Which video conferencing software has the best breakout rooms?
Five tools compared on one move: splitting your meeting into small groups, then bringing everyone back.
The short answer: Zoom if small groups are the heart of your sessions, Microsoft Teams if your company already runs on Microsoft 365, Google Meet if you are on Google Workspace Business Standard or above. Whereby suits small workshops, and Jitsi Meet is for anyone who wants free and open-source. A breakout room is a small meeting inside the big one: the host splits attendees, each group works on its own, then everyone returns to the main room.
On paper, every major tool has breakout rooms. In practice, three questions decide it, and most roundups skip them: which exact plan includes the feature, who is allowed to manage rooms (and from which device), and what survives once the rooms close. We compared all five tools on those three points, with prices published in 2026.
Your profile in one line. Trainer or workshop facilitator: Zoom. Microsoft 365 company: Teams. Google team on Business Standard: Meet. Coach with groups of 10: Whereby. Zero-budget school or nonprofit: Jitsi Meet.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Who really has breakout rooms, and on which plan?
"Breakout rooms included" means different things at each vendor. At Zoom, the feature is on the free plan. At Google, it skips the entry plan. At Microsoft, it is paid and limited to the organizer on a desktop app. This table gives each tool's exact plan, caps, recording and management rights.
The rank follows breakout room quality. The score out of 5 is for the whole product, the same as in our best video conferencing software roundup. That is why Google Meet, with the higher score, ranks third here.
| What the rooms do, and recording | Entry plan and price, who can manage | |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom WorkplaceEvery plan | Up to 100 rooms and 1,000 pre-assigned people with the Large Meeting add-on. Self-select, saved assignments. Recording: cloud covers the main room only; local recording in a room with permission. | Basic free (40 minutes), Pro $14.16 billed annually. Who manages: host and co-hosts on desktop or web; mobile, SIP and H.323 join without managing. |
| Microsoft TeamsPaid only | Meetings up to 1,000 attendees, up to 50 rooms created in one go, timer, 10 managers. Recording: not covered by Microsoft's help page. | Microsoft 365 Business Basic or Teams Essentials. Who manages: the organizer and managers from the same organization, on Windows or macOS. |
| Google MeetBusiness Standard and up | Up to 100 rooms per call, timer, 25 co-hosts. Recording: not possible in breakout rooms. | Business Standard and up. Missing from Business Starter and free. Who manages: host and co-hosts, on a computer. |
| WherebyEvery plan | Groups inside the main meeting, manual, automatic or self-select. Recording: not covered by Whereby. | Free up to 4 attendees, Pro $10.99 per month. Who manages: the host. |
| Jitsi MeetFree | Rooms created by a moderator, self-move on invitation. Recording: not covered by the docs. | Free, 95 minutes on meet.jit.si, no cap on your server. Who manages: moderators. |
Prices checked in 2026 on vendor pages, before tax. Webex (up to 100 sessions) and Livestorm are not ranked: their paid prices or exact plans are not published.
Zoom Workplace
Zoom is still the benchmark for breakout rooms, and the reason is practical. It is the only tool we compared that lists the feature on every plan, free included: the pricing table ticks it on Basic, Pro and Business. You can open up to 100 rooms in one meeting, assign people by hand, at random, or let them pick, and save up to 10 sets of assignments for recurring meetings.
That 100-room figure comes with a condition. Zoom's help center says the maximums (100 rooms, 1,000 pre-assigned participants) require the Large Meeting add-on. Without it, your meeting capacity is the cap: 100 people on Pro, 300 on Business. Admins on the Zoom Community forum report the same thing: you ask Zoom Support to unlock the higher tier.
Two traps come up again and again. Cloud recording only captures the main room, never the breakouts. If you need a record of a group, let one participant record locally on their computer, room by room. And self-select rooms do not work in the browser: people need the desktop or mobile app, and Zoom cannot cap how many people walk into one room.
Our tip: rename each room by topic before you open them ("Budget", "Hiring"), then switch on self-select. People sort themselves out, and you skip the awkward two minutes at the start.
- Breakout rooms on the free plan
- Up to 100 rooms with the Large Meeting add-on
- 10 saved assignment sets per user
- Participants can pick their own room
- ✓Most facilitation controls
- ✓Saved assignments for recurring calls
- ✓Feature most attendees already know
- ✗Breakouts missing from cloud recordings
- ✗Free plan cut at 40 minutes
Our first pick when small groups are the core of your sessions: training, workshops, offsites. If your whole company already runs on Microsoft 365, Teams gets close at no extra cost.
Microsoft Teams
Teams has closed most of the gap. Microsoft's help now supports breakout rooms in meetings of up to 1,000 participants and creating up to 50 rooms in one go, with more added during the meeting if needed. You can build rooms before the meeting, pre-assign people, set a timer and name up to 10 breakout room managers to help you run them.
The rule that catches people out: only the organizer can pre-create rooms and pre-assign participants, and a manager has to be a presenter from your own organization. On Microsoft's Tech Community, a nonprofit that brings in outside teachers says it has to pay a staff member overtime to run the rooms for them, or buy a Zoom license. Management also only works in the Windows or macOS app. On web, mobile or Linux, you get moved into a room but cannot manage it.
On price, free Teams (the personal version) has no breakout rooms. You need a business plan: Microsoft 365 Business Basic includes Teams, as does Teams Essentials. If people dial in by phone, give the organizer an audio conferencing license, or those callers cannot move between rooms.
Our setup: create the rooms the day before from the meeting's Breakout rooms tab and assign managers ahead of time. On the day, you just open them.
- Breakout rooms in meetings up to 1,000 people
- Rooms and assignments built before the call
- Up to 10 room managers
- Room timer
- ✓Often already paid for in Microsoft 365
- ✓Handles large meetings
- ✓Managers share the workload
- ✗Managing rooms only on Windows and macOS
- ✗Outside facilitators cannot run rooms
The right call if your team is on Microsoft 365 and the organizer is an employee on a laptop. If your facilitators are outside contractors, Zoom saves you a lot of workarounds.
Google Meet
Google Meet offers breakout rooms for up to 100 rooms per call. The host opens them from the Activities panel, splits people at random or by hand, sets a timer, and can add up to 25 co-hosts once the meeting starts to help move between rooms.
The catch is the edition. Google's help lists who gets the feature: Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise, Essentials, several Education editions and Workspace Individual. Business Starter is not on the list. Every guide we read agrees: on Starter, the button simply never shows, and no setting brings it back. Free personal accounts do not have it either.
Second limit: Google states plainly that breakout rooms cannot be recorded or live streamed. If you need a record, ask each group to write its notes in a shared Google Doc opened in a tab next to the call.
Our tip: set up the rooms in the Google Calendar event before the meeting, so the split is ready when people arrive.
- Up to 100 rooms per call
- 25 co-hosts
- Timer shown at the top of the screen
- Rooms prepared from Calendar
- ✓Nothing to install for guests
- ✓Instant to learn
- ✓Included from Business Standard
- ✗Missing from Business Starter and free
- ✗Breakout rooms never recorded
Ideal if your team is on Business Standard or above. If you are on Starter and need breakouts once a month, one Zoom seat for the facilitator costs less than upgrading everyone.
Whereby
Whereby does it differently: its Breakout Groups run inside the main meeting, with no pop-up window and no new link. Whereby says the feature is available to hosts on every plan. You drag people into groups, auto-assign them or let them choose, and you can step back on stage to talk to everyone or message all groups at once.
The limit is size. The free plan caps at 4 attendees and 30 minutes, which is mostly a trial. Paid plans are priced per host: Pro at $10.99 per month, Business at $13.99 per host with a three-host minimum. Whereby publishes no group limit, and it is the smallest tool on this list. For a 200-person offsite, look elsewhere.
What makes it likeable: guests click a link and land in the browser, with no account and no app. Miro and Trello stay open during breakouts, which makes it a real workshop tool.
Our tip: open a Miro board with one area per group before you launch the breakouts. Everyone works in their own corner, and the debrief happens on the same screen.
- Groups inside the main meeting
- Available on every plan
- No account for guests
- Miro and Trello during breakouts
- ✓Easiest for guests
- ✓Great for short workshops
- ✓Priced per host, not per attendee
- ✗Free plan capped at 4 attendees
- ✗Not built for large groups
A good fit for a coach or a small team running workshops for 10 to 20 people. Beyond that, Zoom or Teams handle the load better.
Jitsi Meet
Jitsi Meet is open-source software: use it on the public meet.jit.si site or install it on your own server. Breakout rooms live in the participants panel and are created by a moderator, who adds and names rooms, moves people in, and can close them to bring everyone back. Participants can also move themselves when invited.
Two rules changed on the public site. Since 2023, starting a meeting requires signing in (Google, GitHub or Facebook). And since 2026, meetings there are capped at 95 minutes. For a half-day workshop, you need your own server, which means someone to install and update it.
Facilitation controls stay basic next to Zoom: no saved assignments, and the guides we read describe no timer. In exchange, you pay no license, and your data stays on your server if you host it.
Our tip: on meet.jit.si, join first and signed in so you become the moderator. That role is what makes the breakout controls appear.
- Open-source
- Moderator-run rooms
- Self-move on invitation
- Self-hosting possible
- ✓No license fee
- ✓Data on your server when self-hosted
- ✓Guests need no account
- ✗95 minutes on the public site
- ✗Basic facilitation controls
Worth it if the budget is zero and someone can run a server. For regular business use, Zoom or Teams save you time in every session.
The traps you only spot after the meeting starts
This comes from our comparison and from facilitators on vendor forums. Six checks to run before the day. If your current tool no longer fits, see Zoom alternatives or Microsoft Teams alternatives.
Check the host's plan, not yours
Breakout rooms depend on the license of whoever organizes the meeting. A guest on free Teams can be sent to a room but can never create one. On Google, a Business Starter host will not see the button even if every guest is on Business Plus. Before a workshop, have the right account organize the meeting.
Rehearse on the right device
In Teams, managing rooms only works in the Windows or macOS app. In Zoom, self-select does not work in the browser. In Meet, breakouts are run from a computer. Do a 10-minute dry run the day before, on the laptop you will use on the day.
Plan the written record
No tool on this list records breakout rooms to the cloud: Zoom keeps only the main room, and Meet does not record breakouts at all. Name a note-taker per room and one shared doc per group. The debrief in the main room goes twice as fast.
Build groups the day before
Zoom saves up to 10 assignment sets per user for a recurring meeting with a fixed time. Teams lets the organizer pre-create rooms and pre-assign attendees. Meet lets you set rooms in the Calendar event. Either way, you avoid sorting 40 people by hand while they wait.
Watch out with outside facilitators
If a contractor runs your workshop in Teams, they cannot manage the rooms: a manager must be a presenter from your organization. Two fixes: an employee runs the rooms behind the scenes, or the facilitator hosts from their own Zoom account.
Size it with margin
On Zoom without the Large Meeting add-on, your plan capacity is what counts: 100 people on Pro. On free Whereby, 4. Count facilitators plus a 10% buffer for latecomers, then pick the plan.
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
Your breakout room questions
Which video conferencing software has the best breakout rooms?
Zoom, because it has the most controls: up to 100 rooms with the Large Meeting add-on, self-select rooms, saved assignments for recurring meetings, and the feature on the free plan. Teams is the strongest second choice if your company runs on Microsoft 365.
Can you get breakout rooms for free?
Yes, on Zoom Basic, but the meeting ends at 40 minutes. Whereby includes them on its free plan, with 4 attendees at most. Jitsi Meet is free, capped at 95 minutes on meet.jit.si and unlimited on your own server. Free Teams and free Google accounts do not have them.
Why is the breakout rooms button missing in Google Meet?
Usually your edition does not include it: Business Starter and free accounts have no breakout rooms. If your edition does, check that you are the host or a co-host and that you are on a computer.
Are breakout rooms recorded?
Mostly no. Zoom cloud recording only keeps the main room, though the host can let a participant record their room locally. Google Meet cannot record or stream breakout rooms at all. Plan for one note-taker per group.
Can an outside facilitator manage breakout rooms in Teams?
No. Only the organizer pre-creates and pre-assigns, and a room manager must be a presenter from your organization. The usual fix: an employee organizes and runs the rooms behind the scenes, or the facilitator hosts from their own Zoom account.
How many people can you put in breakout rooms?
Teams supports breakout rooms in meetings of up to 1,000 participants. Zoom pre-assigns up to 1,000 people with the Large Meeting add-on; otherwise your plan's capacity applies (100 on Pro, 300 on Business). Webex, which we did not rank because its paid prices are not published, allows up to 1,000 people per session.
Can participants choose their own breakout room?
Yes on Zoom, Whereby and Jitsi Meet. On Zoom, self-select needs the desktop or mobile app, not the browser, and you cannot cap how many people join a room. Name rooms by topic so the choice is obvious.
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