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Skype for Business vs StarLeaf comparison

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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

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
StarLeaf
Ranking in Virtual Meetings
50th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Virtual Meetings category, the mindshare of Skype for Business is 3.9%, down from 10.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of StarLeaf is 0.8%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Virtual Meetings Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Skype for Business3.9%
StarLeaf0.8%
Other95.3%
Virtual Meetings
 

Featured Reviews

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.
JS
Solution Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Easy to use for our clients and was easy to roll out
I would rate it a nine out of ten. It was really easy to roll it out to our users to implement it to an API. It was very seamless. I don't see any lack of features we need. For the purpose of connecting the client and agent, it works very well. I would like the ability to download or retrieve the call history through APIs. There is no way to download the recordings from the meetings because you can record the meeting. The only way to get the recording from the platform is to log in to my strategic portal and download it manually. There is no way to retrieve the link for downloading the recording through API. I would like to see that in the next release.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The calling features are the most valuable, especially now as we are working remotely because of this pandemic."
"A good option for virtual meetings."
"The thing I want from any app is this: it needs to deliver; for me, Skype Business did."
"The quality of the meetings is very good."
"The solution’s video quality is fine."
"I like the fact that it opens up your video conferencing, and, in many cases, the audio at the same time."
"It saves trouble, and it saves us time."
"Firstly, it is an innovative and even more profitable way of communicating."
"The pros are that it's like a global leader. It has a translation project, which is very interesting and important for our users because the minority of them are not able to read and speak in English."
"It was really easy to roll it out to our users to implement it to an API."
 

Cons

"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."
"This is not a solution I would recommend."
"WebEx has a feature that allows you to zoom in when you're giving a presentation. To get the same result with Skype requires going through the host."
"Microsoft Teams, as I see it now, is more useful than Skype for Business."
"I am not familiar with all of the features or whether they can hold conferences because we use Zoom for that. But, in my opinion, if they can do something similar to what Zoom is doing, it will be a complete solution."
"Skype's overall connectivity functionality or ability is one area with room for improvement."
"I should be able to make a desktop phone call when I click a member of my Lync directory."
"Whenever someone is using a messaging platform, the messages needs to be stored. In Skype for Business, the message will not be seen later on if you're not online. It isn't useful, in my opinion."
"We have had some problems with stability. A week ago, we had outaging but it has stablized."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Previously, I did not use another solution."
"A license is required to use the solution."
"Skype for Business' pricing is reasonable."
"It may be slightly costly, but the features are awesome."
"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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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
No data available
 

Company Size

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

Questions from the Community

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 ...
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Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services,LA Fitness, MedcoEnergi International, Tampa General Hospital, and HopewellHoldings Limited.
Kinderspaital Zurich, HGEM, Stronghold
Find out what your peers are saying about Zoom Video Communications, TeamViewer, Microsoft and others in Virtual Meetings. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.