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

HCL Domino vs Zimbra Collaboration comparison

 

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 (18th)
Zimbra Collaboration
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
Email Applications (7th)
 

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 0.6% compared to last year.
Zimbra Collaboration, on the other hand, focuses on Email Applications, holds 6.7% mindshare, down 8.6% since last year.
Rapid Application Development Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HCL Domino1.0%
Microsoft Power Apps7.8%
Oracle Application Express (APEX)4.9%
Other86.3%
Rapid Application Development Software
Email Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Zimbra Collaboration6.7%
Google Workspace15.0%
Microsoft Exchange Online9.3%
Other69.0%
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.
Vidya Shree - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at Molecular Connections Private Limited
Deploys quickly and has a good web interface
Zimbra Collaboration has a good web interface When it comes to administration tasks like configuring specific filters or group signatures, I have to dig into the configuration since there's nothing in the graphical or web interface. The solution’s forums don't have much information or…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We have been able to set up a portal using a special XPage application that gives our customers access to this system."
"The initial setup of HCL Domino is straightforward."
"The most valuable features of the solution are security and integration."
"The full-text searching capabilities are great."
"It is a wonderful tool; it offers a very stable environment, the security is very good, the integration capabilities are great, it is a beautiful platform for low-code and no-code developments and offers comprehensive solution development, and the pricing is excellent."
"It is an excellent solution."
"The fact is that it simply works."
"The most valuable feature of HCL Domino is how robust it is."
"Zimbra Collaboration's best feature is its compatibility with Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol, which allows users to use Outlook on Windows or MacOS."
"The web interface is powerful and easy to use."
"We can control all the data in my IT infrastructure."
"Most valuable to us is the fact that it's open source, so it's possible to do a lot of customization."
"It has all collaboration features, such as document sharing, video conferencing, chatting, task sharing, and calendar sharing."
"The solution is easy to implement."
"Zimbra Collaboration has a good web interface."
"Zimbra Collaboration is mainly used for messaging, emails, calendars, video conferencing, and document sharing."
 

Cons

"An area for improvement in HCL Domino is security. New enhancements in the IT industry mean that security should be improved. The HCL Domino GUI also needs improvement."
"The biggest problem for us is the performance. We have been working with this product for a long time and our database now contains approximately two million documents."
"The solution could improve Kubernetes or Dockers migration to new environments in the cloud."
"They should provide its integration with other AI applications."
"HCL Domino could have a better interface."
"HCL Domino needs to be more user-friendly."
"Recently, IBM sold the product to HCL. Since Pakistan and India have some problems on a domestic level, we were actually considering replacing it with Indian products from the organization. We're just facing some regulatory issues."
"The solution is expensive."
"Zimbra Collaboration's video conferencing could be improved."
"I can confidently say that Zimbra is good enough for 2,000 client users. But, at the same time, if my client needs more than that and we have two options—Zimbra or Microsoft—I'm going with Microsoft because many admins will speak to Microsoft's ability to handle that many."
"The antispam and antivirus features are hard to understand on mobile devices."
"The tool should improve its multi-cloud feature."
"There are security and performance issues which is one of the concerns of using an open-source product."
"The installation is not straightforward, it can take two days for the full implementation."
"The support was lacking in my experience. However, recently the support I received was good. Perhaps they have improved."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For 30 licenses, we pay $1,500 every year. It is not an expensive product."
"My company's customers need to make monthly or yearly payments towards the license charges of the product."
"While I don't have precise pricing information at hand, my understanding is that it tends to be on the higher end."
"The pricing is subjective and contingent on the intended usage."
"It is less expensive compared to other vendors."
"We chose to pay for our licensing fees annually."
"We pay annually for the use of this solution and it is only a standard fee."
"HCL Domino is costly, but it still depends on how your organization views it price-wise."
"Zimbra Collaboration offers a good price-to-feature ratio."
"I use Zimbra Collaboration's community version. We may move to the enterprise version since prices are affordable."
"Zimbra Collaboration is expensive, and there is no perpetual license option."
"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 solution is competitively priced."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the price a four"
"The solution is not expensive compared to other products."
"If you choose the network edition, it is a little pricier. They have the open-source edition too which is only community supported."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Rapid Application Development Software solutions are best for your needs.
904,146 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

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

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...
What needs improvement with Zimbra Collaboration?
When it comes to administration tasks like configuring specific filters or group signatures, I have to dig into the configuration since there's nothing in the graphical or web interface. The soluti...
 

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, Mendix and others in Rapid Application Development Software. Updated: June 2026.
904,146 professionals have used our research since 2012.