No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

HCL Domino vs Zimbra Collaboration comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Rapid Application Development Software (19th)
Zimbra Collaboration
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Email Applications (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

HCL Domino and Zimbra Collaboration aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. HCL Domino is designed for Rapid Application Development Software and holds a mindshare of 1.0%, up 0.7% compared to last year.
Zimbra Collaboration, on the other hand, focuses on Email Applications, holds 6.0% mindshare, down 8.0% since last year.
Rapid Application Development Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HCL Domino1.0%
Microsoft Power Apps7.6%
Oracle Application Express (APEX)5.0%
Other86.4%
Rapid Application Development Software
Email Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Zimbra Collaboration6.0%
Google Workspace17.3%
Amazon WorkMail10.8%
Other65.9%
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

FN
Owner at Prodej a Správa Nemovitostí s.r.o.
Long-term platform has supported secure mail, custom workflows, and reliable on-premise apps
I have noticed some weak points and downsides. HCL Domino is a Swiss army knife, which is the downside as well. It does many things, which is an advantage. The biggest downside is that it is a good product, but there are not that many applications for it. There are not that many ready-made applications. When they do exist, they tend to be somewhat pricey. I have not actually used HCL Domino's low-code tools. There are no low-code tools. HCL says there are, but frankly speaking, I have tried it and I always come back to the classic, the original HCL Domino. I do not see it as truly low-code. They call it Leap. Even when you want to do something more specific or more complex, you do need programming logic and then it stops being low-code. I would say that there are much better low-code platforms. N8N, for instance, looks nice with nice diagrams, especially for workflow and automation, which is where HCL Domino is lacking. The evaluation of the security features of HCL Domino in handling sensitive business information is that it has a peculiar security model, which I view as acceptable. Sometimes it may get in your way, but sometimes it simplifies things. It depends.
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 most important benefit is security. The security architecture is very good. It's the best part of the solution."
"The full-text searching capabilities are great."
"The pricing is excellent."
"IBM Lotus is good but there is other, better software available with much better pricing, and value-added functionality and features."
"This solution works very well straight out of the box; we have no plans to customize it."
"We use HCL Domino for collaboration; it is important for our company and customers."
"The email system is the most valuable feature."
"It is an excellent solution."
"The most valuable feature of Zimbra for our team's productivity is its efficiency in handling email communication."
"For an SMB, it is a recommendable email solution."
"A lot of other products like Microsoft Exchange offer email or collaboration features, but they are not as fast as Zimbra."
"The product is easy to set up."
"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 product is very stable."
"The configuration is simple."
"For a small company, Zimbra Collaboration is good because it is simple, inexpensive, and not very difficult to deploy."
 

Cons

"It would be advantageous if the web server could seamlessly pick up configuration changes without the need for a complete restart."
"For me, the one thing missing is a really good reporting engine."
"Many people are not very happy with its speed."
"The solution is expensive."
"HCL Domino needs to be more user-friendly, as end users prefer Outlook over it, because they find Outlook easier to use."
"From the Domino side, it should support DKIM and DMARC."
"The solution could improve Kubernetes or Dockers migration to new environments in the cloud."
"The product's user interface is one of its shortcomings since it is outdated, making it an area for improvement."
"Zimbra is not very stable, but it's okay."
"The log files need to be improved; they need to show us more information because a lot of detail is lacking and that's not very helpful or insightful."
"The support was lacking in my experience. However, recently the support I received was good. Perhaps they have improved."
"File sharing permissions with Nextcloud integration need improvement."
"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."
"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."
"In the next release, Zimbra Collaboration should include a security feature to allow access for mobile device administrators."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"HCL Domino's pricing depends on the number of users, but its license is not cheap."
"HCL Domino has reasonable pricing. It's not expensive."
"For 30 licenses, we pay $1,500 every year. It is not an expensive product."
"While I don't have precise pricing information at hand, my understanding is that it tends to be on the higher end."
"It is less expensive compared to other vendors."
"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."
"The license for Domino is yearly. The price is high."
"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."
"The solution is competitively priced."
"We pay yearly licenses for Zimbra Collaboration."
"Zimbra Collaboration offers a good price-to-feature ratio."
"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."
"We are using perpetual licenses. We have deployed it in our local data center, and we buy perpetual licenses on a per-user basis."
"I use Zimbra Collaboration's community version. We may move to the enterprise version since prices are affordable."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Rapid Application Development Software solutions are best for your needs.
916,212 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
Government
8%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HCL Domino?
The Notes client is very expensive, costing around $105 per client. Overall, HCL Domino is a costly product.
What needs improvement with HCL Domino?
I am not missing anything significant from HCL Domino at the moment. There are some smaller things that can be improved, but these have already been posted on the HCL website where we can submit ou...
What is your primary use case for HCL Domino?
I have been using HCL Domino products since 1992, when it was known as Lotus Notes. I use it myself and also work as a consultant. We are an IBM Business Partner and HCL Business Partner. We are no...
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...
 

Also Known As

IBM Lotus Domino, Lotus Domino
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

A1 Telekom, Acubiz, Afrisam, E. A. Juffali & Brothers, Fiducia & GAD, and Pakistan State Oil
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, ServiceNow, Oracle and others in Rapid Application Development Software. Updated: October 2026.
916,212 professionals have used our research since 2012.