HCL Notes vs Microsoft Exchange vs Zimbra Collaboration comparison

HCLSoftware and Microsoft are both solutions in the Email Applications category. HCLSoftware is ranked #9 with an average rating of 7.0, while Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3. HCLSoftware holds a 3.4% mindshare in EA, compared to Microsoft’s 11.4% mindshare. Additionally, 82% of HCLSoftware users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

HCL Notes

Read 16 HCL Notes reviews

1,371 Views
828 Comparison Views

82% willing to recommend

Microsoft Exchange

Read 91 Microsoft Exchange reviews

3,291 Views
2,842 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Zimbra Collaboration

Read 29 Zimbra Collaboration reviews

2,972 Views
2,295 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

HCL Notes

Microsoft Exchange

Zimbra Collaboration

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

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

Find out what your peers are saying about Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others in Email Applications.

To learn more, read our detailed Email Applications Report (Updated: May 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Email Applications

May 2025

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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

As of May 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of HCL Notes is 3.4%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange is 11.4%, down from 12.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zimbra Collaboration is 8.8%, down from 10.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Applications

Featured Reviews

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.

Read full review

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.

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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

"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."

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

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

"The solution is practical, good interface, and performs well."

"HCL Notes is stable most of the time."

"It is easy to integrate the product with other services."

"The solution provides great security."

"The initial setup was easy for me."

More HCL Notes pros

"Microsoft Exchange's most valuable feature is that it's old-fashioned communication, meaning it's good for people who aren't able to work comfortably in a cloud environment."

"It is a product that is simple to manage, and easy to use."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Exchange is the collaboration tools."

"All features are useful; they meet the purpose of an email server."

"We've been using Exchange as an email platform. Our clients require multi-country, multi-regional email collaboration with controlled mail flow. The most valuable feature is the capability of message tracking and the protection of user data."

"The most valuable features are that you can exchange information, tasks, attachments, and enhance the process in a short amount of time."

"It's a very user-friendly application. The mail server is also valuable when compared to other services like SquirrelMail."

"The setup was straightforward."

More Microsoft Exchange pros

"A lot of other products like Microsoft Exchange offer email or collaboration features, but they are not as fast as Zimbra."

"The most valuable feature is sending messages as well as text and documents. It's a big solution for us since internal communication is a must in our organization."

"Zimbra Collaboration's best feature is its compatibility with Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol, which allows users to use Outlook on Windows or MacOS."

"Network NG Modules are valuable to us."

"Zimbra Collaboration has a good web interface."

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

"Zimbra Collaboration's sharing features are most valuable."

"The configuration is simple."

More Zimbra Collaboration pros

Cons

"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."

"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."

"Notes needs a major upgrade for the UI."

"We had trouble connecting this solution to the database from Microsoft. We have done it, although it can be easier."

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

"The solution could improve by adding some more features."

"GUI and replication can be improved."

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

More HCL Notes cons

"Microsoft Exchange could improve by being more secure. We are always looking to have more security."

"Its search functionality can be better. It is currently not really easy. It has the capability to search your mailbox, but it has some restrictions in terms of the number of results that you can retrieve. You can only get around 250 results. If you want to do a deeper search, you need to use different functionalities of the product. The policy that we have for handling emails is that we do not delete emails at all. If I insert the text that I am searching for in the Search field, it only retrieves a limited number of emails. To search for an email from 2010, I need to use different search functions to find what I am looking for. Microsoft can also improve its licensing for its products. Microsoft's licensing is not very easy to understand. It can sometimes be really complex to understand what you need to have in order to comply with Microsoft licensing."

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

"It's not always the finest solution in terms of integration with products that are not from Microsoft. It integrates very well with Microsoft products but not with third-party products."

"We are not able to use Microsoft Teams due to connection issues. Thus, the product integration with Teams could be improved."

"For new users, it might take them some time to get used to the product."

"Microsoft needs to make some modifications to meet the current needs of the environment. For example, they need to add more cell service features because people work from home during the pandemic, and certain elements should be available as a mobile service."

"Microsoft Exchange could improve by adding artificial intelligence."

More Microsoft Exchange cons

"File sharing permissions with Nextcloud integration need improvement."

"They should enhance its online meeting features."

"The solution’s forums don't have much information or documentation on administration tasks."

"There are some security issues."

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

"It would be great if a group chat feature were created to allow for a team environment."

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

More Zimbra Collaboration cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

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

"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."

"We pay licensing fees on a yearly basis."

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

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

"The price is reasonable."

"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."

"The platform has a reasonable price."

"There are different prices depending on the customer's use cases and amount of users. The price of the solution could improve."

"Compared to the other options in the market, the licensing costs attached to Microsoft Exchange seem reasonable."

"Microsoft's licensing structure is too complex, but its prices are affordable, though not cheap."

"We can get Exchange in the cloud along with the Microsoft 365 license."

"It's a little bit expensive."

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

More Microsoft Exchange pricing and cost advice

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

"The price of the solution is low."

"The solution is competitively priced."

"I use Zimbra Collaboration's community version. We may move to the enterprise version since prices are affordable."

"When it comes to the licensing of Zimbra Collaboration, my license covers the servers and I find its terms to be much simpler than those of Microsoft Exchange."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the price a four"

"We pay yearly licenses for Zimbra Collaboration."

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

More Zimbra Collaboration pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

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

Computer Software Company

19%

Comms Service Provider

Government

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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

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

What needs improvement with Zimbra Collaboration?

When it comes to administration tasks like configuring specific filters or group signatures, I have to dig into the c...

See all answers

Comparisons

HCL Verse vs HCL Notes

Compared 26% of the time

HCL Domino vs HCL Notes

Compared 15% of the time

Google Workspace vs HCL Notes

Compared 12% 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

KerioConnect vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 18% of the time

Open-Xchange vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 13% of the time

HCL Domino vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 12% 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

Open-Xchange vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 20% of the time

KerioConnect vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 16% of the time

IceWarp vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 7% of the time

Zarafa vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 3% of the time

More Zimbra Collaboration Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

HCL Notes

April 2025

Download HCL Notes product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange

April 2025

Download Microsoft Exchange product report

Buyer's Guide

Zimbra Collaboration

April 2025

Download Zimbra Collaboration product report

Also Known As

IBM Lotus Notes, Lotus Notes

Exchange, MS Exchange

No data available

Overview

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

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

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

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

Find out what your peers are saying about Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others in Email Applications. Updated: May 2025.

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