Z

Zoom

SaaS alternative

Hosted video meetings, phone, and chat from a US company, with a free tier capped at 40-minute group calls.

Category
Video calls · SaaS alternative
Cost
Freemium
Country
US
Licensing
Proprietary
+ what works
  • +Reliable call quality and broad client support across desktop, mobile, and room hardware
  • +Optional end-to-end encryption is available on all tiers, including free
  • +Clear public policy that customer meeting content is not used to train AI models
  • +Data residency controls let enterprise customers pin processing to a region
watch out for
  • End-to-end encryption is off by default and breaks cloud recording, transcription, and dial-in
  • History of security failures, including a 2020 FTC settlement over false E2EE claims and meeting keys routed through Chinese servers
  • Closed source clients and server, so privacy claims rely on Zoom's audits rather than independent verification
  • US jurisdiction subjects stored content and metadata to US legal process
  • Free tier caps group meetings at 40 minutes

Meetings use AES-256 GCM transport encryption by default, with Zoom holding the keys. End-to-end encryption is available but opt-in per meeting and disables cloud recording, live transcription, phone dial-in, and several other features. Zoom Communications is headquartered in San Jose, California and is subject to US legal process. Zoom states that customer audio, video, chat, and screen-sharing content is not used to train its AI Companion or third-party models, a policy clarified after a 2023 terms-of-service controversy.

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#video-conferencing · #e2ee-optional · #us · #proprietary

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