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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

"The most valuable features of the solution are security and integration."
"The full-text searching capabilities are great."
"We can scale it if we want to."
"We have been able to set up a portal using a special XPage application that gives our customers access to this system."
"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."
"For workflow applications or general applications, the rapid development capability is what we value most."
"I find the HCL Domino server scalable."
"IBM Lotus is good but there is other, better software available with much better pricing, and value-added functionality and features."
"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."
"We can control all the data in my IT infrastructure."
"The pricing of the solution is excellent; it's a newer solution with a modern interface and dashboard, the interface itself is very responsive and easy to navigate, the initial setup is very simple and straightforward, the stability is good and keeps getting better with each new update, and the solution really does scale very easily."
"Network NG Modules are valuable to us."
"The configuration is simple."
"Zimbra Collaboration has integrated a lot of their party tools and they have good documentation available."
"Despite sticking with Gmail for over a decade in terms of business, Zimbra have impressed me with some other aspects as well; if the time comes, I would prefer Zimbra to my current solution."
 

Cons

"HCL Domino could improve by having integration with other solutions, such as Microsoft 365."
"When you compare with Microsoft Exchange, the UI could be more user-friendly."
"From the Domino side, it should support DKIM and DMARC."
"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."
"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."
"Designing a new template could provide a refreshed visual experience for users without significant changes to the underlying functionality."
"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 product's user interface is one of its shortcomings since it is outdated, making it an area for improvement."
"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."
"Zimbra should provide a desktop client. Right now, we are using a web browser for accessing our emails. There should also be a desktop client."
"Zimbra Collaboration is expensive, and there is no perpetual license option."
"The solution’s forums don't have much information or documentation on administration tasks."
"It does have a few bugs."
"There are some security issues."
"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."
"Server deployment and the GUI for emails should be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"HCL Domino is costly, but it still depends on how your organization views it price-wise."
"HCL Domino has reasonable pricing. It's not expensive."
"For 30 licenses, we pay $1,500 every year. It is not an expensive product."
"I'd rate it a seven out of ten in terms of price."
"Customers have to pay for a license for the Notes Client, not for the Domino database. There is a quarter license that we use."
"HCL Domino's pricing depends on the number of users, but its license is not cheap."
"The pricing is subjective and contingent on the intended usage."
"We chose to pay for our licensing fees annually."
"We do not pay for licenses to use this solution."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the price a four"
"Zimbra Collaboration is expensive, and there is no perpetual license option."
"The solution is competitively priced."
"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."
"We pay yearly licenses for Zimbra Collaboration."
"There is an annual standard licensing fee to use Zimbra Collaboration and there is no other cost."
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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
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