Besides its popular free plan, Zoom offers a range of paid solutions for business, education and more. But are they worth it?
Zoom pricing starts at $12.49 per user, per month for Zoom One, which includes Zoom Meetings of up to 30 hours in length, Team Chat, and 5GB of cloud storage. Zoom also offers a free forever plan, allowing users to host 40-minute video calls with fewer than 100 people.
Zoom has come a long way since its days as your go-to virtual hangout during the pandemic. The company has developed a wide range of business-facing tools that can help you stay in touch with your team, including VoIP service, webinar functionality, and contact center platform. You can also grab a quick VoIP service quote if you’re in the market right now.
Whether you’re here to get started with Zoom, find a new plan that works for you, or are looking to switch to Zoom from another video conferencing provider, we’ve got you covered. Keep scrolling for more information about all of Zoom’s business offerings, and check out the Zoom One pricing in the table below:
Zoom Pricing: Is Zoom Free?
In addition to Zoom pricing plans, Zoom offers a free Basic plan for individuals that allows up to 100 participants and 40 minutes of meeting time per call. This plan includes many of the same features as the paid plans, such as virtual backgrounds, breakout rooms, and improved security. However, it does not include streaming, reporting, or live support.
Zoom does have a number of paid plans which may be more suitable for your needs, including the Zoom One Pro plan, which costs $12.49 per month per license, and the Business plan, which costs $18.33 per month per license.
Features included in Zoom’s free plan:
- Up to 100 participants
- Up to 40 minutes of meeting time per call
- Virtual backgrounds
- Team chat
- Breakout rooms
- Editable whiteboards
- Mail and Calendar
Features not included in Zoom’s free plan:
- Call recording
- Reporting tools
- Single Sign On (SSO)
- Live support
- Streaming
- Company branding
- Webinars
- Zoom phone calls
- Translated captions
- Zoom Scheduler
The main video chat screen for Zoom
Image: Tech.co testing
Zoom One Pricing Plans
The Zoom we all know and love used to be called Zoom Meetings – the video conferencing software that facilitates everything from business meetings to socially distanced social gatherings. However, Zoom has now consolidated its Meetings, Team Chat, Whiteboard, and Zoom Phone products into a single package called Zoom One.
All Zoom One paid plans support 1080p video and HD voice, offer TLS encryption for security, and provide a wide range of features, like virtual backgrounds, breakout rooms, and screen sharing, among other features previously included on Zoom Meetings that have now been carried over to Zoom One.
Zoom One comes in five different pricing plans: Basic, Pro, Business, Business Plus, and Enterprise. It’s worth noting that these plans all offer a discount if you pay annually – these are the prices we’ve included below. If you don’t want to commit to paying annually, you can expect to pay slightly more per month.
Zoom One Basic costs nothing for individual users hosting 40-minute meetings with fewer than 100 people, and includes Zoom’s Team Chat function. Zoom One Pro is $12.49 per license, per month and includes Zoom Meetings, Team Chat, and 5GB of Cloud Storage.
Zoom Business costs $18.33 per license, per month and will let you host meetings with up to 300 attendees, while the more expensive Business Plus plan costs $22.49 per license, per month and includes Zoom’s VoIP phone solution with unlimited regional calls. Both the Business and Business Plus plans come with a ten-user minimum, while Basic and Pro do not.
The Zoom One Enterprise plan has no public pricing, a 500-attendee limit on meetings, and a slightly more expansive VoIP phone plan.
You can also purchase Zoom Phone as a standalone VoIP plan, starting from $10 per user, per month for the US & Canada Metered plan.
Check out our web conferencing comparison tool to compare deals tailored to your business’s needs or find out how Zooms VoIP plans compare to other business phone systems with our VoIP comparison page.
Zoom One Basic – Free
If you’ve used Zoom before, you’re likely familiar with the Basic plan, as it’s the free plan offered to everyone. Our research found it to be the best free conference call service on the market too, even beating massive names like RingCentral and Google Meet to the punch. This is largely due to the fact that Zoom is incredibly easy to use, while still offering robust business-facing offers.
Zoom One Basic offers users the ability to host unlimited meetings for up to 100 participants. All meetings are capped at 40 minutes, however, and only one license is allowed per account. Zoom used to allow meetings with more than three participants to run up to 30 hours, but this functionality was reigned in as of May 2022.
Zoom One Basic also offers a limited support option in the form of a help center. There’s also a Team Chat function for collaboration and file sharing, as well as 3 editable whiteboards and a little bit of storage so you can keep your work for next time.
Despite being free, this plan still gives you access to all the Zoom features you love, including virtual backgrounds and breakout rooms, the latter of which are key tools for running great team workshops. This makes it one of the more robust free plans available on the market today, which is why we consider it one of the best web conferencing platforms you can use.
What’s New: As of our December 2023 update, Zoom One Basic has added a few new features: Clips Basic, which allows short-form video recording and editing (capped at five videos with a two-minute maximum length), and Notes, which lets users share editable documents within Zoom (great for internal business communcation).
The Zoom whiteboard tool in action
Image: Tech.co testing
Zoom One Pro – $12.49 per user, per month
While the Zoom One Basic plan is decidedly robust for a free plan, it does have some notable limitations, like time caps and limited support options. With Zoom One Pro, you’ll be able to get a little more flexibility for your team for only $12.49 per license, per month.
Zoom One Pro comes with all the features listed above while allowing for 100 meeting participants and up to 9 licenses. You’ll also essentially get rid of the meeting cap, moving it to a full 30 hours, which no reasonable person would ever need to exceed. But don’t worry if you have a tendency to host really long meetings – you’ll get 5GB of cloud storage per license for storing meeting recordings. Additionally, you get access to live chat support options, so you can actually get any help you need quickly and effectively.
Zoom One Pro adds some features that could be beneficial to your business as well, including analytical reporting and social media streaming to Facebook Live and YouTube. You’ll even unlock interoperability with Skype for Business, in the event that your team is transitioning from another platform.
Zoom One Pro pricing is right in line with the industry, with other options like RingCentral ($11.99 per user, per month) and GoTo Meeting ($12 per user, per month) costing almost exactly the same. Google Meet ($6 per user, per month) and Microsoft Teams ($4 per user, per month), on the other hand, are notably more affordable, but you’ll want to be sure that you’re up for all the additional bloat that comes with those platforms.
What’s New: As of our December 2023 update, Zoom One Pro has added the same new Clips and Notes features that Basic has added, but with one upgrade. Pro users will get Clips Plus, for unlimited shortform video creation, with no cap on video amount or length.
Zoom One Business – $18.33 per user, per month
If you’re hoping to find a video conferencing plan that caters to medium and large-sized businesses, Zoom One Business has got you covered. This plan offers more features, more participants, and more licenses, all at the low cost of $18.33 per license, per month, billed annually.
Zoom One Business comes with all the features we’ve already mentioned while allowing for up to 300 participants and up to 99 licenses. Naturally, you’re still without the meeting time cap, and you’ll get live chat support, as well as an added phone support option and a service ticket tool for even more comprehensive customer service.
As you’d expect, you also get more business-focused features when you shell out the extra money for the Zoom One Business plan, such as single sign-on, an admin portal, and company branding features. It also expands on features that Pro offers: For example, Pro offers three editable whiteboards, but Business removes the cap entirely, allowing for unlimited whiteboard use. The extra capability makes this a great plan for a remote or hybrid company, in which team-building workshops must function just as well on a screen as in-person.
What’s New: As of our December 2023 update, Zoom One has raised its price for Business, making it $18.33 per month per host, up from $16.66 per month. It also added the same Clips Plus and Notes features that Pro added.
Zoom One Business Plus – $22.49 per user, per month
Zoom One Business Plus is the first Zoom One plan that includes the Zoom Phone VoIP system. There’s also caption translation on this plan, plus a single sign-on feature and workspace reservations for $22.49 per license, per month, billed annually. The storage space for your meeting recordings is doubled to 10GB too.
Zoom Phone includes unlimited internal calling, native apps for Windows and macOS, 3-way ad hoc conference calls, call recording, toll-free numbers, and specified call blocking, among other useful business phone functions. There’s also 24/7 global customer care on the Business Plus fan for Zoom Phone users.
What’s New: As of our December 2023 update, Zoom One has raised its price for Business Plus to cost $22.49 per month per host, up from $20.83 per month. Business Plus added Clips Plus and Notes.
If you’re interested in purchasing Zoom Phone as a standalone product, check out our Zoom Phone review.
Zoom One Enterprise – Custom quote
Globally-renowned companies need enterprise-level video conferencing solutions, and that’s where Zoom One Enterprise comes in. There’s no public pricing available for this plan, but it does require you to sign up for at least 250 licenses.
As you can imagine, Zoom One Enterprise comes with all the features listed above, while allowing for 500 meeting participants and unlimited cloud storage. Plus, you get access to the same live chat and phone support from the Business and Business Plus plans, so you’ll have help on-hand whenever you need it.
Zoom One Enterprise is the second Zoom plan with Zoom Phone included, but it’s a bit more advanced than what you get on the Business Plus plan. Features include metered outbound calls, call queues & IVR, and a Common Area Phone.
Outside of the increased meeting participant limit, Zoom One Enterprise also offers some other enticing features for enterprise-level organizations. For one, you’ll get a dedicated Customer Success Manager to help you improve your communication across your business. Additionally, you’ll get advanced reporting tools in the form of executive business reviews to truly understand how Zoom improves your business.
How Do I Switch to Zoom?
As far as how good Zoom is to the best video conferencing tools, our research found that GoTo Meeting is the best solution, with excellent audio and video quality and plenty of features. Still, Zoom is generally more helpful for beginners, given the easy-to-use interface and helpful customer support.
Zoom Rooms Pricing Plans
Zoom Rooms is the specifically business-facing version of the Zoom video chat function. This software-based video conferencing system is compatible with third-party hardware for cameras, speakers, and monitors, allowing for a flexible transition with your existing video conferencing setup.
Every plan below supports 720p HD video and audio quality, 1,000 meeting participants, and 10,000 webinar viewers, and allows you to join, book, and schedule meetings with a single click. You’ll be able to integrate meetings with Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook, and meetings can be recorded and transcribed in real time. You can even use whiteboard and annotation features, as long as you have a touch-enabled display.
Rather than different plans with increasing features, Zoom Rooms offers all features with every plan, with licenses available for each.
Zoom Rooms Licenses
A single Zoom Rooms license will cost you $49 per month per room. You’ll be able to purchase up to 49 rooms at that price, giving you access to all the features listed above. If you pay the annual fee, it works out to $41.58 per month per room.
Zoom Rooms Enterprise
In the event that you need to purchase more than 49 licenses for Zoom Rooms, the Zoom Rooms Enterprise plan can help. You’ll have to contact Zoom’s sales department in order to be assisted with this, so that they can guide you through the large-scale deployment of an enterprise-level solution like this one.
Free Trial
If you aren’t sure about whether or not these Zoom pricing plans are the right fit for your business, Zoom Rooms does come with a 30-day free trial, which gives you access to all the features listed above, at no charge to your business.
Zoom Phone Pricing Plans
If you’re just looking for a VoIP system and don’t need the other features included in the Zoom One Business Plus and Enterprise plans, then you can buy Zoom Phone as a standalone product.
Zoom Phone offers you the ability to consistently monitor call quality and manage user accounts with a centralized management system, as well as integrate with popular software including Salesforce, Microsoft Office 365, and Google’s G-Suite.
When it comes to VoIP security, Zoom offers 256-bit TLS encryption for all users, but there are instructions here that will show you how to enable end-to-end encryption for Zoom Phone. If you’re looking for your calls to be as secure as possible though, we found that most VoIP competitors to Zoom offer superior security features, such as multi-factor authentication.
In our VoIP research, Zoom Phone scored quite highly overall, netting a score of 4.4/5 in our testing, the third highest score in our roundup of the best VoIP service providers. In fact, given the low price of plans and the robust nature of the service, our research found that Zoom Phone is the best value option across the VoIP industry.
Zoom Phone comes in three different pricing plans that are pretty self-explanatory: US & Canada Metered, US & Canada Unlimited, and Pro Global Select.
The best part of the Zoom Phone pricing plan breakup is that each plan still offers all the features you’ll find with the others. This means, no matter what you pay, you’ll get industry-leading HD call quality, voicemail with transcription, and access to native mobile apps for Android and iOS, among other things. The only tangible difference between each plan is where and how often you’ll be able to call.
If you’re interested in getting started with Zoom Phone today, check out our handy comparison tool to get a Zoom VoIP quote right now, as well as custom quotes from top competitors.
Alternatively, check out our full guide to VoIP costs and pricing.
|
Price
|
Best For
|
Users
|
Unlimited calls in US
|
Inclusive inbound calling
|
Inclusive outbound calling
|
SMS/chat
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|
|
||||||
|
Metered |
Unlimited |
Pro Global Select |
||||||
|
$10/user/month |
$15/user/month |
$20/user/month |
||||||
|
Small teams with a low volume of outbound calls |
North American businesses that need a powerful but cost-effective VoIP solution |
Companies making high volumes of international calls |
||||||
|
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
||||||
| Unlimited domestic minutes | Unlimited domestic minutes | Unlimited domestic minutes to 40+ countries | ||||||
US & Canada Metered
With the US & Canada Metered plan, you’ll be able to call – you guessed it – people based in the US and Canada, with no international capabilities. This plan isn’t unlimited, either – it provides metered calling to the US and Canada, so make sure you don’t need the extra minutes before you commit to this one.
The US & Canada Metered plan will cost you $10 per month per user.
US & Canada Unlimited
Again, as you can likely determine from the name, the US & Canada Unlimited plan allows users to call within the US and Canada without a metered rate. This means no international calls, but also no worrying about how long you’re calling, which might be worth the additional $5 per month. You’ll even have the option to add international calling to 18+ countries for only $10 more per month.
The US & Canada Unlimited plan will cost you $15 per month per user.
Pro Global Select
If you’re running an international business with locations across multiple countries, the Pro Global Select plan might be the way to go. It offers unlimited domestic calling within 40+ different countries and territories. You’ll also get a direct dial number for each license, making calls even easier for everyone. This plan also allows you access to the international add-on, opening up outbound international calling to 19 countries for only $10 more per month.
The Pro Global Select plan will cost you $20 per month per user.
Zoom Webinars Pricing
If you find yourself using your Zoom account for all-hands meetings, employee onboarding, product announcements, or other large virtual events more often than actual video calls, it might be worth looking into Zoom Webinars. This product is specifically catered to webinars so that you can enjoy specific features designed to make these larger events easier and more engaging.
Zoom Video Webinar allows for up to 100 live participants, which can include panelists or just engaged viewers, and up to 50,000 webinar attendees. You’ll be able to live stream to Facebook Live and YouTube Live, and it even integrates with customer service platforms. You can also record webinars (with auto-generated transcription) to save for later or provide in online forums.
Zoom Video Webinars is also a helpful tool for management, as it provides analytic reporting tools and event assistance to make sure you run the best webinar every single time. Zoom even offers online event consultations, so you can improve throughout your webinar journey.
Zoom Webinar License Prices
Rather than offering specific pricing plans with differing features, Zoom Video Webinar offers all its features across the board, with the license price being based on a maximum number of attendees for your webinars. Here is the breakdown of the prices:
- 500 attendees: $79 per month per license ($57.50 on annual plan)
- 1,000 attendees: $340 per month per license ($283.33 on annual plan)
- 3,000 attendees: $990 per month per license ($825 on annual plan)
- 5,000 attendees: $2,490 per month per license ($2.075 on annual plan)
- 10,000 attendees: $6,490 per month per license ($5,408.33 on annual plan)
For more than 10,000 attendees, you’ll have to contact Zoom’s sales department to get a catered price for an enterprise-level solution.
About Our Research
Some websites just throw aggregated information in an article and hope that readers don’t need any more data to make the right decision. At Tech.co, though, we know that knowledge is power, which is why we’ve dedicated hours of our time to do in-depth research on business software.
For web conferencing platforms like Zoom, we took a lot of criteria into consideration when it came to rating and ranking providers, including features, pricing, ease of use, third party integrations, and help and support options.
If you want to learn more about how we evaluate business software, check out our research guide to peak behind the curtain of our process.
Since our last update…
Zoom Pricing Alternatives
While we believe that Zoom is one of the best web conferencing solutions on the market today, that doesn’t mean it’s the only one. Here are how top competitors like Webex, RingCentral, and many others compare from a pricing perspective — view the table below to get a clear picture of what your options are.
|
Price from
The lowest starting price for a paid plan. The lowest price available for your business will depend on your needs.
|
Best for
|
Free plan
|
Breakout Rooms
|
Audio-Conferencing
|
Pros
|
Cons
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
FEATURED DEAL
 |
TOP RATED
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Zoho Meeting |
GoTo Meeting |
Zoom |
RingCentral |
Webex |
Google Meet |
Microsoft Teams |
Lifesize |
BlueJeans |
|
Value |
Sound and video quality |
Beginners |
Security |
Larger businesses |
Google Workspace users |
Microsoft 365 users |
Users that need hardware |
Users that need customer support |
|
Yes (paid plan) – VoIP, Phone & Toll-Free |
Yes – VoIP, Phone & Toll-Free |
Yes – Add-on audio plan allows you to add Call Out, global Toll-free & local dial-in for premium countries |
Yes – Companies get a single audio conferencing bridge dial-in phone number for easy universal access. |
Yes – Audio-only calls can be created when a host generates an Audio pin |
Yes – Just call the number listed on the meeting invite, or join via the link and turn off your camera |
Yes – but only in selected countries, and each user dialing into meetings will need an audio-conferencing license. |
Yes – in a meeting contact card, users can tap the phone number under Details to call using their default phone or voice app |
Yes – Easy access to audio conferencing is provided via a traditional PSTN number |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Is Zoom Worth the Cost?
If you’ve been comfortable with taking advantage of the free Zoom plan for a while now, the thought of paying for it might seem a bit foolish. Even with Zoom pricing being competitive, moving on from a free plan can be daunting.
However, the reality – particularly for businesses looking to get ahead – is that Zoom’s wide range of paid options can truly improve the productivity and efficiency of your company. From advanced features to improved reporting, Zoom’s paid offerings are designed to make business communication easy and reliable across the board.
If you aren’t feeling it, though, there are plenty of Zoom alternatives to choose from.
The home dashboard for Zoom
Image: Tech.co testing
Who Can Benefit from Zoom?
With the pandemic in full force, the reality is that pretty much everyone can benefit from using Zoom. Need to host a work meeting? Zoom has got you covered. Want to enjoy the holidays while socially distancing from family and friends? Zoom is on the case. Require virtual events for pretty much any reason? That’s what Zoom is built for!
Not everyone needs to pay for Zoom, though. In this instance, the businesses that benefit the most from Zoom’s paid offerings are larger companies with lots of meetings. In most cases, smaller businesses with few meetings can get by with the Zoom Basic plan, which is free, and you won’t notice a big difference. However, if you’re consistently on calls, trying to manage multiple teams, and require a bit more control over your video conferencing, paying a little bit per month could make a big difference for you, enabling more effective video meetings.
Best Features for Value
If you are considering paying for Zoom, you probably want to know exactly what you’re getting. Checking out the product plan descriptions above can help, but the main reason you would pay for Zoom is to eliminate meeting limits, add sharing features for social channels, and improve your reporting capabilities (if you even need them).
Zoom Security
You may have heard that Zoom security isn’t very good. After all, during the height of the pandemic, Zoom was experiencing some serious problems due to the sudden influx of users. Breached meetings, stolen data, and “Zoom-bombing” became all too common, resulting in some serious consequences.
Fortunately, those days are mostly behind them. Zoom has since established end-to-end encryption as a standard for all users, including the free ones, making it one of the more secure web conferencing platforms on the market today. Additionally, the company has generally owned its previous mistakes and been transparent about efforts to secure users’ data. Simply put, don’t let old news ruin a great video conferencing platform for you.
How to Get & Set Up Zoom
Perhaps the most important point to understand about Zoom setup, particularly compared to other popular options like Google Meet, is that you will be required to download it before use. Whether it be the mobile app or the desktop platform, you’ll need to download Zoom ahead of time if you want to take part in a meeting.
Once you’ve done that though, conference calls should be smooth sailing, as Zoom is famous for its intuitive interface and general ease of use. To simply set up a meeting, all you have to do is create an account, launch a meeting, and invite guests, either by sending them a link or relaying a meeting code. For security purposes, you’ll have to allow guests in from the waiting room, and then you’ll be ready to go.
Next Steps for Zoom
If you feel like one or more of these Zoom products is going to be a good fit for your business, that’s great news! We’d be happy to help you get set up with a video conferencing solution, as we’ve done with thousands of businesses in the past. Simply use our web conferencing price comparison form, and you’ll be on your way to better communication for your team.
