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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 (6th)
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 3.9%, down 8.8% compared to last year.
Skype for Business, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Meetings, holds 5.9% mindshare, down 10.5% since last year.
Unified Communications Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Cisco Jabber3.9%
Cisco Unified Communications9.0%
Kamailio SIP Server7.4%
Other79.7%
Unified Communications
Virtual Meetings Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Skype for Business5.9%
Zoom Workplace Business9.4%
Webex7.6%
Other77.1%
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 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."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to talk with people in real-time, instead of sending texts."
"The solution is easy to use and includes the ability to text message, video and voice chat, and transfer files."
"The product's initial setup phase is very easy."
"It's a good and stable product that fits my needs."
"Using this solution has helped us to cut long distance calls, as well as video services from third parties."
"File sharing and email invitations for a conference. I can have a meeting with people at the opposite end of the Earth, sharing documentation; it is quite easy."
"The most valuable features are the history tracking which allows us to see who participated and who didn't in the meetings as well as the integration with Outlook."
"The conversation history feature in Skype for Business is particularly useful because it links with Outlook, and it is beneficial to access conversations with colleagues from six months ago through Skype for Business."
"The tool's most valuable features are its audio and chat functions. They help us save time and have good telephone integration."
 

Cons

"I presume that very small businesses would have a tough time justifying the investment."
"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."
"Cisco Jabber is not a collaborative tool."
"Microsoft Teams, as I see it now, is more useful than Skype for Business."
"The solution has been discontinued by Microsoft."
"The solution's functionality needs to be moved to Microsoft Teams. Its technology is outdated."
"The challenge we had with Skype for Business was with the signing in when a user signed out and when signing in back in again, there was a bit of a problem. We switched from Skype for Business to Teams, and Teams never had that sign-in problem once we did the switch."
"I am not familiar with all of the features or whether they can hold conferences because we use Zoom for that. But, in my opinion, if they can do something similar to what Zoom is doing, it will be a complete solution."
"I feel that the whole look and feel of Skype should be improved, including its user-friendliness. It should also improve its scalability."
"The user experience during long sessions could be improved to avoid issues like intermittent disconnections or login failures."
"There are issues with the bandwidth, particularly for external meetings,"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"We are using the subscription-based version of Skype for Business. There is a free version of the solution."
"It may be considered costly for certain markets, such as in India."
"The solution is priced fairly."
"To realize value from the purchase of Skype Business, you need to take advantage of all the important functions of the program."
"The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."
"It may be slightly costly, but the features are awesome."
"Our company pays for a license for us to use the solution."
"Skype for Business' pricing is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Healthcare Company
10%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Performing Arts
10%
Government
9%
 

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

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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: December 2025.
879,455 professionals have used our research since 2012.