Facebook and Google are coming for Zoom

Zoom, the video conferencing platform has become a lifeline for schools and businesses and a virtual gathering place for birthday parties, workout classes and even weddings. And that hasn’t escaped the notice of some of the world’s biggest technology companies, including Facebook and Google. The two tech giants are now gunning for Zoom by ramping up their own group video apps.

Facebook last week announced a new service it’s calling Messenger Rooms, which doesn’t require a Facebook account and allows up to 50 people to meet virtually for as long as they like. This week, Google said its video conferencing tool for businesses, Google Meet, will now be free to everyone with an email address — allowing up to 100 people to meet for as long as they like. By comparison, Zoom’s free tier allows 100 people to meet for up to 40 minutes at a time.

To measure its success, Zoom (ZM) has turned to a metric known as “daily meeting participants,” or the number of people Zoom hosts in meetings during a given day.