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Polycom RealPresence Clariti vs Skype for Business comparison

 

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

Polycom RealPresence Clariti
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Skype for Business
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of Polycom RealPresence Clariti is 1.9%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Skype for Business is 3.7%, down from 13.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Skype for Business3.7%
Polycom RealPresence Clariti1.9%
Other94.4%
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

NH
Network Technical Advisor at a government with 10,001+ employees
The ability to track call flow and history simplifies call management while bridging issues persist
I find the ability to follow the calls, the call flow, the ability to look at the history, and more on the fault-finding tools to be valuable. It improved from a support model perspective. It simplified the licensing, reduced administration since it's based on calls, not based on users. It's about managing the calls and verifying we have enough space as opposed to always adding licenses for endpoints or users.
MD
Assistant Information Technology Officer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Internal communication has become more efficient while mobile usage still needs improvement
The honest answer is that the product has not really evolved in some time. Microsoft has been pushing everyone towards Teams and Skype for Business has been in maintenance mode for a while. The mobile experience is also not great. Staff who try to use it on their phones find it less reliable than the desktop version, calls drop more, and the interface is clunky. For a modern workforce that expects everything to work on mobile, that is a gap. Despite the initial setup challenges and mobile issues, we have noticed positive outcomes for our organization since adopting Skype for Business. I rate Skype for Business seven out of ten. I think that Skype for Business has served us well for what it is. A government office has different expectations from a fast-moving private company. We value stability and security over the newest features. On those terms, Skype for Business has delivered.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Some proprietary Polycom features include speaker tracking, acoustic fencing, noise cancellation, active noise cancellation, and noise cancellation AI."
"I find the ability to follow the calls, the call flow, the ability to look at the history, and more on the fault-finding tools to be valuable."
"It does a good job of integrating with other software."
"The solution is stable, there are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze."
"The product increases the ability of Teams in cases when we need to collaborate with whiteboards or specific video-coms or audio-coms to install a meeting presence room."
"The most valuable feature is its integration with solutions like Zoom and Teams for endpoints. The picture quality is high, and the conference sessions are stable."
"It simplified the licensing, reduced administration since it's based on calls, not based on users."
"It's on-prem, which is great."
"I use the chat feature to communicate with my staff, which is very helpful."
"Using this solution has helped us to cut long distance calls, as well as video services from third parties."
"We have been able to save money by moving our conferencing solution to Skype for Business Conferencing."
"The integration with Microsoft Outlook for creating and scheduling meetings is nice."
"Since introducing Microsoft Lync, our users can now call other Lync users in other organizations."
"The tool's most valuable features are its audio and chat functions. They help us save time and have good telephone integration."
"The solution has improved the flexibility of meetings for our organization, increasing our communication channels and putting everything in one place from sharing to team management, which makes everything easy."
"We have no problems with the stability of Skype for Business."
 

Cons

"Polycom RealPresence Clariti is very bad when moving towards the cloud."
"Could have a wider range of use cases."
"The only issue we have is with some of the bridging stuff, particularly with respect to DTMF and outgoing calls."
"The idea of the Clariti 2.0 is good, however, they're still moving too slowly."
"I'd like to see a wider range of use cases for this product."
"The customer needs this platform to be a little bit more customized."
"Skype's overall connectivity functionality or ability is one area with room for improvement."
"We can't rely on Skype for that and that's why we sometimes use Google Meet instead."
"Your telco, in such a scenario, could be Microsoft itself but this kind of solution involves some interesting downsides."
"There have been a few issues working with vendor."
"I would not recommend Skype for Business because Microsoft Teams has more features, a lightweight application that I access on my mobile."
"There is one issue regarding the audio settings. The application tends to select the internal microphone on devices rather than detecting external headphones."
"The solution lacks to provide reporting functionality, and I would like to see the solution provide that feature."
"Skype for Business could improve the interface. It could be easier to use. Additionally, it's hard to find the people or add people you want to communicate with."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Polycom RealPresence Clariti is definitely more expensive than others in the market because of its high quality."
"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."
"Our company pays for a license for us to use the solution."
"I use the product's open-source version."
"The licensing is billed on a yearly basis."
"We negotiated a fair price with Microsoft. It is definitely worthwhile to negotiate with them for the best price for your solution."
"The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."
"To realize value from the purchase of Skype Business, you need to take advantage of all the important functions of the program."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
18%
Construction Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Marketing Services Firm
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise28
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Polycom RealPresence Clariti?
They are discontinuing the product and they are moving over to Pexip. The only issue we have is with some of the bridging stuff, particularly with respect to DTMF and outgoing calls. That's our big...
What is your primary use case for Polycom RealPresence Clariti?
We use it both nationally and internationally with our partners, however, it's used in a closed environment.
What advice do you have for others considering Polycom RealPresence Clariti?
I would recommend it, however, it depends on the environment. We have a lot of users but not a lot of usage, so the price model is really good for that environment. Overall, I would give it a nine ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Skype for Business?
If I think back, my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing involves accessing it through our Microsoft Enterprise Agreement which covers the whole Office suite including Skype for Busin...
What needs improvement with Skype for Business?
The honest answer is that the product has not really evolved in some time. Microsoft has been pushing everyone towards Teams and Skype for Business has been in maintenance mode for a while. The mob...
What is your primary use case for Skype for Business?
My main use case for Skype for Business is internal communication across departments and between different government offices. We have staff spread across multiple locations in Malacca, and before ...
 

Also Known As

RealPresence Clariti, Clariti
Skype for Business Plan 1, Skype for Business Plan 2, Lync Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Baptist Health Corbin, North Carolina Central University
EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services,LA Fitness, MedcoEnergi International, Tampa General Hospital, and HopewellHoldings Limited.
Find out what your peers are saying about Polycom RealPresence Clariti vs. Skype for Business and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,495 professionals have used our research since 2012.