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Polycom RealPresence Clariti vs Skype for Business 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

Polycom RealPresence Clariti
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
7th
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 September 2026, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of Polycom RealPresence Clariti is 1.8%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Skype for Business is 3.9%, down from 10.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Skype for Business3.9%
Polycom RealPresence Clariti1.8%
Other94.3%
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."
"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."
"It's on-prem, which is great."
"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."
"The solution is stable, there are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze."
"It simplified the licensing, reduced administration since it's based on calls, not based on users."
"It does a good job of integrating with other software."
"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."
"You can do meetings of up to two hundred people in a single conversation."
"We like the easy provisioning of Skype for Business Conferencing."
"The solution is easy to use and includes the ability to text message, video and voice chat, and transfer files."
"The initial setup is not overly difficult; it's pretty straightforward in general and the deployment is also quick and only takes a minute or so."
"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"People are now able to virtually collaborate with their staff and have a conference call. We don't need a phone line to make that conference call and we are saving on that. People are able to share their presentations. Also, they can chat using the Skype"
"I rate the solution's stability a nine on a scale where one is not stable and ten is very stable...I rate the solution's initial setup a nine on a scale where one is difficult, and ten is easy."
"Skype for Business is a scalable solution and we have approximately 350 people using this solution across all departments."
 

Cons

"Polycom RealPresence Clariti is very bad when moving towards the cloud."
"The customer needs this platform to be a little bit more customized."
"The only issue we have is with some of the bridging stuff, particularly with respect to DTMF and outgoing calls."
"Could have a wider range of use cases."
"I'd like to see a wider range of use cases for this product."
"The idea of the Clariti 2.0 is good, however, they're still moving too slowly."
"Make it user friendly."
"Your telco, in such a scenario, could be Microsoft itself but this kind of solution involves some interesting downsides."
"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."
"Going forward, I would like to see better call quality and reliability."
"The cost of Skype for Business has room for improvement."
"The integration with Outlook could be improved."
"We are looking for a more collaborative tool, not only in terms of virtual meetings but also for teams to collaborate, share a document, work together, and all those types of things."
"I venture to say that 30% of the people using this solution at our company have had issues with stability, due to the volatility and crashes."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Polycom RealPresence Clariti is definitely more expensive than others in the market because of its high quality."
"We have been able to save money by moving our conferencing solution to Skype for Business Conferencing."
"The solution is priced fairly."
"The cost of Skype for Business is incorporated into our Office 365 licenses."
"It may be considered costly for certain markets, such as in India."
"We are using the subscription-based version of Skype for Business. There is a free version of the solution."
"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."
"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."
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Virtual Meetings solutions are best for your needs.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Outsourcing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
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: September 2026.
914,805 professionals have used our research since 2012.