GoTo Webinar vs. Zoom Events & Webinars

GoTo webinars are well suited for smaller marketing/sales teams, SMBs, or companies with very tight budgets that want value out of their investments. They may be less appropriate for organizations that want to scale across large enterprises or invest in companies focusing on AI and Gen AI.

Incentivized

I had an issue with my calendar syncing to Zoom Workplace for a while, that was annoying, but it resolved itself someway. Maybe an update. The invite feature is week when in a call, my team never receives them, I manually always have to send a link. I also do not get Zoom call notifications so I am late to meetings often. Too much work to manually find that feature, wish it was a default setting like Teams. I prefer Zoom Workplace because I think it works faster, is smoother, and I prefer the video settings UI over other platforms. Everyone else makes it too complicated to change backgrounds or blur as necessary. The adjustment for low light is also a huge win.

Incentivized

• We launched a product for a mass and more than 500 people attended the webinar and it was seamless.
• Recording capability for the later usage
• Setup is very simple for both admins and end users
• Polls are helpful in assessing the engagement of the customers

Incentivized

• Simple user experience--very intuitive for attendees to join, interact with Q&A
• Adaptable and feature rich--very easy to set up Webinars for different use cases with features like registration, Q&A, practice session, HQ video, branding and virtual backgrounds, polls/quizzes, post-surveys, breakouts, resources, production studio, FB/YT Live, captions/translation, etc
• Aesthetically pleasing--new branding options (such as webinar wallpaper, custom backgrounds, and name tags), plus the recent addition of the Production Studio feature, means it's easier than ever to produce beautiful and appealing webinars.
• Panelists, practice session, and backstage--Zoom makes it easy to set up webinar panelists ahead of time, and get them into the room early for a practice session. The new backstage option is even more powerful than the practice session feature.
• The bleeding edge--Zoom is continually adding powerful new features for Webinar rooms, where other programs leave you with the same ol' stagnant feature set.

Incentivized

• Can't schedule recurring webinars twice per week or every other week--must manually add or delete instances.
• Can't schedule recurring webinars more than 'x' number of instances (less than a year's worth).
• If you want a recurring webinar to continue past the last instance (in order to keep the same link), your only option is to manually add future instances before the last one occurs. If the last instance occurs, the webinar (and corresponding link) are archived with no recourse and you must recreate it from scratch and update every bit of external collateral with a new link. So I have to have reminders on my calendar every 6 months to go in and add additional dates for all my recurring webinars in order to keep my links active.
• Canceling/changing seats is a huge pain.
• The default 'join' screen is app-based rather than web based, so registrants often have to download GTW. I have a lot of clients whose computers are locked down from unapproved apps and have missed the webinar because the ability to join on the web is very unintuitive.

Incentivized

• I will we could add registration disclaimer language to the Webinar templates.
• Some of the customization and setup features are difficult to find.
• I would like to add someone to help me run webinars without paying for them to have their own webinar platform. We should be able to buy one platform and both of us log into it and setup and run webinars from it.

Incentivized

Our largest issue with GoTo have been the limitations on recording and using recordings to host a webinar, and the biggest of those is the ability to record. We have had most of our webinars recorded successfully, but when it failed to save, it failed in a big way. Their customer service team was there to help, but they were unable to truly fix the problem. There are, of course, other providers, but as we are still seeing where hosted webinars fit in our marketing strategy, cost is an important factor. Since our company already uses GoToMeeting, it makes more sense for us to stay with the entire suite of products, especially while we are testing the strategy as a whole.

We will be renewing with Zoom as long as it continues to meet our needs for client and lead outreach needs in a robust manner. With little error and an easy to use interface, Zoom has met our needs and exceeded our expectations. The cost is right and with a short learning curve, Zoom has been an easy decision to make and maintain.

Incentivized

GoTo Webinar's User Interface is simple and straightforward, which is what I, as an end user, prefer to interact with when I only use a software once or twice a month; I don't want to have to remember extra steps just to attend a webinar.

Incentivized

Zoom Events is complex, but gets "almost easy" with experience and good guidance. I tell people, "Hosting a meeting is like driving a car; hosting a webinar is like driving an 18-wheeler; and hosting a Zoom Event is like flying a commercial airliner." You need experience, training, and ongoing guidance to be good at Zoom Events. Zoom has staff that knows everything there is to know about Zoom Events, but finding them and reaching them isn't easy. There aren't many consultants out there that are affordable and experienced.

Incentivized

I rated GoTo Webinar a 9 out of 10 for availability because it generally performs reliably, with minimal application errors or unplanned outages. The platform’s high uptime ensures that it’s usually accessible when needed, supporting a seamless experience for scheduling and conducting webinars. While occasional minor issues may arise, they are infrequent and typically well-managed, contributing to a strong overall rating for availability.

Incentivized

I rated GoTo Webinar an 8 out of 10 for performance due to its generally robust capabilities. Pages load quickly, and reports are generated efficiently, even for complex data sets. The platform’s integration with other systems typically doesn’t introduce significant latency or performance issues. However, during peak usage times or when handling very large data volumes, there can be occasional slowdowns. Despite these instances, GoTo Webinar consistently provides strong performance and reliability in its core functions.

Incentivized

I was always able to get someone on the phone when I needed to. They were very thorough and ensuring my questions were answered. And if I was asking for a solution or request that they didn't offer, they told me so I could at least stop trying to search for it.

Incentivized

Zoom [Video Webinar] has online web portal where user can take control of the meetings and their settings. It provides details of all the meeting happened and also provides participants list. It has support for webinars and recording also. Zoom [Video Webinar] gave special cloud permissions for paid users also from web portal and that can help in saving disk space.

I didn't participate in the implementation nor did my company. As far as I know we have an IT office running alla these projects and we just use the final products for our educational purposes. I also didn't notice implementation at any level while using the desktop interface, but would immediately recognize it, if so.

Incentivized

Implementation was very feasible during our initial usage of the Zoom after COVID-19.

Incentivized

GoToWebinar has a user-friendly interface and intuitive controls. When comparing it with other platforms, assess how easily you can navigate through features, set up events, and engage with participants. Connection stability, audio and video quality seem pretty much ok. Interactive polls, Q&A sessions, recording options are also working fine and provide to the user experience

Incentivized

Go To Webinar has been the standard in webinar technology for years. But it's a terrible experience from an administrator's perspective. You start the program, and 15 windows pop-up, giving you all sorts of configuration choices. In order to operate a webinar smoothly, we needed 4 members on the team (1 speaker, 1 moderator, 2 people managing any tech unknowns and set things up.) Zoom Webinar can be done with a single person because of how easy the options are. Also, put GoToWebinar in front of somebody new - and watch them fumble for 15 minutes trying to figure out how to present. Zoom, there's not much to explain. Everything is clearly laid out with a clean UX design.

Incentivized

I rated GoTo Webinar an 8 out of 10 for scalability because it effectively supports deployment across multiple departments and sites with its flexible features. It allows for easy management of large-scale webinars and integration with various systems, accommodating a growing number of users and sessions. However, some users might find limitations in advanced customization or specific integration needs as their requirements become more complex. Overall, its robust capabilities and adaptability make it a strong choice for scalable webinar solutions.

Incentivized

• GoTo Webinar has been an excellent way to stay relevant and to get current topics/information to our target audience.
• We usually get 100-200 attendees per session in a niche market, many are international attendees
• The ability to get specific data from the audience via custom registration questions allows us to really focus on what they want to see.

• I am a user of Zoom, not an administrator, so I can't speak to it's ROI outside of how it effectively allows me to conduct presentations with groups of people I wouldn't normally have in the same room.
• Zoom has a very positive impact on keeping me connected with my colleagues in a more human way through the use of video and audio when we are conducting meetings. This helps strengthen work relationships so there are less misunderstandings from email or text only systems.
• Zoom has allowed my company with remote employees all over the place, in addition to multiple physical office locations, conduct quarterly meetings with our CEO that make everyone feel involved.

Incentivized