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Add to SafariWhen comparing Google Hangouts vs Chrome Remote Desktop, the Slant community recommends Chrome Remote Desktop for most people. In the question“What are the best ways to share your screen with others?” Chrome Remote Desktop is ranked 2nd while Google Hangouts is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Chrome Remote Desktop is:
All you need to do is install a Chrome extension.
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 Simple set-up
All you need to do is install a Chrome extension.
Pro Impressively fast
Faster than most similar applications.
Pro Easy to install
Pro Completely free
There are no restrictions on how you use it.
Pro Cross-platform
Works on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Pro Keeps making sure connection is still wanted
Every few minutes the sharer gets a popup asking if they want to continue sharing the screen, while the popup is shown the viewer can't control anything. This is important in case the sharer forgets to close the connection.
Pro Allows viewer to make actions
If the user that shares their screen doesn't touch the mouse/keyboard the viewer can control them which makes it easy take actions instead of explaining by voice.
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 Single user only
If multiple users want to connect to a device, they have to take turns.
