Online meeting tools are now where a lot of remote work and a good share of staff training take place. Gallup’s tracking of where remote-capable employees work found that, as of May 2026, 52% are hybrid and 26% are fully remote, and the federal time use survey shows 35 percent of employed people did some or all of their work at home on days they worked in 2025. If you run a remote team, teach a class, or onboard new hires, the tool you pick decides whether people can join in one click or spend the first ten minutes installing something.
We compared six options that show up most often in remote work and training setups, and we looked hardest at the things that cause trouble in a real session: time caps on free plans, how many people can join on video, whether guests need to download an app, and what screen sharing and whiteboard tools you get without paying.
How we compared these online meeting tools
We checked each vendor’s current published plan page in October 2026 for prices, participant caps, and time limits, and we took ratings from G2 or Capterra as plain numbers. We then judged each tool on four questions a remote manager or trainer actually asks: can a guest join from a link without installing anything, how long can a free session run, can people share a screen and draw on a whiteboard on the free tier, and what does it cost when the group grows.
A tool did not rank higher for having more features. It ranked higher if it fit remote work and training for small and mid-sized groups without making the host pay early.
1. FreeConference
Best for: small teams, tutors, schools, and nonprofits that want free online meeting tools that run in the browser, with phone dial-in for people who can’t join on video.
FreeConference is a browser-based audio and video conferencing service. The host sends a link, and guests open it in their web browser (it runs on WebRTC, so there is nothing to install), or they dial in by phone if their internet is poor. Optional desktop and mobile apps exist for people who want them, but they are not required to join or to host.
For training, the free plan carries more than most free online meeting software: screen sharing, an online whiteboard you can draw on and export, breakout rooms, chat and document sharing are all included at $0. Interns who tested it singled out the screen sharing and the whiteboard as the parts that worked best, and it has picked up students who run paid tutoring sessions because joining takes one link. Schools and nonprofits are among its long-standing users for the same reason.
What you get:
- Video, audio and phone dial-in in one meeting, with free dial-in numbers in several countries
- Screen sharing, whiteboard and breakout rooms (breakout rooms are time-limited on free)
- No meeting time limit on any plan, including free, which is rare among online meeting tools
- Recording, transcription and meeting summaries on paid plans
Pricing: Free at $0 per month. Starter is $9.99 per month and Pro is $29.99 per month, which raises the cap to 250 phone and 250 web participants and adds video recording.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 on G2 (355 reviews).
Not good for: a video class of more than five people on the free plan, because the free tier allows only 5 web participants (the 100-person cap is for phone callers), so a bigger video training group needs a paid plan.
2. Zoom Workplace
Best for: trainers running larger classes who need breakout rooms, polls and a format most attendees already know.
Zoom Workplace is the video meeting software most of your trainees have probably used before, which matters more than it sounds when you are teaching people who are not comfortable with technology. A host schedules a meeting, shares the link, and attendees join from the desktop app, the mobile app or a browser.
Its strength in training is control. You can split a class into breakout rooms, run polls, hand screen sharing to a participant and record the session to the cloud on paid plans. Zoom’s whiteboard and annotation tools work during screen sharing, so a trainer can mark up a slide live.
What you get:
- Breakout rooms, polling and hand-raising for structured classes
- Cloud recording on paid plans
- Meetings up to 30 hours on Pro
- Up to 100 participants on both Basic and Pro
Pricing: Basic is free. Pro is $16.99 per user per month billed monthly, or $14.16 per user per month billed annually.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 on G2 (56,409 reviews).
Not good for: free group sessions longer than 40 minutes, since the Basic plan stops each meeting at that point, and guests who join from a browser are steadily nudged to install the app.
3. Google Meet
Best for: remote teams that already use Gmail and Google Calendar and want a meeting tool for remote work that needs no setup.
Google Meet is the video meeting service built into Google Workspace. A meeting link is created automatically when you add a Calendar event, and anyone with the link can join from a computer browser with no software install. That makes it one of the lowest-friction choices for internal standups and quick check-ins.
For training, Meet covers the basics well: screen sharing, live captions, chat and a grid view. Features that trainers lean on, such as recording to Google Drive, are tied to higher Workspace plans, so a free account is better for short sessions than for a full course.
What you get:
- Browser join with no install on a computer
- Automatic Meet links on Google Calendar events
- Up to 100 participants on free accounts and Business Starter, 150 on Business Standard
- No time limit on one-to-one calls and mobile calls on free accounts
Pricing: Free for personal accounts. Google Workspace Business Starter is $7 per user per month and Business Standard, which adds recording to Drive, is $14 per user per month.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 on Capterra (12,181 reviews).
Not good for: a free group training session that runs past 60 minutes, which is the cap for group meetings on a free account.
4. Microsoft Teams
Best for: companies that already run on Microsoft 365 and want chat, files and online meeting software in one place.
Microsoft Teams is a workplace hub. Meetings sit next to group chat, shared files and calendars, so a training session can live inside the same channel where the course materials are posted. Staff join from the Teams app, and outside guests can usually join from a web browser.
For internal training this is useful because the materials and the meeting are in the same place. An occasional outside guest, though, can find the interface busy compared with a single join link.
What you get:
- Meetings, chat and file sharing in one app
- Group meetings up to 60 minutes and 100 participants on the free version
- 30-hour meetings and 300 participants on Teams Essentials
- 5 GB of cloud storage per user on free
Pricing: Free version available. Teams Essentials is $4 per user per month and Microsoft 365 Business Basic is $7 per user per month, both paid yearly.
Rating: 4.4 out of 5 on G2 (19,373 reviews).
Not good for: teams outside the Microsoft world, since much of its value as online meeting software comes from links to Outlook, SharePoint and the rest of Microsoft 365.
5. Webex
Best for: organizations running formal training or meetings with larger external audiences that want an enterprise-grade platform.
Webex is Cisco’s meeting platform, and it is common in larger companies and public-sector organizations. Hosts schedule meetings that attendees join from the app or a browser, and the platform scales up to webinar-style events on higher tiers.
In a training context, Webex is the choice when the session is formal: compliance training, all-hands briefings or courses delivered to partners outside the company. Its paid plans add recording and larger rooms.
What you get:
- Free meetings for up to 100 attendees
- Paid tiers that scale to larger audiences, up to 1,000 attendees on Enterprise
- Recording on paid plans
- Browser and app join options
Pricing: Webex Free is $0. Webex Meet is listed at $14.50 per user per month, and Enterprise is quoted on request.
Rating: 4.4 out of 5 on Capterra (7,417 reviews, listed as Webex Suite).
Not good for: long free sessions, because the free plan caps each meeting at 40 minutes, one of the shortest limits among the online meeting tools here.
6. Whereby
Best for: coaches, mentors and trainers running quick one-to-one or very small video meetings for remote work.
Whereby gives each host a permanent room link. Guests click it and land in the meeting from their browser, with no download and no account. That makes it pleasant for recurring coaching calls, where the same link works every week.
Whereby keeps its interface simple on purpose. You get screen sharing, chat, and recording on paid plans, and not much else to learn. For a trainer who teaches one person at a time, that simplicity is the appeal.
What you get:
- Permanent room links per host
- Browser join with no app and no guest account
- No time limit and up to 100 attendees on Pro
- Up to 200 attendees and unlimited rooms on Business
Pricing: Free plan with 1 room. Pro is $10.99 per month, and Business is $13.99 per host per month with a minimum of 3 hosts.
Rating: 4.6 out of 5 on G2 (1,160 reviews).
Not good for: group training on the free plan, which allows only 4 attendees and 30 minutes per meeting.
What to look for in remote meeting software for training
If you are choosing remote meeting software mainly for training, start with how your sessions really run, not with the feature list.
- Session length. A one-hour workshop breaks on a 40-minute cap. Check the free plan limit against your longest class, and plan for overruns.
- Who joins on video versus phone. Some tools count phone callers and web participants separately. If most of your learners join on video, check the web participant cap, not the headline number.
- No-download joining. If learners are outside your company, a browser link removes the most common reason a session starts late.
- Screen sharing and whiteboard on the free tier. Trainers use these every session. Confirm they are included before you pay for seats you do not need.
- Recording. Most tools reserve recording for paid plans. If people watch sessions later, budget for it.
- Security settings. NIST’s advice on protecting privacy in virtual meetings suggests that hosts limit who can share their screen, use one-time PINs for sensitive meetings, and lock a meeting once everyone is in.
Virtual instruction is also a large part of corporate training. The Talent Development Association’s research found that instructor-led virtual classroom training made up 27 percent of the training hours organizations offered in 2021, so the meeting tool you pick will carry a real part of your training calendar.
FAQ about online meeting tools
Which online meeting tools work without any download? FreeConference, Google Meet, and Whereby all let guests join a meeting from a computer browser with no install. Zoom, Teams, and Webex also offer browser joining, but they lean on their desktop apps.
Do free plans limit how long a meeting can run? Yes, most do. Zoom Workplace Basic and Webex Free stop each meeting at 40 minutes, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams cap free group meetings at 60 minutes, and Whereby Free caps meetings at 30 minutes. FreeConference does not put a time limit on meetings on any plan.
Can you share your screen on a free plan? Yes, on all six tools covered here. On FreeConference, screen sharing works from a desktop browser such as Chrome or the desktop app, but not yet from an iPad or iPhone.
Which free tool handles the most people? Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex all allow up to 100 participants on video on their free plans. FreeConference allows 100 phone callers but only 5 web participants on the free plan, and Whereby Free allows 4.
What is the best online meeting software for training a small remote team? For a team under ten that trains in long sessions, a tool without a free time cap matters most, so FreeConference or a paid plan elsewhere is the safer choice. For classes over 50 that need breakout rooms and polls, Zoom Workplace Pro or Webex fits better.
Bottom line
The right choice comes down to the size of your sessions and how long they run. If your team is already on Google or Microsoft, use the meeting tool that comes with it for internal calls. If you train large groups with breakout rooms, pay for Zoom Workplace Pro or Webex. If you coach one person at a time, Whereby is the simplest room you can give someone.
For small teams, tutors and nonprofits that want online meeting tools with browser-based joining, screen sharing, a whiteboard and phone dial-in for up to 100 callers without a time limit, FreeConference offers all of that on its Free plan at $0 per month, with the Pro plan at $29.99 per month when a video class needs up to 250 web participants.
