Adobe Connect vs Zoom

Adobe Connect and Zoom are both popular video and web conferencing platforms. Adobe Connect offers video conferencing solutions for online learning, online meetings, and webinar hosting use cases. Zoom is an online communications platform that allows users to host and participate in online meetings. The full Zoom platform provides users with online meetings, meeting rooms, webinar, and business phone solutions.

Adobe Connect can be used by small groups but is more likely to be used by schools and medium to large size businesses due to its pricing structure and great webinar capabilities. Users who need to reach a large audience or who are involved in online learning will want to look into this option. Zoom can be used for free by individuals, but also has options to scale which can make it useful at businesses of all sizes. Users who are looking for more streamlined and easier meeting options may want to choose Zoom over the competition. 

Features

Adobe Connect and Zoom are both strong product offerings, but there are a few features that differentiate them from one another. 

A major feature of Adobe Connect is that users have the ability to share links that allow the link recipient to enter a call without needing to download a client app. Adobe Connect also offers a high degree of customization and a greater number of tools to interact with crowds and large groups. With this, users are given greater flexibility in how onscreen pods and chats can be displayed. Options are also available for changing to colors of each individual pod in case you need to liven the mood or set the tone of a meeting. Adobe Connect maxes out at 25 users for standard web meetings, but for webinars, it can support up to 1,500 users which is 500 more than Zoom is capable of. Adobe Connect also has the advantage of being able to support high definition video for a greater number of users than Zoom.

A major benefit of using Zoom is it’s expansive free tier. Zoom allows meetings of up to 100 participants for no charge. Though meetings with 3 or more participants are capped at 40 minutes. Fun features like virtual and moving backgrounds help set Zoom apart along with its “raise hand” feature which lets users signify who wants to talk next.  Zoom is also uncluttered and easy to understand for users who are not tech-savvy or that don’t use web conferencing software often. Zoom users on TrustRadius also enjoy how simple Zoom makes it to send meeting links and how easy the software makes it to join meetings. 

Limitations

While Adobe Connect and Zoom are both great choices for conferencing software, Adobe Connect may be the better choice for online learning and why Zoom may hold the advantage for business users. 

Adobe Connect has a user interface that may be familiar to users of other Adobe products, but some users may not find it as welcoming or as easy to use as Zoom. TrustRadius reviewers also report issues when trying to use Adobe Connect’s mobile applications. Finally, while Adobe Connect supports the use of green screens, there is no option to use preloaded virtual backgrounds like in Zoom. 

Zoom is a very popular product, though some customers have experienced outages, glitches, and dropouts in the service. Also, due to increased demand, some customers report that Zoom’s customer service could be improved. Another potential downside to Zoom is its lack of high definition video for large groups. Any group larger than two people is not guaranteed their best video quality. Additionally, Zoom has recently encountered security-related issues like Zoom “bombing” where unauthorized users gain access to calls and attempt to shut them down. Zoom has also faced scrutiny over recent data breaches.     

Pricing

Adobe Connect is a large and inclusive conferencing platform with pricing options to match any user’s needs. Adobe Connect for standard web meetings is a forever-free version for small meetings of up to three participants. Adobe Connect’s Meetings plan starts at $50 per month per meeting host and can accommodate up to 25 participants. This option can also be expanded by contacting the vendor. Adobe Connect’s Webinars & Learning plan starts at $130 per month per host and can accommodate up to 4 hosts and 1500 meeting participants. 

Zoom offers 4 tiers of web conferencing service that all feature the ability to call into meetings via phone. A forever-free Basic version that can host up to 100 participants, but limits meetings to 40 minutes. The Pro version for $149.90 per year then adds unlimited meeting time and 1GB of cloud recording. Larger organizations may be interested in the Business tier which is $199.90 per year and features single sign-on, company branding, and the ability to hand up to 300 participants. The top tier offering from Zoom is the Enterprise tier which can host up to 1000 participants and offers unlimited cloud storage. This tier is available at $199.90 per license, but you must purchase at least 100 licenses.