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Blackboard Collaborate vs Polycom RealPresence Clariti 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

Blackboard Collaborate
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
27th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Polycom RealPresence Clariti
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of Blackboard Collaborate is 0.9%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Polycom RealPresence Clariti is 1.7%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

YN
Useful in webinars, meetings and online classrooms
One of the features that people enjoy is the whiteboard, providing opportunities for academics to present content and for students to contribute. The platform also allows for the creating of different rooms, enabling large classes to break into smaller groups for discussions. Students can then return to the main classroom to share their opinions. It integrates with LMS.
Sreejith Thulasidas - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the features that people enjoy is the whiteboard, providing opportunities for academics to present content and for students to contribute. The platform also allows for the creating of different rooms, enabling large classes to break into smaller groups for discussions. Students can then return to the main classroom to share their opinions. It integrates with LMS."
"Document loading and annotation."
"The solution allows me to connect and collaborate with my classes."
"It's on-prem, which is great."
"Some proprietary Polycom features include speaker tracking, acoustic fencing, noise cancellation, active noise cancellation, and noise cancellation AI."
"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 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."
 

Cons

"The system can overload when too many try logging in."
"We faced outages when the user limit went over a certain number."
"If there were maybe more tutorials outside of what I'm aware the university is suggesting, I would take more tutorials on effective ways to deliver content. I come from the industry and content was always needed when people that were observing were smart and involved and decision-makers instead of so passively just trying to pass the course. In my imagination, the tutorials would be a tool where the learners themselves can have much more hands-on learning during a Collaborate session."
"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."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Polycom RealPresence Clariti is definitely more expensive than others in the market because of its high quality."
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Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Blackboard Collaborate?
One of the features that people enjoy is the whiteboard, providing opportunities for academics to present content and for students to contribute. The platform also allows for the creating of differ...
What needs improvement with Blackboard Collaborate?
We faced outages when the user limit went over a certain number.
What is your primary use case for Blackboard Collaborate?
We use the solution in web seminars, online classrooms, and meetings.
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...
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.
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 ...
 

Also Known As

Blackboard Mobile
RealPresence Clariti, Clariti
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

University of Derby Online, Universty of Warwick, University of Liverpool, City College Norwich, Northumberland College, Mid-Kent College, Watson Pharmaceutials, Capella University, Shore Tel Sky, Lincoln PD, City of Somerville MA, Somerset County Council
Baptist Health Corbin, North Carolina Central University
Find out what your peers are saying about Blackboard Collaborate vs. Polycom RealPresence Clariti and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.