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Cisco Jabber vs Skype for Business comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Cisco Jabber
Average Rating
9.0
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Unified Communications (6th)
Skype for Business
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Meetings (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Cisco Jabber and Skype for Business aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Cisco Jabber is designed for Unified Communications and holds a mindshare of 6.6%, down 8.4% compared to last year.
Skype for Business, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Meetings, holds 11.7% mindshare, up 8.1% since last year.
Unified Communications
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

CM
Shows other's availability and status, offers powerful chat features, and integration across platforms is strong
The most valuable feature for me is that it shows who is available and who is not, as well as what their current status is. When I want to check in with someone, I first have a look to see what they're up to and then I can throw in a question or engage in chat with them. The UI is okay and I am quite pleased with it. The options that I have for moving things around the screen during calls are good. It is also modern looking and not clunky at all. The power of the chat function is good in terms of sharing, pasting, and the like, as it is very full-featured. The integration across platforms is really strong. The speed and availability are very good. There is also room for lots of customization built-in, which is a big plus.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature for me is that it shows who is available and who is not, as well as what their current status is."
"It works fine feature-wise. The Cisco Jabber features that we use work okay."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to talk with people in real-time, instead of sending texts."
"The most valuable features of the solution are that it is quick and easy to use. It is a good tool for group calls."
"The quality of the meetings is very good."
"The most valuable features of Skype for Business include its persistent chat, Edge Server, Reverse Proxy, front-end server, back-end server, and business calling capabilities, among others."
"The deployment is very fast."
"The solution’s video quality is fine."
"The solution is stable and scalable."
"The simplicity and ease of use are the most valuable features. It's so much easier and quicker than writing an email to someone and waiting for them to read it."
"I use the chat feature to communicate with my staff, which is very helpful."
 

Cons

"Cisco Jabber is not a collaborative tool."
"I presume that very small businesses would have a tough time justifying the investment."
"There are issues in switching from one type of communication system to another. When I connect my wired earphone or Bluetooth earphone, Cisco Jabber doesn't switch automatically. There are some user experience issues that need to be fixed."
"I am not familiar with all of the features or whether they can hold conferences because we use Zoom for that. But, in my opinion, if they can do something similar to what Zoom is doing, it will be a complete solution."
"The ease of configuration or the lack of decent tooling to pinpoint your problems is probably its biggest issue."
"Sometimes the connection crashes, which is understandable if you are traveling. But, it would be nice if this could be stabilized somehow."
"There are not many options, in terms of some other third-party integration."
"We need a feature where you can virtually raise your hand to silently let the presenter know that you have a question."
"The video conferencing quality can be improved."
"The video quality could be improved, possibly due to internet connection issues."
"I feel that the whole look and feel of Skype should be improved, including its user-friendliness. It should also improve its scalability."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"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 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."
"The solution is priced fairly."
"The licensing is billed on a yearly basis."
"I use the product's open-source version."
"The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."
"A license is required to use the solution."
"We purchased an open license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Healthcare Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Performing Arts
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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.
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Odeabank, Eagle Investment Systems, Pella Corporation, The Republican National Convention, avodaqAG
EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services,LA Fitness, MedcoEnergi International, Tampa General Hospital, and HopewellHoldings Limited.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, 3CX, Fortinet and others in Unified Communications. Updated: August 2025.
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