The Gold Standard: Zoom
Maximum 100 attendees.
Great team collaboration tool.
Meetings can be recorded.
Meeting time is limited to 40 minutes.
Zoom's popularity exploded in 2020, due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's a free way to have high-quality video chats with up to 100 people at the same time . The service is cross-platform and runs on PC and Mac, web browsers, iPhone and Android. The only notable drawback is that video calls are limited to 40 minutes, which may not be long enough for a business meeting, and having to reconnect to a new session can be awkward. Of course, there are paid plans for those who want unlimited calls.
Zoom includes great sharing and collaboration tools, and you can even record meetings and share them with others. Meetings can be started on an impromptu basis or scheduled in advance.
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02 out of 10Best for iPhone or iPad: FaceTime
Easy to use.
Maximum 32 participants.
Every iPhone and iPad user already has it.
iOS is for download only (Android users can join ongoing calls).
Limited sharing and collaboration.
For many, FaceTime launched the modern age of video chatting. Most people had little or no experience with video chatting until Apple added FaceTime to iOS in 2010, where it quickly became a popular alternative to regular audio calls. FaceTime lets you easily set up a group call with up to 32 people, and you can add people to an already ongoing call.
Despite its popularity, FaceTime can be surprisingly limited. It has few sharing and collaboration tools, including using SharePlay to share your screen, watch movies, and listen to music, but doesn't let you work on documents or presentations together. You also can't record calls (although, to be fair, many video chat apps don't allow recording). Finally, FaceTime only works on Apple devices, so while users running iOS 15 or later can invite friends on Android to join ongoing calls, Windows users can't participate in those conversations at all.
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03 out of 10For Facebook Fanatics: Facebook Messenger
Almost everyone you know already has it.
Supports 50 users.
Instant meetings and scheduled meetings.
There are no sharing features for enterprises.
You most likely have Facebook, so Facebook Messenger is a natural way to chat with other users. Not only does it allow one-on-one chat, but you can also create a chat room with up to 50 participants at the same time. You can create a temporary room at any time or schedule it to be created later, and you can invite specific people or let anyone with a link join.
Messenger lets you make video calls on Android and iOS, Windows and Mac. There's even a standalone video calling device called Facebook Portal.
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04 out of 10Most popular text messaging alternative: WhatsApp
Everyone you know has probably used this app.
Supports video chat with up to 50 people.
It's easy to find people by phone number.
You can only video chat on the mobile app.
Surprising fact: WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app used today. This may be true since it was an early cross-platform communication app that allowed people to use Wi-Fi instead of texting while traveling internationally. Today, the app lets you text, make voice calls, and even video, and chances are you and most of your friends and colleagues already have it installed. Finding people on the service is easy because you join using a phone number rather than a username.
The app can handle group video calls with up to 50 participants using Facebook Messenger's Room feature (WhatsApp is now owned by Facebook). Unfortunately, this means you can only video chat with users on the mobile app (iOS or Android), not browser or desktop users.
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05 out of 10Create your own chat room: Discord
Maximum of 25 users at one time.
Share your screen easily.
Cross-platform compatibility.
If you're not a gamer or a very technical person, the overall aesthetic may be off-putting.
Disharmony is a contradiction. It's an excellent team communication tool, often used by programmers, special interest groups, and other types of clubs, but its roots are in computer gaming and its primary audience remains gamers. The server has a gamer aesthetic and appeals to more technical users. But beyond that, it's a great way for groups to stay connected through text, voice, and video chat. Normally the number of people in a video chat is limited to 10 people at one time, but due to the events of 2020, Discord raised the limit to 25 people, but the limit may eventually be lowered.
Discord is still a great tool, like Slack, to keep running while you play games, code, or otherwise collaborate on projects. From PC and Mac to Linux, iOS and Android, there is basically no platform that is not supported.
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06 out of 10Old and reliable: Skype
Maximum of 50 users at one time.
Cross-platform compatible.
Excellent HD video quality.
Not completely free. For example, you have to pay to make calls to landlines.
Skype has been around for a long time. Old computer users may remember Microsoft spending $8.5 billion to acquire the service. It's continued to evolve over the years, though, and now exists on every platform, including smartphones, the web, desktops, and even Xbox. Not only can you use it to make free video calls with up to 50 participants, but you can also use it to make voice-only calls to other devices and even landlines. This is a very comprehensive communication solution.
It's suitable for business calls as well as personal video chats; you can use it to share your screen, share files, and even display live captions to subtitle what's being said.
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07 out of 10Play games with friends: Bunk
This is a great place to play games with friends.
More games are promised.
Eight people can play at the same time.
A few more people (maybe 12) would be perfect.
The app tries too hard to get your contacts.
It's a fun video chat app that focuses almost entirely on party games to play with friends and family (no wonder it's become so popular in 2020). Bunch wants to connect you with your friends, so accessing your various contact lists from your phone and social media services is a bit too aggressive during the initial setup process.
But once you get beyond that, you can set up a room for up to eight people and choose from a range of games to play together. Currently, Bunch has 7 games to choose from, including trivia games, clones of "Flappy Bird", billiards games, and more.
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08 out of 10For Social Media Socialites: Instagram
Picture-in-picture in the Instagram app.
Unwanted users are easily blocked.
Easily invite people within Instagram; not a standalone app like Facebook Messenger.
Limited to groups of six.
Mobile app only.
Let's be honest: some people spend a lot of time on Instagram. Whether for work, researching brands for social promotion, or for fun, checking out @dogsworkingfromhome, being able to video chat within Instagram is a powerful feature. Chats can be full screen or just take up a small window within the app, so you can continue browsing Instagram while chatting.
Unfortunately, Instagram has a maximum of 6 people, but that's probably enough for most situations. There's no desktop or web chat, so it's limited to the mobile app.
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09 out of 10
Asynchronous, walkie-talkie-like video editing is genius.
Voice effects and camera filters.
A maximum of 200 people can be in a video group at the same time.
HD videos are locked behind a paywall.
Think of Marco Polo as a video chat intercom, or the video version of email. You choose a person (or a group) and start talking. Your video will be left as a clip for recipients to watch during check-in, at which time they can respond. This is a way to have a conversation without everyone being available at the same time.
The app supports truly large group videos, with up to 200 people at a time, and comes with voice and video filter effects, all for free. There's a Marco Polo Plus subscription; for $5 a month, you get a few extra features like HD video support and video playback speed control, but most people will probably be perfectly happy with the free version of the service.
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10 out of 10Best Cross-Platform Messaging App: Viber
The current speaker in a group video takes up the entire screen.
Good cross-platform support.
Built-in community features.
Viber isn't particularly popular, so your friends probably won't use it.
Viber is a great messaging app that does it all. You can use it to make text, voice, and video calls, and it's a cross-platform service available for Android, iPhone, Windows, Mac, and even Linux. Not only does it help keep friends and family connected, but the app also includes an online message board community you can join.
Of course, the app supports group video calls. It can handle meetings of up to 20 people simultaneously and makes full use of the screen by letting the current speaker take up the entire display, so you can really focus on the person speaking. One problem you might run into when using Viber is how to convince enough friends and family to give it a try, given the popularity of most of the other apps on this list.
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