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Add to SafariWhen comparing Google Hangouts vs Ventrilo, the Slant community recommends Google Hangouts for most people. In the question“What is the best voice chat for gaming?” Google Hangouts is ranked 8th while Ventrilo is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose Google Hangouts is:
Hangouts offers both an Android and iOS app so users can participate from nearly any mobile device in addition to his Desktop.
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 it works
Pro Stability
Very stable even if you own a low-end computer.
Pro Easily text chat
On top of the VOIP communication the app focuses on there is also an integrated text chat tool that is a great option for when the user doesn't have a mic handy or just doesn't feel like talking.
Pro Light on resources
For those that may have an under-powered system or just want to make sure most resources are pushed to the game instead of their VOIP client Ventrilo is a good choice as it is light on resources.
Pro Useful online tutorial
Upon opening the app for the first time the user is presented with an online tutorial that covers how to register the app as wel as how to start using it. This greatly reduces the barrier to entry.
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 Hasn't been updated in years
Barely works in compatibility with newer operating machines and the instructions for setup are somewhat outdated
Con Requires a server to use
In order to use Ventrilo's VOIP tool one must rent their own server which costs around $50 a year which will afford one communication with 10-20 people.
Con Lacks a Linux client
Despite a native Android client, there is no client for the Linux OS. Though there are some third party options such as Mangler.
Con Horrible latency issues
Due to the latency chat can be delayed on both sides of the conversation making for a very disjointed feeling that can be troublesome when second to second communication is necessary for coordination.
