Integration features
What you get with Plutio + Zoom
Connecting Zoom to Plutio gives you automatic video conferencing for every client booking. The integration handles meeting creation, link distribution, and calendar updates without manual steps.
Unique meeting per booking
Every booking creates its own Zoom meeting with a unique URL and password. Clients cannot accidentally join each other's calls or reuse old links. Each meeting is specific to that scheduled appointment. Unique links also prevent awkward situations where a client joins your personal meeting room during another call, which can happen when you share a static meeting ID across all your bookings.
Embedded meeting details
Confirmation emails include the Zoom link, meeting ID, password, and dial-in numbers. Calendar invites embed the same information. Clients have everything they need without additional messages from you. Dial-in numbers are useful for clients who travel or have unreliable internet, letting them call in from a phone instead of joining via video.
Automatic rescheduling
When you or a client reschedules, the Zoom meeting updates to the new time. The same link remains valid, and updated calendar invites are sent. No confusion from old and new meetings existing simultaneously. Clients who use their phone's calendar app see the updated time reflected within minutes, so there is no risk of showing up at the wrong time due to stale calendar data.
Automatic cancellation cleanup
When a booking is cancelled, the Zoom meeting is deleted from your Zoom account. The link becomes invalid, keeping your Zoom schedule clean and preventing clients from joining cancelled meetings. Over time, orphaned meetings in Zoom can pile up and make your upcoming meeting list hard to scan. Automatic cleanup keeps only active bookings visible.
Team member support
Each team member connects their own Zoom account. Bookings with that team member use their Zoom for meeting creation. The meeting appears on their Zoom schedule and uses their account settings. Team members who have Zoom Pro keep their personal meeting preferences, recording options, and branding, so every call feels consistent with how that person normally runs meetings.
Zoom settings inheritance
Meetings created by Plutio inherit your Zoom account settings: waiting rooms, passwords, recording options, and muting defaults. Configure once in Zoom, and all Plutio-created meetings follow those settings. Freelancers who enable auto-recording in Zoom get recordings of every client call without clicking Record manually, which is helpful for referring back to client feedback after design reviews or project kickoffs.
How do I connect Zoom to Plutio?
Connecting Zoom takes about 1 minute. Authorize Plutio in your Zoom account, then enable Zoom for your booking types.
The authorization grants Plutio permission to create, update, and delete meetings on your behalf. Plutio cannot access your existing meetings, recordings, or other Zoom data. The permission is specifically for meeting management related to bookings. Your existing Zoom meetings, personal meeting room, and recording library remain untouched by the integration.
After connecting, you configure which booking types use Zoom. Discovery calls might use Zoom while phone consultations have no video link. Each booking type has its own video platform setting.
Test the connection by creating a booking yourself. Use a different email to book through your booking page. Check if the confirmation email includes a Zoom link and verify the meeting appears in your Zoom account.
Step by step
- Step 1: Go to Plutio Settings → Integrations → Zoom
- Step 2: Click "Connect" and log into your Zoom account when prompted
- Step 3: Authorize Plutio to create meetings on your behalf
- Step 4: Create or edit a booking type in Plutio
- Step 5: In the booking type settings, select Zoom as the video platform. Save and test.
Should I use Zoom or Google Meet?
Use whatever your clients expect or prefer. Many clients associate "video call" with "Zoom call" because Zoom dominated during remote work expansion.
Zoom makes sense when clients expect it, you need features like breakout rooms or local recording on free plans, or you already pay for Zoom Pro. Enterprise clients may have IT policies that prefer Zoom. Some clients feel more comfortable with familiar tools. Zoom's virtual background feature also helps freelancers working from home maintain a professional appearance without needing a dedicated office space or green screen setup.
Google Meet makes sense when you want free video calls without the 40-minute group limit (Meet limits groups to 60 minutes), your clients use Google products, or you value browser-based joining without download prompts. Meet is simpler for non-technical clients.
Many freelancers connect both platforms and use different ones for different booking types. Client discovery calls use Zoom (clients expect it), team calls use Google Meet (everyone has Google accounts). You are not locked into one platform.
Quick comparison
- Group time limits: Zoom Free limits groups to 40 minutes. Google Meet Free limits groups to 60 minutes. Both have no limit for 1-on-1 calls.
- Recording: Zoom Free records locally. Google Meet recording requires Workspace ($6/month).
- Client experience: Zoom prompts app download (browser fallback exists). Google Meet works entirely in browser.
- Cost: Zoom Free is sufficient for most. Zoom Pro is $15.99/month. Google Meet is free with any Google account.
Do I need a paid Zoom account?
The free Zoom account works for one-on-one client calls. Most freelancers use free Zoom because their calls are typically with one client at a time.
Free Zoom includes unlimited time for meetings with one other person (you and one client). Group meetings (3 or more participants) are limited to 40 minutes. If your calls occasionally run longer, the meeting ends at 40 minutes, and you can start a new one. Most freelancer calls run between 30 and 45 minutes, so the 40-minute limit matters only when a third person joins the call, like a team member or a client's colleague.
Zoom Pro ($15.99/month) removes the 40-minute limit and adds cloud recording (up to 5GB), meeting analytics, and admin controls. Zoom Business ($21.99/month per user) adds company branding and managed domains.
Calculate whether you need paid Zoom: If you have fewer than 5 group calls per month, dealing with the 40-minute limit costs less than $16/month. If you have many group calls, Pro pays for itself in convenience.
Zoom plan comparison
- Zoom Free: Unlimited 1-on-1 calls, 40-minute group calls, 100 participants max, local recording only
- Zoom Pro ($15.99/month): Unlimited call length, cloud recording (5GB), meeting analytics, custom personal meeting ID
- Zoom Business ($21.99/user/month): Everything in Pro plus company branding, managed domains, recording transcripts
What happens when bookings are rescheduled or cancelled?
Rescheduling updates the existing Zoom meeting to the new time. Cancellation deletes the Zoom meeting entirely.
When a booking is rescheduled (by you or the client), Plutio updates the Zoom meeting time. The same meeting link remains valid. Both parties receive updated calendar invites with the new time and the same Zoom details. No confusion from having multiple meetings for one appointment. Clients who bookmarked the original meeting link can still use the same URL, so reschedules do not cause any friction for clients who saved the link to their notes or task list.
When a booking is cancelled, Plutio deletes the Zoom meeting from your account. The meeting link becomes invalid if anyone tries to use it. Your Zoom schedule stays clean without orphaned meetings from cancelled bookings. Cancellation notifications are sent to the client automatically, so they know the meeting is no longer happening.
If you cancel a booking and want to rebook, a new Zoom meeting is created with a new link. The old link from the cancelled booking will not work. Make sure clients use the link from the new booking confirmation.
Behavior summary
- Reschedule: Same Zoom link, new meeting time, updated calendar invites sent
- Cancel: Zoom meeting deleted, link invalid, cancellation notifications sent
- Rebook after cancel: New Zoom meeting created with new link
How do I configure Zoom meeting settings?
Configure meeting defaults in your Zoom account settings. Meetings created by Plutio inherit those defaults.
Plutio does not override your Zoom account preferences. If you enable waiting rooms in Zoom, Plutio-created meetings have waiting rooms. If you require passwords, meetings have passwords. If you auto-admit participants, they join immediately. Your Zoom settings control the meeting experience.
This design means you configure once in Zoom and every meeting follows those settings. You do not need to configure video settings separately in Plutio. Changes you make in Zoom apply to all future Plutio-created meetings automatically, so updating your waiting room policy or passcode requirement takes effect across every new booking.
Review your Zoom settings before relying on the integration: Settings → Meeting → In Meeting (Basic). Key settings: waiting room, passcode requirements, allow participants to join before host, mute participants upon entry.
Important Zoom settings to review
- Waiting room: Participants wait until you admit them (security vs convenience tradeoff)
- Meeting passcode: Require password to join (Plutio includes password in confirmation email)
- Join before host: Let clients join early while you are still setting up
- Auto-record: Record all meetings automatically (check local laws on consent)
What if Zoom meetings fail to create?
Check your Zoom connection in Plutio settings first. Most failures come from expired authentication or Zoom account issues.
Zoom authorization tokens expire periodically, especially after password changes or security updates. Reconnecting usually resolves the issue immediately. Go to Settings → Integrations → Zoom and click "Reconnect" or "Connect" again.
If reconnecting does not help, verify your Zoom account is active and in good standing. Free accounts can be deactivated after extended inactivity. Log into Zoom directly to confirm your account works.
Plutio notifies you if meeting creation fails so you can address the issue before the scheduled call. Do not ignore these notifications. Manual intervention may be needed.
Common issues and fixes
- "Authentication expired": Reconnect Zoom in Plutio Settings → Integrations. Tokens expire after password changes.
- "Meeting not created": Verify your Zoom account is active by logging into zoom.us directly.
- "Rate limit exceeded": Creating many bookings rapidly can hit Zoom's API limits. Space out bulk operations.
- Zoom outage: Rare, but if Zoom is down during booking, create a manual meeting or use Google Meet as backup.
