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HCL Notes vs Zimbra Collaboration 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
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zimbra Collaboration
Ranking in Email Applications
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of HCL Notes is 3.2%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zimbra Collaboration is 6.7%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HCL Notes3.2%
Zimbra Collaboration6.7%
Other90.1%
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

AT
IT Director at ATOS
Has improved email security through built-in encryption and supported offline work effectively
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 product better by being more visible on the market because most companies don't support or use HCL anymore, and most integrators work with Exchange or Outlook rather than HCL Notes. Inside HCL Notes functionality, they have to be more visible in the market, which is very important.
Vidya Shree - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at Molecular Connections Private Limited
Deploys quickly and has a good web interface
Zimbra Collaboration has a good web interface When it comes to administration tasks like configuring specific filters or group signatures, I have to dig into the configuration since there's nothing in the graphical or web interface. The solution’s forums don't have much information or…

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."
"HCL Notes has a non-structured database and fantastic native security, which is extremely strong, providing built-in security without needing external products."
"HCL Notes is easy to customize as it is simple and fast, making it cost-effective for development."
"It is easy to integrate the product with other services."
"The solution provides great security."
"Lotus Domino is an excellent platform for making groupware applications that are natively integrated with email."
"People criticize Notes because its appearance is outdated, and I agree, but behind that lackluster look is an extremely substantial platform for knowledge management, information sharing, monitoring, workflow, etc."
"The most valuable feature is security. It's very easy to manage security on records, views, and tables."
"One of the most valuable features involves the solution's automatic backup, which I find to be pretty simple and straightforward, and obviates the need for additional software."
"Zimbra Collaboration has a good web interface."
"I think Zimbra is more reliable and competitive than Microsoft because they offer an open-source version."
"It is the best open source collaboration suite that I know, because it provides high availability and more performance than the other solutions."
"The stability is good and keeps getting better with each new update."
"The backup and storage management features of Zimbra Collaboration are valuable."
"Despite sticking with Gmail for over a decade in terms of business, Zimbra have impressed me with some other aspects as well; if the time comes, I would prefer Zimbra to my current solution."
"The most valuable feature of Zimbra for our team's productivity is its efficiency in handling email communication."
 

Cons

"The only improvement that we're planning to do is that all our applications are still designed in the layout and format of Notes version 4, and our plan over the coming years is to modernize their look. One of the things they're developing or considering deploying is a program to automatically upgrade the look and feel of databases. If they deploy that, that will be revolutionary. In other words, we decide on a corporate look and feel for our database and press a button. We've probably got 50 different applications in Notes, and it would just go through the whole lot and upgrade all of them to look the same."
"The problem with Lotus Domino is that there are no new versions of the product."
"I would like HCL to update Notes' development tool and make it more attractive like Microsoft Visual Studio and similar products."
"One area for improvement would be making the interface more user-friendly."
"Some people complain that they want something more modern and jazzy."
"One minor issue was that using Notes to connect to clients not running on Domino, such as Gmail or Outlook, is not particularly great."
"The loading time can be excessive."
"There is a chat component but it does not work properly."
"There are some security issues."
"The solution’s forums don't have much information or documentation on administration tasks."
"In the next release, Zimbra Collaboration should include a security feature to allow access for mobile device administrators."
"The support was lacking in my experience. However, recently the support I received was good. Perhaps they have improved."
"I would like to see a Microsoft schedule function added."
"The solution could use more integration with third-party tools."
"We had a couple of issues with stability, but nothing that I couldn't work around or fix myself. Zimbra is a powerful product, but since VMware bought it, changes and bug fixes have been very slow in coming."
"We have had an issue with security."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay annually for the use of the solution."
"We pay licensing fees on a yearly basis."
"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."
"The price is reasonable."
"It was reasonably priced, but the product itself was not worth the cost."
"Zimbra Collaboration is expensive, and there is no perpetual license option."
"We do not pay for licenses to use this solution."
"We are using perpetual licenses. We have deployed it in our local data center, and we buy perpetual licenses on a per-user basis."
"We pay yearly licenses for Zimbra Collaboration."
"The price of the solution is low."
"Zimbra Collaboration is less expensive than Microsoft Exchange. Zimbra works for small companies because it is not expensive. Zimbra Collaboration has more security tools than Microsoft Exchange. If you are choosing between Zimbra Collaboration and Microsoft Exchange, you have to take into account the cost of security tools with Microsoft Exchange. When you purchase Microsoft Exchange, you will also have to purchase tools for security, which adds to the cost. The migration from Zimbra Collaboration to another email solution is very simple and easy. Migration from Microsoft Exchange to another email solution is very difficult. Microsoft doesn't allow migration that easily. In fact, you have to pay for tools to do that. You have to buy some expensive tools to migrate."
"If you choose the network edition, it is a little pricier. They have the open-source edition too which is only community supported."
"Zimbra Collaboration offers a good price-to-feature ratio."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
10%
Construction Company
9%
Computer Software Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

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...
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 the email, calendar, and collaboration server with web interface. In addition, I...
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 configuration since there's nothing in the graphical or web interface. The soluti...
 

Also Known As

IBM Lotus Notes, Lotus Notes
No data available
 

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
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 HCL Notes vs. Zimbra Collaboration and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
904,146 professionals have used our research since 2012.