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3CX Live Chat vs Skype for Business 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

3CX Live Chat
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
17th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
IP PBX (1st), Unified Communications (2nd), Live Chat (4th), Hosted and Cloud Based VoIP (4th)
Skype for Business
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of 3CX Live Chat is 1.5%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Skype for Business is 13.4%, up from 8.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmed ACHOUR - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced service desk workflow which streamlines operations and offers strong integration capabilities
The customers use 3CX for IP telephony and call center activities. Additionally, they use 3CX for service desk activities, including integration with other ITSM products to collect data from customers who need technical support on their platforms 3CX has proven to be a good solution, particularly…
Magdalena Teodorczuk - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers great audio and video quality for virtual meetings
I like the instant messaging feature in the product since I prefer to use the chat functionalities provided by the solution. It is easy to integrate the product with some of the other solutions in the market. I rate the integration capabilities of the product a ten out of ten. The product's user interface is user-friendly. I use the product at a personal level, so I can't speak about the support it provides for the maintenance part. I rate the overall tool a ten out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"3CX has a graphical user interface, and this is awesome because I don't have to have an IT person from my company in my customer's environment to set up and configure 3CX for my client. I just train the customer."
"The integration with SMS has been helpful. That's how a lot of customers prefer to communicate nowadays. It makes it convenient for the customer to reach us."
"We have not had any bugs or glitches, the solution is stable."
"It is SIP compliant to multiple SIP phone vendors, though it is not locked into a proprietary vendor."
"3CX is useful and easy to use. I can talk to my colleagues from anywhere."
"Easy management console access through web browsers with a good interface to Outlook and multiple CRM systems."
"3CX has strong reporting and management features. You can manage the capabilities of a call center with queues and timers. It's a complete solution."
"It’s straightforward to set up."
"The most valuable feature of Skype for Business is that it has many other tools that you can be integrated with it. It makes the meetings more interactive."
"It has benefited my organization because I can use it on the phone, I can use it on a laptop, wherever I want. The communication channel is very easy now and I can call and chat. It's experienced. Together, my team manages everything. It's very easy."
"I rate the solution's stability a nine on a scale where one is not stable and ten is very stable...I rate the solution's initial setup a nine on a scale where one is difficult, and ten is easy."
"We really like the screen sharing tool. The user experience is smooth, and user-friendly."
"The solution is stable and scalable."
"Using Skype allows us to connect with external agencies when a Skype call is set up and aids in sharing large files efficiently."
"I think Skype for Business is scalable. However, I believe Microsoft is discontinuing the Skype platform altogether, so I don't think it's super-relevant."
"The solution is scalable and is capable of working on every appliance on every operating system."
 

Cons

"3CX Live Chat could improve by being more customizable. There should be more skinning options for the appearance of the solution when we embed it onto a website. This would allow us to make it look more like part of our solution, rather than a third-party application."
"Message management in 3CX Live Chat is a little tricky. You can transfer a conversation to someone else if it comes into a group, but it isn't always easy to return the conversation to the group."
"I need a robust provider who can help me use Live Chat. Unfortunately, I have to move from one provider to another because they don't have enough capabilities to maintain good service."
"Some customers want to integrate a CRM solution with 3CX, but it's not compatible."
"The support team can appear to be condescending."
"The solution could improve the web meeting feature. There is a lot of competition from all the other applications that are out there, such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom. I find I do not use it that much. I do not know how much effort they are putting into the web meeting part of the program but it could improve."
"Having a video call would be a nice idea."
"3CX Live Chat could improve by having better integration with other solutions because we had multiple calls in which information was not extracted correctly. We had to modify their names, and some other data needed to be sorted out for a better understanding of the calls."
"We would like to better customize our instructions within the Outlook plugin/invite, but we are unable to do so."
"The stability could be improved."
"Skype for Business could improve by having a document channel or repository. Microsoft Teams has a better repository place for documents that you can share with your team. You can access it anywhere from any device."
"Whenever someone is using a messaging platform, the messages needs to be stored. In Skype for Business, the message will not be seen later on if you're not online. It isn't useful, in my opinion."
"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."
"The tool needs to have a dynamic file updating feature, so people you share a file with could update the file dynamically, all at once, all at the same time."
"Skype's overall connectivity functionality or ability is one area with room for improvement."
"We need a feature where you can virtually raise your hand to silently let the presenter know that you have a question."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is no add-on costing on the standard fees."
"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."
"We have purchased an annual license to use 3CX Live Chat. There are different options available, you can pay monthly or yearly. I am completely satisfied with the pricing of 3CX Live Chat, it is cheaper than competitors and it is a better solution."
"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."
"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."
"Switching from POTS or PRI to SIP Trunk save the customer real costs. ROI is seen in less than a year."
"We used a yearly license depending on the customer's requirements, and the customers did not complain about the pricing."
"We have been able to save money by moving our conferencing solution to Skype for Business Conferencing."
"We had a license for every one of our users to use Skype for Business. The license we used was part of an overall Microsoft license package."
"Skype for Business' pricing is reasonable."
"The licensing is billed on a yearly basis."
"The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."
"We purchased an open license."
"When it comes to the pricing of the solution, I rate it as a five out of ten. It falls somewhere in the middle between being cheap and expensive."
"Previously, I did not use another solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
8%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
Educational Organization
92%
Financial Services Firm
2%
Computer Software Company
1%
Government
1%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for 3CX Live Chat?
The pricing of 3CX is around six out of ten. For some customers, the first year may be free of charge, allowing them to try the solution before deciding to implement it.
What needs improvement with 3CX Live Chat?
The reporting and dashboards of 3CX could be improved.
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?
The video quality could be improved, possibly due to internet connection issues. However, there is no significant weakness in Skype for Business.
 

Also Known As

3CX PBX
Skype for Business Plan 1, Skype for Business Plan 2, Lync Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services,LA Fitness, MedcoEnergi International, Tampa General Hospital, and HopewellHoldings Limited.
Find out what your peers are saying about 3CX Live Chat vs. Skype for Business and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.