Online Meeting Platforms: Your 2024 Guide

There are plenty of online meeting platforms out there! In fact, there are so many that you might find yourself getting overwhelmed by the amount of options. We’re here to help by providing some of the top online meeting platforms in one place and including a short guide to help you on your purchasing journey! 

• What to look for in an online meeting platform
• What to keep in mind when looking for the best online meeting platform
• 6 of the best online meeting platforms

What to look for in an online meeting platform

• Ease of use
• Integrations
• Recording and transcription abilities
• Meeting analytics
• Cost-effectiveness
• Customizability
• Security

Ease of use

Above all, the platform you select should be easy to use. Consider your team’s existing technological knowledge and ability to adapt quickly to new tools. Onboarding support and extensive documentation libraries can also help with the transition to a new platform. Additionally, you can check reviews specifically related to the platform’s ease of use. For example, Fellow’s G2 rating for ease of use is 9.1!

Integrations

Integrations with other software products like video conferencing platforms, task management tools, and productivity software like Google Docs are incredibly useful. Not only does this connection ensure accurate data transfers between your work tools, but it also saves you a ton of time from having to do this transfer manually! 

Recording and transcription abilities 

Another way to save time is by opting for a meeting platform that does automatic recording and transcription. There are different ways a tool can do this, but Fellow chooses to use AI to automate the creation of agendas, meeting summaries, and analytics!

Meeting analytics

Speaking of analytics, you’ll want to actually know if your time spent with an online meeting tool is proving to be a good investment. With a meeting analytics feature, you can see how much time your team is spending in meetings, how many action items get completed, and the estimated cost associated with meetings. 

Cost-effectiveness

Most online meeting platforms charge per user per month. At first glance, this makes the pricing seem quite low, but as your team scales, the price will increase since you’re paying for a lot more team members. Look for an option that’s worth the cost, considering the capabilities and time savings that it offers you in return. 

Customizability 

Most teams work in a unique style, which affects how they communicate, make decisions, collaborate, and store information. Your ideal meeting tool should be able to cater to your team’s specific needs—this might be through open-source options, an application programming interface, or flexible settings. 

Security 

One of the most forgotten factors is security! A lot of software companies are now undergoing compliance certification to prove they handle data appropriately and securely. You can use Fellow’s security and compliance web page as an example of what to look for! 

What to keep in mind when looking for the best online meeting platform

• Team size
• Types of meetings
• Security needs
• Industry type
• Important features

Team size

The bigger your team, the more communication and collaboration features you’ll want to have. It’s hard to remember or track a lot of conversations manually, so it’s great to have a tool that can help you do this. Make sure there’s an easy way to separate teams in case they need something private within each department.

Types of meetings

There are many types of meetings, ranging from one-on-ones to town halls. Each meeting type has a varying level of need for sharing materials, presenting screens, tracking action items, and distributing polls or engagement surveys. Before you start searching for a tool, it’s best to determine what types of meetings you want to host on the platform.

Security needs

Different online meeting platforms are in various stages of completing their compliance, and some take it more seriously than others. If you’re in an industry or line of work that requires a high degree of security, you’ll need to, at minimum, look for a tool with multi-factor authentication and encryption built in. See each tool’s security page for more information!

Industry type

Your industry might have specific standards for reporting information—like in the financial or legal industries, for example. This might also be true if you work in a field such as human resources that requires a lot of detail to be recorded in each call and needs a place to store that information for an extended period of time. 

Important features 

The best meeting management platform is the one that saves your team time and energy! Figure out what you’re struggling with, then look for a tool that features a good solution. Online meeting platforms can help automate note-taking, collect feedback, offer a place to collaborate, and more! 

6 of the best online meeting platforms

• Fellow
• Switchboard
• Google Meet
• Zoom
• Cisco Webex
• Microsoft Teams

Fellow

Fellow is a meeting management platform that’s optimized to help teams prepare for, collaborate, and follow up on any kind of meeting! It comes with a huge library of templates and onboarding resources that makes it beginner-friendly, but it can also accommodate large teams due to its versatile collaboration features! 

G2 rating: 4.7/5

Main features:

• Collaborative agenda builder that allows any meeting participant to contribute talking points
• Built-in meeting guidelines to offer suggestions on talking points or icebreakers
• AI meeting assistant that automatically records notes, transcribes calls, and creates meeting summaries
• Meeting follow-up tools so you can distribute feedback surveys to attendees and optimize future calls
• The ability to assign action items directly within a call to maintain accountability
• Integrations with video conferencing tools like Zoom or Google Meet make it easy to access everything in just one tab (or integrate it into one of 50+ other tools!)

Cost: Starts at $7 per user per month

Learn more about Fellow’s plans

Switchboard 

Switchboard is a great meeting collaboration platform option for remote or hybrid teams. It comes with plenty of virtual engagement features so that no one feels left out of the conversation!

G2 rating: N/A

Main features:

• Collaborate with your team or customers via individual rooms or host a room for a specific project!
• Increase engagement by making apps and websites into multiplayer experiences
• Host virtual offices to make on-the-fly conversations easier with remote teams

Cost: 

• A free plan is available
• Paid plans start at $19 USD per member per month

Google Meet

Google Meet is one of the most popular video conferencing platforms for virtual meetings! It’s great for any team size, and because it’s low-cost, it’s a great starter option for small businesses, too. 

G2 rating: 4.6/5

Main features:

• Available on the web or mobile, making it a great on-the-go solution that’s accessible from anywhere!
• Connects seamlessly to the rest of the Google Suite of products—like Docs, Excel, and Gmail
• Easily integrates into plenty of other software tools like Fellow! 

Cost: 

• Personal plans are free
• Business plans start at $6 USD per user per month

Zoom

Zoom is also a popular video conferencing platform. Because of how strong its tracking and recording capabilities are, it’s especially well-suited for schools and training programs! 

G2 rating: 4.5/5

Main features:

• Offers tons of engagement tools like polls and chats
• Allows users to host different types of meetings like one-on-one conversations, webinars, or paid events (with the ability to accept participant registrations!)
• Allows users to record meetings and track attendance or engagement
• Easily integrates into plenty of other software tools like Fellow!

Cost: 

• The Basic plan is free
• Paid plans start at $15.99 USD per user per month

Cisco Webex 

While Cisco Webex meetings aren’t as commonly used in private companies, this tool is still a strong option that’s reliable and great for client-facing meetings. 

G2 rating: 4.3/5

Main features:

• Lobbies that allow meeting participants to be informed or entertained while they wait to join a call
• Real-time translations and transcripts, which make this tool great for international teams
• End-to-end security for peace of mind
• Ability to easily switch between mobile and web devices

Cost: 

• A free plan is available
• Paid plans start at $13.50 USD per user per month

Microsoft Teams 

Many businesses like using Microsoft Teams because of how easily it syncs with the rest of the Microsoft product suite—including Word, Excel, Outlook, and OneDrive. It does have an older and clunkier-looking appearance, but it’s definitely very powerful!

G2 Rating: 4.3/5

Main features:

• Lobbies to control when meeting attendees can join a call
• Tracking and recording capabilities to make sharing with non-attendees simple
• In-app engagement tools like reactions, chat, whiteboards, and more
• Integrations with plenty of other software tools like Fellow!

Cost: 

• Business plans start at $4.80 USD per user per month

Parting advice

Online meeting platforms offer a ton of benefits, regardless of whether your team is working remotely, in person, or hybrid. Tools like Fellow can help your team connect from any location by offering collaborative meeting agendas and virtual engagement options. And even if a team member can’t join the call, you can offer them AI-generated meeting summaries and recordings to keep them in the loop!