Amazon has launched Chime, a video conferencing and chat service that promises less shitty remote meetings and group calls.
Aimed at business users and available for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, Chime lets you hold video chats with up to 16 people on your desktop or 8 people on mobile devices; participants can also share their screens and files, record meetings (voice video and shared files are included) and even dial in to a meeting with a standard phone line.
The company says that its new app is totally secure, thanks to 256-bit encryption that’s used across Amazon Web Services products; it also boasts noise-cancelling wideband technology for clear audio.
With that, Amazon is ready to take on rival conference services like Microsoft’s Skype for Business and Citrix’s GoToMeeting. Chime is competitively priced at $2.50 per user per month for the Plus plan, while the Pro plan that allows meetings with up to 100 people costs $15 per user each month.
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For comparison, GoToMeeting will set you back by $19 a month for 10 participants, and $49 per month for 100 users. Skype for Business is bundled with Microsoft’s Office 365 online productivity suite and starts at $5 per user per month for a basic package of apps; the full bundle costs $12.50 per user per month. If you’re having a hard time deciding on which tool to go with, be sure to check out Zapier’s new roundup of video conferencing tools that pits Chime against 11 other options.
You can give Chime a go right now by selecting the free tier that allows calls between just two people, or a 30-day trial of the Pro plan, no credit card required.
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