Free Webinar Software: Which Ones Are Truly Free?

If you search for free webinar software, you’ll probably only find free trial offers rather than completely free services. In addition, some free web conferencing services don’t include free webinar services as well, just an account to hold online meetings which doesn’t include webinar tools such as reporting and recording.

Yugma, for example, does offer free web conferencing, but it only includes two attendees with a one hour limit on meetings, and their webinar services are only included in a paid account. If you’re looking for free webinar software, here are some of the top choices.

AnyMeeting Free Webinar Software

Formerly Freebinar, AnyMeeting.com is probably the most comprehensive free webinar software available, with features such screen and application sharing, audience polling, chat Q & A, VoIP and phone services, free support, reporting and analytics, and live video. Webinars through AnyMeeting allow up to 200 attendees, and you ‘re given unlimited meetings and no time limit. They also recently added an integrated ticketing system through PayPal.

The major drawback to AnyMeeting is that they use in-webinar advertising, which is why they’re able to offer their services as free webinar software. So despite all the above features, as well as the fact that you can host large webinars, if there’s any advertising that conflicts with your webinar or your company’s business, then you’ll look less than professional.

EDIT: If you charge attendance through the new PayPal ticketing service, then no ads will appear in your meeting.

MeetingBurner Free Webinar Software

MeetingBurner is a new service that intends to give AnyMeeting a run for their money by offering fast-loading webinars that feature one touch recording, a high level of customization, rooms that can host up to 100 people, and absolutely no advertising.

They’re able to offer their services for free because they plan to implement a paid premium level, which will include in-meeting analytics and more users for larger webinars. Their Meeting Thermometer works in real-time with attendees moving a slider back and forth during your presentation to let you know what they find the most interesting, which could be useful, but won’t be free.

Are These the Only Free Webinar Software Out There?

Unfortunately, that seems to be the case right now. There are a few services out there, such as FreeScreenSharing.com and PresentOnlineNow.com which have screen sharing services, but they also have a limit on how many people can be in the meeting, and there are no recording features, so your options for using those sorts of services severely limit what you can do with your webinar.  Most free options really aren’t the best webinar software to use, so you’re better off sticking to options that clearly offer all the necessary features of hosting a webinar while still looking professional and technologically sleek.

Final Thoughts: Things to Consider with Free Webinar Software

As mentioned above, some vendors have to supplement their free webinar software with advertising, which can make your webinars look less professional, so that’s something that you really need to consider before committing to a service. So while AnyMeeting, for example, is completely free, there may be advertising that conflicts with your business interests, thus reducing the impact of your webinar.

Additionally, sometimes free webinar software can’t handle presentations that have a great deal of animations or are just large data files, which can result in a lag in loading times and the speed of going from slide to slide. Just be sure to test your free webinar software before the day of the presentation to ensure that there are no problems because a slow webinar won’t reflect well on your company either.

 
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