This is a popular question because people like to invest their time and resources in just one platform. The answer is a complicated one and it depends on what you need video conferencing for.
Overlapping Features
As you would expect, the offering from each company overlaps in many respects. Below are the features you should expect out of each:
- Video Conferencing
- Voice calling
- Chat
- Customized Backgrounds
- Breakout Rooms
- Whiteboard
- Screen, App & Document Sharing
- Filters
- Ability to Record Meetings
- Meeting Transcripts*
- User Reporting and Analytics
- Background Noise Suppression
Unique Aspects of the Platforms
Teams integrates with Microsoft Active Directory (AD). If you already have a Microsoft network setup with user rights, departments, security groups, etc., you will likely lean toward MS Teams because all that organizational mapping will translate over and avoid double maintenance of the org structure. Since Zoom is stand alone, you have to build all of this out and duplicate efforts to keep things up to date.
Microsoft products integrate with Teams in special ways. While both systems have the ability to share your screen and specific apps, MS Teams takes it to the next level when Microsoft apps are shared. If you are sharing a PowerPoint presentation, viewers can follow along, or (if permitted by the presenter) they can move to different slides if they missed something or want to look ahead. This allows viewers focus on what they want without interrupting the flow of the presenter. The same can be said for the other Office programs. Also, since a majority of organizations use MS Office, Teams is already installed on their computers and should be able to join a Teams meeting easily (without install).
Zoom became a household name for video conferencing. When the pandemic hit, Zoom took full advantage of the situation and became a household name for video conferencing. As a result, most business people (especially customer-facing) feel most comfortable with Zoom. Since it is primarily just a video conferencing platform (or at least perceived to be), most corporate IT policies allow Zoom connections to get through without any interruption. Some larger organizations may have IT policies that require some minor tweaks to work seamlessly.
Cost. This has the potential of being the determining factor. Teams tends to be cheaper, and is even free (i.e. included) if you have an Enterprise license with Microsoft. Zoom is better for large presentations and may be a necessary cost to get the experience that you are looking for. If you do not have many users, the difference in price may be negligible for the value that it provides.
Integrated Apps: While each has a list of the apps and platforms that it can integrate with, it is worthwhile to review the list to see if there is anything that is a must-have. The Zoom list can be found here, while the Teams list can be found here. Many of your most popular platforms are going to be on both, but there are a lot that do not overlap.
What Should You Do?
You should review the features and determine what is most important to you. You may end up choosing to use both platforms, but for different reasons. If you still have questions, do more research or consult with an expert to hash it out.
More Information
This is not the first time MS Teams has been compared to Zoom, nor the most comprehensive. For more information, look at these sites
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