Use Webex when your team needs to meet. Use Pencil Spaces when your students need to learn.
Webex is a secure, capable meeting platform. Pencil Spaces is the classroom it was never meant to be: persistent rooms, saved boards, learning apps on the canvas, private focus alerts, and live support, all built around the lesson.
10M+ sessions taught
200M+ minutes of learning
One-click join, no installs
Last updated June 2026
For teaching
A classroom built for lessons, persistent student work, and the way teaching actually flows.
For meetings
A secure platform for meetings, calling, and webinars at enterprise scale.
The short answer
Pencil Spaces is a virtual classroom for teaching and learning. Webex is a secure, general-purpose meeting platform. For a lesson, Pencil Spaces adds what a meeting tool does not: a room that persists, learning apps on the board, AI tutors and agents that work beside the student, private focus alerts, and live support. Meet on Webex. Teach on Pencil Spaces.
Built for teaching. A virtual classroom, not a meeting tool pointed at a class.
Unlimited hosts. Add instructors and rooms without buying another seat.
Work that persists. Boards and student work stay in the room between lessons.
AI that tutors. A Learning Companion and Autograder, not just meeting notes.
Apps on the board. Desmos, Quizlet, IXL, and Kahoot, with no screen-share.
Built for education. COPPA, FERPA, HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR, plus 24/7 live help.
The core distinction
Webex is a 30-year-old enterprise meeting platform, born in 1995 — older than Google, the iPhone, and the App Store. Its education offering is that same legacy meeting product, with an LMS connector and security templates bolted on top.
Pencil Spaces started from one question:
What does the room have to be for a student to actually learn in it?
Side by side
Both are capable platforms, and where Webex is strong we say so. The difference is what each was built to do: Webex is an enterprise meeting platform; Pencil Spaces is a virtual classroom for teaching and learning, from tutoring and K-12 to higher education and professional learning.
Your question
For teaching
For meetings
The basics
Can I run a live video session?
Yes.
Yes, reliable HD video.
Is it built for teaching?
A purpose-built virtual classroom.
An enterprise meeting platform.
Is it reliable and secure for daily use?
Yes. 99.99% uptime, built for the load of live teaching.
Yes, Cisco-grade reliability and security.
The teaching experience
Does the room persist between lessons?
Yes. Boards, docs, and student work stay put.
The meeting ends, and the room with it.
Can students work on a shared board?
Yes, on classroom boards saved to the room.
Yes, on a meeting whiteboard.
Are learning apps built in?
Yes. Desmos, Quizlet, IXL, and Kahoot, on the board.
Slido polls; everything else is screen-shared.
Can I tell when a student tunes out?
Yes, with private focus and tab-switch alerts.
Not designed for this.
Is there AI that helps the student learn?
Yes. They work side by side with students, live.
AI recaps the meeting; it does not tutor the student.
Can I bring my own AI agents and tutors into the room?
Yes. They work side by side with students, live.
Its AI assists the host; AI agents are for the contact center.
Is there strong meeting AI (notes, translation)?
Yes, session summaries.
Excellent, with translation across 100+ languages.
Does it fit classes of every age and ability?
Yes. Group classes, breakouts, Focus Mode, and accessibility tools.
A general meeting tool, not an age-aware classroom.
Sessions, recording and joining
Can I record a lesson?
Yes, to device or cloud, even without the student on camera.
Yes, downloadable cloud recording with AI chapters.
Can students join without a download?
Yes. One click, any device.
Browser join works; the app is often pushed.
Does the free plan fit a full lesson?
Yes, with no meeting cap.
Free meetings cut off at about 40 minutes.
Operations, pricing and support
Can I add instructors without seat creep?
Yes. Unlimited hosts and Space links.
Every host is a paid license.
Can I schedule and take attendance?
Yes. Built-in calendar, invites, attendance, and rostering.
Via the Webex Education Connector and your LMS.
Is it built for education compliance?
Yes. COPPA, FERPA, HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR, plus safeguarding for minors.
FERPA, COPPA, and HIPAA aligned, with FedRAMP.
Can support help mid-class?
Yes. 24/7 live help, and we can join your Space.
Enterprise and IT support, not in the room.
Can I embed video in my own product?
Yes. A full real-time collaboration API and SDK.
Yes, via the Webex Meetings SDK.
Who is it best for?
Tutoring, schools, higher ed, and professional learning.
Meetings, webinars, calling, and hybrid work.
Where Webex is strong, we credit it. Where the job is teaching, Pencil Spaces was built for it, down to the focus alerts and autograder a meeting platform was never meant to have.
Comparison reflects publicly available information about Webex and Cisco as of June 2026 and is intended to help you compare the two. Webex is an enterprise meeting platform; Pencil Spaces is a teaching platform.
AI and humans, side by side
Webex's homepage now reads "AI and humans, side by side," and it is real: an AI Assistant that summarizes and translates meetings, and AI agents that handle customer service. Pencil Spaces works the same way, in the room where learning happens. Bring your own AI tutors and agents in to work beside your students and teachers, live.
Bring your own AI tutors and agents into the room
AI and students work side by side, live, on the same board
A Learning Companion and Smart Assistant inside the lesson
An Autograder that grades student work, not meeting notes
An AI Assistant that summarizes and recaps meetings
Transcription and translation across 100+ languages
AI agents for customer service in the contact center
Agentic AI that automates IT and admin operations
Same idea, a different room: Webex's AI runs the meeting; Pencil Spaces is where humans and AI teach together.
Use the right tool for the job
We are not saying never use Webex. It is excellent at what it was built for. Use the tool built for the job in front of you.
You are teaching, not just meeting
You run classes, seminars, or tutoring sessions
You teach or present to large groups, up to 1,000
Boards and student work need to persist
You want learning apps on the canvas
You need focus and attendance signals
You manage a roster of instructors
You need education-grade compliance and safeguarding
The session should feel like a classroom
You are hosting an enterprise meeting
You run on Cisco meeting-room hardware
You need company-wide calling and messaging
You need FedRAMP for government use
You need live translation across 100+ languages
You run hybrid all-hands and faculty meetings
It is a meeting, and the work need not live on
Built for your team
Tutoring organizations
Webex runs the meeting. Pencil Spaces runs the program: consistent rooms, oversight, recordings, scheduling, and analytics across every instructor.
Virtual schools
Webex hosts a class call. Pencil Spaces is the school day: a persistent room per course, saved student work, and a place learning lives between sessions.
In-person & hybrid schools
Webex bolts video onto the classroom. Pencil Spaces extends it: one room for in-class, hybrid, intervention, and the students learning from home.
Higher education
Webex hosts the lecture. Pencil Spaces is the classroom around it: office hours, sections, and student work that persists across the term.
Professional learning
Webex runs the webinar. Pencil Spaces runs the workshop: hands-on, interactive sessions with materials participants actually keep.
Corporate L&D
Webex is the all-hands. Pencil Spaces is the training room: live, hands-on learning from onboarding to upskilling, with content that sticks.
Proof by segment
Schools and districts
Add a quote from a school or district leader on student privacy, compliance, and safe instructional spaces, virtual or in person.
Higher education
Add a quote from a college or university on office hours, sections, and student work that persists across the term.
Professional learning & L&D
Add a quote from a professional-learning or corporate L&D team on hands-on training, breakouts, and materials learners keep.
Tutoring organizations
"Pencil Spaces has been instrumental in our transformation, enabling us to serve more students and bring literacy to the children of Charlotte-Mecklenburg."
Proven at scale
sessions taught on Pencil Spaces
minutes of live learning
uptime, so class is not interrupted
live support inside the Space
See what a real classroom looks like next to your Webex setup, and what unlimited hosts means for a team your size.
No download · No credit card · Your first lesson can be today
Pricing model
Webex charges per host: every teacher is a paid seat. Pencil Spaces does not.
Team size
For teaching
For meetings
5 instructors
Unlimited hosts
5 host licenses
50 instructors
Unlimited hosts
50 host licenses
500 instructors
Unlimited hosts
500 host licenses
10,000 instructors
Unlimited hosts
10,000 host licenses
Hosts, rooms, and Space links are unlimited. Paid plans bill by live user-hours, and only when two or more people are in a Space, so an instructor working alone is never billed. Scale your roster up or down without buying or cancelling seats.
Illustrative model comparison, not a price quote. Webex for Education plans start around $1,950 per year for 50 hosts; see each vendor's site for current rates.
Run your numbers
A per-host license is only the sticker price. You pay for every seat, every month, usually locked for a year, taught or not. Put in your numbers to see the real total.
Estimates use your inputs and a per-host annual model. Pencil Spaces pricing is usage-based, so request a quote for an exact comparison.
Price guarantee
Webex's per-host pricing climbs as you add staff, and the suite bundles calling and webinars most teaching teams never use. Send us your current Webex quote for a comparable setup and we will beat it.
Applies to a comparable plan, verified against your current Webex quote. Terms confirmed before you switch.
Lower price, comparable plan. Show us the Webex quote and we will beat it.
No per-host creep. Unlimited hosts and Space links, so growing your team does not grow your bill.
Better, not just cheaper. You also get classrooms, saved work, learning apps, and live support a meeting tool does not have.
Simple to check. Send your current Webex quote and we will show you the number.
Switched from Webex
Teams that moved their teaching off Webex and onto Pencil Spaces, in their own words.
Switched for the classroom
Add a quote from a team that left Webex on gaining a real classroom: a persistent board, learning apps, and student work that stays put.
Switched for saved rooms
Add a quote from a team that left Webex on keeping one room per student, with notes and materials ready every session.
Switched on price
Add a quote from a team that left Webex on dropping per-host pricing, so a growing team stopped growing the bill.
Placeholder prompts. Replace with real quotes from customers who switched from Webex before publishing.
Switching is easy
You do not have to do it alone. Our migration team sets up your Spaces, brings your classes over, and gets your team teaching, with a full library of guides and walkthroughs to take you step by step.
A dedicated migration team to plan and run your move
A full library of setup guides and video walkthroughs
Nothing to reinstall, your students join in one click
Partnerships
If you sell, implement, or support video for schools, universities, and training teams, partner with us. We will help you bring a purpose-built classroom to customers a meeting tool was never designed to serve.
FAQ
Start free in your browser. No download, no credit card. Teach your first lesson today.
