What is the difference between free Zello and ZelloWork and why would I pay a subscription for it?
The Differences between Zello Free and Zello@Work
Zello is one of the most popular Walkie talkie apps in the world. 60 million users use their free version monthly. It also offers a paid version called Zello@Work. There is a question that many users of the free Zello ask, which is "why they would need to pay a monthly or yearly subscription to upgrade to Zello@Work".
Quoted from its website, here’s how Zello explains about it.
What is the difference between free Zello and ZelloWork?
Zello is a free app used by millions worldwide as reliable and secure way to connect with friends, family, and community to socialize as well as to organize in times of urgency.
The Zello@Work app requires a subscription but offers exclusive features to optimize team communication including a secure private network, end-to-end encryption, and management features to control group channels and settings.
Still, according to Zello’s own webpage, they list 12 features that are in the Paid version vs the free version. In this article, we analyse these 12 features and rate their importance to most users.
| Zello@Work Feature | Zello Free | Importance |
|---|---|---|
| Private network ZelloWork provides you with a secure, private network. You have full control over who can access your network and with whom they can communicate within your network. |
Using the free Zello, users can talk to anyone. Even their friends who also downloaded the app from the Google Play store or the App Store. Maybe some disturbance might come from other users if you are using the free version. With the Private Network, users not in your network will not be able to contact them. |
Medium This feature is useful to limit users to work only communication. Specific cases that a private network prevents is when someone is trying to spam your users or your users are also talking to their friends while working. |
| Dedicated servers ZelloWork operates on a physically separate network of servers that are specifically sized to meet the capacity needs of businesses. The consumer Zello app, on occasion, may be affected by peak usage that can be unpredictable. |
Free users have no Service Level Agreement of course since they are not paying anything. There is also no expectation from the user. | Medium to High Professional users want to have their communication at most times and thus this is a great feature to ensure reliability to communication. For example during hurricane Irma, Zello had a large surge of free users. If you were relying on the free service for work, your messages might have been delayed. |
| Management console ZelloWork uses a web-based management interface to allow businesses to configure and control users and channels. It also shows user status at-a-glance and account management features. |
Free users control their own channels and user status. They can be removed from groups by the owner but to make the users join a channel, users have to do it themselves on their device. |
High Managers can Create channels based on departments, add/delete users in certain groups, assign roles to users based on their job positions. This makes a smoother deployment process for the end users as they don’t have to remember which channels to join or their colleague’s user id. |
| Secure ZelloWork offers the highest level of security using RSA 1024-bit for authorization, digital signatures, secure media session keys exchange and AES 256-bit encryption for audio and call alerts. |
Free users have limited encryption. Zello work uses higher encryption standards. “Starting in June 2017 all private voice messages in Zello are end to end encrypted when you are using version of the app released after 06/06/2017.“ https://support.zello.com/hc/en-us/articles/230747707-Are-voice-messages-encrypted-in-Zello- |
High No one wants their private conversations to be heard by someone outside the company. |
| LMR integration ZelloWork includes a gateway solution that seamlessly integrates your existing two-way radio network and smartphones. |
Not available for free users. | Medium to High Depending on if you intend to connect Zello to your two-way radios. |
| Technical support ZelloWork customers have 24/7 access to a dedicated technical support team. The Zello support policy has more information. |
Not available for free users. | Medium Zello is generally reliable. This is a medium as although occurrences are rare, as an enterprise, you still need someone to talk to quickly resolve your issues. |
| Cloud History ZelloWork makes all voice messages, photos, and text-enabled call alerts easily accessible from the management console. This is an optional feature, with an additional cost. |
Not available for free users. | Medium This is a paid feature that is not available to free users. Not all companies need Cloud History but being on Zello@Work plan means you have the option to enable it if your audit requires it. |
| Windows Mobile support ZelloWork supports Windows Mobile CE as well as Windows Embedded Handheld devices, making it easier to use existing mobile scanners as push-to-talk devices. |
Not available for free users. | Low - Medium Some companies do still use Windows Mobile CE as they have to support legacy apps. However, with the rise of Android taking over Windows Mobile, this feature will be less important in the future. |
| User Roles ZelloWork allows administrators to choose who their users can hear and speak to within a channel. Driver and dispatch roles can be created, so drivers do not have to hear each other within a channel to reduce noise and distractions while driving. Broadcast channels can be created to make important announcements, without having everyone reply within the same channel. |
Not available for free users. | Medium In a company, everyone plays different work roles. Of course, the hierarchy is also different. Having user roles allows the communication to fit the job role. |
| API & SDK ZelloWork has Windows and Android SDKs and a server-side API which can be used to simplify use between multiple applications. These are available for all ZelloWork accounts to use. |
Not available for free users. | When the company needs a specific function of PTT app on their system, for example: a transportation company needs location tracking feature on their ERP to automate fuel reimbursement. |
| Location Tracking The ZelloWork console offers a real-time mapping feature which displays channel user's current location on OpenStreetMap, device battery level, and speed of travel. A Premium Map upgrade adds Google Maps and traffic services, along with Location History (bread-crumb trail). |
Not available for free users. | Medium to High Location tracking is a really important feature especially if you have drivers or field works. ZelloWork Location Tracking gives dispatchers a map view of drivers and tracks their movement in real time. |
| Crosslink ZelloWork channels can link to other ZelloWork channels that are not in the same organization or network. For example, your company's channel can link to a third-party or vendor's ZelloWork channel. |
Free users can create their own channels and so they can achieve the same functionality here. | Low to Medium |
Interested in upgrading from Zello to Zello@Work? Check out VoicePing Enterprise to see how we compare to Zello@Work.