IceWarp vs Microsoft Exchange Online comparison

IceWarp and Microsoft are both solutions in the Email Applications category. IceWarp is ranked #6 with an average rating of 8.3, while Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.7. IceWarp holds a 5.2% mindshare in EA, compared to Microsoft’s 13.1% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of IceWarp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

IceWarp

Read 17 IceWarp reviews

2,512 Views
2,035 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Microsoft Exchange Online

Read 91 Microsoft Exchange Online reviews

4,234 Views
4,065 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

IceWarp

Microsoft Exchange Online

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

Microsoft Exchange Online and IceWarp offer contrasting solutions in the realm of business communication platforms. Based on the reviews, Exchange Online appears to have the upper hand due to its robust integration capabilities and user-friendly design, although IceWarp's competitive pricing and standalone versatility remain attractive.

Features: Microsoft Exchange Online is known for its intuitive user interface, strong collaboration features like email and calendar sharing, and seamless integration with the Microsoft ecosystem, which enhances stability and reliability. IceWarp, however, offers versatile cross-platform solutions with valuable features such as TeamChat for efficient communication and collaboration but lacks in advanced document management. It provides essential tools that support cost-effective communication strategies for businesses.

Room for Improvement: Users of Exchange Online report difficulties with migration and integration with non-Microsoft products and mention concerns over security vulnerabilities, complex configuration, and high pricing. There is also a desire for enhanced anti-spam and anti-malware tools. IceWarp users note issues with user rights management, cumbersome master databases, and express the need for improvements in security and documentation as well as more responsive support services.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Exchange Online's strong cloud presence offers consistent performance across public and hybrid environments, however, support responses can be slow. IceWarp offers flexibility with on-premises and private cloud options, which is appealing for those seeking cost-effective solutions. While customer service is generally appreciated, users note that faster support and better integration options are desired.

Pricing and ROI: Pricing for Exchange Online can be challenging for some users due to complex licensing and bundling multiple services, though it provides significant ROI through improved business efficiencies. IceWarp's pricing is more attractive as it is often lower than competitors like Google and Microsoft. This cost advantage makes it appealing for businesses looking to cut costs while maintaining essential communication features, offering significant ROI through its affordability.

To learn more, read our detailed IceWarp vs. Microsoft Exchange Online Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IceWarp vs. Microsoft Exchange Online

July 2025

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Helped 865,295 peers since 2012

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

IceWarp

Ranking in Email Applications

6th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Microsoft Exchange Online

Ranking in Email Applications

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of IceWarp is 5.2%, down from 6.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange Online is 13.1%, down from 16.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Applications

Featured Reviews

AvinashLotke

Delivery Head at Team Computers

Useful for collaboration and storage but improvement is needed in API integration

The solution has traditional SSL integration, SAML, and Federation Services. In its latest version, it added SAML integration. However, it needs to work on API integration, especially for dashboards or integration with SAP for log and data system management. It doesn't yet have the kind of API that Google and Microsoft provide for synchronizing users with Active Directory. I think IceWarp needs to improve in a few areas. They have two types of admin consoles - a web-based one and a remote one. I'd like to see these combined into a single web-based admin console. The log reading and information system also needs improvement. The current way of showing incoming and outgoing logs isn't very clear. For new users, it's hard to understand these logs, especially compared to Office 365 and other systems with easier-to-read logs. They should also add an export option to get all logs with a single click whenever we need them.

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NancyHartman

Business Process Manager/ Educational Technologist at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees

Effective collaboration achieved with versatile features and good customer service

There are always improvements needed. My personal issue with using OfficeSuite and the Exchange Server is that one has to cobble together a whole bunch of different applications. Therefore, a lot of scripting and programming knowledge is necessary. I am not an IT person; I am an educator, a trainer, a user. I want to get the work done. However, I find that the Exchange Server and possibly the way our company has set up access permissions require extensive programming knowledge. It might take six to eight weeks to get a programmer's time to build something, whereas I can use something like Smartsheet that will do everything I want without needing a programmer. Smartsheet is more end-user friendly compared to a Microsoft product. Microsoft believes an expert IT person should manage everything, however, I want to manage things on my own in a simplified way. That is not easy using the Exchange Server or Microsoft Office. It is not end-user friendly for development, and a programmer is needed. Once set up, using them as an end-user is fine. I find that the automations are not robust, and the FedRAMP systems are not robust. I have a few issues with Exchange and Office, but there's nothing I can do about it.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of IceWarp is the chat rooms and file-sharing, they are useful. It is convenient that everything is in one place. You can easily share and collaborate documents, making the program's unity a significant advantage."

"The TeamChat feature has been really good for our email management. It lets us collaborate, share files, and invite guests like Google Spaces or Microsoft Teams. I like the two-factor authentication for security. However, they need to improve their document collaboration tools, as their Word, Excel, and PowerPoint features are basic compared to Microsoft and Google."

"It has great communication capabilities for team chatting and web conferences."

"IceWarp has multiple applications that are easy to use for many people."

"The solution is easy to manage and includes features such as smart documents and the archiving of user data."

"It's scalable and stable."

"The solution has a very good log-in to the UI when compared to other solutions."

"Its price is the most valuable. It is definitely one of the lowest price solutions."

More IceWarp pros

"The solution is easy to use and the cloud version has taken a lot of challenges away from the user."

"The most valuable features of Microsoft Exchange Online are spam filtering, 50 GB of email storage, good integration with Outlook, and ease of management."

"The online version is faster, as it is a cloud instance. We can have massive mailbox capacity: 100 GB per user, which is huge. We can't provision such capacity internally, as the company would get burnt out paying for mailbox storage."

"It is a scalable product. We are using it for 500 users."

"We also create technical presentations, so most of the time we are dealing with MS Word and Excel. Sometimes, we also use Visio for diagramming. Our overall experience is good."

"It allows us to work from home, at any time or anywhere."

"This solution makes it very easy to receive and detect problems about the mail flow and offers very good reporting. In general, it's very easy to manage the organization's mailboxes."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Exchange Online is its performance."

More Microsoft Exchange Online pros

Cons

"Although the documentation is extensive and in depth, you must familiarize yourself with it before taking full advantage of the product."

"The solution needs improvements in security, particularly regarding document management."

"It is difficult to disable user rights on the console so some users accidentally delete their documents or user details."

"Our customers sometimes have problems receiving mail."

"The exchange compatibility mode is rather limited. Their technical support can also be better. They only provide online support, and there should be some option for escalating."

"With multiple databases for VOIP, chat and web IMAP, maintenance is cumbersome."

"The tool's configuration capabilities are not straightforward. Apart from that, if I want to archive emails into a vault so that they can be retrieved again later, the integration doesn't work, and IceWarp crashes."

"I would like to have a trial for mobile applications and more documentation similar to Google Drive with mobile applications."

More IceWarp cons

"What I don't like about Microsoft Exchange Online is too much integration because now it has many services connected to it. In the beginning, it was just email, and now it's also Teams and Visio, and many other services which I don't like. Microsoft Exchange Online should focus on one service. The product now lost focus, and this is its area for improvement. I would also like more freedom in choosing to use just one service, for example, just Microsoft Exchange Online, which means I don't need Teams or any other Microsoft product or service there. Right now, all services are either in the Microsoft Office suite, or there are more products or services integrated with Microsoft Exchange Online, and I'd like to just focus on one."

"The demo version we were provided had issues with emails bouncing or being delayed."

"My personal issue with using OfficeSuite and the Exchange Server is that one has to cobble together a whole bunch of different applications. Therefore, a lot of scripting and programming knowledge is necessary."

"I don't like it in general. It sort of has that Microsoft flavor to it, which is just the style they use and the way they color things and lay them out."

"When initially setting up, it took a bit of time because we had a lot of PST files with the users, and we had to migrate them batch by batch."

"Migration can be an issue if you do not have a good audit process."

"Exchange Online has issues with its mail flow and content search."

"The deployment is complex and has room for improvement."

More Microsoft Exchange Online cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the pricing and eight out of ten."

"Price-wise, it's a cheaper solution, without a doubt. Price is the reason we are still using the tool."

"Costs far less than other solutions."

"Our licensing is on a yearly basis. There were no additional costs."

"The solution is inexpensive which is its main benefit."

"The license is based on the number of users."

"Pricing and licensing is very competitive and in some cases, cheap."

"There are various licensing plans available based on geographic zone."

More IceWarp pricing and cost advice

"The price is a bit high. It is especially expensive in the Indian market."

"The model is one which is pay-per-use go. There is no license. We are talking about per-user subscription-based use."

"The pricing for Microsoft Exchange Online is quite reasonable, in my opinion. Many licensing options are available so that we can choose based on the customer's needs. For example, if a customer only requires mailbox features, we can recommend Plan One or Plan 2. We can suggest an E3 or E5 license if they need the entire Office suite. There are also premium subscriptions for enterprise customers, offering additional security features. Overall, I don't find the pricing costly because Microsoft provides many features and security capabilities, making it reliable for all customers, depending on their requirements."

"The price of the license depends on a lot of factors, such as the number of licenses and company specifics."

"I have no opinion."

"We pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution."

"It is a cluster solution."

"The pricing could be improved."

More Microsoft Exchange Online pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IceWarp?

It's scalable and stable.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IceWarp?

IceWarp was very cost-effective, offering services at a significantly lower cost than Google, which was appealing for our organization.

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What needs improvement with IceWarp?

The solution needs improvements in security, particularly regarding document management. Users currently have the rights to delete smart documents, which poses a challenge for administrators. A mor...

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What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange Online?

The benefits are widespread and effective communication. We use Microsoft Teams for meetings within and outside our organization. Additionally, Teams can be used for chat, allowing us to track comm...

See all answers

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

The cost of Microsoft Exchange Online varies between $4 and $25 per user per month, depending on the different plans we use for different users.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Exchange Online?

The mobile version of Microsoft Outlook has limited features compared to the desktop version. We find fewer features in the mobile version of Microsoft Exchange Online, so that could be improved if...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 31% of the time

Google Workspace vs IceWarp

Compared 16% of the time

Zimbra Collaboration vs IceWarp

Compared 15% of the time

Microsoft Exchange vs IceWarp

Compared 14% of the time

KerioConnect vs IceWarp

Compared 7% of the time

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Google Workspace vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 46% of the time

Open-Xchange vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 11% of the time

Amazon WorkMail vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 10% of the time

Zoho Mail vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Exchange vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft Exchange Online Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IceWarp

August 2025

Download IceWarp product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange Online

August 2025

Download Microsoft Exchange Online product report

Also Known As

No data available

Exchange Online, Exchange Online Plan 1, Exchange Online Plan 2, MS Exchange Online

Overview

IceWarp helps thousands of organizations streamline all areas of business communication and become more profitable by providing Mail Server complete with GroupWare, Calendaring and Document Management, accessible through an intuitive WebClient, simple to setup in WebAdmin. Customize with add-ons: spam and virus protection, Instant Messaging with video calls, mobile sync and more.

IceWarp

Exchange Online helps protect your information with advanced capabilities. Anti-malware and anti-spam filtering protect mailboxes. Data loss prevention capabilities prevent users from mistakenly sending sensitive information to unauthorized people. Globally redundant servers, premier disaster recovery capabilities, and a team of security experts monitoring Exchange Online around the clock safeguard your data.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Marriott, Toyota, Sony, Wendy's, Canon

Bank Alfalah Ltd., Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Blue Star Infotech, Scitec Nutrition, Resolution Films, British Airways, Empire Cinemas, InnoGames

Buyer's Guide

IceWarp vs. Microsoft Exchange Online

July 2025

Free Report: IceWarp vs. Microsoft Exchange Online

Find out what your peers are saying about IceWarp vs. Microsoft Exchange Online and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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