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HCL Domino vs Pillir comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

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

HCL Domino
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
19th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Pillir
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
37th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.3
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Low-Code Development Platforms (34th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of HCL Domino is 0.9%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Pillir is 1.1%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HCL Domino0.9%
Pillir1.1%
Other98.0%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

FN
Owner at Prodej a Správa Nemovitostí s.r.o.
Long-term platform has supported secure mail, custom workflows, and reliable on-premise apps
I have noticed some weak points and downsides. HCL Domino is a Swiss army knife, which is the downside as well. It does many things, which is an advantage. The biggest downside is that it is a good product, but there are not that many applications for it. There are not that many ready-made applications. When they do exist, they tend to be somewhat pricey. I have not actually used HCL Domino's low-code tools. There are no low-code tools. HCL says there are, but frankly speaking, I have tried it and I always come back to the classic, the original HCL Domino. I do not see it as truly low-code. They call it Leap. Even when you want to do something more specific or more complex, you do need programming logic and then it stops being low-code. I would say that there are much better low-code platforms. N8N, for instance, looks nice with nice diagrams, especially for workflow and automation, which is where HCL Domino is lacking. The evaluation of the security features of HCL Domino in handling sensitive business information is that it has a peculiar security model, which I view as acceptable. Sometimes it may get in your way, but sometimes it simplifies things. It depends.
it_user130401 - PeerSpot reviewer
Application Developer Manager at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Helpful dashboard, supports offline capabilities for SAP, professional support, and a simple pricing model
I believe that this is the only product in the market that truly supports offline capabilities in an SAP environment. We have people going through all of their shifts without connectivity, yet it automatically later synchronizes well with SAP, without creating extra documents or anything like that. The ability to take ABAP code and automatically convert it to a mobile app and then adjust it to our needs is something that I haven't seen in any other low-code solution on the market, and it has been life-changing for us. I love how easy it is to manage the design of the process using drag and drop. I know they are working to make the developer experience even better, and I'm very excited about it. The modernizer element that converts existing ABAP business logic to the cloud-native mobile-friendly solution is a very powerful tool that I haven't seen in the market.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It serves as a centralized solution that fulfills all my requirements from operating my email server to managing various aspects of my operations."
"Overall, I would rate HCL Domino as eight out of ten. I would recommend HCL Domino and Notes applications for small and medium-sized companies since it offers a good return on investment."
"The full-text searching capabilities are great."
"We can scale it if we want to."
"For workflow applications or general applications, the rapid development capability is what we value most."
"HCL Domino is cost-effective because it serves as a complete platform with a web server, app server, and IT management system, eliminating the need for multiple platforms and complex integrations."
"HCL Domino is an application development and collaboration platform with strong stability and security. Deployment of this platform is easy and takes only 10 minutes."
"I like that HCL Domino is stable. It's a great product. I also like that HCL Domino is a mature product under IBM, which is why many companies use it."
"I love how they took the MIT Scratch concept and implemented it into the in-app backend. It makes the app creation so much more intuitive and easy to use."
"I believe that this is the only product in the market that truly supports offline capabilities in an SAP environment."
"Since you only pay for active users, and since it gives you an immediate improvement in efficiencies, the ROI is very quick."
"The ability to take ABAP code and automatically convert it to a mobile app and then adjust it to our needs is something that I haven't seen in any other low-code solution on the market, and it has been life-changing for us."
 

Cons

"One challenge I faced with HCL Domino was fully understanding its capabilities because initial use may lead to misconceptions based on simpler platforms."
"An area for improvement in HCL Domino is security. New enhancements in the IT industry mean that security should be improved. The HCL Domino GUI also needs improvement."
"The solution could improve Kubernetes or Dockers migration to new environments in the cloud."
"Recently, IBM sold the product to HCL. Since Pakistan and India have some problems on a domestic level, we were actually considering replacing it with Indian products from the organization. We're just facing some regulatory issues."
"HCL Domino could have a better interface."
"Many people are not very happy with its speed."
"The biggest problem for us is the performance. We have been working with this product for a long time and our database now contains approximately two million documents."
"Scalability is also an issue. We have problems with large databases."
"The modernizer element should convert a higher percentage of the ABAP code, moving it from approximately 75%, closer to 100%."
"While we're not in a place of letting LOB analysts build apps, at some point, we may want to give them a bit more freedom - as long as we can limit their ability to harm the ERP data. I would like to see more tools pertaining to this area."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is subjective and contingent on the intended usage."
"I'd rate it a seven out of ten in terms of price."
"We pay annually for the use of this solution and it is only a standard fee."
"For 30 licenses, we pay $1,500 every year. It is not an expensive product."
"The license for Domino is yearly. The price is high."
"It is less expensive compared to other vendors."
"The pricing is individually determined. For us, in our current deployment, we pay $12.50 Canadian per month per user."
"While I don't have precise pricing information at hand, my understanding is that it tends to be on the higher end."
"It is straightforward consumption based on the number of end-users."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
10%
Construction Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise2
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HCL Domino?
The Notes client is very expensive, costing around $105 per client. Overall, HCL Domino is a costly product.
What needs improvement with HCL Domino?
I am not missing anything significant from HCL Domino at the moment. There are some smaller things that can be improved, but these have already been posted on the HCL website where we can submit ou...
What is your primary use case for HCL Domino?
I have been using HCL Domino products since 1992, when it was known as Lotus Notes. I use it myself and also work as a consultant. We are an IBM Business Partner and HCL Business Partner. We are no...
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Comparisons

 

Also Known As

IBM Lotus Domino, Lotus Domino
appsFreedom
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

A1 Telekom, Acubiz, Afrisam, E. A. Juffali & Brothers, Fiducia & GAD, and Pakistan State Oil
Dole packaed food, Par Pacific, Brown Forman (Jack Daniels and other brands), Mobile Mini, Nabors
Find out what your peers are saying about HCL Domino vs. Pillir and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.