ClickMeeting excels at hosting online events, meetings, and webinars in which one or more presenters broadcast to large groups of attendees. We also like its clear user experience and that it doesn’t require any special software or equipment. Its support options could be better, but we’ve yet to test another service that can accommodate as many participants. If big events aren’t your focus, however, you should consider the more comprehensive Zoom Workplace or the enterprise-friendly Webex by Cisco, both of which are Editors’ Choice winners for video conferencing.
How Much Does ClickMeeting Cost?
ClickMeeting offers a free 30-day trial that lets you host webinars with up to 25 attendees and meetings with up to five attendees, one host, and one presenter (across up to eight video streams). Most of the service’s features are available during this trial period, though you won’t be able to customize your waiting room appearance, host paid webinars, or pay for toll-free numbers. The trial imposes limits on recording (30 minutes) and file (500MB) storage.
At the end of 30 days, you need to upgrade to a paid Live or Automated plan. The Live plan starts at $32 per month and supports 25 attendees. It lets you earn money from paid events and donations and ups the recording and file storage limits to 6 hours and 1GB. The Automated plan costs $48 per month for 25 attendees. It unlocks 10 hours and 2GB of recording and file storage, as well as the option to create automated and on-demand webinars. Prices scale based on audience size, up to a maximum of 1,000. That’s an impressive feat, but the Live and Automated plans with those allowances cost $335 and $385 per month, respectively. You can get a discount if you pay on an annual basis.
Those rates might sound expensive, but they’re reasonable for hosting events and webinars. Most other video conferencing services charge per user per month. For example, Zoom Workplace’s Business plan costs $18.32 per user per month and supports meetings with up to 300 people.
For truly massive virtual conferences with up to 10,000 attendees, ClickMeeting offers an Enterprise tier. With this plan, you can hold panel discussions with five or more presenters and enable single sign-on. You need to contact the company for pricing. None of the other video conferencing services we’ve tested can scale to this size.
Getting Started With ClickMeeting
ClickMeeting doesn’t require any special equipment to host or attend a meeting or webinar. It runs on the latest version of most browsers. Alternatively, you can use it via free desktop (macOS and Windows) and mobile (Android and iOS) apps. ClickMeeting works with most built-in cameras and computer audio, but depending on your connection, you might have trouble activating your devices (as I did while traveling).
ClickMeeting’s home screen (Credit: ClickMeeting/PCMag)
Although presenters and attendees don’t need an account, you need one to host meetings. When you sign up, ClickMeeting offers a 15-minute consultation to get you started or a link to an introduction video. However, you could probably host a last-minute meeting without either resource. The user interface is intuitive with a few exceptions (such as figuring out how to raise your hand), and ClickMeeting walks you through the necessary steps the first time.
After you log in, ClickMeeting shows your dashboard. Two buttons at the top of the page prompt you to either create a meeting or a webinar. The main differences between the two are the number of attendees and who can talk. Attendees can turn on their video and microphone for a meeting, but only the host and presenters can do the same in a webinar.
If you choose to create a meeting, you can schedule it for a future date or launch it immediately. For webinars, you can host one live, prerecord one for others to watch on-demand, or set a date and time for team members to watch a prerecorded one.
The setup is similar whether you choose a meeting or webinar. You name your event, set a time, and choose an access option: open, paid, password, or token. At the top of the page, additional tabs allow you to customize the event. Under the waiting room tab, for instance, you can design what attendees see before you admit them. This can include an agenda or your bio.
If you enable registration, you can collect data such as names and email addresses of interested attendees. You can also use the appearance tab to upload your logo and personalize your event with custom colors and backgrounds.
Once you finish creating your event, you can invite attendees and presenters separately by copying and pasting email addresses, inviting attendees from past events, searching your contacts, and selecting existing groups. You get a choice to send invites immediately or on a specific date.
Screen Sharing, Whiteboards, and Transcription
ClickMeeting provides several collaboration tools to enhance your meetings and webinars, including screen sharing and whiteboards. Both are simple to use.
To share your screen, click on the icon that depicts two computer screens and choose whether you want to share a tab, a window, or your entire screen. The film clapboard icon allows you to present a YouTube video to the meeting. Simply paste the URL into the popup and press play when it appears on the screen. You can draw, comment, type text, and use a pointer on the video as it plays. Toggling the Collaborate button allows others to do the same.
ClickMeeting’s collaborative whiteboard (Credit: ClickMeeting/PCMag)
Whiteboards serve as a blank canvas where you and the presenters can make notes and brainstorm using an eraser, a pencil, a pointer, text boxes, and other tools. Attendees can participate, too, if you enable collaboration. At the end of your event, you can save the whiteboard and even send it to attendees later. Unfortunately, depending on their device, attendees might not be able to see your full screen. During testing, I could see only the middle of the whiteboard and the middle of the event room screen on my phone. As such, an attendee on their phone could miss important details without knowing it.
ClickMeeting now offers automatic transcription, something that’s become standard across video conferencing platforms. AI-powered live transcription is available for all paid plans and doesn’t require any additional tools. We weren’t able to test this feature, but it’s similar in scope to what Intermedia AnyMeeting has. Zoom Workplace, for comparison, includes a full-featured AI assistant that can also generate summaries and pull action items out of meeting transcripts.
Chat and Q&A Allow for Active Collaboration
ClickMeeting lets you interact with attendees in many ways. Chat is the most straightforward; guests can post comments during events unsupervised or, if you enable the moderation function, with your approval. Under the reactions button, you can respond to comments with smiley faces, thumbs up, thumbs down, and other emoji. The option to raise your hand is here as well, though I wish it was more prominent.
In chats, you can also enable Q&A. This highlights attendees’ questions in your feed. You can answer the question there or publish it on the screen for wider discussion. If you want to ask questions, you can create polls and tests by clicking the survey icon. Choose a poll if you want to survey attendees’ opinions or a test if you want to assign points for correct answers. After everyone responds, you can post the results on the screen.
Q&A sessions in ClickMeeting (Credit: ClickMeeting/PCMag)
Another way to make your event interactive is through breakout rooms. ClickMeeting prompts you to select the number of rooms you want and how long you want the breakout to last. Then, you can assign attendees to rooms or have the platform randomly organize them.
Finally, you can display a call to action that prompts attendees to buy a product, sign up for a newsletter, or take a similar action. The call to action appears as a banner with a button that links to another URL and can remain on-screen for however long you specify.
Surveys in ClickMeeting (Credit: ClickMeeting/PCMag)
Add-Ons and Integrations
Add-ons expand ClickMeeting’s capabilities. For example, you can purchase extra storage for recordings. You can also pay for the ability to host more than one event simultaneously, certificates of attendance, custom backgrounds, extra presenters, and subaccounts. Payments for these add-ons renew automatically on a monthly or annual basis until you cancel them.
Third-party integrations make the platform even more powerful. For example, you can sell access to your webinars via PayPal or Stripe. You can also integrate Keap to help build your contacts list, Pipedrive to manage sales leads, and Moodle to create your own e-learning platform. Other business integrations include GetResponse and HubSpot. Social media options include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.
Responsive Customer Service (With a Catch)
For assistance, you can contact a customer service representative through live chat or email; ClickMeeting doesn’t offer free phone support. When I tried using the live chat, I received immediate answers to my questions.
However, support isn’t available 24/7 and operates on Central European Time. If you need help in the United States, live chat is available between 2 a.m. and 5 p.m. EST during the week. On weekends, it’s available only until 10 a.m. EST.
ClickMeeting maintains an extensive Help Center with articles, blog posts, videos, and webinars of its past tutorials and events. The videos give a good overview of specific features, such as whiteboards, while the articles tackle more complicated topics in depth. If you’re looking for a quick answer, the Help Center’s chatbot is available. It was able to tell me how to use YouTube with ClickMeeting, for example, but your mileage might vary depending on your question.
Verdict: Built for Large-Scale Meetings
ClickMeeting is a worthwhile video conferencing platform if you want to host large events, online training sessions, and webinars. We haven’t tested any other product that can match its maximum headcount, and its interface remains very approachable. That said, if you want the most full-featured experience for more typical meetings, look to our Editors’ Choice winners, Zoom Workplace and Webex by Cisco. Zoom Workplace is a full-on business collaboration platform, while Webex is especially suitable for corporate environments.
Daniel Brame contributed to this review.
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The Bottom Line
ClickMeeting provides a straightforward video conferencing experience and can accommodate large events and webinars with up to 10,000 participants.
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About Teresa Bitler
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