Webex vs. Microsoft Teams vs. TrueConf: Pros, Cons & Which is Better?

Choosing the right video conferencing platform can make or break your team’s productivity. With remote and hybrid work becoming standard practice, businesses need reliable solutions that don’t drain budgets or require IT degrees to operate.

Three platforms stand out in today’s market: Cisco Webex, Microsoft Teams, and TrueConf. Each brings different strengths to the table. Webex offers enterprise-grade security and global reach. Teams integrates deeply with Office 365. TrueConf delivers on-premises deployment with unlimited participants and no recurring fees.

This comparison examines pricing, features, and real-world performance to help you decide which platform fits your organization’s needs and budget.

Webex vs. Microsoft Teams vs. TrueConf: Key Differences and Positioning

Cisco Webex positions itself as the enterprise collaboration platform with decades of video conferencing expertise. Large corporations and government agencies choose Webex for its robust security certifications and global infrastructure. The platform handles everything from quick team huddles to massive webinars with thousands of attendees. Webex works best for organizations already invested in Cisco hardware or those requiring strict compliance standards like HIPAA or FedRAMP.

Microsoft Teams dominates the market among Office 365 subscribers. If your company runs on Outlook, Word, Excel, and SharePoint, Teams becomes the natural hub for communication. The platform combines chat, video calls, file sharing, and app integrations in one interface. Teams excels when your workflow revolves around Microsoft’s ecosystem, but you’ll pay monthly per-user fees even if you already subscribe to Office 365.

TrueConf takes a different approach entirely. This platform offers perpetual licenses for on-premises deployment, meaning you purchase once and host everything on your own servers. No monthly subscriptions, no participant limits, no data leaving your infrastructure. TrueConf appeals to organizations prioritizing data sovereignty, budget predictability, and independence from cloud providers. Government institutions, healthcare facilities, and companies in regulated industries often choose TrueConf for complete control over their communication infrastructure.

The Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City|Case Study

TrueConf video collaboration solution connected more than 100 hospitals in Ho Chi Minh and allowed converting quarterly medical examination and treatment briefings between the Department of Health and hospitals into online mode. 660 employees of the City Oncology Hospital can now collaborate with one another without any barriers, increasing both speed and efficiency of communications.

Success story

Webex vs. Microsoft Teams vs. TrueConf: Key Features

Webex delivers comprehensive meeting features including breakout rooms, real-time translation in over 100 languages, and AI-powered noise cancellation. The platform’s Webex Assistant provides live transcription and automated action items during meetings. Webex Rooms integrates with conference room hardware for hybrid meetings, while the whiteboard feature supports real-time collaboration. Advanced analytics give administrators insights into meeting patterns and engagement. For example, a global company can host a product launch with automatic subtitles for attendees speaking different languages, then review participation metrics to measure reach.

Microsoft Teams shines through its Office 365 integration. You can co-edit Word documents during video calls, share PowerPoint presentations with presenter mode, and access shared files without leaving the meeting interface. Teams includes Together Mode, which places participants in a shared virtual space, and background blur or custom backgrounds. The platform supports live events for up to 10,000 viewers and integrates with hundreds of third-party apps through the Teams app store. A sales team might review an Excel forecast together during a video call, update figures in real time, and automatically save changes to SharePoint.

TrueConf focuses on flexibility and control. The platform supports 4K video quality and multi-point video conferences with up to 800 simultaneous participants on screen in a single meeting. TrueConf offers complete API access for custom integrations, white-label options to rebrand the entire platform, and compatibility with SIP/H.323 hardware endpoints. The system includes built-in moderation tools, session recording with local storage, and the ability to create custom server configurations. A healthcare provider could brand TrueConf with their logo and colors, integrate it with their electronic health record system, and ensure all patient video consultations remain on their HIPAA-compliant servers.

Feature Comparison

Webex vs. Microsoft Teams vs. TrueConf: Pricing Comparison

Pricing structures reveal the fundamental differences between these platforms.

Webex offers several cloud subscription tiers. The free version includes 40-minute meetings for up to 100 participants. Paid plans start around $12-$15 per user monthly for the Webex Starter plan with extended meeting duration and cloud storage. The Business plan ($25-$30 per user monthly) adds advanced features like unlimited cloud recordings and 200 participants. Enterprise plans with custom pricing support up to 1,000 participants and include dedicated support. For a 50-person company, expect annual costs between $7,200 and $18,000 depending on the chosen tier.

Microsoft Teams pricing ties directly to Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Teams Basic is free but limits meeting length and features. Business Basic ($6 per user monthly) includes Teams with 300-participant meetings but requires the full Microsoft 365 suite. Business Standard ($12.50 per user monthly) adds desktop Office apps. Enterprise E3 and E5 plans ($23-$38 per user monthly) unlock advanced compliance and analytics features. A 50-person organization pays $3,600 to $22,800 annually depending on the Microsoft 365 package selected.

TrueConf breaks from the subscription model entirely. TrueConf Server offers perpetual licenses supporting unlimited users and unlimited simultaneous meetings. You host the server on your own hardware or virtual machines. A company pays once and owns the license forever. There are no recurring fees, no per-user charges, and no participant limits. The only ongoing costs are optional annual maintenance subscriptions for updates and support.

Try TrueConf Server Free!

• 1,000 online users with the ability to chat and make one-on-one video calls.
• 10 PRO users with the ability to participate in group video conferences.
• One SIP/H.323/RTSP connection for interoperability with corporate PBX and SIP/H.323 endpoints.
• One guest connection to invite a non-authenticated user via link to your meetings.

Learn more

The economics shift dramatically over time. While cloud platforms accumulate subscription fees year after year, TrueConf’s one-time investment remains fixed. Organizations planning long-term deployments or operating in regions with many users find TrueConf’s perpetual licensing model financially attractive compared to the continuous costs of cloud subscriptions.

Budget isn’t the only consideration. Cloud platforms handle server maintenance, security patches, and infrastructure scaling automatically. On-premises solutions like TrueConf require IT resources to manage servers, though many companies already have this expertise in-house. For businesses with existing server infrastructure and IT staff, TrueConf eliminates the ongoing subscription burden while maintaining complete control over updates and data.

Conclusion

Choose Webex if you need proven enterprise reliability, global meeting capabilities, and already use Cisco products. The platform justifies its premium pricing through extensive integration options and 24/7 enterprise support. Government contractors and multinational corporations benefit from Webex’s compliance certifications and worldwide infrastructure.

Select Microsoft Teams when your organization lives in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. If employees already use Outlook for email, OneDrive for files, and SharePoint for collaboration, Teams becomes the logical communication layer. The integration reduces context switching and keeps everything in one environment. Just remember that effective use requires the broader Microsoft subscription.

Pick TrueConf when data sovereignty, budget predictability, and ownership matter most. Healthcare providers managing patient data, government agencies with strict data residency requirements, and companies in regulated industries gain complete control over their communication infrastructure. The perpetual licensing model eliminates subscription fatigue and provides crystal-clear long-term costs. Organizations with IT departments capable of managing servers save substantially over five or ten-year periods while maintaining unlimited participants and full customization options.

No single platform wins every category. Webex brings enterprise polish, Teams offers Microsoft integration, and TrueConf delivers ownership and economics that cloud subscriptions can’t match. Evaluate your specific requirements around data control, existing software investments, and total cost of ownership to make the right choice for your organization.