Meeting manager software should facilitate a smooth, streamlined, and effective meeting management process. But that process becomes a hassle when you have to toggle apps for every meeting.
Not only does constant app toggling kill your focus, but the cost to reorient yourself each time can cost, on average, up to five work weeks out of your year.
Employing different solutions for planning, scheduling, execution, collaboration, and follow-up is also costly. You just end up juggling multiple expensive subscription fees and paying a high price for inefficiency and discontinuity.
Instead, you need a solution that meets all your meeting needs — within budget and with as few apps as possible.
Let’s evaluate the top nine meeting manager software so you can make an informed decision.
What is meeting manager software?
Meeting manager software is more than a video conferencing tool. It helps plan, organize, schedule, conduct, and document meetings.
Meeting management apps also promote high-quality, efficient, and productive meetings. Their native tools and integrations improve and clarify communication, boost engagement, drive collaboration, and inspire creative and critical thinking.
However, the value can extend far beyond the start and end of the meeting itself. They can also facilitate the assignment, initiation, and follow-up of action items created at the meeting.
In this way, they can also function partly as productivity or project management software. Meetings become places where information turns into action instead of being passively distributed.
In other words, good meeting management solutions don’t just help meetings happen; they ensure meetings matter. If a meeting doesn’t make an impact or have any consequence once it’s adjourned, what’s the point of having one at all?
Over 80% of professionals spend 12 hours or less in meetings every week. You want that time to count.
Why is it important to use meeting manager software?
Nearly 30% of professionals use video conferencing software that doesn’t meet all their needs. But meeting management software fills in those gaps, supplying features many video conferencing tools don’t.
Also, most don’t like meetings because they feel like a waste of time, achieve no progress, and tend to drift away from the original agenda. However, as previously noted, meeting management tools help transform agenda items into actions so the time spent is productive and meaningful.
Finally, keeping everyone on the same page on projects and responsibilities is essential for remote and hybrid teams. Meeting management tools ensure that your team can effectively communicate and collaborate from anywhere in the world.
What should you look for when choosing meeting manager software?
Consider the following features when choosing a meeting management software solution.
Scheduling and invitation features
An online meeting tool should streamline scheduling and ease the invitation process.
Communication and collaboration features
A meeting management app should facilitate clear communication for all teams despite differences in time zones, languages, cultures, or attendance methods. It should also support collaborative work in meetings.
Agenda management tools
Meeting management solutions can simplify agenda creation, editing, managing, saving, and distribution. This keeps everyone on the same page and manages expectations.
Meeting minutes
Meeting minutes help you track updates, developments, concerns, successes, and ideas discussed previously. They also help inform future action items, discussion topics, and agenda items.
Action items tools
Online meeting tools should enable you to create and assign action items during meetings based on the discussion and decisions made. You should also be able to track the completion status of those items on the same platform.
Automation
Automating workflows and tasks such as reminders, invitations, and follow-ups saves time.
Accessibility and device compatibility
The software you choose should be accessible to remote team members in different regions or countries. Invitees should also be able to join a meeting from any device or browser.
Security and privacy features
Sensitive information will be discussed, shared, and stored within your meeting platform. And cyber incidents were the leading risk to businesses worldwide last year. So, ensure your meeting platform has top-notch security and privacy features, roles, and permissions.
User experience
The new tool should have a user-friendly interface to onboard staff and external stakeholders easily.
Pricing
Consider pricing about your other subscription fees to remain within your tech budget.
9 best meeting manager software of 2024
Let's look at our picks for the best meeting manager software and what stands out.
Lark Suite - Best overall choice
Lark is the best overall option for businesses because it’s an all-in-one superapp. Consider how 92% of IT professionals believe their company would benefit from a reduction of software, and 62% prefer a single software solution over multiple tools.
Lark is the single software solution businesses need for managing and integrating all aspects of project management, including meetings. No extra tools or app toggling required.
Invitees can join a meeting from within a chat or email invite. Add up to 1,000 meeting participants and create up to 50 breakout sessions. Lark Meetings also enables live in-call doc sharing, editing, and collaboration.
Lark also auto-translates real-time meeting subtitles into English, Chinese, Japanese, and more. This creates a more inclusive experience for team members who speak a different language.
The Lark Minutes feature automatically transcribes meeting minutes. You can rewind them, replay them at custom speeds, or skip ahead to key moments at your convenience. You can also post comments or emoji reactions directly on the transcript and translate it into different languages.
Lark Docs allows for real-time collaboration and sync, doc sharing, and in-chat notifications. Interactive formats include polls, mind maps, flowcharts, diagrams, graphs, and spreadsheets. Lark Drive supports over 200 file types for organization, management, and cloud storage.
With Lark Messenger, you can share docs and emails directly to chat. Without leaving chat, you can also perform calendar scheduling, task assignments, and approvals. Schedule messages, see read status, and create chat tabs and threads for focused discussions.
Lark Messenger can also auto-translate messages in real time into 19 different languages. Send and receive messages in audio and text formats and automatically convert audio messages into text. Interactive chat features include rich text, annotated screen captures, and emojis.
Lark Calendar lets you compare team member calendars within chat to schedule meetings. You can also send group invites and share docs within the invites themselves. This makes collaborating with employees in different time zones much easier.
Pros:
Lark is an all-in-one app that streamlines communication, collaboration, task management, and meetings. Its captions, transcription recording, and translation features are perfect for international teams.
Cons:
Lark integrates with a minimal number of third-party tools. However, Lark’s comprehensive and cohesive suite aims to replace most other tools.
Pricing:
Lark’s pricing plans are as follows:
Starter plan - Free
Pro plan - $12 per user per month
Enterprise - Contact for pricing
Startups can apply for a free 6-month Lark Pro subscription.
G2 user reviews:
Lark has a rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars and over 100 reviews.
Zoom - Best for video conferencing
Zoom is the traditional go-to online meeting tool. You can start or join a meeting via chat or an integrated calendar. It supports up to 1,000 meeting participants and 49 on-screen videos.
Noise suppression, virtual backgrounds, auto-transcriptions, and simultaneous screen sharing help keep attendees focused. Engagement features include filters, reactions, polls, hand-raising, and video and music sharing.
Recordings and searchable transcripts allow for later review post-meeting.
Collaboration features include file sharing, co-annotation, whiteboard, cloud storage, and virtual coworking spaces called Zoom Huddles. Team Chat, included with each Huddle, integrates with other chat apps and email.
Pros:
Zoom has robust chat and video conferencing features. The interactive and collaborative digital whiteboard is perfect for productive meetings. Zoom's free plan also includes generous offerings.
Cons:
Caption translation and transcription recording are only available with premium plans. You also have to toggle screens and external apps for collaboration efforts.
Pricing:
Zoom offers the following pricing plans (billed annually):
Basic plan - Free
Pro plan - $13.33 per month per user
Business plan - $18.33 per month per user
Business Plus plan - $22.49 per month per user
Enterprise plan - Contact for pricing
Add-on features are available for an additional fee.
G2 user reviews:
Zoom has a rating of 4.6 stars out of 5 and over 54,000 reviews.
Microsoft Teams - Best for Microsoft-powered collaboration
Microsoft Teams is a video conferencing and team collaboration solution. You can join video meetings via a web link and audio meetings via phone call features.
Host secure virtual meetings for up to 1,000 meeting participants and view-only events for up to 10,000 attendees (20,000 through the end of 2024). Share the meeting agenda in advance, and pre-schedule a series of meetings to plan.
With Teams, you can record audio, video, and content from meetings. You can also take advantage of automatic transcriptions and live captions. Remote team members abroad can leverage AI-powered real-time caption translation that supports over 40 languages.
Teams can chat, annotate, and react to shared content on the collaborative whiteboard and co-edit Excel workbooks in real time.
Pros:
Teams has robust chat features, real-time caption translation into 40+ languages, and workflow automation features. The Speaker Coach feature helps hone presentation skills during a meeting.
Cons:
There are no collaborative content creation features. Teams also lacks cohesion among its suite of tools, so you have to toggle between apps and windows.
Pricing:
Teams is available as a standalone product and as part of the Microsoft 365 suite. Only Microsoft Teams Home is free for group calls lasting up to 60 minutes and for up to 100 meeting participants. All Business plans are paid plans.
Microsoft Teams Essentials - $4 per user per month
Microsoft 365 Business Basic - $6 per user per month
Microsoft 365 Business Standard - $12.50 per user per month
Microsoft 365 Business Premium - $22 per user per month
A 30-day free trial is available for the Microsoft 365 Business Basic and Business Standard plans.
G2 user reviews:
Microsoft Teams has a rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars and over 14,000 reviews.
Calendly - Best for meeting scheduling and calendar organization
Calendly is primarily an automated meeting scheduler and calendar management app. You can create booking pages or use scheduling links to allow booking via email or text invite.
Use availability preferences, caps, and buffers to highlight accurate availability and avoid overbooking. Meeting preferences polls and external calendar integration also help gauge availability for everyone.
Time zone detection helps you consider time differences for regional, national, and international team members.
Routing forms with customizable screening and qualification questions ensures that only the necessary parties connect. Meeting workflows automate reminders, scheduling confirmations, follow-ups, and personalized messages.
Analytics show performance metrics, preferences, and meeting insights.
Pros:
Calendly connects with up to six external calendars. It contains many team-based scheduling features, and all plans, including the free plan, include unlimited bookings.
Cons:
Once scheduled, you need to integrate with a third-party online meeting tool to conduct a meeting. Calendly also doesn't have features for agendas, meeting minutes, engagement, or action items.
Pricing:
Calendly’s pricing plans are as follows:
Free plan
Standard plan - $10/seat/month, billed annually
Teams plan - $16/seat/month, billed annually
Enterprise plan - starting at $15,000/year
Calendly’s paid plans include a 14-day free trial, no credit card required.
G2 user reviews:
Calendly has a rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars and over 2,000 reviews.
Hypercontext - Best for one-on-one meetings and small teams
Hypercontext is a solution for team management and meeting management. It helps team leaders identify pain points, provide better support, and foster trust and transparency with their team.
Shared, customizable, and collaborative agendas keep everyone prepared and on the same page. Take meeting notes within the agenda and make immediate decisions and next steps that everyone’s on board with.
These notes and next steps are automatically emailed to attendees after the meeting, so everyone has their marching orders and is in the loop. The agenda also contains an action item tracker with assignees, due dates, and reminders.
In addition, you can attach files, cloud attachments, and links to the agenda. A searchable archive provides a definitive place to find previous notes, agenda items, and content. Team goals features include over 360 goal examples, milestones, deadlines, and progress trackers.
Various types of polls and surveys help gather important real-time feedback from all team members. Auto-generated analytics reports offer insights into individual and group performance, engagement, achievements, and time usage.
Pros:
Hypercontext's highlights include collaborative, shared agendas with additional built-in features. Real-time employee feedback and meeting insights are also key features. Hypercontext also syncs with Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar.
Cons:
This tool lacks native scheduling and conferencing tools and has no language translation features.
Pricing:
Hypercontext’s pricing plans, billed annually, are as follows:
Basic plan - Free
Small Team Starter plan - $5 monthly for teams of up to 5 people
Pro plan - $5.60 per user per month
Business plan - $8.80 per user per month
You can request a 14-day free trial of the paid plans.
G2 user reviews:
Hypercontext has a rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars and 49 reviews.
Google Meet - Best for G Suite collaboration
Google Meet is an easy-to-use, intuitive, and integrated online meeting tool for teams using Google Workspace.
Meeting organizers can host up to 1,000 meeting participants with a 24-hour time limit. You can start a meeting from Docs, Sheets, or Slides for real-time collaboration and seamless communication.
Schedule meetings with meeting materials included in the invites. Take advantage of live captions, breakout rooms, polls, and Q&A during the meeting. You can also share videos or music or use interactive features.
Review recordings and transcripts post-meeting to revisit meeting details and inform future meetings.
Pros:
Google Meet is easy to use and has an intuitive interface for quick onboarding. It's packaged with other Google Workspace tools, with which it integrates seamlessly. It comes at no extra cost if you already pay for Google Workspace.
Gemini for Workspace, Google's generative AI assistant, is available as an add-on.
Cons:
Advanced features like breakout rooms, live streaming, recording, and polls are only available at a premium. Google Workspace's suite isn't fully cohesive, so some activities require app toggling.
Pricing (billed annually):
Google Meet is free for anyone with a Google account to host up to 60 minutes with up to 100 meeting participants. Phone calls and 1:1 meetings have no time limit.
For advanced features, you can purchase either a Google Workspace Individual or business plan.
Individual plan - $8.33 per month
Business Starter plan - $6 per user per month
Business Standard plan - $12 per user per month
Business Plus plan - $18 per user per month
Enterprise plan - Contact for pricing
Google Workspace has a 14-day free trial.
G2 user reviews:
Google Meet has a rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars and over 2,000 reviews.
Slack - Best for project management meetings
Slack is a project management software with various team-based features. Its best-known feature is its dedicated conversation spaces, or “channels.”
Channels can be public or private. You can create a different one for each topic, project, department, or vertical so that everything is organized under its own roof. Use Slack Connect to create private channels with external partners, vendors, and clients.
Each channel contains its own chat thread where teams can exchange messages. Send direct messages for private correspondence that won’t appear within the larger channel thread.
You can also share docs and links in channels. Record and share audio, video, or screen clips within a channel. You can rewind, fast-forward, set captions, or produce transcripts.
Start a huddle within a channel to connect via live video or audio. Huddles include screen sharing, messaging, color backgrounds, special effects, emojis, and resource sharing and editing. Anything shared during a huddle is saved automatically to the channel for future access.
Other in-channel actions include building no-code automated workflows, using the generative AI feature, and connecting third-party apps.
Canvases are collaborative workspaces you can create inside a channel or DM. You can build one from scratch or use a template. Embed digital assets and automated workflows in a Canvas, then collaborate and communicate with your team.
The search feature lets you look up conversations, files, channels, and people using various filters.
Pros:
Slack offers unlimited channels with extensive features, including Huddles and Canvases. It also integrates with over 2,600 third-party apps. The search and filter tools help users easily find people or resources across the platform.
Cons:
The cluttered interface makes it easy to miss messages, and the notifications can become overwhelming.
Pricing:
Slack offers the following pricing plans, billed annually:
Free plan
Pro plan - $7.25 per user per month
Business+ plan - $12.50 per user per month
Enterprise Grid plan - Contact for pricing
You can request a free trial of either the Pro or Business+ plan.
G2 user reviews:
Slack has a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars and over 32,000 reviews.
Miro - Best for visual collaboration and planning
Miro is a visual, collaborative workspace that fosters productive meetings.
Build your presentation framework from scratch or choose from over 2,500 ready-made workflow templates. Conveniently and securely send virtual invites. Meeting features include a built-in timer, video chat, breakout rooms, and talk tracks.
Live dashboards allow real-time adding, editing, sharing, and collaborating on digital content, including docs, tasks, videos, data reports, and surveys. Interactive presentation mode lets you present content while meeting participants and interacting using voting and emoji reactions.
Additional features include cards, kanban boards, and flowcharts for turning ideas into concrete tasks. Miro also provides tools and templates for diagramming and process mapping.
Automated workflows and the Miro Assist AI tool (beta) further streamline processes and save time. In addition, Miro integrates with over 130 third-party project management and task management tools.
Pros:
Miro's key features include:
Visual project management, diagramming, process mapping, and product development workflows
Real-time and async collaboration in a single workspace
Content, data, and insight visualization
Cons:
Miro lacks language translation features and scheduling features.
Pricing:
Miro’s pricing plans are listed below (billed annually):
Free plan
Starter plan - $8 per user per month
Business plan - $16 per user per month
Enterprise plan - Contact for pricing
A 14-day free Business plan trial is available, with no credit card required.
G2 user reviews:
Miro has a user rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars and over 5,000 reviews.
Slido - Best for improving attendee engagement
Slido makes meetings more interactive with features that encourage engagement among meeting participants.
Live polls, Q&A, quizzes, word clouds, and surveys help team leaders gather information, opinions, ideas, feedback, and preferences. They also spark conversation and foster a sense of connectedness within the team.
The quiz timer and leaderboard introduce an element of competition, gamification, and fun that encourages engagement and fosters bonds.
More reserved attendees can ask questions anonymously. Attendees can also upvote questions, revealing common inquiries and concerns and indicating which to prioritize.
Engagement analytics and reporting allow you to share group insights and sentiment with your team.
They also reveal the engagement level for each meeting and activity (i.e., the most popular types of polling). You can use this data to plan future meetings and improve engagement.
Pros:
With Slido, you can hold more interactive meetings where everyone engages and makes their voices heard. You can also conduct surveys before, during, and after meetings to inform current or future agendas.
Use the Switcher app for Windows or Mac to easily switch between Slido and your presentation.
Cons:
Slido has no native meeting hosting or scheduling tools. It also has no means for creating and documenting actionable plans moving forward.
Pricing:
Slido's pricing plans, billed annually, are listed below:
Basic plan - Free for a single user
Engage plan - $17.50 per month per user up to five users (one user free)
Professional plan - $75 per month, plus $37.50 per month per user up to 50 users (two users free)
Enterprise plan - $200 per month, plus $50 per month per user for unlimited users (three users free)
All paid plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.
G2 user reviews:
Slido has a user rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars and over 300 reviews.
Common FAQs about meeting manager software
Which tool is the best for internal team meetings?
Lark is the best tool on this list for internal team meetings.
Lark gives the most bang for your buck, providing internal teams with everything they need to meet and work effectively from start to finish.
Which software would you use for meeting minutes?
Lark Minutes is a no-brainer for meeting minutes software. It offers real-time auto-translation and even translates transcriptions into multiple languages. You can replay recordings any way you like and post comments and reactions within the transcripts.
Can meeting management software handle different time zones?
Meeting management tools like Calendly, which detects time zones, or Lark, which shows calendars in different time zones, help you consider everyone's availability when you schedule meetings.
Lark also has auto-transcription, auto-translation, recording, and async collaboration features. These ensure that team members in different time zones stay in the loop even if they can’t attend a meeting live.
What are the benefits of using meeting management software?
The benefits of meeting management software include:
Optimized time and resources
Enhanced productivity and efficiency
Improved accountability and ownership
Increased participation and engagement
Greater transparency
Clearer communication and more seamless collaboration
Is there any virtual assistant software for meeting management?
You would look at meeting management tools with automation and AI features. Lark contains built-in customizable automation features across the board that help streamline and simplify meeting management processes.
Lark is also rolling out a new AI feature within Lark Base to facilitate quicker and more effortless workflows.
Conclusion
The right meeting manager software helps you hold productive, collaborative, hassle-free, and effective meetings. Lark has every tool you need to effectively manage, conduct meetings, and follow up on action items.
It also possesses all the functionality of the most prominent business apps combined into one super app at one affordable price.
If you want to see how the best overall business management software can transform your business, not just your meetings, try Lark for free today!
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