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Zoom's 40-minute limit: what it is and how churches get past it

Answer · Updated

On Zoom's free plan, meetings end after 40 minutes. You can pay for Zoom Pro, restart the meeting (everyone has to rejoin), or keep the call small and broadcast it: your team stays on Zoom and everyone else listens on one link with no time limit and little data.

Your options

  • Pay for Zoom Pro. Meetings run up to 30 hours. Worth it if you need everyone on camera.
  • Restart the meeting when it ends. Free, but you lose people at every break.
  • Use another platform for the whole meeting. Google Meet's free plan also limits group calls (to 60 minutes).
  • Broadcast the meeting. Keep the call to the people who lead, and let everyone else listen on your AltarPage link: no 40-minute limit for listeners, no 100-person cap, about 22 MB an hour.

How broadcasting a Zoom meeting works

From a computer, AltarPage's studio brings in the meeting's sound and mixes it with your microphone (free Zoom works). On Zoom Pro you can use Zoom's own live stream instead. See how to broadcast a Zoom or Google Meet meeting.

Listeners can still respond

While they listen, members can give, send prayer requests and say "I gave my life to Christ", and you see each one arrive, so moving people off the call doesn't mean losing them.

Questions people ask

Does Zoom's 40-minute limit apply to 2 people?

Zoom's free plan limits meetings to 40 minutes; check Zoom's site for the current rules for one-to-one meetings.

Was the 40-minute limit removed?

Zoom has lifted it for special occasions in the past, but it's the normal rule on the free plan.