How much data is Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Hangouts consuming?

byFlorian published on

Due to the pandemic, people have become accustomed to the work of home cultivation and video conferencing. Services like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Slack, and Google Hangouts are some of the most popular video calling platforms used by business organizations and schools. But have you ever wondered which one is more efficient when it comes to using data? Well, in this article, let's take a look at the amount of data consumed by Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Slack and Hangouts.

Data consumed during 1 hour of videoconferencing on video call platforms.

If you rely on mobile data for group video calls, your daily data limit can run out pretty quickly. Indeed, videoconferencing consumes a lot of data. Therefore, we have shared information below on the amount of data consumed for an hour-long video conference by Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, MS Teams, Slack, and Hangouts.

Before we start note that these are rough estimates. Actual data usage may vary depending on:

  • The quality of the video.
  • The number of people showing their videos.
  • The number of people you are watching.
  • If you broadcast your own video.

1. Zoom

Use zoom data in 1 hour

For one-on-one video calls, Zoom uses approximately 540MB per hour for high standard quality. Consumption increases to 1,08 GB per hour for 720p quality and approximately 1,62 GB per hour for 1080p streaming.

Data usage increases dramatically when you are on group video calls. Zoom consumes 810 MB per hour, 1,35 GB per hour, and 2,4 GB per hour, respectively for standard quality group conference calls, 720p and 1080p.

Mobile users will likely consume a little less data as Zoom will optimize its bandwidth based on your connection.

Related | 10 tips for using zoom at slow internet speeds

2.Google Meet

Data consumed by Google Meet video call in 1 hour

Google Meet is one of the most widely used video conferencing services for schools and colleges. If you are a student, you might be wondering how much data is consumed by Google Meet during 1 hour of the video conference.

Well, Meet's average bandwidth per attendee is 3,2 Mbps in and 1,8 Mbps out. This translates to a data consumption of around 2,25 GB per hour in high quality.

By default, Meet automatically adjusts the inbound and outbound bandwidths based on the connection. This results in varying data consumption rates. Regardless, it uses very little data on the mobile version - in our use it was around 500MB per hour.

Related | Tip for reducing mobile data usage in Google Meet

3. Skype

In one-to-one video calls, Skype only uses about 135MB of data per hour in standard quality. Consumption will increase to 240MB per hour and 720MP per hour for high quality and HD streams, respectively.

If you are in a group video call with 3 people, Skype will consume up to 900MB of data per hour. It will take 1,8 GB per hour for 5 people and 3,6 GB per hour for 7 people at the conference.

4.Microsoft Teams

Data consumed by Microsoft Teams video call in 1 hour

According to Microsoft, Teams is fairly cautious about bandwidth usage and can deliver HD video quality below 1,2 Mbps. It uses around 225MB of data per hour for group video calls. In the case of HD group video calls with 540p videos on a 1080p display, teams will consume approximately 450MB of data per hour.

If bandwidth isn't limited, Teams optimizes media quality, including video resolution up to 1080p, up to 30 fps for video and 15 fps for content, and high fidelity audio. This considerably increases consumption.

5. Slack

Slack is another popular platform used for business communication and project management. For one-to-one video calls, it consumes around 540MB per hour. For video calls with 3 people, the consumption is approximately 810 MB per hour. At the same time, calls with 5 or more participants require around 1,2 GB + of data per hour.

Related | Skype vs Zoom: Which is the right video chat app for WFM?

6.Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts consumes about 1,4 GB of data per hour for five inbound participants. For more than 10 incoming participants, it will take approximately 1,8 GB of data per hour. Your outgoing consumption remains at around 1,4 GB per hour.

How to estimate the use of data?

You can measure the data usage of a video calling platform by looking at the bandwidth numbers. Just add the incoming and outgoing bandwidth and the multiple of the length of time the conference call will continue to get an estimate of the data usage.

Note that bandwidth is usually mentioned in Mbps (megabits). You will need to divide this number by 8 to convert it to Mbps (megabytes), which is how mobile data is calculated. Again, this will only give you estimates - actual consumption will vary based on other factors.

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These were estimates of the hour-long video conferencing data consumption by Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, Microsoft Teams, Slack and Hangouts. In addition, we have also mentioned how you can determine the data consumption by reading the bandwidth numbers. Anyway, which video calling platform do you use? Let us know in the comments below.

Also read- Mega Comparison: Zoom vs Skype vs Microsoft Teams vs Google Meet vs Google Duo vs Messenger Rooms

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