The Meeting and Webinar platforms offer similar features and functionality but have some key differences.
Meetings are designed to be a collaborative event with all participants being able to screen share, turn on their video and audio, and see who else is in attendance.
Webinars are designed so that the host and any designated panelists can share their video, audio and screen. Webinars allow view-only attendees. They have the ability to interact via Q&A, chat, and answering polling questions. The host can also unmute the attendees. Attendees in webinars, can not rename themselves as well.
This article covers:
| Meeting | Webinar | |
| Description | Zoom meetings are ideal for hosting more interactive sessions where you’ll want to have lots of audience participation or break your session into smaller groups. | Think of webinars like a virtual lecture hall or auditorium. Webinars are ideal for large audiences or events that are open to the public. Typically, webinar attendees do not interact with one another. Though Zoom provides options for you to get more social with your attendees, your average webinar has one or a few people speaking to an audience. |
Best used for | Small to large groups (2+ participants) for:
| Large events and public broadcasts (50+ attendees) such as:
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Typically used by |
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| Cost | Free and Paid subscription options available. | Paid Add-on, available to Pro or higher subscriptions. |
| Feature | Meeting | Webinar |
| Participant roles | ||
| Audio sharing |
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| Video sharing | All participants | Hosts and panelists |
| Screen sharing | ✔ | ✔ |
| Capacity | Up to 100 with free license, up to 1,000 depending on plan and large meeting add-on. | Up to 100-10,000 participants, depending on the license. |
| Participants list | Visible to all participants | Visible to host and panelist |
| Email reminders | N/A | If registration is enabled |
| Chat | In-meeting Chat | Webinar chat |
| Meeting reactions | ✔ | N/A |
| Nonverbal feedback | ✔ | Only raise hand |
| Q&A | N/A | ✔ |
| File transfer | ✔ | N/A |
| Whiteboard | ✔ | ✔ |
| Annotation | ✔ | ✔ |
| Polling | Polling for meetings | Polling for webinars |
| Livestream | Facebook, YouTube, Workplace by Facebook, Custom Streaming Service | Facebook, YouTube, Workplace by Facebook, Custom Streaming Service |
| Registration | Registration for meetings | Registration for webinars |
| Closed captioning | ✔ | ✔ |
| Recording | ✔ | ✔ |
| Breakout rooms | ✔ | N/A |
| Practice session | N/A | ✔ |
| Waiting room | ✔ | N/A |
| Paypal integration | N/A | ✔ |
| Require password to join | ✔ | ✔ |
| International dial-in numbers | ✔ | ✔ |
*Note: If the host or co-host enables Allow to talk for an attendee, they will be able to enable their microphone as well as mute and unmute themselves.