Polycom RealPresence Clariti vs Skype for Business comparison

Poly and Microsoft are both solutions in the Virtual Meetings category. Poly is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.5, while Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.7. Poly holds a 1.5% mindshare in VM, compared to Microsoft’s 13.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Poly users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 79% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Polycom RealPresence Clariti

Read 5 Polycom RealPresence Clariti reviews

222 Views
119 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Skype for Business

Read 62 Skype for Business reviews

2,218 Views
904 Comparison Views

79% willing to recommend

Polycom RealPresence Clariti

Skype for Business

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 2025

Skype for Business and Polycom RealPresence Clariti are business communication solutions. Polycom RealPresence Clariti is often seen as having an edge due to its rich features.

Features: Skype for Business integrates seamlessly with Microsoft's ecosystem, including Office 365, offering robust messaging, voice, video calls, and virtual meetings. Its ease of integration with existing tools makes it useful for businesses looking for cohesive communication. Polycom RealPresence Clariti provides high-quality scalable video conferencing with excellent audio and video quality. It supports diverse endpoints and integrates with third-party systems, appealing to businesses needing top-tier video communication.

Room for Improvement: Skype for Business could improve its video conferencing capabilities to better match its competitors' quality. Additionally, enhancements in user interface design and latency on calls could add further value. Polycom RealPresence Clariti may enhance its cloud-based deployment options to simplify implementation processes. Reducing initial acquisition costs and improving user-friendliness could make it more accessible.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Skype for Business leverages Microsoft's cloud-based deployment, simplifying the implementation process and providing reliable customer support. Polycom RealPresence Clariti, requiring more complex on-premises setups, counters this with extensive customer support and tailored solutions, beneficial for sophisticated conferencing requirements.

Pricing and ROI: Skype for Business tends to be more affordable with its subscription-based model, attracting small to medium-sized enterprises. Polycom RealPresence Clariti necessitates a higher initial expenditure due to its hardware and software configurations but potentially offers a substantial ROI for businesses valuing advanced communication infrastructures.

To learn more, read our detailed Polycom RealPresence Clariti vs. Skype for Business Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Polycom RealPresence Clariti vs. Skype for Business

April 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

Polycom RealPresence Clariti

Ranking in Virtual Meetings

12th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Skype for Business

Ranking in Virtual Meetings

3rd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of Polycom RealPresence Clariti is 1.5%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Skype for Business is 13.4%, up from 8.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Virtual Meetings

Featured Reviews

Sreejith Thulasidas

Senior Engineer - UC - Service and Solutions Deployment at FVC

Provides video calling facilities with good video and audio clarity

Polycom RealPresence Clariti is very bad when moving towards the cloud. I think that Microsoft Teams and Zoom have already taken over the market. Polycom is currently looking into more end devices than server components and infrastructure. A cloud version would have been better, but that will not be feasible for Polycom now. It would have been helpful to have a cloud version during the migration stages, but now the time has gone. As a company, it's better for Polycom to look into the video conferencing devices rather than the infrastructure. Earlier, one of the advantages was that the infrastructure was very much open, and it was easy to integrate the tool with other platforms like Cisco. That is not the scenario now, and Polycom should concentrate on the endpoint hardware devices.

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Magdalena Teodorczuk

Senior at Krajowy Depozyt Papierów Wartosciowych S.A.

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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I find the ability to follow the calls, the call flow, the ability to look at the history, and more on the fault-finding tools to be valuable."

"It's on-prem, which is great."

"It does a good job of integrating with other software."

"The most valuable feature is its integration with solutions like Zoom and Teams for endpoints. The picture quality is high, and the conference sessions are stable."

"Some proprietary Polycom features include speaker tracking, acoustic fencing, noise cancellation, active noise cancellation, and noise cancellation AI."

"The solution is scalable and is capable of working on every appliance on every operating system."

"The product helps me make international calls."

"I have found Skype for Business to be stable."

"The most valuable feature is how useful it has been for virtual meetings during the pandemic."

"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."

"I use the chat feature to communicate with my staff, which is very helpful."

"Using this solution has helped us to cut long distance calls, as well as video services from third parties."

"The security seems good."

More Skype for Business pros

Cons

"Polycom RealPresence Clariti is very bad when moving towards the cloud."

"The most valuable feature is its integration with solutions like Zoom and Teams for endpoints. The picture quality is high, and the conference sessions are stable."

"The only issue we have is with some of the bridging stuff, particularly with respect to DTMF and outgoing calls."

"The customer needs this platform to be a little bit more customized."

"Could have a wider range of use cases."

"I feel that the whole look and feel of Skype should be improved, including its user-friendliness. It should also improve its scalability."

"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."

"The solution requires deployment on a Microsoft server and its performance is heavy because it consumes too many resources from the RAM."

"If one of the users has a poor internet connection, this failure will compromise the meeting, causing delays and distortions in the communications."

"Sometimes Skype is slow, and we cannot use other elements of our devices while using the Skype solution."

"The initial setup could be simplified."

"Skype for Business could improve the interface. It could be easier to use. Additionally, it's hard to find the people or add people you want to communicate with."

"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."

More Skype for Business cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Polycom RealPresence Clariti is definitely more expensive than others in the market because of its high quality."

"It may be slightly costly, but the features are awesome."

"We have been able to save money by moving our conferencing solution to Skype for Business Conferencing."

"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."

"When it comes to the pricing of the solution, I rate it as a five out of ten. It falls somewhere in the middle between being cheap and expensive."

"The solution is priced fairly."

"I am using a corporate account for which I have not made any payments."

"Skype for Business' pricing is reasonable."

"It may be considered costly for certain markets, such as in India."

More Skype for Business pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Educational Organization

92%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Polycom RealPresence Clariti?

They are discontinuing the product and they are moving over to Pexip. The only issue we have is with some of the bridging stuff, particularly with respect to DTMF and outgoing calls. That's our big...

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What is your primary use case for Polycom RealPresence Clariti?

We use it both nationally and internationally with our partners, however, it's used in a closed environment.

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What advice do you have for others considering Polycom RealPresence Clariti?

I would recommend it, however, it depends on the environment. We have a lot of users but not a lot of usage, so the price model is really good for that environment. Overall, I would give it a nine ...

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What do you like most about Skype for Business?

The solution’s video quality is fine.

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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.

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

Cisco TelePresence vs Polycom RealPresence Clariti

Compared 61% of the time

Cisco Meeting Server vs Polycom RealPresence Clariti

Compared 39% of the time

More Polycom RealPresence Clariti Competitors

Webex vs Skype for Business

Compared 27% of the time

Cisco Unified Communications vs Skype for Business

Compared 26% of the time

TeamViewer vs Skype for Business

Compared 15% of the time

Zoom vs Skype for Business

Compared 14% of the time

GoToMeeting vs Skype for Business

Compared 7% of the time

More Skype for Business Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Meetings

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Skype for Business

March 2025

Download Skype for Business product report

Also Known As

RealPresence Clariti, Clariti

Skype for Business Plan 1, Skype for Business Plan 2, Lync Server

Overview

RealPresence Clariti is simple, powerful, cloud-ready collaboration infrastructure software for businesses of all sizes that connects people with HD voice, video, content and web collaboration.

Poly

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

Baptist Health Corbin, North Carolina Central University

EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services,LA Fitness, MedcoEnergi International, Tampa General Hospital, and HopewellHoldings Limited.

Buyer's Guide

Polycom RealPresence Clariti vs. Skype for Business

April 2025

Free Report: Polycom RealPresence Clariti vs. Skype for Business

Find out what your peers are saying about Polycom RealPresence Clariti vs. Skype for Business and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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