Zoom Review 2025: Is It Still the Video Conferencing King?

What Is Zoom?#

Zoom is the video conferencing platform that became a household name during the pandemic. Founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan, a former Cisco WebEx engineer, Zoom now serves over 300 million daily meeting participants across businesses, schools, healthcare, and personal use.

While the initial hype has cooled, Zoom has matured into a comprehensive communications platform. It’s no longer just video calls — it’s webinars, phone systems, team chat, online events, and AI-powered meeting assistance all rolled into one ecosystem.

Key Features#

HD Video and Audio Quality#

Zoom’s core strength remains its video and audio reliability. The platform delivers:

• 1080p HD video on paid plans (720p on free)
• Advanced audio processing that filters background noise automatically
• Adaptive bandwidth that optimizes quality based on network conditions
• Gallery view showing up to 49 participants simultaneously
• Speaker view with active speaker detection

Even on mediocre internet connections, Zoom typically outperforms competitors for clarity and stability. The platform’s video codec optimization means fewer frozen screens and dropped calls compared to alternatives.

Screen Sharing and Collaboration#

Screen sharing is where Zoom excels for business use:

• Multiple screen sharing — Share specific apps, entire screens, or whiteboards
• Remote control — Let others control your shared screen
• Annotation tools — Draw, highlight, and collaborate on shared content
• Simultaneous screen shares — Multiple participants can share at once
• Optimized sharing — Special modes for video clips and computer audio

The ability to share high-quality video with audio makes Zoom a favorite for product demos, training sessions, and presentations.

Breakout Rooms#

Breakout rooms let hosts split participants into smaller groups — essential for workshops, training, and large meetings:

• Create up to 50 breakout rooms
• Pre-assign participants or let them choose rooms
• Broadcast messages to all rooms simultaneously
• Jump between rooms as a host
• Auto-assign participants randomly or manually

This feature alone makes Zoom worth it for educators, trainers, and workshop facilitators.

Recording and Transcription#

Zoom’s recording capabilities are surprisingly robust:

• Local recording on all plans (saves to your computer)
• Cloud recording on paid plans with 5GB-unlimited storage
• Automatic transcription generates searchable text from recordings
• AI-generated summaries highlight key points and action items
• Separate audio tracks for each speaker (useful for podcasts)

The automatic transcription has improved dramatically, now achieving 85-90% accuracy compared to 70% a year ago.

Virtual Backgrounds and Video Filters#

Virtual backgrounds became a Zoom signature feature:

• Upload custom backgrounds or use Zoom’s library
• Blur background for privacy without going full virtual
• Studio Effects for lighting correction and appearance touch-ups
• Video filters similar to Instagram filters (if you’re into that)
• Avatars that mirror your expressions and movements

While gimmicky for some, these features are genuinely useful for maintaining professionalism when working from less-than-perfect home environments.

Zoom AI Companion#

The biggest 2024-2025 addition is AI Companion, included free on paid plans:

• Meeting summaries — AI generates recap with key discussion points
• Action items — Automatically extracts tasks and next steps
• Smart recording — Highlights important moments
• Chat composer — AI helps draft messages and responses
• Catch me up — Get AI summary if you join late

This transforms Zoom from a communication tool to a productivity tool. The AI Companion alone justifies the paid plan for many teams.

Whiteboard#

Zoom Whiteboard is a collaborative infinite canvas:

• Draw, type, add sticky notes, and upload images
• Real-time multi-user collaboration
• Available in-meeting and as standalone app
• Templates for brainstorming, planning, workshops
• Integrates with calendar and Zoom Meetings

It’s not as polished as Miro or Mural, but it’s included free and works well for basic visual collaboration.

Webinars and Events#

For public-facing events, Zoom offers specialized capabilities:

• Zoom Webinars — Up to 50,000 view-only attendees
• Practice sessions — Rehearse with panelists before going live
• Q&A and polling — Engage audiences interactively
• Registration pages — Built-in event registration
• Ticketing — Charge for events with Zoom’s payment processing

The webinar features rival dedicated platforms like WebinarJam, making Zoom a one-stop shop for both internal meetings and external events.

Pricing#

Zoom offers four main plans:

Key notes:

• Pricing is per host (not per participant) — only meeting organizers need paid licenses
• Annual billing saves 20%
• “Host” means someone who can create meetings; attendees join free
• The Business plan requires minimum 10 hosts ($220/month minimum)
• AI Companion included free on all paid plans

For most small teams, the Pro plan at $14.99/month per host is the sweet spot. You eliminate the 40-minute limit, get cloud recording, and unlock AI Companion features.

Pros and Cons#

Who Is Zoom Best For?#

Zoom excels for:

• Remote-first companies needing reliable daily video meetings
• Consultants and coaches hosting client calls and workshops
• Educators and trainers running online courses with breakout rooms
• Webinar hosts presenting to large audiences
• Healthcare providers conducting HIPAA-compliant telehealth (with Healthcare plan)

Zoom may not be the best choice for:

• Casual users who only need occasional video calls (Google Meet is simpler)
• Microsoft 365 teams already paying for Teams (redundant subscription)
• Very small teams on a budget (free plan’s 40-minute limit is restrictive)
• Teams needing deep collaboration tools (consider Zoom + Slack or switch to Teams)

Zoom vs Competitors#

How does Zoom compare to other popular video conferencing tools?

Zoom’s advantage: Superior video quality, better webinar features, easier to use for non-technical users, AI Companion included.

Zoom’s disadvantage: Doesn’t include team chat or productivity apps like Teams and Google Workspace.

Security and Privacy#

Zoom faced significant scrutiny in 2020 for security vulnerabilities. Since then, the company has made substantial improvements:

• End-to-end encryption (E2EE) available for all meetings
• Waiting rooms to prevent uninvited guests (enabled by default)
• Meeting passwords required by default
• Host controls to mute, remove, or disable video for disruptive participants
• HIPAA, GDPR, and SOC 2 compliance for enterprise security

While the 2020 “Zoombombing” incidents were embarrassing, Zoom’s current security posture is on par with enterprise competitors. For sensitive business use, enable E2EE and require meeting registration.

Our Verdict#

FAQ#