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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 quality of the meetings is very good."
"It's a good and stable product that fits my needs."
"The product's initial setup phase is very easy."
"The most valuable features of the solution are that it is quick and easy to use. It is a good tool for group calls."
"The product helps me make international calls."
"The most valuable feature is how useful it has been for virtual meetings during the pandemic."
"Desktop sharing is a valuable feature."
"The most valuable features of Skype for Business include its persistent chat, Edge Server, Reverse Proxy, front-end server, back-end server, and business calling capabilities, among others."
 

Cons

"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."
"I presume that very small businesses would have a tough time justifying the investment."
"Cisco Jabber is not a collaborative tool."
"If one of the users has a poor internet connection, this failure will compromise the meeting, causing delays and distortions in the communications."
"I feel that the whole look and feel of Skype should be improved, including its user-friendliness. It should also improve its scalability."
"It would be ideal if the solution could make instant messages more permanent. Currently, if you close the conversation, you lose the instant messages that you shared during the meeting. If those could last beyond the meeting, that would be a great addition, due to the fact that frequently, people give each other key details, important information, or email addresses, etc., during the meeting. If you don't write it down during the meeting, after the meeting closes, it's gone forever. That can be quite frustrating."
"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."
"Lacks a zoom-in feature for whoever is presenting."
"We have found that there is a lag because it cannot integrate with the internal landline."
"We would like to better customize our instructions within the Outlook plugin/invite, but we are unable to do so."
"Make it user friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"It may be slightly costly, but the features are awesome."
"We negotiated a fair price with Microsoft. It is definitely worthwhile to negotiate with them for the best price for your solution."
"We purchased an open license."
"Skype for Business' pricing is reasonable."
"The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."
"To realize value from the purchase of Skype Business, you need to take advantage of all the important functions of the program."
"I am using a corporate account for which I have not made any payments."
"We have been able to save money by moving our conferencing solution to Skype for Business Conferencing."
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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

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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.
879,443 professionals have used our research since 2012.