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HCL Notes vs ProtonMail comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Notes
Ranking in Email Applications
6th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
ProtonMail
Ranking in Email Applications
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of HCL Notes is 3.3%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ProtonMail is 6.4%, up from 6.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
HCL Notes3.3%
ProtonMail6.4%
Other90.3%
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

AT
IT Director at ATOS
Has improved email security through built-in encryption and supported offline work effectively
We don't use team workspace with HCL Notes; we use only Microsoft because it's incorporated with the Microsoft license. Based on my extensive experience with HCL Notes, I think HCL can make its product better by being more visible on the market because most companies don't support or use HCL anymore, and most integrators work with Exchange or Outlook rather than HCL Notes. Inside HCL Notes functionality, they have to be more visible in the market, which is very important.
AP
Media Content Creator Intern
Trust and anonymity play a key role in secure communications
I am uncertain about the two-factor authentication feature. I have had integrations with other Proton services and have used Proton VPN once, though it has limited features. Simple Mail, which was acquired by ProtonMail, has been very useful for me. The pricing is moderate. I have not used any paid services from ProtonMail. It is not very costly, but I have not used any premium services. I am a customer of ProtonMail. I would rate ProtonMail an eight out of ten due to their transparency and the utility of their simple login feature. My job and company name should remain hidden.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tech support is good."
"The product is very stable and scalable."
"Its security is absolutely stratospheric. In an application, you can lock down to field-level security. For example, I could log in and see a field in an HR database with salaries. When you log in, you see exactly the same database, but the field with the salary just isn't there. So, you can literally have field-level security on it, and you can also have secure encryption. For example, I could give you that database allowing you to see the salary, but a calculation that shows how much they get per month in another field is encrypted. So, you won't be able to see that because you don't have the encryption key. You can implement high-level security very simply."
"Notes is a perfectly adequate front end. It's clear and straightforward."
"The software's secure communication is particularly useful when dealing with professional entities."
"The initial setup was easy for me."
"The solution provides great security."
"HCL Notes is easy to customize as it is simple and fast, making it cost-effective for development."
"The auto encryption of attachments is valuable."
"What I appreciate most about ProtonMail is that they are trusted, which is why I choose them."
"ProtonMail is cost-effective for encrypted mailing, offering extensive features and customization, especially if you want to provide your own hashing and keys."
 

Cons

"The only improvement that we're planning to do is that all our applications are still designed in the layout and format of Notes version 4, and our plan over the coming years is to modernize their look. One of the things they're developing or considering deploying is a program to automatically upgrade the look and feel of databases. If they deploy that, that will be revolutionary. In other words, we decide on a corporate look and feel for our database and press a button. We've probably got 50 different applications in Notes, and it would just go through the whole lot and upgrade all of them to look the same."
"One minor issue was that using Notes to connect to clients not running on Domino, such as Gmail or Outlook, is not particularly great."
"One area for improvement would be making the interface more user-friendly."
"The solution could improve by adding some more features."
"The loading time can be excessive."
"Notes needs a major upgrade for the UI."
"The problem with Lotus Domino is that there are no new versions of the product."
"Some people complain that they want something more modern and jazzy."
"I think it is good but I feel that only tech-savvy people use ProtonMail. It is not that popular among other people."
"One improvement could be the integration between ProtonMail and Proton Pass, allowing sharing of specific secrets via email."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't remember how much we paid when we first bought the Domino license, but now, we pay only for the passport. For 30 client licenses, we pay about $1,500 per year, and we don't consider it very expensive for the quality of the product. In our case, we need 30 client licenses. So, we buy 30 client licenses independently of the server. It is very easy for us to choose and maintain this kind of license and get the passport advantage."
"The solution is expensive. There are many components or features which make the price very high."
"It was reasonably priced, but the product itself was not worth the cost."
"The price is reasonable."
"We pay licensing fees on a yearly basis."
"We pay annually for the use of the solution."
"It is far cheaper to license. It is a third of the cost of our Microsoft license for 10 times the amount of usage. Developing applications cost a fraction of anything else. There are two reasons for that. First of all, applications are very fast to build. All the security is already built into the platform, so you don't have to worry about security at all. The other thing is that because fewer people use it than, for example, Microsoft SharePoint, the salary commanded by programmers is slightly lower. So, it is not only faster; you also get cheaper programmers. So, you really win-win-win on it."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
10%
Construction Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
21%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise9
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with HCL Notes?
We don't use team workspace with HCL Notes; we use only Microsoft because it's incorporated with the Microsoft license. Based on my extensive experience with HCL Notes, I think HCL can make its pro...
What is your primary use case for HCL Notes?
We use HCL Notes as an email system. We currently only use it as an email application, though in the past we used it for additional applications.
What advice do you have for others considering HCL Notes?
Regarding HCL Notes supporting various business processes such as CRM, I don't use it, but if I have an issue, I contact the support and we are satisfied with that. I would rate HCL Notes 10 out of...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ProtonMail?
The pricing is competitive, offering good value on the average plan. It’s approximately $100 for annual billing.
What needs improvement with ProtonMail?
In terms of what can be improved in ProtonMail, I think it is good but I feel that only tech-savvy people use ProtonMail. It is not that popular among other people. Therefore, we do not use it for ...
What is your primary use case for ProtonMail?
My use cases include using ProtonMail for Drive occasionally for storing files. After some time, I stopped using that feature. Primarily, I use it for sending emails when I want to maintain anonymi...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

IBM Lotus Notes, Lotus Notes
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Connect2Cloud, Hansgrohe, Sauk County, Blue Water Shipping, FDBR, ibml, Multivac, Aarhus University Hospital, Hendricks Regional Health, Asian Paints, Integra Legal, Sunplus Technology, S¾SS, The Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sports, Nicrometal, Doncasters Group, Practice Plan, Barr, RACV, Neotechnik, Deutsche Notes User Group
Wall street journal,The New york times, The Gurdian, Forbes, Fox News
Find out what your peers are saying about HCL Notes vs. ProtonMail and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.