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HCL Notes vs IceWarp comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 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 Notes
Ranking in Email Applications
7th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IceWarp
Ranking in Email Applications
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of HCL Notes is 3.2%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IceWarp is 4.9%, down from 5.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HCL Notes3.2%
IceWarp4.9%
Other91.9%
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

AM
RPA Developer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
Challenges with efficiency and interface lead to transition while offering some useful organization features
Office 365 has advantages over HCL Notes, offering a better interface and better categorization of emails. We get different kinds of options, including mail suggestions and AI options that can help users. Meetings, calendars, everything is in one place, making it more efficient. Office 365 offers a better interface and categorization of emails, along with options such as mail suggestions and AI features. Meetings and calendars are all integrated in one place.
AvinashLotke - PeerSpot reviewer
Delivery Head at Team Computers
Useful for collaboration and storage but improvement is needed in API integration
The solution has traditional SSL integration, SAML, and Federation Services. In its latest version, it added SAML integration. However, it needs to work on API integration, especially for dashboards or integration with SAP for log and data system management. It doesn't yet have the kind of API that Google and Microsoft provide for synchronizing users with Active Directory. I think IceWarp needs to improve in a few areas. They have two types of admin consoles - a web-based one and a remote one. I'd like to see these combined into a single web-based admin console. The log reading and information system also needs improvement. The current way of showing incoming and outgoing logs isn't very clear. For new users, it's hard to understand these logs, especially compared to Office 365 and other systems with easier-to-read logs. They should also add an export option to get all logs with a single click whenever we need them.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"HCL Notes is easy to customize as it is simple and fast, making it cost-effective for development."
"Notes is a perfectly adequate front end. It's clear and straightforward."
"The tech support is good."
"The most valuable feature is the access that it provides to documents. This offers us an easy way to make changes."
"With HCL Notes, my organization has been able to do a little more in that regard, as they have built in and integrated with other systems like the leave management so I do not have a separate HR portal where I have to go in and apply for leave, and all of that is managed through my email client."
"It offers unique capabilities, excellent security, and replication features."
"HCL Notes has a non-structured database and fantastic native security, which is extremely strong, providing built-in security without needing external products."
"The initial setup was easy for me."
"It's scalable and stable."
"Its price is the most valuable. It is definitely one of the lowest price solutions."
"The product is used very extensively in my company since we have around 1,500 users using it. Also, there is no requirement for any administrators to manage the product by the people who own the solution."
"Its price is the most valuable. It is definitely one of the lowest price solutions."
"The most valuable feature of IceWarp is the chat rooms and file-sharing, they are useful. It is convenient that everything is in one place. You can easily share and collaborate documents, making the program's unity a significant advantage."
"The solution is easy to manage and includes features such as smart documents and the archiving of user data."
"IceWarp offers very extended cross-platform communication solutions."
"The solution has a very good log-in to the UI when compared to other solutions."
 

Cons

"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."
"The only improvement that we're planning to do is that all our applications are still designed in the layout and format of Notes version 4, and our plan over the coming years is to modernize their look."
"I would like to see integration with other solutions."
"Regarding additional functions, the front end of the databases on the home screen looks somewhat old-fashioned. It could be modernized by the development team."
"Some people complain that they want something more modern and jazzy."
"It is a heavy program and uses more resources than an email client should."
"GUI and replication can be improved."
"I would like HCL to update Notes' development tool and make it more attractive like Microsoft Visual Studio and similar products."
"There are some feature improvements possible the way we use it as a hosting provider, but for most we currently have workarounds."
"With multiple databases for VOIP, chat and web IMAP, maintenance is cumbersome."
"I would like to have a trial for mobile applications and more documentation similar to Google Drive with mobile applications."
"Support is not good and it is challenging to receive a timely response."
"Customer service is not always helpful."
"The tool's configuration capabilities are not straightforward. Apart from that, if I want to archive emails into a vault so that they can be retrieved again later, the integration doesn't work, and IceWarp crashes."
"Support should be improved. Most of the time, the queries are not resolved within the SLA."
"Although it is not a tool, video conferencing should be scalable and operate in a professional and efficient way."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive. There are many components or features which make the price very high."
"We pay annually for the use of the solution."
"We pay licensing fees on a yearly basis."
"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."
"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."
"It was reasonably priced, but the product itself was not worth the cost."
"It is definitely one of the lowest price solutions."
"The solution is priced well."
"Pricing and licensing is very competitive and in some cases, cheap."
"I would rate the pricing and eight out of ten."
"The license is based on the number of users."
"Price-wise, it's a cheaper solution, without a doubt. Price is the reason we are still using the tool."
"Our licensing is on a yearly basis. There were no additional costs."
"Costs far less than other solutions."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HCL Notes?
We don't use team workspace with HCL Notes; we use only Microsoft because it's incorporated with the Microsoft license. Based on my extensive experience with HCL Notes, I think HCL can make its pro...
What is your primary use case for HCL Notes?
We use HCL Notes as an email system. We currently only use it as an email application, though in the past we used it for additional applications.
What advice do you have for others considering HCL Notes?
Regarding HCL Notes supporting various business processes such as CRM, I don't use it, but if I have an issue, I contact the support and we are satisfied with that. I would rate HCL Notes 10 out of...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IceWarp?
IceWarp was very cost-effective, offering services at a significantly lower cost than Google, which was appealing for our organization.
What needs improvement with IceWarp?
The solution needs improvements in security, particularly regarding document management. Users currently have the rights to delete smart documents, which poses a challenge for administrators. A mor...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

IBM Lotus Notes, Lotus Notes
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

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
Marriott, Toyota, Sony, Wendy's, Canon
Find out what your peers are saying about HCL Notes vs. IceWarp and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
885,880 professionals have used our research since 2012.