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Google Workspace vs Zimbra Collaboration comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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

Google Workspace
Ranking in Email Applications
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
101
Ranking in other categories
Wireless Email (2nd), Cloud Storage (6th), Content Collaboration Platforms (2nd)
Zimbra Collaboration
Ranking in Email Applications
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Google Workspace is 22.9%, down from 23.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zimbra Collaboration is 9.0%, down from 10.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Sunil-Nair - PeerSpot reviewer
Email collaboration and accessibility have improved team productivity
The valuable features include the email service, email updates, and Google Drive. People are given email access to Google Drive. The team can share manual files and work accordingly. They can access different teams from anywhere, collectively putting files, sharing them, and managing them. Additionally, the manufacturing product does not require any downgrades. It works fine and continuously for the last three or four years. Users can access their emails from anywhere in their browser without a laptop or can directly access from Gmail. This is helpful for salespeople.
Muhammad Talha Baig - PeerSpot reviewer
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 initial setup is easy because it's all pre-configured."
"Ability to co-edit and collaborate on content."
"Good search features, reliable storage, and quick thinking."
"If I'm addressing certain emails from banks — automatic emails, like OTP, etc. — I can create rules and forward that OTP to the specific email IDs. You can create rules and deliver mail to different groups using the forwarding feature. It's handy."
"In terms of email, I could probably do the same things with other programs, however, I find 90% of my usage is Gmail."
"personally prefer to use G Suite applications, such as Gmail, Slides, and Sheets, because they give you the freedom to share the document you're editing and co-work with other colleagues simultaneously."
"The most valuable features are the speed at which G Suite Enterprise works."
"Google Workspace is an excellent tool for communicating with people, which allows users to collaborate and edit files simultaneously."
"The product is easy to set up."
"It has all collaboration features, such as document sharing, video conferencing, chatting, task sharing, and calendar sharing."
"Zimbra Collaboration has a good web interface."
"Zimbra Collaboration's best feature is its compatibility with Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol, which allows users to use Outlook on Windows or MacOS."
"The most valuable feature of Zimbra Collaboration is email functionality."
"Good email solution and it's open-source."
"The Zimbra Collaboration's most valuable feature is web access."
"We can control all the data in my IT infrastructure."
 

Cons

"They could increase the number of third-party integrations on offer."
"The tool should improve its on-prem capabilities to include people who are working offline. The pricing is also a challenge for both the Indian and overseas markets. The tool has a cap of 300 licenses. The product's price has also increased by 10 percent. Businesses are struggling to justify the ROI. Users cannot block emails unless they have a strong firewall."
"I am not a big fan of how Gmail organizes the mail. I find it complicated to see which mail from which users send at which date. Especially if there is a lot."
"When I compare with Office 365, G Suite has fewer features."
"Our users have faced an issue with increasing their email quotas over the last three months."
"I found that there is no desktop application for this solution, and that's a major fault of this application."
"I talked with G Suite recently because my G Suite has a temporary block. I communicated with the G Suite representative or Google representative, and he told me that I sent a lot of emails, so my email was temporarily blocked. But I know I have not sent more than 500 emails daily to reach the limit. I sent only 5,200 emails, but unfortunately, my G Suite account was temporarily blocked for 24 hours, and then he resolved it. I think they need to improve G Suite because this temporary block is not fair."
"Some concerns over security, but there are moves to address this and provide admin tools to secure content and adhere to data protection regulations."
"There are some security issues."
"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."
"Zimbra should provide a desktop client. Right now, we are using a web browser for accessing our emails. There should also be a desktop client."
"We have had an issue with security."
"The tool should improve its multi-cloud feature."
"I would like to see a Microsoft schedule function added."
"The solution’s forums don't have much information or documentation on administration tasks."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of G Suite Enterprise is reasonable compared to HotSpot. I'm not going to say G Suite Enterprise is affordable. It's valuable, you find value in paying your gas bill or your electricity bill, because of what it allows you to do."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"Careful consideration should be given to the different licensing options and provisions should be made for additional applications that may be required for your particular business."
"G Suite and Microsoft Office 365 offer products with similar functionality at several different price points. Zoho offer a more extensive range of products and attempts to provide all the applications required to run most small and medium-sized businesses."
"Traffic management tools may be required for larger setups and should be included in any pricing calculations."
"We receive value for the price that we pay."
"It's cheaper to run a couple of users in a Google platform than what it would be with Microsoft Exchange."
"Licensing costs are on a yearly basis."
"It's very expensive. When we compare the cost with Google Workspace, it's so expensive."
"Zimbra Collaboration is expensive, and there is no perpetual license option."
"The solution is not expensive compared to other products."
"The price of the solution is low."
"We pay yearly licenses for Zimbra Collaboration."
"The solution is competitively priced."
"I use Zimbra Collaboration's community version. We may move to the enterprise version since prices are affordable."
"There is an annual standard licensing fee to use Zimbra Collaboration and there is no other cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
19%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Workspace?
Easy-to-build forms are allowing me to get feedback and information from my internal teams as well as from the customers very efficiently with the result data in structured manner.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Workspace?
I'm not satisfied with the cost because I feel these services should be free as they use our data.
What needs improvement with Google Workspace?
As far as Google Workspace is concerned, it is working fine for us. Our needs are fulfilled, so that's fine. However, integration with Microsoft Outlook could be improved. The new integration was i...
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

G-Suite Enterprise, G-Suite, Google Apps for Business, G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G-Suite Basic, G-Suite Business, Google Vault
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

There are over five million businesses that use Google Apps for Business worldwide. Some key customers include The Roche Group, National Geographic, American Red Cross, City of Los Angeles, Flight Centre, and Konica Minolta.
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 Google Workspace vs. Zimbra Collaboration and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
845,589 professionals have used our research since 2012.