Google Meet vs Zoom for online lessons

Google Meet vs Zoom: free and paid plans compared

Free Google Meet gives up to 24 hours for one-to-one calls and 60 minutes for groups; free Zoom cuts every meeting at 40 minutes. Their cheapest paid plans raise the limit to 24 hours (Meet) and 30 hours (Zoom).

Before the table, some good news: both do the basics well. Screen sharing and automatic captions come with every plan, free ones included. What changes is the clock, the extras and the price. And in a lesson, the clock calls the shots.

Prices are per user per month, excluding VAT: the first figure is with a yearly commitment, the second paying month to month. Google's introductory offers vary by country, so they're left out. Checked 15th of October 2026.

Meet or Zoom? It depends on your lessons

For one-to-one lessons, free Google Meet is enough. For groups of 3 or more, both free plans cut the call (Meet at 60 minutes, Zoom at 40), so a long group lesson needs a paid plan.

Think of a free plan as a borrowed classroom. Meet lets you keep it all afternoon if it's just you and your student, but bring in a third person and after an hour the caretaker turns up with the keys. Zoom throws you out after 40 minutes, whoever you're with (although its classroom does come with a whiteboard).

• One-to-one lessons. Free Google Meet. Up to 24 hours per call is more than any lesson needs, and free Zoom would cut you off at minute 40 (right when Laura finally gets the third conditional).
• Small groups. Both free plans cut the call: Meet at 60 minutes (with a warning at 50) and Zoom at 40. For hour-long groups, Business Starter (from €6.80, £5.90 or $7 a month on a yearly plan) removes the limit. Need breakout rooms? Zoom has them even on the free plan; in Meet you need Business Standard (from €13.60, £11.80 or $14 a month) or higher.
• Kids and their families. Google Meet opens in the computer's browser without installing anything, and someone without a Google account can join once you let them in. Zoom works from the browser too, but first you have to dodge the window asking to open the app (and the host has to allow it). With families, fewer steps win.
• Exam prep. Recording a mock speaking exam and listening back together is gold. Free Zoom records to your computer; in Meet you need Business Standard or a Google One plan with 2 TB or more. Just ask permission before you hit record (with minors, ask their family).

My advice? Start with free Meet for your one-to-one students and only pay when a group or a recording asks for it. Not a day before.

Google Meet links: the same one every week?

A Google Meet link created from a recurring Google Calendar event stays the same for every lesson in the series. It only expires after 60 days unused with no future events.

It's 5:55 p.m. and Frank messages you: "Which link is it today?" If you set up your weekly lesson as a recurring event in Google Calendar and add Meet to it, the answer is always the same: the usual one. Google ties the code to the original event and, each week, connects it to the lesson in progress or the next one.

• Made in Google Calendar: it expires when it hasn't been used for 60 days and isn't attached to any future event. Both at once.
• Made on meet.google.com, in Gmail or in Chat: it expires 365 days after its last use, and every use adds another 365 days.

And one detail that often gets told wrong: one-to-one calls on free Meet last "up to 24 hours", not "with no limit". The Google Meet product page says they have no time limit; its help center says 24 hours. I'm going with the help center.

One weekly event, one link. That's it.

Google Meet links in SmartCookie

SmartCookie doesn't host video calls. Connect Google Calendar and you can add a Google Meet link to any lesson; the link stays saved with that lesson.