“Which is the best webinar tool?”
I get asked this question a lot. If you have ever felt overwhelmed by choice, I think this post is going to help you because I’m going to break down the pros and cons to help you figure out which is the best webinar tool and then also declare MY personal winner.
Why is it so hard to choose a webinar tool?
I think it’s because – let’s face it – most webinar tools are kinda spendy. They aren’t free and, if they ARE free, they just don’t seem to cut the mustard in one way or another. Add on top of that the wide variety of features (this one has A but not B, this one has A and B but doesn’t have C) and the whole webinar tool shopping process can make your head spin.
First Off: How Do I Compare Webinar Tools?
With all online techie tools, I am looking for 5 things:
- Relative ease-of-use
- Ability to do what you need it to do, without a bunch of confusing excess
- Reasonable cost for someone who is just getting started as an online entrepreneur
- Good customer support (I like companies that stand behind their products)
- Plays well with others (i.e. easy enough to integrate your tool with other tools in your online biz)
Today I’m talking about Zoom vs. WebinarJam. Both of these tools meets all 5 of these criteria to some extent or they wouldn’t be on the list today at all. Neither of them totally knock it out of the park on all 5 fronts, though I do have a favorite and I’ll talk about that in a sec.
Our First Contender: Zoom
God, I love Zoom. I recently ran a telesummit with 20 speakers and I did almost every single one on Zoom. Very easy to use and – wait for it – free! Can’t beat that.
At the free level, not surprisingly, Zoom does have limitations:
- No integration with other tools
- Limited to 40 minutes when you have more than 2 people on the line (not ideal for webinars)
If you bump up to the $15/month plan (the most affordable paid tool on the docket today), one big issue is taken care of: You can have up to 100 people on the webinar for as long as you want. For a lot of us, 100 seats is more than enough, especially when you’re just getting started.
Unfortunately, this is also where in the Zoom vs. WebinarJam debate, Zoom starts to fall a bit flat for me. It’s still very easy to use but if you want to be able to really run more full-featured webinars that actually integrate with your other tools (e.g. you want to integrate with your email marketing platform), you’re going to have to bump up and grab the Zoom Webinar package, which is $40/month on top of the $15 basic plan. So now we’re at $55/month.
At the $55/month level you also have more control over your users, such as not having their little video thumbnails showing in the webinar room. You also have access to one super badass feature: the ability to stream to Facebook Live. For me this is a biggie: You can stream both into Facebook Groups AND onto Facebook Pages. I love that. If it weren’t for that, I would have a hard time getting behind Zoom Webinar. But that’s a pretty cutting-edge feature.
To Recap: For $15/month you get 100 people and unlimited meeting time but not much else. For an additional $40, you get a full-featured webinar platform that includes Facebook Livestreaming, the ability to hide attendees from public view (this is helpful if you are running small webinars and you don’t want the other attendees to see that you only have a handful of people on the line), plus other elements you’d expect from a webinar platform, like the ability to register and special Q&A sections.
One thing I don’t love about Zoom is that you have to download something to be able to use it. It’s a minor barrier, but it’s worth noting. However, the more prolific Zoom gets, the less of an issue this becomes because there’s a decent chance your webinar attendees will have downloaded Zoom before.
Up Next: WebinarJam
I use WebinarJam a lot. It’s my go-to webinar tool. Recently WebinarJam just overhauled their infrastructure and made some great changes, which I’m pretty excited about.
I’m also a WebinarJam affiliate, full disclosure here, which means that if you decide to buy WebinarJam through a link of mine, I may get a commission from them. As you know, I only recommend tools I use and love myself. If you want to check out a 60-day WebinarJam trial for $1, click here to do that.
So as far as my 5 criteria above:
- Easy to use? Check.
- Does what it needs to without overcomplicating things or making you pay for bells and whistles you don’t need? Check.
- Reasonable cost? Yes – I think so. More on that in a sec.
- Good customer support? Yep. They even have a weekly webinar where you can ask questions live.
- Integrates easily with other tools? Totally. (It does this right out of the box, no need to upgrade or anything.)
WebinarJam’s interface is really intuitive. You go through a 10-step process to set things up, easy-peasy, and now they even have a way where you can set up a basic webinar in just a minute or two.
The current price for WebinarJam is $479/year. Yikes, right? I know that sounds like a hefty price tag. Buuuuut if you do the math, $479 divided by 12 equals about $40 per month, which actually makes it $15 cheaper per month than Zoom. That’s a big factor for me.
(And if $479 all at once is too much to swallow, WebinarJam does also offer a payment plan – 4 payments of $149, which works out to roughly $50/month – still cheaper than Zoom Webinar.)
What about the $15/month Zoom? This is a good question – obviously if you just buy the $15/month Zoom (Zoom Pro), then you’re spending way less than you are on WebinarJam. However, at that point you’re really not even comparing apples and oranges, it’s more like apples and… firetrucks? Apples and Screwdrivers? Something like that. 🙂
Where WebinarJam really shines is in the fact that it was designed for marketing and selling on the Internet. They have gorgeous opt-in templates you can customize easily. They have this amazing little pop-up sales box that you can have appear just at the moment you want it to so people have a buy button to click on. They even have built-in urgency and scarcity tools, as well as real-time sales tracking (so you can show X units sold, right there on your webinar). Here’s what it looks like:
It’s really cool. These features are THE reason I became a WebinarJam customer.
There’s also nothing for your webinar attendees to download and install, which I like a lot.
Aaaand another one of my favorite features is how WebinarJam lets you do “video injections” – so if you do have something prerecorded, such as a testimonials reel you want to put in at the end, or if you want to tweak your webinar offer and not do that part live, you totally can.
Where WebinarJam falls down – at least for now – is with Facebook Livestreaming. Exciting update – read on! If you want to be able to push your live webinars to Facebook via WebinarJam, you can. Up until recently, WebinarJam only could broadcast on Facebook PAGES, not in Facebook GROUPS (which is what I needed).
As I was doing some more research for today’s article, I checked in on WebinarJam because they had told me that at some point in the near future, their developers would release the functionality of streaming into your Facebook Groups. And guess what?!?! Now you can! Oh, I am so excited. I’m upgrading today! I have a livestream coming up tonight (it’s Margarita Monday over in my Facebook Group) so I will be testing it out then.
Here’s my link to get a 60-day trial of WebinarJam for $1 (no need to drop $479 till you’re sure you like it).
Zoom vs. WebinarJam: Which is the Best Webinar Tool for You?
The answer to this question will feel like a bit of a cop-out: it really does depend on your needs and priorities.
I use the free version of Zoom for my one-on-one coaching and when I’m conducting interviews. It is awesome for that.
I use WebinarJam for pretty much everything else. It has cool sales and marketing doo-dads built right into the platform and no one has to download anything to attend your webinars. And now that WebinarJam does livestreaming into Facebook Groups too, there really is no strong case to be made for Zoom Webinar, at least not for me.
So if you’re thinking Zoom Webinar vs. WebinarJam, I can’t think of one reason anymore why you’d choose Zoom.
The only reason I can think of why you’d choose Zoom vs. WebinarJam would be if you wanted to run group webinars and were on a crazy-tight budget. In that case, you’d pick the $15/month Zoom option (called “Zoom Pro”). You’d get 100 attendees and unlimited webinar time, which is what you need.
You wouldn’t get other webinar stuff, like registration pages, marketing tools (I just love WebinarJam’s “buy now” button that pops up at a time of your choosing), the ability to not see everyone’s faces on your webinar, etc.
You also wouldn’t get any livestreaming capability into Facebook, if that matters to you at all.
However, if you just want to run basic webinars, Zoom’s $15/month option should do you just fine until you’re ready to uplevel. It saves you $300 a year, which isn’t a bad thing. But I would definitely take a look at the price point of what you’re selling and WebinarJam’s ability to help you sell that thing vs. Zoom. If WebinarJam can help you sell even ONE extra thing, it’s probably a no-brainer for you to go with WebinarJam.
Check out Zoom’s packages here.
Check out WebinarJam here and get a $1 trial for 60 days.
I really hope you’ve found this post helpful. If you have, please do 2 things for me: (1) leave a comment below and (2) share this post with 1 or 2 people you think would really benefit. Thank you!
I appreciate you,
Kathryn
Great article Kathryn!
As a complete rookie to these programs… Thank you! Our current client base is in China and using their classroom software is a huge pain… I can’t read the controls. Wife is Chinese, but not tech literate. 🙁
One click joining is critical for my attendees and I do have MailChimp already.
I’m not sure you could get it down to literally one click but pretty darn close… There’s no software to download so that’s a big help if your crowd has a techie barrier of any kind. Thanks for checking in Kelly!
Great article! I was trying to decide which software I wanted to use for Coaching Webinars, and your article provided a great wealth of information.
Glad it was helpful Derrick! Any qs please let me know. 🙂 For one-on-one coaching it’s hard to go wrong with Zoom.
this was super helpful thanks! i signed up for everwebinar for the $1 for two months deal and then realized that i LOVE live webinars with video vs. slide shares. i already have the upgraded zoom but was curious about the apples to apples comparison. i think i’mg going to do the free $1 trial run and see how it goes :)))
Hey Lauren thank you so much for your comment! I have a special place in my heart for live stuff. I think you’ll be blown away by the differences. Zoom is pretty awesome but if you are specifically looking to sell from webinars, I don’t think you can beat WebinarJam.
Great comparison post, Kathryn! Any idea of the limit of attendees for Webinar Jam?
Update! Joyce I had originally told you unlimited attendees but in fact it’s 500 – just found that out. You can upgrade for an incredibly low $ amount if you need more, like $20 a year or something crazy. But that’s 500 live attendees, meaning that you would need to likely have over 2,000 registrants to hit that 500 person cap. The idea of course is that if you need more than 500 attendees, it’s a no-brainer to upgrade because you have the visibility of someone with a decent income in their business.
Correction. 😉
ADD-ON PRICE PRICING: https://www.webinarjam.com/add-on/
* REGULAR PRICING ($475/year ($39/mth)) includes: 3 presenters & 500 attendees
* OPTIONAL: 5 presenters & 2,000 attendees: additional $19.99/mth or $199/year (EXTRA!)
* OPTIONAL: 6 presenters & 5,000 attendees: additional $59.99/mth or $599/year (EXTRA!)
Hey thank you! I must have a grandfathered package. Will update 🙂
Great article and very much appreciated.
Thanks Randy! 🙂
Thank you kathryn – you helped me decide and I took the webinarjam trial
Keep me posted on what you think David!
Thank you for this information. The features comparison is exactly what I need. I just canceled my Zoom Pro contract. I believe Webinar Jam will be a perfect fit for my business needs. Any suggestions for first-time users? I am thinking about making a webinar available for an upcoming event. Great article!
Glad to have helped Lynne. 🙂 I think you’ll enjoy the extra features and $$ savings too. Once you’re in you’ll see how easy it is to use, not a big learning curve even if you’re a first-time user. That being said, do give yourself the opportunity to practice with a test webinar (another built-in feature of WebinarJam) and get accustomed to the interface so on webinar day, you’re not feeling brand new to all the buttons and gizmos. 🙂
I am located in Hong Kong, Asia.
Is there any issues related for the speed for both software?
Hey Ringo! There is no software to download – everything is online. As long as you have a decent internet connection you’ll be fine. WebinarJam recommends a wired connection but I run all my webinars over WIFI, 1 floor away from our router, and as long as I don’t have Dropbox syncing or my husband watching Netflix or something, there are no issues at all.
Hi Kathryn – thanks for a great article. My main concern with webinarjam is the quality of the internet connection. I’m in Australia on ADSL and use an Ethernet cable and I want to start running live webinars and everything is pointing to Webinarjam but what are the chances of it breaking up during a live session? (I know that’s hard for you to answer but based on your experience). Also – what’s the quality of recordings? THANKS, Clare
Clare if you have a hardwired connection that’s your best bet. No question livestreaming is Internet resource heavy! WebinarJam gives you 60 days to check it out for just $1 with that special link up there, so if you’re concerned I’d do some testing and if it doesn’t work, cancel during your trial period.
Thank you for this great article. I have been leaning towards WebinarJam for a while. Though I am currently using Zoom ($15/mth) cause I just need to get started.
But you have confirmed my thinking… WebinarJam is the longterm solution.
Just one question. How is WebinarJam’s customer support? It is nearly impossible to contact them. Zoom actually called me on the phone. WebinarJam??
Hey Steve! I actually love WebinarJam’s support. They have a Facebook Group with really quick responses (sometimes just in minutes). They also have a support email and a weekly webinar where you can ask questions and get training right from them.
Thanks, Kathryn. I appreciate the comparison. That being said, you state, “No need to drop $479 until you are sure you like it”. However, when I click on your link, I am taken to a page on WebinarJam in which I have to provide my credit card info. I am hoping that I will only be charged $1 for the 60-Day trial before being charged the additional $479 (as your article specifies). The way they have set up the page, it looks like they may charge me for both.
Hey Terri! When you click the link you should actually be taken to their home page that has a black box near the top where it says there’s a $1 trial, and then somewhere there should be a button that says, “Click Here to Start Your Trial.” Once you click that, you’ll be taken to the page where they’ll take your credit card info to pay for the $1 trial, then after 60 days if you keep your WebinarJam membership, that’s when they’ll bill you the $479. Hope that helps!
This was SO helpful, Kathryn … just what I needed! Thank you for writing such a clearly stated, informative article. xo
Hey Stacey, thanks for taking a minute to leave a comment! You made my day. 🙂
Really good advice. And you are up to date! I will start following you and follow your advice. I took the 1 dollar offer on Webinar Jam and when I googled Zoom versus Webinar Jam your text was the best. Best regards from Sweden.
Thanks Lisel! xo You’ll love WebinarJam.
what about webignition? seems i have seen many comparrisons where it wins – any thoughts?
Hey Nate, great question. WebinarIgnition is a WordPress plugin, which means you’ve got to have a site set up and be proficient with WordPress, vs. WebinarJam which is a standalone platform. Also as far as I can tell WebinarIgnition doesn’t have its own live-streaming service. Instead you have to use Google Hangouts or something similar, which can sometimes (but not always) mean stability issues. The other feature of WJ which I use all the time that WI doesn’t have is integration with Facebook Live, both groups and pages.
Hi I wish I would have see this a few days ago for the free trial… I bought the webinarjam package. Unfortunately I have not had a easy time setting it up because I cannot figure out how to get YouTube configured to work with it! Even after watching several how to videos!
Hi Toni! It’s much easier and more stable to use their JamCast option. Have you tried that? It’s a huge upgrade over the YouTube integration.
I was almost ready to buy Zoom Pro (all the features I need and EXCELLENT customer service (a live team member who I could see and talk to, gave me a great demo) but I stopped short because I need an evergreen webinar function where the recording of my live webinar can autoplay when subsequent users register and it will LOOK live although it’s not. Zoom did not have this feature. I would have to manually start the recording. Does Webinarjam offer this option?
You’re right Celeste… Zoom Pro doesn’t have anything like that (not geared towards marketing at all) and actually neither does WebinarJam, but their sister product, EverWebinar, does. I have a $1 60-day trial for them too – link: https://kathryn.krtra.com/t/kgxWh7oPjDoQ (also an affiliate link – price is the same but I may earn a small commission if you stick with them). EverWebinar is the easiest platform I’ve seen. Other options I’ve found are pricier and/or way more complicated. Let me know if you try it – and if you like it.
Great content Kathryn!
Thanks a lot for sharing with us 🙂
You’re welcome Petra and thanks for taking the time to write a comment – I appreciate it.
MANY thanks for that trial link. Lifesaver.
My pleasure Jason 🙂
Hi Kathrin,
thanks for the good article..
Please let me ask these questions / give my summary:
a) What is your take on technical stability of Zoom versus WebinarJam
b) What plan with which company would you use for web summits with 10 speakers and 500 or more listeners? Are there one time solutions? .. i will only do that once or twice a year and dont want to contract a monthly installment plan.
c) You said you used Zoom free version for your tele-summit with 20 speakers, yet it is limited to 40min. in the free version and in the 15USD version you can only have 100 participants. I dont get it… Did you use Zoom and use screen capture software to record the interviews and then display on other website pre-recorded? Can you please help me understand that!
thx alex
Hi Alex! Awesome questions. Zoom and WebinarJam are both super-stable. WebinarJam used to be less so but they overhauled their platform a few years ago and it’s awesome now, though be advised that people are having to livestream and don’t have to download any software (like they do with Zoom), so if their Internet connection is only so-so (or they’re watching Netflix and surfing Facebook at the same time as your webinar), they may experience audio/video issues.
For my summit, yes, I recorded the interviews using Zoom. Then I used WebinarJam’s video injection feature (you can play pre-recorded video into a live webinar). Zoom has built-in recording software (though you have to remember to hit record). WebinarJam does too and it records automatically.
If you’re running summits once or twice a year, there isn’t really a one-time solution. You could sign up for either one and then quit again. Or you can just pay the one-time annual fee.
Great article.
When I signed up – it gave me some options for upsells. Which I’m thinking I didn’t need but when you do a 2.0 of this article, can you give a breakdown of those upsells?
(BTW: the “no thanks” link on the final upsell was WICKED hard to find. Not your problem, but knowing the pros/cons of the upsells will be really helpful.)
Yes! Thank you so much for the tip Kim xoxo
I’ve been debating this forever. I keep coming back to google hangouts embedded on my site with Chattango for comments. It works fine, but as I’m looking at running webinars regularly, say twice a month, I’ll be wanting something more robust. Although I’ve read many articles, this one is leading me to Webinar Jam. When I’m ready, I’ll use your link. Many thanks!
Hi Linda! So nice to see your name here. Thanks for leaving a comment. 🙂 I definitely appreciate you using my link and if you have any questions for getting set up let me know. Happy to help. I use WebinarJam to run my promotional webinars and also my trainings for private clients. It gets a ton of use in my business.
Great Review Kathryn!!!!!
I will definitly check out your $1 trail.
Also can you please tell me a little more about the Affillite program please. Thaks Wayne
Happy to help Wayne. Do you mean WebinarJam’s affiliate program? It’s run through Kartra (another product of theirs). They provide you with lots of links and creatives to help promote. I don’t really use them because I’m not hardcore with promoting them – I mostly share the affiliate link via blog posts like this one and in conversations with clients who are looking for a webinar tool designed for Internet marketers.
Thanks Kathryn, fantastic insights and breakdown of the features in simple terms, appreciate it!
Awesome! Thanks for a refreshingly clear and honest post. 🙂 It also made me smile, a good combination.
All the best!
/S-A
I appreciate your thorough evaluation and comparison of the two products. I work with several coaches who have been using Zoom and see that Webinar Jam may be the better choice for them. Have you considered running Webinar Jam as a service for entrepreneurs who might be interested in outsourcing this function?
Hi Matthew! Thank you for taking the time to write a comment. We don’t provide done-for-you services outside of our Clarity Momentum Success membership program. I really want everyone to have the correct strategies & tools they need to succeed. These types of services are available to our members, though.
Great article!
Can you please help me because I do not understand all the terminology on the WebinarJam website?
Can you use WebinarJam for simple online meetings (eg demos, sign-ups or training) 1-on-1 or 1-to-not-many? We currently use Zoom for meetings (and webinars) but are very frustrated with the webinar product.
We have a fixed URL for a “recurring” meeting that people get automatically after booking in a meeting via Calendly. Does Webinar have the same feature (ie a URL that does not need a registration via WebinarJam).
Thanks Gavin! Zoom is best for meetings where you have more than 6 people. If you are doing a true webinar, WebinarJam is a much better tool. WebinarJam does not have feature you described of automatically sending people a link to your meeting. It’s really designed for selling via webinar and is a bit cumbersome for just regular meetings. Zoom should fit your purposes and you shouldn’t need Zoom Webinar, just Zoom Pro for that.
thanks for this post