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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
7th
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
6th
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 April 2026, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of HCL Notes is 3.3%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zimbra Collaboration is 6.8%, down from 9.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Zimbra Collaboration6.8%
HCL Notes3.3%
Other89.9%
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.
Muhammad Talha Baig - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

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 is the access that it provides to documents, which offers us an easy way to make changes."
"The initial setup was easy for me."
"The offline access feature in HCL Notes helps me significantly due to its strong replication mechanism, allowing me to work wherever I am, and when I connect, it facilitates two-way replication of information."
"HCL Notes is stable most of the time."
"The security and performance of the solution are good even though our platform is variable, except for the mail services."
"With HCL Notes, my organization has been able to do a little more in that regard, as they have built in and integrated with other systems like the leave management so I do not have a separate HR portal where I have to go in and apply for leave, and all of that is managed through my email client."
"Notes is a perfectly adequate front end. It's clear and straightforward."
"Lotus Domino is an excellent platform for making groupware applications that are natively integrated with email."
"Good email solution and it's open-source."
"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 web interface is powerful and easy to use."
"Most valuable to us is the fact that it's open source, so it's possible to do a lot of customization."
"It is the best open source collaboration suite that I know, because it provides high availability and more performance than the other solutions."
"Zimbra Collaboration's sharing features are most valuable."
"Zimbra Collaboration's best feature is its compatibility with Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol, which allows users to use Outlook on Windows or MacOS."
"The most valuable feature of Zimbra Collaboration is email functionality."
 

Cons

"Notes needs a major upgrade for the UI."
"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."
"Some people complain that they want something more modern and jazzy."
"It is a heavy program and uses more resources than an email client should."
"The problem with Lotus Domino is that there are no new versions of the product."
"While HCL has made significant advances in the user interface and diverse platform compatibility, some improvements could be made in user-friendliness and graphical interface enhancements."
"The loading time can be excessive."
"My overall experience with HCL Notes is not good."
"I would like to see a Microsoft schedule function added."
"Zimbra should provide a desktop client. Right now, we are using a web browser for accessing our emails. There should also be a desktop client."
"Zimbra Collaboration does not have a solution roadmap as aggressive as the new collaboration mail solutions. Additionally, they can have a better interface and integration with single sign-on."
"The log files need to be improved; they need to show us more information because a lot of detail is lacking and that's not very helpful or insightful."
"Zimbra Collaboration could improve the migration from a basic solution to a more containerized solution. For example, the installation should be able to extend to the containers and manage them with some solution, such as OpenShift or Kubernetes."
"The solution could improve by making it easier to use."
"In the next release, Zimbra Collaboration should include a security feature to allow access for mobile device administrators."
"The installation is not straightforward, it can take two days for the full implementation."
 

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 price is reasonable."
"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."
"We pay annually for the use of the solution."
"The solution is expensive. There are many components or features which make the price very high."
"We do not pay for licenses to use this solution."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the price a four"
"There is an annual standard licensing fee to use Zimbra Collaboration and there is no other cost."
"The price of the solution is low."
"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 solution is competitively priced."
"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."
"I use Zimbra Collaboration's community version. We may move to the enterprise version since prices are affordable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Government
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

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: April 2026.
886,664 professionals have used our research since 2012.