The free meetings can be scheduled up to 100 people that can last any amount of time. After September, free accounts will be limited to meetings that don’t run longer than 60 minutes. Google Meet also provides cross-app integration, making it easy to create and join meetings from the Meet, Google Calendar, and Gmail web pages and Android/iOS apps. Additionally, users need a Google account to use Google Meet, which may add a bit of friction while the competitor product, Zoom, makes it with just a link.
Google puts options for groups within organizations as well. “For organizations that aren’t already G Suite customers, today we’re announcing G Suite Essentials,” it states. “G Suite Essentials is perfect for teams that need access to Meet’s more advanced features, such as dial-in phone numbers, larger meetings, and meeting recording.” Google is providing G Suite Essentials and all of these features free of charge through September 30.
The obvious reason behind this move is to compete against the recent rise of Zoom and increasing video meeting traffic after the start of COVID-19. Another reason may be a desire to enhance the Google Hangouts. But there’s a fact that Google’s new move will change the dynamics of the video conferencing market in the coming term.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ilkerkoksal/2020/04/30/google-meet-is-now-free-for-everyone/#1dfdce904a0a
Free Google Meet accounts for individuals
You can use Meet to schedule, join or start secure video meetings with anyone—for a virtual yoga class, weekly book club, neighborhood meeting, or happy hour with friends. Until now, Meet has only been available as part of G Suite, our collaboration and productivity solution for businesses, organizations and schools. Going forward, Meet will be available to anyone for free on the web at meet.google.com and via mobile apps for iOS or Android. And if you use Gmail or Google Calendar, you’ll be able to easily start or join from there, too.
Use your existing Google Account to start a secure meeting in Google Meet
If you have an existing Google Account (for example, if you’re a @gmail.com user), sign in at meet.google.com to get started. If you don’t have a free Google Account, it only takes a minute to create one
using your work or personal email address of choice (we require this
step as a security measure, and you’ll only need to do this once).
Meetings are limited to 60 minutes for the free product, though we won’t enforce this time limit until after Sept. 30. Creating a trusted meeting space is important, and being mindful when sharing meeting links in public forums can help create a safe experience for all attendees. For more tips on how to use Meet securely and effectively, visit our Help Center.
Source: https://meet.google.com/
Meetings are limited to 60 minutes for the free product, though we won’t enforce this time limit until after Sept. 30. Creating a trusted meeting space is important, and being mindful when sharing meeting links in public forums can help create a safe experience for all attendees. For more tips on how to use Meet securely and effectively, visit our Help Center.
Source: https://meet.google.com/
