Amazon WorkMail vs Microsoft Exchange Online comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft are both solutions in the Email Applications category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.0, while Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 9.3% mindshare in EA, compared to Microsoft’s 13.1% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Amazon WorkMail

Read 13 Amazon WorkMail reviews

3,436 Views
2,818 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Microsoft Exchange Online

Read 91 Microsoft Exchange Online reviews

4,234 Views
4,065 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Amazon WorkMail

Microsoft Exchange Online

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

Microsoft Exchange Online and Amazon WorkMail compete in the email and collaboration category. Microsoft Exchange Online has the upper hand due to its superior integration with Microsoft products and more comprehensive features.

Features: Microsoft Exchange Online offers vast storage options, robust integration with Office 365, and intuitive wide-ranging capabilities. It ensures stability and security while facilitating seamless deployment. Amazon WorkMail is reliable for integrations and email deliverability, providing user security and compatibility with AWS services.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Exchange Online users report challenges with migrations and integrations, tech support response times, and security measures. Amazon WorkMail could improve through a more intuitive interface, better regional availability, and enhanced setup experiences.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Exchange Online supports various deployment models, often in hybrid and public cloud environments, with generally proactive support. Amazon WorkMail is straightforward in hybrid deployments with decent customer service, although tech response can be slow at times.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Exchange Online is perceived as expensive, but offers substantial value with a significant ROI when bundled with Office 365. Amazon WorkMail is less costly and suitable for startups, but its pricing can be prohibitive in certain regions.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon WorkMail vs. Microsoft Exchange Online Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon WorkMail vs. Microsoft Exchange Online

July 2025

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Helped 865,295 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score

6.1

Replacing WhatsApp with Amazon WorkMail halved costs, improved communication, and provided scalable, stable services reducing downtime concerns.

Sentiment score

7.4

Companies achieved significant ROI with Microsoft Exchange Online, realizing savings and operational efficiency without hardware investment.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon WorkMail report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Exchange Online report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

4.5

Customer feedback on Amazon WorkMail support is mixed, with experiences ranging from responsive assistance to dissatisfaction over communication issues.

Sentiment score

6.4

Microsoft Exchange Online support is often praised for responsiveness, but user experiences vary with occasional delays and expertise issues.

We have sent some emails and they have responded promptly, so we are satisfied.

Ramkumar Kolpurath

Co-Founder & CTO at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon WorkMail report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Exchange Online report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

8.0

Amazon WorkMail is praised for scalability, accommodating large user bases and email traffic efficiently despite some cost concerns.

Sentiment score

7.9

Microsoft Exchange Online offers impressive scalability for large organizations, efficiently managing growth despite potential cost increases.

I do not have any concerns regarding the scalability of Amazon WorkMail, as we are sending about 40,000 to 50,000 emails per day, doing both transactional and batch with a queuing mechanism internally.

Ramkumar Kolpurath

Co-Founder & CTO at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon WorkMail report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Exchange Online report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.2

Amazon WorkMail is highly rated for stability, handling large volumes reliably with no reported issues or downtime.

Sentiment score

8.0

Microsoft Exchange Online is stable and reliable, with minimal downtime and improved stability since 2010, despite occasional external glitches.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon WorkMail report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Exchange Online report

Room For Improvement

Users seek an intuitive interface, improved pricing, advanced features, better spam filtering, scalability, and enhanced support for Amazon WorkMail.

Microsoft Exchange Online struggles with integration, security, and usability, with users seeking better performance, pricing, and support.

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon WorkMail report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Exchange Online report

Setup Cost

Amazon WorkMail receives mixed reviews on pricing, appreciated for its free tier but considered costly beyond its allocation.

Enterprise users have mixed experiences with Microsoft Exchange Online's pricing, citing affordability for some, but high costs and complex licensing for others.

I have heard that compared to other providers, it is considerably cheaper.

Ramkumar Kolpurath

Co-Founder & CTO at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon WorkMail report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Exchange Online report

Valuable Features

Amazon WorkMail provides scalable, secure email management with AWS integration, enhancing efficiency, user experience, and workflow expansion.

Microsoft Exchange Online provides unlimited storage, strong integration, enhanced security, spam filtering, and efficient remote access for diverse organizations.

I find the feature that checks how many emails have been successfully sent and how many of them have been opened very useful, because in our application, we know the usage of the emails.

Ramkumar Kolpurath

Co-Founder & CTO at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Amazon WorkMail report

No quotes available

For more quotes and insights, download the Microsoft Exchange Online report

Categories and Ranking

Amazon WorkMail

Ranking in Email Applications

4th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Email (3rd)

Microsoft Exchange Online

Ranking in Email Applications

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Amazon WorkMail is 9.3%, down from 10.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange Online is 13.1%, down from 16.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Applications

Featured Reviews

Ramkumar Kolpurath

Co-Founder & CTO at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Seamless email communication improves cost-effectiveness and security with valuable tracking features

The features of Amazon WorkMail that I have found the most valuable so far include sending emails and tracking whether the email is read or not. I find the feature that checks how many emails have been successfully sent and how many of them have been opened very useful, because in our application, we know the usage of the emails. The encryption of emails, both in transit and at rest, has benefited our security strategy as it is a layer of security that provides us better confidence for customers and also internally tracks the security aspects. The encryption meets my expectations.

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NancyHartman

Business Process Manager/ Educational Technologist at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees

Effective collaboration achieved with versatile features and good customer service

There are always improvements needed. My personal issue with using OfficeSuite and the Exchange Server is that one has to cobble together a whole bunch of different applications. Therefore, a lot of scripting and programming knowledge is necessary. I am not an IT person; I am an educator, a trainer, a user. I want to get the work done. However, I find that the Exchange Server and possibly the way our company has set up access permissions require extensive programming knowledge. It might take six to eight weeks to get a programmer's time to build something, whereas I can use something like Smartsheet that will do everything I want without needing a programmer. Smartsheet is more end-user friendly compared to a Microsoft product. Microsoft believes an expert IT person should manage everything, however, I want to manage things on my own in a simplified way. That is not easy using the Exchange Server or Microsoft Office. It is not end-user friendly for development, and a programmer is needed. Once set up, using them as an end-user is fine. I find that the automations are not robust, and the FedRAMP systems are not robust. I have a few issues with Exchange and Office, but there's nothing I can do about it.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

University

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon WorkMail?

We use the tool for transactional emails and marketing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon WorkMail?

We are satisfied with Amazon WorkMail, as it is able to send emails and provide receipts, including the read and other statuses. Since we are doing more API side integrations, there does not seem t...

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What advice do you have for others considering Amazon WorkMail?

From the communication aspects, working with Amazon WorkMail has been seamless and cost-effective. My customers do not make any use of Amazon WorkMail's compatibility with Microsoft Active Director...

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What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange Online?

The benefits are widespread and effective communication. We use Microsoft Teams for meetings within and outside our organization. Additionally, Teams can be used for chat, allowing us to track comm...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Exchange Online?

The cost of Microsoft Exchange Online varies between $4 and $25 per user per month, depending on the different plans we use for different users.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Exchange Online?

The mobile version of Microsoft Outlook has limited features compared to the desktop version. We find fewer features in the mobile version of Microsoft Exchange Online, so that could be improved if...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 3% of the time

SendGrid vs Amazon WorkMail

Compared 2% of the time

Fortinet FortiMail Cloud vs Amazon WorkMail

Compared 2% of the time

Mailgun vs Amazon WorkMail

Compared 2% of the time

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Google Workspace vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 46% of the time

Open-Xchange vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 11% of the time

Zoho Mail vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 5% of the time

ProtonMail vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 5% of the time

Zimbra Collaboration vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Exchange Online Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon WorkMail

August 2025

Download Amazon WorkMail product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange Online

August 2025

Download Microsoft Exchange Online product report

Also Known As

Amazon SES

Exchange Online, Exchange Online Plan 1, Exchange Online Plan 2, MS Exchange Online

Overview

Amazon WorkMail is a secure, managed business email and calendar service with support for existing desktop and mobile email client applications. Amazon WorkMail gives users the ability to seamlessly access their email, contacts, and calendars using the client application of their choice, including Microsoft Outlook, native iOS and Android email applications, any client application supporting the IMAP protocol, or directly through a web browser. You can integrate Amazon WorkMail with your existing corporate directory, use email journaling to meet compliance requirements, and control both the keys that encrypt your data and the location in which your data is stored. You can also set up interoperability with Microsoft Exchange Server, and programmatically manage users, groups, and resources using the Amazon WorkMail SDK.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Exchange Online helps protect your information with advanced capabilities. Anti-malware and anti-spam filtering protect mailboxes. Data loss prevention capabilities prevent users from mistakenly sending sensitive information to unauthorized people. Globally redundant servers, premier disaster recovery capabilities, and a team of security experts monitoring Exchange Online around the clock safeguard your data.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

Bank Alfalah Ltd., Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Blue Star Infotech, Scitec Nutrition, Resolution Films, British Airways, Empire Cinemas, InnoGames

Buyer's Guide

Amazon WorkMail vs. Microsoft Exchange Online

July 2025

Free Report: Amazon WorkMail vs. Microsoft Exchange Online

Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon WorkMail vs. Microsoft Exchange Online and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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