Google Hangouts vs Steam Chat

Hangouts offers both an Android and iOS app so users can participate from nearly any mobile device in addition to his Desktop.

Any user can share his screen (or only a specific desktop or window) while still continuing an audio conversation.

Hangouts works with up to 10 participants using video out of the box or up to 15 if you are a business, government or school. It determines who is the primary speaker at any given time, and the camera view automatically switches to that user.

Hangouts can scale to become a videoconferencing solution for an entire company, since the software can run on nearly all platforms. In fact, Google itself uses Hangouts as its meeting room video conference software.

Hangouts is integrated with Gmail & Google+, does not require you to download desktop software, and all chats can take place directly in your browser, significantly reducing the barrier to entry for a new user.

Google offers all features of Hangouts completely free. There are business, education and government solutions that increase the participant count to for video calls to 15 and offers support.

Hangouts work on Android, iOS, Chrome OS, web and as a Chrome extension.

With Google+ “Hangouts on Air”, you can broadcast any hangout to an unlimited audience via your Goolge+ Profile or simply a generic YouTube link. Moreover, any Hangout on Air (public or private) is automatically saved as YouTube video that you can keep for private reference or use in any way that you would normally share a YouTube video. This allows you to record conversations without additional obtrusive software.

Allows for a fixed phone number, receiving and making calls. Calling US or Canada is free.

When chatting with people while trying to plan a meet up, the share map button can be extremely useful.

Now you can create and send links that will invite people directly into your group chat. Email, message, or text the link for them to join from the Steam Client or a web browser.

Steam has a fully-featured mobile client support for Android and iOS, which makes it very easy to check in on the app and communicate while on the go.

When you are using someone else's computer for playing games Steam is normally installed

Every chat on Steam is now multi-media friendly. Getting your point across is easier than ever, now that everyone can see your GIFs inline rather than a list of links. Paste a picture from the clipboard and upload it directly to the chat.

Want to bring someone into a conversation? Just drag and drop your friends from the Friends List to send them an invite.

All of these features have been built to work not only in the Steam client, but also on the web. So you can continue conversations when you have access to a web browser but you're not logged in to the Steam client.

Put up a server instantly, add channels and invite!

Your in-game friends are now grouped by the game they're playing, making it easier to join them, or to see which games are popular among friends. And see who's playing together. You can watch friends enter into a match and then emerge when their game is over. Be ready to dive in with them or to play when they're done.