Zoom Meeting and webinar comparison

Both Meetings and Webinars offer similar features and functionality, although they differ in some important ways.

Participants are able to screen share, turn on their video and audio, and see each other at meetings which are designed to be collaborative events.

Hosts and panelists can share their screen, audio, and video during webinars. Attendees can also be unmuted by the host. Attendees of webinars can interact with Q&As, chats, and polling questions via view-only attendance. Participants cannot rename themselves during a webinar.

This article covers:

• Meetings versus webinars
• Meeting and webinar feature comparison

Meetings versus webinars

	Meeting	Webinar
Description	Zoom meetings are ideal for hosting more interactive sessions where you’ll want to have lots of audience participation or break your session into smaller groups.	Think of webinars like a virtual lecture hall or auditorium. Webinars are ideal for large audiences or events that are open to the public. Typically, webinar attendees do not interact with one another. Though Zoom provides options for you to get more social with your attendees, your average webinar has one or a few people speaking to an audience.
Best used for	Small to large groups (2+ participants) for: Customer-facing meetings Sales meetings Training sessions	Large events and public broadcasts (50+ attendees) such as: Town halls Quarterly updates Educational lectures
Typically used by	General employees Training groups	Event hosts SVPs and C-Suite
Cost	Free and Paid subscription options available.	Paid Add-on, available to Pro or higher subscriptions.

Meeting and webinar feature comparison

Feature	Meeting	Webinar
Participant roles	Host and co-host Participant Learn more about Meeting Roles.	Host and co-host Panelist Attendee Learn more about Webinar Roles.
Audio sharing	All participants can mute/unmute their own audio Host can mute/request to unmute participants The host can set all participants to mute upon entry	Only the host and panelists can mute/unmute their own audio Attendees join in listen-only mode* The host can unmute one or more attendees
Video sharing	All participants	Hosts and panelists
Screen sharing	✔	✔
Capacity	Up to 100 with free license, up to 1,000 depending on plan and large meeting add-on.	Ranging between 500-50,000 participants, depending on the license.
Participants list	Visible to all participants	Visible to host and panelist
Email reminders	N/A	If registration is enabled
Chat	In-meeting chat	Webinar chat
Meeting reactions	✔	Only raise hand
Q&A	N/A	✔
File transfer	✔	✔
Whiteboard	✔	✔
Annotation	✔	✔
Polling	Polling for meetings	Polling for webinars
Surveys	Surveys for meetings	Surveys for webinars
Livestream	Facebook, YouTube, Workplace by Facebook, Custom Streaming Service	Facebook, YouTube, Workplace by Facebook, Custom Streaming Service
Registration	Registration for meetings	Registration for webinars
Closed captioning	✔	✔
Recording	✔	✔
Breakout rooms	✔	N/A
Practice session	N/A	✔
Waiting room	✔	N/A
Paypal integration	N/A	✔
Require password to join	✔	✔
International dial-in numbers	✔	✔

If the host or co-host enables Allow to talk, attendees will be able to enable their microphones and mute and unmute themselves.

 

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• Roles in a Zoom Webinar
• Enabling breakout rooms
• The Zoom Learning Center is now available!
• Converting meetings and webinars
• Changing your Virtual Background image