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HCL Notes vs Microsoft Exchange comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

HCL Notes
Ranking in Email Applications
9th
Average Rating
7.6
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Microsoft Exchange
Ranking in Email Applications
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
87
Ranking in other categories
Wireless Email (1st), File Archiving (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of HCL Notes is 3.1%, down from 3.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange is 11.7%, down from 14.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Chiheb Charmiti - PeerSpot reviewer
May 18, 2022
Accessible from any device, good support, and works very well for emails, document sharing, and workflows
What I like about this solution is that you can use it for mailing, as a client for email, and you can also use it for workflows. So, you can easily develop applications. Even people who haven't got great IT skills can develop some basic applications to use in the company, especially a workflow application. So, it is for mailing and for applications, which is a great thing about HCL Notes. It is very good for managing and sharing documents on the network or inside the company. It works very well for sharing documents. It is one of the best products in the world for workflow applications. It works very well for workflows or decisional processes where a task needs to be first approved by someone. After that, the task moves to the next or final stage where another person approves it with some notes or attached documents. People who are on the move outside the company but need to interact with the database of the company can do some tasks in the HCL Notes application offline. When they have connectivity, the information is updated or replicated in real-time. They can install the application on different devices. They can use it on mobile phones or iPad.
Dean Della Pella - PeerSpot reviewer
Feb 27, 2024
Offers great reliability and good mobile access features
In my company, the product takes care of email communications as it handles all the emails and scheduling emails. Within the tool, the calendars are used extensively by our company and its customers. The tool has improved the areas revolving around calendars and scheduling tasks since it has helped in the unification of everyone working in the company under the same system. The most beneficial features of email management stem from the tool's ability to let its users combine the tasks and the calendar while also being able to organize emails. The security and compliance features have impacted our organization, and it has been extremely helpful since such functionalities are needed for compliance purposes. For the customers and my company, being secure and having control of the handling of emails is extremely important. The integration capabilities do not have a direct impact on the email portion of the product, but it does have the ability to set up meetings with the help of Microsoft Teams. The mobile access feature provided by the product helps our company in the area of productivity. I recommend the product to others who plan to use it. Based on the features and functionalities of the product, it would be beneficial to rule for any company where it is chosen. The product offers good functionalities and reliability. I rate the overall 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

"Notes is a perfectly adequate front end. It's clear and straightforward."
"The most valuable feature is the UI."
"The initial setup was easy for me."
"The security and performance of the solution are good even though our platform is variable, except for the mail services."
"Its security is absolutely stratospheric. In an application, you can lock down to field-level security. For example, I could log in and see a field in an HR database with salaries. When you log in, you see exactly the same database, but the field with the salary just isn't there. So, you can literally have field-level security on it, and you can also have secure encryption. For example, I could give you that database allowing you to see the salary, but a calculation that shows how much they get per month in another field is encrypted. So, you won't be able to see that because you don't have the encryption key. You can implement high-level security very simply."
"The most valuable feature is security. It's very easy to manage security on records, views, and tables."
"It is one of the best products in the world for workflow applications. It works very well for workflows or decisional processes where a task needs to be first approved by someone. After that, the task moves to the next or final stage where another person approves it with some notes or attached documents."
"The solution provides great security."
"It is very well integrated with other Microsoft programs, teams, and so on. They work well together."
"The initial setup was straightforward and fast."
"The product can scale."
"The solution can scale well."
"I find the Outlook client very valuable. It allows me to connect to the Exchange Server and send and receive emails easily. The graphical interface is user-friendly and has a good look and feel."
"We have found it to be a stable solution. It is scalable and easy to install."
"It is a very stable tool...It is a very scalable tool."
"It is easy to use and we can allow many users because now our users are scattered They over a wide area. We can use it from anywhere. That is the main benefit for us."
 

Cons

"The solution could improve by adding some more features."
"GUI and replication can be improved."
"I would like to HCL update Notes' development tool and make it more attractive like Microsoft Visual Studio and similar products. For example, there's a programming language that I used for my product Woodpecker called LotusScript. LotusScript has been available since around 1995. When LotusScript was released, it was like the original Visual Basic, but it has improved since then."
"The loading time can be excessive."
"I love this product. I have used it for many years, and I have been a developer for it. If anything, it can be faster in the client version. The client version is a little bit hard. It is not fast. This is the only problem I see. Otherwise, it is a very good product."
"It is a heavy program and uses more resources than an email client should."
"We had trouble connecting this solution to the database from Microsoft. We have done it, although it can be easier."
"Notes needs a major upgrade for the UI."
"The only thing that could be improved is the pricing."
"There is a problem when scheduling an event for the whole day."
"The default storage capacity is too small."
"In terms of probability, every now and then there are changes coming and going. The changes are not that frequent because every month they got updates back, so that is an issue."
"From a reliability perspective, they need to improve the search engine, it is not very powerful."
"I think it could be more scalable."
"From a security perspective, Microsft Exchange can be improved. All that needs to be added is security, but that's an internal hierarchical problem from the product itself and not the end-users."
"Some users encounter stability issues. I connect with the support team through my local partner, which takes time."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It was reasonably priced, but the product itself was not worth the cost."
"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."
"We pay licensing fees on a yearly basis."
"We pay annually for the use of the solution."
"The solution is expensive. There are many components or features which make the price very high."
"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."
"I rate Microsoft Exchange's pricing a six out of ten."
"There are different prices depending on the customer's use cases and amount of users. The price of the solution could improve."
"It's working very well. There is no problem, but the price is not the best."
"Licensing costs for Microsoft Exchange have increased, but are still fair. For some users, the cost is high considering the number of functions and features they will use."
"Microsoft's licensing structure is too complex, but its prices are affordable, though not cheap."
"It would be nice if it used less resources to run on-premise."
"Microsoft doesn't have a unit price, it's based on the quantity, and they offer great discounts."
"Its price is fair."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
16%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HCL Notes?
The security and performance of the solution are good even though our platform is variable, except for the mail services.
What needs improvement with HCL Notes?
Some people want something more modern than the Notes current front end, but it works. It's clear and straightforward. Those wishing a newer look can use the alternative HCL Verse product. To moder...
What is your primary use case for HCL Notes?
We use HCL Notes / Domino for application development, plus the usual office functions like email, personal and group calendaring, to-do and so on.
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 do you like most about Microsoft Exchange?
The initial setup was straightforward and fast.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Exchange?
The product pricing is reasonable if you utilize its full suite of features. However, it may feel expensive for users who only require basic email services.
 

Also Known As

IBM Lotus Notes, Lotus Notes
Exchange, MS Exchange
 

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
Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Scitec Nutrition, British Airways, InnoGames, Osteology Foundation, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, NTC Contracting
Find out what your peers are saying about HCL Notes vs. Microsoft Exchange and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.