Google Hangouts Chat vs Microsoft Teams

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Google Hangouts Chat

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Microsoft Teams

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Google Hangouts Chat vs Microsoft Teams: What are the differences?

Key Differences between Google Hangouts Chat and Microsoft Teams

Google Hangouts Chat and Microsoft Teams are two popular team communication tools that offer similar features but also have some key differences.

  1. Integration with Other Tools: Google Hangouts Chat offers seamless integration with other Google Workspace tools such as Google Drive, Meet, and Calendar. It allows users to share and access files, schedule meetings, and collaborate within the same ecosystem. On the other hand, Microsoft Teams offers deep integration with various Microsoft Office tools like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Teams also integrates well with other Microsoft services such as SharePoint and OneDrive.

  2. Guest Access: Google Hangouts Chat allows team members to invite external guests to join conversations and collaborate without the need for a Google account. Guests have limited access and cannot participate in private discussions. In contrast, Microsoft Teams offers guest access but requires guests to have a Microsoft account or be part of an organization that uses Azure Active Directory. Guests in Teams have similar capabilities as regular team members and can participate in private channels.

  3. Interface and User Experience: Google Hangouts Chat provides a clean and simple interface, focusing on a streamlined messaging experience. It offers threaded conversations, direct messaging, and group chat features. Google's minimalist design philosophy is reflected in Hangouts Chat's user experience. On the other hand, Microsoft Teams has a more comprehensive interface with various features and collaboration tools. Teams incorporates channels, conversations, files, tabs, and a wide range of integrations, making it a hub for team collaboration and project management.

  4. Search Capabilities: Both Hangouts Chat and Microsoft Teams offer search functionalities, but there are differences in their capabilities. Google Hangouts Chat leverages Google's powerful search technology, allowing users to find messages, files, and other content quickly. It also offers advanced search operators and filters to refine search results. Microsoft Teams provides search capabilities, but the search experience is more limited compared to Google. Teams' search primarily focuses on finding messages and files within channels and chats.

  5. Chatbots and Automation: Google Hangouts Chat supports chatbots and automation through its integration with Google Workspace. Users can build custom chatbots using Google Apps Script or leverage pre-built chatbots from the Google Workspace Marketplace. These chatbots can automate tasks, provide information, and perform various actions within Hangouts Chat. Microsoft Teams also supports chatbots and automation through the Microsoft Bot Framework. Teams offers a development platform for creating custom chatbots and integrates with other automation tools such as Power Automate.

  6. Availability and Pricing: Both Google Hangouts Chat and Microsoft Teams have different availability and pricing models. Google Hangouts Chat is part of Google Workspace offerings, and its availability and pricing vary depending on the selected plan. Google Workspace offers different tiers starting from free access up to enterprise-level plans. On the other hand, Microsoft Teams is available as part of Microsoft 365 subscriptions. It is bundled with various plans, ranging from personal subscriptions to enterprise and education plans.

In Summary, Google Hangouts Chat and Microsoft Teams differ in terms of integration with other tools, guest access, interface and user experience, search capabilities, chatbot and automation capabilities, and availability and pricing models.

Decisions about Google Hangouts Chat and Microsoft Teams

As it is the communication tool chosen for the course, our team will be using Slack to monitor the course announcements from our instructor as well as to communicate with the instructor and industry partners. The tool for communicating within the team will be Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams enables the team to share documents and edit them synchronously(Google Drive is not an option due to one team member's location). Since it also provides a group chat feature, we chose to use it as our communication tool to avoid using too many softwares.

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Hirotaka Ishihara
Undergrad at University of Toronto · | 3 upvotes · 174.2K views

Communication We have chosen two tools for our team communication.

  • Slack

We choose Slack since all of us are familiar with this communication tool. We have a private channel for our team Sphinx for text messages. We added Github apps inside our private channel for repo update notifications. Furthermore, we could contact the subject matter experts within the workspace DCSIL directly for the issues we meet.

  • Microsoft Teams

We use Microsoft Teams for virtual meetings for its fast connection speed. In addition, the call feature in Slack is a paid feature, and we could have virtual meetings and share screens for free in Microsoft Teams.

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Mohammad Hossein Amri
Chief Technology Officer at Planally · | 3 upvotes · 237.8K views

we were using slack and at the same time we had a subscription with office 365. after a while we hit the slack free limitation quota. and it got annoying. the search ability was useless in free tier. and more annoying whenever you search, it opens a webpage and doesn't do it in the app.

on mobile there were many cases that I didn't get notification of important discussions. rooms was the way to separate a talk. but it become tedious. each time for a new subject that you wanted to discuss, you needed to add all the team members into a new room. and after a while the room goes silent. you will end up with a tons of not-in-use rooms that you don't want to clean up them for history purposes. also the slack UI for sub discussion is very stupid. if someone forget to check the checkbox to post the subdiscussion in the main discussion thread, other team members even won't notice such discussion is in progress.

we was paying for office 365 and thought why not give the teams a shot. we won't be in worth situation than we are. we moved to teams and we loved it instantly, we had a separate tab aggregated all the files upload. we could reply on other talk. no need of creating a new room. this way room belongs to a team and not a certain topic. our sub discussion was visible to the whole team. enjoyed integration with azure and unlimited history. the best part was integration with outlook. it was a full suit solution. our stats become busy on outlook meeting events. we get weekly analyse. we didn't need to host our wiki seperated. we've created wiki per team. the communication was much more fun.

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Pros of Google Hangouts Chat
Pros of Microsoft Teams
  • 3
    Reliability
  • 3
    Free
  • 28
    Work well with the rest of Office 365 work flow
  • 23
    Mobile friendly
  • 19
    Free
  • 12
    Great integrations
  • 11
    Well-thought Design
  • 10
    Channels
  • 8
    Easy setup
  • 6
    Unlimited users
  • 5
    Strong search and data archiving
  • 4
    Multi domain switching support
  • 4
    Easy to integrate with
  • 3
    Same interface on multiple platforms
  • 3
    Web interface
  • 2
    Great voice quality

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Cons of Google Hangouts Chat
Cons of Microsoft Teams
  • 1
    Not compatible with Telegram keys
  • 1
    No markdown
  • 1
    No video or voice messages
  • 1
    No media editor
  • 1
    No auto-delete
  • 1
    No voice chat
  • 17
    Confusing UI
  • 12
    Bad performance on init and after quite a use
  • 10
    Bad Usermanagement
  • 6
    No desktop client (only fat and slow electron app)
  • 6
    Can't see all members in a video meeting
  • 5
    Unable to Mute users
  • 5
    No Markdown Support
  • 4
    You don't really own your messages
  • 4
    MIssing public channels
  • 4
    Forced WYSIWYG
  • 3
    Stubborn, unused friendly
  • 3
    Challenging Onboarding
  • 3
    No linux support
  • 1
    Audio support problems

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What is Google Hangouts Chat?

Whether in a 1:1 chat or a dedicated group workspace, collaborate with your team in an organized way. Share and discuss Docs, Sheets, and Slides all in one place.

What is Microsoft Teams?

See content and chat history anytime, including team chats with Skype that are visible to the whole team. Private group chats are available for smaller group conversations.

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What companies use Google Hangouts Chat?
What companies use Microsoft Teams?
See which teams inside your own company are using Google Hangouts Chat or Microsoft Teams.
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What tools integrate with Google Hangouts Chat?
What tools integrate with Microsoft Teams?

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What are some alternatives to Google Hangouts Chat and Microsoft Teams?
Slack
Imagine all your team communication in one place, instantly searchable, available wherever you go. That’s Slack. All your messages. All your files. And everything from Twitter, Dropbox, Google Docs, Asana, Trello, GitHub and dozens of other services. All together.
Google Hangouts
Message contacts, start free video or voice calls, and hop on a conversation with one person or a group.
Hangouts
It is a communication platform which includes messaging, video chat, and VOIP features.
Zoom
Zoom unifies cloud video conferencing, simple online meetings, and cross platform group chat into one easy-to-use platform. Our solution offers the best video, audio, and screen-sharing experience across Zoom Rooms, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and H.323/SIP room systems.
WhatsApp
It is a cross-platform mobile messaging app for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia. It allows users to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other media.
See all alternatives