6 Best Free Conference Call Services for 2022
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.
This article is part of a larger series on VoIP.
The best free conference call services provide a secure, high-quality audio and video meeting experience. They offer tools like meeting recording, transcripts, and screen sharing, and scale with more capacity and features as your business grows. However, free versions differ significantly when it comes to conference duration, meeting participant capacity, and advanced features. Here are the six best free video conferencing platforms for small businesses.
Based on our research, the best free conference call services are:
- Zoom: Best overall, and best free conference call service for businesses needing a well-known, user-friendly solution
- FreeConferenceCall.com: Top choice for companies hosting large audio and video meetings with up to 1,000 people
- Cisco Webex: Great zero-cost option for organizations looking for interactive conference features, such as polls
- RingCentral Video: Best free conference call service for businesses wanting to launch two video meetings at one time
- Google Meet: Best free video conferencing platform for small teams using Google and needing larger cloud storage limits
- Dialpad Meetings: Top option for companies wanting sales, collaboration, and social media integrations with a free conference call service
Free Conference Call Service | Starting Price | Key Features | Max Conference Participants | Our Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Free for 40-minute group meetings for 100 participants |
| 1,000 | 4.75 out of 5 |
 | Free to use, “pay what you can” |
| 1,000 | 4.68 out of 5 N/A |
 | Free for 50-minute meetings with up to 100 participants |
| 200 | 4.59 out of 5 N/A |
 | Free for 100 participants and 24-hour meetings |
| 200 | 4.31 out of 5 |
| Free for unlimited 1-hour group conferences up to 100 participants |
| 250 | 4.29 out of 5 N/A |
 | Free to host 45-minute meetings with 10 participants |
| 100 | 4.29 out of 5 |
Zoom: Best Overall & Most User-friendly, Free Conference Call Service
Zoom
Overall Score: 4.75 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Browser-based services (no software download required) make it easy for anyone to join a meeting
- Free version supports up to 50 breakout sessions
- Zoom added end-to-end encryption and other security protocols in October 2020, effectively blocking third parties from Zoom-bombing meetings or compromising data
What's Missing
- No local or international telephone dial-in numbers on the free version
- Customer support is limited to self-help
- No polling features come with the free plan
Zoom Pricing*
- Basic: Free for 40-minute group meetings for 100 participants, 30-hour one-to-one sessions, and recordings saved to your device (no cloud storage)
- Pro: $14.99 per user, per month for 30-hour group meetings, 1GB cloud storage, and dial-in numbers
- Business: $19.99 per user, per month with a minimum of 10 licenses for 300 participants, single sign-on (SSO), and recording transcripts
- Enterprise: $19.99 per user, per month with a minimum of 50 licenses for 500 participants and unlimited cloud storage
- Large Meetings Add-on: Increase participant limit to 500 ($50 per month) or 1,000 ($90 per month)
*The Enterprise plan requires annual prepayment. You can save up to 17% by opting for yearly billing.
Zoom checks all the boxes when it comes to the best free conference call service, including secure, high-quality video and audio calling, a highly rated mobile app, and call recording. With over 300 million users, it’s also the most popular video conferencing platform. While other services offer comparable features, Zoom is a top pick because it’s easy to use and most people are now familiar with it.
However, Zoom’s free version doesn’t provide cloud storage for recordings, and it limits group meetings to 40 minutes. In contrast, Zoom’s top competitor, Google Meet, provides 15GB of storage and one-hour sessions. Likewise, RingCentral Video currently supports 24-hour conferences for people who sign up by December 2021, and stores 10 hours of recordings (about 10GB).
Zoom Features
- Remote desktop control: Like FreeConferenceCall.com, Zoom lets you take control over another user’s desktop, including their keyboard and mouse. This tool is excellent for training, collaborating, and providing tech support for remote workers.
- Local recordings: Save conference recordings as video (MP4), audio (M4A), and chat (TXT) formats. Consider RingCentral Video or Google Meet if you want a free conference call service with cloud storage included.
- Multiple views: Keep your team focused by pinning up to nine videos that stay visible regardless of who is speaking. Doing so lets attendees see interactions between speakers while putting a spotlight on the person talking.
FreeConferenceCall.com: Best Free Conference Call Service for Audio Conferencing
FreeConferenceCall.com
Overall Score: 4.68 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Free plan offers local and international dial-in numbers
- Unlimited video and audio meeting length
- Free conference recording and transcripts
What's Missing
- Only supports four breakout rooms during a conference
- Cloud storage (1GB) is less than what’s offered by RingCentral and Google Meet
- Only displays the active speaker and five other video feeds during a session
FreeConferenceCall.com Pricing
- Free to use, “pay what you can” conferencing platform; users are encouraged to donate to help support the service
FreeConferenceCall.com stands out because it supports up to 1,000 audio and video conference participants without any time restrictions. In comparison, Zoom, Google Meet, Cisco Webex, and RingCentral Video’s free plans only support up to 100 attendees, and only RingCentral Video offers 24-hour sessions (you must sign up by December 2021). You’ll also find plenty of advanced features with FreeConferenceCall.com, including a remote desktop tool, annotation and drawing capabilities, and chat functionality.
FreeConferenceCall.com Features
- Meeting wall: Create a resource center for your team with a custom meeting wall. Upload documents, set a profile image, and display contact information in a free virtual meeting room. Once the conference ends, upload the recording to your wall.
- Question and answer (Q&A) sessions: Use Q&A mode to ask attendees a question, then “move” around the room, one-by-one, to hear answers from each participant. Other team members are muted during this time but can request to speak.
- Reporting: Get reports automatically sent to your email. The daily recording playback report lists the people who’ve watched your shared video recording, while the summary provides a list of callers, how they joined, and the call duration.
Cisco Webex: Best Free Conference Call Service for Interactive Meeting Features
Cisco Webex
Overall Score: 4.59 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Start meetings in Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Workplace by Facebook
- Sharing mode option to optimize the meeting for motion and video
- Communicate via phone with other Webex users through voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP)
What's Missing
- Cloud recording storage doesn’t come with the free version
- Only self-serve customer support
- Meetings can only be recorded when using the desktop application
Cisco Webex Pricing*
- Webex Suite Basic: Free for 50-minute meetings with up to 100 participants and screen sharing
- Webex Meet: $15 per user, per month for 24-hour meetings with up to 100 attendees, 10GB cloud storage, and Facebook livestreaming
- Webex Call: $17 per user, per month for 50-minute sessions with 100 participants, and unlimited VoIP calling
- Webex Suite Business: $25 per user, per month for 24-hour meetings with 200 attendees, and unlimited VoIP calling
- Webex Suite Enterprise: Call for a quote for a custom plan
*Save 10% with annual billing.
Cisco Webex is the only free conference call service offering polling—create questions and share the results with meeting attendees. Other engagement tools include an interactive whiteboard, team messaging, and the raise hand feature. Plus, Cisco Webex supports up to 100 breakout rooms, compared to just 50 with RingCentral Video or Zoom.
However, Webex lacks recording transcripts and live customer service. If the polling feature isn’t important to you, consider FreeConferenceCall.com, which provides 24/7 customer care and on-demand transcripts.
Cisco Webex Features
- Polls: Keep your audience engaged and use survey data to improve future meetings using polls. Share poll results during a session and save them as group or individual results. The group function anonymizes calls, whereas the individual feature shares names with each poll result.
- Whiteboard: Collaborate or educate in real time using a white or black whiteboard canvas. Use drawing tools by tapping a button or using your finger or a stylus. You can also attach sticky notes, save, and send your whiteboard.
- Breakout rooms: Use individual sessions to explore ideas and share content with a small team before returning to the conference. Plus, you can broadcast a message to all breakout rooms at once.
RingCentral Video: Best Free Conference Call Service for Simultaneous Meetings
RingCentral Video
Overall Score: 4.31 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Host video meetings in Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, or Google Workspace
- Free conference call service supports dial-in numbers
- 10 hours of meeting recording storage
- Host two meetings at the same time
What's Missing
- Doesn’t offer 24/7 live customer support
- No whiteboard feature
- No post-meeting analytics or notes features
RingCentral Video Pricing*
- Video Pro: Free for 100 participants and 24-hour meetings, storage for 10 hours of recordings, and seven-day recording retention
- Video Pro+: $14.99 per user, per month for 200 participants and 24-hour meetings, 100 hours of cloud storage, and one-year recording retention
*Users must sign up by December 2021 to qualify for the free version’s 24-hour meeting duration. You can save up to 33% with annual billing for one to 99 users, and save $1 per user, per month when adding 100 or more users.
Although less well-known than Cisco Webex or Zoom, RingCentral Video stands out because you can host two meetings at once, making it perfect for multitasking business owners and teams. It also supplies local and international dial-in numbers, waiting rooms, and virtual backgrounds.
Along with its free video conferencing plan, RingCentral earned a spot on our list of the best paid business conferencing platforms. But for the most built-in business integrations, consider Dialpad Meetings, which connects to Slack, HubSpot, and Salesforce. Plus, Dialpad Meetings provides live support via chat during business hours.
RingCentral Video Features
- Dial-in numbers: Only RingCentral Video and FreeConferenceCall.com supply dial-in phone numbers on their free plans. RingCentral Video and business phone system users can call into meetings using their phone and one of more than 100 numbers in locations, such as the United Kingdom and France.
- Device flip: You can keep up with meetings while multitasking with real-time device switching. Move between your desktop and mobile phone without conference disruption.
- HITRUST certification: The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) certifies that RingCentral Video uses the Common Security Framework (CSF) and meets or exceeds the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) standards. RingCentral Video is the only provider on our list that’s earned the elite HITRUST CSF-certified status.
Google Meet: Best Free Conference Call Service for Google Users
Google Meet
Overall Score: 4.29 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Easy to schedule, join, or host a meeting
- 15GB of cloud storage for meeting recordings
- Automated live captions using speech recognition technology
What's Missing
- No breakout rooms in the free version
- No customer support beyond self-service options
- Fewer interactive features compared to other free conference call services
Google Meet Pricing
- Google Meet: Free for unlimited one-hour group conferences up to 100 participants, 24-hour one-to-one meetings, and 15GB recording storage
- Business Starter: $6 per user, per month for 24-hour meetings with 100 participants, dial-in numbers, whiteboard, and 30GB storage
- Business Standard: $12 per user, per month for 150 participants, noise cancellation, breakout rooms, polling, and 2TB storage
- Business Plus: $18 per user, per month for 250 participants, 5TB storage, and attendance tracking
- Enterprise: Contact sales for custom plans with in-domain livestreaming and unlimited storage
Google Meet is an excellent choice for collaboration between individuals or small teams already using Google Workspace for productivity and email. It rivals Zoom for ease of use and only verified Google users can join meetings.
It’s also more scalable than Zoom, as Google Meet comes with all Google Workspace subscriptions, starting at $6 per month, which also includes Gmail and productivity apps like Docs, Sheets, and Calendar. The per-user price is the cheapest paid plan on our list, making it a great option for companies experiencing a growth spurt.
However, the free version is more limited than FreeConferenceCall.com since Google Meet caps meetings at one hour, compared to unlimited conference duration with FreeConferenceCall.com. In addition, the free version of Google Meet doesn’t include breakout rooms. In this case, you may prefer Cisco Webex or Zoom.
Google Meet Features
- Multi-language live captions: Google Meet is the only free conference call service with automated live captions in six languages, including French, Spanish (Spain and Latin America), German, and Portuguese (Brazil).
- Security: Like RingCentral Video and Cisco Webex, Google Meet lets you lock meetings and encrypts conferences. It also employs anti-hijacking controls, such as 10-digit meeting codes. The free version requires attendees to log in using their Google credentials for extra security.
- In-meeting chat: Although Google Meet lacks private messaging like RingCentral Video offers, it supports group chats. You can send messages that are visible to all participants. Plus, anytime you record a meeting, Google Meet also saves a copy of the chat conversation.
Dialpad Meetings: Best Free Conference Call Service for Integrations
Dialpad Meetings
Overall Score: 3.60 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Integrates with LinkedIn and Twitter
- Multilingual chat and web support during business hours, and a community forum
- Offers a unique feature called Buzzword Bingo to gamify your conferences
What's Missing
- Free version is limited to only 10 participants per conference
- No call transcripts available on the free conference call service
- You can only record audio during a free conference, not video or screen sharing elements
Dialpad Meetings Pricing*
- Free: No cost to host 45-minute meetings with 10 participants, conference recordings, chat, and integrations
- Business: $20 per user, per month for five-hour meetings with 100 participants, recording transcripts, and custom waiting room hold music
*Save $5 per user, per month with annual billing.
Dialpad Meetings (formerly UberConference) earns high ratings because the free plan supports more integrations than any other free conference call service on our list. For example, it integrates with both Google and Microsoft calendars as well as Slack, Intercom, and Evernote for collaboration.
It’s also the only free software that connects to Salesforce and HubSpot or enables you to find a meeting attendee on LinkedIn. Dialpad Meetings ranks high for ease of use, offers screen sharing, and updates its features monthly.
However, Dialpad Meetings may not be a good fit if your business needs to host meetings with more than 10 people. Instead, check out Cisco Webex, which connects to Slack, or RingCentral Video, which works in both Microsoft and Google workspaces.
Dialpad Meetings Features
- Buzzword Bingo: Have fun and keep attendees engaged by enabling Buzzword Bingo in Dialpad Meetings. It populates a Bingo board with popular buzzwords, and users can privately complete their Bingo board and share the results on Twitter.
- Integrations: Most free conference call services connect to your calendars, Microsoft, and Google Workspaces. But Dialpad Meeting also integrates with Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Intercom, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Evernote.
- Picture-in-picture screen sharing: Like RingCentral Video, Dialpad Meetings lets you see your participants and keep your video up while sharing content. This helps ensure that users are engaged and more closely resembles an in-person meeting.
How We Evaluated the Best Free Conference Call Service
We explored web and audio conferencing services offering free and paid plans. During our research, we reviewed session and participant limitations, security measures, and advanced features. In addition, we examined standout features and the overall value of the free version.
Zoom garnered 4.75 out of five stars, making it the overall best free conference call service. It’s arguably the most well-known platform and updated its security in 2020, so you can jump into a meeting without technical skills or worrying about cybercriminals. Zoom supports free meetings one-to-one for 30 hours or 40-minute group video conferencing with up to 100 participants.
Learn how we evaluated the best free conference call services by clicking on the tabs below:
15%
Pricing
25%
General Features
30%
Advanced Features
30%
Expert Score
15% of Overall Score
We only reviewed tools offering free group and one-to-one video conferences. We also then assessed the paid plans provided by each of these free conferencing services you can use to scale up as your business grows.
25% of Overall Score
We looked at security options, including meeting passwords, call controls, and meeting encryption. Plus, we considered participation limits for audio and video calls while ensuring all services offer mobile apps.
30% of Overall Score
We checked out the available software integrations and call recording options. We also gave points to providers offering international dial-in numbers, a whiteboard, and breakout rooms. Lastly, we confirmed the types of customer service supplied to free users.
30% of Overall Score
We examined the overall value included in free video conferencing features while looking for standout features, such as international capabilities and polls. Additionally, we evaluated the ease of use for hosts and participants and program popularity.
*Percentages of overall score
Bottom Line
Although audio and video conferencing are standard VoIP business phone features, your phone system may not offer this feature or you may prefer standalone software. The top-rated video conferencing platforms integrate with your calendars, record sessions, and support in-app messaging.
The best free conference call service is Zoom. It’s easy to set up and join a meeting, change your background, and annotate in real time. Plus, you can use the software for free with no download required, or use the complimentary mobile app on your iOS or Android devices.
