Comparing Google Meet with Zoom Meetings
Overview
Whether you need to hold a meeting or teach a class, you have options with either Google Meet or Zoom Meetings. Both are effective web conferencing platforms that offer HD video, phone, or device audio options.
- Google Meet (Online Meetings for Students, Faculty, and Staff): If you want to hold an online meeting, Google Meet can be quickly added to a Google Calendar event and integrates directly with all of Google Workspace in use at Pepperdine. Meet runs on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge browsers. Meet is also built into several conference rooms at select campuses.
- Zoom Meetings (Primary Web Conferencing Tool for Faculty and Staff): Zoom is a natural choice for faculty teaching classes or staff facilitating a meeting with polling, recording, and other special features. Zoom works with all major browsers and devices. A Chrome browser extension makes it easy to add a Zoom link to a Google Calendar event.
The University also provides Zoom Webinars as an option for select events. Any faculty
or staff member may access 500-participant webinars through their accounts. Use of
the 3000-participant webinar license may be requested via Zoom Webinar Request Form. View a comparison between Zoom Meetings and Zoom Webinars on the Pepperdine Zoom Webinars page.
Zoom Licensing Change
As of August 1, 2026, all University Zoom accounts transitioned to the new Zoom EDU Enterprise Essentials tier. This new plan ensures that full Zoom functionality for faculty, staff, healthcare, and students remains intact. For more information, please see the Change to University Zoom Licenses IT blog post
Head-to-Head Comparison
| Feature | Google Meet | Zoom Meetings (Faculty/Staff & Students) |
|---|---|---|
| Usage Preference | Work or study meetings | Online teaching and work meetings |
| Number of Participants | 100 | 300 |
| Meeting Duration | Up to 24 hours | Up to 30 hours |
| Recordings | Yes, to Google Drive | Yes, cloud or local recording |
| AI Features | Yes | Yes |
| Automated Captions | Yes | Yes |
| Attendance Reporting | Yes | Yes |
| Dial-In | Yes | Yes |
| Dial-Out | Yes | No |
| Screen Sharing | Yes | Yes |
| Google Calendar Integration | Yes | Yes, with Chrome Browser Extension |
| Mobile App | Yes | Yes |
| ChromeBox Conference Room Enabled | Yes | No† |
| In-Conference Text Chat | Yes | Yes |
| In-Conference Private Chat | No | Yes |
| Polling | Yes | Yes |
| Roles Available |
|
|
| File Sharing | Yes | Yes |
| Breakout Rooms | Yes | Yes |
| Whiteboard | Yes |
Yes |
| Availability | All current students, faculty, and staff | All current faculty and staff‡ |
** Student licenses will be set to Zoom Meeting Basic starting August 1, 2026.
† The University has adopted the Google Meet standard for conference rooms. Zoom has a different product, called Zoom Rooms, that is currently not licensed by the University.
‡ Not intended for Digital Campus classes (faculty and students). Digital Campus provides Zoom licenses through the separate 2U portal.
Features and settings may change over time. Please refer to the Google Meet Features (for everyone), Zoom Meetings Basic Features (for students), and Zoom Meetings Education Features (for faculty and staff).