The best alternatives to Zoom

Are you an educator who is using Zoom to teach your students virtually but worried about its security and privacy issues?

Do you wonder if there are any better and safer alternatives to Zoom that you could use for conducting your virtual classes?

The good news is that there are several free-to-use and secure video conferencing platforms available apart from Zoom that will help you stay connected with your students. Keep reading to learn more about 5 of them.

5 free and secure video conferencing softwares for conducting online classes:

1. Google Meet: In a move to support and enable its users to deal with the pandemic situation, Google has made its premium video conferencing service Google Meet available for free public use. Anybody with a Gmail account can use this platform.                                                                                                                          
2. Cisco WebEx: Another very popular video conferencing platform, Cisco is offering WebEx for free in 50+ countries in light of the current situation.
3. Microsoft Teams: Microsoft’s own video conferencing solution is a great alternative to Zoom and has seen its usage spike drastically over the past couple of weeks. An advantage of using this software is that one need not have a Microsoft email account to sign up; any email address will work.
4. Skype Meet Now: Skype has been the pioneer in the video conferencing software business but traditional Skype requires the download of the Skype application in your system as well as account creation for using the service. To enable quicker and easier access, Skype has come up with a Meet Now feature that lets anyone start a meeting without having to sign up for a Skype account or download the application on their desktop. However, you will need to download the Skype app if you are connecting from a mobile phone.
5. Adobe Connect: Last but not the least, Adobe Connect is another powerful video-conferencing platform you can explore for conducting your online classes. A paid application otherwise, Adobe Connect is currently available for a free trial for 90 days.

Conclusion:

To sum up, I have captured the features of these video conferencing platforms in a table for easy comparison and decision-making:

With several schools and workplaces banning the usage of Zoom due to reported incidents of security and privacy breach, these alternatives by the top-most tech giants in the world should help you carry out your virtual classes seamlessly with complete security and protection.