Made on
Tilda
A platform for meetings, webinars, chat and telephony. How a meeting runs, who the host is, what the free plan includes, how Zoom works in Russia.
Zoom is a platform for talking by video. A Zoom meeting is a link: the host creates it, participants join by it, from a computer, a phone, a browser or a meeting room. Only the host needs to register. In 2026 Zoom is no longer one app for calls but the Zoom Workplace platform: meetings, webinars, corporate chat, telephony, whiteboard, mail and calendar, tasks and an AI assistant in one window.
The free plan gives meetings up to 40 minutes and up to 100 participants. Paid plans lift the time limit, add cloud recording with a transcript, and administration. Zoom works in Russia without a VPN, and companies buy it under contract through an official partner, because a Russian bank card does not go through on Zoom's site.
Zoom is a program in which people see and hear each other over the internet. One person creates a meeting and gets a link. The others open the link and find themselves in a shared conversation: they see faces, hear voices, look at the presenter's screen, write in the chat.
The difference from a phone call is that there can be many participants, each with video, and anyone can show their screen. The difference from a messenger is that a meeting is scheduled in advance, has a host with rights, a recording and a report on who was there. The difference from a video call in a messenger is that Zoom works the same on any device, and the quality holds even on a poor network.
Zoom was founded in 2011 in the United States by the engineer Eric Yuan, who had spent years building video conferencing for a large maker of network equipment. The idea was one: a video call should work the first time, without a manual and without an IT specialist nearby. The first version came out in 2013.
Zoom became mainstream in 2020, when the world moved to remote work and study. That is when "zoom" became a common noun: "let's zoom" is said even by people who use a different program. Since 2024 the company has called its platform Zoom Workplace, because meetings have become only one part of it.
RightConf has been selling and rolling out Zoom in Russia since 2018 as an official partner.
| Part of the platform | What it is | Who needs it first |
|---|---|---|
| Meetings | Video conferences up to 1,000 participants, screen sharing, recording, breakout rooms | Everyone |
| Webinars and Events | Webinars up to 100,000 attendees, online conferences with halls and tickets | Marketing, training, HR |
| Team Chat | Corporate messenger: channels, files, chat linked to meetings | Teams that live in messaging |
| Phone | Cloud PBX: work numbers, forwarding, call recording | Sales and support |
| Zoom Rooms | An equipped meeting room: camera, microphones, screen, one-button join | Offices with meeting rooms |
| Whiteboard | A shared board for diagrams and sticky notes, lives outside the meeting | Project teams |
| Mail and Calendar, Scheduler | Mail, calendar and booking meetings by link | People who plan a lot |
| Tasks, My Notes, Clips | Tasks from a conversation, notes, short videos instead of a meeting | Anyone tired of extra calls |
| Zoom AI and ZoomMate | Meeting summaries, AI notes, answers to questions about recordings | Managers and people who miss meetings |
| Contact Center | Contact centre: queues, channels, quality control | Support teams |
| API and SDK | Embedding video in your own product | Developers |
All of this is one Workplace licence per user, except webinars, telephony, meeting rooms and the contact centre: they are bought separately. What is in the licence and what is not is covered on the Zoom Workplace page.
In the app or in the account on zoom.us: "Schedule", date, time, settings. Zoom issues a link, an ID and a passcode. How this is done step by step is in the scheduling guide.
By email, in the calendar, in a messenger. A participant needs no account.
From the app, from a browser without installing anything, or by phone. If the waiting room is on, the host admits everyone by hand.
Video, audio, screen sharing, chat, reactions, polls, breakout rooms for group work, a whiteboard.
The host records the meeting locally or to the cloud, and after the meeting Zoom AI sends a summary with decisions.
The account shows who took part and for how long.
A meeting is designed for a conversation where everyone is equal. When a few speak and hundreds or thousands watch, you need a webinar: attendees without cameras and microphones, a separate Q&A section, polls, registration and a report on who came. For conferences with several halls, tickets and an expo there is Zoom Events. A webinar licence is bought separately, per host; how to run a webinar from licence to report is in a separate guide.
Zoom Rooms is not "rooms in the app" but an equipped meeting room: a camera, microphones, a screen and a tablet controller on the table. The meeting from the calendar appears on the tablet, an employee taps "Start", and the room is already in the call. No laptop needs to be plugged in. The licence is counted per room, not per person, and is not part of Workplace. RightConf has equipped more than a hundred such rooms.
Zoom distinguishes roles, and what a person can do in a meeting depends on them.
| Role | Who it is | What they can do |
|---|---|---|
| Host | The licence owner who created the meeting | Everything: admit, mute, record, end |
| Co-host | Appointed by the host | The same as the host, except starting and ending the meeting |
| Alternative host | Appointed in advance | Start the meeting if the host is absent |
| Participant | Joined by link | Video, audio, chat, screen sharing if allowed |
| Panelist | Webinars only | Speaks to the audience |
| Attendee | Webinars only | Watches, writes questions, votes |
The host needs a licence. Participants join for free. A company of three hundred people where twenty managers schedule meetings buys twenty licences. How the host manages participants and protects the meeting is in the guide Participants and meeting security.
Zoom came with English terms, and some of them have stuck in everyday speech as they are.
are the same thing.
is a meeting where a few speak and many watch; how it differs from a meeting.
is the organiser, co-host the assistant organiser, panelist a speaker at a webinar.
is its 9–11 digit number; Personal Meeting ID is the host's permanent number, best not used for external meetings.
is the meeting password, usually embedded in the link.
is where a participant waits until the host admits them.
are small groups inside a meeting.
switches the microphone off, share shows the screen, lock closes the meeting to new participants.
is a meeting room equipped for Zoom, not "rooms" in the app.
is the name of the whole platform since 2024.
| Basic, free | Pro | Business | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group meeting | 40 minutes | up to 30 hours | up to 30 hours | up to 30 hours |
| Participants | up to 100 | up to 100 | up to 300 | up to 1,000 |
| Cloud recording and transcript | no | 10 GB per licence | 10 GB per licence | unlimited |
| Single sign-on, user management | no | no | yes | yes |
| Webinars | no | bought separately | bought separately | 500 attendees included |
| Licences per account | 1 | 1–99 | 1–250 | from 250 |
The free plan is enough to try things and to talk one to one: a one-to-one call is not limited. What else is limited and how it looks in practice is in the article on free Zoom limits. Pro costs 18,686 ₽ per host per year excluding VAT at the Central Bank rate on 6 September 2026, Business 24,188 ₽; the full table is on the buying page, the plans are compared in Zoom pricing.
the app for Windows, macOS and Linux. Everything is available here, including local recording.
apps for iOS and Android. Meetings, chat, sharing the phone's screen, cloud recording.
without installing, by link. Some functions are cut down; there is no local recording.
Zoom Rooms on a dedicated controller, joining a meeting at one button, plus ordinary SIP and H.323 video systems through the Conference Room Connector.
a meeting can be dialled into by voice from an ordinary phone if the host has audio conferencing enabled.
How to install the app and sign in is in the installation guide.
Zoom works in Russia: registration, the app, meetings, webinars, recording, without a VPN. One thing does not work: payment with a Russian bank card on Zoom's site. So companies buy licences under contract in roubles through an official partner. What exactly works, what does not and what it costs today is on the page Zoom in Russia in 2026.
The connection is encrypted by default, and for special cases there is end-to-end encryption, where the keys never leave the participants' devices. The host protects the meeting with a waiting room, a passcode, sign-in for authenticated users only and locking after the start. The company's administrator sets rules for everyone: who can record, where, with what retention, switches on single sign-on and sees the admin dashboard. All of this is gathered in the guide Participants and meeting security, and the overall view of Zoom's protection is in the article Zoom security.
On paid plans Zoom AI is part of the licence: a meeting summary with decisions and tasks, an answer to "what did I miss" for whoever is late, AI notes, draft messages in chat, automatic captions. The ZoomMate assistant answers questions across all your meetings, chats and documents. For Russia there is a caveat: some AI functions work only in English; this is clarified when choosing a licence. More on the AI in Zoom page.
Meetings, stand-ups, interviews, negotiations with customers, all in one tool with a recording and a summary.
Webinars for thousands of attendees, product demos, booking meetings by link.
Lessons, breakout rooms for group work, polls and quizzes, recorded classes.
Video consultations, case conferences, training for doctors.
Client meetings under strict rules: single sign-on, recording policies, retention.
Zoom Rooms: walk in, press a button, the meeting has started, without cables or setup.
Who does not need Zoom: a team of five that lives in one messenger and never runs webinars. The messenger's built-in call will win, because there is no need to switch to anything. This is said honestly in the article on Zoom alternatives.
We do not compare platforms by feature tables: they go out of date within a quarter, and we respect our competitors. But three things companies choose Zoom for can be named.
First: depth. Meetings, webinars, telephony, meeting rooms and the contact centre are one platform, one contract, one user directory. Second: resilience. Zoom keeps its quality on a weak network and on any device, and meeting room equipment works with it out of the box. Third: the partner network. Zoom is sold and serviced through partners around the world, including in Russia, with a contract and support in Russian.
If the choice is between Zoom and a Russian platform, that is covered in the article Zoom or a Russian conferencing platform.
It is counted not by the number of employees but by the number of hosts. Plus separate licences for webinars, meeting rooms and telephony, if needed.
| What | Unit | Price per year excluding VAT, at the Central Bank rate on 6 September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom Workplace Pro | host user | 18,686 ₽ |
| Zoom Workplace Business | host user | 24,188 ₽ |
| Zoom Webinars, 500 attendees | host | 109,960 ₽ |
| Zoom Rooms | meeting room | 54,868 ₽ |
The price is recalculated at the Central Bank rate on the payment date; VAT of 22 % is a separate line. The full price list with add-ons and the buying procedure is on the buying page.
Register on zoom.us, install the app, hold a meeting with one other person. How to do it is in the guide.
Who in the company schedules meetings? Usually a tenth of the staff.
Do employees sign in to all systems with a corporate account? Then you need Business; otherwise Pro is enough.
We will propose a licence mix for the task, issue an invoice in roubles, set up the account in your company's name and train the staff.
Zoom looks simple, and for a participant that is true: open the link and everything works. For a company, simplicity ends where administration begins: single sign-on, recording policies, meeting rooms, teaching employees that besides meetings the platform has a dozen more tools. In our experience, learning it on your own takes 30–50 hours, and purchased licences often work at half capacity. Why that is so is covered in the article on rolling out Zoom on your own. That is why we sell not licences but a working platform: selection, rollout, training, support in Russian.
A program for video meetings over the internet. The host creates a meeting and sends out a link; participants join by it from any device.
There is a free plan: meetings up to 40 minutes with three or more participants, up to 100 people, a one-to-one call without a limit. Paid plans lift the limits.
A participant does not; they join by link. Only the host needs an account.
Workplace is the name of the whole platform since 2024: meetings, chat, telephony, whiteboard, mail, tasks and AI in one app. The familiar Zoom for meetings is part of it.
Yes, without a VPN. Only payment with a Russian bank card does not go through; companies buy licences under contract through a partner.
Up to 100 on the free plan and Pro, up to 300 on Business, up to 1,000 with an add-on. A webinar takes up to 100,000 attendees.
Pro is 18,686 ₽ a year per host excluding VAT at the rate on 6 September 2026, Business 24,188 ₽. Participants are free.
An equipped meeting room: camera, microphones, screen and controller, joining a meeting at one button. Licensed per room, not per person.
Yes, to a computer on any plan and to the cloud with a transcript on paid plans.
The connection is encrypted, there is end-to-end encryption, a waiting room, a passcode and sign-in for authenticated users only. The security settings are set by the host and the administrator.
We'll give you a remote demo Monday to Friday, 10:00–16:00 Moscow time, answer all your questions and provide trial access so you can explore the system yourself.
Please note: we work with legal entities only.