Best Free Webinar Software in 2026: 7 Free Plans Compared by Attendee Cap and Time Limit
Short answer: Google Meet is the best free webinar software in 2026 for a mid-sized session, because its free plan allows 100 participants for 60 minutes, verified October 2026. Zoho Webinar is the best free plan built as a real webinar product, but it stops at 20 attendees and 60 minutes. Jitsi Meet is the pick when guests will not create an account.
Take a common B2B setup: a monthly 45-minute webinar with 80 registrants and about 40 people live. That scenario rules out most "free" plans, because a 20-attendee cap fails on headcount, and a 40-minute cap runs out five minutes early. This guide checks every free plan against those numbers.
Toolradar data: of the 37 webinar tools Toolradar tracks as of October 2026, 13 (35%) have a free plan. Of the 7 free plans below, only 2 clear both the 80-person and the 45-minute bar as published, which means a $0 webinar is possible but rarely comfortable.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Free plan | Attendees on free | Time limit per session | Cheapest paid plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Meet | Yes | 100 participants | 60 minutes (group calls) | Bundled in Google Workspace |
| Microsoft Teams | Yes | 100 participants | 60 minutes (group meetings) | Bundled in Microsoft 365 plans |
| Jitsi Meet | Yes | No cap published | No limit stated | None (free, open source) |
| Zoho Webinar | Yes | 20 attendees | 60 minutes | Standard, $25 per organizer/month, billed annually |
| StreamYard | Yes | Viewers watch on your destination | Not published as a number | $35.99/mo, billed yearly |
| Restream | Yes | Viewers watch on your destination | Not published as a number | From $19/mo |
| Zoom Basic | Yes (meetings only) | 100 participants | 40 minutes | Pro $16.99/mo monthly, $14.16 annual |
Rows are ordered by how well each free plan handles the 80-registrant, 45-minute scenario, using limits and prices from vendor pages in October 2026.
What is free webinar software?
Free webinar software is a tool that lets you broadcast a presentation to an audience at no cost, either through a dedicated webinar product with a free tier or through a meeting or streaming tool you already have. Most free plans trade away attendees, minutes or branding.
How we chose
We read each vendor's pricing or help page in October 2026 and recorded the free attendee cap, the time limit and the cheapest paid step. Every limit here is the vendor's published figure, not a measured one. A free trial is not a free plan, so trial-only products sit in their own section below the ranking. Picks are ranked for a small team that wants a real webinar at $0.
Cite this: Dupple, "Best Free Webinar Software in 2026," October 2026.
Google Meet, the free pick that fits the 80-person webinar
Per Google's requirements page, a personal account can host up to 100 participants, with calls of three or more people lasting up to 60 minutes on Google Meet, which covers the 45-minute, 40-live-attendee scenario with room to spare. One-on-one calls can run up to 24 hours.
The easiest $0 route for a small webinar, because attendees join from a link. It is a meeting product, so you will handle registration, branding and attendee analytics elsewhere.
the free plan costs nothing. Live streaming to a larger audience needs specific paid Workspace editions, per Google's live stream help page, and recording on the Workspace pricing page starts at the Standard tier.
Watch out: the 60-minute cutoff for group calls is firm, so a 90-minute workshop needs a second link or a paid plan.
Microsoft Teams, the free pick if your audience lives in Microsoft 365
Microsoft's Teams Free help page lists 100 participants and 60 minutes per meeting for Microsoft Teams, the same envelope as Meet.
A good fit when your guests already work in Microsoft environments and expect a Teams link. Like Meet, it is a meeting tool, so sign-ups happen somewhere else.
free. On the same page, Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans allow 300 participants and 30 hours, and Teams business licenses allow 30 hours with a participant capacity that varies per license.
Watch out: a 100-person ceiling means a webinar that over-delivers on registrations can lock people out, so cap sign-ups below it.
Jitsi Meet, the free pick with no account
Jitsi Meet is open source, encrypted and, in its own words, free to use "all day, every day" with no account needed.
The best pick for audiences who will not create an account. It has no webinar features, so expect no registration page, no automated emails and no attendee reports.
free, with no paid tier from the project.
Watch out: the project page publishes neither an attendee cap nor a time limit, so test with a full audience before launch day.
Zoho Webinar, the free plan built as a webinar product
Zoho Webinar offers unlimited webinars for up to 20 attendees at up to 60 minutes each, with screen sharing, live chat, Q&A and polls in the browser. This is the only free plan here that comes from a dedicated webinar vendor.
The right pick for training sessions and client briefings of 20 people or fewer. For the 80-registrant scenario you would upgrade on day one.
free for 20 attendees. The cheapest paid plan, Standard, is $25 per organizer per month billed annually for up to 25 attendees, with cloud recording and 24-hour webinars. Live streaming to YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn arrives with paid plans, per Zoho's free plan page.
Watch out: no cloud recording on the free plan means you capture the session yourself if you want a replay.
StreamYard, the free studio for a branded broadcast
StreamYard has a free plan with all essential studio features, six on-screen participants and local recordings capped at 2 hours a month, with a StreamYard logo on your streams. Your audience watches on the destination you stream to, such as YouTube.
Pick it for a polished live show with guests, not for registrations or attendee lists. The free logo and limited storage are the price of $0.
free. Core removes the logo and costs $35.99/mo billed yearly ($44.99 monthly). The On-Air webinar feature for 100 viewers sits on Advanced at $68.99/mo billed yearly.
Watch out: the free plan lists streaming limits without a number on the pricing page, so check the current cap in the app before a launch.
Restream, free multistreaming with a webinar add-on that is not free
Restream has a $0 plan that streams to 2 channels at once with Restream branding. It is a broadcast tool first.
Useful when your audience is already on two platforms such as LinkedIn and YouTube. It is the wrong tool if you need a sign-up list.
free. Paid plans start from $19/mo and remove branding, and a separate Webinars add-on is listed at $99/mo on the Standard and Professional plans.
Watch out: the webinar add-on is priced above the plan it attaches to, so a webinar here costs far more than the entry price suggests.
Zoom Basic, free meetings but not free webinars
Zoom's free Basic plan allows 100 participants but cuts group meetings at 40 minutes, per Zoom's pricing page. That 40-minute wall makes it the plan that fails the 45-minute scenario by five minutes.
Fine for a short demo or a 30-minute Q&A. Zoom Webinars is a separate paid product, so a free Zoom account does not get you a webinar.
Basic is free. Pro is $16.99/mo billed monthly or $14.16 billed annually, and Zoom Webinars is sold per user per month for sessions up to 500 attendees, with the price shown at checkout.
Watch out: hosts often assume a Zoom Meetings link behaves like a Webinars session. It does not, so confirm the product before you promise an audience size.
Trial-only tools
Several well-known webinar platforms have no free plan. Livestorm sells attendee credits and offers a free trial, and Airmeet starts a free trial and then charges $167/mo billed yearly or $199/mo monthly for its Premium Webinars plan. BigMarker states there is no free plan and quotes prices on request. One more, Contrast, advertises a free plan, so check its limits on its own page. For paid options, see our best webinar platforms ranking.
How to choose
If you have 100 people or fewer and 60 minutes or less, use Google Meet or Teams, whichever your guests already have. If your guests will not create accounts, use Jitsi. If you need registration, polls and a real webinar flow for 20 people, Zoho is the one.
For broadcasting to an audience on social platforms, StreamYard and Restream are built for it, but they trade registration data for reach. For a deeper look at the meeting tools, see our video conferencing comparison, and for in-person and hybrid events, the event management software guide.
Common mistakes
Confusing a trial with a free plan. A trial ends, and your registration pages and recordings can go with it, so check what survives before you build a series on one.
Ignoring the clock. A 45-minute webinar on Zoom Basic gets cut at 40, mid-Q&A, in front of the people you registered.
Counting registrants as attendees. A 20-attendee cap on Zoho applies to people in the room, so an 80-person list needs a bigger plan from the start.
FAQ
What is the best free webinar software in 2026?
Google Meet is the best free option for a mid-sized session, with 100 participants and 60 minutes at no cost, verified October 2026. Zoho Webinar is the best free plan from a dedicated webinar vendor, limited to 20 attendees and 60 minutes. Jitsi Meet suits sessions where guests will not create an account.
Can you host a webinar for free?
Yes. Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Jitsi Meet host group sessions at $0, and Zoho Webinar offers a free plan built for webinars. Each trades something away: Meet and Teams cap sessions at 60 minutes, and Zoho caps attendees at 20.
Is Zoom Webinars free?
No. Zoom's free Basic plan hosts meetings of up to 100 participants for 40 minutes, but Zoom Webinars is a separate paid product for audiences up to 500 attendees, priced per user per month. Pro, the paid meeting plan, is $16.99/mo billed monthly or $14.16 billed annually, as of October 2026.
Is a free webinar tool better than streaming on YouTube Live?
It depends on whether you need sign-ups. YouTube Live is free and reaches a public audience, but you must verify your channel and may wait up to 24 hours before your first stream, per YouTube Help. A webinar tool gives you a registration list, which is the point of a lead-generation webinar.
How many free webinar plans fit an 80-registrant, 45-minute webinar?
Two of the seven clear both bars as published: Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Zoho Webinar and Zoom Basic fail on attendees or minutes, Jitsi Meet publishes no cap or limit to check, and StreamYard and Restream reach the audience through a streaming destination instead.
Bottom line
For a small B2B webinar at $0, start with Google Meet, move to Zoho Webinar if you want a real webinar flow for 20 people or fewer, and choose Jitsi when guests will not create accounts. The moment you need more than 100 attendees, registration data or a replay library, budget for a paid plan.
Want help tracking which free tools change their limits? Read about Dupple X or start a trial and we will watch the pricing pages for you. For a second view of this category, see Toolradar's best free webinar software, and browse our top tools directory or reviews.
Related guides
Some offers on this page may be paid placements or contain affiliate links.
Across our whole catalogue the median is $24 a month and 33% of tools advertise a free tier. Figures are the lowest recurring monthly price quoted in our own review of each tool, read on 2026-08-19. Full method and every category.
