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Skype for Business vs Zoom comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 2025

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

Skype for Business
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zoom
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
207
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of Skype for Business is 11.5%, up from 8.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoom is 11.5%, down from 14.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

Magdalena Teodorczuk - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Kallol Chaudhuri - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"You can do meetings of up to two hundred people in a single conversation."
"The tool's most valuable features are its audio and chat functions. They help us save time and have good telephone integration."
"Skype for Business is good for meetings and instant messaging."
"The solution’s video quality is fine."
"The solution is scalable and is capable of working on every appliance on every operating system."
"There are free versions of the solution available."
"The GUI is very user-friendly."
"The security seems good."
"The interface is very intuitive. It's very easy to use."
"The best thing about Zoom is that it is very easy to use."
"When I had meetings, I used to take notes or record them, but then someone still had to transcribe everything. Now, I'm fascinated by OtterPilot. It automatically transcribes meetings, summarizes them, and identifies action items. I've been recommending it to everyone I know. It is a tool that you can use during Zoom or Teams calls. It takes real-time notes and then sends a summary and action items to everyone via email. It's been really helpful for about three or four years now."
"I rate Zoom as an eight out of ten, owing to the quality of its video and audio, its accountability, ease of use and intuitiveness."
"The most valuable features of Zoom are the screen blur and the background transition, which is great because we are working from home. Without this feature we would not have private meetings, they do not need to see what is happening in our background. The background transition is good with Zoom."
"The collaboration features are good."
"The ability to make video calls is the solution's most valuable aspect."
"I've never had to use tech support for it. It just works."
 

Cons

"The stability could be improved."
"This service could be improved by adding some missing features. It lacks integration with Teams, which is a feature I would like to see in the next release."
"There are not many options, in terms of some other third-party integration."
"Sometimes the connection crashes, which is understandable if you are traveling. But, it would be nice if this could be stabilized somehow."
"The video quality could be improved, possibly due to internet connection issues."
"Going forward, I would like to see better call quality and reliability."
"The video conferencing quality can be improved."
"The group feature of Skype for Business needs improvement. It should also be improved for online lectures."
"I'd like for there to be more integrations possible in the future."
"Considering the main function of Zoom, it should make the video functioning part a little bit more friendly."
"I would like to see an integration with Microsoft."
"Recently, most of the people in my organization have not been able to dial in using the telephone number and have been required to join meetings using their devices."
"In general, the price could be a little cheaper."
"If anything, the updates could be less frequent."
"They could improve security more."
"Technical support is in need of improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."
"It may be considered costly for certain markets, such as in India."
"We have been able to save money by moving our conferencing solution to Skype for Business Conferencing."
"We negotiated a fair price with Microsoft. It is definitely worthwhile to negotiate with them for the best price for your solution."
"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."
"I am using a corporate account for which I have not made any payments."
"To realize value from the purchase of Skype Business, you need to take advantage of all the important functions of the program."
"Our company pays for a license for us to use the solution."
"The version I am using of Zoom is free."
"Zoom is licensed as a subscription model and it is available on a monthly or yearly basis."
"I use the free version of Zoom."
"We do not incur a licensing fee."
"The personal version that I was using is available free of charge."
"A licensing fee is required."
"The price of Zoom is a bit expensive."
"For personal use, I use the free version of Zoom, so I haven't paid anything."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
93%
Financial Services Firm
2%
Computer Software Company
1%
Government
1%
Educational Organization
92%
University
1%
Financial Services Firm
1%
Computer Software Company
1%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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?
The video quality could be improved, possibly due to internet connection issues. However, there is no significant weakness in Skype for Business.
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 ...
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.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Skype for Business Plan 1, Skype for Business Plan 2, Lync Server
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services,LA Fitness, MedcoEnergi International, Tampa General Hospital, and HopewellHoldings Limited.
Fortinet, Veeva, Proofpoint, Box, Ticketmaster, Trend Micro, Caesars Entertainment, Santa Clara University, Pandora, Stanford Continuing Studies
Find out what your peers are saying about Skype for Business vs. Zoom and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
837,501 professionals have used our research since 2012.