Introduction
Video conferencing tools such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom have greatly assisted the UCT community to work and study remotely.
Teams – which is available to all staff and students – has been used extensively for meetings, collaboration and even hosting conferences and staff assemblies. On the other hand, Zoom has been used primarily for teaching and research.
In many instances, these two offerings overlap in that they have similar features. The benefit of using Microsoft Teams is that it forms part of the Microsoft 365 productivity suite, allowing it to easily integrate with other Office applications such as Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. This allows Teams to be a central location to access information, communicate and collaborate.
Teams has also become UCT's preferred virtual classroom solution, as it provides a wider range of features and is well integrated with the next Learning Management System – Amathuba.
Comparison guide
The following table compares and contrasts Microsoft Teams and Zoom.
| Cost to customer | Microsoft Teams | Zoom |
| Free of charge on a basic plan (part of UCT’s Microsoft 365 plan). | Licence costs on the educational plan vary from US $18 to $600 per year (along with more expensive options). | |
| Feature | Microsoft Teams | Zoom |
| Available for use by | Staff and students | Staff |
| Online meetings | Up to 1000 participants | Up to 300 participants on a UCT basic licence, capped at 40 minutes per meeting |
| Live events (Teams) /Webinars (Zoom) participants | Up to 10 000 participants for a Live Event | Up to 10,000 participants for a Webinar. Separate licence required. Contact ICTS Acquisitions for pricing. |
| Webinars | Interaction such as speak and answer polls for up to 1000 people. View mode for up to 10 000 individuals. Registration option available. | Up to 10,000 participants for a Webinar. Separate licence required. Contact ICTS Acquisitions for pricing. |
| Guest access | Yes | Yes |
| Supported devices and browsers | ||
| Desktop app | Windows, Mac | Windows, Mac & Linux |
| Mobile app | iOS, Android | iOS, Android |
| Accessible via browser | Yes | Yes |
| Recommended browsers | Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome are fully supported | Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Chromium Edge |
| Main features | ||
| Video conferencing & meetings | Yes | Yes |
| Voice calls | Yes | Yes |
| Schedule meetings | Yes | Yes |
| Chat functionality | Yes | Yes |
| File sharing | Yes | Yes |
| Collaboration on documents | Yes | No |
| Search capabilities | Yes, you can search for any content | Yes, but only meeting chats |
| Video conferencing: Scheduling and joining | ||
| Finding contacts | Yes – all UCT staff and students | Yes – other Zoom users |
| Schedule for a group | For a Team | For a Amathuba course site |
| Schedule via calendar | Yes - find meeting time via Outlook | No |
| Join a meeting | Outlook calendar or link | Link or meeting ID |
| Waiting room | Yes | Yes |
| Video conferencing: Features in meeting | ||
| Screen and app sharing | Yes | Yes |
| Number of videos that can be shared | 7x7 grid | 7x7 grid |
| Together mode | Yes | No |
| Virtual backgrounds | Yes | Yes |
| Raise hands | Yes | Yes |
| Whiteboards | Yes | Yes |
| Polls and surveys | See apps (Polly, MS Forms) | Yes |
| Closed captions | Yes | Yes |
| Breakout sessions | Yes – 50 breakout rooms, covering a maximum of 350 participants in total for all rooms | Yes – 50 breakout rooms of up to 300 participants each - via desktop app |
| Video conferencing: Recordings and transcripts | ||
| Meeting recording | Yes | Yes |
| Transcription | Yes | Yes (not in Amathuba) |
| Cloud storage | Yes | Yes (for a limited time) |
| Security and privacy | ||
| End-to-end encryption | Yes | Yes |
| Two/multi-factor authentication | Yes | Yes |
| Chat functionality | ||
| One-on-one chats | Yes | Yes |
| Group chats and calls | Yes | Yes (called channels) |
| Chat for attendees during a meeting | Yes | Yes |
| Chat with attendees after a meeting | Yes | Only on desktop app |
| Emojis and GIFs | Yes | Yes |
| Group/Team management | ||
| Manage teams | Yes | No |
| Channels | Yes | Yes - via desktop app – but operates as a group chat |
| Activity feed | Yes | Yes |
| Tabs | Yes, each team and channel comes with default tabs and the option to add more. | No |
| Integrations | ||
| Third-party app integration | Yes | Yes, with limited apps (subject to UCT approval) |
| PeopleSoft integration | Coming soon | N/A |
| Amathuba integration | No – link to team page | Yes |
| Bots | Yes | Yes - via desktop app |