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HCL Sametime vs Zoom Workplace Business comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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

HCL Sametime
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zoom Workplace Business
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
234
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of HCL Sametime is 1.6%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoom Workplace Business is 7.4%, down from 11.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Zoom Workplace Business7.4%
HCL Sametime1.6%
Other91.0%
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

Bogdan Chechlowski - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
Yifate Yusuf - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Lead at GE
Unified communication has transformed our collaboration and consistently boosts project delivery
The best features Zoom Workplace Business offers include screen sharing, clear video and audio, online meetings, large-scale events, call management, mobile apps, unified communication platform, and collaboration. The feature I find myself using the most is an AI-powered collaboration platform that is used to streamline communication, increase employee engagement, optimize in-person time, and improve productivity. The screen sharing is very effective and a helpful tool where we are able to screen share with our colleagues and discuss different tasks and project management ideas. Collaboration has become very efficient, and remote working has also become efficient and prevalent in my organization. We have been able to save a lot of time using Zoom Workplace Business. It has been a game-changer. Zoom Workplace Business elevates the experience with Zoom AI Companion included at no additional cost. It is designed to help employees be more productive, collaborate better, enhance their skills, and unlock time savings.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"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."
"The solution is very user friendly and flexible."
"The collaboration features are good."
"It's popular. Many people use it not only personally, but also in businesses."
"I find it very easy to use for multiple persons."
"I have found the product to be scalable."
"Zoom's content shareability and chat support are the most valuable features."
"Overall, I like it very much; I like the way that you can do webinars on it, and that is the most valuable for me."
"The interface is good and integrates well."
 

Cons

"The interface is too colorful and looks like Windows XP."
"Sametime hangs sometimes and therefore needs to get restarted."
"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."
"It lacks some features compared to modern solutions. For example, it doesn't allow sending screenshots or other files."
"The webinar should be integrated into Sametime for a larger number of participants."
"For the most part, the solution just works. However, when it doesn't work, it really doesn't work."
"One area that can be improved is the chat settings."
"There are some features that are lacking."
"They should improve the sharing file features from accessing the internal network. If we cannnot share our documents through this meeting, our meeting productivity will decrease dramatically. We need these features."
"Unfortunately with our Zoom installation and licensing we are unable to switch to that configuration."
"When sharing a screen, it's only dedicated to one particular window, not multiple windows"
"The solution needs to have a feature that allows you to take over another person's screen; right now, that's not possible."
"The free version of Zoom could be improved and offer more functionality. We would also like to have whiteboard and drawing functionality."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Zoom is available with an open license that can support meetings of up to 40 minutes."
"The exact costs are handled on a corporate level, however, I understand that if you just want to own a license for your small business or something like that, it's around $300 a year, which is very reasonable."
"There is a subscription to use the solution."
"The free version has a time limit, but paid subscriptions are available."
"I am using the free version of Zoom."
"The pricing is too high. The cost of the license could be cheaper."
"For personal use, I use the free version of Zoom, so I haven't paid anything."
"The solution's pricing is good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Construction Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Performing Arts
10%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business102
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise108
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HCL Sametime?
I view it as part of HCL Notes and Domino, and my opinion is similar to those products. It lacks some features compared to modern solutions. For example, it doesn't allow sending screenshots or oth...
What is your primary use case for HCL Sametime?
It was used for communication through text messages, primarily.
What advice do you have for others considering HCL Sametime?
Overall, it was quite good. I would rate it an eight out of ten. It's a better product than some others from HCL, but overall, I wouldn't recommend it, given the availability of superior alternatives.
LucidChart vs LucidSpark for brainstorming sessions over Zoom
Hi @Krista Thompson ​ - Yes, LucidSpark is a much more nimble and, in some ways, user-friendly tool than LucidChart. LucidSpark is designed to do a better job managing multiple users participating ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zoom?
I cannot say anything about pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Zoom Workplace Business since it is handled globally for us.
What needs improvement with Zoom?
I would like the price to be a bit lower. Besides pricing, there are no other points I would like to see improved.
 

Also Known As

Lotus Sametime, IBM Lotus Sametime
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Fortinet, Veeva, Proofpoint, Box, Ticketmaster, Trend Micro, Caesars Entertainment, Santa Clara University, Pandora, Stanford Continuing Studies
Find out what your peers are saying about HCL Sametime vs. Zoom Workplace Business and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.