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HCL Domino vs OutSystems comparison

 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.4
Opinions vary on HCL Domino's ROI; some see benefits in efficiency, while new users face challenges assessing its value.
Sentiment score
6.3
OutSystems' ROI varies, with rapid development and reduced costs leading to high returns and improved customer experiences.
If a legacy or a traditional application is taking five to six months, those can easily be designed into OutSystems in less than two months.
Senior Technical Lead at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Developing that same project in OutSystems can be completed in around 40 to 50% less time, requiring only six resources.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
HCL Domino's customer service needs improvement, with mixed technical support feedback, highlighting responsiveness but needing more user-friendliness.
Sentiment score
7.0
OutSystems' support is responsive and valued, but specialized assistance and faster issue resolution are needed for some users.
My experience with the technical support of HCL is that they are responsive.
Owner at Prodej a Správa Nemovitostí s.r.o.
Many helpful videos and documentation are available on the OutSystems site, making it relatively easy to learn the platform.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
They do have the customer support ticketing system where you can raise the ticket, decide the priority, and depending upon your priority and urgency, they are going to resolve your problem.
Senior Technical Lead at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
There have been no issues with support,
Project Manager at Centre for Content Creation
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
HCL Domino is scalable for all team sizes, though some users find limitations with larger databases and seek alternatives.
Sentiment score
7.3
OutSystems offers scalable, cloud-based architecture, supporting diverse environments for efficient enterprise growth, despite some cost concerns.
Some features are simply not really possible with standard HCL client applications, which means moving all application development to web access, adding a lot of work.
Owner at Prodej a Správa Nemovitostí s.r.o.
They can be deployed vertically and horizontally, supporting as many deployments as needed.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
HCL Domino is praised for its stability with minimal downtime, despite occasional issues, consistently receiving positive evaluations.
Sentiment score
7.8
OutSystems is highly stable and reliable, handling heavy operations well, despite minor issues under massive user bases.
Once we develop an application, it basically works and does not really break.
Owner at Prodej a Správa Nemovitostí s.r.o.
 

Room For Improvement

HCL Domino needs performance, design, and integration improvements to enhance scalability, modernity, and compatibility with third-party tools.
OutSystems needs to enhance performance, reduce costs, improve support, and refine integration, UI, documentation, and AI capabilities.
In-line editing of documents and a document viewer are functionalities that would be beneficial.
SME at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
I would say that there are much better low-code platforms.
Owner at Prodej a Správa Nemovitostí s.r.o.
You have to design your architecture in a very magnificent and decent way so that how you process your data so that load can be easily balanced.
Senior Technical Lead at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It is crucial to be aware of which module corresponds to which application in real-time projects, as there are multiple applications.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
I would like to see more integration between the use of artificial intelligence to speed up the process delivery time.
RPA Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

HCL Domino's pricing, about $100 per user annually, includes support and updates, yet some find it costly compared to alternatives.
OutSystems is costly for small businesses, but valued for its robust enterprise features compared to competitors.
The Notes client is very expensive, costing around $105 per client.
SME at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Subsequent users can be added at an additional cost per user; exact pricing details can be found on the OutSystems site.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
 

Valuable Features

HCL Domino provides secure, stable, and integrated solutions with advanced encryption, mobile integration, and efficient deployment for diverse systems.
OutSystems enhances productivity with one-click publishing, visual modeling, seamless integration, and flexible cross-platform support for rapid development.
Additionally, it supports web services, enabling us to consume and expose web services.
SME at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
You can make it do many things because it is an application server.
Owner at Prodej a Správa Nemovitostí s.r.o.
We use integration extensively in OutSystems, which allows us to connect our own internal systems to our newly created system applications.
Project Manager at Centre for Content Creation
OutSystems offers a lot of reusable components and solutions that I can simply drag and drop and use, which has a significant impact on project delivery time.
RPA Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
It is a market, ready-to-market kind of platform tool, then very much scalable for the enterprise-grade applications.
Senior Technical Lead at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

HCL Domino
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
17th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
OutSystems
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Development Platforms (1st), Low-Code Development Platforms (2nd), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of HCL Domino is 1.0%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OutSystems is 4.9%, down from 7.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
OutSystems4.9%
HCL Domino1.0%
Other94.1%
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.
Aditya Bhatt - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Lead at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Rapid delivery has transformed complex enterprise apps and supports faster cross-domain projects
Every platform or low-code platform tool is quite good in its own area, but there is always space to groom or enhance or improve. The same is with OutSystems as well. A couple of things from the integration point of view can be enhanced. If your application or the enterprise organization is tackling a huge data application where you have bulk amounts of data, it becomes a challenge for all the technologies and the same with OutSystems. You have to design your architecture in a very magnificent and decent way so that how you process your data so that load can be easily balanced. Data handling and huge data handling is a kind of challenge you may need to face. Then we have some vendor lock-in. If you are trying to migrate your application from OutSystems, then you probably get into this vendor lock-in system. Some organization may face challenges if some organization is on a small scale size. The small scale businesses may find OutSystems costly because of its high cost and pricing due to the licensing cost. Apart from that, OutSystems really plays well, and it needs a learning curve. If a traditional application or programming is there which your developers are skilled into and they are directly deployed into OutSystems, it may take some significant amount of time for them to get comfortable with OutSystems. There is a learning curve. OutSystems community is already in place, but it can more be enhanced regarding some aspects. They did organize lots of bootcamps and other user groups as well, but those can also be improved from the documentation point of view and having some integration guidebook as well. A couple of things which can be improved into OutSystems include the licensing cost, the vendor lock-in side, the learning curve, couple of integration aspects and customizations.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Retailer
6%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise31
 

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?
One challenge I faced with HCL Domino was fully understanding its capabilities because initial use may lead to misconceptions based on simpler platforms. Exploring and comprehending what is possibl...
Which solution is better for developing non-ITSM applications: OutSystems or Service Now?
The short answer is that OutSystems is far better for 2 main reasons. Firstly, with Service Now you are locked into that platform for good. The business model is to lock in and then keep pumping th...
What industries do you think OutSystems is most useful for?
I cannot really name an industry in which OutSystems cannot be beneficial. Who does not want to make top-notch applications that work in no time? And OutsyStems does exactly that. The low-code plat...
How did you decide which OutSystems edition was the best one for you?
We started using OutSystems fairly recently, so we are still on the free version of it. My company is still testing how we like the platform, but so far, we have been satisfied with it and will li...
 

Comparisons

 

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
Randstad, Warner Brothers, HP, Intel, ING, Banco Popular, Thrivent Financial, Bacardi, Kent State University, Bacardi, FICO, ING, Vodafone, AbbVie, Estafeta, Siemens, Vopak
Find out what your peers are saying about HCL Domino vs. OutSystems and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
882,813 professionals have used our research since 2012.