Online meeting is supposed to improve our work and personal life. But did you know that many of the best online meeting apps for business and education are actually quite frustrating to use?
If you are wondering how to meet with your colleagues from Canada across the world without leaving the comfort of your home or office, let me suggest you these best online meeting apps in Canada.
Dialpad Meetings
What We Like
- Numbers available for numerous locations.
- Meetings can be recorded easily.
- Screen sharing and mobile apps available.
What We Don’t Like
- PIN number must be used on free account.
- International numbers not available for free accounts.
- Free account limited to 10 participants.
Dialpad is a useful web conferencing tool that hosts video conferences that also includes some great features in its free plan including call recording, voice transcription, hold music, screen sharing, and up to 10 participants per call. (The paid version allows for up to 100 participants.)
They also offer an unlimited number of conference calls per month and do not require a PIN number to initiate or join a call. The drawback with the free version of Dialpad is that calls are limited to 45 minutes, and there’s no support for international calls.Visit Dialpad02of 05
Intermedia AnyMeeting
What We Like
- Desktop and mobile apps.
- Screen sharing and screen annotation available.
- Custom meeting URLs available for all tiers.
What We Don’t Like
- Limited time free trial.
- Starter program allows for only four participants.
- Can only record meetings on the most expensive tier.
Previously known as Freebinar. Intermedia AnyMeeting is a paid web conferencing tool with a free 14-day trial period. (It used to offer a ad-based free webinar service but has since moved to tiered subscription plans.)
AnyMeeting offers two pricing tiers: Lite and Pro. Both plans allow you to host meetings of up to 200 people. There’s also unlimited meetings, screen sharing, VoIP/PSTN audio calls, and in-meeting chats. The Pro version delivers a bit more functionality, including the ability to record meetings, upload presentations, take notes, and give attendees the ability to directly control your mouse and keyboard for more advanced collaboration tools.
Attendees do not need to download an app or plug-in to join a meeting, but hosts will control the meeting through software.Visit Intermedia AnyMeetinghttps://20c078e2412f17de68c0639fe8d82166.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html03of 05
Mikogo
What We Like
- 14-Day premium trial requires no credit card & reverts to free account when trial ends.
- Offers multi-monitor support.
What We Don’t Like
- Only allows for 25 participants in the Professional and Team Tiers.
- Lower/Free tiers only allow 1 participant.
Mikogo is another great web conferencing tool with a free 14-day trial period. With an unlimited number of meeting participants at a time (with a paid subscription), Mikogo has all of the essential features that make for a useful online meeting tool.
Hosts can record meetings, switch between presenters, and pause screen sharing (great when you need to open a document in a private folder, for example). You can even control the speed and color quality of screen sharing to save bandwidth.
The downside is the number of participants a call can fit, which is just 25 for all of the pricing tiers. That’s less than most other services on this list.Visit Mikogo04of 05
Skype
What We Like
- Calls can be completely web-based with no need to download anything.
- No credit card required.
- Background Blur available.
What We Don’t Like
- Call quality can be glitchy.
- Limited to 10 participants at a time.
- Monthly fee for voice calls.
One of the earliest video chat services, Skype provides a more multi-platform, pay-as-you-go solution for video conferencing, with free calls between Skype subscription holders. Skype Meetings is Skype’s free video conferencing service. It offers most of the same tools and features found throughout this roundup, including screen sharing, file uploads, and HD audio and video. There are also options for real-time translation, SMS texting, and landline phone calls.
The downside is that you can only host up to 10 participants at a time. That said, Skype is great for users who make a lot of calls to international or landline numbers. International plans allow you to make calls around the world for a monthly fee. (In the U.S. it’s $2.99/month for unlimited calls.) There’s also a pay-as-you-go option through Skype Credit and Skype to Go.Visit Skype05of 05
Zoom
What We Like
- Up to 100 participants (even on the free plan).
- Whiteboarding and screen sharing available.
- Recording capabilities available.
What We Don’t Like
- Free service limits calls to 40 minutes.
- Some of the more useful features are hidden behind a paywall.
Zoom, like many of the other options here, is a web conferencing tool that offers free and paid plans. The free account with Zoom has some pretty robust features, including conferences that allow up to 100 participants, unlimited one-on-one conferences, video and audio conferencing, and group collaboration features such as whiteboarding and screen sharing.
The one pitfall with Zoom is that conferences with multiple participants are limited to 40 minutes. Paid services allow unlimited call durations, hundreds of meeting participants, cloud storage space for recording calls, admin dashboards, custom emails and URLs, and company branding.Visit Zoom
Google Duo
Here comes Google again! Google Duo is a Google-developed video chat mobile app that is accessible on Android and iOS operating systems.ADVERTISEMENTS
It is simple and it allows the user to make high definition video calls through smartphones, laptops, desktops and smart displays like Google Nest hub Max. It’s newer, sleeker and user-friendly in comparison to its previous version – Google Hangout.
One can sign up by just providing the phone number. It allows up to 8 users to make a group video conference call. Participants can join or leave the call at any point during the call.
Google Duo
FreeConference
As the name suggests, FreeConference offers free video and audio calls. In this app, you will find more business-oriented features than the others, such as audio participant dial-in numbers.
It allows you to schedule meetings, arrange video conferences, share screens, and dial-in integration wherever you are. Be it in a private room or any meeting room. It also automatically send reminders, but if you don’t need advance notice, you can also begin meetings immediately. It allows conference both on phone and web. The 8 Best Instagram Analytics Tools to Track Metrics
One just needs to have an active internet connection. It is also the best as it supports almost 400 participants to connect on dial-in. In case you are looking to increase the number of participants, you can use their paid services.
Whereby
Whereby (formerly Appear.in) offers simple video conferencing for small meetups. While it’s not quite as easy as it once was, it’s still a quick tool for ad-hoc meetings.
First, you’ll need to visit the site and sign up for an account. Once that’s done, you can create a chatroom with the URL of your choice. Simply send that link to your friends through text, email, or any other means and they can instantly join you (without signing up on their own). There’s no software to download and any modern browser will work fine, making this a no-registration video call for the participants.
The free service allows up to four people in one room. You can “lock” a room if you’re the owner, which requires guests to “knock” when they visit the link. This lets you see who’s trying to join and deny them if you see fit. Whereby also includes screen sharing and text chat features.
While other tools offer more functionality, Whereby is a solid choice for quick, simple meetings with no setup. It’s perfect for chatting with folks who aren’t tech-savvy. You can subscribe to upgrade to the Pro plan, but that’s not necessary for most people.
Download: Whereby for Android | iOS (Free)
Google Duo
While Google’s Hangouts is a fine conference video call app, we’ve chosen to highlight Duo here because it’s newer, sleeker, and a bit easier to use. You only need to provide your phone number to start using it, instead of signing up for a whole Google account.
Google Duo is a dead-simple group call app for chatting with up to eight people. It works via apps for Android or iOS, as well as the Duo Web interface. This makes it a good fit if you want to start a group call of people on different platforms.
If you need power meeting features, it’s best to look elsewhere. But Duo makes video calls simple, which means it’s worth keeping around.
Download: Google Duo for Android | iOS (Free)
One of the world’s most popular messengers also doubles as a free group video conferencing app. While its video calls only support four participants, the ubiquity of WhatsApp means you probably know plenty of people who use it. There’s value in being able to make a call without having to install a new app or sign up for anything.
Simply start a video call with one contact, then you can bring additional people into the call. This feature only works on the mobile apps, since WhatsApp Web doesn’t support calls. See our guide to WhatsApp video calling for more information.
Download: WhatsApp for Android | iOS (Free)
Conclusion
A lot of learning happens over video calls, so why not leverage them to improve your students’ learning? Check out my list of some of the best online meeting apps in Canada, for face-to-face learning, live tutoring sessions, or remote teaching.