Zoom
Why Zoom
Zoom is a video meeting and collaboration platform that also covers team chat, phone, webinars and an AI assistant. It runs on desktop, mobile and the web, and it has a free plan with time-limited meetings. It suits teams, and sales and customer-facing staff in particular, who meet clients on video.
What it does
Zoom is a video meeting platform. You start or join a meeting from a link, share your screen, chat, record and use whiteboards. Around meetings it adds team chat, a phone system, webinars and the Zoom AI Companion, an assistant for meeting summaries and questions.
The free plan limits meetings to 40 minutes and 100 participants. Paid plans allow longer meetings and more participants. The top tier adds a full phone system and advanced security options.
Why you would need it
Remote selling and client work need a call that just works. Prospects click a link and expect to see you. When the call tool is unreliable or confusing, deals slow down and clients lose patience.
Zoom also solves the afterwards problem. Recordings, summaries and transcripts mean the person who missed the call, or the person who has to write the follow-up, does not rely on memory.
Where it fits
Zoom is fed by your calendar, since tools such as Calendly can add a Zoom link to every booked event. It feeds your CRM and your notes, because meeting recorders and note takers join Zoom calls. Fireflies.ai, Granola and Fathom all work with Zoom meetings.
Inside Zoom, Zoom Webinars and Zoom AI Companion are catalogued separately. Zoom replaces other call tools such as Google Meet or Microsoft Teams when your clients prefer it.
What stands out
- A free plan you can use before you commit to anything.
- A documented REST API and webhooks, so meetings and events can be created and tracked from your own systems.
- Official MCP servers on a global endpoint and several regional ones, plus a registry of remote MCP servers on GitHub.
- A broad product line from one vendor: meetings, chat, phone, webinars and AI summaries.
My take
I'd pick Zoom when your clients or prospects already use it, or when you need something dependable for external calls and the free plan covers a first test. It is a safe default that people know how to join.
I'd skip it when your company already pays for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace and your clients are happy to join Teams or Meet. In that case you are paying twice for the same thing. What I'd watch is the AI features: the free plan allows only a small number of summaries and queries each month.
Verdict
Pick it when external video calls are a core part of how you sell or serve, and you want recordings and summaries. Skip it when a call tool you already pay for does the job.
Notes
Your note
Before you choose
The free plan is a taster
Meetings on the free plan end at 40 minutes, and the AI features have small monthly limits. If calls with clients run long, plan for a paid plan from the start.
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Check what each plan includes
Meetings, team chat, phone, webinars and the AI Companion are different products with their own limits. Look at the plan comparison for the features you will actually use, such as recording storage, participant limits and AI summaries.
Data regions
Zoom runs MCP gateways in several regions, including the EU. If client data must stay in a region, check where your meetings, recordings and any connected AI tools process it.
You may already have a call tool
Google Meet is included with Google Workspace and Teams with Microsoft 365. Compare those before you add another subscription.