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Polycom RealPresence Desktop vs Webex comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

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

Polycom RealPresence Desktop
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
13th
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.5
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Webex
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
128
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 Desktop is 1.4%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Webex is 5.0%, down from 12.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Webex5.0%
Polycom RealPresence Desktop1.4%
Other93.6%
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

NH
Network Technical Advisor at a government with 10,001+ employees
Regular use enables effective communication with room for improvement in interoperability
The most valuable part of the desktop is the ability to make voice and video calls. Without getting too technical or divulging too much due to the environment we are in, it allows us to further our reach, from a traditional video conferencing room. Scalability was easy. It was based on calls, not licenses.
DO
Web Designer / Developer & Creative Professional at Federal University of Technology Akure
Virtual training has supported collaborative learning and now needs a simpler and clearer interface
Webex can be simplified in terms of user interface, where many features should be displayed in a compact view, with similar features grouped together and a minimalistic design helping users understand what each button does. If specific features are not needed, they should not distract you, and some features should appear as sliding elements for ease of access. Additionally, connecting to Webex can be technical, and it would be beneficial to have a way to connect anonymously using a simple code instead of going through microphone issues.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It allows us to further our reach, from a traditional video conferencing room."
"The ROI was phenomenal."
"The stability of the solution is excellent compared to other solutions on the market."
"I like Webex because it is easy to work with."
"I enjoy conducting virtual training in the WebEx training room."
"The stream is very smooth; that's what I like about Webex, as other video conference solutions like Zoom sometimes freeze and get buggy, but Webex doesn't."
"The most valuable features of Webex are the depth of the tone and the quality of the picture, and I find them better than Teams or Zoom."
"This is the best everyone knows about, but there are plenty other players."
"Integrates well with other Cisco solutions."
"Doing presentations on the solution is very good. There isn't much they could do to improve this aspect. It's excellent."
 

Cons

"There probably needs to be an improvement in interoperability."
"The base application uses a lot of resources. They could work on the performance of the application so that it's less heavy."
"The performance of WebEx could be improved. If you're using it on a mobile device and on the laptop, you sometimes get glitches, where you've answered the call or joined a meeting on a laptop and your mobile device doesn't quite know what's going on. It may just be technical glitches, but it seems to be a bit shaky sometimes on mobile devices."
"Webex could improve the performance."
"Greater visibility beyond infrastructure metrics would be beneficial. We could leverage insights into business performance indicators as well. I believe that incorporating more predictive capabilities into Webex for the next version would be beneficial."
"Webex is very expensive."
"I would like the next release to be more user-friendly."
"Their customer service was also fairly sub-par as far as what I am used to."
"CWMS on-premises solution does not integrate either with CMR nor with Jabber as of yet."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"There is an annual license required for this solution."
"Webex is very expensive."
"I rate the product price a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is high price, and ten is low price."
"I have recently switched to a different solution. WebEx is more costly. There are equivalent solutions at a lower cost."
"Webex is expensive, especially compared to Zoom or Google."
"We paid for our Webex license as a bundle."
"There is a license needed to use this solution."
"The charges attached to the subscriptions of the product are okay. There are no extra charges to be paid in addition to the standard licensing fees."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Virtual Meetings solutions are best for your needs.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
16%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Construction Company
12%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business41
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Polycom RealPresence Desktop?
There is probably room for improvement in interoperability.
What is your primary use case for Polycom RealPresence Desktop?
We use the desktop. It was used in the same case. We use it with our partners.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Webex?
From when I last implemented it, I found the price to be expensive. The licensing model doesn't work because if I want to implement it for an organization, I need to pay a per-user license, which m...
What needs improvement with Webex?
Webex is top-notch at this point in time. The only improvement I see is related to RAM and CPU usage, as older systems with 4GB RAM or i3 processors might slow down the application. I do not have a...
What is your primary use case for Webex?
Webex is primarily used for customer meetings, collaboration with team members, presenting to customers, and virtual calls with customers. In my daily work, I get on the meeting and take the discus...
 

Also Known As

RealPresence Desktop
Cisco Spark
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

John Laing, China Daily, Lincoln Fire and Rescue, NATO Communications and Information Agency, NHS Home Dialysis, Silver Chain, South Carolina Department of Mental Health, nimed
Seagate Technology, Kohn Pedersen Fox, World Vision International, Glen Raven, University of Notre Dame, CEV Multimedia, The Food Group, LUMEDX, California Baptist University, and Georgetown University Law Center.
Find out what your peers are saying about Zoom Video Communications, TeamViewer, Microsoft and others in Virtual Meetings. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.