Switching from Zoom to Around for Lightweight Remote Team Video Calls

Many development teams have relied on Zoom for years, but the platform’s resource overhead and feature complexity can feel excessive for daily standups, quick syncs, and lightweight collaborative sessions. Around offers a streamlined alternative designed specifically for smaller, frequent video calls that don’t require Zoom’s full suite of enterprise features.

This guide covers the practical aspects of transitioning your remote team from Zoom to Around, including feature comparisons, API integration patterns, and migration strategies that minimize disruption.

Understanding the Key Differences

Zoom remains the industry standard for comprehensive video conferencing, offering breakout rooms, recording storage, webinar capabilities, and extensive admin controls. Around focuses on a narrower use case: quick, frictionless video calls with minimal setup overhead.

For development teams conducting multiple short calls daily, Around’s unlimited meeting duration on free tier and faster startup times represent meaningful productivity improvements.

Common Migration Scenarios

Teams typically migrate to Around when they experience one or more of these pain points with Zoom:

• Meeting fatigue from heavy client applications — Zoom’s desktop app consumes significant RAM, which impacts development machine performance
• Overhead for simple calls — Creating accounts, scheduling meetings, and managing passwords for quick ad-hoc calls
• Battery drain on laptops — Zoom’s resource consumption shortens battery life during remote work days
• Cost concerns — Scaling Zoom licenses across large teams becomes expensive

Integration Approaches for Development Teams

Around provides fewer API endpoints than Zoom, but essential integrations remain available for automating meeting workflows.

Creating Meetings Programmatically

Around doesn’t expose a public REST API for meeting creation in the same way Zoom does. However, you can generate instant meeting links and embed them in your internal tools:

// Generate Around instant meeting link
function generateAroundLink() {
  // Around instant meetings use a consistent URL pattern
  const meetingId = Math.random().toString(36).substring(2, 10);
  return `https://around.co/${meetingId}`;
}

// Usage in a team bot
const meetingLink = generateAroundLink();
console.log(`New Around meeting: ${meetingLink}`);

For teams needing structured meeting creation, consider building a simple wrapper that stores meeting metadata in your own database:

# Simple meeting manager using Around links
from datetime import datetime
import uuid

class MeetingManager:
    def __init__(self):
        self.meetings = {}
    
    def create_meeting(self, title, host, scheduled_time=None):
        meeting_id = str(uuid.uuid4())[:8]
        link = f"https://around.co/{meeting_id}"
        
        self.meetings[meeting_id] = {
            'title': title,
            'host': host,
            'link': link,
            'scheduled': scheduled_time or datetime.now(),
            'platform': 'around'
        }
        
        return self.meetings[meeting_id]
    
    def get_meeting(self, meeting_id):
        return self.meetings.get(meeting_id)

# Example usage
manager = MeetingManager()
meeting = manager.create_meeting(
    title="Daily Standup",
    host="developer-1",
    scheduled_time="2026-03-20T09:00:00"
)
print(f"Join link: {meeting['link']}")

Embedding Around in Custom Tools

Around supports iframe embedding for in-browser participation, which enables integration into custom team dashboards:

<!-- Embed Around meeting in internal dashboard -->
<iframe
  src="https://around.co/YOUR-MEETING-ID"
  width="100%"
  height="600"
  allow="camera; microphone; fullscreen"
  style="border: none; border-radius: 8px;"
></iframe>

This approach works well for teams building internal collaboration portals where video calls need to happen alongside code reviews, task boards, or documentation.

Practical Migration Steps

Phase 1: Pilot with a Single Team

Start by migrating one development team that handles most of your ad-hoc calls. This team should:

1. Install the Around browser extension or desktop app
2. Replace Zoom links in Slack/Teams status with Around availability
3. Test screen sharing, audio quality, and participant limits
4. Document any workflow gaps during a two-week pilot

Phase 2: Update Integration Points

Review your existing tooling and update integration configurations:

# Example: Update Slack video call integration
# Before (Zoom)
video_call_service:
  provider: zoom
  default_link: "https://zoom.us/j/"

# After (Around)
video_call_service:
  provider: around
  default_link: "https://around.co/"

If your team uses calendar integrations, update Google Calendar or Outlook settings to default to Around for new events.

Phase 3: Establish Usage Guidelines

Document when to use Around versus other tools:

• Use Around for: Daily standups, one-on-ones, quick technical discussions, pair programming sessions
• Reserve Zoom/Meet for: Client calls, large team meetings, webinars, recordings requiring breakout rooms

Handling Edge Cases

Several scenarios require consideration during migration:

External stakeholders: Clients or contractors without Around accounts can still join via browser without creating accounts. Share the meeting link directly rather than relying on calendar invites.

Recording needs: Around offers limited recording capabilities compared to Zoom’s cloud storage. If your team requires meeting recordings, either use Zoom for those specific calls or explore third-party screen recording tools.

Network constraints: Around performs well on moderate bandwidth, but teams in regions with unstable connections may experience better reliability with Zoom’s adaptive bitrate technology.

Performance Considerations

For developers running resource-constrained environments, Around’s lighter client offers tangible benefits:

Zoom desktop app (idle): ~200-300 MB RAM
Around desktop app (idle): ~80-120 MB RAM

On older laptops or virtual machines, this difference affects system responsiveness during long workdays.

Conclusion

Around provides a capable alternative to Zoom for teams prioritizing lightweight, frequent video calls. The transition requires adjusting workflows, updating integrations, and establishing clear usage guidelines, but the improved resource efficiency and simplified meeting management benefit development teams seeking to reduce video call overhead.

For teams conducting multiple short calls daily, the faster meeting startup and lower resource consumption make Around a practical upgrade path from Zoom’s enterprise feature set.

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