Top 10: Group Video Calling software and services for Business

2019. Skype now supports up to 50 group call participants



Skype is doubling the number of people who can simultaneously participate in a group audio or video call. It now supports as many as 50 people at once, up from 25, previously. With the expanded support for more participants, Skype tops the abilities of other popular messaging apps like WhatsApp, Google Hangouts and Instagram, and instead competes more directly with enterprise-grade calling solutions like Zoom, for example, which supports up to 100 or even 1,000 participants, depending on the plan, with up to 49 webcams displayed in its gallery view. Skype also one-ups Facebook Messenger, which allows 50 people to join a chat but limits the screen to show only the speaker after more than a half-dozen people join in. On Skype, participants are shown in bubbles across the top of the screen and the end-user can choose whose feed they want to focus on in a multi-paned main window.


2016. Facebook Messenger gets group video calling


Facebook Messenger just added group video calling. The chat app now allows groups of up to six users to make video calls directly from their messages. The feature, available now to anyone with the latest version of the app. Starting a group call works the same way as it does for one-to-one video calls in the app: tapping the camera icon in the top right corner while in a chat will begin the video call. Facebook has limited the calls to groups of six, though up to 50 other participants to join in without video once the limit is reached. Recall that Messenger's bro WhatsApp added only one-to-one video calling last month.

2014. Skype makes group video calls free


Until now, group video calling in Skype was available only in the premium accounts, which cost $8.99/month. Now this feature will be available for free so you'll be able to organize unlimited online meetings with up to 10 participants. For a while the free group video calling is only available in the desktop version (Windows and Mac) and on Xbox. Soon Microsoft will add it to the mobile versions (iOS, Android and Windows Phone). This video shows how to start a group video call. Recall that not so long ago one of Skype's competitors - GoToMeeting also launched free video chat for 3 participants.