What TrustRadius Research Says
Virtually anyone who works or has recently worked in an office environment has become intimately familiar with Zoom, the video and web conferencing platform that took 2020 by storm. However, Zoom is more than a source of virtual backgrounds and long-distance happy hours. For businesses, pricing out their web conferencing tool can be a substantial budget item, especially for larger enterprises. For SMBs, choosing between the free version and paid versions designed for smaller organizations is not always an easy decision.
We’ve consolidated all of the pricing information for businesses evaluating Zoom as their next web conferencing solution. To preempt any confusion, Zoom identifies pricing for 4 different product lines. The “Zoom” that most people are familiar with is Zoom Meetings, and will be the focus here.
We’ve included overviews of the pricing plans, as well as the free version, additional discounting, and other pricing gotchas or loopholes that we’ve found. This information will help organizations compare Zoom’s pricing with other options and more easily budget for Zoom if they decide to purchase. You can also compare Zoom’s pricing with other web conferencing products directly.
Zoom’s Pricing Plans
Zoom offers 4 primary pricing plans for its Meetings product. Pricing is per license, all attached to a centralized Account for the business or organization. The first plan is a Free version, which is limited to 40-minute meetings that make it more suitable for personal use than for more intensive professional use.
The Pro plan is priced at $14.99/month/license, or $149.90/year/license for $30 of savings. The Pro plan can host up to 100 participants in a single session, with unlimited group meetings and the ability to stream meetings to social media. It also grants 1 GB of cloud recording per license. However, accounts with the Pro plan are limited to 9 licenses per account. The vendor identifies this plan as ideal for small teams looking for straightforward, reliable web conferencing.
The Business plan starts at $19.99/month/license, or $199.90/year/license for $400 of savings. The $400 in savings from the annual plan comes from the fact that Business plan pricing starts at 10 licenses, making the account base cost $1,999/year. The Business plan extends the participant cap to 300. It also adds on Single Sign On, transcriptions for cloud recording, managed domains, and white labelled company branding. This plan is ideal for growing SMBs who can better utilize the extended features the Business plan offers.
The Enterprise plan pricing is nearly identical to the Business plan, with pricing of $19.99/month/license or $199.90/year/license. The key difference is that the Enterprise plan starts at 100 licenses, for $19,990/year as a baseline for an Enterprise account.
The higher pricing also brings additional scaling. Enterprise accounts cap participants at 500, or 1000 for Enterprise+ accounts (pricing by quote). It also offers unlimited cloud storage, a dedicated CSM, extended transcription capabilities, and unique bundle discounting on a case-by-case basis. This plan is for the enterprises looking for the highest level of service and features Zoom has to offer, with the price tag that comes with it.
Zoom Pricing Plans
| Plan | Free | Pro | Business | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | $0, Forever | $14.99/month/license; $149.90/year/license; *up to 9 licenses |
$19.99/month/license; $199.90/year/license; *up to 90 licenses |
$19.99/month/license; $199.90/year/license; *100+ licenses |
| Max Participants | 100 | 100 | 300 | 500-1,000 |
| Added Features | 40-Min Meeting Cap | Unlimited Group Meetings; Social Media Streaming; 1 GB of Cloud Storage | Single Sign-on (SSO); Cloud Recording of Transcripts; White Labeling | Unlimited Cloud Storage; Dedicated CSM; Transcriptions |
Discounts, Add-Ons, and Account Sharing
As far as SaaS products go, Zoom’s primary pricing plans are fairly straightforward. However, there are some other pricing factors worth keeping in mind.
For instance, Zoom is notable for its Forever Free option, which can serve the needs of some very small businesses and use cases. There are some discounts for Zoom that can be found online for the paid versions. Most of the discounts are directed towards the Pro plan to make it easier for Free users to justify the upgrade. Some of the most common discounts as of publication are in the 20-30% range.
Some more advanced features are offered a la carte for smaller organizations that only need some of them. For instance, users can purchase the Large Meetings add-on starting at $600/year to increase participant caps to 500 or 1000 depending on the main plan. Organizations can also purchase an audio plan, starting at $1,200/year. Pro and Business plans can also purchase additional Cloud Storage, starting at $480/year.
There are also some limitations to consider. For instance, there’s no opportunity for license sharing across users. Zoom also does not include data migration or training in its plans.
Which Zoom Plan is Right for You?
Zoom strives to provide pricing packages to meet the needs of organizations of all sizes. Which plan a company chooses should be driven primarily by the features and capabilities the business needs, then adopting the plan that best matches those criteria. Buyers should first play around with the free version to test and compare the fundamentals of the platform, like video quality, stability, and integrations with other tools, with other options before paying for an account.
Of course, evaluating and comparing web conferencing tools is about more than just the price. Check out the rest of TrustRadius for full user reviews of Zoom and competing web conferencing products. You can find user insights into everything from video quality to stability to even user accounts of comparative pricing.
