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HCL Domino vs Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

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

HCL Domino
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
19th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Oracle Visual Builder Cloud...
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
24th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Low-Code Development Platforms (23rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of HCL Domino is 1.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service is 1.5%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HCL Domino1.0%
Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service1.5%
Other97.5%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

FN
Owner at Prodej a Správa Nemovitostí s.r.o.
Long-term platform has supported secure mail, custom workflows, and reliable on-premise apps
I have noticed some weak points and downsides. HCL Domino is a Swiss army knife, which is the downside as well. It does many things, which is an advantage. The biggest downside is that it is a good product, but there are not that many applications for it. There are not that many ready-made applications. When they do exist, they tend to be somewhat pricey. I have not actually used HCL Domino's low-code tools. There are no low-code tools. HCL says there are, but frankly speaking, I have tried it and I always come back to the classic, the original HCL Domino. I do not see it as truly low-code. They call it Leap. Even when you want to do something more specific or more complex, you do need programming logic and then it stops being low-code. I would say that there are much better low-code platforms. N8N, for instance, looks nice with nice diagrams, especially for workflow and automation, which is where HCL Domino is lacking. The evaluation of the security features of HCL Domino in handling sensitive business information is that it has a peculiar security model, which I view as acceptable. Sometimes it may get in your way, but sometimes it simplifies things. It depends.
Sherif Bashar - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of Digital Solutions at Aptec Ingrammicro
Offers low-code/no-code concept makes development much easier and faster and offers good community support as the development team actively answers questions on the community every day
There are very minor things, like the feature called "action chains," that could use a bit of enhancement. But the team is perfect; they're working on it. An action chain is a sequence of actions triggered by a button or an event. It executes code in order, from top to bottom. For example, it could call a code, call a REST service, and then insert data into a database. It needs enhancement because it can be a bit complex for fresh grads or new developers to understand. It would be better if it was made more readable. That's the main point. But if you have experience, you'll understand it easily. One more thing I want to add about Visual Builder: up until two years ago, it supported native mobile development. That's not available anymore. They replaced native mobile development with progressive web apps, and most customers are complaining about that. We need native mobile development back – the ability to put apps on stores like Google Play or the App Store. That feature is not available right now, and they deprecated it starting in 2024. It's very important. Otherwise, clients go with Flutter or other mobile development tools. It would be good for Oracle to regain that capability. We need the native mobile development feature back.

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 feature of HCL Domino is how robust it is."
"For workflow applications or general applications, the rapid development capability is what we value most."
"They offer good support and provide a roadmap."
"The DAOS feature is the most valuable. It helps to save some of my storage."
"IBM Lotus is good but there is other, better software available with much better pricing, and value-added functionality and features."
"Overall, I would rate HCL Domino as eight out of ten. I would recommend HCL Domino and Notes applications for small and medium-sized companies since it offers a good return on investment."
"It is a wonderful tool; it offers a very stable environment, the security is very good, the integration capabilities are great, it is a beautiful platform for low-code and no-code developments and offers comprehensive solution development, and the pricing is excellent."
"This solution works very well straight out of the box; we have no plans to customize it."
"The tool is very easy to use."
"The action chains are really helpful, and the trigger event, along with those action chains, has been very helpful."
"VBS is another tool that allows users to create enterprise applications without needing to store their projects in traditional databases like SQL."
"The initial setup is easy."
"You don't need a dedicated IDE to develop. You can work from any browser, which is very convenient. And, with the cloud concept, your code is stored in the cloud, so you can modify it from anywhere, at any time."
"You can avoid costly React developers that are required for building advanced UI."
"The most valuable feature was the visual drag and drop on the components."
 

Cons

"The speed of the Notes client is an area that could be improved."
"Designing a new template could provide a refreshed visual experience for users without significant changes to the underlying functionality."
"When you compare with Microsoft Exchange, the UI could be more user-friendly."
"One challenge I faced with HCL Domino was fully understanding its capabilities because initial use may lead to misconceptions based on simpler platforms."
"HCL Domino could improve by having integration with other solutions, such as Microsoft 365."
"Scalability is also an issue. We have problems with large databases."
"From the Domino side, it should support DKIM and DMARC."
"Recently, IBM sold the product to HCL. Since Pakistan and India have some problems on a domestic level, we were actually considering replacing it with Indian products from the organization. We're just facing some regulatory issues."
"I would improve the license structure as, for some companies, it may seem a little bit expensive, depending on what they're doing."
"There are some bugs in VBCS."
"The tool has minor bugs."
"My honest opinion is: do not use this solution — there are plenty of free options out there that will do the trick."
"If you're doing some, for example, extremely responsive applications for the web, it's not as good."
"There was an attempt to enable front-end development, it did what it intended to do, but the side effects were too bad."
"The feature called "action chains" could use a bit of enhancement."
"The initial setup of Oracle VBCS can be challenging for those unfamiliar with DBS."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My company's customers need to make monthly or yearly payments towards the license charges of the product."
"Customers have to pay for a license for the Notes Client, not for the Domino database. There is a quarter license that we use."
"It is less expensive compared to other vendors."
"I'd rate it a seven out of ten in terms of price."
"For 30 licenses, we pay $1,500 every year. It is not an expensive product."
"HCL Domino has reasonable pricing. It's not expensive."
"HCL Domino's pricing depends on the number of users, but its license is not cheap."
"We're happy with the price of our license — it's pretty standard."
"It's not expensive when you consider what it provides: low-code/no-code development, faster development time, good quality, and good stability."
"Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service is much too expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
Government
9%
Construction Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise2
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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?
I am not missing anything significant from HCL Domino at the moment. There are some smaller things that can be improved, but these have already been posted on the HCL website where we can submit ou...
What is your primary use case for HCL Domino?
I have been using HCL Domino products since 1992, when it was known as Lotus Notes. I use it myself and also work as a consultant. We are an IBM Business Partner and HCL Business Partner. We are no...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service?
I actually don't have much experience with pricing, so I can't comment on it right now.
What is your primary use case for Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service?
There was a requirement to build a custom form to raise AI invoices, using Oracle Fusion. We created a form, and another use case was that users wanted to create and update customers.
What advice do you have for others considering Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service?
VBCS is very flexible. If there is a custom solution or requirement that requires doing something out of the box with Oracle Fusion, you can easily achieve it using VBCS. I'd rate the solution eigh...
 

Also Known As

IBM Lotus Domino, Lotus Domino
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

A1 Telekom, Acubiz, Afrisam, E. A. Juffali & Brothers, Fiducia & GAD, and Pakistan State Oil
Transcom Worldwide, Latham Pool Products
Find out what your peers are saying about HCL Domino vs. Oracle Visual Builder Cloud Service and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,287 professionals have used our research since 2012.