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Blackboard Collaborate vs Polycom RealPresence Clariti comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 2025

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

Blackboard Collaborate
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
19th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Polycom RealPresence Clariti
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of Blackboard Collaborate is 2.4%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Polycom RealPresence Clariti is 1.9%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Polycom RealPresence Clariti1.9%
Blackboard Collaborate2.4%
Other95.7%
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

YN
Teaching and Learning Systems Manager at a university with 5,001-10,000 employees
Useful in webinars, meetings and online classrooms
One of the features that people enjoy is the whiteboard, providing opportunities for academics to present content and for students to contribute. The platform also allows for the creating of different rooms, enabling large classes to break into smaller groups for discussions. Students can then return to the main classroom to share their opinions. It integrates with LMS.
NH
Network Technical Advisor at a government with 10,001+ employees
The ability to track call flow and history simplifies call management while bridging issues persist
I find the ability to follow the calls, the call flow, the ability to look at the history, and more on the fault-finding tools to be valuable. It improved from a support model perspective. It simplified the licensing, reduced administration since it's based on calls, not based on users. It's about managing the calls and verifying we have enough space as opposed to always adding licenses for endpoints or users.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the features that people enjoy is the whiteboard, providing opportunities for academics to present content and for students to contribute. The platform also allows for the creating of different rooms, enabling large classes to break into smaller groups for discussions. Students can then return to the main classroom to share their opinions. It integrates with LMS."
"The software is easy to use, has clear navigation and structure, and is highly customizable from an administrators standpoint (I've administered and used it as a client)."
"This solution has provided an additional way to connect with students and they feel like it allows for participation in a variety of ways."
"The solution allows me to connect and collaborate with my classes."
"The solution allows me to connect and collaborate with student live time, or asynchronously."
"Document loading and annotation."
"It simplified the licensing, reduced administration since it's based on calls, not based on users."
"The solution is stable, there are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze."
"It does a good job of integrating with other software."
"I find the ability to follow the calls, the call flow, the ability to look at the history, and more on the fault-finding tools to be valuable."
"It's on-prem, which is great."
"The product increases the ability of Teams in cases when we need to collaborate with whiteboards or specific video-coms or audio-coms to install a meeting presence room."
"Some proprietary Polycom features include speaker tracking, acoustic fencing, noise cancellation, active noise cancellation, and noise cancellation AI."
"The most valuable feature is its integration with solutions like Zoom and Teams for endpoints. The picture quality is high, and the conference sessions are stable."
 

Cons

"Originally, I was disappointed in behavior of the early Ultra version. It did not exhibit to students what I am showing on my own machine."
"If there were maybe more tutorials outside of what I'm aware the university is suggesting, I would take more tutorials on effective ways to deliver content. I come from the industry and content was always needed when people that were observing were smart and involved and decision-makers instead of so passively just trying to pass the course. In my imagination, the tutorials would be a tool where the learners themselves can have much more hands-on learning during a Collaborate session."
"I occasionally had difficulties logging in because I think that the system was overloaded with too many people."
"I wish I could upload assignments from my Android tablet or iPhone, but I guarantee that specific feature is in the works."
"We faced outages when the user limit went over a certain number."
"The system can overload when too many try logging in."
"Could have a wider range of use cases."
"The only issue we have is with some of the bridging stuff, particularly with respect to DTMF and outgoing calls."
"The idea of the Clariti 2.0 is good, however, they're still moving too slowly."
"The most valuable feature is its integration with solutions like Zoom and Teams for endpoints. The picture quality is high, and the conference sessions are stable."
"The only issue we have is with some of the bridging stuff, particularly with respect to DTMF and outgoing calls."
"I'd like to see a wider range of use cases for this product."
"Polycom RealPresence Clariti is very bad when moving towards the cloud."
"The customer needs this platform to be a little bit more customized."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Polycom RealPresence Clariti is definitely more expensive than others in the market because of its high quality."
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Questions from the Community

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What needs improvement with Polycom RealPresence Clariti?
They are discontinuing the product and they are moving over to Pexip. The only issue we have is with some of the bridging stuff, particularly with respect to DTMF and outgoing calls. That's our big...
What is your primary use case for Polycom RealPresence Clariti?
We use it both nationally and internationally with our partners, however, it's used in a closed environment.
What advice do you have for others considering Polycom RealPresence Clariti?
I would recommend it, however, it depends on the environment. We have a lot of users but not a lot of usage, so the price model is really good for that environment. Overall, I would give it a nine ...
 

Also Known As

Blackboard Mobile
RealPresence Clariti, Clariti
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

University of Derby Online, Universty of Warwick, University of Liverpool, City College Norwich, Northumberland College, Mid-Kent College, Watson Pharmaceutials, Capella University, Shore Tel Sky, Lincoln PD, City of Somerville MA, Somerset County Council
Baptist Health Corbin, North Carolina Central University
Find out what your peers are saying about Blackboard Collaborate vs. Polycom RealPresence Clariti and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.