While collaboration is usually the key to the success in any business, the rise in hybrid and fully remote working environments has made it more challenging for internal teams to stay connected. Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex offer two popular business collaboration solutions that address this challenge, but each comes with different features, capabilities, and pricing models. This blog compares Microsoft Teams vs. Webex to help you choose the right platform for your business.
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Microsoft Teams Feature Summary
Teams is Microsoft’s platform for business collaboration and communication. It’s available either as a standalone application or as part of the larger Microsoft 365 suite. Microsoft Teams’ biggest strength is that it integrates by default with your other Microsoft Office applications, so you can easily schedule Teams meetings from your Outlook calendar, sync your contacts, and share files from OneDrive, for example. However, unless you purchase an additional Teams Phone plan, you’re limited to voice calls with other Teams users (or guests), which means you can’t call outside phone numbers from Teams, or have participants dial-in to Teams meetings from their phones.
Microsoft Teams Pros & Cons
Pros: Microsoft Teams is the more affordable option, as long as you don’t need voice capabilities beyond Teams-to-Teams calling. The standalone app ranges from free to $4 per month per user, while the more expensive Teams plans ($6-$12.50 per month per user) also include Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint, which might save you additional money on licensing costs. In addition, if you want to host video-only broadcasts like Webinars, upper-tier Teams plans include this functionality for up to 10,000 viewers.
Cons: By default, none of the Teams plans include telephony functionality, which means you’re limited to voice calls between Teams clients. When you add the cost of a Teams phone plan, the overall price per user is comparable to that of an equivalent Webex plan.
Cisco Webex Feature Summary
Webex is a videoconferencing and team collaboration platform from Cisco. While it does offer a free plan with some basic web conference functionality, the paid plans include enterprise-grade Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone features, like local and long-distance calling, visual voicemail, and user extensions. Webex works with all Cisco IP phones, so with the purchase of some additional hardware, you can essentially use Webex to replace your entire business phone system.
Plus, Webex video and voice meetings include some exciting new features, like hand gesture recognition, voice commands and keywords, and streaming to Youtube or Facebook Live. However, the most affordable Webex plan including all these features starts at $25 per month per user, which can be a bit pricey for a small or medium-sized business on a budget.
Cisco Webex Pros & Cons
Pros: Webex is a full-featured telephone solution that works well with new or existing Cisco VoIP systems. All Cisco Webex plans include unlimited file sharing, plus advanced video meeting features, like voice commands and streaming to Youtube and Facebook Live.
Cons: Though Cisco offers a free Webex plan, you won’t be able to unlock most of the above features unless you spring for the Business Meet + Call plan, which starts at $25 per month per user.
Microsoft Teams vs. Webex
With so many different tier and plan options, it can be difficult to get a good 1-to-1 comparison of Microsoft Teams vs. Webex. For the purposes of this table, we compared the “middle” plans from both: the Microsoft 365 Business Basic plan for Teams at $6.00 per user per month, and the Business Meet + Call plan for Webex at $25.00 per user per month.
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| Messaging | Microsoft Teams | Webex |
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If you still feel overwhelmed by all your options, relax: it’s understandable. The technology adoption experts at Meet Me In The Cloud are here to help you compare Microsoft Teams vs. Webex so you can choose the platform that meets your organization’s unique requirements.
Meet Me In The Cloud can transform your digital collaboration tools into productivity engines. At any point along your collaboration journey, we partner with you to ensure the full adoption of your preferred technology solutions. Contact our experts to get started today, or call us at 1-866-221-3221.
