Making video calls is now quite easy and not as expensive as it was before. You only need to invest on some cheap devices like web camera and headset before enjoying video conferencing with friends, peers, colleagues or business partners. Many applications and services are free. For corporates and those requiring heavy-duty and reliable video conferencing services, or complete native solutions, there are paid services that are way cheaper than traditional video solutions.
Free Video Conferencing Tools
- ooVoo
ooVoo allows free video conferencing with up to six users. It allows supports video mail. It runs its own P2P servers, and can therefore afford to offer good quality. - Skype
Skype is the most popular of VoIP voice and chat applications but still lagging behind in terms of video. Only one to one communication is allowed, unless with some third-party plugins. But Skype comes with all its momentum and popularity. - Yugma
Yugma offers free teleconferencing with up to 10 participants. It is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux. The number of participants can be extended to 500, with some advanced features, if you pay for the premium product. - Vbuzzer
Vbuzzer offers free video conferencing on invitation, which can be done through their website, which also allows sending video mail. - Ekiga
Formerly known as GnomeMeeting, Ekiga is a Linux native application. It is open source and therefore free. It supports a lot of codecs and offers many features. It supports both SIP and H.323. Remote calls to mobile phones are also allowed. - Tokbox
Tokbox allows completely free video conferencing with up to six participants. You can talk using your browser, in which it can be embedded. No need to download a client. - Eyejot
Eyejot is nother free video conferencing application. It works embedded in a browser and does not require downloading and installing a client. The strong point of eyejot is its video mail feature. - SightSpeed
SightSpeed is a free PC-based call and single party video conferencing tool. The paid service ($4.95/mo) service comes with video mail, multi party video and file sharing. It supports browser video communication for non-SightSpeed users. - iChat
iChat is for Mac users. It is the VoIP and video conferencing tool that comes with Leopard, the latest in the Mac OS X series. It is quite rich in features. You will need to have a .Mac or AOL account to make video calls.
Paid Video Conferencing Services For Corporates
- WebEx Meeting Center
WebEx is a paid video conferencing, chat and file sharing service with a hosted application. You can try it for free during 14 days, with up to 10 participants. It has schemes for individuals, small, medium and large businesses. WebEx has powerful collaborative tools and interesting features like Outlook integration. - AT&T Connect
Designed for corporates, AT&T Connect proposes complete scalable IP software architectures for voice and video communication for a fixed price and unlimited usage. It is partly hosted and partly onsite. - Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional
Like other Adobe products, AA Connect is a powerful audio and video conferencing, file sharing and whiteboard. It is a complete web communications solution. The price is flexible with several pay-per-use plans. The only software requirement is Adobe Flash Player. Free trial is possible.
If you have used and liked (or disliked) a video conferencing tool that is not listed here, share it with us.
