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HCL Sametime vs Zoom Workplace Business comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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
25th
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
234
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 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 Zoom Workplace Business is 5.9%, down from 14.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Zoom Workplace Business5.9%
HCL Sametime1.5%
Other92.6%
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…
Yifate Yusuf - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Lead at GE
Unified communication has transformed our collaboration and consistently boosts project delivery
The best features Zoom Workplace Business offers include screen sharing, clear video and audio, online meetings, large-scale events, call management, mobile apps, unified communication platform, and collaboration. The feature I find myself using the most is an AI-powered collaboration platform that is used to streamline communication, increase employee engagement, optimize in-person time, and improve productivity. The screen sharing is very effective and a helpful tool where we are able to screen share with our colleagues and discuss different tasks and project management ideas. Collaboration has become very efficient, and remote working has also become efficient and prevalent in my organization. We have been able to save a lot of time using Zoom Workplace Business. It has been a game-changer. Zoom Workplace Business elevates the experience with Zoom AI Companion included at no additional cost. It is designed to help employees be more productive, collaborate better, enhance their skills, and unlock time savings.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Audio and video calls provide faster communication than chat."
"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."
"I can view the status and availability of colleagues or team members, which makes it easy to approach them when they are available."
"The security was quite good."
"The solution is great when you need to hold meetings virtually."
"Zoom has benefited our company because it is easy to set up and for clients to use."
"The overall quality of Zoom is very good, it performs well, and the interface works well."
"With the inception of Zoom, we are able to collaborate anytime, anywhere, any day."
"The most valuable feature is video conferencing."
"The best thing about Zoom is that it is very easy to use."
"I felt the installation to be straightforward."
"I have found Zoom to be stable and it has good performance."
 

Cons

"Sametime hangs sometimes and therefore needs to get restarted."
"It lacks some features compared to modern solutions. For example, it doesn't allow sending screenshots or other files."
"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."
"The interface is too colorful and looks like Windows XP."
"One thing I do wish was that there was more visibility. Sometimes I have to click into a reply-all to find out who is in the meeting and whether they've accepted or not."
"Zoom could be more scalable."
"Zoom could improve by allowing multiple users to share their screens at the same time."
"If anything, the updates could be less frequent."
"It seems that lately it takes a while to connect and a long time to load."
"I would say that Zoom should support more platforms. I think it has some limitations. It should be supported on all platforms."
"When talking to clients who are in areas with poor networks, it becomes quite a problem."
"I don't have any particular issues, but I think the user interface could be improved. Previously, I used Microsoft Teams, where the chat, video, and audio options were all easily accessible in one place, making the user experience smoother. In Zoom, it's a bit more manual. For example, we must use external chat options like Slack and manually send the Zoom URL link to initiate a chat. In MicrosoftTeams, you can directly call and chat with someone from the contact list simultaneously."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"My organization has a yearly license for Zoom."
"The tool's pricing is reasonable. I think we get discounts as an organization."
"Zoom is available with an open license that can support meetings of up to 40 minutes."
"I use the tool's free version."
"In the basic version, there is a 40-minute time limit on group meetings."
"We have an annual subscription to the solution. The price could be reduced."
"There are no licensing fees required."
"The licensing fees are quite expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Outsourcing Company
12%
Construction Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business102
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise112
 

Questions from the Community

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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?
I cannot say anything about pricing, setup costs, and licensing of Zoom Workplace Business since it is handled globally for us.
What needs improvement with Zoom?
I would like the price to be a bit lower. Besides pricing, there are no other points I would like to see improved.
 

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: September 2026.
915,287 professionals have used our research since 2012.