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3CX Live Chat vs Skype for Business comparison

3CX and Microsoft are both solutions in the Virtual Meetings category. 3CX is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.0, while Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.8. 3CX holds a 1.9% mindshare in VM, compared to Microsoft’s 11.5% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of 3CX users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 79% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.
3CX Live Chat
Read 55 3CX Live Chat reviews
  • 295 Views
  • 195 Comparison Views
91% willing to recommend
Skype for Business
Read 62 Skype for Business reviews
  • 2,412 Views
  • 886 Comparison Views
79% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 2025

3CX Live Chat and Skype for Business both compete in the communication solutions category. 3CX offers simplicity and cost-effectiveness for businesses, whereas Skype for Business holds the advantage in integration and infrastructure, being well-integrated with Microsoft's suite.

Features: 3CX Live Chat offers extensive VoIP features, easy deployment, and integration with CRM systems, ideal for mobile communication. Skype for Business excels in conferencing and collaboration, integrating seamlessly with Microsoft tools, providing a comprehensive framework for video communication.

Room for Improvement: 3CX needs better integration with other systems, improved call recording, and mobile app reliability. Reports on customization shortages in live chat also exist. Skype for Business could enhance integration with non-Microsoft products and improve call quality and ease of installation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: 3CX features straightforward deployment across cloud and on-premises setups but requires better customer support responsiveness. Skype for Business, though complex in deployment, leverages Microsoft’s support system, proving advantageous for Microsoft-centric environments.

Pricing and ROI: 3CX offers competitive pricing based on concurrent calls, yielding quick ROI for growing businesses. Bundled with Microsoft licenses, Skype for Business can be costlier, but benefits businesses integrated within the Microsoft ecosystem despite higher initial costs.

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To learn more, read our detailed 3CX Live Chat vs. Skype for Business Report (Updated: January 2025).
Buyer's Guide
3CX Live Chat vs. Skype for Business
January 2025
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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
16th
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 (5th)
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 February 2025, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of 3CX Live Chat is 1.9%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Skype for Business is 11.5%, up from 8.8% 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…
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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.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"3CX is easy to use. It's pretty a much regular PBX system. It is quite easy to configure aspects of it, and it has a good soft client."
"The integration between the video and voice is the most valuable solution."
"It’s straightforward to set up."
"The most valuable features of 3CX Live Chat are the integration with our existing CRM allowing us to get all of the numbers synced together. The communication aspect of the solution was always working very well, the sound quality was perfect. We were able to log into the application to check which users were using the solution and if they were in a call or not. Additionally, the solution integrates well with other CRMs."
"3CX is useful and easy to use. I can talk to my colleagues from anywhere."
"The dashboards and interface of the solution are very good, they have covered most of the main features needed for our needs."
"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 solution is stable."
More 3CX Live Chat pros
"What is most valuable about Skype for Business is that almost everyone knows about it and almost everyone has it. You will be able to reach a large number of people."
"We like the tools our administrator can use to identify which calls had quality issues and why. This makes troubleshooting our user experience somewhat easier."
"The most valuable feature is stability."
"The security seems good."
"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 product helps me make international calls."
"I like the seamless integration to local telecommunications."
"The most valuable features of the solution are that it is quick and easy to use. It is a good tool for group calls."
More Skype for Business pros
 

Cons

"It needs the option for the CS rep to stop recording when a credit card number is recited by the customer."
"Having a video call would be a nice idea."
"There should be an option to save some extensions."
"Some customers want to integrate a CRM solution with 3CX, but it's not compatible."
"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."
"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."
"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."
More 3CX Live Chat cons
"Microsoft Teams, as I see it now, is more useful than Skype for Business."
"The group feature of Skype for Business needs improvement. It should also be improved for online lectures."
"The cost of Skype for Business has room for improvement."
"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."
"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."
"Skype for Business is good for the PCs with higher bandwidth, but an improvement is required for low bandwidth usage."
"The solution isn't connected to Microsoft Teams, and I feel like there is better communication on that particular solution. The group capabilities are a bit less than Teams."
More Skype for Business cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"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 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."
"There is no add-on costing on the standard fees."
More 3CX Live Chat pricing and cost advice
"I am using a corporate account for which I have not made any payments."
"We are using the subscription-based version of Skype for Business. There is a free version of the solution."
"It may be slightly costly, but the features are awesome."
"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 have been able to save money by moving our conferencing solution to Skype for Business Conferencing."
"We negotiated a fair price with Microsoft. It is definitely worthwhile to negotiate with them for the best price for your solution."
"The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."
"A license is required to use the solution."
More Skype for Business pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
93%
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 do you like most about 3CX Live Chat?
The solution is stable.
See all answers
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.
See all answers
What needs improvement with 3CX Live Chat?
The reporting and dashboards of 3CX could be improved.
See all answers
What do you like most about Skype for Business?
The solution’s video quality is fine.
See all answers
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.
See all answers
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.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Kamailio SIP Server vs 3CX Live Chat
Compared 33% of the time
Fortinet FortiVoice vs 3CX Live Chat Logo
Fortinet FortiVoice vs 3CX Live Chat
Compared 27% of the time
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Webex vs Skype for Business Logo
Webex vs Skype for Business
Compared 29% of the time
Cisco Unified Communications vs Skype for Business Logo
Cisco Unified Communications vs Skype for Business
Compared 25% of the time
TeamViewer vs Skype for Business Logo
TeamViewer vs Skype for Business
Compared 15% of the time
Zoom vs Skype for Business Logo
Zoom vs Skype for Business
Compared 14% of the time
GoToMeeting vs Skype for Business Logo
GoToMeeting vs Skype for Business
Compared 7% of the time
More Skype for Business Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
3CX Live Chat vs. LiveChat
January 2025
3CX Live Chat reportDownload 3CX Live Chat product report
Buyer's Guide
Skype for Business
January 2025
Skype for Business reportDownload Skype for Business product report
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

Connect with your website visitors for free with the 3CX Live Chat plugin. With more than 1,900,000 downloads, 3CX Live Chat is the most popular, effective and reliable live chat plugin for WordPress. Increase conversions and boost customer satisfaction by communicating directly with your website visitors in real-time.

Integrate with 3CX for a multichannel communications suite including voice and video (requires 3CX V16). Get 3CX for free for one year for unlimited users hosted by 3CX, in your own cloud account or on-premise on Windows or Linux.

  • Easy and convenient for visitors
  • Build rapport with potential customers via live chat
  • Increase sales
  • Reduce customer support line costs by using live chat
  • Learn to understand the pain points of your customers

FEATURES

  • Simple and clean UI for all users
  • Option to elevate a live chat to a call or video call
  • Free iOS or Android apps to respond to messages through a smartphone
  • Ability to transfer chats to other agents
  • Agent’s picture is shown in the live chatbox
  • Customizable chatbox. Add a company logo, change the colors of the chatbox
  • All chats are saved in chat history
  • Dedicated storage system for all offline messages
  • Create unlimited agents to handle live chats and calls
  • Customizable offline message form
  • Supports animations in the chatbox
  • Ability to choose whether you want to accept or decline a chat
3CX
Skype for Business offers features including presence, IM, voice and video calls, online meetings, conferencing, and telephony solutions that support enterprise-level collaboration requirements. Skype for Business Record meetings, share your screen, and annotate PowerPoint for real-time collaboration with up to 250 people and use whiteboard, polls, Q&A, and built-in IM during your business meetings to make them more productive. Skype for Business provides new client experience, Skype for Business Server provides several new features to improve manageability of on-premises servers and hybrid solutions. Skype for Business also supports the Lync client experience so that you can choose a phased upgrade approach to the new client experience for users. Skype for Business is also an integral part of Microsoft Office 365, providing PSTN Conferencing, Cloud PBX, PSTN Calling, and Skype Meeting Broadcast capabilities to Office 365 users.
Microsoft
 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services,LA Fitness, MedcoEnergi International, Tampa General Hospital, and HopewellHoldings Limited.
Buyer's Guide
3CX Live Chat vs. Skype for Business
January 2025
Free Report: 3CX Live Chat vs. Skype for Business
Find out what your peers are saying about 3CX Live Chat vs. Skype for Business and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
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