The online meeting is the new norm. Everybody understands that it saves time and energy but only with the right software or else half the time will be spent loading and repeating yourself. And just for that, there is GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar.
These are standard software that allows you to conduct meetings, host webinars, impart training, and organize stimulated webinars. These are simple software that has different features. They only differ in small features. But these small features go a long way.
In this comparison article, we are going to look into every feature in detail and identify which software is best suitable for your use and purposes.
The features we will be comparing for GoToMeeting vs GoToWebinar will be:
- Unique Features
- Plans and Pricing
- Capacity
- Scheduling and registration
- Analysis metrics
- User Friendly
- Interactivity
GoToMeeting vs GoToWebinar – Detailed Comparison
Unique Features
Here are the unique features of GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar:
GoToMeeting
Personal Meeting room
The GoToMeeting allows you to create a personal meeting link with your name or any name you chose. You can also choose the theme. This creates a personal meeting room to which people with a personal link can join with ease. This will help you schedule a meeting with ease. You don’t have to create and share the link every time you want to hold a meeting with the same group. With this private link, all you have to do is notify the members to join.
Business Chat Feature
GoToMeeting allows you to chat with anyone even outside your business. And if you want you can bring that chat into the instant or scheduled meeting you arrange with them.
There is also a private and public group chat facility. This will allow you to add members to the group and chat with each other to exchange thoughts and ideas with each other.
Smart Bot
GoToMeeting has a machine learning smart assistant that will automatically transcribe the recorded meeting. GoToMeeting supports multiple languages. So you can easily go through the meeting to clarify any important points without having to watch the whole thing again.
Smart Notes
The smart notes feature also allows you to take notes while attending the meeting. So once you are done with meeting you can watch the recorded video with the notes and start processing it. If you are presenting a new product to board members, it allows you to process their thoughts and tips later without it interrupting the meeting.
Documentation
The GoToMeeting allows you to do screen sharing. And you can share slides on the screen. GoToMeeting has a feature to screenshot these slides and convert it to a pdf document. You can then share this document as a handout to the participants.
GoToWebinar
Email Notification
GoToWebinar sends email notifications to send automated email to the subscribers. It allows you to send confirmation mails and reminder mails. You can even customize the email format to be sent. This will allow you to look more professional and authentic to the participants.
Personalize
GoToWebinar lets you personalize your webinar by adding your logo, feature images and brand colors. It lets you make your mark in your webinar.
Video embedding
You can embed your webinar recording in all the places you want to share them. All you have to do is upload the recorded video to GoToStage. You will get a free license to GoToStage with a GoToWebinar subscription. GoToStage allows you to create the embedded code for the webinar video. Now you can use that code in your websites, social media, source sites, etc. You have lifetime access to this code.
Polls and Surveys
GoToWebinar allows you to prepare polls, surveys before your meeting. It will allow you to get the participants feedback and opinions. You can give digital handouts to the participants. And there is also a Q&A session with the participants.
Tracking links
GoToWebinar allows you to create different links for different platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. So that you can track which link brings you more registrations.
Stimulated webinars
One of the best features of GoToWebinar is the stimulated webinar. It allows you to hold completely automated webinars. You can upload a recorded webinar and add a scheduled date and time. And then the webinar happens on its own. You can even add polls and surveys to make it more interactive.
Monetize
One of the highlights of GoToWebinar is that it allows you to charge your participants on registration. All you have to do is connect your stripe account to GoToWebinar. It will allow you to accept payments from major cards like VISA, Master Card, American Express, etc.
Comparison of Unique Features
In comparison, GoToWebinar has more advanced features than GoToMeeting. But you have to choose based on your requirements. If you want to conduct a meeting with people with chat features, smart assistants and document it digitally, then GoToMeeting is best. But if you want to hold a meeting with in-depth features or hold a stimulated meeting then GoToWebinar is your choice.
Plans and Pricing
GoToMeeting
The GoToMeeting has three plans.
- Professional
- Business
- Enterprise
The professional plan is offered at $12 on a yearly basis and $14 on a monthly basis. It allows you to hold meetings with 150 participants.
The business plan is offered at $16 on a yearly basis and $19 on a monthly basis. It allows a meeting capacity of 250 participants.
The enterprise plan is a customizable plan that allows you to conduct a meeting with up to 3000 members. But this can only be subscribed to by approaching the support team personally.
You can save 13% to 23% if you subscribe annually. You can hold unlimited meetings for unlimited time with this subscription.
GoToWebinar
The GoToWebinar has four plans:
- Lite
- Standard
- Pro
- Enterprise
The lite plan is offered at $49 annually and $59 monthly. It allows a capacity of 100 members.
The standard plan is offered at $99 per year or $129 per month. This plan allows a meeting capacity of 250 participants.
The pro plan is offered at $199 annually or at $249 per month. This plan allows you to hold a webinar with 500 participants.
The enterprise plan is offered at $399 per annum or $499 per month. This plan allows the maximum capacity of 3000 participants.
You can save from 17% to 23% by getting an annual subscription. And you also get a free license to GoToMeeting and GoToStage along with the subscription. You can hold unlimited meeting for unlimited time.
Comparison of Plans and Pricing
When you compare cost-wise, the GoToMeeting is obviously cheaper and performs the function efficiently. But if you want more features in addition to holding a meeting then GoToWebinar is the right choice.
Capacity
GoToMeeting
The GoToMeeting has different capacity for different plans they offer. The professional plan allows you to hold a meeting for 150 members.
The Business plan allows you to hold a meeting for 250 members. The enterprise plan allows you to hold a meeting for 3000 members only after you have contacted them personally.
GoToWebinar
The GoToWebinar has four plans with different capacities. The lite plan allows you to hold meetings for 100 members.
While the standard plan allows 250 members. The pro plan allows a meeting capacity of 500 members and the enterprise allows 3000 members.
Comparison of Capacity
Both the software have equal capacity but to get 3000 member capacity in GoToMeeting, you have a lot more complicated and time-consuming steps.
So if you want to hold a meeting with less than 250 participants, GoToMeeting is enough. But if you are holding a meeting for more than 250, GoToWebinar has an uncomplicated plan.
Scheduling and Registration – Holding a Meeting
GoToMeeting
In GoToMeeting, you can hold instant and scheduled meetings for an unlimited time period. All you have to do is open your account on the website or the GoToMeeting application on your desktop.
You can create a meeting link right away. You can either hold an instant meeting or schedule it for a later time. All you have to do is share the meeting link to the participants to join the meeting.
GoToWebinar
GoToWebinar has more options than GoToMeeting. You can hold an instant webinar, scheduled webinar, or stimulated webinar. But you must have your desktop app to hold the meeting. Unlike GoToMeeting, you cannot hold the webinar on the website.
Once you open the desktop app, you will have the option to hold an instant or scheduled meeting. If you want to hold a stimulated webinar, then you can upload your recorded webinar from GoToStage and embed the video to a scheduled meeting.
Comparison of Scheduling and Registration
Holding a meeting is relatively similar for both GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar. If your requirement is to hold a simple meeting with less than 250 members then GoToMeeting is your choice. But if you want to hold a webinar or stimulate a webinar for more than 250 members then GoToWebinar will be your best choice.
Analysis of the Participants
GoToMeeting
The GoToMeeting has a simple interface and provides very minimum information about the participants in the history log. It shows you their name, email id, joining time and exit time. It doesn’t have any tools like polls or surveys to get to know the participants interest.
GoToWebinar
GoToWebinar has many analysis metrics to help you understand your participants more. It allows you to hold polls, surveys, and Q&A to keep your participants interested and engaged.
In addition to that, it gives a clear graph comparing the number of people registered and the number of people who attended your webinar. And it also allows you to gain feedback about the success of your webinar.
Along with this it provides the participants basic details like name, email address, joining time and exit time.
Comparison of Analysis of Participants
In this, the GoToWebinar clearly has more features than the GoToMeeting. But it’s not always necessary to analyze the participants. If you are only holding meetings with people you are familiar with like your office staff, then GoToMeeting is efficient. But if you are trying to convert attendees into customers, then GoToWebinar is more efficient.
User Friendly Interface
GoToMeeting
The GoToMeeting interface is very simple with very few features. You will have the chat function on the right side. Basic functions like mute, camera, screen, and leave button will be in the middle.
You can see who is talking at the top. In the top left corner, you can record the meeting. Since the interface is very simple, it looks neat and easy to use. You can figure it out the first time you use it.
GoToWebinar
The GoToWebinar interface is a little bit complicated since it has more features. It has many features like dashboard, polls, Questions, surveys, screen, Stop, chat, audience views all crammed into a single dialogue box. The extra features does not make it easy on the interface. And the Q & A sessions are lot more complicated to use. Thus one cannot hold a webinar before they have studied the interface and have learned to use it.
Comparison of User-Friendly Interface
GoToMeeting is clearly the user-friendly interface while compared. If you want an uncomplicated meeting without any glitch, then GoToMeeting is the right choice.
Interactivity
GoToMeeting
The GoToMeeting allows all the participants to share their screen and contribute to the meeting. All the participants will know the other participants.
GoToWebinar
The participants who have the host’s permission can only share their screen or contribute to the meeting. However, there are other features like polls, surveys, Q&A. only in the Q&A will the participants be able to interact with the host. Only the host knows the participants.
Comparison of Interactivity Features
When it comes to interactiveness, then GoToMeeting is designed to be more interactive. While the GoToWebinar only allows partial interactivity among the members
Conclusion
On comparing the GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar we have deduced that both have their perks. GoToMeeting is more cost-efficient, user-friendly, interactive compared to GoToWebinar.
While the GoToWebinar has more capacity, more features, analytic features compared to GoToMeeting. Below I am going to list the people who can choose the software based on their needs.
Go for GoToMeeting if:
- If you are hosting a meeting for members less than 250.
- If you want to have interactive sessions like board meetings where everybody can contribute.
- If you want a business chat function.
- If you are holding a meeting with the same members like your employees.
- If you want an uncomplicated interface anyone like even students can understand.
- If you want a cost-efficient plan.
Go for GoToWebinar if:
- If you are hosting a large scale meeting with more than 250 members.
- If you want to host scheduled stimulate webinars without any inputs.
- If you want more analytic features to get to know your participants.
- If you want to monetize your webinar by charging them a fee to attend.
- If you want to hold events like training, webinar, commercial get-togethers to convert participants into customers.
We hope that this comparison article on GoToMeeting vs GoToWebinar would have helped you in making the right choice on which software to pick for your requirements.
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