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Cisco Jabber vs Skype for Business comparison

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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 (8th)
Skype for Business
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
64
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 3.4%, down 5.9% compared to last year.
Skype for Business, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Meetings, holds 3.9% mindshare, down 10.8% since last year.
Unified Communications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Jabber3.4%
Cisco Unified Communications8.8%
3CX Live Chat7.8%
Other80.0%
Unified Communications
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Skype for Business3.9%
Zoom Workplace Business6.6%
Webex5.0%
Other84.5%
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…
MD
Assistant Information Technology Officer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Internal communication has become more efficient while mobile usage still needs improvement
The honest answer is that the product has not really evolved in some time. Microsoft has been pushing everyone towards Teams and Skype for Business has been in maintenance mode for a while. The mobile experience is also not great. Staff who try to use it on their phones find it less reliable than the desktop version, calls drop more, and the interface is clunky. For a modern workforce that expects everything to work on mobile, that is a gap. Despite the initial setup challenges and mobile issues, we have noticed positive outcomes for our organization since adopting Skype for Business. I rate Skype for Business seven out of ten. I think that Skype for Business has served us well for what it is. A government office has different expectations from a fast-moving private company. We value stability and security over the newest features. On those terms, Skype for Business has delivered.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"In summary, this product worked well for what I needed to do."
"The power of the chat function is good in terms of sharing, pasting, and the like, as it is very full-featured."
"It works fine feature-wise. The Cisco Jabber features that we use work okay."
"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."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to talk with people in real-time, instead of sending texts."
"Everyone in our company uses Cisco Jabber for phone calls and internal chat."
"This product makes my life much easier by shortening the distance between my boss and the rest of my team."
"We had a very good experience with Skype for Business; it was a helpful tool, and one of the best tools I've ever worked with."
"The performance is pretty good, this is a mature application with no bugs, and I have no complaints."
"The Microsoft tech support are very good. They get back to you. I log a support call, and I usually have someone on the phone within a half an hour, so it is pretty good."
"The integration with Microsoft Outlook for creating and scheduling meetings is nice."
"Since introducing Microsoft Lync, our users can now call other Lync users in other organizations."
"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 pricing is really good, it is quite affordable because it came with our Office 365, and I get a feeling that smaller organizations can interact with bigger organizations in a more global way by using this service as it is leveling the playing field."
"A good option for virtual meetings."
 

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."
"Cisco Jabber is not a collaborative tool."
"I presume that very small businesses would have a tough time justifying the investment."
"The solution's functionality needs to be moved to Microsoft Teams. Its technology is outdated."
"WebEx has a feature that allows you to zoom in when you're giving a presentation. To get the same result with Skype requires going through the host."
"The integration with Outlook could be improved."
"There are some issues with stability during phone calls. Sometimes the connectivity drops, and it is frustrating."
"Skype for Business is good for the PCs with higher bandwidth, but an improvement is required for low bandwidth usage."
"The inability to integrate Skype with other products is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"Sometimes the connection crashes, which is understandable if you are traveling. But, it would be nice if this could be stabilized somehow."
"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

Information not available
"I use the product's open-source version."
"We negotiated a fair price with Microsoft. It is definitely worthwhile to negotiate with them for the best price for your solution."
"A license is required to use the solution."
"It may be slightly costly, but the features are awesome."
"It may be considered costly for certain markets, such as in India."
"We purchased an open license."
"The licensing is billed on a yearly basis."
"We are using the subscription-based version of Skype for Business. There is a free version of the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Construction Company
8%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise28
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Skype for Business?
If I think back, my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing involves accessing it through our Microsoft Enterprise Agreement which covers the whole Office suite including Skype for Busin...
What needs improvement with Skype for Business?
The honest answer is that the product has not really evolved in some time. Microsoft has been pushing everyone towards Teams and Skype for Business has been in maintenance mode for a while. The mob...
What is your primary use case for Skype for Business?
My main use case for Skype for Business is internal communication across departments and between different government offices. We have staff spread across multiple locations in Malacca, and before ...
 

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: August 2026.
912,022 professionals have used our research since 2012.