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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

"The features we use quite a lot are the mail and Google Drive. We can store documents and share documents between both employees here, locally in Sweden, and we have an office in the US as well. It's a very easy way to share information and documents, and have online meetings and stuff with Google Meet. We use it quite a lot."
"All the Microsoft Office features are available in Google Workspace."
"It's easy to use."
"I have found the solution to be pretty stable."
"The valuable features of this solution are ease of use, performance is great, and collaboration. It is very easy to share and joins documents."
"Reduces IT spend, freeing up cash for other areas: sales, marketing, recruitment, etc."
"Only a few competitors can do precisely what Google Workspace does in terms of email management and calendar management through its Gmail and Google Calendar apps. It's a very seamless platform."
"It's stable. There isn't really any downtime."
"The backup and storage management features of Zimbra Collaboration are valuable."
"Zimbra Collaboration has a good web interface."
"The solution is easy to implement."
"The most valuable feature of Zimbra Collaboration is email functionality."
"Zimbra Collaboration's best feature is its compatibility with Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol, which allows users to use Outlook on Windows or MacOS."
"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."
"Good email solution and it's open-source."
"The most valuable feature of Zimbra Collaboration is the cost."
 

Cons

"It would be nice to have additional software, such as Microsoft Teams, since our basic edition, Google Meet, cannot record video."
"Some concerns over security, but there are moves to address this and provide admin tools to secure content and adhere to data protection regulations."
"There are too many steps for sharing pictures."
"If your storage requirements in day-to-day work are large, then it will incur an additional cost since free storage is limited."
"We would like to use something within Google Workspace for project management, but we didn't find it there."
"Integration with Microsoft Outlook could be improved. The new integration was implemented last September, and we are facing some issues with OAuth 2.0 authentication."
"Despite being an excellent platform, I would very much like Google Docs to be more compatible with Microsoft Word."
"Some people complain that Google Mail is inflexible. It was advanced 10 years ago, but other solutions are cleaner and clearer."
"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."
"We have had an issue with security."
"The new patches are, at times, not so good, so we don't install them, causing the tool to be not so stable overall."
"They should enhance its online meeting features."
"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 Collaboration's video conferencing could be improved."
"Some issues cause the solution not to function correctly or to cause downtime once a month."
"There are some security issues."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is very high, although I cannot tell if this is the result of the Indian vendors artificially inflating it."
"Licensing costs are on a yearly basis."
"We normally purchase the license on a yearly basis."
"We pay on yearly basis."
"The pricing is a bit on the higher side than normal. For a basic Google account it costs $100, but Enterprise is %150."
"The pricing of Google Workspace, so far, has been reasonable."
"I give the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most affordable."
"I rate Google Workspace's pricing five to six out of ten. We do not pay any extra costs."
"We are using perpetual licenses. We have deployed it in our local data center, and we buy perpetual licenses on a per-user basis."
"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 expensive, and there is no perpetual license option."
"We do not pay for licenses to use this solution."
"I use Zimbra Collaboration's community version. We may move to the enterprise version since prices are affordable."
"Zimbra Collaboration offers a good price-to-feature ratio."
"We pay yearly licenses for Zimbra Collaboration."
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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.
881,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.