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Zoom

by Zoom Communications, Inc. · Platform · also known as Zoom Workplace, Zoom Meetings

Video meetings and webinar platform, now packaged as Zoom Workplace with team chat, phone, whiteboard, AI Companion and developer APIs and SDKs

ProprietaryFreemiumPaidEnterpriseCloud
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Link verified Nov 2, 2026

Overview

Zoom is a cloud video-conferencing platform from Zoom Communications that has expanded into Zoom Workplace, bundling meetings, webinars and events, team chat, cloud phone, whiteboards, scheduling and an AI Companion that summarises meetings and drafts chat replies. Meetings support screen sharing, breakout rooms, recording to cloud or local disk, live transcription and large attendee counts on higher plans, and clients exist for every desktop and mobile platform plus browsers and room systems. Developers use REST APIs, webhooks, Meeting and Video SDKs and the Zoom App marketplace to schedule, embed or extend meetings. Universities and companies adopted it widely for remote teaching and interviews. A free plan limits group meeting duration; paid Pro, Business and Enterprise plans add longer meetings, cloud recording storage and admin controls. It is cloud-only, and recordings and transcripts raise retention and privacy considerations that administrators must configure.

Capabilities

  • HD video meetings with breakout rooms and screen sharing
  • Webinars and large events
  • Cloud and local recording with transcription
  • Team chat, phone and whiteboards in Zoom Workplace
  • AI Companion summaries and drafting
  • REST API, webhooks and Meeting/Video SDKs

Typical workflows

  1. Record a lecture to the cloud and share the transcript with students
  2. Automate meeting creation from a scheduling system through the API

Strengths

  • Reliable large-meeting performance and broad client support
  • Mature API and SDKs

Limitations

  • Free plan limits meeting duration
  • Cloud-only service
  • Recording retention and privacy settings require administration

Prerequisites

  • Zoom account; client app or browser

Who it is for

  • Educators and students
  • Distributed teams
  • Event organisers

Alternatives & comparison

Microsoft Teams and Google Meet (Google Workspace) are bundled with office suites and chosen where those are licensed; Zoom is standalone and often preferred for external participants and webinars. Slack and Discord are chat-first with lighter meeting features.

  • Discord

    Community chat platform with servers, text and voice channels, video, forums and a bot API, free to use with optional Nitro subscriptions

    ProprietaryFreemium
  • Google Workspace

    Google's hosted productivity suite: Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, Chat and Calendar with admin controls, Gemini features and developer APIs

    ProprietaryPaid
  • Microsoft Teams

    Microsoft's chat, meetings and calling hub integrated with Microsoft 365, SharePoint and Entra ID, extensible through Microsoft Graph and Teams apps

    ProprietaryFreemium
  • Slack

    Channel-based team messaging platform from Salesforce with threads, huddles, canvases, workflow automation and an extensive bot and app API

    ProprietaryFreemium
Compare Zoom with its alternatives →

Sources & verification

Primary sources consulted for this record. Claims are tied to the fields each source supports; the automated link checker re-verifies every URL on a schedule.

  • Official documentation
    Zoom Developer Platform

    https://developers.zoom.us/

    Supports: interfaces, capabilities

    checked Nov 1, 2026
  • Official site
    Zoom

    https://www.zoom.com/

    Supports: name, summary, capabilities

    checked Nov 1, 2026
  • Pricing page
    Zoom pricing

    https://zoom.us/pricing

    Supports: pricing_model, limitations

    checked Nov 1, 2026
Confidence
High
Reviewed
Nov 1, 2026
Links
Verified · Nov 2, 2026

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