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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
89
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 December 2024, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Microsoft Exchange is 11.4%, down from 14.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zimbra Collaboration is 9.2%, down from 12.3% 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

"It gives me benefit in terms of integration with other services such as SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and OneDrive. It makes my work much easier."
"Exchange's interface is good. All of our engineers like it and are accustomed to using it."
"It is a very stable tool...It is a very scalable tool."
"The interface is user-friendly."
"Microsoft Exchange is comparable to the Outlook client. Both are Microsoft products, and most people are familiar with Outlook. This is why the best feature of Microsoft Exchange is the ease of use. It is more compatible with the client software, especially for Microsoft Outlook. There are a lot of features available that are required for businesses users."
"It's very well integrated with OneDrive and Teams Calendar."
"The best features are that Exchange is very customer-friendly, its interface is self-explanatory, it doesn't hang, and it keeps evolving."
"Customers can benefit from this new pricing model because it's expensive and now with the subscription they can budget for this."
"Zimbra Collaboration has integrated a lot of their party tools and they have good documentation available."
"The most valuable feature of Zimbra for our team's productivity is its efficiency in handling email communication."
"Network NG Modules are valuable to us."
"The configuration is simple."
"The web interface is powerful and easy to use."
"The Zimbra Collaboration's most valuable feature is web access."
"Good email solution and it's open-source."
"We can control all the data in my IT infrastructure."
 

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."
"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."
"When an update wants to come, it should just come maybe once or twice rather than having us deal with constant updating."
"If it was the same product, and slightly cheaper, that would be amazing."
"It is costly, so it depends on how much you want to pay."
"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."
"In terms of probability, every now and then there are changes coming and going. The changes are not that frequent because every month they got updates back, so that is an issue."
"Nothing is perfect, that's why I am giving Microsoft Exchange a nine."
"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."
"The tool should improve its multi-cloud feature."
"Some issues cause the solution not to function correctly or to cause downtime once a month."
"The solution could use more integration with third-party tools."
"The solution’s forums don't have much information or documentation on administration tasks."
"It would be great if a group chat feature were created to allow for a team environment."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't have enough information about the licensing costs of Microsoft Exchange, but I do know that you need two types of licenses to run it. You need the product key and the client access key to activate Microsoft Exchange. This means that apart from the standard Microsoft Exchange licensing fees, you have to pay additional costs."
"Microsoft's licensing structure is too complex, but its prices are affordable, though not cheap."
"It would be nice if it used less resources to run on-premise."
"It's a little bit expensive."
"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."
"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."
"Microsoft Exchange is an inexpensive application."
"It is not expensive."
"Zimbra Collaboration is expensive, and there is no perpetual license option."
"Zimbra Collaboration offers a good price-to-feature ratio."
"If you choose the network edition, it is a little pricier. They have the open-source edition too which is only community supported."
"I use Zimbra Collaboration's community version. We may move to the enterprise version since prices are affordable."
"The solution is competitively priced."
"We pay yearly licenses for Zimbra Collaboration."
"It's very expensive. When we compare the cost with Google Workspace, it's so expensive."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the price a four"
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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
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

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 licensing and pricing are quite costly, which can demotivate customers from opting for features and upgrades. However, the solution provides value for money if one is well-acquainted with Excha...
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: December 2024.
824,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.