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Microsoft Exchange vs Zimbra Collaboration comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Exchange
Ranking in Email Applications
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
87
Ranking in other categories
Wireless Email (1st), File Archiving (3rd)
Zimbra Collaboration
Ranking in Email Applications
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Microsoft Exchange is 11.7%, down from 14.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zimbra Collaboration is 9.5%, down from 13.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Dean Della Pella - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers great reliability and good mobile access features
In my company, the product takes care of email communications as it handles all the emails and scheduling emails. Within the tool, the calendars are used extensively by our company and its customers. The tool has improved the areas revolving around calendars and scheduling tasks since it has helped in the unification of everyone working in the company under the same system. The most beneficial features of email management stem from the tool's ability to let its users combine the tasks and the calendar while also being able to organize emails. The security and compliance features have impacted our organization, and it has been extremely helpful since such functionalities are needed for compliance purposes. For the customers and my company, being secure and having control of the handling of emails is extremely important. The integration capabilities do not have a direct impact on the email portion of the product, but it does have the ability to set up meetings with the help of Microsoft Teams. The mobile access feature provided by the product helps our company in the area of productivity. I recommend the product to others who plan to use it. Based on the features and functionalities of the product, it would be beneficial to rule for any company where it is chosen. The product offers good functionalities and reliability. I rate the overall a nine out of ten.
Muhammad Talha Baig - PeerSpot reviewer
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

"I find Exchange's basic mail features to be highly valuable."
"Microsoft Exchange has good performance and is user-friendly."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft Exchange are its ease of use, and simplicity of communication, and we can track communications between teams."
"The deployment is a plug-and-play process."
"Exchange has helped us with encryption."
"Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"I find the Outlook client very valuable. It allows me to connect to the Exchange Server and send and receive emails easily. The graphical interface is user-friendly and has a good look and feel."
"Our customers are satisfied with the features included in Microsoft Exchange."
"The configuration is simple."
"The product is easy to set up."
"Zimbra Collaboration is light to manage. It works on the Linux operating system, which is far better to manage than Microsoft Windows. Microsoft Exchange works only on the Windows server. We prefer working on the Linux server for security reasons and ease of management. Zimbra Collaboration also has some integrated tools for security. It some modules to fight malware. These modules are not very powerful but are still doing a great job. Microsoft Exchange doesn't have a basic module. You have to purchase a security solution and add it to the solution. The cost of Zimbra Collaboration is one more reason for liking it. It is also very simple to migrate from Zimbra Collaboration to another email solution."
"Zimbra Collaboration's best feature is its compatibility with Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol, which allows users to use Outlook on Windows or MacOS."
"Zimbra Collaboration has integrated a lot of their party tools and they have good documentation available."
"The web interface is powerful and easy to use."
"The backup and storage management features of Zimbra Collaboration are valuable."
"The most valuable feature is sending messages as well as text and documents. It's a big solution for us since internal communication is a must in our organization."
 

Cons

"Microsoft Exchange could improve by being more secure. We are always looking to have more security."
"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."
"In the version we have, I would like to see better communication between the end device and the Exchange server."
"Microsoft Exchange is highly stable. However, after receiving some updates it can be unstable."
"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."
"I don't have the best impression of customer service and support. It should be faster and more clear, and more human. T"
"The solution should be easier to deploy."
"The platform could be more user-friendly."
"It is good and competent, but you have to pay for video and group chat features."
"Zimbra Collaboration's video conferencing could be improved."
"I would like to see a Microsoft schedule function added."
"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."
"Zimbra must improve its solution to make it easy so that the users don't have to use webmail to connect to their accounts and log in to webmail every time. This is something that is lacking in Zimbra Collaboration. They should provide a better way to easily connect email applications on the desktop to the Zimbra server. They should also try to have more functionality for storage management, like Microsoft Exchange. Currently, the management of the email data must be done manually in Zimbra Collaboration, which we are finding very difficult. They should provide a way to save emails so that you can have more space on the server and storage. Because of the lack of this functionality, we are planning to migrate to Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft Exchange provides a better way to manage storage than Zimbra Collaboration. You cannot have a mail solution without storage management because emails will always increase. Zimbra Collaboration also needs tools for management. More back-office tools are required to manage the whole mailbox and space. You don't only manage emails but also the documents attached to the emails. Therefore, you require tools to select and decide what do you want to save or how do you want to free up space in your infrastructure."
"There are some security issues."
"The product must be more customizable."
"We have had an issue with security."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Compared to the other options in the market, the licensing costs attached to Microsoft Exchange seem reasonable."
"The solution's pricing is fine...I do think the tool offers value for money."
"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 solution is expensive to maintain because it requires frequent updates and ongoing server maintenance."
"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."
"This solution is expensive."
"Its price is okay."
"I rate Microsoft Exchange a four out of ten for pricing because it is quite cheap, and many companies use the solution."
"We are using perpetual licenses. We have deployed it in our local data center, and we buy perpetual licenses on a per-user basis."
"Zimbra Collaboration offers a good price-to-feature ratio."
"I use Zimbra Collaboration's community version. We may move to the enterprise version since prices are affordable."
"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 do not pay for licenses to use this solution."
"The solution is competitively priced."
"If you choose the network edition, it is a little pricier. They have the open-source edition too which is only community supported."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
19%
Government
11%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 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?
The product pricing is reasonable if you utilize its full suite of features. However, it may feel expensive for users who only require basic email services.
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.
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

Exchange, MS Exchange
No data available
 

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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: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.