HCL Sametime vs Office 365 comparison

The compared HCLSoftware and Microsoft solutions aren't in the same category. HCLSoftware is ranked #15 in VM , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 1.5% mindshare in the category. Microsoft is ranked #1 in CCP , with an average rating of 8.6, and holds a 9.0% mindshare. Additionally, 75% of HCLSoftware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

HCL Sametime

Read 5 HCL Sametime reviews

597 Views
496 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

Office 365

Read 152 Office 365 reviews

5,155 Views
3,660 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

HCL Sametime

Office 365

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between HCL Sametime and Office 365 based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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

To learn more, read our detailed Virtual Meetings Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Meetings

March 2026

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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

HCL Sametime

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Virtual Meetings (15th)

Office 365

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

152

Ranking in other categories

Content Collaboration Platforms (1st)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. HCL Sametime is designed for Virtual Meetings and holds a mindshare of 1.5%, up 0.3% compared to last year.
Office 365, on the other hand, focuses on Content Collaboration Platforms, holds 9.0% mindshare, up 5.5% since last year.

Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
HCL Sametime	1.5%
Zoom Workplace Business	7.7%
Webex	5.7%
Other	85.1%

Virtual Meetings

Content Collaboration Platforms Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Office 365	9.0%
Google Workspace	8.3%
Dropbox Business - Enterprise	8.0%
Other	74.7%

Content Collaboration Platforms

Featured Reviews

Bogdan Chechlowski

Kierownik Biura Informatyki at EIB SA

Stable product, communicate very fast and allows to see who's online in the office or work environment

It was used for communication through text messages, primarily Being able to see who was online and communicate very fast was a good feature. The security was quite good. However, when we tried to implement it for email at a high level, we had to use another solution, FortiMail Gateway. I view…

Read full review

Anubrata Ghosh

Technical Manager at Landmark Group

Teams streamlines collaboration but Outlook experiences occasional slowness on Mac

Teams is a really good collaboration tool. You can work basically at any part of the world and communicate and collaborate with anybody, as long as they are connected to the internet. It helps with remote work, and although I don't work remotely, I have offices in Dubai and different geographical locations. It helps me connect with my colleagues and team who are not in the same geography as I am in Bangalore. Teams can facilitate team meetings, screen sharing, and organizing meetings.Regarding security, we have two-factor authentication governed by organizational policy. When trying to login to Office 365, Teams, or any Office 365 app, we are required to provide a password and use Microsoft Authenticator to sign in using a code. This is how two-factor authentication is implemented in our organization. Office 365 offers a suite of apps including OneNote, though I don't use it very often. In terms of integration with Microsoft ecosystem, it offers everything needed to get work done without any hassle.

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

"A very good communication and real-time collaboration software, it is simple, fast, reliable, keeps history and the best feature of all is its intelligence."

"This solution saves time and cost in communicating with team members, streamlines tasks in my organization by encouraging us to chat directly with the relevant person, and strengthens professional relationships through increased communication among peers."

"The security was quite good."

"I can view the status and availability of colleagues or team members, which makes it easy to approach them when they are available."

"Audio and video calls provide faster communication than chat."

"Teams has been really valuable recently as a feature of Office 365 when I've been working on projects where I've needed to collaborate with quite a large group of people."

"Mainly, the ability to sync apps seamlessly around our team is valuable; it is a major advantage to work from anywhere, and the ability to sync is crucial for us."

"It has more features than somebody would expect, and it is worth taking a deeper look into the features available."

"With Office 365, I have never encountered issues; my experience is entirely positive."

"One of the main advantages of Office 365 is its widespread use, which makes it easier to collaborate on documents."

"I think there's more advantage in using Office 365 compared to Google or AWS collaboration tools if you are using Microsoft in your productivity tools, due to the seamless integration."

"The biggest benefit of Office 365 is having everything in one place with well-integrated tools, leading to time savings as everything is housed in a single environment, facilitating communication, data processing, data input, and data saving."

"There are no more server and hardware operational costs and downtime, updates, etc. for all the workloads available. Newer features and updates are available immediately. Can be managed from a single web interface. Cloud-based, so same experience for all users, regardless of location."

More Office 365 pros

Cons

"It lacks some features compared to modern solutions. For example, it doesn't allow sending screenshots or other files."

"The webinar should be integrated into Sametime for a larger number of participants."

"It seems that the software might in the future, support the software telephony exchange but at the current time, it is not doing that and because of that one key feature of real-time communication is missing from it."

"Sametime hangs sometimes and therefore needs to get restarted."

"The interface is too colorful and looks like Windows XP."

"It needs improvements around its compatibility with non-Microsoft products."

"The search feature in email just doesn't work effectively."

"In the next release, I would like to have a more intuitive tutorial."

"One of the big changes is when Microsoft updates anything, they will switch where some of the settings are and where to find them, which becomes a little frustrating because you're used to it in one spot and it's someplace else."

"Integration with other platforms can be improved."

"Since we are using a cloud base, for stability, I can rate it 8, because there are some performance issues and outages I've encountered."

"It would be a fantastic opportunity if their solution could be used in combination with VoIP software, allowing you to combine VoIP software and Office 365 on a single platform."

"The price is getting more and more expensive."

More Office 365 cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"Licensing fees are paid on a monthly basis, or we prepay them."

"We have a license to use this solution. We have an E3 license which covers many different solutions."

"I think that we pay $9.99 USD per user, monthly."

"The pricing is good for all the features that we receive, e.g., Skype for Business."

"The price of Office 365 is very expensive."

"Licensing, billing, and accounting are available from the management interface."

"The pricing/licensing is easy to manage."

"Good reporting and good value subscriptions for international calls."

More Office 365 pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

15%

Construction Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	62
Midsize Enterprise	29
Large Enterprise	70

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HCL Sametime?

I view it as part of HCL Notes and Domino, and my opinion is similar to those products. It lacks some features compared to modern solutions. For example, it doesn't allow sending screenshots or oth...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for HCL Sametime?

It was used for communication through text messages, primarily.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering HCL Sametime?

Overall, it was quite good. I would rate it an eight out of ten. It's a better product than some others from HCL, but overall, I wouldn't recommend it, given the availability of superior alternatives.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Office 365?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Office 365 is that it is moderate.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Office 365?

Office 365 can be improved by increasing support, which currently is not efficient and takes a lot of time to resolve issues. It has been observed that support personnel often lack hands-on experie...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Office 365?

Email and collaboration are the main use cases for Office 365 at Omagi Media Labs. It is used for internal and external communication in daily work. Groups and Teams groups are created and used in ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Webex vs HCL Sametime

Compared 19% of the time

TeamViewer vs HCL Sametime

Compared 19% of the time

Skype for Business vs HCL Sametime

Compared 19% of the time

Vidyo vs HCL Sametime

Compared 16% of the time

GoToMeeting vs HCL Sametime

Compared 16% of the time

More HCL Sametime Competitors

Google Workspace vs Office 365

Compared 37% of the time

Symphony vs Office 365

Compared 10% of the time

Dropbox Business - Enterprise vs Office 365

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft OneDrive for Business vs Office 365

Compared 4% of the time

Quip vs Office 365

Compared 4% of the time

More Office 365 Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Virtual Meetings

March 2026

Download HCL Sametime product report

Buyer's Guide

Office 365

March 2026

Download Office 365 product report

Also Known As

Lotus Sametime, IBM Lotus Sametime

Microsoft Office 365, Office 365 Enterprise, Office 365 Enterprise E1, Office 365 Enterprise E3, Office 365 Enterprise E5, Office 365 ProPlus, Office 365 Business, Office 365 Business Essentials, Office 365 Business Premium, Office 365 F1

Overview

HCL Sametime. Secure Conversations Across Any Device

Your company can’t afford to take any data risks, but your teams still need to be able to interact and react quickly, wherever they are working. Sametime offers modern instant messaging, file-sharing, and online meetings with the proven security your business can trust.

HCLSoftware

Office 365 is more than just Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. It provides powerful services like business-class email, online storage, and teamwork solutions that you can access from anywhere. Bring teams and resources together with solutions like Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business that make working together more productive and enjoyable regardless of where participants are located. Easily implement security and privacy controls to help protect business data and devices against malicious threats and help you meet your compliance obligations. Automatic updates ensure your employees will always have the latest features and security updates.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Connect2Cloud, Superior Group, Daifuku Co. Ltd., Seaward, The City of Fort Worth, Christian Brothers Services, Berlitz, Deutsche Notes User Group, Danske Fysioterapeuter, Slumberland, La Vacanza, Rheinmetall AG

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