IceWarp vs Microsoft Exchange comparison

IceWarp and Microsoft are both solutions in the Email Applications category. IceWarp is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.3, while Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.8. IceWarp holds a 5.3% mindshare in EA, compared to Microsoft’s 11.3% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IceWarp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

IceWarp

Read 17 IceWarp reviews

2,282 Views
1,848 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Microsoft Exchange

Read 94 Microsoft Exchange reviews

3,399 Views
2,821 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

IceWarp

Microsoft Exchange

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

Microsoft Exchange and IceWarp compete in the enterprise communication solutions category. Microsoft Exchange maintains an edge with its comprehensive enterprise-level integrations and features, demonstrating strong capabilities in providing robust solutions for large businesses.

Features: Microsoft Exchange offers extensive integration capabilities, calendar synchronization, and email retention management. Its robust toolbox for third-party integration and seamless collaboration tools stand out. IceWarp is known for its cross-platform compatibility, cost-effective communication solutions, and features such as team chat, file sharing, and conferencing collaboration.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Exchange needs to improve storage management, integration with non-Microsoft products, and simplify its complex licensing. Enhancing its security features would also be beneficial. IceWarp could improve its mobile integration, mailing list function, and enhance security features while simplifying its administrative processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Exchange offers a variety of deployment options including on-premises, cloud, and hybrid models, though it requires comprehensive technical support. IceWarp provides similar deployment flexibility and is noted for its ease of use but faces challenges with customer service consistency and documentation.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Exchange's pricing is higher, reflecting its enterprise capabilities and comprehensive feature set. This pricing structure is generally suited for larger organizations. IceWarp provides aggressive and flexible pricing appealing to smaller enterprises, offering essential features within a budget-friendly framework. This makes IceWarp an attractive option for smaller companies concerned with costs.

To learn more, read our detailed IceWarp vs. Microsoft Exchange Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IceWarp vs. Microsoft Exchange

September 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:

Categories and Ranking

IceWarp

Ranking in Email Applications

7th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Microsoft Exchange

Ranking in Email Applications

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Wireless Email (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of IceWarp is 5.3%, down from 5.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange is 11.3%, down from 11.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Applications Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Exchange	11.3%
IceWarp	5.3%
Other	83.4%

Email Applications

Featured Reviews

AvinashLotke

Delivery Head at Team Computers

Useful for collaboration and storage but improvement is needed in API integration

The solution has traditional SSL integration, SAML, and Federation Services. In its latest version, it added SAML integration. However, it needs to work on API integration, especially for dashboards or integration with SAP for log and data system management. It doesn't yet have the kind of API that Google and Microsoft provide for synchronizing users with Active Directory. I think IceWarp needs to improve in a few areas. They have two types of admin consoles - a web-based one and a remote one. I'd like to see these combined into a single web-based admin console. The log reading and information system also needs improvement. The current way of showing incoming and outgoing logs isn't very clear. For new users, it's hard to understand these logs, especially compared to Office 365 and other systems with easier-to-read logs. They should also add an export option to get all logs with a single click whenever we need them.

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ImranShaikh

Assistant Vice President, PreSales at Netcore Cloud

Offers several valuable features including conditional access, identity and access management, and scalability of mailboxes

We use Microsoft Exchange primarily for mailing purposes, both internal and external. We integrate it with other Microsoft tools like Outlook, Word document collaboration, Teams, SharePoint, and more The integration of Microsoft Exchange with other tools allows for seamless collaboration and…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution's voice services work well for our company."

"The product is used very extensively in my company since we have around 1,500 users using it. Also, there is no requirement for any administrators to manage the product by the people who own the solution."

"The solution has a very good log-in to the UI when compared to other solutions."

"The most valuable feature of IceWarp is the chat rooms and file-sharing, they are useful. It is convenient that everything is in one place. You can easily share and collaborate documents, making the program's unity a significant advantage."

"An effective, functional, very good tool for controlling resources."

"It has great communication capabilities for team chatting and web conferences."

"The TeamChat feature has been really good for our email management. It lets us collaborate, share files, and invite guests like Google Spaces or Microsoft Teams. I like the two-factor authentication for security. However, they need to improve their document collaboration tools, as their Word, Excel, and PowerPoint features are basic compared to Microsoft and Google."

"The groupware module is the most valuable feature."

More IceWarp pros

"It is very well integrated with other Microsoft programs, teams, and so on. They work well together."

"Exchange is a robust system that is well suited for an enterprise environment. It's always up, and we hardly face any technical issues. Exchange has a web interface and integrates perfectly with Microsoft Outlook. This web interface can be easily used to change the passwords from the domain controllers."

"I find Exchange's basic mail features to be highly valuable."

"It integrates well with other tools."

"Microsoft has a very good support team."

"This solution handles all of our primary functionality including email, message delivery, message archiving and calendars."

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

"We have found it to be a stable solution. It is scalable and easy to install."

More Microsoft Exchange pros

Cons

"Although it is not a tool, video conferencing should be scalable and operate in a professional and efficient way."

"The exchange compatibility mode is rather limited. Their technical support can also be better. They only provide online support, and there should be some option for escalating."

"The solution needs improvements in security, particularly regarding document management."

"The solution should improve the mailing list feature. Google has a similar feature where you can automate sending files to different people in a sequence, but that feature is no longer available in the current version of IceWarp. Other features may also have been removed in the current version."

"Support should be improved. Most of the time, the queries are not resolved within the SLA."

"The tool's configuration capabilities are not straightforward. Apart from that, if I want to archive emails into a vault so that they can be retrieved again later, the integration doesn't work, and IceWarp crashes."

"With multiple databases for VOIP, chat and web IMAP, maintenance is cumbersome."

"Our customers sometimes have problems receiving mail."

More IceWarp cons

"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."

"The solution is stable, but it could improve. It's crashing if there is a big mail database. The Zimbra solution is better in this area."

"From a reliability perspective, they need to improve the search engine, it is not very powerful."

"Exchange took time to be deployed. It requires extensive configuration and setting up servers and managing internal network access."

"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."

"The filtering of spam needs significant improvement, as many spam emails are not getting detected."

"I don't have the best impression of customer service and support. It should be faster and more clear, and more human. T"

"The tool is not easy to use. Every person has to have at least administration-level experience to use the tool."

More Microsoft Exchange cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the pricing and eight out of ten."

"There are various licensing plans available based on geographic zone."

"I don't see any challenges for the Indian market. For example, 1 GB is available for around 399 INR, and 2 GB for 499 INR. They offer a range of plans, from basic to professional and enterprise, with multiple features. IceWarp's aggressive pricing is competitive compared to other market solutions like Zoho and Microsoft. One significant advantage is that IceWarp does not impose user capping like Google and Microsoft, which allows for substantial cost savings and flexibility in user conversion."

"The license is based on the number of users."

"Price-wise, it's a cheaper solution, without a doubt. Price is the reason we are still using the tool."

"Our licensing is on a yearly basis. There were no additional costs."

"It is definitely one of the lowest price solutions."

"The solution is priced well."

More IceWarp pricing and cost advice

"The product pricing is reasonable if you utilize its full suite of features."

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

"I rate Microsoft Exchange's pricing a six out of ten."

"Its price is very affordable, and basically, it is the standard of the industry. We have the Exchange 365 subscription, which includes the usage of Exchange Online. I don't know the specific cost, but it is the retail price of Microsoft 365 E3 licenses. Microsoft's licensing is not very easy to understand. Microsoft changes rules every other day, which makes it difficult for us to understand the licensing not only for Exchange but also for other products. It can sometimes be really complex to understand what you need to have in order to comply with Microsoft licensing."

"There is an annual cost to use Microsoft Exchange, and the price could be less expensive."

"It is not expensive."

"It would be nice if it used less resources to run on-premise."

"I have Outlook 365 Professional, and Exchange comes in the bundle with other solutions, such as Word and OneDrive. I pay for the use of the bundle monthly and I can imagine if you are a company with many licenses the pricing model would be a lot different."

More Microsoft Exchange pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

19%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Retailer

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	41
Midsize Enterprise	27
Large Enterprise	35

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IceWarp?

It's scalable and stable.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IceWarp?

IceWarp was very cost-effective, offering services at a significantly lower cost than Google, which was appealing for our organization.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IceWarp?

The solution needs improvements in security, particularly regarding document management. Users currently have the rights to delete smart documents, which poses a challenge for administrators. A mor...

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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...

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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?

Microsoft Exchange is costly, and its licensing model can be expensive over time as more users require licenses.

See all answers

Comparisons

Zoho Mail vs IceWarp

Compared 31% of the time

Google Workspace vs IceWarp

Compared 15% of the time

Zimbra Collaboration vs IceWarp

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online vs IceWarp

Compared 10% of the time

KerioConnect vs IceWarp

Compared 8% of the time

More IceWarp Competitors

Open-Xchange vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 18% of the time

KerioConnect vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 16% of the time

Zimbra Collaboration vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 14% of the time

HCL Domino vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 4% of the time

More Microsoft Exchange Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IceWarp

October 2025

Download IceWarp product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange

October 2025

Download Microsoft Exchange product report

Also Known As

No data available

Exchange, MS Exchange

Overview

IceWarp helps thousands of organizations streamline all areas of business communication and become more profitable by providing Mail Server complete with GroupWare, Calendaring and Document Management, accessible through an intuitive WebClient, simple to setup in WebAdmin. Customize with add-ons: spam and virus protection, Instant Messaging with video calls, mobile sync and more.

IceWarp

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

Sample Customers

Marriott, Toyota, Sony, Wendy's, Canon

Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Scitec Nutrition, British Airways, InnoGames, Osteology Foundation, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, NTC Contracting

Buyer's Guide

IceWarp vs. Microsoft Exchange

September 2025

Free Report: IceWarp vs. Microsoft Exchange

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