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HCL Notes vs OpenText GroupWise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

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 Notes
Ranking in Email Applications
7th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
OpenText GroupWise
Ranking in Email Applications
12th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Wireless Email (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of HCL Notes is 3.2%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText GroupWise is 2.2%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HCL Notes3.2%
OpenText GroupWise2.2%
Other94.6%
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

AM
RPA Developer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
Challenges with efficiency and interface lead to transition while offering some useful organization features
Office 365 has advantages over HCL Notes, offering a better interface and better categorization of emails. We get different kinds of options, including mail suggestions and AI options that can help users. Meetings, calendars, everything is in one place, making it more efficient. Office 365 offers a better interface and categorization of emails, along with options such as mail suggestions and AI features. Meetings and calendars are all integrated in one place.
JN
Consulting Manager at Technical Consulting Resources
Great security, stability, versatility, expandability and low cost of ownership.
I like the ease of login best in GroupWise. With the desktop client you can login to GroupWise independently of the PC login and it has Web Client that can be used if your prefer not to install the client or are using a PC that does not have the GroupWise Client installed. I also like its user proxy capabilities. I also like the level of security that it provides. Additionally, it comes with GroupWise Messenger for secure instant messaging to desktop or mobile devices. It integrates well with the email on your mobile devices and smart phones via GroupWise Mobile Services.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"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."
"The most valuable feature is the UI."
"HCL Notes is stable most of the time."
"Office 365 offers a better interface and categorization of emails, along with options such as mail suggestions and AI features."
"The initial setup was easy for me."
"It offers unique capabilities, excellent security, and replication features."
"It is easy to integrate the product with other services."
"I like the ease of logging best in Micro Focus GroupWise. I also like its proxy capabilities from a user level. I also like how secure Micro Focus GroupWise is."
"The cost-effectiveness of the solution is most valuable."
"Very secure with great storage capacity."
 

Cons

"There is a chat component but it does not work properly."
"Notes needs a major upgrade for the UI."
"The solution could improve by adding some more features."
"GUI and replication can be improved."
"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."
"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."
"The interface could be more user-friendly. Some additional trainings could be added as well."
"Regarding additional functions, the front end of the databases on the home screen looks somewhat old-fashioned. It could be modernized by the development team."
"Their support can be improved. It is not as good as it used to be."
"The WebAccess feature is somewhat lacking and could be improved."
"What I don't like about Micro Focus GroupWise is the removal of the Unix client. Micro Focus took that function away about ten years ago because there wasn't enough demand for it."
 

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."
"The solution is expensive. There are many components or features which make the price very high."
"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."
"We pay annually for the use of the solution."
"The price is reasonable."
"It was reasonably priced, but the product itself was not worth the cost."
"Micro Focus GroupWise is the most affordable solution on-premises. Versus Microsoft Exchange on-premises, pricing is 20:1, so there's no comparison. Micro Focus GroupWise is cheaper, though, for my clients, it's not about the cost but the stability and security of the solution."
"It was a part of the suite, so it was very cost-effective. There were no costs beyond the licensing fee."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Computer Software Company
18%
Comms Service Provider
8%
University
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise9
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HCL Notes?
We don't use team workspace with HCL Notes; we use only Microsoft because it's incorporated with the Microsoft license. Based on my extensive experience with HCL Notes, I think HCL can make its pro...
What is your primary use case for HCL Notes?
We use HCL Notes as an email system. We currently only use it as an email application, though in the past we used it for additional applications.
What advice do you have for others considering HCL Notes?
Regarding HCL Notes supporting various business processes such as CRM, I don't use it, but if I have an issue, I contact the support and we are satisfied with that. I would rate HCL Notes 10 out of...
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Also Known As

IBM Lotus Notes, Lotus Notes
Micro Focus GroupWise, GroupWise
 

Overview

 

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
Heritage Oaks Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about HCL Notes vs. OpenText GroupWise and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.