ($169.90 a year). Zoom Webinars starts at $83.33 per user / month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly).
- Zoom has a free plan. Zoom Webinars does not.
- Only Zoom lists a browser extension.
- Zoom also covers meeting notes, whiteboard, booking links, team chat and video calls.
- Zoom Webinars also covers webinars and multistreaming.
At a glance
| Zoom | Zoom Webinars | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $14.16 per user / month, billed annually ($169.90 a year) | $83.33 per user / month, billed annually ($129 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | Workplace Basic: meetings of up to 40 minutes and 100 participants, instant messaging, 3 editable whiteboards, 5 two-minute clips, and AI summaries for 3 hosted meetings a month. | None |
| Free trial | Free trial of Workplace Pro when subscribing in the iOS app, per the App Store listing; its length is not stated | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Zoom Communications, Inc. | Zoom Communications, Inc. |
| Price read from | zoom.us | zoom.com |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Zoom
- Teams whose main need is video meetings with chat alongside
- Occasional hosts who can work within 40-minute meetings
- People who want AI meeting notes built into the meeting app
- Companies that plan to add phone, webinars or rooms later
Zoom Webinars
- Companies already on Zoom that need larger, more controlled events
- Marketing teams running webinars for hundreds to thousands of people
- Training sessions that issue certificates to people who complete them
- Hybrid and multi-session events on the Events plan
Worth knowing
Zoom
- Basic meetings end at 40 minutes, one-to-one calls included, and the plan records locally only with no cloud storage.
- Meetings of 300 people need Business; beyond that the Large Meeting add-on starts at $50 a month for 500 participants.
- SSO and managed domains start at Business, and webinars, the phone PBX and Rooms are bundled only into Enterprise, which is sold by sales.
- Annual plans are charged as one upfront payment; the monthly figure shown is the annual total divided by 12.
Zoom Webinars
- Each license is priced by audience size; the 500-attendee tier is the entry point and 1,000 attendees costs $3,400 a year ($340 billed monthly).
- Pre-recorded simulive sessions, the backstage and production layouts need Webinars Plus; tickets, lobbies and networking need Events.
- There is no free plan or free trial on the webinar page; the free Zoom Workplace plan covers meetings only.
- The iOS app joins webinars as a view-only attendee or a panelist.
Key features
Zoom
- Video meetings
- Meetings run up to 40 minutes on Basic and 30 hours on paid plans, with 100 participants on Basic and Pro, 300 on Business and 1,000 on Enterprise.
- Team chat
- Instant messaging is part of every Workplace plan, including the free Basic plan, and sits in the same app as meetings and calling.
- AI notes and meeting summaries
- Basic includes AI note-taking 3 times a month and summaries for 3 hosted meetings. Pro makes both unlimited and takes notes in Zoom, third-party and in-person conversations.
- Whiteboard and Clips
- Basic allows 3 editable whiteboards and 5 two-minute clips. Clips become unlimited on Pro, and whiteboards become unlimited on Business.
- Mail, Calendar and Scheduler
- Basic connects Gmail or Outlook and syncs Google or Microsoft calendars. Pro adds Zoom Mail and Zoom Calendar, and Business adds unlimited Scheduler booking pages.
- Recording and cloud storage
- Basic records locally only. Pro adds 10 GB of cloud recording storage per license, and extra cloud storage is sold as an add-on from $10 a month for 30 GB.
Zoom Webinars
- Large audiences
- Webinars scale from the 500-attendee entry license to 100,000 attendees, with one-time, recurring and multi-session formats on the same platform.
- Audience engagement
- Branded registration pages and emails, polls, Q&A, chat, reactions, breakout rooms, and AI captions in more than 20 languages.
- Simulive and backstage
- On Webinars Plus and Events, a pre-recorded webinar can run as if live with a host joining for Q&A, while speakers wait in a private backstage.
- Production Studio
- Custom layouts, scenes and pre-loaded videos, plus separate audio and video tracks for each participant to edit in Premiere, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve.
- Streaming to social platforms
- A webinar can be broadcast at the same time to YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook over RTMP while it is run from Zoom.
- On-demand hubs and analytics
- Recordings go into branded video hubs with AI chapters and highlights, with engagement dashboards and CRM connections to track who attended.
Plans
Zoom
Workplace Basic$0
Meetings of up to 40 minutes and 100 participants, instant messaging, 3 editable whiteboards, 5 two-minute clips and limited AI features.
Workplace Pro$14.16
per user / month, billed annually ($16.99 billed monthly)
30-hour meetings with 100 participants, unlimited AI note-taking and meeting summaries, unlimited clips, and 10 GB of cloud storage per user.
Workplace Business$18.33
per user / month, billed annually ($21.99 billed monthly)
300 participants per meeting, Scheduler with unlimited booking pages, unlimited whiteboards, SSO and managed domains.
Workplace EnterpriseCustom
1,000 participants per meeting, plus a full-featured phone PBX, webinars for 500 attendees, Rooms and translated captions.
Zoom Webinars
Webinars$83.33
per user / month for 500 attendees, billed annually ($129 monthly)
$1,000 a year. Rises with audience: $3,400 a year for 1,000 attendees. Chat, reactions, polls, Q&A, custom backgrounds, AI chapters and reports.
Webinars Plus$290.83
per user / month for 500 attendees, billed annually ($349 monthly)
$3,490 a year. Adds pre-recorded sessions run as live, a private backstage, pro layouts and scenes, AI event pages and richer analytics.
Events$415.83
per user / month for 500 attendees, billed annually ($499 monthly)
$4,990 a year. Adds multi-session virtual events with several stages, ticket types, a lobby, sponsor booths, networking and hybrid features.
Ways to pay less
Zoom
- Annual discount
About 17% less with annual billing
Workplace Pro is $169.90 a year ($14.16 a month) against $16.99 billed monthly, and Business is $219.90 a year ($18.33 a month) against $21.99.
- Nonprofit
50% off for verified nonprofits
Zoom's pricing FAQ says verified nonprofit organizations worldwide get a 50% discount on Workplace Pro, Workplace Business, Webinars and Large Meetings.
Zoom Webinars
- Annual discount
Lower price with annual billing
Webinars is $1,000 a year against $129 billed monthly; Webinars Plus $3,490 a year against $349 monthly; Events $4,990 a year against $499 monthly.
