Microsoft Exchange vs Zimbra Collaboration comparison

Microsoft and Zimbra are both solutions in the Email Applications category. Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 7.9, while Zimbra is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.0. Microsoft holds a 10.6% mindshare in EA, compared to Zimbra’s 7.1% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Zimbra users who would recommend it.

Microsoft Exchange

Read 95 Microsoft Exchange reviews

3,412 Views
2,832 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Zimbra Collaboration

Read 28 Zimbra Collaboration reviews

2,273 Views
2,159 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Microsoft Exchange

Zimbra Collaboration

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

Zimbra Collaboration and Microsoft Exchange are products competing in the communication and collaboration category. Zimbra offers competitive pricing and support, while Microsoft Exchange is favored for its comprehensive features justifying its cost.

Features: Zimbra Collaboration includes open-source integrations, flexible customization, and compatibility with multiple platforms, enhancing innovation. Microsoft Exchange provides advanced calendaring, seamless email hosting, and strong integration with other Microsoft services enhancing the business ecosystem.

Room for Improvement: Zimbra could improve its security modules, enhance mobile application functionality, and expand premium features like two-factor authentication. Microsoft Exchange could offer a more straightforward licensing process, reduce reliance on external security solutions, and provide more customization options for users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zimbra's open-source approach allows for simple deployment with extensive community support. Microsoft Exchange offers seamless integration, consistent updates, and professional resources for installation, making its extensive service network advantageous.

Pricing and ROI: Zimbra is cost-effective with low initial costs and high ROI, appealing to budget-conscious organizations. Microsoft Exchange involves higher initial investment but offers comprehensive features that provide long-term ROI through productivity gains.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Exchange vs. Zimbra Collaboration Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange vs. Zimbra Collaboration

December 2025

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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

Microsoft Exchange

Ranking in Email Applications

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Wireless Email (2nd)

Zimbra Collaboration

Ranking in Email Applications

6th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Microsoft Exchange is 10.6%, down from 11.3% 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
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Exchange	10.6%
Zimbra Collaboration	7.1%
Other	82.3%

Email Applications

Featured Reviews

SaqibJavaid

Manager IT Support at Naubahar Bottling Company (Pvt.) Ltd. Gujranwala Pakistan

Efficient email management with seamless integration

We previously used Microsoft Exchange but have moved to an MDN email solution due to cost and user growth Microsoft Exchange is a user-friendly and easy-to-deploy solution, which is beneficial for handling emails even without professional support. It is effective in managing email integration…

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Muhammad Talha Baig

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has a feature that allows you to retain an email and recover it as an administrator. When you activate this feature, even if a user deletes an email, the email is still in the system, and we can retrieve it as an administrator. It is a very useful function. We turn this feature on for some of the mailboxes because we need to keep all the records. I like the way emails are classified in this solution. It makes it really easy to take a look at the most important messages. This is a really good functionality. Some of the emails directly exchanged with you are marked as important and shown in one tab, and everything else is in another tab. We usually don't have any issue with Exchange. It can be integrated with different solutions."

"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."

"It's a very user-friendly application. The mail server is also valuable when compared to other services like SquirrelMail."

"The product can scale."

"The initial setup is easy."

"The functionality on the user side is quite good. Exchange provides an excellent platform for collaboration between users."

"Exchange's best feature is single sign-on access using the Microsoft Identity framework."

"I like the logistics and the Microsoft protocol of reaching Outlook anywhere."

More Microsoft Exchange pros

"Zimbra Collaboration has a good web interface."

"We can control all the data in my IT infrastructure."

"Network NG Modules are valuable to us."

"The logs, troubleshooting, and tracking we have found to be the most valuable features. We have any issues with lost messages the features are useful. It is very easy to track and log."

"Zimbra Collaboration is a good tool for video calls...Zimbra Collaboration's initial setup phase was easy."

"The most valuable feature of Zimbra Collaboration is email functionality."

"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 has integrated a lot of their party tools and they have good documentation available."

More Zimbra Collaboration pros

Cons

"Microsoft could make it easier to combine comments in the GUI. It isn't easy to do certain things in Exchange, primarily if the administrator isn't used to the command line, so I think the customer interface could be improved."

"When an update wants to come, it should just come maybe once or twice rather than having us deal with constant updating."

"There is a problem when scheduling an event for the whole day."

"There are issues when you add your domain to Microsoft Tenant, and you try to create that. Which is a problem for me."

"They keep making all these changes, and our system was down for four or five days. They finally got it up, but there are still lots of quirks."

"When we started using Exchange on the cloud, we had a lot of initial problems relating to our main database and we also experienced issues with the accidental deletion of inboxes, amongst other things. In fact, many of the files we had moved to the cloud had disappeared. There also seems to be a problem with the retention of information."

"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 would prefer to be able to manage the solution on the cloud."

More Microsoft Exchange cons

"I can confidently say that Zimbra is good enough for 2,000 client users. But, at the same time, if my client needs more than that and we have two options—Zimbra or Microsoft—I'm going with Microsoft because many admins will speak to Microsoft's ability to handle that many."

"There are some security issues."

"Zimbra Collaboration's video conferencing could be improved."

"It would be great if a group chat feature were created to allow for a team environment."

"The product must be more customizable."

"The tool should improve its multi-cloud feature."

"I would like to see a Microsoft schedule function added."

"The support was lacking in my experience. However, recently the support I received was good. Perhaps they have improved."

More Zimbra Collaboration cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It would be nice if it used less resources to run on-premise."

"It's working very well. There is no problem, but the price is not the best."

"Compared to the other options in the market, the licensing costs attached to Microsoft Exchange seem reasonable."

"Microsoft Exchange is a very well-priced solution."

"Its price is very affordable, and basically, it is the standard of the industry. We have the Exchange 365 subscription, which includes the usage of Exchange Online. I don't know the specific cost, but it is the retail price of Microsoft 365 E3 licenses. Microsoft's licensing is not very easy to understand. Microsoft changes rules every other day, which makes it difficult for us to understand the licensing not only for Exchange but also for other products. It can sometimes be really complex to understand what you need to have in order to comply with Microsoft licensing."

"The product is quite cheap."

"The solution is expensive to maintain because it requires frequent updates and ongoing server maintenance."

"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."

More Microsoft Exchange pricing and cost advice

"When it comes to the licensing of Zimbra Collaboration, my license covers the servers and I find its terms to be much simpler than those of Microsoft Exchange."

"There is an annual standard licensing fee to use Zimbra Collaboration and there is no other cost."

"We pay yearly licenses for Zimbra Collaboration."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the price a four"

"We are using perpetual licenses. We have deployed it in our local data center, and we buy perpetual licenses on a per-user basis."

"The price of the solution is low."

"Zimbra Collaboration offers a good price-to-feature ratio."

"Zimbra Collaboration is expensive, and there is no perpetual license option."

More Zimbra Collaboration pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	41
Midsize Enterprise	28
Large Enterprise	35

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

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...

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What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange?

The initial setup was straightforward and fast.

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

I am aware of pricing aspects, and I would say it is affordable for what it is.

See all answers

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.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zimbra Collaboration?

The solution is competitively priced.

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What needs improvement with Zimbra Collaboration?

When it comes to administration tasks like configuring specific filters or group signatures, I have to dig into the configuration since there's nothing in the graphical or web interface. The soluti...

See all answers

Comparisons

Open-Xchange vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 19% of the time

KerioConnect vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 13% of the time

HCL Domino vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 9% of the time

Google Workspace vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 8% of the time

ProtonMail vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 7% of the time

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Open-Xchange vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 22% of the time

KerioConnect vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 10% of the time

Google Workspace vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 8% of the time

IceWarp vs Zimbra Collaboration

Compared 7% of the time

More Zimbra Collaboration Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange

January 2026

Download Microsoft Exchange product report

Buyer's Guide

Zimbra Collaboration

January 2026

Download Zimbra Collaboration product report

Also Known As

Exchange, MS Exchange

No data available

Overview

Built to deliver the enterprise-grade security and reliability that businesses require, Microsoft Exchange provides email, calendar and contacts on your PC, phone and web browser.

Microsoft

Zimbra Collaboration provides administrators and their end users innovative features that solve the challenges faced by organizations using today's legacy communications infrastructure.

Zimbra

Sample Customers

Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Scitec Nutrition, British Airways, InnoGames, Osteology Foundation, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, NTC Contracting

NEC Biglobe, City of Ventura, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Hola Publishing, BIG, Sleepwell, LaFayette College, Xmission, DNA, Ring Line, Future Group, TIGC

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange vs. Zimbra Collaboration

December 2025

Free Report: Microsoft Exchange vs. Zimbra Collaboration

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