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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."
"The security was quite good."
"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."
"I can view the status and availability of colleagues or team members, which makes it easy to approach them when they are available."
"Screen share is the most valuable feature."
"I enjoy conducting virtual training in the WebEx training room."
"The tool simplifies our work by allowing us to have hybrid meetings instead of always meeting in person, which saves time in organizing these meetings. It also offers good video quality."
"Webex has enhanced the remote team collaboration process regarding time management and cost savings."
"The best features of this product are the quality of sound, quality of pics and video."
"The solution is useful for communication."
"The product's most valuable feature is its ability to integrate with multiple products."
"Webex has one-click calling, which makes things easier. You click, and it automatically dials in to the meetings without pressing additional buttons. It's easy for people who aren't on WebEx. That was helpful."
 

Cons

"It lacks some features compared to modern solutions. For example, it doesn't allow sending screenshots or other files."
"The interface is too colorful and looks like Windows XP."
"Sametime hangs sometimes and therefore needs to get restarted."
"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."
"The webinar should be integrated into Sametime for a larger number of participants."
"In terms of features, it would be beneficial for Webex to focus on improving its chat functionality to make it more user-friendly. Additionally, enhancing communication operations to create a friendlier user experience would be advantageous. Other individuals who have tried using it faced challenges when attempting to share content with third parties during conversations or meetings."
"CWMS on-premises solution does not integrate either with CMR nor with Jabber as of yet."
"The solution should come as a big client for the system."
"The collaborative features could improve in Webex. There should not be the typical one on one connection that we have had in the past."
"Webex could improve the calling feature. It would be helpful to be able to call outside the IP environment."
"The scalability is not that good. If we small group meeting the solution is good, but if there is a large group of people to join the meeting then the network seems unstable."
"The high price of the product is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"My company does a lot of international calls. For some countries they do not have their local number to call in, all they have is a 1-800 number which is quite hard to find. If they want to improve they should set up the local number to call in. What would be beneficial."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"There is a license needed to use this solution."
"The pricing of this solution is fine and I am satisfied with it."
"There is an annual license required for this solution."
"The price of the license for the solution could be less expensive."
"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."
"The price should be improved significantly."
"Licensing is subscription-based and the cost varies depending on how many minutes are included in the plan."
"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."
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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
7%
 

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.
913,076 professionals have used our research since 2012.