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Zarafa vs Zimbra Collaboration 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

Zarafa
Ranking in Email Applications
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Zimbra Collaboration
Ranking in Email Applications
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
28
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Zarafa is 1.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zimbra Collaboration is 6.7%, down from 8.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Zimbra Collaboration6.7%
Zarafa1.6%
Other91.7%
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

it_user302112 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant IT Infrastructure at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
Our customers are able to use this groupware solution to connect to Active Directory and OpenLDAP, although Postgres support would be an improvement.
Zarafa has several very valuable features, among them a very good Outlook-like web interface. Furthermore, ZPush for talking between ActiveSync and mobile devices is a valuable asset. In addition, one is able to connect via Outlook and the exchange protocol to Zarafa. This makes Zarafa a free, and working, alternative to Microsoft Exchange.
Vidya Shree - PeerSpot reviewer
CTO at Molecular Connections Private Limited
Deploys quickly and has a good web interface
Zimbra Collaboration has a good web interface When it comes to administration tasks like configuring specific filters or group signatures, I have to dig into the configuration since there's nothing in the graphical or web interface. The solution’s forums don't have much information or…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This makes Zarafa a free, and working, alternative to Microsoft Exchange."
"Zimbra Collaboration is a good tool for video calls...Zimbra Collaboration's initial setup phase was easy."
"It has all collaboration features, such as document sharing, video conferencing, chatting, task sharing, and calendar sharing."
"The product is easy to set up."
"Despite sticking with Gmail for over a decade in terms of business, Zimbra have impressed me with some other aspects as well; if the time comes, I would prefer Zimbra to my current solution."
"The product is very stable."
"Zimbra Collaboration's sharing features are most valuable."
"Most valuable to us is the fact that it's open source, so it's possible to do a lot of customization."
"We can control all the data in my IT infrastructure."
 

Cons

"Not really, although the Zarafa-index component was using a lot of memory and disk I/O bandwith."
"The tool should improve its multi-cloud feature."
"In the next release, Zimbra Collaboration should include a security feature to allow access for mobile device administrators."
"It would be great if a group chat feature were created to allow for a team environment."
"I would like to see a Microsoft schedule function added."
"The solution could improve by making it easier to use."
"The new patches are, at times, not so good, so we don't install them, causing the tool to be not so stable overall."
"There are some bugs we found that could be fixed."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"I use Zimbra Collaboration's community version. We may move to the enterprise version since prices are affordable."
"We pay yearly licenses for Zimbra Collaboration."
"We are using perpetual licenses. We have deployed it in our local data center, and we buy perpetual licenses on a per-user basis."
"We do not pay for licenses to use this solution."
"The solution is not expensive compared to other products."
"Zimbra Collaboration is expensive, and there is no perpetual license option."
"There is an annual standard licensing fee to use Zimbra Collaboration and there is no other cost."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the price a four"
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

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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 needs improvement with Zimbra Collaboration?
When it comes to administration tasks like configuring specific filters or group signatures, I have to dig into the configuration since there's nothing in the graphical or web interface. The soluti...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Tivoli, InterAkt Contour, Riagg Rijnmond, Lammerink, Revell, KMP, International School of the Hague
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, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others in Email Applications. Updated: May 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.