Zoom vs Amazon Chime: Which Is Better for Small Businesses?
Corey McCraw is a staff writer covering VoIP and Unified Communications. Corey has over a decade of experience in marketing, tech writing, and corporate communications and has even penned content for the former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative.
Marianne is a staff writer at Fit Small Business who covers business phone services, VoIP, and video conferencing tools.
This article is part of a larger series on Unified Communications.
Zoom and Amazon Chime are unified communications solutions that offer audio and video conferencing features. Zoom is the more popular option for businesses operating remotely, thanks to its easy-to-use system and full-featured capabilities that you can connect to over 1,000 apps. Meanwhile, Amazon Chime is great for businesses looking for a platform offering online chatting as well as simple video conferencing and handling business calls.
Based on our comparison, the best use cases for Zoom vs Amazon Chime are as follows:
- Zoom: Better for small to large-sized teams that want a feature-rich platform to facilitate team collaboration
- Amazon Chime: Better for businesses that want a simple video conferencing platform with no long-term subscription involved
These two providers offer reliable video conferencing capabilities. However, those looking for all-in-one communications solutions with advanced features like robust security protocols can check our list of the best video conferencing software.
Zoom vs Amazon Chime at a Glance
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Price | $14.99 per user, per month* | $15 per user, per month* |
Free Version | ✔ | ✔ |
Meeting Capacity | Up to 1,000 | Up to 250 |
High-definition (HD) Video Quality | 1080p for Business and Enterprise plans | 720p |
Video Conferencing Duration | Up to 30 hours | No limit, but users have to dial back after 24 hours |
Cloud Recording | Unlimited for Enterprise plan | Up to 12 hours |
Team Collaboration |
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Customer Support |
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Integrations | 1,000+ | No integrations** |
For more information |
*Based on a monthly pricing plan.
**Users have to integrate Amazon Chime SDK (software development kit) to their communications app to extend meeting functionality.
Best for Pricing: Zoom
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*Zoom pricing is based on a monthly subscription plan and is available in annual billing plans.
**Amazon Chime pricing is available on a per-day and monthly plan subscription.
Zoom offers more flexible subscription plans for businesses of all sizes. It comes in a free version and three paid subscriptions. While Amazon Chime also has a free option, there’s only one paid monthly plan. Furthermore, its Pro plan doesn’t offer as many features as Zoom’s plans.
Zoom’s free plan allows users to host up to 100 participants for up to 40 minutes with basic features, such as screen sharing and group chats. Paid versions offer up to a 500-participant capacity and advanced video conferencing features, such as social media streaming, recording transcripts, and language interpretations.
Amazon Chime’s Basic plan only lets users attend meetings hosted by an Amazon Chime Pro user. The Pro plan is available through the pay-as-you-go service, charging users for access only on days they use the platform. The features included are hosting meetings and assigning delegates for scheduling.
Best for Video & Audio Conferencing: Zoom
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Zoom stands out when hosting large-scale audio and video conferencing meetings.
Users get high-definition (HD) video quality, including access to multiple video conferencing functionalities, such as a breakout room, waiting room, host control, whiteboarding, and live transcription. For international dial-in numbers, Zoom takes the lead by offering over 90 countries.
Another advantage of using Zoom is that users have an option to participate in meetings for 30 hours straight. While Amazon Chime allows users to host meetings for several days, each session has a 24-hour limit. The host should end the meeting after 24 hours and require attendees to dial back into the meeting using the same meeting ID, provided the user remains subscribed to the Pro plan.
Amazon Chime focuses on a no-frills approach to hosting meetings, offering basic collaboration features like screen sharing and meeting recording. Each meeting has a 250-participant capacity and displays up to 25 attendees. Amazon Chime makes it easy to conduct meetings with people outside the company because it doesn’t require users to install an application.
Best for UCaaS Features: Zoom
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Both Zoom and Amazon Chime support basic communication features, but Zoom takes it one step ahead with its extended plans and add-ons. Zoom enables users to facilitate large group video meetings with access to team collaboration tools, such as cloud storage and project management apps. Plus, the Large Meetings add-on ($14.99 per month for the Pro plan) allows you to extend participant capacity up to 1,000.
Amazon Chime offers the basic features of what you expect from a unified communications (UC) platform. The drawback is that it doesn’t provide as much functionality as Zoom does for team collaboration. For example, Amazon Chime supports group chat, screen sharing, and facilitating business calls. However, it doesn’t offer whiteboarding, presentation tools, and other advanced audio and video conferencing features.
What makes Amazon Chime unique from Zoom is its ability to join meetings using Alexa or Slack. Since Amazon Chime is built on top of Amazon Web Services (AWS), it’s ideal for users already in the Amazon ecosystem of solutions.
Best for Team Collaboration: Zoom
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Zoom provides instant messaging, video conferencing, file sharing, screen sharing, host controls, multi-share, breakout rooms, co-annotation, and whiteboarding. | Amazon Chime offers instant messaging, video conferencing, screen sharing, visual roster (see participant status), and custom chatbots. |
Zoom provides a more flexible virtual work platform because of the range of features it offers, including multi-share, whiteboarding, host controls, collaborative annotation, and company branding. You’ll want to upgrade to a paid plan for more advanced features, such as polling, co-host controls, meeting scheduler, and live transcription.
Amazon Chime offers a more simplified team experience but provides useful features for team collaboration. For example, Voice Focus reduces the sound level of ambient sounds, such as lawnmowers, running water, paper shuffling, and other unwanted external noises.
Upgrading to Amazon Chime’s Pro Plan provides users the ability to record meetings and use chatbots to automate tasks and access information. For file attachments, utilize the Amazon Chime Assistant to retrieve files uploaded in the chat rooms.
Best for Integrations: Zoom
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Zoom provides over 1,000 third-party integrations. | Amazon Chime has no third-party integrations. |
Zoom is the better video conference software for teams that need to connect their third-party applications. With over 1,000 integrations available, Zooms offers various categories: analytics, collaboration, customer service, education, event management, finance, and scheduling. Check the Zoom App Marketplace for the complete list of integrations.
Amazon Chime has no listed integrations. Users have to enable Amazon Chime SDK, a software development kit that integrates with other AWS services. It incorporates communication components (i.e., messaging or video) into any web or mobile platform. Amazon Chime SDK works independently from Amazon Chime, but it doesn’t affect meetings hosted via Amazon Chime.
Best for Customer Support: Zoom
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Zoom offers a live chat, web ticket, help center, and phone support. | Amazon Chime offers a knowledge base, self-service, and web ticket. |
Zoom is a more reliable option for customer service. However, you have to upgrade to a paid plan to get real-time support because the free trial only offers the help center. Paid plans offer live chat, web tickets, and phone support.
The Premium Support add-on helps users resolve their issues quickly, but you have to subscribe to its Enterprise plan to get the monthly rate. Visit The Zoom Learning Center for live training and on-demand courses.
Amazon Chime doesn’t have as many options for customer support. In the event of a technical issue, the Amazon Chime Administrator is available for Team or Enterprise AWS account subscribers to submit support requests. For a personalized demo, users need an Amazon Chime account.
Best Alternatives
While Amazon Chime and Zoom offer basic communication and collaboration features, you may want to explore other alternatives that best fit your business needs. Other video conferencing providers may offer budget-friendly prices, different collaboration tools, and more robust unified communications features.
A few Amazon Chime and Zoom alternatives include:
- RingCentral: For a video conferencing platform with robust functionality, check out RingCentral, as it comes with tiered plans available at reasonable prices and comprehensive features. This is great for small to mid-sized businesses looking for a complete phone solution with a call management system.
- BlueJeans: Businesses looking for seamless audio and video conferencing quality should consider BlueJeans. However, it doesn’t have all the features for team collaboration, such as file sharing and webinar tools. Also, live feedback and screen sharing capabilities are somewhat lacking. But if you’re looking for excellent call quality, strong security features, and unlimited meeting durations, BlueJeans certainly delivers.
- Google Meet: Like Amazon Chime, Google Meet offers a standalone video conferencing solution with basic collaboration features, such as screen sharing, file sharing, and whiteboard. This is perfect for businesses looking for a unified communications as a service (UCaaS) platform with a user-friendly interface that integrates with other Google Products.
How We Evaluated Zoom vs AWS Chime
Amazon Chime and Zoom are dedicated video conferencing solutions that offer essential collaboration tools, such as screen sharing, meeting recordings, and team messaging. However, each platform comes with different pricing plans and features that cater to unique business needs.
To determine which platform will benefit your small business, we evaluated each one based on pricing plans, integrations, customer support, and team collaboration tools. Here’s a complete breakdown of these factors:
20%
Pricing
25%
General Features
20%
Ease of Use
25%
Collaboration
10%
Expert Score
20% of Overall Score
We evaluated the monthly cost of each plan tier to determine how much value these platforms offer for businesses with different budgets. Plus, we checked the additional features and user limitations.
25% of Overall Score
We compared the video conferencing features of each platform, including the ability to host group meetings, screen sharing, whiteboarding, meeting recordings, and collaboration tools.
20% of Overall Score
While users will have no issues navigating both platforms, we checked how easy it is to access training, customer support options, and usability in team collaboration.
25% of Overall Score
An ideal video conferencing solution has powerful features to make virtual collaborations easier. We examined how each platform integrates with other applications and makes information sharing easier.
10% of Overall Score
We looked deeper at each video conferencing platform to determine which offers more functionality to accommodate various business needs. Also, we factored in their usability, familiarity, and overall user experience.
*Percentages of overall score
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Amazon Chime more secure than Zoom?
Both Amazon Chime and Zoom use a 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) to protect your meeting content, including messages, video, voice, and screen share. However, Zoom has a history of security issues, potentially making Amazon Chime a safer option.
On the other hand, Amazon Chime is built on AWS cloud. It uses a data center and network architecture that meets the requirements of many security-sensitive businesses. Still, Zoom has been making huge strides when it comes to security—adding transport layer security (TLS) and end-to-end encryption to prevent attacks like Zoombombing.
Do I need an Amazon Chime account to join a meeting?
No. Attending Amazon Chime meetings is possible as long as you have a meeting ID and the latest versions of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Check out Amazon Chime’s system requirements for the complete list of web browsers.
Do Slack users have access to Amazon Chime meetings?
Yes. Slack comes with an Amazon Chime Meetings app, where users connect with their team members instantly. There’s no need to create an Amazon Chime account if you have your Slack credentials.
Bottom Line
While Amazon Chime and Zoom are both reliable video conferencing tools, businesses that often engage in team collaboration consider Zoom as the best video conference software because of the advanced features it offers. Meanwhile, businesses that want a simplified communication platform turn to Amazon Chime—no long-term contract needed. Still, the choice depends on the features you need to support communications within your business.
