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KerioConnect vs Microsoft Exchange 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

KerioConnect
Ranking in Email Applications
9th
Average Rating
6.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (8th)
Microsoft Exchange
Ranking in Email Applications
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
Wireless Email (1st), File Archiving (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of KerioConnect is 4.8%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange is 11.3%, down from 12.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

David Bloomer - PeerSpot reviewer
Lightweight, simple, and robust; easy to maintain and doesn't require a lot of system resources to run
Kerio Connect does as advertised, so there are no real issues with the product itself. It's developed regularly, so there are constant updates. Possibly, the support and development have lessened since they've sold the company, but as far as the product itself is concerned, there isn't anything that I would suggest needs improvement. If I'm being picky, Kerio Connect uses a proprietary, mappy atom for Outlook, and it would be nice if they used a native mappy connection instead, but that's the only additional feature that I would like to see in its next release. If they have native Outlook map integration, that would be great, but other than that, it's got all the functions that I think a mail server should have.
Harry Murdani - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps with email services and communication with internal and external contacts
Everything is useful. The only useful thing Microsoft Exchange could do is give us more of a discount on pricing because it's so expensive. Regarding the calendaring functions of Exchange, there is a problem when scheduling an event for the whole day. When you click the whole day event, the scheduling doesn't really work. For example, if I schedule a meeting with you and block your whole day, instead of just putting a time from morning to afternoon, other people can still block your time, which results in double booking. It's kind of a bug that allows people to double-book. So, the scheduling isn't working properly yet. We also faced challenges with backup services. You need to use a third-party backup solution to back up the whole Exchange server properly. You can't use the native Windows backup services. It's like they're forcing me to buy another product, which means additional costs. The backup solution and the double booking issues. If Microsoft Exchange can fix these two things, then it will be very good.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"What I like most about Kerio Connect is that it supports ActiveSync, and that is its most critical feature. The solution is also a nice, simple, robust, and stable mail server."
"We have contacted technical support a handful of times and received some assistance."
"The solution is easy to maintain, unlike Exchange. It's easy to create multiple domains and back up and restore if needed. It also has good security features like anti-spam and antivirus."
"The most valuable features are security and privacy because you installed it on your server, within your company premises, not in the cloud."
"KerioConnect has integration with 365. We can use Outlook, which has its client and can be used with Apple devices. It integrates with the App Store and Microsoft Office. It has a smart router. The spam filtering and antivirus are good."
"It's relatively simple to use."
"The most valuable features are its ease of use, excellent pricing, and it is platform agnostic."
"We use the solution as a mail server. It connects with Outlook and is used for calendaring and similar tasks."
"The initial setup is easy."
"It gives me benefit in terms of integration with other services such as SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and OneDrive. It makes my work much easier."
"The deployment is a plug-and-play process."
"With the cloud coming in, scalability is not an issue even for Microsoft."
"Provides unlimited storage for our mailbox."
"It has a feature that allows you to retain an email and recover it as an administrator. When you activate this feature, even if a user deletes an email, the email is still in the system, and we can retrieve it as an administrator. It is a very useful function. We turn this feature on for some of the mailboxes because we need to keep all the records. I like the way emails are classified in this solution. It makes it really easy to take a look at the most important messages. This is a really good functionality. Some of the emails directly exchanged with you are marked as important and shown in one tab, and everything else is in another tab. We usually don't have any issue with Exchange. It can be integrated with different solutions."
"What I love about Microsoft Exchange is the good integration since 2013, particularly its integration with the calendar and other software such as Zoom, TeamViewer, AnyDesk, etc."
"The product works very well."
 

Cons

"You cannot integrate with other services like Google Docs, Google Assistant, Google Calendar, etc."
"KerioConnect is stable as long as you use a strong password."
"Most of our clients use Outlook and Kerio Connect. Occasionally, Kerio can be a bit slow. They could make it faster to get onto the web interface without so much load time. It's just slow with Outlook, however, for some reason."
"The search and archiving documentation capabilities need to be stronger."
"Having a native Outlook map integration would make Kerio Connect better."
"KerioConnect continues to improve with regular updates throughout the year. They must be added to the roadmap, which requires approval."
"It could be simpler to use and install, but I still wouldn't use it because there isn't a compelling use case."
"We are considering switching to Microsoft Exchange. One reason is that it doesn't improve our workflow and doesn't integrate well with Microsoft 365 applications."
"They keep making all these changes, and our system was down for four or five days. They finally got it up, but there are still lots of quirks."
"The calendar integration in Exchange is not that great. The email features are okay, but it doesn't integrate well with the calendar and appointments, especially Zoom appointments. It integrates fine with Microsoft Teams, but Zoom is a challenge."
"If it was the same product, and slightly cheaper, that would be amazing."
"Microsoft Exchange is highly stable. However, after receiving some updates it can be unstable."
"The security features could be improved. There should be a better policy management system."
"An area for improvement would be the convenience of working with Azure services from Exchange on-premise installations."
"I do not have any notes for improvement."
"Microsoft Exchange could improve by adding artificial intelligence."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of Kerio Connect is better when comparing it to others solutions."
"KerioConnect has a first-time cost and yearly subscription. It is not expensive."
"The pricing is about $3 per mailbox per month."
"The solution's pricing depends on how long you plan to keep it because you pay on a per-year basis. You might have a one-time setup cost for something like Microsoft Exchange or a Linux mail server. I'd say this solution is expensive on a per-year basis, almost 2000-3000 dollars annually. It doesn't seem to pay off yet, so we're considering switching to another product."
"Licensing costs for Microsoft Exchange have increased, but are still fair. For some users, the cost is high considering the number of functions and features they will use."
"The solution is expensive to maintain because it requires frequent updates and ongoing server maintenance."
"We can get Exchange in the cloud along with the Microsoft 365 license."
"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."
"Exchange is better for medium to large businesses because it can be quite costly for SMB, which may not need all the options the product provides."
"The price of Microsoft Exchange could improve. In Egypt, the price keeps increasing."
"It's working very well. There is no problem, but the price is not the best."
"It is not expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
13%
Government
7%
Retailer
6%
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about KerioConnect?
The most valuable features are security and privacy because you installed it on your server, within your company premises, not in the cloud.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for KerioConnect?
KerioConnect has a first-time cost and yearly subscription. It is not expensive.
What needs improvement with KerioConnect?
KerioConnect continues to improve with regular updates throughout the year. They must be added to the roadmap, which requires approval. In larger organizations, the server's capabilities and the da...
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 do you like most about Microsoft Exchange?
The initial setup was straightforward and fast.
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.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Exchange, MS Exchange
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Southern Tier Brewing Company, Innotta, Baustoff + Metall, Hamifleurs, Chanson TV, Ryman Stationery
Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Scitec Nutrition, British Airways, InnoGames, Osteology Foundation, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, NTC Contracting
Find out what your peers are saying about KerioConnect vs. Microsoft Exchange and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.