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Google Hangouts [EOL] vs Webex comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 27, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Google Hangouts [EOL]
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Webex
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
128
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Meetings (4th)
 

Featured Reviews

Mariana-Piñeres - PeerSpot reviewer
Customer Success Manager Latam at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Recording and transcription enhance global client meetings
Google Hangouts sometimes consumes significant resources. When comparing it to WhatsApp on desktop for calls, there are instances when Google Hangouts freezes or stops working, but switching to WhatsApp runs smoothly. This might be related to the resources Google Hangouts requires. The service occasionally experiences lag issues where the image gets frozen or the voice transmission becomes interrupted. When these issues occur, possibly due to internet connectivity or other factors, WhatsApp continues to function properly while Google Hangouts does not perform well.
Akhil Viswam - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Collaborating in hybrid incident calls has become faster while the meeting interface still needs fixes
The best features are the ability to schedule meetings and launch ad hoc meetings. Additionally, we can create breakout rooms within the meeting itself, which is another excellent feature. Whenever we have production issues, many teams join a single Webex call. Sometimes we need to group together as separate smaller groups and work in parallel to identify the production issues. In those cases, we create Webex breakout rooms and each member joins the corresponding breakout session to progress on their task. Webex helps significantly in the hybrid environment. When we are working from home, it is very easy for us to meet with other team members and the management to get in touch and progress. Webex improves communication because even if we are working from home, we can connect with people and talk to them on a video call. It has improved the incident resolution time by getting into a call in Webex rooms and remediating the issues together as soon as possible. Audio and video quality is excellent for Webex. It has saved considerable time in terms of incident remediation. Whenever we have issues, we jump on a call and work together in parallel. This approach saves time and improves efficiency.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It is very easy to use and is available as soon as you open a Google account."
"The product is stable and reliable, I haven't had issues with bugs or glitches, and the performance is good."
"I appreciated having the basic features like screen sharing and camera options."
"Google Hangouts is easy to use and has good performance."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"The most valuable feature of Google Hangouts for me is content sharing."
"Google Hangouts is an excellent tool."
"My advice for anybody who is looking to start using Google Hangouts is that it is plug-and-play, and comes free with Google Suite."
"I have found Webex to be stable."
"It is user-friendly."
"Webex helps us collaborate better. We can work with customers and our team in real-time, share screens, and use a whiteboard. It's been really helpful."
"Webex is easy to use, even for people who are just learning it, and they can join meetings or share content with the click of a link."
"The most valuable features of Webex are the depth of the tone and the quality of the picture, and I find them better than Teams or Zoom."
"In terms of stability, the solution is reliable."
"I am completely satisfied with the tech support."
"The most valuable feature is Webex's user-friendly video conferencing."
 

Cons

"Google Hangouts, however, was not [compatible with my device]. Google Hangouts is a browser-based application."
"As someone who is not very familiar with technology, I find it acceptable. I prefer to wait and see what they will come up with in the future. However, I notice that they keep introducing new features that are better than the previous ones."
"There is a significant problem with performance when you have a poor connection."
"It would be better to have a feature for recording the meetings in Google Hangouts."
"Google Hangouts sometimes consumes significant resources. When comparing it to WhatsApp on desktop for calls, there are instances when Google Hangouts freezes or stops working, but switching to WhatsApp runs smoothly."
"I think the version that I'm using doesn't allow recording. I guess it's more of a licensing issue than anything else, and it needs to be improved."
"I'm not completely happy with the message options in Hangouts because for now it's only possible to send pictures, which is unfortunate because I would also like to be able to send documents and other things."
"The user interface is an area with shortcomings and needs improvement."
"The solution must provide a plan to extend the subscription by three months."
"This solution would be much better if we could install an endpoint and have centralized management."
"The base application uses a lot of resources. They could work on the performance of the application so that it's less heavy."
"The UX should be more user-friendly. I know others don't like the UX because it's a little complicated to use."
"Recordings are slow to start, sometimes fail, and are difficult to edit."
"Webex could be improved by having a password-protected system. I don't remember there being any passwords for the meetings, but, presently, Zoom has meeting protection."
"The solution could improve by adding a survey or form feature to show for the users to be able to vote or answer any questions."
"I was in a meeting on the free version where there were no controls. You couldn't mute somebody or put it in dedicated speaker mode. It was an important meeting, and because of the lack of an ability to control who the speakers were, we got a version of a heckler. Well, it wasn't really a heckler per se. It was just somebody who thinks they know everything."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For individual use, there's no license requirement as such. For storage or some other purposes, if I go beyond 15 GB, then I need to buy something."
"The screen-sharing feature is the most valuable feature."
"We pay an annual license to use the solution."
"I use the free version of the solution."
"We are using the free version of Google Hangouts."
"We are a small team and a small organization such as ours just uses the free version of Google, so there's no cost associated with Google Hangouts at the moment."
"There is a need to make certain payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product and some other tools that are included in the suite offered by Google. Google Hangouts alone as a product is available for free."
"Google Hangouts has reasonable pricing, but I don't use the paid version because I only have a small budget, though you get more features from the paid version."
"I use the free version, not the enterprise version. The only compelling reason to go for paid WebEx pay is if you're hosting large meetings."
"There is a need to pay the licensing charges to use Webex Enterprise Edition."
"Features matter more than the price for us. As long as we get all the features we want and it fits our budget, then the price doesn't matter. I can't speak for other companies. We have tried other applications, and we run into some problems that we don't see in Webex."
"Licensing is subscription-based and the cost varies depending on how many minutes are included in the plan."
"The price of Webex is in the middle range compared to the market."
"My organization took care of the licensing. I'm guessing they did some subscription cycle, but I used the free version."
"I have recently switched to a different solution. WebEx is more costly. There are equivalent solutions at a lower cost."
"There is an annual license required for this solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Construction Company
17%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Construction Company
13%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise18
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business41
Midsize Enterprise26
Large Enterprise68
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Hangouts?
Google Hangouts comes as a package, so it's difficult to say or comment on the price of this particular product.
What needs improvement with Google Hangouts?
Sometimes when we have a call and need to share audio or play a video, we find it challenging to switch from sharing the complete desktop to only a particular Chrome tab, as it doesn't support audi...
What is your primary use case for Google Hangouts?
My main use cases for Google Hangouts are for calls and coordinating with my team. I find the recording feature in Google Hangouts very useful, as it normalizes what happened in the call, even thou...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Webex?
From when I last implemented it, I found the price to be expensive. The licensing model doesn't work because if I want to implement it for an organization, I need to pay a per-user license, which m...
What needs improvement with Webex?
Webex is top-notch at this point in time. The only improvement I see is related to RAM and CPU usage, as older systems with 4GB RAM or i3 processors might slow down the application. I do not have a...
What is your primary use case for Webex?
Webex is primarily used for customer meetings, collaboration with team members, presenting to customers, and virtual calls with customers. In my daily work, I get on the meeting and take the discus...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Cisco Spark
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Seagate Technology, Kohn Pedersen Fox, World Vision International, Glen Raven, University of Notre Dame, CEV Multimedia, The Food Group, LUMEDX, California Baptist University, and Georgetown University Law Center.
Find out what your peers are saying about Zoom Video Communications, TeamViewer, Microsoft and others in Virtual Meetings. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.