Hosting multiple meetings simultaneously

Last Updated:

Hosting concurrent, or simultaneous, meetings means that the same user is hosting more than one meeting at the same time, and this capability depends on your account and license type.

Each Basic user and Licensed user on a Pro account is limited to hosting only 1 meeting at a time.

Licensed users on Business, Education, and Enterprise accounts can host up to 2 meetings at the same time. Both meetings need to be started by the original meeting host or by an alternative host. The host can leave the meeting and pass host privileges to another user if needed.

While these users can have 2 meetings active at the same time, by default they are unable to join multiple meetings simultaneously on the desktop client.

Notes:

  • You can't host multiple webinars at the same time.
  • You can't host 1 meeting and 1 webinar at the same time.
  • Users with scheduling privilege can manage and act as an alternative host for all meetings.

Prerequisites for hosting more than one meeting at the same time

  • Licensed user on a Business, Education, or Enterprise account
  • Host must start the meeting
  • Zoom desktop client for Windows, macOS, or Linux: Global minimum versionor higher
  • Zoom mobile app for Android or iOS: Global minimum versionor higher

Usage examples of concurrent meeting limits

Below are some examples of how many meetings can be hosted in different account and license types:

  • John is a Basic user on his own personal free account.
    • He can schedule as many meetings as he wants, but can only have 1 meeting active at a time, regardless of if he is actually present in the meeting or not.
  • John has upgraded and is now a Licensed user on a Pro account. He invites Paul to his account as a Licensed user.
    • John can schedule as many meetings as he wants, but can only have 1 meeting active at a time, regardless of if he is actually present in the meeting or not.
    • Paul can schedule as many meetings as he wants, but can only have 1 meeting active at a time, regardless of if he is actually present in the meeting or not.
    • John and Paul's meeting limits are independent of each other, meaning they can both host a meeting at the same time, as long as they each schedule one of those meetings (as opposed to John scheduling and hosting them both). The same goes for other users on the account.
  • John and Paul each join their company's Business account as Licensed users.
    • John can schedule as many meetings as he wants, but can have up to 2 meetings active at a time, regardless of if he is actually present in the meetings or not.
    • Paul can schedule as many meetings as he wants, but can have up to 2 meetings at a time, regardless of if he is actually present in the meetings or not.
    • John and Paul's meeting limits are independent of each other, meaning they can each host up to 2 meetings at the same time. The same goes for other users on the account.

      Note: This is the same if their company's account was an Education or Enterprise account.

Common issues with concurrent meetings

If the host has reached their maximum number of meetings in progress, they may see the following issues.

  • If participants attempt to join a meeting that the host hasn't started yet, they will receive a message that the host has another meeting in progress.
  • If the host or alternative host tries to start a different meeting at the same time, they will be prompted to end the first meeting
  • If H.323/SIP devices that join a meeting with join before host enabled, and the host is already hosting another meeting, the device will prompt for a host key for the meeting.
  • If a Zoom Room attempts to start a second meeting with join before host enabled, it will end the first meeting without warning.

Zoom Community

Join the 100K+ other members in the Zoom Community! Login with your Zoom account credentials and start collaborating.