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IceWarp vs Skype for Business comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

IceWarp
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Email Applications (7th)
Skype for Business
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Meetings (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Messaging and Collaboration solutions, they serve different purposes. IceWarp is designed for Email Applications and holds a mindshare of 5.1%, down 6.0% compared to last year.
Skype for Business, on the other hand, focuses on Virtual Meetings, holds 12.5% mindshare, up 8.2% since last year.
Email Applications
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

AvinashLotke - PeerSpot reviewer
Useful for collaboration and storage but improvement is needed in API integration
The solution has traditional SSL integration, SAML, and Federation Services. In its latest version, it added SAML integration. However, it needs to work on API integration, especially for dashboards or integration with SAP for log and data system management. It doesn't yet have the kind of API that Google and Microsoft provide for synchronizing users with Active Directory. I think IceWarp needs to improve in a few areas. They have two types of admin consoles - a web-based one and a remote one. I'd like to see these combined into a single web-based admin console. The log reading and information system also needs improvement. The current way of showing incoming and outgoing logs isn't very clear. For new users, it's hard to understand these logs, especially compared to Office 365 and other systems with easier-to-read logs. They should also add an export option to get all logs with a single click whenever we need them.
Magdalena Teodorczuk - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers great audio and video quality for virtual meetings
I like the instant messaging feature in the product since I prefer to use the chat functionalities provided by the solution. It is easy to integrate the product with some of the other solutions in the market. I rate the integration capabilities of the product a ten out of ten. The product's user interface is user-friendly. I use the product at a personal level, so I can't speak about the support it provides for the maintenance part. I rate the overall tool a ten out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Its price is the most valuable. It is definitely one of the lowest price solutions."
"The solution's voice services work well for our company."
"The solution has a very good log-in to the UI when compared to other solutions."
"The groupware module is the most valuable feature."
"The TeamChat feature has been really good for our email management. It lets us collaborate, share files, and invite guests like Google Spaces or Microsoft Teams. I like the two-factor authentication for security. However, they need to improve their document collaboration tools, as their Word, Excel, and PowerPoint features are basic compared to Microsoft and Google."
"The most valuable feature of IceWarp is the chat rooms and file-sharing, they are useful. It is convenient that everything is in one place. You can easily share and collaborate documents, making the program's unity a significant advantage."
"An effective, functional, very good tool for controlling resources."
"The solution is easy to manage and includes features such as smart documents and the archiving of user data."
"We like the easy provisioning of Skype for Business Conferencing."
"The most valuable feature of Skype for Business is overall it is an okay solution."
"I like the fact that it opens up your video conferencing, and, in many cases, the audio at the same time."
"The most valuable feature is how useful it has been for virtual meetings during the pandemic."
"The integration with Microsoft Outlook for creating and scheduling meetings is nice."
"We chose Skype for Business after other colleagues suggested that we give it a try. It has served us well."
"We really like the screen sharing tool. The user experience is smooth, and user-friendly."
"The calling features are most valuable, especially now as we are working remotely."
 

Cons

"Support should be improved. Most of the time, the queries are not resolved within the SLA."
"I would like to have a trial for mobile applications and more documentation similar to Google Drive with mobile applications."
"The tool's configuration capabilities are not straightforward. Apart from that, if I want to archive emails into a vault so that they can be retrieved again later, the integration doesn't work, and IceWarp crashes."
"Our customers sometimes have problems receiving mail."
"The solution needs improvements in security, particularly regarding document management."
"With multiple databases for VOIP, chat and web IMAP, maintenance is cumbersome."
"The solution should improve the mailing list feature. Google has a similar feature where you can automate sending files to different people in a sequence, but that feature is no longer available in the current version of IceWarp. Other features may also have been removed in the current version."
"The exchange compatibility mode is rather limited. Their technical support can also be better. They only provide online support, and there should be some option for escalating."
"The solution lacks to provide reporting functionality, and I would like to see the solution provide that feature."
"The user experience during long sessions could be improved to avoid issues like intermittent disconnections or login failures."
"There are not many options, in terms of some other third-party integration."
"The stability could be improved."
"The solution should improve the chat and add more flexibility to make a call."
"If one of the users has a poor internet connection, this failure will compromise the meeting, causing delays and distortions in the communications."
"The tool needs to have a dynamic file updating feature, so people you share a file with could update the file dynamically, all at once, all at the same time."
"The challenge we had with Skype for Business was with the signing in when a user signed out and when signing in back in again, there was a bit of a problem. We switched from Skype for Business to Teams, and Teams never had that sign-in problem once we did the switch."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Costs far less than other solutions."
"The solution is priced well."
"There are various licensing plans available based on geographic zone."
"I don't see any challenges for the Indian market. For example, 1 GB is available for around 399 INR, and 2 GB for 499 INR. They offer a range of plans, from basic to professional and enterprise, with multiple features. IceWarp's aggressive pricing is competitive compared to other market solutions like Zoho and Microsoft. One significant advantage is that IceWarp does not impose user capping like Google and Microsoft, which allows for substantial cost savings and flexibility in user conversion."
"Our licensing is on a yearly basis. There were no additional costs."
"Price-wise, it's a cheaper solution, without a doubt. Price is the reason we are still using the tool."
"The solution is inexpensive which is its main benefit."
"Pricing and licensing is very competitive and in some cases, cheap."
"The solution is priced fairly."
"It may be considered costly for certain markets, such as in India."
"Our company pays for a license for us to use the solution."
"To realize value from the purchase of Skype Business, you need to take advantage of all the important functions of the program."
"We are using the subscription-based version of Skype for Business. There is a free version of the solution."
"When it comes to the pricing of the solution, I rate it as a five out of ten. It falls somewhere in the middle between being cheap and expensive."
"We had a license for every one of our users to use Skype for Business. The license we used was part of an overall Microsoft license package."
"I use the product's open-source version."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Insurance Company
8%
Educational Organization
67%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Computer Software Company
4%
Manufacturing Company
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IceWarp?
IceWarp was very cost-effective, offering services at a significantly lower cost than Google, which was appealing for our organization.
What needs improvement with IceWarp?
The solution needs improvements in security, particularly regarding document management. Users currently have the rights to delete smart documents, which poses a challenge for administrators. A mor...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Skype for Business?
Skype for Business is affordable and has decent pricing. The video quality is a bit lower than Teams or Zoom, but it remains a good solution overall.
What needs improvement with Skype for Business?
The video quality could be improved, possibly due to internet connection issues. However, there is no significant weakness in Skype for Business.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Skype for Business Plan 1, Skype for Business Plan 2, Lync Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Marriott, Toyota, Sony, Wendy's, Canon
EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services,LA Fitness, MedcoEnergi International, Tampa General Hospital, and HopewellHoldings Limited.
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