The product is used to create email addresses. We can also create groups and distribution lists. The product also provides email forwarding features. We can create rules, monitor the flow of emails, and trace messages. We can use connectors on the platform for email security and email signature.
IT Lead at CMH
An easy, simple, and secure product with an excellent message-tracing feature
Pros and Cons
- "Message trace is the most valuable feature of the product."
- "The interface is a bit confusing."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Message trace is the most valuable feature of the product. We can get a customized report on what is happening in our environment. We can trace all the emails, understand what happened, and get information on how they reached the user and the hops before delivery. It is very interesting.
We can also know how many deliveries failed and are pending in the queue and customize our reports how we want them to be. The product is very easy, simple, and secure. It is available everywhere because it is cloud-based.
What needs improvement?
The solution should have a better interface. The interface is a bit confusing. It should be more simple. The product should also improve the email flow. The rules are a bit complicated compared to the previous version. The previous version was much easier, and the latest one is more complicated.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for four to five years.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Exchange Online
October 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Exchange Online. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In my organization, 150 people use the product. I have plans to increase the usage by 10% in one or two years, depending on how much the organization will grow. The product is extensively used in our company.
How are customer service and support?
I had a very good first impression of the technical support team. Technically, the team is very good, very supportive, and very friendly. The team members are well-mannered while talking to customers. They follow up very well and are with us until the case is closed and we are satisfied.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I was using Lotus Notes five to six years ago. It was centrally based in our head office. I didn’t contribute to it. Later, when I applied to have my own email solution, I chose Microsoft.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is very easy to set up. We just have to enter the username and password and start using it. We can deploy emails to end users within five to ten minutes. The product is cloud-based.
What was our ROI?
In our business, everything is done by email applications, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Word. So, we get a 60% ROI on the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay a yearly licensing fee for the solution. The cost depends upon the plans we choose and the types of applications we want to use. We have a three-year deal with Microsoft to get a good price for the product. They are very willing to revise the price, accompany us for the setup, and give us a framework. They are very impressive to work with. There are no additional costs associated with the product.
What other advice do I have?
I am using the latest version of the solution. Most businesses and users are using Microsoft for email business. I would recommend the solution to others. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
System Administrator at KREBS+KIEFER
The tool has diverse functions and excellent support
Pros and Cons
- "Microsoft has many consultants who can provide support."
- "It is tricky to integrate Microsoft Exchange Online if you are in an infrastructure provided by other vendors."
What is our primary use case?
I work for civil ministries, and we exclusively use Microsoft products because we get them for a low price.
I handle security with Fortinet, and I run virtualization with Citrix. Those are my main tasks.
What is most valuable?
Microsoft has many consultants who can provide support.
What needs improvement?
Some of the Microsoft implementations of protocols are far from standard. They make their own standards, and you're out if you can't convert to them. With other Unix-based solutions, we had more flexibility to react to special problems we needed to solve. We can only solve the problem now if the problem is solvable with Microsoft.
Similarly, it is tricky to integrate Microsoft Exchange Online if you are in an infrastructure provided by other vendors. We have had an alternative solution to Exchange since 2016, and if we had problems, it was never a problem with Microsoft. It was a problem with the alternative product. The problem is that Microsoft has a standard, and you need to stick to it.
Even if the reason for the problems is Microsoft, the SMTP stack in Exchange is far from the RC of SMTP. If the alternative solution makes extensions to DNS for their active directory and if you use an RC DNS server, you would have problems with some of the records that Microsoft produces. They are not replicated. If you begin with Microsoft, you make everything Microsoft. It is difficult to mix Microsoft with other vendors or with other products. And you get less support if you want to choose a solution other than Microsoft.
Moreover, Exchange Online should work on integration with other services like Teams because when they work together, you gain benefits that other companies might not be able to give you.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Exchange Online since 2012, and we will use it in the future.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We formerly worked with Unix-based mail servers. The positive side is that you're flexible. You could use different hardware. You get limited with Microsoft.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft solutions are expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I prefer to use solutions like LibreOffice since they are free and cheaper, but our partners might have problems reading our data, and we would face difficulties cooperating.
The main problem with Microsoft products is that we get very dependent on them. Until 2016, I had to make decisions for the budget for the Southwest of Germany, and when you work with Microsoft, your budget is fixed to them, and you lose your ability to work with other solutions. That was a bad situation for us.
If you don't plan to use other solutions in the future, it's a good product. Otherwise, you have to be prepared that some problems may arise. Once you get married to Microsoft, it's a fierce divorce if you want to leave. I rate the solution an eight to nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Exchange Online
October 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Exchange Online. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Senior Information Technology System Administrator at Sumathi Holdings
Reliable, easy to access, and has good support
Pros and Cons
- "It's pretty reliable. We haven't had any issues with it."
- "The solution is expensive."
What is our primary use case?
We use the Microsoft email suite and we use this solution on a client basis so email can go through it. Everyone is using it currently.
What is most valuable?
We like that it is online and easy to access. We can work for everywhere. You don't have to install anything.
It's pretty reliable. We haven't had any issues with it.
The product is scalable.
Technical support has been very good.
We've witnessed a bit more ROI since switching to the cloud.
What needs improvement?
The solution is expensive.
The stability could always be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I'd rate the stability eight out of ten. We haven't had any issues, however, in previous versions, a few months back, we did have an outage.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable. I'd rate it ten out of ten for ease of expansion. There are 300 users on it right now. We do not have plans to increase usage.
How are customer service and support?
We've used technical support in the past. They have been very good. We have nothing to complain about.
How was the initial setup?
We don't have to do any setup. We just have to log in and start using it. Since it's cloud-based there is no configuration necessary.
We have three people who are able to deploy and manage the solution.
What was our ROI?
We've seen an ROI. When we were on-premises we had much more trouble. The cloud makes it much better. We're saving a bit more money.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is expensive. For the price, we do get value, however, it is a bit too much money.
We pay for the solution on a yearly basis. There are no extra costs on top of licenses.
What other advice do I have?
I'm always on the latest version since it is a cloud-based solution.
I'd recommend the solution to others if they have the budget.
I would rate the solution nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Ict User Support Technician at Jju
Good cloud environment, is stable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is the cloud environment."
- "The deployment is complex and has room for improvement."
What is our primary use case?
The primary use case of Microsoft Exchange Online is for emailing.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the cloud environment.
What needs improvement?
The deployment is complex and has room for improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
The deployment takes some time because it is complex.
We required 14 people for the deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We have a three-year license for $25,000.
What other advice do I have?
I give the solution a nine out of ten.
We have 700 people using the solution.
I recommend Microsoft Exchange Online to other users.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT Manager at Cerberus IT Solutions
Quick setup, useful online archiving, and highly scalable
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Exchange Online is if you have people that are geographically distributed from each other is good. For example, if you have people in the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, having an online solution works best because then you can reach the scale of the data centers that are available by Microsoft. Additionally, if you're only going to have two to three people using the solution the cost is a lot less than having an onsite server and licensing. It is highly beneficial in these areas."
- "The support from the vendor is fine. However, it could be faster, and some of the agents could be more knowledgeable, but it is a large solution, there's a lot of information that the agents have to work with. I can't always expect when I get connected to the first-level agent that they will know absolutely everything. Sometimes there's no replacement for pure experience."
What is our primary use case?
Microsoft Exchange Online is used for emails and it does a fantastic job.
The only reason why you would choose an online solution is the company that you're working at is they do not want to have an onsite server. The companies that want something on-site would choose the on-premise version.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Microsoft Exchange Online is if you have people that are geographically distributed from each other is good. For example, if you have people in the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, having an online solution works best because then you can reach the scale of the data centers that are available by Microsoft. Additionally, if you're only going to have two to three people using the solution the cost is a lot less than having an onsite server and licensing. It is highly beneficial in these areas.
The online archiving option works well. If you have a lot of emails and you want to keep them indefinitely, then you can use the online archive. It's available permanently and you can store quite a bit of email inside it.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Exchange Online for approximately four and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of the solution is good. I've only had an issue with it once or twice, but that was due to undersea cable damage.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Exchange Online is highly scalable.
We have a lot of users using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
The support from the vendor is fine. However, it could be faster, and some of the agents could be more knowledgeable, but it is a large solution, there's a lot of information that the agents have to work with. I can't always expect when I get connected to the first-level agent that they will know absolutely everything. Sometimes there's no replacement for pure experience.
I rate the support from Microsoft Exchange Online a three out of five.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of the cloud version is similar to the on-premise version. You can have a straightforward or semi-complex deployment. Cloud deployments do not become as complex as the on-premise version, but they can, depending on how it is used.
The deployment of the solution only takes five minutes. It is very useful when deploying from scratch. As soon as you have the domain up and running it is complete and ready to go.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license for the solution is cheap, but it could be more affordable in the long term.
What other advice do I have?
We have one level two or level three engineer that does the deployment and maintenance of the solution. The online version does not require a lot of people to run it.
I recommend this solution to others and they will not regret it. They should not use other solutions.
I rate Microsoft Exchange Online a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Manager, Information Technology at a venture capital & private equity firm with 10,001+ employees
It's easy to deploy and scale, but it can be complex to incorporate different departmental requirements into one platform
Pros and Cons
- "Exchange Online is consistent. It's easy to deploy and scale out to all of our organizations."
- "Exchange Online is consistent."
- "The efficiency could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Exchange Onlne for communication, collaboration, and some project management tasks.
What is most valuable?
Exchange Online is consistent. It's easy to deploy and scale out to all of our organizations.
What needs improvement?
The efficiency could improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Exchange Online for more than 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Exchange Online must be reliable and available for our operations.
How was the initial setup?
It can be complex to incorporate the unique requirements of each division into a single platform to meet all of the requirements. It's not hard to maintain Exchange Online, but you need an expert on your team and some outside help from the vendor.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Exchange Online seven out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
A stable solution with a good storage capacity
Pros and Cons
- "It has helped us because we don't have to worry about servers crashing."
- "The mail-blocking feature is not great and could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case for the solution is focused on the email team. We are currently in a hybrid environment and have some users on cloud and some on-premises. So we are migrating everybody from on-premises to the cloud by the end of this year.
How has it helped my organization?
It has helped us because we don't have to worry about servers crashing. Everything has been stable since we began migrating to the cloud.
What is most valuable?
We have found the availability of large storage valuable.
What needs improvement?
The mail-blocking feature is not great and could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for approximately three years and are currently using Microsoft Exchange 2013.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable, and we have not had any downtime in the last three years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable and approximately two people are required for deployment and maintenance.
How are customer service and support?
We rate customer service and support an eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have not previously used other solutions.
How was the initial setup?
I cannot comment on the initial setup as a third party did it for us.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented it via a Microsoft third-party vendor.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing cost varies. For example, we have E1 and E3 licenses. Currently, it's approximately E3 $20 per user.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution a nine out of ten. The solution is good, but the mail-blocking feature can be improved. I advise new users considering implementing the solution to consider using a third-party vendor for the implementation process.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT Manager at BUTEC s.a.l.
Helps reduced IT operations, scalable, and simple setup
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Exchange Online is it helps the IT department with problems."
- "I chose Microsoft Exchange Online to cut this risk on our day-to-day operations for organizational communication with clients."
- "Microsoft Exchange Online can improve message delivery. There are times we receive a message that the email failed to be delivered, and there is no reason given. We sometimes have emails that are flagged as spam that are not. We cannot do anything about it because it's not managed by us, it's managed by Microsoft."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Exchange Online for email, such as sending and receiving emails. Our critical people are on the cloud and our non-critical people are on the premise.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of Microsoft Exchange Online is it helps the IT department with problems.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft Exchange Online can improve message delivery. There are times we receive a message that the email failed to be delivered, and there is no reason given. We sometimes have emails that are flagged as spam that are not. We cannot do anything about it because it's not managed by us, it's managed by Microsoft.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Exchange Online for approximately two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We can experience some glitches but this could be the fault of our ISP and not the Microsoft Exchange Online. Other than this experience it has been stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Microsoft Exchange Online is good as long as you are paying for the approximate usage.
We have approximately 800 people using this solution in our group. We have many types of users, such as managers and architects.
How are customer service and support?
I have not used the support from Microsoft Exchange Online.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Microsoft Exchange Online is very simple.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of Microsoft Exchange Online is approximately $4 to $36 per user. They do not give a discount which is not good. The solution is expensive if you have 800 to 1,000 users. They should give discounts when you have a lot of users.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I evaluated Microsoft Exchange on-premise, and it has a lot of glitches and needs a lot of maintenance. I chose Microsoft Exchange Online to cut this risk on our day-to-day operations for organizational communication with clients. We decided to move forward with migrating most of our users from Microsoft Office 365 or Microsoft Exchange Online, where those critical users would be not in a risk position in case anything happened on the Microsoft Exchange on-premise.
What other advice do I have?
I chose to use Microsoft Exchange Online because of the disaster recovery, and clustering, and to make sure that our users are eligible for the business continuity process.
This solution is good if you have a critical business, you don't want to have any kind of down communication, you are located in multiple regions, your IT team is not large enough to maintain an Exchange on-premise servers or you don't have the large infrastructure to have clusters.
I rate Microsoft Exchange Online a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Director of IT ISO at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Quick to deploy, easy to set up, and works with minimal issue
Pros and Cons
- "It does what it's supposed to do with minimal issues, and the solution is very easy to set up and quite quick to deploy."
- "When you migrate from on-prem to cloud, if you choose to or are forced to do the hybrid, they need to devise a way to undo the hybrid."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for email and calendar functionality.
What is most valuable?
It works. It does what it's supposed to do with minimal issues.
It's one of the products that Microsoft has absolutely done its very best with.
The solution is very easy to set up and quite quick to deploy.
What needs improvement?
Right off the top of my head, I can't think of anything that I would change to improve Exchange.
The pricing could always be better.
Right now, I'm writing documentation to upgrade the existing Exchange and Active Directory from 2016 to 2019.
When you migrate from on-prem to cloud, if you choose to or are forced to do the hybrid, they need to devise a way to undo the hybrid. At present, once you establish a hybrid organization between cloud and on-prem, there's no way to undo it. Fixing that would be most beneficial. At the last organization I was at and did a migration, I had 31,000 users, and my largest mailbox was 90 gigs. It took three months to complete the migration.
We had no choice but to put it into hybrid mode due to the period of time. The MX record can only exist in one place. Therefore, you can't route mail from one system to another system. All the mail had to be routed through the on-prem and then synced from the on-prem to the cloud until everything was in the cloud. Then we were able to move the MX record from being on-prem to being in the cloud. Then all mail could be received in the cloud. However, then there was no way to tear down the Exchange organization on-prem. We are still left with a server, server maintenance, licensing, OS upgrades, patching, and everything on the on-prem server. The on-prem server is literally sitting there doing nothing except filtering air in the data center, costing me power, time and cooling. Therefore, fixing that would be awesome.
For how long have I used the solution?
I’ve used the solution throughout my career - for over 30 years.
How are customer service and support?
Typically, by the time I open a ticket, and they get back to me, I've figured out how to fix it. I don't call them until I'm really stuck.
They're not very good. I have had one of their technicians call me back more than once, and I'll go, "I figured it out, I fixed it." They flat asked me, "Well, how did you fix it?" I'm like, "You're Microsoft. You figure it out." They may not have the best understanding of the system.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've used Exchange my entire career. My best friend is currently trying to get rid of Lotus Notes where he's at. He's been working on that for a year now, and it just doesn't seem to want to go away. I've always been with this product. I did a bunch of work with GroupWise and got GroupWise out of the environment and so forth - replacing that with Active Directory. However, that really didn't have a mail component to it.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward. It only took a few hours to deploy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is always something that could be better. We always like to work towards protecting our budget.
I know what the cloud cost per user is. I don't have what the on-premises costs are.
What other advice do I have?
I’m a customer. I don't have any direct relationship with Microsoft.
I’d rate the solution a nine out of ten.
It's an excellent product. It's an excellent mail system. It does exactly what it's supposed to do. If you are under 5,000 employees, I would say that Microsoft 365 is the way to go. If you're over 3,000 or 5,000 employees, I would have some serious conversations about on-prem versus cloud. Once you get over about 3,000 or 5,000 employees that are mail users, the cloud really starts to get much more expensive than on-prem.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Sr. Network Administrator at ACMC
Enables us to integrate with other Microsoft applications and use as a hybrid solution
Pros and Cons
- "It's easy to use and there is more integration."
- "Integration with the Microsoft applications is the key for us."
- "The ActiveSync services and the mapping services could be improved."
- "There are a lot of issues with security."
What is our primary use case?
I cannot put everything on 365 because it's obviously not as fast. We have Microsoft Exchange because we have a lot of emails. Most of our emails, about 80%, are on Exchange Server locally, and just 20% are on 365. We use Microsoft Exchange as a hybrid solution. The users who are accessing from outside and the users who are on our priority list outside of the organization are on 365. But the other people that are local are on Exchange Server.
There are more than 200 people using this solution in my organization.
What is most valuable?
It's easy to use and there is more integration. We have Dynamics and 365 as a hybrid solution. Integration with the Microsoft applications is the key for us. It has better integration with other solutions.
What needs improvement?
The ActiveSync services and the mapping services could be improved.
There are a lot of issues with security. We had one issue, a bug, with the Active Directory services.
The cost of the license could be lower, and the security features could be better.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Microsoft Exchange since 2016.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's quite stable.
It's a core product from Microsoft, so it's quite stable because of that.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable. I chose this solution because it's easy to scale services. Services like Active Directory and ActiveSync aren't available in other solutions.
We don't have plans to increase usage right now.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is good.
How was the initial setup?
Installation is easy.
For installation, we have only two admins that can work on this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is really high. It's higher compared to other services.
The license is yearly.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Updated: October 2026
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