With a maximum limit of 10 participants and 720p video resolution, the limits on the free tier are reasonable, if not terribly impressive. Screen-sharing and a built-in text chat window is about all you get in terms of additional features and the interface, while functional and user-friendly, doesn’t feature collaboration aids such as interactive annotation or hand-raising. Note that while paid G Suite subscriptions have access to a more fully-featured equivalent of Hangouts, with better central admin controls and a few additional features, the free service that comes included with personal Google accounts is even more stripped-back. Hangouts is fairly basic, leaving the file-sharing and collaboration elements to other Google apps like Drive and Docs. The collaboration arm of Google’s app portfolio, hangouts is a relatively bare-bones tool compared with some rivals, offering little more than voice, video and text chats. For any teams still trying to use FaceTime and WhatsApp to keep in touch, here are the best free video conferencing options out there. You don’t have to shell out a fortune for business-quality tools though there are numerous products that allow you to make multi-person video calls free of charge. Video conferencing is also a crucial tool for remote working, allowing teams and clients to remain connected to the business without face-to-face meetings. There’s nothing worse than trying to conduct a meeting over patchy video conferencing software, with participants dropping in and out, or valuable time being eaten up by technical issues.

Skype video conferencing pricing