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Google Workspace vs Zimbra Collaboration comparison

Google and Zimbra are both solutions in the Email Applications category. Google is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.2, while Zimbra is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.0. Google holds a 20.1% mindshare in EA, compared to Zimbra’s 8.0% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Zimbra users who would recommend it.

Google Workspace

Read 104 Google Workspace reviews

6,650 Views
5,054 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Zimbra Collaboration

Read 28 Zimbra Collaboration reviews

2,311 Views
2,195 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Google Workspace

Zimbra Collaboration

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 2025

Zimbra Collaboration and Google Workspace are both contenders in the collaboration and productivity software market. The data shows a preference for Google Workspace due to its comprehensive feature set, although Zimbra Collaboration’s pricing and support options appeal to some users.

Features: Zimbra Collaboration provides secure email, calendar integration, and document sharing with an emphasis on privacy. Google Workspace offers integrated tools such as Gmail, Google Drive, and collaborative apps like Docs and Sheets. While Zimbra emphasizes security, Google Workspace provides a wider variety of tools suitable for diverse business requirements.

Room for Improvement: Zimbra Collaboration could enhance its user interface to improve usability, expand its mobile app features, and simplify integration with popular third-party applications. Google Workspace could enhance offline capabilities, improve support for non-Google file formats, and offer more robust privacy controls for enterprises.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zimbra Collaboration offers both on-premises and cloud deployment, providing flexibility but requiring significant IT involvement. Google Workspace, being a cloud-based platform, ensures easy deployment with seamless integration. Its customer service is often regarded as more accessible, aiding in smooth transition and management experiences.

Pricing and ROI: Zimbra Collaboration presents a cost-effective choice for small to medium businesses. Google Workspace, although priced higher initially, is often seen to deliver greater long-term ROI due to its advanced features and enhanced productivity options. The pricing structure of Google Workspace includes multiple tiers to cater to varying business needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Google Workspace vs. Zimbra Collaboration Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace vs. Zimbra Collaboration

September 2025

Download the complete report

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Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Google Workspace

Ranking in Email Applications

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

104

Ranking in other categories

Wireless Email (1st), Cloud Storage (8th), Content Collaboration Platforms (4th)

Zimbra Collaboration

Ranking in Email Applications

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Google Workspace is 20.1%, down from 24.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zimbra Collaboration is 8.0%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Applications Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Google Workspace	20.1%
Zimbra Collaboration	8.0%
Other	71.9%

Email Applications

Featured Reviews

Sunil-Nair

IT Manager at Universal Carpets & Rugs

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.

Read full review

Muhammad Talha Baig

Business Analyst and Associate Project Manager at SAMI Pharmaceuticals

One of the premium features was customized rooms tailored to the collaboration needs

Zimbra's strength lies in its individuality, and it should focus on leveraging its unique features rather than trying to emulate competitors. My organization has certified Zimbra technicians, so we believe we can utilize Zimbra certification. However, I was recently informed by Zimbra that no such certification exists. I have recently completed the test kit, and after the training, I will gain access to tickets. Therefore, if any clients are experiencing issues, we have a certified technical team available to provide support 24/7. This is how we can cater to our client's needs. I recommend Zimbra to small-scale and enterprise customers. Anyone, even those with 5 users, can opt for Zimbra. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product is user-friendly and knows how to appeal to a user. Google Docs accepts some of our requirements. Its most valuable feature is performance. The product's integrations are good."

"The initial setup is easy because it's all pre-configured."

"Google Meet is the most valuable function for me. It has enhanced collaboration in our team."

"The solution's technical support is very good."

"I like the capabilities for collaboration on any platform. For example, I might be on an iPad whereas the person next to me is on a laptop and the person next to them is on their phone. We can all collaborate together and update documentation in real-time."

"The corporate email feature on Google's Gmail is fantastic."

"We value the collaboration levels that are offered. Having everything integrated in a single platform is a dream come true for us."

"G Suite and all of Google were the first to have a built-in multifactor authentication without needing to purchase another product."

More Google Workspace pros

"Good email solution and it's open-source."

"We can control all the data in my IT infrastructure."

"The most valuable feature of Zimbra for our team's productivity is its efficiency in handling email communication."

"The most valuable feature of Zimbra Collaboration is the cost."

"The most valuable feature of Zimbra Collaboration is email functionality."

"Zimbra Collaboration is a good tool for video calls...Zimbra Collaboration's initial setup phase was easy."

"The Zimbra Collaboration's most valuable feature is web access."

"The web interface is powerful and easy to use."

More Zimbra Collaboration pros

Cons

"The initial setup is not intuitive at all."

"The UI could be simplified and made more user friendly."

"The solution is not user-friendly and it doesn't integrate that well with Microsoft Office, which is one of the bigger business apps on the market, compared to Google Sheets and applications of that sort."

"The user interface, especially on Google Drive, could be better."

"Everything is online, so you don't have a client on your desk. Working on email is online work, so can't do work offline and go back online. Sometimes it's not so intuitive. If you answer an email, it puts your answer at the bottom of the existing email."

"Google Workspace lacks the ability to copy and move files from one folder to another easily."

"With the Internet of Things, a platform that integrates well with others would be even better."

"The solution could improve the Google Cloud identity login to laptops that sometimes do not work. The collaboration for Google sites, they are not equivalent to others, such as Sharepoint."

More Google Workspace cons

"Zimbra must improve its solution to make it easy so that the users don't have to use webmail to connect to their accounts and log in to webmail every time. This is something that is lacking in Zimbra Collaboration. They should provide a better way to easily connect email applications on the desktop to the Zimbra server. They should also try to have more functionality for storage management, like Microsoft Exchange. Currently, the management of the email data must be done manually in Zimbra Collaboration, which we are finding very difficult. They should provide a way to save emails so that you can have more space on the server and storage. Because of the lack of this functionality, we are planning to migrate to Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft Exchange provides a better way to manage storage than Zimbra Collaboration. You cannot have a mail solution without storage management because emails will always increase. Zimbra Collaboration also needs tools for management. More back-office tools are required to manage the whole mailbox and space. You don't only manage emails but also the documents attached to the emails. Therefore, you require tools to select and decide what do you want to save or how do you want to free up space in your infrastructure."

"The solution could use more integration with third-party tools."

"The tool should improve its multi-cloud feature."

"The new patches are, at times, not so good, so we don't install them, causing the tool to be not so stable overall."

"The antispam and antivirus features are hard to understand on mobile devices."

"Some issues cause the solution not to function correctly or to cause downtime once a month."

"Zimbra Collaboration does not have a solution roadmap as aggressive as the new collaboration mail solutions. Additionally, they can have a better interface and integration with single sign-on."

"The support was lacking in my experience. However, recently the support I received was good. Perhaps they have improved."

More Zimbra Collaboration cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I can't recall the exact pricing per user for Google Workspace, but I know it's not that expensive. I'm in a mid-sized company that's able to maintain and afford Google Workspace, so it has competitive pricing, and I would rate its price as four out of five."

"Pricing is something concerning. We find the solution very expensive."

"Licensing costs are on a yearly basis."

"The price of the solution can vary."

"We have purchased an annual subscription."

"It's low in cost as compared to Office 365. There is an annual licensing cost."

"Careful consideration should be given to the different licensing options and provisions should be made for additional applications that may be required for your particular business."

"There are several areas where a G Suite implementation can reduce costs: lower license fees than some competing products, reduced hardware, and IT support costs."

More Google Workspace pricing and cost advice

"If you choose the network edition, it is a little pricier. They have the open-source edition too which is only community supported."

"The price of the solution is low."

"We are using perpetual licenses. We have deployed it in our local data center, and we buy perpetual licenses on a per-user basis."

"We do not pay for licenses to use this solution."

"Zimbra Collaboration offers a good price-to-feature ratio."

"We pay yearly licenses for Zimbra Collaboration."

"Zimbra Collaboration is expensive, and there is no perpetual license option."

"The solution is competitively priced."

More Zimbra Collaboration pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Educational Organization

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Government

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	64
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	27

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	7

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 customers very efficiently with the result data in structured manner.

See all answers

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 expensive. The current cost is approximately seven to ten euros per user per mont...

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What needs improvement with Google Workspace?

I don't see many areas of Google Workspace that could be improved or enhanced because everything I have been using has been effective. Regarding the user interface, when calling a member in the org...

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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...

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What do you like most about Zimbra Collaboration?

The most valuable feature of Zimbra for our team's productivity is its efficiency in handling email communication.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zimbra Collaboration?

The solution is competitively priced.

See all answers

Comparisons

Amazon WorkMail vs Google Workspace

Compared 22% of the time

Office 365 vs Google Workspace

Compared 17% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online vs Google Workspace

Compared 17% of the time

ProtonMail vs Google Workspace

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft OneDrive for Business vs Google Workspace

Compared 2% of the time

More Google Workspace Competitors

Open-Xchange vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 24% of the time

Microsoft Exchange vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 23% of the time

KerioConnect vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 13% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 8% of the time

HCL Domino vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 6% of the time

More Zimbra Collaboration Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace

October 2025

Download Google Workspace product report

Buyer's Guide

Zimbra Collaboration

October 2025

Download Zimbra Collaboration product report

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

No data available

Overview

Similar to G Suite, all Google Workspace plans provide a custom email for your business and include collaboration tools like Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and more.

As we’ve evolved G Suite into a more integrated experience across our communication and collaboration tools, we’ve rebranded to Google Workspace to more accurately represent the product vision.

Google

Zimbra Collaboration provides administrators and their end users innovative features that solve the challenges faced by organizations using today's legacy communications infrastructure.

Zimbra

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.

NEC Biglobe, City of Ventura, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Hola Publishing, BIG, Sleepwell, LaFayette College, Xmission, DNA, Ring Line, Future Group, TIGC

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace vs. Zimbra Collaboration

September 2025

Free Report: Google Workspace vs. Zimbra Collaboration

Find out what your peers are saying about Google Workspace vs. Zimbra Collaboration and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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