Alternatives to Zoom for live meetings and recording lectures

On this page:

Overview
Alternatives for live videoconferencing
Alternatives for recording lectures
- Kaltura Personal Capture
- Kaltura Classroom Capture

Overview

Zoom is the recommended solution for live videoconferencing and collaboration at Indiana University. Many instructors also use Zoom to record lectures for later viewing. Zoom is a highly robust product, but with so much instruction taking place online, it's important to be aware of alternative platforms in the event of a prolonged Zoom outage. For live videoconferencing, UITS supports Google Meet and Microsoft Teams Meetings as alternatives to Zoom. For recording lectures, UITS recommends Kaltura Personal Capture (for use at home or in the office) or Kaltura Classroom Capture (for use in IU classrooms) as alternatives to Zoom.

Note:

Since Zoom outages are extremely rare and unlikely to last for more than a few hours, you may find it easier to reschedule your meeting than to try to acclimate your class or group to an alternative application. Before moving your scheduled meeting to a different platform, check Status.IU for the latest information on outages and possible workarounds.

Alternatives for live videoconferencing

Google Meet

Google Meet is available through Google at IU to IU students, faculty, and staff. It is easy to use, and offers high-quality video and audio, screen sharing, and chat, as well as live closed captioning.

To get started with Google Meet, see:

For more about the features of Google Meet at IU, see the "Google Workspace Essentials" column of Google Meet: Plans & pricing.

Microsoft Teams Meetings

Microsoft Teams Meetings is available through Microsoft Teams at IU to IU students, faculty, and staff. It provides the ability to work together and share information, both synchronously and asynchronously, in a common space. Other collaboration features in Microsoft Teams, such as file sharing, private and group chat, and shared notebooks, are also useful for teaching and learning. Because live videoconferencing is a feature within the Microsoft Teams environment, setting up and using Microsoft Teams Meetings may have a steeper learning curve when compared to using Zoom or Google Meet.

To get started with Microsoft Teams Meetings, see Create and join a Microsoft Teams meeting in Canvas.

Platform comparison

Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams Meetings all offer high-quality audio- and videoconferencing, screen sharing, and real time chat. Below is a comparison of other commonly used features:

Feature	Zoom	Google Meet	Microsoft Teams Meetings
Meeting room capacity	300	150	300
Maximum simultaneous video participants	Up to 49 per page in Gallery view	Up to 16 in Tile view	Up to 9
Participant management	✔Yes	Limited ¹	Limited ¹
Breakout rooms	✔Yes	No	✔Yes
Polling	✔Yes	No	✔Yes ²
Q&A Chat	Zoom webinars only	No	No
Whiteboard	✔Yes	✔Yes ³	✔Yes ⁴
Record meeting	✔Yes	See note ⁵	✔Yes ⁶
Persistent meeting URLs	✔Yes	✔Yes ⁷	See note ⁸
Meeting password	✔Yes	No	✔Yes
Waiting room	✔Yes ⁹	✔Yes ¹⁰	✔Yes ¹¹
Share document camera or second camera	✔Yes ¹²	See note ¹³	See note ¹³
Real-time closed captioning	Manual	Automated	Automated
Room system interop (Cisco/Polycom)	✔Yes	No	✔Yes

Notes:

The following notes are referenced in the Platform comparison table (above):

¹ As meeting host, you can mute specific participants or all participants, but you cannot prevent participants from enabling their microphones or cameras.

² Polls can be administered via Microsoft Forms or the Polly app. Polls are available only to those who are logged into the Microsoft Teams desktop or mobile app.

³ The meeting host can open and share a Google Jamboard with participants.

⁴ Whiteboard tools are limited to freehand drawing, sticky notes, and text.

⁵ As of October 1, 2020, this feature is no longer available. To share a recording saved in Google at IU My Drive before that date, download the recording, and then upload it to Kaltura MediaSpace or (for class recordings) Kaltura Media Gallery.

⁶ To share a recording saved in Microsoft Stream, download the recording, and then upload to Kaltura MediaSpace or (for class recordings) Kaltura Media Gallery.

⁷ Meeting URLs are persistent for recurring meetings only; use Google Calendar to schedule a recurring meeting.

⁸ URLs expire when they're not used at least once every 60 days.

⁹ The Zoom account owner controls who is placed in the waiting room: everyone, users not in your account (non-IU people), or users who are neither in your account nor part of IU's allowed domains.

¹⁰ Google at IU users are able to bypass the waiting room.

¹¹ Anonymous users are placed in the waiting room. Users logged into Microsoft Teams at IU automatically bypass the waiting room.

¹² When prompted to select what you want to share, click the Advanced tab, select Content from 2nd Camera, and then click Share.

¹³ Only one camera is displayed at a time. To change cameras, open device settings.

For complete features lists:

Zoom: On Zoom Video Conferencing Plans & Pricing, under "Choose a plan", select Zoom Meetings, and then scroll down and click Full Plan Comparison. IU's feature set most closely aligns with the "Business" column.
Google Meet: On Google Meet: Plans & pricing, the features listed under "Google Workspace Essentials" apply at IU.
Microsoft Teams Meetings: See Microsoft Teams/Meetings and calls. Also, see Limits and specifications for Microsoft Teams/Meetings and calls.

Alternatives for recording lectures

To record a lecture, presentation, demonstration, or some other type of instructional content when Zoom is unavailable, UITS recommends using Kaltura Personal Capture when working remotely or Kaltura Classroom Capture when recording in an IU classroom.

Kaltura Personal Capture

Kaltura Personal Capture is a desktop application that helps you record presentations and screencasts using any combination of voice, webcam video, screen action, and PowerPoint slides. You can then upload and manage your recordings alongside other Kaltura content in MediaSpace and/or the Kaltura tools in Canvas (My Media and Media Gallery).

To get started with Kaltura Personal Capture, see:

Kaltura Classroom Capture

Kaltura Classroom Capture (KCC) is a quick and easy way to record your lecture, meeting, presentation, or other activity in an IU classroom. Recordings made with KCC use the audio and video equipment installed in the classroom, and are delivered to your Kaltura account.

To get started with Kaltura Classroom Capture, see Use Kaltura Classroom Capture.