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Microsoft Exchange vs Zimbra Collaboration comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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

Microsoft Exchange
Ranking in Email Applications
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
95
Ranking in other categories
Wireless Email (2nd)
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 May 2026, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Microsoft Exchange is 9.0%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zimbra Collaboration is 7.1%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft Exchange9.0%
Zimbra Collaboration7.1%
Other83.9%
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

SJ
Manager IT Support at Naubahar Bottling Company (Pvt.) Ltd. Gujranwala Pakistan
Efficient email management with seamless integration
We previously used Microsoft Exchange but have moved to an MDN email solution due to cost and user growth Microsoft Exchange is a user-friendly and easy-to-deploy solution, which is beneficial for handling emails even without professional support. It is effective in managing email integration…
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

"This solution handles all of our primary functionality including email, message delivery, message archiving and calendars."
"Exchange is very scalable, it's one of the most important things about this software."
"Microsoft has a very good support team."
"Microsoft Exchange is a powerful solution, it can easily integrate with Active Directory and other business applications, it does not require any training, it is flexible and simple to use, and when comparing Microsoft Exchange to other solutions, such as Lotus Note, it is more straightforward for business."
"Microsoft Exchange is stable."
"Exchange has helped us with encryption."
"Microsoft Exchange has good performance and is user-friendly."
"Exchange is easy to use. It also has a built-in calendar for all the stuff I'm supposed to be looking at and doing. Exchange tells you if you have a doctor's appointment or a scheduled call. It also has a place to store and manage your contacts. If I want to add a new contact, it will put in information about that contact stored anywhere within the Microsoft Suite."
"Good email solution and it's open-source."
"The most valuable feature of Zimbra Collaboration is email functionality."
"This is a good email solution and it's open-source which is great and the most important feature for us."
"It has all collaboration features, such as document sharing, video conferencing, chatting, task sharing, and calendar sharing."
"Zimbra Collaboration has integrated a lot of their party tools and they have good documentation available."
"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 Collaboration is email functionality."
"Most valuable to us is the fact that it's open source, so it's possible to do a lot of customization."
 

Cons

"It is important to have the updated version for scalability."
"They could continue to improve the consolidation and integration of mailbox services to make them more flexible, easier to deploy, and more manageable."
"Microsoft could make it easier to combine comments in the GUI. It isn't easy to do certain things in Exchange, primarily if the administrator isn't used to the command line, so I think the customer interface could be improved."
"Microsoft Exchange is highly stable. However, after receiving some updates it can be unstable."
"The filtering of spam needs significant improvement, as many spam emails are not getting detected."
"One thing for improvement would be to have an offline version of Exchange available for use if our connection goes down."
"The price of Microsoft Exchange could improve, it is priced high."
"There is a lot of spam email that comes in, so they should add functionality to help fix this problem."
"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."
"It does have a few bugs."
"The new patches are, at times, not so good, so we don't install them, causing the tool to be not so stable overall."
"I can confidently say that Zimbra is good enough for 2,000 client users, but at the same time, if my client needs more than that and we have two options—Zimbra or Microsoft—I'm going with Microsoft because many admins will speak to Microsoft's ability to handle that many."
"Because of the lack of this functionality, we are planning to migrate to Microsoft Exchange."
"It would be great if a group chat feature were created to allow for a team environment."
"File sharing permissions with Nextcloud integration need improvement."
"The solution could use more integration with third-party tools."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft Exchange itself does not require a license, but users who will have mailboxes will require a license. It depends on the number of users to choose which license. If you exceed 2,000 mailboxes, it's preferable to get the enterprise license."
"We can get Exchange in the cloud along with the Microsoft 365 license."
"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."
"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."
"We are currently using enterprise licenses for the solution. They are different pricing models available. There are individual, cloud-based, and enterprise licenses all with different pricing models. The larger the number of users, the lesser the price. For small to medium companies like us, we feel it is expensive."
"I rate Microsoft Exchange's pricing a six out of ten."
"The solution's pricing is fine...I do think the tool offers value for money."
"The solution is expensive to maintain because it requires frequent updates and ongoing server maintenance."
"Zimbra Collaboration is expensive, and there is no perpetual license option."
"There is an annual standard licensing fee to use Zimbra Collaboration and there is no other cost."
"We are using perpetual licenses. We have deployed it in our local data center, and we buy perpetual licenses on a per-user basis."
"If you choose the network edition, it is a little pricier. They have the open-source edition too which is only community supported."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the price a four"
"The price of the solution is low."
"The solution is not expensive compared to other products."
"The solution is competitively priced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business42
Midsize Enterprise28
Large Enterprise35
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Exchange?
I am aware of pricing aspects, and I would say it is affordable for what it is.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Exchange?
I see some drawbacks and areas for improvement; the quarantining is not fantastic. I think the quarantining is not fantastic because it lets a lot of spam through, and when it is notified of spam, ...
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...
What is your primary use case for Zimbra Collaboration?
Zimbra is a cheap and open-source tool. It provides security, which is crucial for user authentication and authorization. It also offers robust support options, including access to expert assistance.
 

Also Known As

Exchange, MS Exchange
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Scitec Nutrition, British Airways, InnoGames, Osteology Foundation, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, NTC Contracting
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 Microsoft Exchange vs. Zimbra Collaboration and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
895,151 professionals have used our research since 2012.