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Hangouts

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Hangouts vs Skype: What are the differences?

Developers describe Hangouts as "A communication platform *". It is a communication platform which includes messaging, video chat, and VOIP features. On the other hand, *Skype** is detailed as "Voice calls, instant messaging, file transfer, and video conferencing". Skype’s text, voice and video make it simple to share experiences with the people that matter to you, wherever they are.

Hangouts and Skype can be categorized as "Web and Video Conferencing" tools.

Advice on Hangouts and Skype
Lisa Myers
Needs advice
on
SkypeSkypeWebexWebex
and
ZoomZoom

Hi, I am helping teachers in my kid's schools to set up distance learning and wanted to see what is better between Webex, Zoom, and Skype (although only putting this one in as most parents probably have it). The children are 8-9, so they won't be using it on their own and the parents have no experience using Webex or Zoom.

The main use will be for the teacher to explain what they will be covering in the week and enable some social interaction between the kids.

I need to be easy to use for about 20-25 people.

Thanks for your advice, Lisa

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Replies (4)
Yoram Kornatzky
Independent Information Technology and Services Professional at DR. YORAM KORNATZKY LTD · | 4 upvotes · 33K views
Recommends
on
ZoomZoom

I consider Skype dead. Even Microsoft strongly neglected it. Webex is more corporate-oriented. So for your use case, I recommend Zoom. It is easy to set up, and the quality is very good. Zoom became such a household name that the average person heard about it. Moreover, any person probably has friends who may have used it. So it will be easier for people to get some community help.

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Fábio Henrique Oliveira
Recommends
on
WebexWebex

Hi, Lisa,

I haven't used Skype in a long time. I have I lot of experience with Zoom and Webex. Both for me are very good tools, especially if you have money to pay for (to unlock more features, like more people in a video conference - Zoom).

Nowadays, I've used more Webex with my undergraduate students, I'm using the free account. Cloud recording is a features very useful, especially while using the free account (thanks Cisco!). Webex has control features very useful (e.g., mute, raise hand etc).

Kind regards,

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Attila Fulop
Recommends
on
ZoomZoom

We've been using Zoom for about a half a year and it's stability is unbeatable. We have all-hands on Fridays with 100+ participants. The free tier can easily handle the requirements, the only limitation is that max meeting length is 40 minutes. After that you can immediately restart the meeting, but the pro option is also very affordable. It also features screen sharing and whiteboard sharing out of the box. I also appreciate that it's not mandatory to register an account to attend a meeting.

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John Perry
Account Executive at Towerstream · | 3 upvotes · 109.1K views
Recommends
on
Microsoft TeamsMicrosoft Teams

From my experiences I feel like Zoom is a pretty intuitive program to teach kids, however Skype might be more common amongst them already.

I am a big fan of Microsoft Teams.

They all do the same pretty much but Teams I find the bells and whistles are easier to find, like custom backgrounds... creating groups for topic discussions that remain there until you want to change/edit or delete. Easy to share files.

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Pros of Hangouts
Pros of Skype
  • 4
    Free
  • 258
    Free, widespread
  • 147
    Desktop and mobile apps
  • 110
    Because i have to :(
  • 57
    Low cost international calling
  • 56
    Good for international calls
  • 10
    Best call quality anywhere, generally
  • 5
    Beautiful emojis
  • 4
    Chat bots
  • 2
    Translator
  • 2
    Skype for business integration with Outlook
  • 1
    United kingdom
  • 1
    Not the Best, but get the job done

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Cons of Hangouts
Cons of Skype
    Be the first to leave a con
    • 5
      Really high CPU utilization during video/screenshare
    • 3
      Not always reliable
    • 3
      Outdated UI
    • 3
      Birthday notifications are annoying
    • 3
      The worst indicator noises of any app ever
    • 2
      Finding/adding people isn't easy

    Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

    What is Hangouts?

    It is a communication platform which includes messaging, video chat, and VOIP features.

    What is Skype?

    Skype’s text, voice and video make it simple to share experiences with the people that matter to you, wherever they are.

    Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

    What companies use Hangouts?
    What companies use Skype?
    Manage your open source components, licenses, and vulnerabilities
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    Sign up to get full access to all the companiesMake informed product decisions

    What tools integrate with Hangouts?
    What tools integrate with Skype?

    Sign up to get full access to all the tool integrationsMake informed product decisions

    What are some alternatives to Hangouts and Skype?
    Google Hangouts
    Message contacts, start free video or voice calls, and hop on a conversation with one person or a group.
    Duo
    Duo is a next-generation package manager that blends the best ideas from Component, Browserify and Go to make organizing and writing front-end code quick and painless.
    Zoom
    Zoom unifies cloud video conferencing, simple online meetings, and cross platform group chat into one easy-to-use platform. Our solution offers the best video, audio, and screen-sharing experience across Zoom Rooms, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and H.323/SIP room systems.
    Google Meet
    It is the business-oriented version of Google's Hangouts platform and is suitable for businesses of all sizes. It allows users to dial in phone numbers to access meetings, thus enabling users with slow internet connection to call in.
    WhatsApp
    It is a cross-platform mobile messaging app for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia. It allows users to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other media.
    See all alternatives