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HCL Domino vs HCL Notes comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

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

HCL Domino
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Rapid Application Development Software (18th)
HCL Notes
Average Rating
7.6
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Email Applications (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

HCL Domino and HCL Notes aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. HCL Domino is designed for Rapid Application Development Software and holds a mindshare of 0.5%, down 0.5% compared to last year.
HCL Notes, on the other hand, focuses on Email Applications, holds 3.1% mindshare, down 3.6% since last year.
Rapid Application Development Software
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Jason Levine - PeerSpot reviewer
A tool that offers great security and integration capabilities
The solution facilitates our company's workflow automation needs since it is a platform that allows users to build whatever workflows they want. The product is used for application development in our organization for our customers, as we operate as consultants. The features of the product that I found to be beneficial for the productivity of my company's team stems from the fact that it can be integrated directly into HCL Notes email so that you can manage your workflows there, and you don't have to change contacts a go to a separate application to deal with a document approval process since it can be done directly from emails. HCL Domino is one of the leading products in the industry, so it is definitely ahead of the other tools in the market. In our company, some departments use HCL Domino for emails rather than other solutions because it is more secure. The tool has an impact on the management of sensitive data in our company. My only suggestion to those who plan to use HCL Domino is that they should not be daunted by the old UI it offers. The collaboration tool of HCL Domino has affected the internal communication processes in our organization. The collaboration tool of HCL Domino is something that the solution has been offering from the time it was introduced in the market as an expensive product. The impact or value on our company from the use of the product can be proven by the fact that with the solution, it is possible to automate processes or workflows while ensuring that there is consistency, lack of human errors, and efficiency. Earlier, I would have rated the tool eight out of ten. Presently, considering the increase in the number of integrations that the product allows and its movement to meet industry standards, I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.
Chiheb Charmiti - PeerSpot reviewer
Accessible from any device, good support, and works very well for emails, document sharing, and workflows
What I like about this solution is that you can use it for mailing, as a client for email, and you can also use it for workflows. So, you can easily develop applications. Even people who haven't got great IT skills can develop some basic applications to use in the company, especially a workflow application. So, it is for mailing and for applications, which is a great thing about HCL Notes. It is very good for managing and sharing documents on the network or inside the company. It works very well for sharing documents. It is one of the best products in the world for workflow applications. It works very well for workflows or decisional processes where a task needs to be first approved by someone. After that, the task moves to the next or final stage where another person approves it with some notes or attached documents. People who are on the move outside the company but need to interact with the database of the company can do some tasks in the HCL Notes application offline. When they have connectivity, the information is updated or replicated in real-time. They can install the application on different devices. They can use it on mobile phones or iPad.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most important benefit is security. The security architecture is very good. It's the best part of the solution."
"HCL Domino is the best product from a security point of view."
"They offer good support and provide a roadmap."
"This solution can be used for workflow application so that applications can be easily developed."
"HCL Domino is an application development and collaboration platform with strong stability and security. Deployment of this platform is easy and takes only 10 minutes."
"Domino's dual functionality as both a messaging and application solution is a standout feature compared to Exchange, which solely focuses on messaging."
"It is an excellent solution."
"It serves as a centralized solution that fulfills all my requirements from operating my email server to managing various aspects of my operations."
"Its security is absolutely stratospheric. In an application, you can lock down to field-level security. For example, I could log in and see a field in an HR database with salaries. When you log in, you see exactly the same database, but the field with the salary just isn't there. So, you can literally have field-level security on it, and you can also have secure encryption. For example, I could give you that database allowing you to see the salary, but a calculation that shows how much they get per month in another field is encrypted. So, you won't be able to see that because you don't have the encryption key. You can implement high-level security very simply."
"The solution is practical, good interface, and performs well."
"The most valuable feature is security. It's very easy to manage security on records, views, and tables."
"The solution provides great security."
"The product is very stable and scalable."
"The software's secure communication is particularly useful when dealing with professional entities."
"The most valuable feature is the access that it provides to documents. This offers us an easy way to make changes."
"HCL Notes has fantastic built-in security. The email and personal communication components are excellent, but they are some applications provided by HCL that Notes previously provided when it was under IBM and Lotus. Everyone wants email, so that's just part of the product. However, more savvy users can build their own solutions for managing information, and that's the great thing about it."
 

Cons

"The client version of this solution could be faster and be made simpler for non-IT users. You will need to have some knowledge of Notes to correctly install this solution."
"The solution could improve Kubernetes or Dockers migration to new environments in the cloud."
"Scalability needs to be improved to be on the level that's required. Support could also be enhanced."
"For me, the one thing missing is a really good reporting engine."
"Scalability is also an issue. We have problems with large databases."
"Its performance and integration could be better. It has capabilities for large deployment with several servers, but in the latest interface, running with different servers isn't supported."
"The product's user interface is one of its shortcomings since it is outdated, making it an area for improvement."
"It would be advantageous if the web server could seamlessly pick up configuration changes without the need for a complete restart."
"The interface could be more user-friendly. Some additional trainings could be added as well."
"I would like to HCL update Notes' development tool and make it more attractive like Microsoft Visual Studio and similar products. For example, there's a programming language that I used for my product Woodpecker called LotusScript. LotusScript has been available since around 1995. When LotusScript was released, it was like the original Visual Basic, but it has improved since then."
"I love this product. I have used it for many years, and I have been a developer for it. If anything, it can be faster in the client version. The client version is a little bit hard. It is not fast. This is the only problem I see. Otherwise, it is a very good product."
"I would like to see integration with other solutions."
"The solution could improve by adding some more features."
"We had trouble connecting this solution to the database from Microsoft. We have done it, although it can be easier."
"It is a heavy program and uses more resources than an email client should."
"GUI and replication can be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is subjective and contingent on the intended usage."
"While I don't have precise pricing information at hand, my understanding is that it tends to be on the higher end."
"We're happy with the price of our license — it's pretty standard."
"Customers have to pay for a license for the Notes Client, not for the Domino database. There is a quarter license that we use."
"For 30 licenses, we pay $1,500 every year. It is not an expensive product."
"We chose to pay for our licensing fees annually."
"The pricing is individually determined. For us, in our current deployment, we pay $12.50 Canadian per month per user."
"I'd rate it a seven out of ten in terms of price."
"It is far cheaper to license. It is a third of the cost of our Microsoft license for 10 times the amount of usage. Developing applications cost a fraction of anything else. There are two reasons for that. First of all, applications are very fast to build. All the security is already built into the platform, so you don't have to worry about security at all. The other thing is that because fewer people use it than, for example, Microsoft SharePoint, the salary commanded by programmers is slightly lower. So, it is not only faster; you also get cheaper programmers. So, you really win-win-win on it."
"The price is reasonable."
"We pay annually for the use of the solution."
"I don't remember how much we paid when we first bought the Domino license, but now, we pay only for the passport. For 30 client licenses, we pay about $1,500 per year, and we don't consider it very expensive for the quality of the product. In our case, we need 30 client licenses. So, we buy 30 client licenses independently of the server. It is very easy for us to choose and maintain this kind of license and get the passport advantage."
"The solution is expensive. There are many components or features which make the price very high."
"It was reasonably priced, but the product itself was not worth the cost."
"We pay licensing fees on a yearly basis."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HCL Domino?
The most valuable features of the solution are security and integration.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HCL Domino?
The pricing is individually determined. HCL has a simple pricing model: per user per year. We pay $100 US per user per year. But "guest" users are permitted without any licence requirement. And any...
What needs improvement with HCL Domino?
Scalability needs to be improved to be on the level that's required. Support could also be enhanced.
What do you like most about HCL Notes?
The security and performance of the solution are good even though our platform is variable, except for the mail services.
What needs improvement with HCL Notes?
While HCL has made significant advances in the user interface and diverse platform compatibility, some improvements could be made in user-friendliness and graphical interface enhancements.
What is your primary use case for HCL Notes?
I am a technician and software developer with a unique product called NotesTracker, a software product for users of HCL Notes and Domino. I started my company, Asia Pacific Computer Services, to do...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

IBM Lotus Domino, Lotus Domino
IBM Lotus Notes, Lotus Notes
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

A1 Telekom, Acubiz, Afrisam, E. A. Juffali & Brothers, Fiducia & GAD, and Pakistan State Oil
Connect2Cloud, Hansgrohe, Sauk County, Blue Water Shipping, FDBR, ibml, Multivac, Aarhus University Hospital, Hendricks Regional Health, Asian Paints, Integra Legal, Sunplus Technology, S¾SS, The Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sports, Nicrometal, Doncasters Group, Practice Plan, Barr, RACV, Neotechnik, Deutsche Notes User Group
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, ServiceNow, OutSystems and others in Rapid Application Development Software. Updated: January 2025.
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