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Cisco Jabber vs Skype for Business comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Cisco Jabber
Average Rating
9.0
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Unified Communications (7th)
Skype for Business
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Meetings (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Jabber and Skype for Business aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Jabber is designed for Unified Communications and holds a mindshare of 3.3%, down 8.6% compared to last year.
Skype for Business, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Meetings, holds 4.8% mindshare, down 11.8% since last year.
Unified Communications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Jabber3.3%
Cisco Unified Communications10.2%
3CX Live Chat7.7%
Other78.8%
Unified Communications
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Skype for Business4.8%
Zoom Workplace Business8.6%
Webex6.4%
Other80.2%
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer912129 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Manager at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
Stable, easy to set up, and works fine
Everyone in our company uses Cisco Jabber for phone calls and internal chat. We have around 1,000 users. For features like video conferences, schedules, and presentations, we use Microsoft Teams.  It works fine feature-wise. The Cisco Jabber features that we use work okay. There are issues in…
reviewer1854369 - PeerSpot reviewer
Executive at a government with 201-500 employees
Relying on dependable communication features for efficient collaboration
I work with Microsoft Exchange. We use Microsoft Azure, though I am not involved with the back-end operations. I work with Microsoft Exchange and ServiceNow for the service desk. I do not work with Cloud Observability or Automation Engine. We use Microsoft Copilot with Teams. We do not use Microsoft Security Copilot as it is not cloud-based. We have moved from Skype for Business to Teams recently, though some of us still use Skype for Business because it is convenient. Skype for Business is particularly useful for remoting onto people's devices. I prefer Skype for Business over Teams for screen sharing. Sometimes there are compatibility issues when running Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business together. Phone calls in Teams might ring and then go silent, or the microphone might not detect calls from either application. I rate Skype for Business a 9 out of 10 because it works effectively with minimal issues.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is the ability to talk with people in real-time, instead of sending texts."
"This product makes my life much easier by shortening the distance between my boss and the rest of my team."
"In summary, this product worked well for what I needed to do."
"The power of the chat function is good in terms of sharing, pasting, and the like, as it is very full-featured."
"Everyone in our company uses Cisco Jabber for phone calls and internal chat."
"The most valuable feature for me is that it shows who is available and who is not, as well as what their current status is."
"It works fine feature-wise. The Cisco Jabber features that we use work okay."
"Skype for Business optimizes our network, encourages adoption, standardizes optimized headsets, supports strong change management, and enhances mobility."
"The quality of the meetings is very good."
"The security seems good."
"The most valuable feature of Skype for Business is overall it is an okay solution."
"I like the seamless integration to local telecommunications."
"The solution has improved the flexibility of meetings for our organization, increasing our communication channels and putting everything in one place from sharing to team management, which makes everything easy."
"The solution appears to be quite stable."
"I think Skype for Business is scalable."
 

Cons

"Cisco Jabber is not a collaborative tool."
"Cisco Jabber is not a collaborative tool."
"There are issues in switching from one type of communication system to another. When I connect my wired earphone or Bluetooth earphone, Cisco Jabber doesn't switch automatically. There are some user experience issues that need to be fixed."
"There are issues in switching from one type of communication system to another. When I connect my wired earphone or Bluetooth earphone, Cisco Jabber doesn't switch automatically."
"I presume that very small businesses would have a tough time justifying the investment."
"I presume that very small businesses would have a tough time justifying the investment."
"We are looking for a more collaborative tool, not only in terms of virtual meetings but also for teams to collaborate, share a document, work together, and all those types of things."
"I feel bored with the look and feel of the tool, so it should be changed."
"Conferencing and interoperability need to be improved."
"There is one issue regarding the audio settings. The application tends to select the internal microphone on devices rather than detecting external headphones."
"I should be able to make a desktop phone call when I click a member of my Lync directory."
"The ease of configuration or the lack of decent tooling to pinpoint your problems is probably its biggest issue."
"The group feature of Skype for Business needs improvement. It should also be improved for online lectures."
"WebEx has a feature that allows you to zoom in when you're giving a presentation. To get the same result with Skype requires going through the host."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The solution is priced fairly."
"The pricing is really good. It is quite affordable because it came with our Office 365. It is on a per-user license, which is nice. I quite like that they have made it very granular with all of their licensing."
"We purchased an open license."
"It may be considered costly for certain markets, such as in India."
"A license is required to use the solution."
"I am using a corporate account for which I have not made any payments."
"The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."
"To realize value from the purchase of Skype Business, you need to take advantage of all the important functions of the program."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
10%
University
9%
Marketing Services Firm
16%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Performing Arts
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise27
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Skype for Business?
Skype for Business is affordable and has decent pricing. The video quality is a bit lower than Teams or Zoom, but it remains a good solution overall.
What needs improvement with Skype for Business?
I cannot think of many ways in which Skype for Business could improve in general. It works fairly efficiently for our purposes with Skype for Business. There is one issue regarding the audio settin...
 

Also Known As

Jabber
Skype for Business Plan 1, Skype for Business Plan 2, Lync Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Odeabank, Eagle Investment Systems, Pella Corporation, The Republican National Convention, avodaqAG
EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services,LA Fitness, MedcoEnergi International, Tampa General Hospital, and HopewellHoldings Limited.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, 3CX, Digium and others in Unified Communications. Updated: March 2026.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.