Google Workspace vs Zimbra Collaboration comparison

Google and Zimbra are both solutions in the Email Applications category. Google is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.1, while Zimbra is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.0. Google holds a 16.0% mindshare in EA, compared to Zimbra’s 7.1% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Zimbra users who would recommend it.

Google Workspace

Read 105 Google Workspace reviews

6,815 Views
4,702 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Zimbra Collaboration

Read 28 Zimbra Collaboration reviews

2,273 Views
2,159 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Google Workspace

Zimbra Collaboration

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

Zimbra Collaboration and Google Workspace vie in the email and collaboration tools category. Google Workspace holds an edge due to its extensive features and strong integration within Google's ecosystem.

Features: Zimbra Collaboration provides a centralized interface for managing email, calendars, and tasks, emphasizing security and flexibility. It integrates anti-spam and antivirus tools and offers LDAP and Active Directory compatibility. Google Workspace offers an array of applications like Docs, Sheets, and Slides, focusing on real-time collaboration and broad accessibility, alongside excellent email, calendar, and file-sharing capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Zimbra Collaboration could enhance its mobile application features and upgrade its two-factor authentication. Its interface might benefit from modernization to compete with newer solutions. More robust security modules could strengthen data protection. Google Workspace, while feature-rich, faces challenges in pricing competitiveness for smaller businesses. Its initial learning curve can be steeper for users unfamiliar with cloud-based services. Additional offline capabilities could also improve user flexibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zimbra Collaboration supports on-premises deployment, providing substantial data control and security management options. It offers a straightforward setup that can be controlled via a web-based interface or CLI for flexibility in server management. Google Workspace, as a cloud-based platform, simplifies deployment with a streamlined setup process. It integrates customer service support within its cloud offerings, aiding users in implementation and ongoing operations.

Pricing and ROI: Zimbra Collaboration's cost efficiency appeals to budget-conscious organizations, minimizing initial setup expenses. Its open-source nature offers customization advantages without extensive investment. Google Workspace, despite higher costs, provides comprehensive tools fostering significant productivity gains and potential long-term ROI. Its broad integration scope justifies the investment for businesses seeking expansive collaboration and operations functionalities.

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

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace 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

Google Workspace

Ranking in Email Applications

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

105

Ranking in other categories

Wireless Email (1st), Cloud Storage (8th), Content Collaboration Platforms (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 Google Workspace is 16.0%, down from 23.8% 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 (%)
Google Workspace	16.0%
Zimbra Collaboration	7.1%
Other	76.9%

Email Applications

Featured Reviews

AnnaRomagnuolo

Assosiate Professor at Palazzo del Mediterraneo

Collaborative work with students has improved but storage limitations and support issues remain

We have Google Workspace, and we use it primarily for Drive to collect items. We categorize folders with topics and material either for students or for research. We use Google Doc to share documents, especially when we assign homework to be corrected for peer correction or classroom correction. With Teams and Microsoft, we use it for collective calls and exam supervision because we use video surveillance through camera with Teams. We use Teams for meetings and to share material with students. The ability to share documents with students and assign them things and correct them in real time has been beneficial. You can verify what they write, and they can contribute and cooperate to create a collective document, which is something that our society nowadays requires. The ability to cooperate, especially those who work with languages and those who work with writing, need to learn how to cooperate. There is co-editing and co-writing, all these sorts of things. I love the fact that I can easily have access to folders that I can categorize and where I can upload research material and teaching material.

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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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Valuable features of the solution are that it's simple and effective."

"The solution is very intuitive."

"We haven't had any issues with scalability - we have over a thousand employees, and G Suite just scales."

"Easy-to-build forms are allowing me to get feedback and information from my internal teams as well as from the customers very efficiently with the result data in structured manner."

"The solution offers very good email. It's a very good email provider."

"We use Google Sheets extensively for things like sharing plans, data, test reports, and more."

"We find Google Drive and mail useful for our services."

"It is a stable platform. It is very easy to use, and most importantly, it is very easy to administer. It also gets up and running quite easily."

More Google Workspace pros

"Zimbra Collaboration's sharing features are most valuable."

"The most valuable feature of Zimbra Collaboration is the cost."

"One of the premium features was customized rooms tailored to the collaboration needs. Many of the clients customize features such as organization logos and scanners."

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

"It has all collaboration features, such as document sharing, video conferencing, chatting, task sharing, and calendar sharing."

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

"Network NG Modules are valuable to us."

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

More Zimbra Collaboration pros

Cons

"Integrating Copilot with Google Workspace is slightly difficult."

"They could increase the number of third-party integrations on offer."

"We noticed that sometimes when we forward emails to somebody, it is being relocated as part of the communication somewhere else. The traceability and other features should be improved."

"In the next release, I would like to see more encryption of documents, mail, and things like that. There should be a better way to encrypt mail and documents that are pushed through this system. That would be some improvement or additional features that could be good to have."

"Expensive with a complicated licensing structure."

"The downloading options need improvement, particularly in converting and viewing data formats like PST and inbox formats easily."

"The UI could be simplified and made more user friendly."

"To a degree, the project management service could be improved."

More Google Workspace cons

"The product must be more customizable."

"The tool should improve its multi-cloud feature."

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

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

"They should enhance its online meeting features."

"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."

"File sharing permissions with Nextcloud integration need improvement."

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

More Zimbra Collaboration cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are several areas where a G Suite implementation can reduce costs: lower license fees than some competing products, reduced hardware, and IT support costs."

"Careful consideration should be given to the different licensing options and provisions should be made for additional applications that may be required for your particular business."

"Pricing is something concerning. We find the solution very expensive."

"The price of the solution can vary."

"We normally purchase the license on a yearly basis."

"We receive value for the price that we pay."

"There are benefits that can provide a competitive advantage, e.g., improved productivity (with appropriate training), increased collaboration (with correct use of tools), flexible working - work from home or remote locations, easy to scale - fast onboarding of new employees, and ability to add and remove licenses, as required."

"I give the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most affordable."

More Google Workspace pricing and cost advice

"The price of the solution is low."

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

"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."

"There is an annual standard licensing fee to use Zimbra Collaboration and there is no other cost."

"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."

"We are using perpetual licenses. We have deployed it in our local data center, and we buy perpetual licenses on a per-user basis."

"The solution is not expensive compared to other products."

More Zimbra Collaboration pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

10%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

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	64
Midsize Enterprise	14
Large Enterprise	27

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

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Workspace?

Easy-to-build forms are allowing me to get feedback and information from my internal teams as well as from the customers very efficiently with the result data in structured manner.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Workspace?

The pricing for Google Workspace is moderate. I would rate it a five out of ten, indicating it is neither cheap nor expensive. The current cost is approximately seven to ten euros per user per mont...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Google Workspace?

The only inconvenience is the fact that you have limited storage. After a while, you have to buy a surplus. It is not intuitive with Teams. It is hard to find categories and folders in Teams. I do ...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

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

Comparisons

Office 365 vs Google Workspace

Compared 24% of the time

Amazon WorkMail vs Google Workspace

Compared 19% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online vs Google Workspace

Compared 13% of the time

ProtonMail vs Google Workspace

Compared 8% of the time

Amazon WorkDocs vs Google Workspace

Compared 2% of the time

More Google Workspace Competitors

Open-Xchange vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 22% of the time

Microsoft Exchange vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 21% of the time

KerioConnect vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 10% of the time

IceWarp vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 7% of the time

More Zimbra Collaboration Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace

January 2026

Download Google Workspace product report

Buyer's Guide

Zimbra Collaboration

January 2026

Download Zimbra Collaboration product report

Also Known As

G-Suite Enterprise, G-Suite, Google Apps for Business, G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G-Suite Basic, G-Suite Business, Google Vault

No data available

Overview

Similar to G Suite, all Google Workspace plans provide a custom email for your business and include collaboration tools like Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and more.

As we’ve evolved G Suite into a more integrated experience across our communication and collaboration tools, we’ve rebranded to Google Workspace to more accurately represent the product vision.

Google

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

There are over five million businesses that use Google Apps for Business worldwide. Some key customers include The Roche Group, National Geographic, American Red Cross, City of Los Angeles, Flight Centre, and Konica Minolta.

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

Google Workspace vs. Zimbra Collaboration

December 2025

Free Report: Google Workspace vs. Zimbra Collaboration

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