I use the solution in my company because it is an email system, and it can be hard to get by without one. I also use the tool for different companies and offer support for it. As a consultant, I support it for many different organizations. I use the tool across a whole bunch of different industries, so there are too many to name.
Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Needs to offer better support services but is beneficial for managing emails
Pros and Cons
- "The tool's most valuable feature is associated with the fact that it stands out for being beneficial for managing emails."
- "At the end of the day, the biggest area for improvement is having better and more knowledgeable support technicians."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The tool's most valuable feature is associated with the fact that it stands out for being beneficial for managing emails.
What needs improvement?
At the end of the day, the biggest area for improvement is having better and more knowledgeable support technicians. Anytime I have to call in with issues about Microsoft Exchange, I know more about it than the consultants or some other people to whom Microsoft pays to offer support for the product.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have experience with Microsoft Exchange since it came into existence. I used to work at Microsoft, so I have been familiar with Microsoft Exchange when it was Microsoft BPOS. My company has a partnership with Microsoft.
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April 2026
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I am a small business person, so the tool's scalability is just fine.
The tool is meant for small businesses.
How are customer service and support?
I rate the technical support a zero out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I don't see any differences between Microsoft Exchange and some other email applications I have used. Microsoft Exchange is just a tool. The biggest I see in Microsoft Exchange is that it is much easier to access it through multiple platforms.
What was our ROI?
There is no ROI from the use of the tool in my company. It is a required piece of tool for business. I can have a functionality-related discussion about the tool that I need to run the business. The tool's ROI discussion is kind of moot for me.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution's pricing is fine. There are not many options out there, so it is not fair to rate the tool's pricing on a scale of one to ten. I do think the tool offers value for money.
What other advice do I have?
The security and compliance features impacted our organization to a minimal extent because we use third-party products for most of such stuff.
Speaking about the tool's integration capabilities with other software, I would say that they vary a lot, so some things are good, while some areas are challenging.
I utilize the mobile access features of the tool all the time.
Speaking about the tool's productivity, I would say it is the number one email platform in the world. The product works just fine. It does what I need it to do. The only time I get frustrated is when it breaks down or doesn't do things the way it is supposed to and when the support people are unable to assist me.
As I support Microsoft Exchange for many people, I can recommend it to others.
When the tool is working just fine, it is a great product. When it breaks and I cannot get it working the way it is supposed to, it is bad.
I rate the tool a five out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Chief Operating Officer at Anyrobotics RPA Experts
Provides easy exchange of files, documents, and simple setup
Pros and Cons
- "The deployment is a plug-and-play process."
- "I don't have the best impression of customer service and support. It should be faster and more clear, and more human. T"
What is our primary use case?
We use it to share information and collaborate with each other, even when we're working remotely.
We exchange files and documents, and we also use it to store recordings and other information from meetings with our customers.
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
There are some bad days or hard ways when it's tough to connect with people who don't have MS Teams products. But this is only a hard situation when we need to communicate with people outside MS Teams.
So the connectivity could be improved.
Another area of improvement is the sharing of files, the sharing part of Teams. How I can easily share information files or video files with the colleagues I'm working with? So, this is an area for valuable improvement.
Another area of improvement is support. It should be faster and more clear, and more human.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for the last five years. We use the latest version.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability a seven out of ten. There are hard days.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is very easy to scale. Just add on licensing and keep working the same way.
There are around eight end users in our company. It's suitable for our current level. We're a small company, so it's quite okay.
How are customer service and support?
I don't have the best impression of customer service and support. It should be faster and more clear, and more human. The support team deep dives into thousands of documentation pages, making problem-solving time-consuming without human interaction.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very straightforward. It just took a minute. It is very easy.
What about the implementation team?
The deployment is a plug-and-play process. You simply need to access the administrator platform, set up the configurations easily, and share enrollment links with people. It's a very easy process.
The deployment was done in-house. However, you need an IT-oriented person, an IT manager with knowledge of Microsoft.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license can be both monthly or yearly. It is not expensive.
What other advice do I have?
It's a useful tool for remote work and communication. Start slow and educate yourself. Learn about the solution and give it a try.
Overall, I would rate the solution a 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
April 2026
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Exchange. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2026.
893,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Business manager at Tata Communications Ltd
A great tool that adds new features regularly and provides a good ROI
Pros and Cons
- "Technical support is good."
- "The cost could be cheaper."
What is our primary use case?
We wanted to centralize email to a specific server. We needed to manage the Exchange from one place and centralized everything. We chose Office 365 for all of our mailboxes, and the emails run through Exchange. With one click, we can access all of Microsoft's products.
What is most valuable?
Everything is good.
New features come in regularly.
It helps users communicate effectively with outside parties.
The whole Microsoft Team has created a great tool that has helped improve our capabilities and productivity. We use the solution daily.
Technical support is good.
We have witnessed an ROI.
The solution is stable.
It can scale well.
What needs improvement?
The solution is serving the purposes we have.
The cost could be cheaper.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for 13 or 14 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is fine. There have only been one or two incidents where Exchange did not work. However, for the most part, it is issue-free. There are no bugs or glitches.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We currently have 12,000 mailboxes that leverage this solution.
The solution is scalable. It is very easy to expand usage.
We do not have plans to increase usage at this time.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is fine. We haven't had issues with them. We've found them helpful.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of the solution is okay. It depends on the level of knowledge of the people setting it up. I found it easy since I have past experience. It needs to be implemented with people with past experience. It is easy to upgrade.
The time it takes to deploy depends on the number of mailboxes.
We have a team that handles deployment and maintenance. We manage the solution for ourselves and sometimes for our clients.
What about the implementation team?
We are able to handle the implementation ourselves. I'm quite comfortable with the process and can do it myself. It does take a certain level of knowledge.
What was our ROI?
I have witnessed ROI while using the solution. It has good value for money. However, it depends on the use case. It's a journey for every organization. Each business might witness a different ROI across a different amount of time.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing model is a bit costly. They should work to lower the cost for the Indian market.
We pay for the solution yearly.
What other advice do I have?
We're a Microsoft partner.
We are using the latest version of the solution. I'm not sure which version number we are on. We migrated from on-premises to the cloud three or four years ago.
We are a telecom service provider and have integrated Microsoft with a variety of products. It also integrates with mobile. It allows us to provide multiple services, including control and command centers.
Technology is moving fast in this space, and there are more service providers out there. Many people are beginning to look at Google as an alternative. However, I've used Exchange for the last 14 years, and I am very familiar with it. Still, others are coming up fast, and more competition is on the horizon.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Technical Consultant at TatweerIT
Integrates well with other tools and software; scalable and has good stability
Pros and Cons
- "What I love about Microsoft Exchange is the good integration since 2013, particularly its integration with the calendar and other software such as Zoom, TeamViewer, AnyDesk, etc."
- "What I love about Microsoft Exchange is the good integration since 2013, particularly its integration with the calendar and other software such as Zoom, TeamViewer, AnyDesk, etc."
- "After 2022, users of Microsoft Exchange have to migrate mailboxes to Microsoft Exchange Online, and what I'd like to improve is for Microsoft to publish more on-premise versions for customers using Microsoft Exchange. Having more security is another room for improvement in the solution, particularly for mailboxes that develop the Exchange Edge rule to protect internal mailboxes. What I'd like to see from Microsoft Exchange in the future is for Microsoft to still update the latest, existing version which is 2022. I'd like Microsoft to still push more cumulative updates for Microsoft Exchange 2022."
- "After 2022, users of Microsoft Exchange have to migrate mailboxes to Microsoft Exchange Online, and what I'd like to improve is for Microsoft to publish more on-premise versions for customers using Microsoft Exchange."
What is our primary use case?
Microsoft Exchange is the main mail server of Microsoft. It's a popular mail server, so a common use case for Microsoft Exchange is for small, medium, and enterprise-scale businesses. It's a mail solution, voicemail solution, live calendar solution, etc.
What is most valuable?
What I love about Microsoft Exchange is the good integration since 2013, particularly its integration with the calendar and other software such as Zoom, TeamViewer, AnyDesk, etc.
What needs improvement?
After 2022, users of Microsoft Exchange have to migrate mailboxes to Microsoft Exchange Online, and what I'd like to improve is for Microsoft to publish more on-premise versions for customers using Microsoft Exchange. Having more security is another room for improvement in the solution, particularly for mailboxes that develop the Exchange Edge rule to protect internal mailboxes.
What I'd like to see from Microsoft Exchange in the future is for Microsoft to still update the latest, existing version which is 2022. I'd like Microsoft to still push more cumulative updates for Microsoft Exchange 2022.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Microsoft Exchange for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I'm impressed with Microsoft Exchange, and I'm rating it five out of five, stability-wise.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Exchange is a scalable solution.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up Microsoft Exchange from 2016 to 2022 in an SMB environment is straightforward because Microsoft combined all the cache, hubs, and mailboxes into one server. For large enterprises, the initial setup for Microsoft Exchange isn't as straightforward because large enterprises require more sophisticated setups.
How long it takes to deploy Microsoft Exchange depends on the size of the environment. For example, if I'm going to implement the solution in a small or medium-sized customer environment, then the deployment would take approximately one to two days, but if I'm implementing Microsoft Exchange for a more complex environment that has a minimum of 10 mailboxes and multiple sites, the deployment alone can take up to one week.
What about the implementation team?
My team is responsible for deploying Microsoft Exchange for customers, so the implementation is in-house. I lead the deployment team.
What was our ROI?
The ROI you get from Microsoft Exchange can be very, very broad in terms of values. The solution, particularly the on-premise version, can save you additional costs compared to deploying it on the cloud, but the downside is the maintenance cost, and during new releases or updates, you may want to schedule the downtime in advance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't have enough information about the licensing costs of Microsoft Exchange, but I do know that you need two types of licenses to run it. You need the product key and the client access key to activate Microsoft Exchange. This means that apart from the standard Microsoft Exchange licensing fees, you have to pay additional costs.
What other advice do I have?
I'm working in a professional service company that's implementing Microsoft Exchange on-premises for customers. I implemented the solution on-premises in 2016, 2019, and 2022. In 2016, I also performed a migration from Microsoft Exchange to Microsoft Exchange Online.
My current company has between fifty to one hundred users of Microsoft Exchange, but in terms of the number of clients my team has implemented the solution for on-premises, it's potentially five thousand.
Deploying Microsoft Exchange for SMB would require just two people, but deploying it for enterprise-scale businesses would require a minimum of three people. Maintaining Microsoft Exchange requires five to seven people for SMBs, and up to twelve in enterprise environments because maintaining the solution isn't as easy.
My advice to anyone looking into implementing or using Microsoft Exchange is the same advice I give to my team every day, which is to be more aware of new information found on the internet in terms of troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange problems. You should also keep on training about sophisticated setups for the solution because you deal with aggressive customers, so I encourage my team to learn about Microsoft Exchange designs, troubleshooting mechanisms, etc.
I'm rating Microsoft Exchange as nine out of ten.
My company is an implementer and consultant for Microsoft Exchange, not a reseller or retailer. The customer is responsible for purchasing the Microsoft Exchange license.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner/Implementer
IT Cordinator at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
Provides unlimited storage and the integration with OneDrive comes in very handy
Pros and Cons
- "Provides unlimited storage for our mailbox."
- "Microsoft provides you with an ease of control and management and sets certain expectations from the software that you can't have if you implement other, cheaper solutions that are likely to be more difficult to manage or that are unable to adapt to new demands."
- "The licensing model could be improved."
- "The licensing could be better."
What is our primary use case?
We use this product for emails and for meetings. I'm the IT coordinator.
What is most valuable?
The biggest advantage of this product is that it provides us with unlimited storage for our mailbox. The availability and simplicity of getting emails is great. There's an accessible online version and you have the full Office package available at any moment beyond Outlook. The integration with OneDrive comes in very handy. The Outlook Exchange server becomes your go-to place for storing conversations and correspondence.
What needs improvement?
The licensing could be better. There are several levels of licensing depending on the number of users and features but it lacks the breakdown of what's included in the license, and the possibility to customize what you really need. There are likely to be features included that you don't need but there's no opt out option for those.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability has improved tremendously. These days it requires an extraordinary set of circumstances to not be able to access your emails, to send or receive emails, or to access the Exchange server.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is quite scalable. We have over 1,000 users.
How are customer service and support?
We've contacted technical support several times and they've been responsive. They're pretty good, in general.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. There's really no problem with the setup of the latest Exchange servers and Exchange in general. We deployed in-house and didn't need any external partner to handle it.
What other advice do I have?
Microsoft provides you with an ease of control, and management, and sets certain expectations from the software that you can't have if you implement other, cheaper solutions that are likely to be more difficult to manage or that are unable to adapt to new demands. It has a really nice scalable environment. You can start with the smallest Windows license and then just continue scaling up and upgrading, without the need to completely change and start over as your organization grows. The backbone is there on Microsoft.
I like this product and rate it nine out of 10.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Lean manager at Gazprombank
Scalable mail server solution that handles primary functionality including message delivery, archiving and calendars
Pros and Cons
- "This solution handles all of our primary functionality including email, message delivery, message archiving and calendars."
- "This solution handles all of our primary functionality including email, message delivery, message archiving and calendars."
- "In our current situation, the disappearance of sanctions would be a tangible improvement. We are basically cut off from technical support and it's very difficult to obtain any updates."
- "In our current situation, the disappearance of sanctions would be a tangible improvement. We are basically cut off from technical support and it's very difficult to obtain any updates."
What is our primary use case?
This solution handles all of our primary functionality including email, message delivery, message archiving and calendars.
What is most valuable?
The primary features I use are email and calendar.
What needs improvement?
In our current situation, the disappearance of sanctions would be a tangible improvement. We are basically cut off from technical support and it's very difficult to obtain any updates.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable solution. We already have over 10,000 users in Microsoft Exchange and the total size of the databases exceeds several hundred terabytes.
How are customer service and support?
In all large corporate installations, the first level of tech support is always the local support team. Only if they aren't able to handle the case, we contact tech support in Microsoft. For now, because of sanctions, this option is quite limited.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We had used IBM Notes before but it is an inferior product compared to Exchange.
How was the initial setup?
I barely had any issues with initial setup of Microsoft Exchange. It involves a few clicks on the initial setup dialogue and that's it.
What other advice do I have?
This solution is used by many large organizations and I don't know of any viable alternatives. If there are a large amount of users in an organization, Exchange is probably the best option. If there are less than 1000 users, opensource software may be a better alternative.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Information Technology Manager at Factories Corporation of Jamaica
Simple to use, reliable, and expands easily
Pros and Cons
- "The solution can scale well."
- "The flexibility that Microsoft has to offer, especially when it comes to email, is better."
- "In terms of configuring the product, that's definitely an area in which they can make some improvements on."
- "Technical support could be improved. It takes you a while to get through to a technician, especially on the Microsoft side."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution to send and receive emails.
What is most valuable?
In terms of usability, it’s pretty simple.
It’s stable.
The solution can scale well.
What needs improvement?
In terms of configuration, you definitely have to go way in depth. In terms of configuring the product, that's definitely an area in which they can make some improvements on.
The initial setup is complex.
Technical support could be more responsive.
From an on-premise standpoint, we’d like more security. I would definitely want to see some more security than Office 365 has to offer.
For how long have I used the solution?
I’ve used the solution for a couple of years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We’re able to do what we need to. In that sense, it’s stable and reliable. We haven’t had issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is quite scalable.
We have about 150 people on the solution currently. Everyone is pretty much using it. Right now, we’re just sticking to the basics. I’m not sure if we have plans to increase usage.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support could be improved. It takes you a while to get through to a technician, especially on the Microsoft side. They need to be more responsive.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have utilized G Suite. The flexibility that Microsoft has to offer, especially when it comes to email, is better. Sometimes you need the ability to be able to make certain configurations and policy changes that Google might not offer.
How was the initial setup?
The solution isn’t exactly straightforward. It’s pretty complex. The configuration can be difficult. It takes a while to set up, and you need to have some advanced knowledge in order to implement it correctly.
Based on who you have that is doing the deployment, it could take up to about three days or even maybe up to a week. However, in terms of a deployment plan, we need to analyze in terms of what we do internally and what outcomes we're actually seeking, and put the project plan in place with some timelines.
Internally, you might need one to two people to handle the initial setup. We had two engineers.
What about the implementation team?
We had assistance from a third party.
What was our ROI?
I don’t have any details in terms of ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don’t have any information about how much the licensing is.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We didn’t really evaluate other options beyond Microsoft and Google.
What other advice do I have?
I’m an end-user and a customer.
We may not be using the most updated version.
I’d advise potential users to ensure that you do your due diligence. If you're using a third-party contractor, just ensure that they're extremely qualified to actually execute the setup for you. Otherwise, you might run into problems.
I’d rate the solution an eight out of ten. It's stable. It works. Unless you probably go and mess with the configuration, then you won't have any problem. For the most part, it works. It does what it says it's going to do.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Client Relationship Manager at Capgemini
Reliable, scalable, and easy implementation
Pros and Cons
- "Microsoft Exchange is stable."
- "Microsoft Exchange is stable."
- "The price of Microsoft Exchange could improve, it is priced high."
- "The price of Microsoft Exchange could improve, it is priced high."
What is our primary use case?
I use Microsoft Exchange for their email service for my personal use.
What needs improvement?
The price of Microsoft Exchange could improve, it is priced high.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Exchange for approximately 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Exchange is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have found Microsoft Exchange to be scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I have not contacted Microsofts technical support.
How was the initial setup?
The installation of Microsoft Exchange is easy.
What about the implementation team?
Our technical team did the implementation of the solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is an annual cost to use Microsoft Exchange, and the price could be less expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Microsoft Exchange to others.
I rate Microsoft Exchange an eight 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.
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