Amazon Chime vs. Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Amazon Chime
Score 6.9 out of 10
N/A
Amazon Chime is a communications service from Amazon Web Services with a built-in VoIP solution. Amazon Chime can be used for online meetings, video conferencing, and business calling, and features pay-as-you-go pricing.
$0
per minute
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Cisco offers hosted unified communications as a service.N/A
Pricing
Amazon ChimeCisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
Editions & Modules
Business Calling - Inbound
$0.002216
per minute
Business Calling - Phone Numbers
$1
per number per month, US Only
Meetings - Pro
$3
*per user per day
Meetings - Basic
Free
Business Calling - Outbound
Country Dependent
per minute
Business Calling - Receive Text
Free
US Only
Business Calling - Send Text
Country Dependent
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Amazon ChimeCisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details*up to $15.00 per user per month
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Amazon ChimeCisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Amazon ChimeCisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software
Comparison of Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software features of Product A and Product B
Amazon Chime
7.8
25 Ratings
3% below category average
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
-
Ratings
High quality audio8.425 Ratings00 Ratings
High quality video7.625 Ratings00 Ratings
Low bandwidth requirements7.220 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile support8.120 Ratings00 Ratings
Screen Sharing
Comparison of Screen Sharing features of Product A and Product B
Amazon Chime
8.2
24 Ratings
3% above category average
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
-
Ratings
Desktop sharing8.124 Ratings00 Ratings
Whiteboards8.311 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Meetings / Events
Comparison of Online Meetings / Events features of Product A and Product B
Amazon Chime
8.0
24 Ratings
3% below category average
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
-
Ratings
Calendar integration7.921 Ratings00 Ratings
Meeting initiation8.123 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with social media8.39 Ratings00 Ratings
Record meetings / events8.022 Ratings00 Ratings
Slideshows7.620 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Events Collaboration
Comparison of Online Events Collaboration features of Product A and Product B
Amazon Chime
8.0
21 Ratings
5% below category average
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
-
Ratings
Live chat8.121 Ratings00 Ratings
Audience polling7.89 Ratings00 Ratings
Q&A8.111 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Events Security
Comparison of Online Events Security features of Product A and Product B
Amazon Chime
8.5
21 Ratings
2% above category average
Cisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
-
Ratings
User authentication8.617 Ratings00 Ratings
Participant roles & permissions8.520 Ratings00 Ratings
Confidential attendee list8.615 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Amazon ChimeCisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
Small Businesses
ClickMeeting
ClickMeeting
Score 9.4 out of 10
Nextiva Business Phone Service
Nextiva Business Phone Service
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
ClickMeeting
ClickMeeting
Score 9.4 out of 10
Nextiva Business Phone Service
Nextiva Business Phone Service
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
TeamViewer
TeamViewer
Score 8.3 out of 10
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Amazon ChimeCisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
Likelihood to Recommend
7.4
(26 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.8
(9 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Amazon ChimeCisco Hosted Unified Communications Services
Likelihood to Recommend
Amazon AWS
Amazon Chime is well suited for online video and audio meetings, IMs, and conducting training sessions using a whiteboard. It can be integrated well with Google Calendar and Microsoft outlook. With Amazon Chime mobile app you can attend meetings on the go as well. Meetings can be locked so that only legitimate participants can join the meeting. Amazon Chime is less suited in case you want meeting transcripts as well for your meetings. Given that Amazon Chime is not used by a larger audience so your client or customer may face some difficulties in join the meeting or accessing some of the features of the Chime.
Read full review
Cisco
It is well suited for: Clients with call managers that want to continue using Cisco and want to minimize the new CAPEX. Clients that want to outsource the platform management and support. Clients that have a variation on the number of extensions. Although, Cisco HCS, is a solution that has a higher opex than the ones supported in ISP IP Centrex.
Read full review
Pros
Amazon AWS
  • Chat tools, video calls, on spot meeting invite[s] easy to create and use.
  • Ability to record any meeting and automatically downloads the meeting recording after ending the meeting.
  • UI is clean and easy to navigate around Amazon Chime.
  • Ability to invite outside guests easily using Amazon Chime without any issues.
Read full review
Cisco
  • VoIP best practices
  • UC and IM
  • Centralized management and provisioning
  • Reduced OPEX/CAPEX in the implementation
  • Security and integration with other UC platforms using SIP (Except Lync)
Read full review
Cons
Amazon AWS
  • More simplified dial-in numbers. The PIN for our conference line is long and easy to mistype.
  • You do not have to download the Chime app in order to join a conference, but if you want to do anything beyond join (schedule a conference, participate in a group chat, control participants), you have to have the app downloaded and installed. The app that you have to download in order to launch a conference is a memory hog, and slows down a computer's boot up time.
  • The add-in for Microsoft Outlook is particularly clunky. It helps you add scheduled conference calls/video conferences to your Outlook calendar, but it can cause Outlook to crash, and creates a really slow open time for Outlook. If you can avoid downloading the Outlook Add-In, I would.
  • No built-in screen sharing capabilities.
Read full review
Cisco
  • Integration with contact center plaforms
  • Integration with other UC platforms
  • Lower the tennant size and clusters capacity
  • Cisco's pressure to buy more and more licences, even not having a stale client pipeline (From the ISP point of view)
Read full review
Support Rating
Amazon AWS
They were very supportive in answering all of our questions when we had problems. Their in-person calls but their support site also had a full set of information that can answer a good portion of your questions before you have to pick up the phone. But when you, you will get good service.
Read full review
Cisco
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Amazon AWS
Better than Skype for Business in terms of loading the application onto your device. Skype had crashing issues always and those are comparatively low when using Amazon Chime. Amazon chime is fast and easy to work with while collaborating and setting up meetings. The audio and video quality are better than Skype for Business.
Read full review
Cisco
Cisco HCS platform is to be seen as a centralized UC platforms, that can be scalable as an IP Centrex solution and as rich in functionalities as a Cisco CUCM. If you're looking for a solution and your main focus is IM & P functionalities rather than voice, Lync is a good solution. If your focus is voice and telephony, Cisco is a better solution
Read full review
Return on Investment
Amazon AWS
  • The positive ROI is Amazon Chime helps make our sales reps more professional in their calls leading to an increase in closed/won deals.
  • Amazon Chime has increased overall morale across our sales team because it has greatly improved our call processes when compared to other tools we've used in the past.
Read full review
Cisco
  • Reduces the need to have a higher CAPEX in order to buy all the licenses at the start of the project.
  • The licensing is perpetual, the only associated cost with the licenses are SWSS.
  • Desktop sharing isn't a functionality.
  • Cisco SMB series can be used only with the higher cost licensing (Foundation/Standard).
Read full review
ScreenShots