3CX Live Chat vs HCL Sametime comparison

Why PeerSpot?

3CX and HCLSoftware are both solutions in the Virtual Meetings category. 3CX is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.0, while HCLSoftware is ranked #24. 3CX holds a 3.2% mindshare in VM, compared to HCLSoftware ’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of 3CX users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 75% of HCLSoftware users who would recommend it.

3CX Live Chat

Read 56 3CX Live Chat reviews

5,953 Views
2,500 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

HCL Sametime

Read 5 HCL Sametime reviews

1,088 Views
936 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

3CX Live Chat

HCL Sametime

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 2025

3CX Live Chat and HCL Sametime compete in the communication software market. While 3CX Live Chat is preferred for its ease of use and cost-effectiveness, HCL Sametime stands out for its robust functionalities and integration capabilities.

Features:3CX Live Chat integrates seamlessly with websites, offering chat, video, and voice options. It emphasizes user-friendliness and essential communication functions. HCL Sametime provides persistent chat rooms, file sharing, and deep integration with enterprise solutions, ensuring comprehensive communication and collaboration.

Room for Improvement:3CX Live Chat could enhance its reporting capabilities, customization options, and integration features. HCL Sametime might improve in simplifying its user interface, reducing deployment complexity, and enhancing mobile functionalities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:3CX Live Chat is known for simple deployment, making it ideal for less technical setups, whereas HCL Sametime requires more resources for setup but offers extensive support for complex installations.

Pricing and ROI:3CX Live Chat offers strong ROI with a lower initial investment, appealing to budget-conscious enterprises. HCL Sametime demands a higher upfront cost but promises substantial ROI through its advanced capabilities and strategic integrations.

To learn more, read our detailed 3CX Live Chat vs. HCL Sametime Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

3CX Live Chat vs. HCL Sametime

September 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

3CX Live Chat

Ranking in Virtual Meetings

6th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IP PBX (1st), Unified Communications (2nd), Live Chat (4th), Hosted and Cloud Based VoIP (4th)

HCL Sametime

Ranking in Virtual Meetings

24th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of 3CX Live Chat is 3.2%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of HCL Sametime is 1.5%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
3CX Live Chat	3.2%
HCL Sametime	1.5%
Other	95.3%

Virtual Meetings

Featured Reviews

Ram Maruboina

Software Engineer – Rust Systems & AI Evaluation at Turing

Real-time chat has boosted customer satisfaction and improves team efficiency and lead conversion

We could improve with better advanced chatbot customization, stronger AI-powered conversations, automatic deep CRM and third-party integration, more detailed analytics and reporting, additional customization options for chats, and improvements to mobile app performance and workflow automation. Regarding security, it is essential for customer-facing interactions. I would point out the real-time data lag, which is a significant gap, and enhancements in system reporting and live data update metrics are necessary. We also miss deep customer journey insights, along with user interface improvements, mobile widgets, and agent experience enhancements, especially with security and privacy configurations. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate 3CX Live Chat as an 8 because it has excellent control over the PBX license while enabling instant transitions from chat to voice and video calls. The reasons for losing those two points include basic analytics, widget customization options, and limited standalone chat tools compared to its competitors, which have higher market shares. With the right developers, they could excel in this area. The reason I chose the number eight is not only about analytics or customization but due to reliability bugs and agent workflow frictions, which affect the overall reporting coherence. Reliability and security glitches are significant drawbacks.

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Bogdan Chechlowski

Kierownik Biura Informatyki at EIB SA

Stable product, communicate very fast and allows to see who's online in the office or work environment

It was used for communication through text messages, primarily Being able to see who was online and communicate very fast was a good feature. The security was quite good. However, when we tried to implement it for email at a high level, we had to use another solution, FortiMail Gateway. I view…

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"We have not had any bugs or glitches, the solution is stable."

"The most valuable features of 3CX Live Chat are the integration with our existing CRM allowing us to get all of the numbers synced together, the communication aspect of the solution was always working very well, the sound quality was perfect, we were able to log into the application to check which users were using the solution and if they were in a call or not, and additionally, the solution integrates well with other CRMs."

"3CX constantly adds new features based on their customers feedback and it is one of the most versatile PBX systems we have worked with."

"I can safely say that there is nothing that beats the ease of deployment, functionality and stability of 3CX."

"Excellent Windows based PBX constantly updated with new features and great support."

"3CX Live Chat is easy to manage and is a very customizable platform."

"I can, to date, not find any system that gets even close to the feature richness and low cost of 3CX."

"It has made my life as the VoIP Division Manager easier."

More 3CX Live Chat pros

"I can view the status and availability of colleagues or team members, which makes it easy to approach them when they are available."

"A very good communication and real-time collaboration software, it is simple, fast, reliable, keeps history and the best feature of all is its intelligence."

"Audio and video calls provide faster communication than chat."

"The security was quite good."

"This solution saves time and cost in communicating with team members, streamlines tasks in my organization by encouraging us to chat directly with the relevant person, and strengthens professional relationships through increased communication among peers."

Cons

"Support for more desktop phones as a standard would be helpful. They are heavy on Yealink phones and when moving from legacy systems we find it a bit cumbersome to add those phones on to 3CX and then auto-provisioning becomes quite a task."

"Not really much to dislike, the product is solid but you do need to keep your Windows server updated."

"I would like to see is for the status to have a “time in status” field so people can see how long someone has been in that particular status."

"There's some complexity in interfacing with external devices."

"It needs a better training and certification process."

"During one upgrade, we lost conferencing that took several months to add back in the new version."

"Reporting and integration are the main challenges, which are at the mid-level or in the enterprise depending on the system that we choose."

"In 3CX, customization is not as easy as I would like."

More 3CX Live Chat cons

"The interface is too colorful and looks like Windows XP."

"The webinar should be integrated into Sametime for a larger number of participants."

"It seems that the software might in the future, support the software telephony exchange but at the current time, it is not doing that and because of that one key feature of real-time communication is missing from it."

"Sametime hangs sometimes and therefore needs to get restarted."

"It lacks some features compared to modern solutions. For example, it doesn't allow sending screenshots or other files."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We used a yearly license depending on the customer's requirements, and the customers did not complain about the pricing."

"3CX sells an annual subscription, but we usually split it out monthly for clients, so they don't see an annual bill for the 3CX licensing, it's just part of their monthly phone bill. As they're paying us for carrier service anyway, we just roll it all together. Your standard phone service would be an additional cost, you either need to maintain a local carrier with POTS lines or PRI or a SIP, or you have to go with a cloud-based SIP."

"Switching from POTS or PRI to SIP Trunk save the customer real costs. ROI is seen in less than a year."

"There is no add-on costing on the standard fees."

"There aren't any additional costs. With the license I purchased, I have all features that I need. I don't have to buy an add-on or another license."

"The price of the solution is in the middle range compared to other solutions. There are different license options available. For example, there is a professional version and an enterprise version, and with the enterprise version, you have the ability to modify the dashboards. You can purchase a license at many different time frame increments, such as monthly, yearly, or two years."

"The price of the solution is reasonable. There are a few license options and we are using an enterprise license."

"The price of the solution has been reasonable. We have not had any problems or complaints with the licensing model. We have not reached a point where we need to upgrade. We have all the correct channels."

More 3CX Live Chat pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Outsourcing Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	41
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	3

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for 3CX Live Chat?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for 3CX Live Chat is generally positive. The pricing structure is straightforward, and the licensing models are user-friendly, leading to a smo...

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What needs improvement with 3CX Live Chat?

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What is your primary use case for 3CX Live Chat?

My main use case for 3CX Live Chat is customer support, website live chat, and lead generation. For my customer support and lead generation use, I worked with 3CX Live Chat for customer inquiries i...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Live Chat

September 2026

Download 3CX Live Chat product report

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Meetings

September 2026

Download HCL Sametime product report

Also Known As

3CX PBX

Lotus Sametime, IBM Lotus Sametime

Overview

3CX Live Chat enhances communication with seamless CRM integration, cloud management, and VoIP integration. Mobile and desktop apps support mobility, making it a flexible communication tool for businesses.

3CX Live Chat integrates communication through WebRTC, providing chat, video, and call queues that create a robust platform for customer support and internal communication. It boasts strong management features like call tracking, scalability, and cost savings, all within a user-friendly interface. Maintenance and customization are straightforward, facilitating streamlined customer interactions and operations. However, the solution requires attention to integration and customization challenges, including complex interfaces and compatibility limitations. Users may find some areas for improvement in analytics, reporting, and extended device support.

What are the key features of 3CX Live Chat?

Cloud Management: Simplify communication with cloud-based tools.
VoIP Integration: Enhance call handling with integrated VoIP capabilities.
Seamless CRM Integration: Connect easily with existing CRM software.
WebRTC: Enable smooth transitions between different communication modes.
Call Tracking & Reporting: Access detailed call data for better decision-making.
Mobile & Desktop Apps: Support mobility with versatile app options.
Customization: Tailor features to suit specific communication needs.

What benefits should reviewers look for?

Cost Savings: Reduce expenses with an efficient communication tool.
Scalability: Adapt to changing business communication needs easily.
Ease of Deployment: Minimize IT setup time and resources.
Management Features: Utilize tools for effective communication oversight.

3CX Live Chat is utilized across domains, particularly in customer support, enabling seamless internal and client interactions. Call centers, small and medium-sized businesses, and enterprises favor it for its efficiency in handling customer inquiries and facilitating communications across multiple branches with minimal IT setup.

3CX

HCL Sametime offers streamlined team communication and collaboration tools essential for businesses looking to enhance productivity and connectivity in real-time environments.

HCL Sametime is crafted to facilitate instant messaging, video conferencing, and team collaboration, making it integral for businesses that depend on seamless internal and external communication. With its robust architecture, it supports multiple platforms and ensures a secure, scalable communication experience.

What features make HCL Sametime valuable?

Instant Messaging: Enables immediate text communication across the organization.
Video Conferencing: Facilitates real-time video meetings to boost collaboration.
Presence Awareness: Shows user availability to streamline communication efforts.
File Sharing: Allows easy exchange of documents and multimedia during meetings.
Cross-Platform Compatibility: Ensures accessibility on mobile, desktop, and web applications.

What benefits should users consider in reviews for HCL Sametime?

Cost Efficiency: Reviews highlight competitive pricing and reduced travel expenses.
Improved Collaboration: Enhances team cooperation through integrated communication tools.
Security: Offers encrypted communication ensuring data protection.
Scalability: Adapts to organizational growth with flexible deployment options.
Time Savings: Streamlines meeting setups and reduces email dependency.

HCL Sametime has broad application across industries such as healthcare, finance, and education, where reliable and secure communications are critical. Financial institutions leverage secure messaging for confidential discussions, while educational bodies use video conferencing for remote learning and collaboration.

HCLSoftware

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Connect2Cloud, Superior Group, Daifuku Co. Ltd., Seaward, The City of Fort Worth, Christian Brothers Services, Berlitz, Deutsche Notes User Group, Danske Fysioterapeuter, Slumberland, La Vacanza, Rheinmetall AG

Buyer's Guide

3CX Live Chat vs. HCL Sametime

September 2026

Free Report: 3CX Live Chat vs. HCL Sametime

Find out what your peers are saying about 3CX Live Chat vs. HCL Sametime and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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