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HCL Sametime vs Zoom Workplace Business comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 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
18th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zoom Workplace Business
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
230
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of HCL Sametime is 1.3%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoom Workplace Business is 9.4%, down from 11.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Zoom Workplace Business9.4%
HCL Sametime1.3%
Other89.3%
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…
IM
Software Developer at KOR Financial
Screen sharing and breakout rooms enhance team collaboration and daily communication
I would definitely want the chat in Zoom to be improved. I have seen areas of improvement in Zoom regarding the noise suppression setting. Sometimes I talk a bit low pitched and the other person cannot hear me. I'm guessing the noise suppression detects my voice as background noise instead of my actual voice. It might be a setting that I just need to tweak somewhere in the settings window. I haven't had the time to check that out yet. It happens from time to time; it's not crucial, but I check that the other person hears me by asking them if they heard what I just said. It occurs at least once daily, so it's not bothering to me, but to someone who is a bit more sensitive, it may be bothersome. I find it hard to tell if there has been any return on investment with Zoom because I'm not dealing with the financials of our organization. I guess it helped us because whenever there's an incident at night and people need to synchronize to find out what's going on, they enter Zoom and talk to each other.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Zoom has a variety of functions, including setting up virtual offices and virtual office hours. It's a stable and scalable platform with good chat support."
"Zoom is a very reliable solution."
"Zoom is very convenient to use and the basic functions work well for us."
"The most valuable features of Zoom are its ease of use, screen sharing, and annotations."
"The most valuable features of Zoom are voice and camera clarity. The time latency of the response is good. The facility to view all the participants who are online is a benefit. In most of the other similar solutions, they too have this feature. However, since I have used Zoom, I find it as an advantage because you can see all the participants online and you can choose."
"The ability to record our online language lessons is great and helps our students"
"It has efficient security features as well."
"I rate Zoom ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"The webinar should be integrated into Sametime for a larger number of participants."
"It lacks some features compared to modern solutions. For example, it doesn't allow sending screenshots or other files."
"Sometimes I talk a bit low pitched and the other person cannot hear me. I'm guessing the noise suppression detects my voice as background noise instead of my actual voice."
"Zoom could be more scalable."
"Zoom could improve by being more user-friendly."
"Our licensing model prevents us from switching off the meeting recording functionality"
"The stability of Zoom could be improved. I would rate its stability as a seven out of ten."
"I can't think of any features that are lacking."
"I would appreciate it if the updates weren't so frequent."
"The solution needs to have a feature that allows you to take over another person's screen. right now, that's not possible. This is important for our purposes due to the act that we are often using the solution to troubleshoot issues for our clients. If we could just take over their screen and go in and fix issues, it would make troubleshooting infinitely easier."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Zoom is free."
"There are paid and free personal accounts for Zoom."
"I use the tool's free version."
"The licensing fees are quite expensive."
"We have an annual subscription to the solution. The price could be reduced."
"We do not incur any licensing costs, as we use the free version."
"In addition to any licensing fees, we hired Zoom to provide training to us in small groups."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Virtual Meetings solutions are best for your needs.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Performing Arts
16%
University
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Educational Organization
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business99
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise103
 

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.
LucidChart vs LucidSpark for brainstorming sessions over Zoom
Hi @Krista Thompson ​ - Yes, LucidSpark is a much more nimble and, in some ways, user-friendly tool than LucidChart. LucidSpark is designed to do a better job managing multiple users participating ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zoom?
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing were not negotiated, so those details are uncertain.
 

Also Known As

Lotus Sametime, IBM Lotus Sametime
No data available
 

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
Fortinet, Veeva, Proofpoint, Box, Ticketmaster, Trend Micro, Caesars Entertainment, Santa Clara University, Pandora, Stanford Continuing Studies
Find out what your peers are saying about HCL Sametime vs. Zoom Workplace Business and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.