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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 (7th)
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 3.5%, down 4.9% compared to last year.
Skype for Business, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Meetings, holds 3.9% mindshare, down 8.6% since last year.
Unified Communications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Jabber3.5%
Cisco Unified Communications8.6%
3CX Live Chat8.4%
Other79.5%
Unified Communications
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Skype for Business3.9%
Zoom Workplace Business5.8%
Webex5.0%
Other85.3%
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

"It works fine feature-wise. The Cisco Jabber features that we use work okay."
"The power of the chat function is good in terms of sharing, pasting, and the like, as it is very full-featured."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to talk with people in real-time, instead of sending texts."
"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."
"Everyone in our company uses Cisco Jabber for phone calls and internal chat."
"In summary, this product worked well for what I needed to do."
"This product makes my life much easier by shortening the distance between my boss and the rest of my team."
"The most valuable feature of Skype for Business is overall it is an okay solution."
"Scalable communication tool that's easy to install. Even old people are using it, because of its ease of use."
"The performance is pretty good, this is a mature application with no bugs, and I have no complaints."
"The solution is easy to use and includes the ability to text message, video and voice chat, and transfer files."
"Using Skype allows us to connect with external agencies when a Skype call is set up and aids in sharing large files efficiently."
"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."
"It is a business solution that helps our company connect globally to others in our sphere."
"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."
 

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."
"Whenever someone is using a messaging platform, the messages needs to be stored. In Skype for Business, the message will not be seen later on if you're not online. It isn't useful, in my opinion."
"There have been a few issues working with vendor."
"Skype for Business is not suitable for giving lectures."
"Skype for Business is good for the PCs with higher bandwidth, but an improvement is required for low bandwidth usage."
"I don't recall coming across any big missing features."
"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."
"Your telco, in such a scenario, could be Microsoft itself but this kind of solution involves some interesting downsides."
"The solution should improve the chat and add more flexibility to make a call."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"I use the product's open-source version."
"To realize value from the purchase of Skype Business, you need to take advantage of all the important functions of the program."
"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 purchased an open license."
"The licensing is billed on a yearly basis."
"The solution is priced fairly."
"We are using the subscription-based version of Skype for Business. There is a free version of the solution."
"The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Outsourcing Company
11%
University
8%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
 

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
Earn 20 points
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: October 2026.
921,148 professionals have used our research since 2012.