Are you looking for a conference call service that gives you the tools to host webinars and give presentations?
If so, ClickMeeting could be exactly what you’re looking for. ClickMeeting is different from competitors in the conference call services niche. This software was mainly created for hosting meetings and webinars. Therefore, it places extreme importance on customizable video conferencing and webinar features.
ClickMeeting Pros and Cons
Pros
- Video Conferencing Features
- Browser-Based Software
- Large Virtual Events
- Meeting Customization
Cons
- No Free Plan
- Additional Feature Upcharges
How ClickMeeting Compares to Top Conference Call Services
After researching countless conference call services, we determined ClickMeeting is the best tool for webinars and presentations.
It goes beyond solely conference calls. ClickMeeting is packed with features and is geared towards video conferencing and webinars. It is intended for small meetings all the way up to massive virtual events.
If you’re looking for a service that focuses solely on conference calling, look elsewhere. Our two go-to recommendations are RingCentral and GoToMeeting. RingCentral is the best phone and video conference call combo. GoToMeeting is the best for upgrading (or creating) your conference room.
These two are not better than ClickMeeting per se, but they’re suited for different audiences. The conference call software you choose completely depends on your specific business needs. For webinars and presentations, go with ClickMeeting.
ClickMeeting Number of Participants
It’s important to keep in mind the maximum number of participants allowed with a conference call software.
We’re happy to report that ClickMeeting is not limited here. However, you must pay for more attendees. Since ClickMeeting is geared towards webinars, it measures price based on the number of attendees.
The minimum price point starts at 10 attendees. The low-tier and mid-tier plans max out at 1,000 attendees. The enterprise plan allows over 1,000 attendees, and it can even host huge virtual events with up to 10,000 attendees.
ClickMeeting offers a wide range of meeting sizes that are suitable for many different needs. Its max number of participants is nothing to be concerned about.
ClickMeeting Video Conferencing
If your business wants a tool that knows video, you’re in luck. ClickMeeting specializes in video conferencing and webinars. It has a vast number of features to enhance your experience.
ClickMeeting is browser-based, so no software is required for video conferencing. However, it does have a handy mobile app you can use if you’re away from your laptop.
All three pricing plans allow for a meeting host and multiple presenters.
For webinars, you can use up to four cameras. Up to 25 different cameras can be used when hosting meetings. Presenters can upload different files to share during the meeting.
ClickMeeting includes a whiteboard option that allows presenters to show up to 10 slides at once. It has a screen sharing feature that lets presenters share multiple screens for their audience.
It also includes a YouTube presenting feature, allowing hosts to stream their webinars directly to an audience on that giant social media platform.
Other video conferencing features include surveys, questions mode, and call-to-action buttons.
The surveys option allows hosts to create polls and tests for the attendees.
When enabling the questions mode, attendees can ask the presenters questions, and they can be answered via the chat box.
Call-to-action buttons can be created and customized as well. Hosts type out the message to be displayed, enter the amount of time they want it to display for, and customize the colors on the button.
There are three different webinar modes. There is a listen-only mode, a discussion group mode, and a presenters-only private mode.
ClickMeeting even allows you to lock the room. This feature improves safety and keeps out hackers and uninvited guests.
Hosts can also change the language and add attendees during the meeting.
ClickMeeting has an abundant amount of video conferencing features. It is more than most competitors have to offer.
ClickMeeting Video and Audio Quality
The last thing you want to do is pay for a software tool only to later discover that the audio and video quality is poor.
There is no need to worry about ClickMeeting here. It uses the latest web RTC technology to power its HD video quality. The audio quality is also crystal clear.
Because it is a webinar service in charge of hosting up to 10,000 people, ClickMeeting must focus on quality–and it does so successfully.
ClickMeeting Call Recording
Recording storage is also an important factor to consider when picking a software option.
All three ClickMeeting plans have call recording options, and the recordings can be auto-published to Dropbox.
The free trial has 30 minutes and 500 megabytes of storage. ClickMeeting Live has six hours and one gigabyte of recording storage. The two higher-tier plans have 10 hours and two gigabytes of recording storage.
These storage capacities are high and should be plenty for most. However, if you’re looking for a greater amount of storage, there are other competitors that may be a better fit.
For example, Zoom has a plan with unlimited cloud recording storage available.
ClickMeeting Call Scheduling and Setup
Scheduling and setup are the foundation for a good conference call and webinar service.
ClickMeeting call setup is simple, yet customizable with added features. The three steps when setting up a meeting are scheduling an event, inviting attendees, and joining the room.
When scheduling an event, a host first types in the room name. Then the host picks a date, the time, and selects the appropriate time zone. The higher-tier plans even allow hosts to choose a customized toll-free number.
The waiting room, registration message, and appearance can all be customized. Once hosts are done customizing, they will click Create an Invite. This takes them to the second step.
When inviting participants to the meeting, hosts have the option to invite either attendees or presenters.
To invite people, hosts can enter contacts’ emails, search for matching records or groups, or invite attendees from a previous session.
A fourth option allows hosts to copy the link directly. They can post the link on social media sites like LinkedIn or Facebook. Copying the link also gives hosts the option to paste it in a fully customized email if they prefer. Hosts even have the option to select an email template, which we think is a cool feature.
The final step is to simply join the room and begin. If on the go, attendees and hosts can use the ClickMeeting mobile app to host and join meetings.
We think ClickMeeting’s setup is incredibly well done, and you will find many features that are not available with other competitors.
ClickMeeting Free Trial
ClickMeeting gives users a taste of what it has to offer through its 30-day free trial. Once the free trial expires, users must choose one of the three pricing plans.
The free trial has a 25-attendee limit, an unlimited number of meetings and webinars, and 30 minutes of recording storage.
For a free trial, 30 days is generous. It’s much better than GoToMeeting’s 14-day free trial. However, competitors like RingCentral, UberConference, and Zoom have no time limit on their free services before forcing users to upgrade.
If you’re looking for a software option that’s free long-term, ClickMeeting is not for you.
ClickMeeting Live
The lowest of the three pricing plans is ClickMeeting Live.
ClickMeeting Live is what you need if you want to run live webinars and online business meetings. The plan starts at $25 per month and allows up to 1,000 attendees.
ClickMeeting’s pricing structure is complex and flexible. Its pricing is tiered based on the plan chosen and the number of attendees. Users can save up to 20% when choosing annual billing over monthly billing.
ClickMeeting Live’s monthly pricing breakdown is below.
- 10 to 25 attendees: $25 billed annually, $30 billed monthly
- 26 to 50 attendees: $35 billed annually, $45 billed monthly
- 51 to 100 attendees: $60 billed annually, $79 billed monthly
- 101 to 200 attendees: $119 billed annually, $149 billed monthly
- 201 to 500 attendees: $139 billed annually, $179 billed monthly
- 501 to 1,000 attendees: $239 billed annually, $309 billed monthly
ClickMeeting Live allows four cameras in webinars and 25 cameras in meetings. One host and one presenter are permitted.
When hosting more than 25 attendees, breakout rooms are available. The plan offers screen sharing, screen control, presentation mode, whiteboards, and Q&A. Private chats, polls, surveys, and call-to-action buttons are all available with this plan.
There’s a ton of value packed in ClickMeeting Live, but it’s somewhat expensive for a lowest-tier plan. In comparison, Zoom and BlueJean starter plans are half the price of ClickMeeting Live. You’re paying a premium for quality and the added webinar features with this plan.
ClickMeeting Live is intended for hosts presenting to a live audience. If you want automation features, you must upgrade to ClickMeeting Automated.
ClickMeeting Automated
ClickMeeting’s mid-tier plan is called ClickMeeting Automated.
It includes everything available in ClickMeeting Live plus automation features. Pricing for this plan starts at $40 per month. Like ClickMeeting Live, it ranges from 10 to 1,000 attendees.
Its pricing tiers are also set up like ClickMeeting Live’s. The automated monthly pricing breakdown is listed below.
- 10 to 25 attendees: $40 billed annually, $45 billed monthly
- 26 to 50 attendees: $45 billed annually, $55 billed monthly
- 51 to 100 attendees: $75 billed annually, $95 billed monthly
- 101 to 200 attendees: $145 billed annually, $179 billed monthly
- 201 to 500 attendees: $179 billed annually, $229 billed monthly
- 501 to 1000 attendees: $279 billed annually, $359 billed monthly
The main difference between the live and automation plans is the automation upgrades. ClickMeeting Automated includes automated recurring webinars and on-demand webinars.
Automated recurring webinars let hosts upload webinar recordings, surveys, videos, and call-to-action buttons to their Automated Webinar Timeline. Then they can sit back, relax, and let ClickMeeting run the event automatically.
On-demand webinars allow the audience to watch content anytime, anywhere.
ClickMeeting Automated even allows users to set up paid webinars using PayPal. The plan includes auto-streaming to Facebook and YouTube, and it allows users to auto-publish to a profile page or YouTube channel.
Our favorite feature is the automated messaging. This includes automatic thank you emails, follow-up emails, and upcoming event invitations.
ClickMeeting goes above and beyond with the features offered in the automated plan. If manual work stresses you out, ClickMeeting Automated may be for you.
ClickMeeting Enterprise
ClickMeeting’s top-tier plan is called ClickMeeting Enterprise.
It was created for scaling companies. It allows users to host large virtual events and multiple meetings.
The pricing for ClickMeeting Enterprise is less straightforward than the other two plans. Contact ClickMeeting for a quote that varies based on your business needs.
ClickMeeting Enterprise includes everything available in the live and automated versions plus features geared toward bigger audiences.
It has scalable webinars for large online audiences. It gives users the option to pay for extra attendees.
Users who sign up for this plan are assigned a webinar expert. This expert will assist users with technical issues and help them configure and personalize their webinar account.
This plan has an option for an extra-paid service for onboarding. This option provides a dedicated account manager that walks users through the platform step-by-step, making sure everyone is properly familiarized.
The plan lets hosts broadcast a live service. The webinar can be paired with multiple professional cameras and mixing software to stream the live event in HD.
Custom branding is a unique feature with ClickMeeting Enterprise. This feature lets users hide the ClickMeeting brand and upload their own brand colors and logo. This will show up on all their webinar pages, invitations, and recorded videos.
Our favorite feature of this plan is the reseller option. The reseller option lets users create webinar accounts under their own URL, brand name, and identity. They can then resell them as their own product with a markup.
To access some of this plan’s additional features, you are forced to pay extra. We think this is unnecessary.
However, if you want everything this software has the offer, consider purchasing ClickMeeting Enterprise. This plan offers incredible value to scaling businesses looking for an innovative webinar service.
Summary
ClickMeeting is the go-to conference call service for webinars and presentations. It fills the needs of businesses looking to host webinars and meetings in addition to typical conference calls.
If you only care about hosting live webinars and meetings, choose ClickMeeting Live. If you want more automation features, go with ClickMeeting Automated. ClickMeeting Enterprise should be purchased by scaling businesses presenting to huge audiences.
This software is not your typical conference call service. If you want to save money and/or need fewer features, Zoom may be a better fit. If you need a tool for webinars and presentations, ClickMeeting is the best available.
Source: quicksprout
ClickMeeting Review