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Google Workspace vs Zimbra Collaboration comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 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

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 (7th), Content Collaboration Platforms (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 February 2026, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Google Workspace is 15.1%, down from 23.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zimbra Collaboration is 6.9%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Google Workspace15.1%
Zimbra Collaboration6.9%
Other78.0%
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

AR
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.
Muhammad Talha Baig - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Google Workspace enhances my productivity within my organization."
"G Suite Enterprise is user-friendly, and the technical toolkits and other information are on the website. Additionally, the technical documents are comprehensive."
"The initial setup is easy because it's all pre-configured."
"G Suite is a powerful suite of tools for messaging and collaboration that has met the fundamental needs of my company, both increasing productivity and reducing costs."
"The stability of Google Workspace is excellent and very solid."
"The email is excellent."
"The document sharing in which multiple people can work on the same document. To go along with that is the archiving of documents. If you mess up a document, it's easy to go get a previous version."
"Google Chat is the most valuable feature of the solution."
"The most valuable feature of Zimbra Collaboration is the cost."
"The most valuable feature of Zimbra Collaboration is email functionality."
"The Zimbra Collaboration's most valuable feature is web access."
"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."
"We can control all the data in my IT infrastructure."
"One of the most valuable features involves the solution's automatic backup, which I find to be pretty simple and straightforward, and obviates the need for additional software."
"Zimbra Collaboration is a good tool for video calls...Zimbra Collaboration's initial setup phase was easy."
"The stability is good and keeps getting better with each new update."
 

Cons

"There are times the plugins or extensions in the solution do not work properly and I need to disable and enable the solution."
"Sometimes, I would like to be able to use the solution offline, and I can't do so. It would be ideal if there was some sort of offline mode available."
"To a degree, the project management service could be improved."
"It would be nice to have additional software, such as Microsoft Teams, since our basic edition, Google Meet, cannot record video."
"The stability should be addressed."
"Some people complain that Google Mail is inflexible. It was advanced 10 years ago, but other solutions are cleaner and clearer."
"The synchronization is a bit of an issue."
"The initial setup is not intuitive at all."
"In the next release, Zimbra Collaboration should include a security feature to allow access for mobile device administrators."
"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."
"The solution could improve by making it easier to use."
"Zimbra Collaboration's video conferencing could be improved."
"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."
"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 support was lacking in my experience. However, recently the support I received was good. Perhaps they have improved."
"The solution’s forums don't have much information or documentation on administration tasks."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price per client within the business is too high."
"You pay for Google Workspace based on your usage and the apps you use, but in my case, it's free, but if I used it a lot more, I'd probably need to pay. 15GB is enough for me, but I see myself upgrading and paying the additional charges for more storage regularly."
"I rate Google Workspace's pricing five to six out of ten. We do not pay any extra costs."
"The pricing is a bit on the higher side than normal. For a basic Google account it costs $100, but Enterprise is %150."
"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."
"We normally purchase the license on a yearly basis."
"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."
"The pricing of Google Workspace, so far, has been reasonable."
"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."
"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."
"The price of the solution is low."
"We pay yearly licenses for Zimbra Collaboration."
"The solution is competitively priced."
"I use Zimbra Collaboration's community version. We may move to the enterprise version since prices are affordable."
"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
Educational Organization
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business64
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise27
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

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

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

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Workspace vs. Zimbra Collaboration and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,515 professionals have used our research since 2012.