The online education landscape is thriving, with independent educators increasingly seeking tools and landscapes that enhance teaching and learning experiences without breaking the bank. Wether you are an online teacher, a tutor, a creator, a coach, or a mentor, one of the necessities you need to have set in place rock-solid for your edu business is a virtual conference tool, a.k.a. classroom.
There are many apps and tools you could use for online meetings that have amazing FREE plans – the best choice for you depends heavily on your business model :
- Types of educational services you provide : one on one sessions, group classes, courses, webinars etc.
- Your tech skills – familiarity and a learning curve for you specifically.
- Your clients demographics – mostly age and geographical location.
- Your business goals.
But first things first – let’s explore the key ingredients for a successful online education service and flawless online sessions.
Must-Haves for a Virtual Classroom for Online Educators
Ease of use, stability, accessibility, interactivity, versatility – these are the essentials of any virtual classroom worth considering and recommending for any online education business aiming for global presence and high quality services.
Speaking of necessary features – a reliable audio and video streaming, a whiteboard with the ability to upload files (at least images, ideally PDFs and links), a screen share option (preferably with annotation tools), and a chat are core yet powerful features to facilitate the live online education process. If your clients are children and young learners, an integrated reward system is a huge plus in the long run. Any additional features you might be looking for depend on the types of services you provide.
Why Use Free Virtual Classroom Tools at All?
Free plans are perfect for educators just starting out or looking for better and more affordable options. Many free platforms come packed with essential features such as screen sharing, collaborative tools, and interactive functionalities. While free plans often have limits on meeting duration or participant numbers, they’re still more than sufficient for many online educators – hopefully for you, too!
Let’s dive into the FREE forever plans of the top virtual classroom tools that meet the above mentioned general standards and have passed our long term testing, in order to help you pick the one (or even better, make it two – having a backup plan is always the way to go!) works best for your education business.
1. CoRoom : Simple and Efficient
Features:
CoRoom is an amazing, web-based virtual classroom tailored to educators, with lots of unique tools, featuring unlimited whiteboards, screen sharing with annotations, a document editor (excellent for collaborative writing) and a minimalist design for easy setup and use. Its simplicity is a strength for those who prefer no-frills teaching. It also has a reward system, great for young learners, and it’s our number one recommendation for teaching both young learners and adults for 1:1 and small groups setup. Supporting all types of devices, it is recommended to be used paired with up-to-date Chrome browser or Safari on iPads. It has an advance troubleshooter which helps overcome any potential hick-ups and indicates clearly if some of your attendees need to adjust their device setup for smooth experience.
Limits:
The free plan supports up to 4 attendees, and while no explicit time limits are stated, their fair usage policies do apply.
| Best For: Educators who value simplicity over extra features or work with small groups. Educators who need in-class subject – specific tools. Educators who teach 1:1 and small group classes. |
2. Tencent Meeting (Voov) : The Global Zoom Competitor
Features:
Voov a.k.a. Tencent Meeting is a Chinese virtual conference app with same functionalities as Zoom. Its stability and simplicity are comparable to Zoom, and it works worldwide. If you do have or plan to work with Asian market, Tencent Meeting is the way to go.
Limits:
The free plan supports unlimited 1:1 meeting time and sessions (with a 24h cap) and 100 attendees for up to 60 minutes with same functionalities as Zoom, making it a good option for slightly longer sessions compared to Zoom.
| Best For: Educators worldwide, especially in regions where Tencent’s services are highly optimized. Educators who need slightly longer classes than Zoom offers. Educators who teach 1:1: and larger groups, host workshops and webinars. Educators who prefer teaching from a desktop app. |
3. ClassIn: Tailored to Teachers and Tutors
Features:
ClassIn is a Chinese app designed specifically for online education. It provides a rich set of tools, including an interactive whiteboard, a resource library, an embedded browser, share screen with annotation tools, and classroom engagement tools like dice rolls and rewards. These features create an engaging learning environment for younger students or gamified classes.
Limits:
ClassIn’s free plan allows up to 20 attendees and a 40-minute limit per meeting. You can have up to 20 session within a class. Class is a teacher created lesson space per student, so after having 20 sessions within the class you need to create a new space and invite your student to join you again to keep using it for free.
| Best For: Educators teaching younger learners. Educators who prefer using multiple apps to gamify the classroom. Educators with more advance tech skills or readiness to learn. |
Note : ClassIn does have a bigger learning curve compared to both Zoom and Tencent Meeting, be ready to invest your time in getting a good hold of it.
4. Zoom: The Popular Choice
Features:
Zoom is a household name for virtual meetings, offering robust features such as screen sharing with annotations, breakout rooms, virtual backgrounds, and local recording. Breakout rooms are especially handy for large group classes, trainings, workshops and webinars requiring small, collaborative groups.
Free Plan:
With Zoom’s free plan, you can host up to 100 attendees for 40 minutes per meeting, utilize 3 whiteboards, share screen, annotate, give mouse control, record locally to your device, and have flawless audio and video experience. While the time cap might feel restrictive, Zoom’s reliability and ease of use make it a strong contender.
| Best For: Educators who teach both 1:1 and larger groups, host workshops and webinars. Educators who host up to 40 minute sessions or are in for a constant workaround. Educators who teach outside of China. |
Note : Free version of Zoom is not accessible in China unless using a VPN. If you work with Chinese clients, you would want to either upgrade your membership, pivot to Chinese version of Zoom called Zhumu (available per invitation only), or use the Voov / Tencent Meeting, which we highly recommend.
5. Google Meet, Microsoft Meet and Webex
Features:
These virtual classrooms are very similar in features, offering basic but reliable audio and video streaming, screen sharing, and in-app add-ons for supercharging your sessions.
Limits:
The free plans support 100 attendees with a 60-minute time cap, making them suitable for larger meetings, workshops, webinars and group classes.
Best For:
Educators who need a presenter mode, super basic meeting room.
Which Platform is Right for YOU?
The perfect choice for you depends on your specific business needs and services you provide. Here come our top two recommendations, as we recommend having a back up plan for every possible scenario :
- If you teach 1:1 and small groups, Coroom is our top choice for its ease of use, global accessibility, rich features tailored to educators and easy integration with bookings system like SuperTeacher.
- If you host 1:1 meetings, large groups, workshops and webinars, we recommend using Voov as it offers unlimited 1:1 session time and the longest (60 minutes) free meeting duration for groups of 3-100 attendees, making it the most versatile tool for offering education services accessible globally.
Final Thoughts – Maximizing Free Plans
- Plan Short Breaks: For platforms with a time cap, schedule a quick break and continue the session as the meeting time resets.
- Preload Content: Preparation is the key to using every minute available for free.
- Supercharge your independent educator journey by integrating the classroom of your choice with SuperTeacher.
🔥 To supercharge your edu business and integrate the classroom of your choice, link your permanent Coroom or Voov URL to your SuperTeacher page and start receiving bookings, payments, selling classes, memberships and digital products immediately. Follow this short video guide on how to link your favorite classroom.
Thank you for this great and informative review of the most important free classrooms features. Each, combined with SuperTeacher booking system, can make a stress-free environment for teachers, parents and students.
Thank you for a very informative blog post.
Some of the platforms like CoRoom and Voov are brand new to me.