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HCL Sametime vs Webex 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

HCL Sametime
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Webex
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
128
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of HCL Sametime is 1.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Webex is 5.7%, down from 18.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Webex5.7%
HCL Sametime1.5%
Other92.8%
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

Bogdan Chechlowski - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
DO
Web Designer / Developer & Creative Professional at Federal University of Technology Akure
Virtual training has supported collaborative learning and now needs a simpler and clearer interface
Webex can be simplified in terms of user interface, where many features should be displayed in a compact view, with similar features grouped together and a minimalistic design helping users understand what each button does. If specific features are not needed, they should not distract you, and some features should appear as sliding elements for ease of access. Additionally, connecting to Webex can be technical, and it would be beneficial to have a way to connect anonymously using a simple code instead of going through microphone issues.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"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."
"Audio and video calls provide faster communication than chat."
"I can view the status and availability of colleagues or team members, which makes it easy to approach them when they are available."
"I like how Webex lets you zoom in and out on the presenter's screen. It's silly, but all the solutions have the same features, and I think WebEx is the only one that allows zoom."
"I like that it can accommodate larger groups of listeners. I think in my client's organization, they use Webex for meetings with a larger group of listeners. I believe Skype For Business is not preferred. I think they use Webex or their own custom platform because it accommodates more users in one meeting."
"Webex offers a wide range of useful features and is pretty robust."
"The stream is very smooth. That's what I like about Webex. Other video conference solutions like Zoom sometimes freeze and get buggy, but Webex doesn't."
"A valuable feature of Webex is that it's useful for virtual meetings and similar webinars."
"The most valuable feature is that you can host presentations with a lot of attendees."
"The most valuable feature is that you can host presentations with a lot of attendees."
"I like WebEx's stability and ease of use; the screen-sharing tools and audio controls are also nice."
 

Cons

"The interface is too colorful and looks like Windows XP."
"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."
"Better integration with other solutions would benefit Webex."
"There is a small bug when it comes to connecting my Webex with my Outlook Calendar. Some meetings show up, and others don't. They should fix this bug."
"The performance is not always good and could be improved."
"The phone calling option."
"When I use it personally, not in my enterprise, there is a time limit of about 60 minutes. After one hour, the call gets cut off. This limit should be increased."
"The only reason why we could not stay with Webex was because they didn't have a data center in the African region."
"Customer Service: Poor Technical Support: Average"
"The solution must provide a plan to extend the subscription by three months."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"My organization took care of the licensing. I'm guessing they did some subscription cycle, but I used the free version."
"The price of the license depends a lot on the type of service required and whether it is for the entire company or only for a few users."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."
"I believe the license to be monthly."
"The tool is expensive."
"The cost is pretty high compared to the competitors."
"The price should be improved significantly."
"There is a license needed to use this solution."
report
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886,011 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
18%
Marketing Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
9%
Religious Institution
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business40
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise62
 

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...
What is your primary use case for HCL Sametime?
It was used for communication through text messages, primarily.
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.
What do you like most about Webex?
Webex improved our overall team collaboration.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Webex?
From when I last implemented it, I found the price to be expensive. The licensing model doesn't work because if I want to implement it for an organization, I need to pay a per-user license, which m...
What needs improvement with Webex?
Webex can be simplified in terms of user interface, where many features should be displayed in a compact view, with similar features grouped together and a minimalistic design helping users underst...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Lotus Sametime, IBM Lotus Sametime
Cisco Spark
 

Overview

 

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
Seagate Technology, Kohn Pedersen Fox, World Vision International, Glen Raven, University of Notre Dame, CEV Multimedia, The Food Group, LUMEDX, California Baptist University, and Georgetown University Law Center.
Find out what your peers are saying about HCL Sametime vs. Webex and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
886,011 professionals have used our research since 2012.