Are there actually viable alternatives with similar quality and latency factors to Zoom?

Last I checked, the competitors, whether free or not, all had meaningful downsides (quality, latency, self-hosted, inextricably bundled to another system, etc) with the only upside being “it’s not Zoom.”

Honest question. I’m sure the land has changed a lot in the last 6-12 months.

I've had positive experiences with both Microsoft Teams (Skype) video and with Google Meet in the last 6 months. In terms of "stands alone easily," Google Meet has a pretty great experience for the casual user, although it does have some confusingly implemented UX (for screen-sharing, admitting-users, etc). The UX is easy for tech-oriented folks but your grandma might need some training.

The one I was kinda surprised wasn't any good, even for audio-only, was Discord. Not that it fits your criteria anyway.

n of 1 and all that, I don't have any supporting data.

I don't believe anyone is a casual user of video chat anymore. It's like calling someone a casual telephone user or a casual car user. It's fundamental to daily life.

I disagree, on video chat, telephone, AND car usage. Some folks (often (although certainly not always) older with a lower tolerance for UI changes) just don't use them very often.

My mother, for example, still prefers correspondence via snail mail. She has learned to tolerate FaceTime, but Zoom is always a bit of a hassle and requires a separate phone-call to her landline to help her walk through the steps to get connected. I don't think she's unusual. It's a big world, with lots of kinds of people in it.

"Infrequent" is not the same as "casual." If anything it's the reverse because you avoid using it unless it is literally a matter of life or death.

You are majorly in a tech (a.k.a HN) bubble if you think that. People whose jobs have been 100% in person the entire pandemic are not using video chat for work, so that leaves family and friends. Many people just talk on the phone or see people in person.

I'm in my 20s, work full time, and have attended fewer than a dozen zoom meetings ever, none of them for work.

I haven’t had too many issues with Google Meet, for example.

I'm a happy Discord user. I'm sure now someone will list all the downsides of Discord (proprietary, target demographic, etc) but I'm just answering the question as asked.

Does Google record video or audio or keep transcriptions or anything of what's said? I've always felt like a differentiating factor is privacy, not just comparing free / easy / quality etc.