Microsoft Exchange vs Zimbra Collaboration comparison

Microsoft and Zimbra are both solutions in the Email Applications category. Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.9, while Zimbra is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.0. Microsoft holds a 10.6% mindshare in EA, compared to Zimbra’s 7.1% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Zimbra users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Exchange

Read 95 Microsoft Exchange reviews

3,412 Views
2,832 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Zimbra Collaboration

Read 28 Zimbra Collaboration reviews

2,273 Views
2,159 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Microsoft Exchange

Zimbra Collaboration

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

Zimbra Collaboration and Microsoft Exchange are products competing in the communication and collaboration category. Zimbra offers competitive pricing and support, while Microsoft Exchange is favored for its comprehensive features justifying its cost.

Features: Zimbra Collaboration includes open-source integrations, flexible customization, and compatibility with multiple platforms, enhancing innovation. Microsoft Exchange provides advanced calendaring, seamless email hosting, and strong integration with other Microsoft services enhancing the business ecosystem.

Room for Improvement: Zimbra could improve its security modules, enhance mobile application functionality, and expand premium features like two-factor authentication. Microsoft Exchange could offer a more straightforward licensing process, reduce reliance on external security solutions, and provide more customization options for users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zimbra's open-source approach allows for simple deployment with extensive community support. Microsoft Exchange offers seamless integration, consistent updates, and professional resources for installation, making its extensive service network advantageous.

Pricing and ROI: Zimbra is cost-effective with low initial costs and high ROI, appealing to budget-conscious organizations. Microsoft Exchange involves higher initial investment but offers comprehensive features that provide long-term ROI through productivity gains.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Exchange vs. Zimbra Collaboration Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange vs. Zimbra Collaboration

December 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

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)

Zimbra Collaboration

Ranking in Email Applications

6th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Microsoft Exchange is 10.6%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zimbra Collaboration is 7.1%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Applications Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Exchange	10.6%
Zimbra Collaboration	7.1%
Other	82.3%

Email Applications

Featured Reviews

SaqibJavaid

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…

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Muhammad Talha Baig

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It ensures high availability and resilience, allowing seamless recovery from potential failures and making it a reliable option for business-critical operations."

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

"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."

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

"The most used feature of Microsoft Exchange is the email capability, especially since it integrates with the calendar."

"For me, the solution is very user-friendly. I've used it a long time and I know where everything is."

"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 best features are that Exchange is very customer-friendly, its interface is self-explanatory, it doesn't hang, and it keeps evolving."

More Microsoft Exchange pros

"Network NG Modules are valuable to us."

"The product is easy to set up."

"Zimbra Collaboration has integrated a lot of their party tools and they have good documentation available."

"The stability is good and keeps getting better with each new update."

"Zimbra Collaboration is a good tool for video calls...Zimbra Collaboration's initial setup phase was easy."

"The logs, troubleshooting, and tracking we have found to be the most valuable features. We have any issues with lost messages the features are useful. It is very easy to track and log."

"The backup and storage management features of Zimbra Collaboration are valuable."

"The web interface is powerful and easy to use."

More Zimbra Collaboration pros

Cons

"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."

"I think that improvements should be made in creating greater abilities for Microsoft Exchange in terms of Reasearch and Development."

"After 2022, users of Microsoft Exchange have to migrate mailboxes to Microsoft Exchange Online, and what I'd like to improve is for Microsoft to publish more on-premise versions for customers using Microsoft Exchange. Having more security is another room for improvement in the solution, particularly for mailboxes that develop the Exchange Edge rule to protect internal mailboxes. What I'd like to see from Microsoft Exchange in the future is for Microsoft to still update the latest, existing version which is 2022. I'd like Microsoft to still push more cumulative updates for Microsoft Exchange 2022."

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

"We would prefer to be able to manage the solution on the cloud."

"There can be occasional challenges during the product's implementation phase, making it an area where improvements are needed."

"In terms of what should be improved, they should probably move to a cloud option like Office 365. We would like to get this functionality without the need to deploy complex hardware and software solutions. This should be the next thing, making Exchange more related to Office products, which are more cloud-oriented, less on-premise or desktop-oriented solutions, like the direction Google is strongly moving towards."

"Some users encounter stability issues. I connect with the support team through my local partner, which takes time."

More Microsoft Exchange cons

"Zimbra Collaboration's video conferencing could be improved."

"The solution could use more integration with third-party tools."

"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."

"We have had an issue with security."

"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."

"Some issues cause the solution not to function correctly or to cause downtime once a month."

"There are some security issues."

"The antispam and antivirus features are hard to understand on mobile devices."

More Zimbra Collaboration cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"It is not expensive."

"They are flexible when it comes to pricing, unlike most of the other vendors I have dealt with."

"This solution is expensive."

"The price of Microsoft Exchange could improve. In Egypt, the price keeps increasing."

"The product is quite cheap."

"Microsoft doesn't have a unit price, it's based on the quantity, and they offer great discounts."

"Its price is fair."

More Microsoft Exchange pricing and cost advice

"I use Zimbra Collaboration's community version. We may move to the enterprise version since prices are affordable."

"Zimbra Collaboration is expensive, and there is no perpetual license option."

"The price of the solution is low."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the price a four"

"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."

"We do not pay for licenses to use this solution."

"The solution is competitively priced."

"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."

More Zimbra Collaboration pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	41
Midsize Enterprise	28
Large Enterprise	35

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	7

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...

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What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange?

The initial setup was straightforward and fast.

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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.

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What do you like most about Zimbra Collaboration?

The most valuable feature of Zimbra for our team's productivity is its efficiency in handling email communication.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zimbra Collaboration?

The solution is competitively priced.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

Open-Xchange vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 19% of the time

KerioConnect vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 13% of the time

HCL Domino vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 9% of the time

Google Workspace vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 8% of the time

ProtonMail vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 7% of the time

More Microsoft Exchange Competitors

Open-Xchange vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 22% of the time

KerioConnect vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 10% of the time

Google Workspace vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 8% of the time

IceWarp vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 7% of the time

More Zimbra Collaboration Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange

January 2026

Download Microsoft Exchange product report

Buyer's Guide

Zimbra Collaboration

January 2026

Download Zimbra Collaboration product report

Also Known As

Exchange, MS Exchange

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Overview

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

Zimbra Collaboration provides administrators and their end users innovative features that solve the challenges faced by organizations using today's legacy communications infrastructure.

Zimbra

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

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange vs. Zimbra Collaboration

December 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Exchange vs. Zimbra Collaboration

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Exchange vs. Zimbra Collaboration and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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