Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Amazon WorkMail vs Zimbra Collaboration 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

Amazon WorkMail
Ranking in Email Applications
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Email (2nd)
Zimbra Collaboration
Ranking in Email Applications
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Amazon WorkMail is 7.4%, down from 10.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zimbra Collaboration is 7.1%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Amazon WorkMail7.4%
Zimbra Collaboration7.1%
Other85.5%
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Ramkumar  Kolpurath - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Muhammad Talha Baig - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Analyst and Associate Project Manager at SAMI Pharmaceuticals
One of the premium features was customized rooms tailored to the collaboration needs
Zimbra's strength lies in its individuality, and it should focus on leveraging its unique features rather than trying to emulate competitors. My organization has certified Zimbra technicians, so we believe we can utilize Zimbra certification. However, I was recently informed by Zimbra that no such certification exists. I have recently completed the test kit, and after the training, I will gain access to tickets. Therefore, if any clients are experiencing issues, we have a certified technical team available to provide support 24/7. This is how we can cater to our client's needs. I recommend Zimbra to small-scale and enterprise customers. Anyone, even those with 5 users, can opt for Zimbra. Overall, I rate the solution 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

"The product is very user-friendly."
"The best feature is that Amazon SES provides verified email messages."
"The most valuable thing is that emails sent through SES have a delivery rate of greater than ninety percent."
"Amazon SES is very easy to configure."
"There is no need for me to set up security."
"We use the tool for transactional emails and marketing."
"It is highly available and scalable. It is also highly reliable. I don't lose any of the messages or emails. If there is an issue where the email sent operation failed, Amazon as a platform ensures that the send operation is retried, and the email reaches its destination. This way, it is highly reliable."
"The most valuable feature of the Amazon WorkMail for me is the SMC server. It makes my work much easier, especially since I often work with Spring Boot. There are many built-in APIs in Spring Boot that help with messaging. What I appreciate about it is that it simplifies the process. I don't need to write much code; I define the credentials in my properties or environment variables. The Java Message API, an internal API from Spring Boot, does most of the work. I set up the properties and connected them to the SMC server, and I can send emails."
"The most valuable feature of Zimbra Collaboration is email functionality."
"The stability is good and keeps getting better with each new update."
"The configuration is simple."
"The Zimbra Collaboration's most valuable feature is web access."
"One of the most valuable features involves the solution's automatic backup, which I find to be pretty simple and straightforward, and obviates the need for additional software."
"Zimbra Collaboration is light to manage. It works on the Linux operating system, which is far better to manage than Microsoft Windows. Microsoft Exchange works only on the Windows server. We prefer working on the Linux server for security reasons and ease of management. Zimbra Collaboration also has some integrated tools for security. It some modules to fight malware. These modules are not very powerful but are still doing a great job. Microsoft Exchange doesn't have a basic module. You have to purchase a security solution and add it to the solution. The cost of Zimbra Collaboration is one more reason for liking it. It is also very simple to migrate from Zimbra Collaboration to another email solution."
"Zimbra Collaboration has integrated a lot of their party tools and they have good documentation available."
"Zimbra Collaboration's best feature is its compatibility with Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol, which allows users to use Outlook on Windows or MacOS."
 

Cons

"When we first set up an email on Amazon SES, they had to verify it, which was not fast enough."
"There is room for improvement in the support. It's just that customer support, though good, takes time to resolve issues."
"The solution is quite low-level and lacks some advanced features. For example, it doesn't provide tracking capabilities, such as knowing how many users opened an email, which is crucial for email marketing. You would need to integrate these analytics with other tools to get them. I need to know if there has been a bounce and how customers interacted with the email."
"Email service is definitely a requirement from an enterprise standpoint. Many organizations have their own on-premise email services, which take a lot of memory, backup, and other resources. If we can have a completely managed backup solution where we have a tiered backup or a tiered archival to be able to retrieve emails, it would be great. I would like to be able to retrieve emails in real-time (hot retrieval), over the 90-days period (warm retrieval), and over the one-year period (cold retrieval). It would be useful to have tiered backup and retrieval. It would help us in managing emails better and have a better backup solution. So, backup is something that we require."
"There is room for improvement in the scalability."
"I would like to see detailed reports on email success and failure rates."
"Amazon WorkMail's user interface could be more intuitive and user-friendly."
"It would be ideal to have detailed data and reporting on email opens, clicks, bounces, and other metrics, as well as integration with other business intelligence tools."
"They should enhance its online meeting features."
"The solution’s forums don't have much information or documentation on administration tasks."
"We have had an issue with security."
"I would like to see a Microsoft schedule function added."
"In the next release, Zimbra Collaboration should include a security feature to allow access for mobile device administrators."
"The new patches are, at times, not so good, so we don't install them, causing the tool to be not so stable overall."
"The antispam and antivirus features are hard to understand on mobile devices."
"The product must be more customizable."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the solution's pricing as one out of ten. It is close to being cheap. Sometimes, the tool offers a generous amount of free messages, up to 40,000, which is great for startups like ours. This means that we don't accumulate any costs for some months because we stay within the free usage tier. When we exceed the free allocation, the costs are reasonable, and no hidden charges exist."
"It's very cheap. The cheapest among all the services available."
"The solution should improve its price."
"WorkMail does require a license, it is, per user."
"Zimbra Collaboration offers a good price-to-feature ratio."
"Zimbra Collaboration is expensive, and there is no perpetual license option."
"I use Zimbra Collaboration's community version. We may move to the enterprise version since prices are affordable."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the price a four"
"The price of the solution is low."
"Zimbra Collaboration is less expensive than Microsoft Exchange. Zimbra works for small companies because it is not expensive. Zimbra Collaboration has more security tools than Microsoft Exchange. If you are choosing between Zimbra Collaboration and Microsoft Exchange, you have to take into account the cost of security tools with Microsoft Exchange. When you purchase Microsoft Exchange, you will also have to purchase tools for security, which adds to the cost. The migration from Zimbra Collaboration to another email solution is very simple and easy. Migration from Microsoft Exchange to another email solution is very difficult. Microsoft doesn't allow migration that easily. In fact, you have to pay for tools to do that. You have to buy some expensive tools to migrate."
"If you choose the network edition, it is a little pricier. They have the open-source edition too which is only community supported."
"We are using perpetual licenses. We have deployed it in our local data center, and we buy perpetual licenses on a per-user basis."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Email Applications solutions are best for your needs.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Retailer
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon WorkMail?
We use the tool for transactional emails and marketing.
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...
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...
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 Zimbra Collaboration?
The most valuable feature of Zimbra for our team's productivity is its efficiency in handling email communication.
 

Also Known As

Amazon SES
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
NEC Biglobe, City of Ventura, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Hola Publishing, BIG, Sleepwell, LaFayette College, Xmission, DNA, Ring Line, Future Group, TIGC
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon WorkMail vs. Zimbra Collaboration and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.