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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."
"Mobility features and remote extensions work well."
"It’s straightforward to set up."
"The solution is stable."
"3CX is useful and easy to use. I can talk to my colleagues from anywhere."
"It lets you see how many calls you made, the time you called, and how many minutes you spent on the phone."
"The dashboards and interface of the solution are very good, they have covered most of the main features needed for our needs."
"With the reporting feature you can get all the incoming and outgoing call details."
"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."
"It saves trouble, and it saves us time."
"The most valuable feature is how useful it has been for virtual meetings during the pandemic."
"It's a good product, we like using it."
"Our employees use this solution for a communal space to collaborate for organizational decision making."
"I like the fact that it opens up your video conferencing, and, in many cases, the audio at the same time."
"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 stable and scalable."
 

Cons

"It could be better in terms of providing more options for call recording."
"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."
"Once we establish the system and do the initial configuration, some configurations will be fixed. However, if we need to change those configurations, the option is to do a reinstallation. Otherwise, we cannot do anything."
"The support team can appear to be condescending."
"It needs the option for the CS rep to stop recording when a credit card number is recited by the customer."
"The reporting and dashboards of 3CX could be improved."
"In 3CX, customization is not as easy as I would like. With 3CX Call Flow Designer, you can set up the flow of a call, deliver it to the department, and automate the process. I can't do many things with this."
"There are a lot of quality of life things that could be improved. When adding extensions, you need to use the extension import setting, you can't just use an import function to update extensions. You have to delete and recreate the extension, which can have all kinds of unintended consequences."
"Sometimes Skype is slow, and we cannot use other elements of our devices while using the Skype solution."
"The solution requires deployment on a Microsoft server and its performance is heavy because it consumes too many resources from the RAM."
"The solution has been discontinued by Microsoft."
"The inability to integrate Skype with other products is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"We need a feature where you can virtually raise your hand to silently let the presenter know that you have a question."
"The cost of Skype for Business has room for improvement."
"We have had trouble with scalability when trying to host large meetings."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Switching from POTS or PRI to SIP Trunk save the customer real costs. ROI is seen in less than a year."
"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."
"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."
"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 reasonable. There are a few license options and we are using an enterprise license."
"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."
"We used a yearly license depending on the customer's requirements, and the customers did not complain about the pricing."
"Skype for Business' pricing is reasonable."
"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."
"The licensing is billed on a yearly basis."
"I use the product's open-source version."
"We have been able to save money by moving our conferencing solution to Skype for Business Conferencing."
"The solution is priced fairly."
"Previously, I did not use another solution."
"We negotiated a fair price with Microsoft. It is definitely worthwhile to negotiate with them for the best price for your solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Educational Organization
93%
Financial Services Firm
1%
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: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.