Around
Cisco Webex
| Feature | Around | Cisco Webex |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $10.99/mo | Free / from $14.5/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.2 / 5 | 4.2 / 5 |
| Best For | remote-teams, quick-standups, pair-programming, distributed-teams | enterprise, government, healthcare, large-organizations |
| Founded | 2020 | 1995 |
| Floating Video | ✓ | ✗ |
| Auto Leveling | ✓ | ✗ |
| Noise Cancellation | ✓ | ✗ |
| Screen Sharing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Reactions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Virtual Backgrounds | ✓ | ✗ |
| Video Meetings | ✗ | ✓ |
| Messaging | ✗ | ✓ |
| Calling | ✗ | ✓ |
| Whiteboarding | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ai Assistant | ✗ | ✓ |
| Webinars | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Around Pros
- Lightweight and fast
- Minimal floating interface
- Good noise cancellation
- Reduces meeting fatigue
✗ Around Cons
- Limited features vs Zoom
- Smaller user base
- No recording on free
✓ Cisco Webex Pros
- Enterprise-grade security
- High-quality video
- AI features
- Hardware ecosystem
✗ Cisco Webex Cons
- Complex interface
- Expensive
- Smaller ecosystem
The Verdict
Around is built for remote teams and quick standups, with a focus on floating-video and auto-leveling. Cisco Webex targets enterprise and government and leads with video-meetings and messaging.
Pricing is close: Around starts at $10.99/mo versus $14.5/mo for Cisco Webex — not a deciding factor on its own.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.