# HCL Sametime Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is HCL Sametime the right Video Conferencing solution for you? Explore 16 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/212784/HCL-Sametime/reviews --- HCL Sametime 4.6 (16) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/212784/HCL-Sametime/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Reviews of HCL Sametime Ease of use 4.6 Customer Service 4.3 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-16 of 16 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Michael B. Systems Engineer Human Resources Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A classic collaboration product well before its time" August 31, 2021 5.0 Sametime is great and has been a favorite for years, even before HCL acquired it. Pros Sametime is the first product to truly contain drag-and-drop of nearly any attachment type: text, images, links, audio, and more. It does not require downloading and attaching documents. And this was more than a decade before competing products like Zoom. Cons Sametime is integrated with Domino, which is not the most current software suite, and is not mainstream anymore. It is a shame because Sametime is so superior in its own right. Review Source SM Satya M. Project Lead Insurance Used the software for: 2+ years ### "HCL Sametime Review" February 23, 2021 5.0 Overall experience was good and since it has a storage capacity up to 2 weeks that's why if you forget or system will be crashed then also the messages will be stored. Also File sharing and Screen sharing options are nice and the most important thing is the look and feel is the best in Sametime. Auto login using the SSO. Pros Retaining history of the messages for around 2 -3 weeks that is best feature that it has. The Notification functionality was pretty good which will remind you 15 - 30 mins before your meetings. We can setup group meeting and group chat via the app. The Sametime is also available outside the network and also can be downloaded on the Phone pretty easily. For Group collaboration and Individual chat this App is the Best. Conference meeting can be created in this. File Sharing options is also very good. We can share files, screenshot , images etc. Cons It can't be integrated with Microsoft outlook. If in the outlook you have a meeting then you can't see the same from Sametime. Also Sametime doesn't provide call facility through the chatting app which other popular apps are providing. It can't connect through the phone so that we can Customer care people can use the same to interact verbally in the team. Only via chat its possible. Sharing Screen in the Group is not possible. Alternatives considered [Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/)[Business Hangouts](https://www.capterra.com/p/227251/Business-Hangouts/) Reason for choosing HCL Sametime Slack was good but the ease of use is not that much great. Business Hangouts is also awesome but the Admin functionality and customer support was not that much great. Sametime customer support was best and also pricing perspective Sametime is much cheaper then other two. Switched from [Webex Suite](https://www.capterra.com/p/237272/Webex/) Skype every time we need to login using our username and password. Cisco is auto logged in but it is quite heavy weight. Same time is auto logged in with the SSO and pretty light weight. Review Source Flavio F. Software architect Telecommunications Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Our first experience on global collaboration" October 29, 2021 3.0 Sametime was the first application that our software development teams used on daily activities. It brought huge gains in communication effectiveness. Pros Chatting, contact groups, VoIP, these features were the ones we liked the most. Cons The screen sharing was not stable and we faced some crashes or hangings. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Information Security Consultant Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "HCL Sametime: Lost legacy " September 28, 2021 5.0 The overall experience is average as its an old tool from lotus legacy to IBM and then to HCL ,A per the need of times ,I think a lot new features needs to be added along with the impeccable customer service is needed. Pros The embedded features are its usp. 1. Snip option 2. Quick attachment sharing. 3. Telephoney feature and integration with other applications. Cons The con which I call out is delay in using the VC services rest all for the user prospective suffice the requirement. Switched from [Slack](https://www.capterra.com/p/135003/Slack/) Cost benifict Innovation Strong customer response Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Financial Analyst Banking Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Version I used" June 4, 2022 5.0 Overall, i was pretty simple to use for quick chats. I do prefer screen sharing, it is very useful. See if your version has before signing for it , if it's important. Pros I used Sametime from 2017 till 2020. I am not sure version I had was the latest, or full version, mine did not have video conferencing, nor ability to share screen. Still it was good for chats, ability to save and easily search conversation by dates, and I liked it's location at the bottom, it was very easy to tell when I have a new message, something that I can't tell about all similar software Cons Version we used did not have video conferencing nor screen share. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Executive Assistant Accounting Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Chat" October 7, 2023 4.0 Pros Being able to communicate with everyone at the firm and add people and create groups. Cons No video feature and pretty basic. This was the old system used years ago before transition. Review Source AGA Antonio Giovanni A. Software Engineer Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "A well-established yet evolving and scalable collaborative platfom" November 11, 2015 4.0 Pros The release of the version 9 of Sametime by IBM marked an important milestone in the evolution of this product in the last 5 years, under several important aspects. From a functional standpoint, the new desktop and web clients are more user-friendly and very similar to each other: the "look and feel" of the web version is incredibly close to the kind of user experience of the classical desktop version. The videoconference and meeting management has been greatly improved from version 8. From a technical standpoint, the integration of pools of geographically distributed Multipoint Control Units for video data streams coordinated by clustered Managers is the main technical enhancement of the already highly distributed and clusteded architecture of Sametime. The new back-end components for multiplexing, bridging and adapting videoconferencing flows replace the PacketSwitcher of Sametime 8.5-, and makes the entire platform much more scalable than before, and ready to host desktop/web conferences with several hundreds of attendees all over the world. Cons Because of the heavy use of graphical components to "emulate" the desktop-based application, the web client seems to be in some contexts a bit slow. Also, the configuration part, both on client and server side, could be improved. On backend side, an aspect is worth mentioning is that the new components of the Sametime infrastructure introduced wih the version 9, are essentially Linux-based. Being in a Windows IT environment, we had hard time setting up the environement to properly deploy VMCUs and Video Managers. Review Source JD Jensen D. Tech Specialist Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Use Sametime for all your messaging needs! " January 7, 2021 5.0 Messaging platforms are crucial in a workplace and Sametime has everything you’d need to communicate with your peers. I’d highly recommend looking more into Sametime if you’re in needing of a messaging platform. Pros It can be challenging working at a big company at times, but Sametime has made it easy to communicate with others in my company. I’ve found it to be very easy to locate other peers and have a quick conversation. Another bonus is that you can set a status, so if you’re in a meeting then someone won’t bother you. Cons Sametime doesn’t allow you to send messages to users that are offline. If you’d like to send a message to an offline user, then it’ll prompt you to send an email. I wish there was a way to leave a message for an offline user to receive when they return. Review Source SK Syed K. Incident manager Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "SameTime Chat" February 3, 2023 5.0 It was a flawless and easy to user friendly application and I strongly recommend this for small and large firms for easy effortless communication. Pros It keeps the team and groups easy to communicate and send group invitation. Cons Only thing I felt was to name the group chat I am on as there were many chat windows open. Review Source Saurabh M. Manager Telecommunications Used the software for: I used a free trial ### "Good and Trusted Meeting Platform" August 19, 2021 5.0 Pros This is one the good meeting platform which covers almost all latest features with no extra cost .Fast deployment and easy to install as well Cons Need to improve user interace to some extent Review Source CB Christopher B. HelpDesk Internet Used the software for: 2+ years ### "HCL Sametime Pro e Contro" December 12, 2023 5.0 Nel complesso ho utilizzato HCL Sametime per circa 3 anni e mi sono trovato abbastanza bene, con pro e contro, ma fa il suo dovere. Consigliato per chi in azienda utilizza già gli strumenti HCL. Pros HCL Sametime è un mezzo di comunicazione di facile utilizzo per utenti con ogni livello di conoscenze informatiche. Integrato ala suite HCL Notes sulla quale è possibile utilizzare un'enorme quantità di funzionalità lo rende un ottimo strumento per poter interagire con i colleghi mentre si utilizzano gli strumenti aziendali senza dover passare da un programma ad un altro. Cons Gli inconvenienti sono nel tipo di utilizzo che se ne vuole fare. HCL Sametime lo consiglierei più per un utilizzo interno di comunicazione tra colleghi della stessa azienda nel caso in cui si utilizzi HCL Notes per posta o altre applicazioni interne. Per comunicare in modo più ampio, con meeting, videoconferenze e quant'altro occorre migrare su altre piattaforme più "evolute". Review Source AP Anna P. Sr. Systems Analyst Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Sametime" March 7, 2021 4.0 At the time, I was sad to switch from Sametime, because I loved it while using it. Pros It integrated well with business processes and was very easy to use. I also really liked the emojis. Cons It was dependent on having Lotus Notes open and running on your computer which at times was a pain. Review Source GR Gajendra R. It Specialist Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "HCL sametime review" December 17, 2020 5.0 It’s a good tool with very vast option however it’s need lot of improvement to match today agile practice Pros It’s vast chat history saving and quick search. Easy to take snap and immediate screen share. immediat group chat creation. Cons Compatibility issue in screen sharing sharing. Review Source AH Aaron H. Systems Engineer Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A great standalone chat client." November 10, 2015 4.0 Pros I used Sametime at my previous job for over 7 years. Sametime in and of itself is a great IM tool. It is sad that it is stuck with Lotus Notes. I really enjoy the screen capture tool as well as being able to add custom emoticons and gifs to your emoticon pallet. Though font choices are limited, it still allows enough variety for most anyone's taste. It also does file transfer very well. There are also audio and video features. And I almost forgot about sametime meeting rooms which are basically like meeting/screen-share sessions. Definitely as a standalone chat client, it contains many good features. Cons That it is partnered with Lotus Notes... It does have that older look and feel, so the UI could definitely use a face lift. Review Source HS Harshit S. Research Associate Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Good Product, Easy Usage" November 27, 2015 4.5 Pros Ease of use - It is very simple and effective. I am able to connect with my workmates, share files and have group chats. Cons UI design - It looks very basic, and if UI is not improved, will start looking outdated in time. Review Source ES Eric S. Consultant Entertainment Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Enjoyed using IBM Sametime" November 10, 2015 5.0 Pros Easy to use, each application worked on its own and with the other applications. Cons Cost and not supplied on any PCs or Laptops. Googled it and found free access to it. Review Source Similar Products Featured ## Related categories [VoIP](https://www.capterra.com/voip-software/)[Video Conferencing](https://www.capterra.com/video-conferencing-software/) ## Send me user reviews about this product ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox.