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HCL Sametime vs Webex comparison

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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
24th
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
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
128
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of HCL Sametime is 1.5%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Webex is 5.0%, down from 12.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Webex5.0%
HCL Sametime1.5%
Other93.5%
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

"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."
"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."
"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."
"The solution is very valuable for conference calls, as a lot of businesses are switching from work-from-home."
"Webex has definitely improved productivity and communication within my organization, as we are just one Webex call away for any doubts related to creating a PowerPoint presentation or an architectural diagram, and we can focus on the meeting without worrying about jotting down points since someone is taking notes on our behalf."
"Overall the quality of the solution is very good."
"I have found the most valuable features to be the high quality of the video and the audio. Additionally, the graphical user interface is good and it is easy to use."
"You can configure whatever you want in great detail."
"Based on my experience, I would recommend Webex to others; it's a good solution."
"My advice to anybody who is considering Webex is that it is a great tool for having meetings and collaborating with customers, suppliers, and employees."
"One of the most valuable features of Webex was that it was easy to use and there were no hassles."
 

Cons

"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."
"It lacks some features compared to modern solutions. For example, it doesn't allow sending screenshots or other files."
"Sametime hangs sometimes and therefore needs to get restarted."
"The interface is too colorful and looks like Windows XP."
"There is room for improvement in the chat history and search functionality in Webex, making it easier to find past conversations and commands by keywords."
"When it was just two people trying to conference, it was easier."
"The interconnectivity of all of the solution's facilities and functions can be more complex than that which is involved in basic configuration, when equipment, telephone extensions or other mobile apps are thrown into the mix."
"We have had some audio quality issues, and troubleshooting can be difficult because of the details you need to provide to Cisco/WebEx and that the call needs to have taken place very recently."
"I would like the next release to be more user-friendly."
"They should work to make it simpler."
"An opportunity they could benefit from would be a version that includes meeting transcription. I usually use a third-party product to do transcription."
"The solution could improve by having better integration with other platforms."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"There is a license needed to use this solution."
"The price should be improved significantly."
"My organization took care of the licensing. I'm guessing they did some subscription cycle, but I used the free version."
"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."
"This is an expensive product compared to Teams and it should be cheaper."
"You need to make yearly payments towards the licensing charges of the product. You need to opt for a subscription-based licensing model for your organization. The product is a bit expensive."
"I am not aware of the pricing details."
"I rate the product price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is high price, and ten is low price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
16%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Construction Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business41
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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 is top-notch at this point in time. The only improvement I see is related to RAM and CPU usage, as older systems with 4GB RAM or i3 processors might slow down the application. I do not have a...
What is your primary use case for Webex?
Webex is primarily used for customer meetings, collaboration with team members, presenting to customers, and virtual calls with customers. In my daily work, I get on the meeting and take the discus...
 

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: September 2026.
914,394 professionals have used our research since 2012.