3CX Live Chat vs Skype for Business comparison

3CX and Microsoft are both solutions in the Virtual Meetings category. 3CX is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.0, while Microsoft is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.0. 3CX holds a 1.8% mindshare in VM, compared to Microsoft’s 12.5% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of 3CX users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 79% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

3CX Live Chat

Read 55 3CX Live Chat reviews

1,036 Views
269 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Skype for Business

Read 62 Skype for Business reviews

1,833 Views
1,301 Comparison Views

79% willing to recommend

3CX Live Chat

Skype for Business

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 3, 2025

3CX Live Chat and Skype for Business both compete in the communication solutions category. 3CX offers simplicity and cost-effectiveness for businesses, whereas Skype for Business holds the advantage in integration and infrastructure, being well-integrated with Microsoft's suite.

Features: 3CX Live Chat offers extensive VoIP features, easy deployment, and integration with CRM systems, ideal for mobile communication. Skype for Business excels in conferencing and collaboration, integrating seamlessly with Microsoft tools, providing a comprehensive framework for video communication.

Room for Improvement: 3CX needs better integration with other systems, improved call recording, and mobile app reliability. Reports on customization shortages in live chat also exist. Skype for Business could enhance integration with non-Microsoft products and improve call quality and ease of installation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: 3CX features straightforward deployment across cloud and on-premises setups but requires better customer support responsiveness. Skype for Business, though complex in deployment, leverages Microsoft’s support system, proving advantageous for Microsoft-centric environments.

Pricing and ROI: 3CX offers competitive pricing based on concurrent calls, yielding quick ROI for growing businesses. Bundled with Microsoft licenses, Skype for Business can be costlier, but benefits businesses integrated within the Microsoft ecosystem despite higher initial costs.

To learn more, read our detailed 3CX Live Chat vs. Skype for Business Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

3CX Live Chat vs. Skype for Business

July 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 861,034 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

3CX Live Chat

Ranking in Virtual Meetings

12th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IP PBX (1st), Unified Communications (2nd), Live Chat (5th), Hosted and Cloud Based VoIP (4th)

Skype for Business

Ranking in Virtual Meetings

4th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of 3CX Live Chat is 1.8%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Skype for Business is 12.5%, up from 8.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Virtual Meetings

Featured Reviews

Ahmed ACHOUR

General Manager at Beyond IT Services

Enhanced service desk workflow which streamlines operations and offers strong integration capabilities

The customers use 3CX for IP telephony and call center activities. Additionally, they use 3CX for service desk activities, including integration with other ITSM products to collect data from customers who need technical support on their platforms 3CX has proven to be a good solution, particularly…

Read full review

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The call queue and reporting systems are robust compared to what you have to pay to get the same level of functionality with a competing system."

"The integration between the video and voice is the most valuable solution."

"The most valuable features of 3CX Live Chat are the integration with our existing CRM allowing us to get all of the numbers synced together. The communication aspect of the solution was always working very well, the sound quality was perfect. We were able to log into the application to check which users were using the solution and if they were in a call or not. Additionally, the solution integrates well with other CRMs."

"We have not had any bugs or glitches, the solution is stable."

"It is SIP compliant to multiple SIP phone vendors, though it is not locked into a proprietary vendor."

"It lets you see how many calls you made, the time you called, and how many minutes you spent on the phone."

"This solution gives our customers mobility. They can use their phone system everywhere. The other key feature is the security."

"3CX is useful and easy to use. I can talk to my colleagues from anywhere."

More 3CX Live Chat pros

"The solution is stable and scalable."

"You can do meetings of up to two hundred people in a single conversation."

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

"The most valuable feature of Skype for Business is that it has many other tools that you can be integrated with it. It makes the meetings more interactive."

"Scalable communication tool that's easy to install. Even old people are using it, because of its ease of use."

"Desktop sharing is a valuable feature."

"One of the best features of Skype for Business is that you can set it up on mobile phones, and you can set it up on laptops. You can connect to the tool from anywhere."

"We like the tools our administrator can use to identify which calls had quality issues and why. This makes troubleshooting our user experience somewhat easier."

More Skype for Business pros

Cons

"Reporting and integration are the main challenges, which are at the mid-level or in the enterprise depending on the system that we choose."

"Having a video call would be a nice idea."

"There are a lot of quality of life things that could be improved. When adding extensions, you need to use the extension import setting, you can't just use an import function to update extensions. You have to delete and recreate the extension, which can have all kinds of unintended consequences."

"The solution was simple to install, but the configuration was not as simple. The full installation process took a few days."

"It needs the option for the CS rep to stop recording when a credit card number is recited by the customer."

"The support team can appear to be condescending."

"In 3CX, customization is not as easy as I would like. With 3CX Call Flow Designer, you can set up the flow of a call, deliver it to the department, and automate the process. I can't do many things with this."

"You cannot make a group call on 3CX. That feature would make my life easier because I could talk to two suppliers or a supplier and management together. I wouldn't need to end the call and call another person."

More 3CX Live Chat cons

"The stability could be improved."

"There are issues with the bandwidth, particularly for external meetings,"

"The solution should improve the chat and add more flexibility to make a call."

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

"I should be able to make a desktop phone call when I click a member of my Lync directory."

"We need a feature where you can virtually raise your hand to silently let the presenter know that you have a question."

"The cost of Skype for Business has room for improvement."

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

More Skype for Business cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There aren't any additional costs. With the license I purchased, I have all features that I need. I don't have to buy an add-on or another license."

"Switching from POTS or PRI to SIP Trunk save the customer real costs. ROI is seen in less than a year."

"We have purchased an annual license to use 3CX Live Chat. There are different options available, you can pay monthly or yearly. I am completely satisfied with the pricing of 3CX Live Chat, it is cheaper than competitors and it is a better solution."

"There is no add-on costing on the standard fees."

"3CX sells an annual subscription, but we usually split it out monthly for clients, so they don't see an annual bill for the 3CX licensing, it's just part of their monthly phone bill. As they're paying us for carrier service anyway, we just roll it all together. Your standard phone service would be an additional cost, you either need to maintain a local carrier with POTS lines or PRI or a SIP, or you have to go with a cloud-based SIP."

"The price of the solution is in the middle range compared to other solutions. There are different license options available. For example, there is a professional version and an enterprise version, and with the enterprise version, you have the ability to modify the dashboards. You can purchase a license at many different time frame increments, such as monthly, yearly, or two years."

"The price of the solution is reasonable. There are a few license options and we are using an enterprise license."

"We used a yearly license depending on the customer's requirements, and the customers did not complain about the pricing."

More 3CX Live Chat pricing and cost advice

"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 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."

"Skype for Business' pricing is reasonable."

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

"To realize value from the purchase of Skype Business, you need to take advantage of all the important functions of the program."

"We had a license for every one of our users to use Skype for Business. The license we used was part of an overall Microsoft license package."

"We negotiated a fair price with Microsoft. It is definitely worthwhile to negotiate with them for the best price for your solution."

More Skype for Business pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Virtual Meetings solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

861,034 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Real Estate/Law Firm

Computer Software Company

Government

Educational Organization

67%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for 3CX Live Chat?

The pricing of 3CX is around six out of ten. For some customers, the first year may be free of charge, allowing them to try the solution before deciding to implement it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with 3CX Live Chat?

The reporting and dashboards of 3CX could be improved.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for 3CX Live Chat?

See all answers

What do you like most about Skype for Business?

The solution’s video quality is fine.

See all answers

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

Yeastar S-Series VoIP PBX vs 3CX Live Chat

Compared 27% of the time

Yeastar Cloud PBX vs 3CX Live Chat

Compared 24% of the time

Kamailio SIP Server vs 3CX Live Chat

Compared 20% of the time

Fortinet FortiVoice vs 3CX Live Chat

Compared 17% of the time

join.me vs 3CX Live Chat

Compared 12% of the time

More 3CX Live Chat Competitors

Cisco Unified Communications vs Skype for Business

Compared 26% of the time

Webex 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

Live Chat

June 2025

Download 3CX Live Chat product report

Buyer's Guide

Skype for Business

June 2025

Download Skype for Business product report

Also Known As

3CX PBX

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

Overview

Connect with your website visitors for free with the 3CX Live Chat plugin. With more than 1,900,000 downloads, 3CX Live Chat is the most popular, effective and reliable live chat plugin for WordPress. Increase conversions and boost customer satisfaction by communicating directly with your website visitors in real-time.

Integrate with 3CX for a multichannel communications suite including voice and video (requires 3CX V16). Get 3CX for free for one year for unlimited users hosted by 3CX, in your own cloud account or on-premise on Windows or Linux.

Easy and convenient for visitors
Build rapport with potential customers via live chat
Increase sales
Reduce customer support line costs by using live chat
Learn to understand the pain points of your customers

FEATURES

Simple and clean UI for all users
Option to elevate a live chat to a call or video call
Free iOS or Android apps to respond to messages through a smartphone
Ability to transfer chats to other agents
Agent’s picture is shown in the live chatbox
Customizable chatbox. Add a company logo, change the colors of the chatbox
All chats are saved in chat history
Dedicated storage system for all offline messages
Create unlimited agents to handle live chats and calls
Customizable offline message form
Supports animations in the chatbox
Ability to choose whether you want to accept or decline a chat

3CX

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

Information Not Available

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

Buyer's Guide

3CX Live Chat vs. Skype for Business

July 2025

Free Report: 3CX Live Chat vs. Skype for Business

Find out what your peers are saying about 3CX Live Chat vs. Skype for Business and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

861,034 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our 3CX Live Chat vs. Skype for Business report.

See our list of best Virtual Meetings vendors.

We monitor all Virtual Meetings reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.