Polycom RealPresence Desktop vs Zoom comparison

Poly and Zoom Video Communications are both solutions in the Virtual Meetings category. Poly is ranked #24, while Zoom Video Communications is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.3. Poly holds a 2.1% mindshare in VM, compared to Zoom Video Communications’s 11.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Poly users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Zoom Video Communications users who would recommend it.

Polycom RealPresence Desktop

Read 1 Polycom RealPresence Desktop review

255 Views
139 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Zoom

Read 207 Zoom reviews

6,822 Views
1,299 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Polycom RealPresence Desktop

Zoom

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Polycom RealPresence Desktop and Zoom based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Zoom Video Communications, Cisco, Microsoft and others in Virtual Meetings.

To learn more, read our detailed Virtual Meetings Report (Updated: December 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Meetings

December 2024

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Helped 831,158 peers since 2012

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 Desktop

Ranking in Virtual Meetings

24th

Average Rating

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Zoom

Ranking in Virtual Meetings

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

207

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of Polycom RealPresence Desktop is 2.1%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoom is 11.9%, down from 15.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Virtual Meetings

Featured Reviews

Norm Hubert

VTC Network manager at a government with 10,001+ employees

Regular use enables effective communication with room for improvement in interoperability

The most valuable part of the desktop is the ability to make voice and video calls. Without getting too technical or divulging too much due to the environment we are in, it allows us to further our reach, from a traditional video conferencing room. Scalability was easy. It was based on calls, not licenses.

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Kallol Chaudhuri

Principal Consultant at Oracle

Helped us tremendously in collaborating with each other and getting our work done and offers the breakout rooms feature.

We are a team located across various locations. Not in the same geographic location. We are distributed. And it's not possible to physically travel and meet people. Sometimes it's simply not possible. But Zoom has helped us tremendously in collaborating with each other and getting our work done. Without Zoom, it would have been very, very difficult. The breakout rooms feature is also helpful. For example, I have a meeting attended by hundreds of people and want to create subgroups. I typically use it for different role-play scenarios during training if we are trying to conduct some training on presentation skills. So there's a large group, which is initially trained by an instructor. Then you get instructions that the room will be split into smaller breakout rooms. I'll give you a topic, and you'll practice in these smaller groups. That's one way I use it. So it's like a simulation of a real brainstorming session I'd have in a physical space.

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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

"It allows us to further our reach, from a traditional video conferencing room."

"The most valuable features of Zoom are the very stable video and audio, the quality of the voice is good, and it is very easy to connect to the sessions. This is also the reason why we use Zoom."

"It's got a simple, easy-to-understand user interface."

"I have been satisfied with the features and capability of Zoom."

"There are many valuables features of Zoom. The visibility is very good. The ability to see everyone that is talking and the indication spotlight of who the primary speaker is helpful. The solution is interactive, the participants are able to raise their hand, comment, give gestures, such as thumbs up or down."

"Zoom has helped me with collaboration and remote working."

"I have found Zoom to be stable and it has good performance."

"A stable option that is good for small to medium sized companies with limited use."

"Primarily during the period of problematic travel, the solution enabled us to connect with customers, clients and even colleagues and to share our thoughts, ideas and information."

More Zoom pros

Cons

"There is probably room for improvement in interoperability."

"The video quality should be better. Sometimes when there are updates at the backend, Zoom won't respond properly during that time."

"The solution needs to have a feature that allows you to take over another person's screen. right now, that's not possible. This is important for our purposes due to the act that we are often using the solution to troubleshoot issues for our clients. If we could just take over their screen and go in and fix issues, it would make troubleshooting infinitely easier."

"Zoom's drawing tools could be better integrated."

"Considering the main function of Zoom, it should make the video functioning part a little bit more friendly."

"The user interface should be more straightforward and easy to use."

"The security and chat features should improve in Zoom."

"It's a heavy application that requires a lot of bandwidth. I would like to see Zoom incorporate those features where you can share documents and form teams while still maintaining efficiency."

"Zoom could improve by extending the one-hour maximum session time in the free version."

More Zoom cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"In addition to any licensing fees, we hired Zoom to provide training to us in small groups."

"Zoom is free to use."

"I believe that all of their licenses are purchased, so that they may use the solution for their teaching purposes."

"I rate the product's pricing a seven out of ten. It is not affordable for small businesses."

"The pricing is too high. The cost of the license could be cheaper."

"I use Zoom's free version."

"The tool's pricing is reasonable. I think we get discounts as an organization."

"My company is using the paid version of Zoom."

More Zoom pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Educational Organization

92%

University

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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LucidChart vs LucidSpark for brainstorming sessions over Zoom

Hi @Krista Thompson - Yes, LucidSpark is a much more nimble and, in some ways, user-friendly tool than LucidChart. LucidSpark is designed to do a better job managing multiple users participating ...

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What do you like most about Zoom?

The product is scalable.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zoom?

I use the free version of Zoom and have not encountered significant issues in its use. I also use the free version of Google Meet.

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco TelePresence vs Polycom RealPresence Desktop

Compared 38% of the time

Huawei Video Conferencing Platform vs Polycom RealPresence Desktop

Compared 33% of the time

TrueConf Server vs Polycom RealPresence Desktop

Compared 30% of the time

More Polycom RealPresence Desktop Competitors

Webex vs Zoom

Compared 30% of the time

Skype for Business vs Zoom

Compared 25% of the time

TeamViewer vs Zoom

Compared 10% of the time

GoToMeeting vs Zoom

Compared 9% of the time

ON24 Platform vs Zoom

Compared 8% of the time

More Zoom Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Meetings

December 2024

Download Polycom RealPresence Desktop product report

Buyer's Guide

Zoom

November 2024

Download Zoom product report

Also Known As

RealPresence Desktop

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Poly

Video not available

Zoom Video Communications

Overview

Polycom RealPresence Desktop is a powerful, enterprise-grade video chat app for PC & Mac. The video conferencing software extends communications beyond the typical conference room setting to mobile professionals. RealPresence Desktop combines quality HD video, industry-leading interoperability, and security that is both cost effective and highly scalable.

When powered by Polycom's infrastructure, customers can extend desktop collaboration value with app management, interoperability, scalability, resiliency, and multi-point calling.

Zoom helps businesses and organizations bring their teams together in a frictionless environment to get more done. Our easy, reliable cloud platform for video, phone, content sharing, and chat runs across mobile devices, desktops, telephones, and room systems. Message me to learn more about how Zoom can help your business or organization Visit zoom.com and follow @zoom_us.

Sample Customers

John Laing, China Daily, Lincoln Fire and Rescue, NATO Communications and Information Agency, NHS Home Dialysis, Silver Chain, South Carolina Department of Mental Health, nimed

Fortinet, Veeva, Proofpoint, Box, Ticketmaster, Trend Micro, Caesars Entertainment, Santa Clara University, Pandora, Stanford Continuing Studies

Find out what your peers are saying about Zoom Video Communications, Cisco, Microsoft and others in Virtual Meetings. Updated: December 2024.

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