Last updated on January 23rd, 2024 at 02:32 am
Here are some of the best free video conferencing apps to help meet your team online if you’re working remotely.
It would help you meet your team members of your project especially if you’re physically distanced from them out of necessity or choice.
Or it could be that you need a face-to-face meeting with your customers to discuss important business matters.
These apps are free to use and would deinitely suit you if you’re working with a small team and don’t have elaborate requirements.
Google Hangouts
If Your team consists of less than 10 members and all have them have Gmail accouts , then Google Hangouts should be the videoconferencing app of choice.
For one, you can use the app for an unlimited period of time without having to pay extra charges.
Invitation to participate in the video call can be made through email or through a link.
You can use Google Hangouts through mobile apps but the desktop version is usualy preferred because no app or software installation is required.
In the desktop version, you could access Google Hangouts through your Gmail account.
With Google Hangouts you can make video calls, telephone calls and send messages.
Check out the video tutorial below to help you get up to speed with Google Hangouts.
Skype
If you don’t know much about videoconferencing, you may have heard of Skype.
Skype was popular for online video chats before other apps like Zoom made their appearance.
Skype is powered by Microsoft and if you already have a Microsoft account, you’ll be ready to use it.
You can change you status from active to don’t disturb or even invisible.
You can engage in a new person-to-person chat or a group chat.
Group video chat is allowed up to 50 persons.
You’re allowed to make international calls to landlines and mobile numbers but you would have to pay for the service.
Should you want to make a recording of the call for futire reference you’re allowed to do so and store it in Skype’s cloud storage for 30 days.
The maximum duration of the recording is 24 hours. You can also download the recording but within the 30 days mentioned above.
Check out this video to get an idea of how the Skype video conferencing works.
Zoom
Zoom gives you the option of holding video chats with up to a 100 people for a free.
But there’s a catch though. You can’t exceed 40 minutes if you’re chatting with more than 3 persons.
The number of meetings though are unlimited.
That means once your 40- minute time limit is up, you can make a fresh video call and continue for another 40 minutes.
There is also a recording facility for the video calls for sharing and reference.
Check out this video on how to get started with Zoom.
FreeConference
If there’s no requirement for you to record your video conferencing session, then FreeConference would be an option you would want to consider.
FreeConference is a misnomer. The service isn’t entirely free. But then if you have only up to five participants in the video conference, then you can do it free for an unlimited period of time.
For video calls the free option enables up to a whooping 1000 participants.
There’s no software to download and install and everything will be done through an Internet browser.
However, Android and iOS mobile apps are available for the free option, too.
Check out the video on how to use FreeConference for online video meetings.
Jitsi
Jitsi is used by such organizations as Comcast Greenpeace and 8 x 8 among others.
This is one COMPLETELY free videoconferencing app that comes without any hidden extras.
You can use Jitsi for an unlimited of participants for an unlimited period of time. How cool is that?
Apps are available for Android and iOS devices.
You can also install the Chrome extension for Google Calendar to keep track of your meetings. Once Jitsi meetings are added to the calendar you can start them with just a single click.
You can get started at meet.jit.si as explained in the video.
Now that you’ve an idea of the best free videoconferencing apps and watch the video guides, go ahead and get started with any of them to start interacting with team members through online video meetings.
