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HCL Notes vs Zoho Mail 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

HCL Notes
Ranking in Email Applications
8th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zoho Mail
Ranking in Email Applications
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of HCL Notes is 3.4%, up from 3.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoho Mail is 5.1%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Herad Howell - PeerSpot reviewer
Secure communications that prompts responses with room for improved user interface
I primarily value HCL Notes for its security features. The software's secure communication is particularly useful when dealing with professional entities. It ensures that business is conducted smoothly, allowing me to use my organization's email confidently, as opposed to my personal Gmail, which might not prompt responses from some entities.
Salem Shafik - PeerSpot reviewer
Zoho Mail suits small businesses well but can improve user organization features
For the admin side of Zoho Mail, they need to add features for organizing users in organizational units. We currently only have the ability to add users to groups, but some admins need to organize users in organizational units and apply security policies or other configurations based on these units.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The software's secure communication is particularly useful when dealing with professional entities."
"HCL Notes has fantastic built-in security. The email and personal communication components are excellent, but they are some applications provided by HCL that Notes previously provided when it was under IBM and Lotus. Everyone wants email, so that's just part of the product. However, more savvy users can build their own solutions for managing information, and that's the great thing about it."
"It offers unique capabilities, excellent security, and replication features."
"It is one of the best products in the world for workflow applications. It works very well for workflows or decisional processes where a task needs to be first approved by someone. After that, the task moves to the next or final stage where another person approves it with some notes or attached documents."
"The initial setup was easy for me."
"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."
"The most valuable feature is security. It's very easy to manage security on records, views, and tables."
"The security and performance of the solution are good even though our platform is variable, except for the mail services."
"It also offers the search functionalities. For end users, the search is quite easy to use. There are a few tabs to select to find exactly what you're looking for. It's pretty simple. As long as the data is available, you can use filters like from whom, to whom, subject, attachment, and even use advanced settings. It's pretty nice."
"We can create email accounts for our customers."
"I like Zoho Mail's user interface."
"The most valuable features of Zoho Mail are its security, integration with cloud storage, and wide range of features available. It integrates well with Outlook and mobile devices."
"Zoho Mail is a cost-effective solution."
"The notifications, scheduling, and meetings are all integrated."
"The solution has more security compared to other products. Zoho Mail comes with TLS and SSL. It has email-sharing features. It is an advanced product."
"Their experience with Zoho Mail has been positive, as customers haven't complained about anything."
 

Cons

"Some people complain that they want something more modern and jazzy."
"GUI and replication can be improved."
"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."
"While HCL has made significant advances in the user interface and diverse platform compatibility, some improvements could be made in user-friendliness and graphical interface enhancements."
"It is a heavy program and uses more resources than an email client should."
"The performance was terrible because we have a very large database with around three million records, including attachments and scanned comments. It was slow, and integrating new technologies or designs was also slow."
"The loading time can be excessive."
"I love this product. I have used it for many years, and I have been a developer for it. If anything, it can be faster in the client version. The client version is a little bit hard. It is not fast. This is the only problem I see. Otherwise, it is a very good product."
"They have issues when they are rolling out updates"
"Zoho Mail needs to improve its integration because direct integration is not possible with many applications."
"For the admin side of Zoho Mail, they need to add features for organizing users in organizational units."
"The solution’s stability could be improved."
"They could increase the available space which is currently 5 GB. Gmail provides 15 GB of storage space, which would be more useful."
"The solution doesn't need to be improved."
"Zoho Mail is not as good as G Suite, which has integrated calendars."
"The solution's meeting plans and online virtual activity task list could be improved and made more seamless."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay licensing fees on a yearly basis."
"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."
"It was reasonably priced, but the product itself was not worth the cost."
"The price is reasonable."
"The solution is expensive. There are many components or features which make the price very high."
"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."
"Zoho One has all 50 applications in it, and Zoho Mail is part of it. Zoho One is about 35 GBP per person per month. It includes Zoho Projects, Zoho Mail, Zoho CRM, and everything else."
"There is no license required to use Zoho Mail."
"The solution is more affordable compared to other products. It is cheap."
"Zoho Mail is more cost-efficient than its competitors."
"If you have ten users, for Google, you'll pay $100. With Zoho Mail, you'll only pay $30 to $40."
"The solution is not costly."
"The solution’s pricing is very reasonable."
"One of the reasons people use Zoho in Nigeria is because we can pay for it in Naira. It's very affordable already. For example, we can get Zoho Mail for somewhere between 1000 naira per user, which is less than one dollar. In my opinion, it's very affordable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
17%
Retailer
13%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HCL Notes?
The security and performance of the solution are good even though our platform is variable, except for the mail services.
What needs improvement with HCL Notes?
We are talking about HCL Notes, and I'm not certain it is easier to manage or has a better interface. HCL Notes had some AI capabilities and support, though it was not very efficient.
What is your primary use case for HCL Notes?
HCL Notes has features similar to what we can get on other products such as Outlook, with everything in one place. We find that Microsoft is more efficient compared to HCL Notes. We have seen some ...
What do you like most about Zoho Mail?
It also offers the search functionalities. For end users, the search is quite easy to use. There are a few tabs to select to find exactly what you're looking for. It's pretty simple. As long as the...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zoho Mail?
Zoho Mail is more cost-efficient than its competitors.
What needs improvement with Zoho Mail?
The solution's meeting plans and online virtual activity task list could be improved and made more seamless.
 

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
BBDO, HuffPost
Find out what your peers are saying about HCL Notes vs. Zoho Mail and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.