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Amazon WorkMail vs Microsoft Exchange comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.1
Replacing WhatsApp with Amazon WorkMail halved costs, improved communication, and provided scalable, stable services reducing downtime concerns.
Sentiment score
6.3
Microsoft Exchange improves productivity and efficiency by 30%-50% with varied ROI, especially through cost-effective cloud deployment and essential functions.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.5
Customer feedback on Amazon WorkMail support is mixed, with experiences ranging from responsive assistance to dissatisfaction over communication issues.
Sentiment score
6.0
Microsoft Exchange support is valued for expertise but often criticized for slow response, high costs, and mixed satisfaction.
We have sent some emails and they have responded promptly, so we are satisfied.
The Microsoft support structure, while technically proficient, involves case transfers across different global locations.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Amazon WorkMail is praised for scalability, accommodating large user bases and email traffic efficiently despite some cost concerns.
Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Exchange is scalable and flexible, supporting thousands of users with options for on-premise and cloud solutions.
I do not have any concerns regarding the scalability of Amazon WorkMail, as we are sending about 40,000 to 50,000 emails per day, doing both transactional and batch with a queuing mechanism internally.
The licensing and associated costs make it challenging to scale, especially when user numbers increase.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Amazon WorkMail is highly rated for stability, handling large volumes reliably with no reported issues or downtime.
Sentiment score
7.5
Microsoft Exchange is stable and reliable, with occasional glitches from updates, needing regular updates but rarely experiencing downtime.
 

Room For Improvement

Users seek an intuitive interface, improved pricing, advanced features, better spam filtering, scalability, and enhanced support for Amazon WorkMail.
Microsoft Exchange faces criticism for storage limits, complex licensing, security, integration issues, high pricing, and usability challenges.
The biggest issue with Microsoft Exchange is its high cost, especially in pricing for license upgrades and expansion to more users.
 

Setup Cost

Amazon WorkMail receives mixed reviews on pricing, appreciated for its free tier but considered costly beyond its allocation.
Evaluating Microsoft Exchange reveals varied pricing experiences influenced by company size, licensing complexity, and feature needs.
I have heard that compared to other providers, it is considerably cheaper.
Microsoft Exchange is costly, and its licensing model can be expensive over time as more users require licenses.
 

Valuable Features

Amazon WorkMail provides scalable, secure email management with AWS integration, enhancing efficiency, user experience, and workflow expansion.
Microsoft Exchange excels in email integration, security, and compatibility, enhancing productivity and collaboration in enterprise environments.
I find the feature that checks how many emails have been successfully sent and how many of them have been opened very useful, because in our application, we know the usage of the emails.
Microsoft Exchange is a user-friendly and easy-to-deploy solution, which is beneficial for handling emails even without professional support.
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon WorkMail
Ranking in Email Applications
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Email (3rd)
Microsoft Exchange
Ranking in Email Applications
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
94
Ranking in other categories
Wireless Email (2nd), File Archiving (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Amazon WorkMail is 9.3%, down from 10.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange is 11.5%, down from 11.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Ramkumar  Kolpurath - PeerSpot reviewer
Seamless email communication improves cost-effectiveness and security with valuable tracking features
The features of Amazon WorkMail that I have found the most valuable so far include sending emails and tracking whether the email is read or not. I find the feature that checks how many emails have been successfully sent and how many of them have been opened very useful, because in our application, we know the usage of the emails. The encryption of emails, both in transit and at rest, has benefited our security strategy as it is a layer of security that provides us better confidence for customers and also internally tracks the security aspects. The encryption meets my expectations.
Harry Murdani - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps with email services and communication with internal and external contacts
Everything is useful. The only useful thing Microsoft Exchange could do is give us more of a discount on pricing because it's so expensive. Regarding the calendaring functions of Exchange, there is a problem when scheduling an event for the whole day. When you click the whole day event, the scheduling doesn't really work. For example, if I schedule a meeting with you and block your whole day, instead of just putting a time from morning to afternoon, other people can still block your time, which results in double booking. It's kind of a bug that allows people to double-book. So, the scheduling isn't working properly yet. We also faced challenges with backup services. You need to use a third-party backup solution to back up the whole Exchange server properly. You can't use the native Windows backup services. It's like they're forcing me to buy another product, which means additional costs. The backup solution and the double booking issues. If Microsoft Exchange can fix these two things, then it will be very good.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
8%
University
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon WorkMail?
We use the tool for transactional emails and marketing.
What needs improvement with Amazon WorkMail?
We are satisfied with Amazon WorkMail, as it is able to send emails and provide receipts, including the read and other statuses. Since we are doing more API side integrations, there does not seem t...
What advice do you have for others considering Amazon WorkMail?
From the communication aspects, working with Amazon WorkMail has been seamless and cost-effective. My customers do not make any use of Amazon WorkMail's compatibility with Microsoft Active Director...
How does Zimbra Collaboration compare with Microsoft Exchange?
Zimbra is a free, open source collaborative software suite. The features I like best are the ease of integration and the email, calendar, and collaboration server with web interface. In addition, I...
What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange?
The initial setup was straightforward and fast.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Exchange?
Microsoft Exchange is costly, and its licensing model can be expensive over time as more users require licenses.
 

Also Known As

Amazon SES
Exchange, MS Exchange
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Scitec Nutrition, British Airways, InnoGames, Osteology Foundation, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, NTC Contracting
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon WorkMail vs. Microsoft Exchange and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.