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Add to SafariWhen comparing Google Hangouts vs TeamViewer, the Slant community recommends TeamViewer for most people. In the question“What are the best ways to share your screen with others?” TeamViewer is ranked 1st while Google Hangouts is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose TeamViewer is:
Download the client from [TeamViewer](http://www.teamviewer.com) and run the software. Optionally, you can also install the software for unattended control.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Mobile support
Hangouts offers both an Android and iOS app so users can participate from nearly any mobile device in addition to his Desktop.
Pro Screen sharing
Any user can share his screen (or only a specific desktop or window) while still continuing an audio conversation.
Pro Free group video support
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.
Pro Useful for businesses
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.
Pro Easy to start using
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.
Pro Completely free
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.
Pro Cross platform
Hangouts work on Android, iOS, Chrome OS, web and as a Chrome extension.
Pro Live broadcasting and instant recording
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.
Pro Google Voice integration
Allows for a fixed phone number, receiving and making calls. Calling US or Canada is free.
Pro Integrates with Google Maps for sharing locations
When chatting with people while trying to plan a meet up, the share map button can be extremely useful.
Pro Android app does both sms and hangouts messaging
Pro Easy setup
Download the client from TeamViewer and run the software. Optionally, you can also install the software for unattended control.
Pro File sharing
You can transfer files over TeamViewer simply by dragging and dropping.
Pro Reliable
TeamViewer has been around since 2005 with an excellent track record.
Pro Free for personal use
As long as you don't use TeamViewer for commercial use, it's free.
Pro Cross-platform
Works on Windows, Linux, OS X, iOS and Android. Works seamlessly independent of platform and accessible for web, mobile, and desktop app usage.
Pro Multiple remote sessions
You can connect to multiple computers at the same time and navigate them via tabs.
Pro Can designate users that can always connect
Has option to give permission for someone to remotely connect with or without being granted.
Pro Two-step authentication support
In tandem with TeamViewer mobile app, you can choose to set up two-factor authentication.
Pro Clipboard passthrough
Things that you copy to your clipboard (ctrl + c), can be pasted on the remote computer (ctrl + v).
Pro Wake-on-LAN
TeamViewer has the ability to wake up a sleeping computer and return it to sleep state on disconnect.
Cons
Con Poor video call quality
Only goes up to 720p30 + low bitrate.
Con Owned by Google
Con Lacking clients for older versions
Con High hardware usage
Con Not recommended for long sessions
Con Won't work on Windows 8-style UI
As Hangouts uses a browser plugin on the desktop and it doesn't work with Windows 8-style UI, it has to be used in desktop mode.
Con Not Free
It is not free as other apps with the same functions.
Con Free version stops working
After a while your MAC address gets banned and the free version will stop working.
Con Naggy
Each time the application is in the process of being closed it stops to try to sell you the paid version.
Con Linux support is very slow. It is built on wine.
Con Compromised leading to many users having their personal information stolen
Users are reporting that TeamViewer has been compromised, leading to these users having their personal computers and browsers used in a remote session in order to purchase copious amounts of online codes.
Con Linux version's performance could be better
TeamViewer is powered by Wine, an emulator, on Linux and as such it runs slower than a native application would.
