HCL Domino vs HCL Notes vs Microsoft Exchange comparison

The compared HCL Domino and HCL Notes solutions aren't in the same category. HCL Domino is ranked #19 in RADS , with an average rating of 7.8, and holds a 0.5% mindshare in the category. HCL Notes is ranked #8 in EA , with an average rating of 7.0, and holds a 3.4% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of HCL Domino users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of HCL Notes users who would recommend it.

HCL Domino

Read 21 HCL Domino reviews

881 Views
367 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

HCL Notes

Read 16 HCL Notes reviews

1,284 Views
780 Comparison Views

82% willing to recommend

Microsoft Exchange

Read 91 Microsoft Exchange reviews

3,160 Views
2,736 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

HCL Domino

HCL Notes

Microsoft Exchange

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between HCL Domino, HCL Notes, and Microsoft Exchange based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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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:

Mindshare comparison

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Email Applications

Featured Reviews

FrederickLim

Technical Service Manager at Top Level Corporation Limited

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.

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Chiheb Charmiti

IS Manager & Consultant HCL Domino at JACOB & ASSOCIATES

Accessible from any device, good support, and works very well for emails, document sharing, and workflows

What I like about this solution is that you can use it for mailing, as a client for email, and you can also use it for workflows. So, you can easily develop applications. Even people who haven't got great IT skills can develop some basic applications to use in the company, especially a workflow application. So, it is for mailing and for applications, which is a great thing about HCL Notes. It is very good for managing and sharing documents on the network or inside the company. It works very well for sharing documents. It is one of the best products in the world for workflow applications. It works very well for workflows or decisional processes where a task needs to be first approved by someone. After that, the task moves to the next or final stage where another person approves it with some notes or attached documents. People who are on the move outside the company but need to interact with the database of the company can do some tasks in the HCL Notes application offline. When they have connectivity, the information is updated or replicated in real-time. They can install the application on different devices. They can use it on mobile phones or iPad.

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Hesham Hussain

Head Of Infrastructure at ValU

A good solution for large enterprises, but is expensive when compared to other solutions

Regarding the decision of increasing the number of users, it depends on the organization's choice, whether to opt for CapEx or OpEx. Both options involve expenses over the years. Building an in-house Exchange solution requires investing in hardware, storage, connectivity, and administrative resources. Office 365 shifts the budget solely to OpEx as a subscription service. Scalability is another factor. Starting a new company favors Office 365 due to cost efficiency. As the organization grows, the choice depends on available resources and technical expertise. An internal Exchange setup is feasible with skilled engineers, while Office 365 suits those lacking in-house resources.

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

"One valuable feature of HCL Domino is its integration with other directories."

"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."

"I like that HCL Domino is stable. It's a great product. I also like that HCL Domino is a mature product under IBM, which is why many companies use it."

"We can scale it if we want to."

"The full-text searching capabilities are great."

"It is an excellent solution."

"The most valuable feature of HCL Domino is how robust it is."

More HCL Domino pros

"HCL Notes has fantastic built-in security. The email and personal communication components are excellent, but they are some applications provided by HCL that Notes previously provided when it was under IBM and Lotus. Everyone wants email, so that's just part of the product. However, more savvy users can build their own solutions for managing information, and that's the great thing about it."

"The software's secure communication is particularly useful when dealing with professional entities."

"Notes is a perfectly adequate front end. It's clear and straightforward."

"The product is very stable and scalable."

"The solution provides great security."

"It is one of the best products in the world for workflow applications. It works very well for workflows or decisional processes where a task needs to be first approved by someone. After that, the task moves to the next or final stage where another person approves it with some notes or attached documents."

"The most valuable feature is security. It's very easy to manage security on records, views, and tables."

"HCL Notes is stable most of the time."

More HCL Notes pros

"Exchange is easy to use. It also has a built-in calendar for all the stuff I'm supposed to be looking at and doing. Exchange tells you if you have a doctor's appointment or a scheduled call. It also has a place to store and manage your contacts. If I want to add a new contact, it will put in information about that contact stored anywhere within the Microsoft Suite."

"We have found it to be a stable solution. It is scalable and easy to install."

"The exchange functionalities are good."

"Internal communication stability within Exchange is ensured by the stability of the internal network which is guaranteed by default."

"It is a very scalable solution."

"For me, the solution is very user-friendly. I've used it a long time and I know where everything is."

"Microsoft Exchange is comparable to the Outlook client. Both are Microsoft products, and most people are familiar with Outlook. This is why the best feature of Microsoft Exchange is the ease of use. It is more compatible with the client software, especially for Microsoft Outlook. There are a lot of features available that are required for businesses users."

"The most valuable features of Microsoft Exchange are its ease of use, and simplicity of communication, and we can track communications between teams."

More Microsoft Exchange pros

Cons

"HCL Domino could improve by having integration with other solutions, such as Microsoft 365."

"The client version of this solution could be faster and be made simpler for non-IT users. You will need to have some knowledge of Notes to correctly install this solution."

"The solution is expensive."

"When you compare with Microsoft Exchange, the UI could be more user-friendly."

"It would be advantageous if the web server could seamlessly pick up configuration changes without the need for a complete restart."

"For me, the one thing missing is a really good reporting engine."

"Its performance and integration could be better. It has capabilities for large deployment with several servers, but in the latest interface, running with different servers isn't supported."

"The speed of the Notes client is an area that could be improved."

More HCL Domino cons

"I would like to see integration with other solutions."

"The loading time can be excessive."

"Some people complain that they want something more modern and jazzy."

"I would like to HCL update Notes' development tool and make it more attractive like Microsoft Visual Studio and similar products. For example, there's a programming language that I used for my product Woodpecker called LotusScript. LotusScript has been available since around 1995. When LotusScript was released, it was like the original Visual Basic, but it has improved since then."

"The performance was terrible because we have a very large database with around three million records, including attachments and scanned comments. It was slow, and integrating new technologies or designs was also slow."

"While HCL has made significant advances in the user interface and diverse platform compatibility, some improvements could be made in user-friendliness and graphical interface enhancements."

"Web support is very old and needs an upgrade. We can handle a different password for the client to access the mail services, compared to the web services. We need to implement many other components to get access to the web access. There could be a feature to interpret if the web access is available from any end-user equipment."

"One area for improvement would be making the interface more user-friendly."

More HCL Notes cons

"When an update wants to come, it should just come maybe once or twice rather than having us deal with constant updating."

"Microsoft Exchange could improve the archiving of emails and the performance."

"An improvement would be to combine Exchange and Teams so that emails, calls, and chats can be integrated into one window."

"For the next release, there are some features on the cloud-based Exchange that aren't included on-prem. It would be great if these features were made available in the next release. For instance, integration between Exchange and its on-prem calendar is not available for the on-prem solution."

"They keep making all these changes, and our system was down for four or five days. They finally got it up, but there are still lots of quirks."

"In our current situation, the disappearance of sanctions would be a tangible improvement. We are basically cut off from technical support and it's very difficult to obtain any updates."

"The solution could be more secure."

"The setup is difficult so could be easier."

More Microsoft Exchange cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We chose to pay for our licensing fees annually."

"For 30 licenses, we pay $1,500 every year. It is not an expensive product."

"The pricing is subjective and contingent on the intended usage."

"Price is reasonable compared to the other solutions."

"The license for Domino is yearly. The price is high."

"My company's customers need to make monthly or yearly payments towards the license charges of the product."

"It is less expensive compared to other vendors."

"While I don't have precise pricing information at hand, my understanding is that it tends to be on the higher end."

More HCL Domino pricing and cost advice

"The solution is expensive. There are many components or features which make the price very high."

"We pay annually for the use of the solution."

"It was reasonably priced, but the product itself was not worth the cost."

"The price is reasonable."

"We pay licensing fees on a yearly basis."

"I don't remember how much we paid when we first bought the Domino license, but now, we pay only for the passport. For 30 client licenses, we pay about $1,500 per year, and we don't consider it very expensive for the quality of the product. In our case, we need 30 client licenses. So, we buy 30 client licenses independently of the server. It is very easy for us to choose and maintain this kind of license and get the passport advantage."

"It is far cheaper to license. It is a third of the cost of our Microsoft license for 10 times the amount of usage. Developing applications cost a fraction of anything else. There are two reasons for that. First of all, applications are very fast to build. All the security is already built into the platform, so you don't have to worry about security at all. The other thing is that because fewer people use it than, for example, Microsoft SharePoint, the salary commanded by programmers is slightly lower. So, it is not only faster; you also get cheaper programmers. So, you really win-win-win on it."

"Licensing fees are paid monthly."

"Its price is okay."

"We are currently using enterprise licenses for the solution. They are different pricing models available. There are individual, cloud-based, and enterprise licenses all with different pricing models. The larger the number of users, the lesser the price. For small to medium companies like us, we feel it is expensive."

"I don't have enough information about the licensing costs of Microsoft Exchange, but I do know that you need two types of licenses to run it. You need the product key and the client access key to activate Microsoft Exchange. This means that apart from the standard Microsoft Exchange licensing fees, you have to pay additional costs."

"I rate Microsoft Exchange a four out of ten for pricing because it is quite cheap, and many companies use the solution."

"There is an annual cost to use Microsoft Exchange, and the price could be less expensive."

"The product pricing is reasonable if you utilize its full suite of features."

"Microsoft Exchange is a very well-priced solution."

More Microsoft Exchange pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Construction Company

Government

14%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HCL Domino?

The most valuable features of the solution are security and integration.

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about HCL Notes?

The security and performance of the solution are good even though our platform is variable, except for the mail servi...

See all answers

What needs improvement with HCL Notes?

While HCL has made significant advances in the user interface and diverse platform compatibility, some improvements c...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for HCL Notes?

I am a technician and software developer with a unique product called NotesTracker, a software product for users of H...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange?

The initial setup was straightforward and fast.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Exchange?

The licensing and pricing are quite costly, which can demotivate customers from opting for features and upgrades. How...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 10% of the time

GitHub CoPilot vs HCL Domino

Compared 10% of the time

Zimbra Collaboration vs HCL Domino

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Power Apps vs HCL Domino

Compared 8% of the time

ServiceNow vs HCL Domino

Compared 5% of the time

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HCL Verse vs HCL Notes

Compared 26% of the time

Google Workspace vs HCL Notes

Compared 12% of the time

Zimbra Collaboration vs HCL Notes

Compared 7% of the time

IceWarp vs HCL Notes

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online vs HCL Notes

Compared 4% of the time

More HCL Notes Competitors

Zimbra Collaboration vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 19% of the time

KerioConnect vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 18% of the time

Open-Xchange vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 13% of the time

Google Workspace vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 6% of the time

ProtonMail vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Exchange Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCL Domino

April 2025

Download HCL Domino product report

Buyer's Guide

HCL Notes

April 2025

Download HCL Notes product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange

April 2025

Download Microsoft Exchange product report

Also Known As

IBM Lotus Domino, Lotus Domino

IBM Lotus Notes, Lotus Notes

Exchange, MS Exchange

Overview

HCL Domino (formerly IBM Domino) is a secure, enterprise-grade, application development platform. From IT to business, HCL Domino is the only low to pro-code application development platform that allows your business to build robust applications to solve workflow and process challenges fast. HCL Domino powers businesses around the world with 15,000 customers and 10 million apps built on our platform. HCL Domino has always been a secure, rock-solid, and proven solution.

Low cost of ownership - minimizing administration needs through automated installations, policies and monitoring helps staff focus on higher value tasks.
Minimized infrastructure - reducing costs by using less power, memory, data storage, network bandwidth and servers.
Rich application environment - supporting workflow-driven and people-oriented applications that help a wide variety of business operations deliver enhanced results.
Security-rich - helping protect your critical business assets. You can control information access, protect information and guarantee document authenticity.
High availability - featuring advanced clustering, replication, server fault recovery and automated diagnostic tools.

HCLSoftware

HCL Notes is a secure on-premises email client that allows teams access to email, calendar, and contact management capabilities. The solution integrates other collaboration tools seamlessly along with HCL Domino business applications, into a single workspace. HCL Notes is most commonly used in corporate environments for email, but can also be used to create websites, custom applications and business workflows, discussion groups, and document libraries. In addition, the solution enhances user experiences, helps internal teams collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, and streamline communication management operations.

HCL Notes is available for Windows, Apple iOS, and Android.

HCL Notes Features

HCL Notes has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

Instant Messaging with HCL Sametime.
Unified Inbox: This HCL Notes feature helps you consolidate multiple email accounts into one viewable platform.
Filters: The HCL Notes filters allow users to filter their emails by sender, date received, opened/unopened, and more.
Reminders: With the reminders feature, users are prompted with reminders to send or reply to emails.
Notifications: HCL Notes notifications feature pings users, notifying them when they receive new emails.
Task Management: HCL Notes has built-in task creation and assignment functionality.
Reporting & Statistics.

HCL Notes Benefits

Some of the benefits of using HCL Notes include:

Mobility and accessibility: HCL Notes provides users with access to their mail and calendar wherever and whenever they are doing work.

Easy integration: With HCL Notes, you can interact with files directly from your email messages — preview, download, follow, comment, or share them with your team.

Better access capabilities: HCL Notes makes it possible for you to access profiles, roles, skill sets, and areas of responsibility for all your contacts. It also allows you to view related blogs and collaboration histories of shared work.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by HCL Notes users.

An Administration & Technical Director at a tech services company says, "Its security is absolutely stratospheric. In an application, you can lock down to field-level security. For example, I could log in and see a field in an HR database with salaries. When you log in, you see exactly the same database, but the field with the salary just isn't there. So, you can literally have field-level security on it, and you can also have secure encryption. For example, I could give you that database allowing you to see the salary, but a calculation that shows how much they get per month in another field is encrypted. So, you won't be able to see that because you don't have the encryption key. You can implement high-level security very simply."

PeerSpot user Bogdan C., Kierownik Biura Informatyki at an insurance company, mentions, “The most valuable feature is the access that it provides to documents. This offers us an easy way to make changes.”

Marcos S., Diretor at MASTERDOM, comments, “The solution is practical, good interface, and performs well. The usability of the old applications to the new version of the client is very good. The migration is very good for some legacy applications.”

HCLSoftware

Built to deliver the enterprise-grade security and reliability that businesses require, Microsoft Exchange provides email, calendar and contacts on your PC, phone and web browser.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

A1 Telekom, Acubiz, Afrisam, E. A. Juffali & Brothers, Fiducia & GAD, and Pakistan State Oil

Connect2Cloud, Hansgrohe, Sauk County, Blue Water Shipping, FDBR, ibml, Multivac, Aarhus University Hospital, Hendricks Regional Health, Asian Paints, Integra Legal, Sunplus Technology, S¾SS, The Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sports, Nicrometal, Doncasters Group, Practice Plan, Barr, RACV, Neotechnik, Deutsche Notes User Group

Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Scitec Nutrition, British Airways, InnoGames, Osteology Foundation, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, NTC Contracting

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May 2025

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