Differences between Zoom Meetings and Zoom Webinars

Overview

The Meeting and Webinar platforms offer similar features and functionality but have some key differences.

Meetings are designed to be a collaborative event with all participants being able to screen share, turn on their video and audio, and see who else is in attendance.

Webinars are designed so that the host and any designated panelists can share their video, audio and screen. Webinars allow view-only attendees. They have the ability to interact via Q&A, chat, and answering polling questions. The host can also unmute the attendees.

Webinar licenses are available in a limited quantity and requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

	Meeting	Webinar
Description	Zoom meetings are ideal for hosting more interactive sessions where you’ll want to have lots of participation or break your session into smaller groups	Think of webinars like a virtual lecture hall or auditorium. Webinars are ideal for large audiences or events that are open to the public. Typically, webinar attendees do not interact with one another. Though Zoom provides options for you to get more social with your attendees, your average webinar has one or a few people speaking to an audience.
Best Use	Most collaborative meetings between colleagues. Online classes with smaller numbers of students that are intended to be interactive or conversational.	Meetings/online classes with larger numbers of participants that are primarily presentational. Info sessions / other presentations to the public. Any situation in which there is a greater likelihood of the meeting link becoming accessible to unknown persons

Feature	Meeting	Webinar
Participating roles	Host and co-host Participant	Host and co-host Panelist Attendee
Audio sharing	All participants can mute/unmute their own audio Host can mute/request to unmute participants The host can set all participants to mute upon entry	Only the host and panelists can mute/unmute their own audio Attendees join in listen-only mode* Attendees can only be unmuted by the host or a co-host
Video Sharing	All Participants	Hosts and Panelists
Screen Sharing	✓	✓
Capacity	300	500
Participants List	Visible to all participants	Visible to host and panelist
Email Reminders		If registration is enabled
Chat	In-meeting Chat	Webinar chat
Meeting Reactions	✓
Nonverbal Feedback	✓	Only raise hand
Q & A		✓
File Transfer	✓
Whiteboard	✓	✓
Annotation	✓	✓
Polling	Polling for meetings	Polling for webinars
Registration	Registration for meetings	Registration for webinars
Closed Captioning	✓	✓
Recording	✓*	✓*
Breakout Rooms	✓
Practice Session		✓
Waiting Room	✓
Require password to join	✓	✓
Dial-in Numbers	✓	✓

*Note: Only faculty are able to record by default. If you are a staff member and require the ability to record, make a request through the Video Conferencing: Zoom section of the IT Service Catalogue. A use case along with managerial approval is required for these requests.

Differences between Zoom Meetings and Zoom Webinars

Overview

Webinar Licenses

Meetings versus Webinars

Feature comparison

More resources about using Zoom