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HCL Domino vs HCL Notes vs Microsoft Exchange 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.0
HCL Domino provides ROI for some users, while others struggle; it's praised for reducing paperwork and increasing satisfaction.
Sentiment score
7.8
HCL Notes users enjoy significant cost-efficiency and secure communication benefits, justifying its $100 annual user fee.
Sentiment score
6.9
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
7.0
HCL Domino's technical support is positively received, while customer service experiences mixed reviews due to variable interaction quality.
Sentiment score
7.2
HCL Notes support is praised for responsiveness and expertise, though a few users face challenges in reaching assistance.
Sentiment score
6.1
Microsoft Exchange support is valued for expertise but often criticized for slow response, high costs, and mixed satisfaction.
The Microsoft support structure, while technically proficient, involves case transfers across different global locations.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
HCL Domino is praised for scalability but faces challenges with large databases, varying by company size and usage.
Sentiment score
7.3
HCL Notes is scalable and versatile, supporting various user sizes, but requires adequate hardware for optimal performance and integration.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Exchange is scalable and flexible, supporting thousands of users with options for on-premise and cloud solutions.
The licensing and associated costs make it challenging to scale, especially when user numbers increase.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
HCL Domino is praised for its stability and reliability, despite minor concerns and differing opinions on larger databases.
Sentiment score
7.3
HCL Notes is highly stable and reliable, with recent improvements enhancing its functionality and mobile-friendliness.
Sentiment score
7.6
Microsoft Exchange is stable and reliable, with occasional glitches from updates, needing regular updates but rarely experiencing downtime.
 

Room For Improvement

HCL Domino needs modern updates for UI, performance, integration, security, user-friendliness, scalability, and cloud migration capabilities.
HCL Notes requires a modern UI, improved speed, seamless integration, and reliable chat to enhance user experience.
Microsoft Exchange faces criticism for storage limits, complex licensing, security, integration issues, high pricing, and usability challenges.
In-line editing of documents and a document viewer are functionalities that would be beneficial.
The biggest issue with Microsoft Exchange is its high cost, especially in pricing for license upgrades and expansion to more users.
 

Setup Cost

HCL Domino's pricing is high, especially compared to competitors, and can vary based on user count and needs.
HCL Notes pricing is considered reasonable, offering flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and free guest users, with minimal setup costs.
Evaluating Microsoft Exchange reveals varied pricing experiences influenced by company size, licensing complexity, and feature needs.
The Notes client is very expensive, costing around $105 per client.
Microsoft Exchange is costly, and its licensing model can be expensive over time as more users require licenses.
 

Valuable Features

HCL Domino integrates messaging and applications with robust security, cross-platform support, low-code development, and flexible architecture for efficiency.
HCL Notes offers robust security, compatibility, integration, and performance, though newer platforms may provide a superior interface.
Microsoft Exchange excels in email integration, security, and compatibility, enhancing productivity and collaboration in enterprise environments.
Its hybrid nature allows the use of both web-based applications and Notes client-based applications.
Microsoft Exchange is a user-friendly and easy-to-deploy solution, which is beneficial for handling emails even without professional support.
 

Mindshare comparison

Rapid Application Development Software
Email Applications
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Herad Howell - PeerSpot reviewer
Secure communications that prompts responses with room for improved user interface
I primarily value HCL Notes for its security features. The software's secure communication is particularly useful when dealing with professional entities. It ensures that business is conducted smoothly, allowing me to use my organization's email confidently, as opposed to my personal Gmail, which might not prompt responses from some entities.
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%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
8%
Government
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

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.
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 HCL Notes?
The security and performance of the solution are good even though our platform is variable, except for the mail servi...
What needs improvement with HCL Notes?
We are talking about HCL Notes, and I'm not certain it is easier to manage or has a better interface. HCL Notes had s...
What is your primary use case for HCL Notes?
HCL Notes has features similar to what we can get on other products such as Outlook, with everything in one place. We...
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 ...
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

IBM Lotus Domino, Lotus Domino
IBM Lotus Notes, Lotus Notes
Exchange, MS Exchange
 

Overview

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, ServiceNow, Oracle and others in Rapid Application Development Software. Updated: June 2025.
858,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.