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HCL Domino vs Zimbra Collaboration comparison

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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

"This solution works very well straight out of the box; we have no plans to customize it."
"For people or companies who need a workflow application, this is one of the best in the world."
"The email system is the most valuable feature."
"It serves as a centralized solution that fulfills all my requirements from operating my email server to managing various aspects of my operations."
"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."
"The DAOS feature is the most valuable. It helps to save some of my storage."
"The most important benefit is security. The security architecture is very good. It's the best part of the solution."
"The best feature of HCL Domino is that you can use Notes for messaging plus application, not just for messaging."
"This is a good email solution and it's open-source which is great and the most important feature for us."
"I think Zimbra is more reliable and competitive than Microsoft because they offer an open-source version."
"Zimbra Collaboration is a good tool for video calls...Zimbra Collaboration's initial setup phase was easy."
"Premium features, such as auto discovery and archiving, mobile management and HSM, make life much easier."
"It is the best open source collaboration suite that I know, because it provides high availability and more performance than the other solutions."
"The product is easy to set up."
"For a small company, Zimbra Collaboration is good because it is simple, inexpensive, and not very difficult to deploy."
"The configuration is simple."
 

Cons

"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."
"Scalability needs to be improved to be on the level that's required. Support could also be enhanced."
"The solution could improve Kubernetes or Dockers migration to new environments in the cloud."
"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."
"It would be advantageous if the web server could seamlessly pick up configuration changes without the need for a complete restart."
"When you compare with Microsoft Exchange, the UI could be more user-friendly."
"Scalability is also an issue. We have problems with large databases."
"HCL Domino could improve by having integration with other solutions, such as Microsoft 365."
"I would like to see a Microsoft schedule function added."
"In the next release, Zimbra Collaboration should include a security feature to allow access for mobile device administrators."
"The installation is not straightforward, it can take two days for the full implementation."
"Server deployment and the GUI for emails should be better."
"The support was lacking in my experience."
"Because of the lack of this functionality, we are planning to migrate to Microsoft Exchange."
"The product must be more customizable."
"There are some bugs we found that could be fixed."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"HCL Domino's pricing depends on the number of users, but its license is not cheap."
"The license for Domino is yearly. The price is high."
"HCL Domino has reasonable pricing. It's not expensive."
"We chose to pay for our licensing fees annually."
"My company's customers need to make monthly or yearly payments towards the license charges of the product."
"It is less expensive compared to other vendors."
"Customers have to pay for a license for the Notes Client, not for the Domino database. There is a quarter license that we use."
"The pricing is individually determined. For us, in our current deployment, we pay $12.50 Canadian per month per user."
"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."
"We pay yearly licenses for Zimbra Collaboration."
"If you choose the network edition, it is a little pricier. They have the open-source edition too which is only community supported."
"The price of the solution is low."
"Zimbra Collaboration offers a good price-to-feature ratio."
"There is an annual standard licensing fee to use Zimbra Collaboration and there is no other cost."
"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."
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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%
Construction Company
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
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