Is Zoom free? Yes: Zoom's Basic plan costs nothing and holds up to 100 people, but every meeting ends at 40 minutes. How much does Zoom cost? Pro is $16.99 per user a month billed monthly ($14.16 billed annually), Business is $21.99 ($18.33), and Enterprise is quoted. Webinars are a separate add-on from $89 a month that needs a Pro licence beside it. Every figure here was read from Zoom's own pricing pages, as checked September 2026.
Disclosure: we make Drry, a community platform that hosts calls and webinars inside a coach's own community. We compare it with Zoom at the end, with the arithmetic shown, including the cases where Zoom is the cheaper choice.
Zoom Workplace plans compared
Zoom sells its meeting product, Zoom Workplace, per user: each person who hosts meetings needs their own licence. The annual price is the monthly equivalent when you pay for the year up front.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | Participants | Meeting length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | Free | Free | 100 | 40 minutes |
| Pro | $16.99 per user | $14.16 per user | 100 | 30 hours |
| Business | $21.99 per user | $18.33 per user | 300 | Not listed |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Quoted | Quoted |
- Basic is genuinely free and fine for a quick call. The 40-minute limit is the catch: a coaching session or a class runs past it, so anyone running paid sessions ends up on Pro.
- Pro is where most solo coaches land: 30-hour meetings, cloud recording and 100 participants, for $16.99 a month. That is $203.88 a year on monthly billing, or $169.92 paid annually.
- Business raises a meeting to 300 participants and adds admin controls for a team. A coach needs it only for group calls larger than 100.
- Enterprise is priced by quote and built for companies, with phone systems and compliance tooling a coaching business does not need.
Zoom Webinars and Zoom Events pricing
Webinars are not part of any Workplace plan. They are a separate add-on, and Zoom requires a Pro licence alongside it, so the host pays for both. The prices below are for the entry capacity tier, as checked September 2026.
| Add-on | Billed monthly | Billed annually |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom Webinars | $89 a month | $66.67 a month |
| Zoom Webinars Plus | $99 a month | $82.50 a month |
| Zoom Events | $149 a month | $124.17 a month |
Webinars Plus and Events are Zoom's larger event products, priced above the plain webinar add-on. The number that moves the bill is audience size: Zoom lists the entry tier and moves larger audiences to higher tiers it quotes rather than prints, so if you expect a big room, ask Zoom for that tier's price before you plan around $89.
What Zoom costs a coach in practice
Two common shapes, on monthly billing so nothing is paid up front:
- Weekly group calls and one-to-ones. One Pro licence: $16.99 a month, $203.88 a year. A second coach who hosts needs a second licence.
- Calls plus a monthly webinar. Pro plus Webinars: $105.99 a month, $1,271.88 a year, at the entry capacity tier.
Neither figure includes the rest of what a coaching business runs on: somewhere for members to talk between calls, a place for the replays and courses, the registration page, the reminder emails and the checkout. On Zoom those are separate tools with separate bills.
Zoom vs hosting calls inside your community
This is the self-interested section, with the numbers worked from our own plan limits. On Drry, calls hosted inside your community start on Creator at $29 a month with 20 participant hours included and up to 25 people in a call. A participant hour is one person in a call for an hour, you included. Webinars are on Growth at $99 a month with 150 viewer hours, and one broadcast admits up to 10,000 viewers. Past an allowance nothing bills unless you switch extra usage on and set a cap; then it is $0.75 a participant hour and $0.15 a viewer hour.
The honest reading: if all you need is the video, Zoom is cheaper, and for a small single webinar it is cheaper outright. What the Drry price buys is everything around the call, the community, the courses, the registration page and the email, in the one place your members already log into. If you keep Zoom, our calendar is free on every plan and takes a pasted Zoom link.
More on the options: alternatives to Zoom, webinar pricing compared, and how calls and webinars work on Drry.
When Zoom is the right answer
- You only need video, and the community, courses and email already live somewhere you are happy with.
- You run the occasional webinar for a small audience: $105.99 for a month of Pro plus Webinars is hard to beat for that alone.
- Your clients are companies that standardise on Zoom and expect a Zoom link.
- You want calls under 40 minutes for free, with no plan at all.
Questions coaches ask
Is Zoom free?
Yes, Zoom has a free plan: Basic holds up to 100 participants, but every meeting ends at 40 minutes, as checked September 2026. To run longer meetings you need a paid plan, which starts with Pro at $16.99 per user a month billed monthly. Webinars are never free on Zoom: they are a separate add-on.
How much does Zoom cost?
Zoom Pro costs $16.99 per user a month billed monthly, or $14.16 a month billed annually, and Business costs $21.99 ($18.33 annually), as checked September 2026. Enterprise is quoted. Zoom Webinars is an add-on from $89 a month and needs a Pro licence beside it, so the cheapest route to a Zoom webinar is $105.99 a month on monthly billing.
How much is Zoom Pro a month?
$16.99 per user billed month to month, or $14.16 a month when you pay for the year, as checked September 2026. It holds 100 participants and lifts the meeting limit to 30 hours. Each host needs their own licence.
How much does a Zoom webinar cost?
Zoom Webinars starts at $89 a month billed monthly, or $66.67 a month billed annually, for its entry capacity tier, and it requires a Pro licence at $16.99 as well. Webinars Plus is $99 and Zoom Events $149, both billed monthly. Larger audiences move to higher tiers, which Zoom quotes rather than lists.
Is there a Zoom alternative with a community built in?
Yes. Drry (which we make) hosts calls and webinars inside your own community, on the same calendar as your courses, from Creator at $29 a month for calls and Growth at $99 for webinars. For the video alone Zoom is usually cheaper; the difference is that the plan price also covers the community, the courses and the email.