Microsoft Exchange Reviews

My use case for the product varies depending on the industry. It involves email management, scheduling, and collaboration to support real estate and managed IT services operations.

The platform's most valuable feature is the mailbox roles. I am currently using the 2019 version and previously used the 2016 version. The mailbox role hosts all the mailboxes, which is essential for our email management needs. 

They could offer simultaneous features for Exchange Online and on-premises versions. Specific features such as litigation hold and audit setups should be available on-premises. Additionally, a clear roadmap for future versions is crucial for administrators to plan and implement upgrades effectively. 

I've been working with Microsoft Exchange since 2014.

Microsoft Exchange on-premises is very stable as long as the resources are allocated correctly and the system is properly set up and administered. 

I rate the stability an eight.

I rate the product scalability an eight. 

Microsoft provides very good technical support, especially with an Enterprise Agreement.

Compared to previous versions, the initial setup has become much more straightforward. 

We implemented the product with the help of our in-house team. 

The platform can help save on-premises costs. In the past three years, the cost changes have shown that for an organization with 500 to 1,000 users, Exchange on-premises is more cost-effective over a five-year ROI. 

The platform has a reasonable price. 

We evaluated several other email management solutions to determine the best fit for our business requirements. 

I recommend Microsoft Exchange to others due to its robust features and reasonable pricing. Setting up Microsoft Exchange has become much more straightforward compared to previous versions. The overall setup experience has significantly improved over the past six to seven years, making it easier for administrators.

I rate it a nine out of ten. 

We use the solution for email, calendar, and integration into Zoom.

The product works very well. Being able to access email outside the organization is a very good feature. It is very easy to set up.

The default storage capacity is too small. Though the mailbox size is one terabyte on the cloud, the default mailbox size can be increased for on-premise products.

I have been using the solution for ten years.

The tool is very stable. I rate the stability a ten out of ten.

The tool is very scalable. It is easy to add additional servers and users. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten. It is very difficult to migrate the server. If a primary Exchange server needs to be moved, it is not very easy. The service has to be shut down completely before it can be moved.

If there were a way to move it in real-time while email is still running, I would give it a ten. However, at the moment, we have to shut down the server and migrate or scale it to bigger capacity servers or the cloud. About 100 people in my organization are using the product. It is extensively used in my organization. As the organization grows, we will increase the usage.

I have used a webmail service that comes with Plesk for Linux servers.

The initial setup is moderately easy. It is neither easy nor difficult. It does require Active Directory to be set up properly. Setting it up is not difficult. It takes two days to set up an Exchange server.

We deployed the solution in-house. We need a manager, a systems engineer, and two developers to deploy the solution.

We have seen very good returns on investment. The solution is almost free. We just worry about Microsoft 365 licenses, and then Microsoft handles the deployment in the cloud. Once we set up the cloud domain, the cost is almost zero.

The licensing is integrated with Microsoft 365. Licensing is becoming easier. We can get Exchange in the cloud along with the Microsoft 365 license. We don't have to worry so much about Exchange licenses in the future. It would be deployed in the cloud.

The tool is very stable and easy to set up. However, we need Microsoft-certified engineers to manage it. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Microsoft Exchange is the main mail server of Microsoft. It's a popular mail server, so a common use case for Microsoft Exchange is for small, medium, and enterprise-scale businesses. It's a mail solution, voicemail solution, live calendar solution, etc.

What I love about Microsoft Exchange is the good integration since 2013, particularly its integration with the calendar and other software such as Zoom, TeamViewer, AnyDesk, etc.

After 2022, users of Microsoft Exchange have to migrate mailboxes to Microsoft Exchange Online, and what I'd like to improve is for Microsoft to publish more on-premise versions for customers using Microsoft Exchange. Having more security is another room for improvement in the solution, particularly for mailboxes that develop the Exchange Edge rule to protect internal mailboxes.

What I'd like to see from Microsoft Exchange in the future is for Microsoft to still update the latest, existing version which is 2022. I'd like Microsoft to still push more cumulative updates for Microsoft Exchange 2022.

I've been using Microsoft Exchange for two years.

I'm impressed with Microsoft Exchange, and I'm rating it five out of five, stability-wise.

Microsoft Exchange is a scalable solution.

Setting up Microsoft Exchange from 2016 to 2022 in an SMB environment is straightforward because Microsoft combined all the cache, hubs, and mailboxes into one server. For large enterprises, the initial setup for Microsoft Exchange isn't as straightforward because large enterprises require more sophisticated setups.

How long it takes to deploy Microsoft Exchange depends on the size of the environment. For example, if I'm going to implement the solution in a small or medium-sized customer environment, then the deployment would take approximately one to two days, but if I'm implementing Microsoft Exchange for a more complex environment that has a minimum of 10 mailboxes and multiple sites, the deployment alone can take up to one week.

My team is responsible for deploying Microsoft Exchange for customers, so the implementation is in-house. I lead the deployment team.

The ROI you get from Microsoft Exchange can be very, very broad in terms of values. The solution, particularly the on-premise version, can save you additional costs compared to deploying it on the cloud, but the downside is the maintenance cost, and during new releases or updates, you may want to schedule the downtime in advance.

I don't have enough information about the licensing costs of Microsoft Exchange, but I do know that you need two types of licenses to run it. You need the product key and the client access key to activate Microsoft Exchange. This means that apart from the standard Microsoft Exchange licensing fees, you have to pay additional costs.

I'm working in a professional service company that's implementing Microsoft Exchange on-premises for customers. I implemented the solution on-premises in 2016, 2019, and 2022. In 2016, I also performed a migration from Microsoft Exchange to Microsoft Exchange Online.

My current company has between fifty to one hundred users of Microsoft Exchange, but in terms of the number of clients my team has implemented the solution for on-premises, it's potentially five thousand.

Deploying Microsoft Exchange for SMB would require just two people, but deploying it for enterprise-scale businesses would require a minimum of three people. Maintaining Microsoft Exchange requires five to seven people for SMBs, and up to twelve in enterprise environments because maintaining the solution isn't as easy.

My advice to anyone looking into implementing or using Microsoft Exchange is the same advice I give to my team every day, which is to be more aware of new information found on the internet in terms of troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange problems. You should also keep on training about sophisticated setups for the solution because you deal with aggressive customers, so I encourage my team to learn about Microsoft Exchange designs, troubleshooting mechanisms, etc.

I'm rating Microsoft Exchange as nine out of ten.

My company is an implementer and consultant for Microsoft Exchange, not a reseller or retailer. The customer is responsible for purchasing the Microsoft Exchange license.

This solution handles all of our primary functionality including email, message delivery, message archiving and calendars.

The primary features I use are email and calendar.

In our current situation, the disappearance of sanctions would be a tangible improvement. We are basically cut off from technical support and it's very difficult to obtain any updates.

We have been using this solution for four years. 

This is a stable solution.

This is a scalable solution. We already have over 10,000 users in Microsoft Exchange and the total size of the databases exceeds several hundred terabytes.

In all large corporate installations, the first level of tech support is always the local support team. Only if they aren't able to handle the case, we contact tech support in Microsoft. For now, because of sanctions, this option is quite limited.

Neutral

We had used IBM Notes before but it is an inferior product compared to Exchange.

I barely had any issues with initial setup of Microsoft Exchange. It involves a few clicks on the initial setup dialogue and that's it.

This solution is used by many large organizations and I don't know of any viable alternatives. If there are a large amount of users in an organization, Exchange is probably the best option. If there are less than 1000 users, opensource software may be a better alternative.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. 

We are a consulting company. We deploy Microsoft Exchange. One of our clients has been working with a file drive endpoint with Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft 365 Exchange. We use the latest version, which is a hybrid platform with Microsoft 365. I also work with departments in the government that use the solution for email purposes.

The maximum number of users that I am working with is approximately 20,000 users at a time. 

We've been using Exchange as an email platform. Our clients require multi-country, multi-regional email collaboration with controlled mail flow. The most valuable feature is the capability of message tracking and the protection of user data.

I would like to see Microsoft Exchange improve its documentation. The legacy version of the solution had very accurate product documentation. Also, they had very good training courses. Recently, as Microsoft has been frequently adding new features, the documentation has not been as detailed. This means that we need to spend more time making use of our own experience to tackle some problems.

New users will need help from technical professionals. There are not many people in the market that have in-depth knowledge of the product. The documentation for Microsoft Exchange is scattered, poorly organized, and often incomplete.

Due to the lack of adequate documentation, users cannot determine the optimal way to operate the system and end up crashing the product. Unfortunately, many of them do not seek help as they are unwilling to pay Microsoft the high cost of professional services.

I have been working with Microsoft  Exchange for twenty-three years. 

Microsoft Exchange has been in the market for more than twenty-five years. It is a stable, mature product. Any concerns with stability usually have to do with the fact that the user is not using the product in the correct manner because Microsoft did not teach them how to operate the solution correctly.

As long as you have a good plan, Microsoft Exchange can scale very well. However, the solution does consume a lot of web resources if deployed on physical hardware or on VMware. For example, I have an organization that has 200 users and Microsoft has eaten up more than 100 gigabytes of memory.

If you use Microsoft Hyper-V, the scalability is good. 

It is not unusual that when you implement the solution and you need information, you can not find it, or it is not very detailed. You will then need to engage with the Microsoft support team. You will need to spend a lot of time making use of your own experience to tackle some problems.

Microsoft charges very expensive professional fees for support services. Unfortunately, the quality of support is very low. They are not grooming sufficient people to support the end-users.

Positive

The initial setup of Microsoft Exchange is not complicated. However, if you need to set it up to work in harmony with any other program, you need a very in-depth understanding of the platform. 

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. 

The advice I would give to anyone considering this solution would be to use the latest online version. It is the only way to get quality support when you encounter any type of problem.

If you are not going to use all of the functions and features and only require primitive functions, this solution may be too expensive. When you consider the cost in terms of storage when you are leveraging the online version of Microsoft Exchange, it is quite a good investment.

When considering just the product itself, I would rate Microsoft Exchange a nine out of ten.

We use Microsoft Exchange primarily for mailing purposes, both internal and external. We integrate it with other Microsoft tools like Outlook, Word document collaboration, Teams, SharePoint, and more.

The integration of Microsoft Exchange with other tools allows for seamless collaboration and increased productivity within teams. The tools integrate with one another easily, allowing for features such as shared mailboxes, message traceability, and enhanced security and compliance features.

Microsoft Exchange offers several valuable features including the feature of shared mailboxes, the ability to integrate with other platforms, security and compliance features like Purview, conditional access, identity and access management, and scalability of mailboxes.

Microsoft Exchange and other Microsoft solutions like Office 365 need to provide more detailed information for customers regarding the features and functionalities included in their plans, as some features are only available at an additional cost.

We have been using Microsoft Exchange for nearly three to four years now.

There were some glitches, though they were minor, occurring in single-digit percentages, such as downtime where the mailbox was not connecting.

The mailbox scalability is one of the strong points of Microsoft Exchange as it is highly scalable from 50 GB to over 100 GB.

If an individual cannot resolve an issue, they can raise a ticket with Microsoft at any time. Microsoft provides a good knowledge base through their TechNet portal.

There are no significant hiccups in the installation of Office 365, which works similarly to a SaaS.

From a productivity point of view, the productivity increased by 30% to 50%.

The licensing and pricing are quite costly, which can demotivate customers from opting for features and upgrades. However, the solution provides value for money if one is well-acquainted with Exchange and Office 365.

Microsoft should focus on improving the clarity of its plans and pricing to avoid customer confusion over what features are included.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

I use the product to help customers build their infrastructure, support their existing operations, or troubleshoot their Exchange environment. 

My use cases span setting up on-premises solutions to configuring hybrid environments involving Office 365.

The platform has significantly streamlined communication and collaboration for my clients, offering reliable email and calendaring services. It also provides compliance features like email journaling, which is critical for legal and regulatory purposes.

The Database Availability Group (DAG) is the solution's most valuable feature. It ensures high availability and resilience, allowing seamless recovery from potential failures and making it a reliable option for business-critical operations.

The solution's hybrid deployment process could be improved, particularly for customers who initially started in the cloud and may want to return to an on-premises setup. Microsoft could make this transition more flexible.

I have been working with Microsoft Exchange since version 5.4.0, which has been approximately 27 or 28 years.

The product is stable when implemented by experienced professionals.

The platform scales well, especially with the use of hybrid cloud environments. However, to maintain performance at scale it may require careful management of resources and configurations.

Microsoft’s support for Exchange is adequate, but their shift away from partner-focused business models has caused delays in getting timely support. Their support team may not always have the depth of knowledge needed, particularly for complex on-premises or hybrid scenarios.

For someone with my level of experience, the setup is straightforward. However, for less experienced users, the complexity of configuring Exchange, especially in hybrid environments, can be challenging.

I handle the implementation in-house due to my extensive experience with Exchange. However, for those who have in-house expertise, engaging a vendor with specialized knowledge is crucial for a smooth setup.

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.

Exchange was selected based on its advanced features, such as archiving, legal compliance, and multi-site support, which were not fully available in open-source alternatives.

I advise investing in proper training or expert support is essential for maximizing the product's potential.

Overall, I rate it a seven out of ten. 

Our company uses the solution to manage emails and accounts. 

The solution's speed is good. 

The search tools are good. 

Observations are very user friendly. 

The solution could be more secure. 

I have been using the solution for ten years. 

The solution is stable. 

The solution is scalable. 

The setup is easy. 

I rate the solution a ten out of ten.