Introduction to Zoom Webinars

Zoom Webinars allows you to broadcast to an audience, and can be used for presentations, panel discussions, large lectures, or hosting professional conferences online. 

To host a webinar you must have a webinar license added to your Zoom account, which can be purchased through the Telecom Catalog System. Licenses start at the capacity of 100 participants and scale up to 10,000 participants. 

Key Features

• Host and panelists can share their video, audio and screen. The host can also unmute the attendees.
• Attendees can only view, interact via Q&A, chat, and answer polling questions. They cannot display video or rename themselves.
• Webinars can require pre-registration, with the option for the host to add custom registration questions.
• Webinars can be held once, can reoccur in a series, or can be the same session held multiple times.

What is the difference between Webinars and Meetings? 

Meetings are designed to be collaborative and interactive, allowing for participants to share screen, audio, video, and see other participants. Webinars, by design, allow hosts to broadcast to their attendees and have limited interactive features. 

Here is a comparison chart for reference:

Feature comparison

Feature	Meeting	Webinar
Participant roles	Host and co-host Participant Learn more about Meeting Roles.	Host and co-host Panelist Attendee Learn more about Webinar Roles.
Audio sharing	All participants can mute/unmute their own audio Host can mute/request to unmute participants The Host can set all participants to mute upon entry	Only the Host and panelists can mute/unmute their own audio Attendees join in listen-only mode* The Host can unmute one or more attendees
Video sharing	All participants	Hosts and panelists
Screen sharing	✔	✔
Capacity	Up to 100 with free license, up to 1,000 depending on plan and large meeting add-on.	Up to 100-10,000 participants, depending on the license.
Participants list	Visible to all participants	Visible to host and panelist
Email reminders	N/A	If registration is enabled
Chat	In-meeting Chat	Webinar chat
Meeting reactions	✔	N/A
Nonverbal feedback	✔	Only raise hand
Q&A	N/A	✔
File transfer	✔	N/A
Whiteboard	✔	✔
Annotation	✔	✔
Polling	Polling for meetings	Polling for webinars
Livestream	Facebook, YouTube, Workplace by Facebook, Custom Streaming Service	Facebook, YouTube, Workplace by Facebook, Custom Streaming Service
Registration	Registration for meetings	Registration for webinars
Closed captioning	✔	✔
Recording	✔	✔
Breakout rooms	✔	N/A
Practice session	N/A	✔
Waiting room	✔	N/A
Paypal integration	N/A	✔
Require password to join	✔	✔
International dial-in numbers	✔	✔

*Note: If the host or co-host enables Allow to talk for an attendee, they will be able to enable their microphone as well as mute and unmute themselves.

How to obtain a Webinar license

We highly recommend that webinar licenses are purchased for use on Zoom accounts owned by Special Purpose Accounts (as opposed to an individual’s Zoom account). This allows you to share the license if needed. If you don’t already have a SPA Zoom account, see: How do I set up a Zoom Licensed account for a Special Purpose Account (SPA)? for a more detailed description.

At the time of publishing this article, the current pricing for webinar licenses is:

Webinar 100 License	Webinar “Add On” for up to 100 attendees	$ 200 annually
Webinar 500 License	Webinar “Add On” for up to 500 attendees	$ 700 annually
Webinar 1,000 License	Webinar “Add On” for up to 1,000 attendees	$1,700 annually
Webinar 3,000 License	Webinar “Add On” for up to 3,000 attendees	$ 4,950 annually
Webinar 5,000 License	Webinar “Add On” for up to 5,000 attendees	$12,450 annually
Webinar 10,000 License	Webinar “Add On” for up to 10,000 attendees	$32,450 annually

For more details about how to order your webinar license see: Zoom license pricing & ordering Information