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Google Workspace vs HCL Domino vs Microsoft Exchange Online comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

Email Applications
Rapid Application Development Software
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Sunil-Nair - PeerSpot reviewer
Email collaboration and accessibility have improved team productivity
The valuable features include the email service, email updates, and Google Drive. People are given email access to Google Drive. The team can share manual files and work accordingly. They can access different teams from anywhere, collectively putting files, sharing them, and managing them. Additionally, the manufacturing product does not require any downgrades. It works fine and continuously for the last three or four years. Users can access their emails from anywhere in their browser without a laptop or can directly access from Gmail. This is helpful for salespeople.
FrederickLim - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides mobile email systems with solid stability and easy deployment
The initial setup is easy. You need to sign up. It depends on the scope. It will take longer if there are more than one or more applications. The project usually includes infrastructure and deployment may take anywhere from one month to six months. I rate the initial setup an eight out of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy.
NancyHartman - PeerSpot reviewer
Effective collaboration achieved with versatile features and good customer service
There are always improvements needed. My personal issue with using OfficeSuite and the Exchange Server is that one has to cobble together a whole bunch of different applications. Therefore, a lot of scripting and programming knowledge is necessary. I am not an IT person; I am an educator, a trainer, a user. I want to get the work done. However, I find that the Exchange Server and possibly the way our company has set up access permissions require extensive programming knowledge. It might take six to eight weeks to get a programmer's time to build something, whereas I can use something like Smartsheet that will do everything I want without needing a programmer. Smartsheet is more end-user friendly compared to a Microsoft product. Microsoft believes an expert IT person should manage everything, however, I want to manage things on my own in a simplified way. That is not easy using the Exchange Server or Microsoft Office. It is not end-user friendly for development, and a programmer is needed. Once set up, using them as an end-user is fine. I find that the automations are not robust, and the FedRAMP systems are not robust. I have a few issues with Exchange and Office, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable part of G Suite is the integration among all of the components. It's also highly reliable because it's always available. And G Suite's ability to collaborate on all the standard office tools has no rival. It's amazing because you can work seamlessly with any of your colleagues on the same document."
"From a security point of view, Google will alert you if anything strange is happening. They will flag it for you so you are aware."
"The implementation was very easy."
"Overall, I rate Google Workspace a ten out of ten."
"Easy-to-build forms are allowing me to get feedback and information from my internal teams as well as from the customers very efficiently with the result data in structured manner."
"We haven't had any issues with scalability - we have over a thousand employees, and G Suite just scales."
"The valuable features include the email service, email updates, and Google Drive."
"The most valuable feature of Google Workspace is the sheets and documents."
"The most important benefit is security. The security architecture is very good. It's the best part of the solution."
"It serves as a centralized solution that fulfills all my requirements from operating my email server to managing various aspects of my operations."
"The pricing is excellent."
"HCL Domino is the best product from a security point of view."
"For workflow applications or general applications, the rapid development capability is what we value most."
"They offer good support and provide a roadmap."
"HCL Domino is an application development and collaboration platform with strong stability and security. Deployment of this platform is easy and takes only 10 minutes."
"It is an excellent solution."
"All of the Microsoft Exchange Online is very useful, such as the sections, the information protection, and the mail flows."
"The initial setup is straightforward and is definitely easy."
"Microsoft Exchange Online is a stable product."
"The most valuable feature is the cloud environment."
"With the Exchange Server, there is a lot of capability for version controlling."
"Exchange Online's most valuable features are two-step verification and security."
"Technical support is helpful."
"The solution offers complete scalability and flexibility."
 

Cons

"They can maybe improve its graphical user interface. Google is not really known for having a PC interface. It is just a nice-to-have feature."
"What needs improvement in Google Workspace is the Google Drive app, in particular, making the process of finding the shared and most used files and folders easier. The first time you get an invite to view a file or folder in Google Drive and you view that folder or file, it's pretty easy, but the next time you try to access it again, sometimes, it's a bit difficult to find what was shared with you. An additional feature I'd like to see in Google Workspace is the option to un-send messages in Gmail. Microsoft has a message recall feature, and this isn't available in Gmail, so it's the feature I'd like to be added to Gmail."
"Google Mail's spam filter needs improvement. If I'm sending mail to another email user, sometimes it goes to the spam folder, and they won't know unless they check because they aren't seeing it in the primary inbox. They may miss important emails. At the same time, I'm receiving spam that shouldn't go to my inbox."
"G Suite is not as powerful as Microsoft Office Suite, so sometimes we have to change to Excel and PowerPoint."
"The cost could be improved. It can sometimes be a bit confusing figuring out how we are actually being charged."
"We use Zoom most of the time for official meetings, and we use Google Meet only for internal meetings. I would like to get an improvised Google Meet. It would be good if they can make Google Meet more clear in communication and more scalable like Zoom."
"Not all tools are available in the one facility."
"There is some redundancy in the functionality between certain modules."
"The solution could improve Kubernetes or Dockers migration to new environments in the cloud."
"Designing a new template could provide a refreshed visual experience for users without significant changes to the underlying functionality."
"The speed of the Notes client is an area that could be improved."
"HCL Domino could have a better interface."
"When you compare with Microsoft Exchange, the UI could be more user-friendly."
"HCL Domino needs to be more user-friendly."
"Many people are not very happy with its speed."
"From the Domino side, it should support DKIM and DMARC."
"I couldn't delete an email account because it was identified as my primary account by the application."
"Microsoft Exchange Online could improve the overall protection of the solution."
"The stability of the solution on Mac products has room for improvement."
"In terms of machine controls, it was very confusing, and some of the administrative parts will be done from the control, but in online writing mostly we can handle everything."
"In the next release, I would like to see more features added to the security of the solution."
"I think there should be an incorporation of DLP on the business premium version of Exchange, as well."
"What I don't like about Microsoft Exchange Online is too much integration because now it has many services connected to it. In the beginning, it was just email, and now it's also Teams and Visio, and many other services which I don't like. Microsoft Exchange Online should focus on one service. The product now lost focus, and this is its area for improvement. I would also like more freedom in choosing to use just one service, for example, just Microsoft Exchange Online, which means I don't need Teams or any other Microsoft product or service there. Right now, all services are either in the Microsoft Office suite, or there are more products or services integrated with Microsoft Exchange Online, and I'd like to just focus on one."
"The support could improve their response time and sometimes the phone lines are not clear because of static or noise. However, the agents are knowledgeable and very helpful."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."
"Licensing costs are on a yearly basis."
"I give the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most affordable."
"Traffic management tools may be required for larger setups and should be included in any pricing calculations."
"The pricing of Google Workspace, so far, has been reasonable."
"The price of G Suite Enterprise is reasonable compared to HotSpot. I'm not going to say G Suite Enterprise is affordable. It's valuable, you find value in paying your gas bill or your electricity bill, because of what it allows you to do."
"The price of Google Workspace is reasonable. I pay less than 100 a month."
"We have purchased an annual subscription."
"The pricing is subjective and contingent on the intended usage."
"HCL Domino has reasonable pricing. It's not expensive."
"Customers have to pay for a license for the Notes Client, not for the Domino database. There is a quarter license that we use."
"For 30 licenses, we pay $1,500 every year. It is not an expensive product."
"My company's customers need to make monthly or yearly payments towards the license charges of the product."
"I'd rate it a seven out of ten in terms of price."
"HCL Domino's pricing depends on the number of users, but its license is not cheap."
"We chose to pay for our licensing fees annually."
"It is a reasonable solution."
"The pricing is a bit more expensive than other solutions."
"The subscription fee is monthly."
"The price is a bit high. It is especially expensive in the Indian market."
"The product is very cheap."
"The price of Microsoft Exchange Online security could improve. The overall price of the solution is reasonable."
"We have yearly licensing costs."
"I pay approximately $120 or $150 per year, and as long as I pay that amount, they will do regular updates so that I always have the most recent and greatest version of the application."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Workspace?
Easy-to-build forms are allowing me to get feedback and information from my internal teams as well as from the custom...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Workspace?
The pricing for Google Workspace is moderate. I would rate it a five out of ten, indicating it is neither cheap nor e...
What needs improvement with Google Workspace?
I do not have any major suggestions for improvement. However, while the security functionalities are similar to those...
What do you like most about HCL Domino?
The most valuable features of the solution are security and integration.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HCL Domino?
The Notes client is very expensive, costing around $105 per client. Overall, HCL Domino is a costly product.
What needs improvement with HCL Domino?
The speed of the Notes client is an area that could be improved. Many people are not very happy with its speed. Addit...
What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange Online?
The benefits are widespread and effective communication. We use Microsoft Teams for meetings within and outside our o...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Exchange Online?
The cost of Microsoft Exchange Online varies between $4 and $25 per user per month, depending on the different plans ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Exchange Online?
The mobile version of Microsoft Outlook has limited features compared to the desktop version. We find fewer features ...
 

Also Known As

G-Suite Enterprise, G-Suite, Google Apps for Business, G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G-Suite Basic, G-Suite Business, Google Vault
IBM Lotus Domino, Lotus Domino
Exchange Online, Exchange Online Plan 1, Exchange Online Plan 2, MS Exchange Online
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

There are over five million businesses that use Google Apps for Business worldwide. Some key customers include The Roche Group, National Geographic, American Red Cross, City of Los Angeles, Flight Centre, and Konica Minolta.
A1 Telekom, Acubiz, Afrisam, E. A. Juffali & Brothers, Fiducia & GAD, and Pakistan State Oil
Bank Alfalah Ltd., Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Blue Star Infotech, Scitec Nutrition, Resolution Films, British Airways, Empire Cinemas, InnoGames
Find out what your peers are saying about Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others in Email Applications. Updated: May 2025.
854,618 professionals have used our research since 2012.