Host key

[Ultimaschool]

Hello!
How many people can activate host key? Is there any limit? 

I have business zoom account and I would like to understand the difference between Host key and License.
So I can create 10 different meetings where I am a host and give my host key to 10 different people to let them have host permissions for these meetings, right?

Why do I need additional licenses on my account if I can just buy Pro Plan with 1 license and just give host keys to everyone in our company?

Could you help me to clarify this, please?

Thank you! Have a great day!

[Bort · Accepted solution]

Hi @Ultimaschool 

The host key allows you (or someone else you trust) to claim the host controls of your meeting when you are unable to otherwise validate you are who you say you are, ie actually logging in to your account. This does not mean you can host as many meetings as you want concurrently by just sharing your host key, as every user has a maximum limit of the number of meetings they can host concurrently, regardless of if they actually attend the meeting or not. 

For a user on a Pro account, you can only host 1 meeting at a time. When that meeting is started, regardless of who is in attendance or has claimed host via the host key, the system tracks that this user currently has a meeting in progress. If another meeting tied to that user's profile is started, a notice is displayed, informing them the host has another meeting in progress and they must end the first meeting before starting this 2nd meeting. 

Users on Business accounts have a slightly higher meeting limit (2 concurrent meetings at once), but a Business account has a higher price-point and minimum requirement. With a Business account, you could theoretically host up to 20 meetings at once, but that would require 2 meetings scheduled by each individual user, with each user's host key used for their 2 respective meetings (the owner's host key has no effect on other user's meetings, only the owner's meetings).

In any case, sharing accounts is against Zoom's ToS, so this method should be used with caution. 

Best practice is to assign all 10 licenses on your Business account to actual users and have them manage their meetings independently of one another. Another added benefit of actually assigning these licenses to actual users is that they can use scheduling privilege to schedule meetings for each other and transfer meetings between themselves.

You can also add additional Basic users to your account and swap licenses around between all your users, so that those who need to host a meeting for longer than 40-minutes (Basic users), can do so with a license assigned to them. 

Hope that helps and please make sure to mark the solution as accepted if this information is what you needed.

[Ultimaschool]

Thank you! It is very useful information!