--- title: HCL Notes Reviews meta_title: 'HCL Notes Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 188 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how HCL Notes works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 3.2 review_count: 188 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-12' parent_category: name: Collaboration & Productivity url: https://www.g2.com/categories/collaboration-productivity --- # HCL Notes Reviews **Vendor:** HCL Technologies **Category:** [Email Client Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/email-client) **Average Rating:** 3.2/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 188 ## About HCL Notes HCL Notes is an enterprise email client that integrates social collaboration, messaging and business applications into a single workspace ## HCL Notes Reviews ### 1. Robust Collaboration Suite with Email, Calendars, and File Sharing **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ahmad J. | ICT Specialist 2, Information Technology and Services, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 10, 2026 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** It provides business collaboration functions such as email, calendars, to-do lists, contact management, discussion forums, file sharing, websites, instant messaging, blogs, document libraries, user directories, and custom applications. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** HCL Notes can feel outdated and complex and it often requires heavy IT support **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** HCL Notes helps by pulling email, calendar, tasks, and business apps into one place, so you don’t have to bounce between different tools. For me, that means less hassle and smoother teamwork, since everything I need to stay organized is right there. ### 2. Reliable Hub for Keeping Emails and Apps Organized **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ruchi S. | Technical Specialist Professional, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 31, 2026 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** I like its reliability and how it keeps emails and applications organized in one place. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** It feels outdated and not very user-friendly compared to modern tools. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps manage emails and internal communication in a structured way, making it easier to track conversations and stay organized. ### 3. From Lotus Notes to DominoForEver - now V 14.5 **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Vittorio O. | Fondatore, socio e CEO, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 27, 2018 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** It is a very good and durable technology we have 25 years of experience and looking forward. Some important success stories in this period!! **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Ibm marketing under estimate the product for some long years. This was a very big problem. **Recommendations to others considering HCL Notes:** I'm very happy with Ibm Notes and Domino and my customers too! **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** This is a very comprehensive platform for both business and social collaboration. It enables users to address a wide variety of business challenges. Of course, it also includes email functionality. ### 4. HCL Notes: Still Reliable for Legacy Workflows, But Lags in Modern UX **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mayur W. | Technical Specialist, Computer & Network Security, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 08, 2025 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** HCL Notes (formerly IBM Notes/Lotus Notes) still shines when it comes to enterprise-level email, calendar, and database-driven collaboration. Its tight integration with Domino Server allows for advanced application development and secure messaging. The offline functionality is robust, and its document-level security remains a strong point for organizations with strict compliance requirements. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** The user interface feels outdated, and the learning curve is steep, especially for new users. Integration with modern cloud-based tools (like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or Slack) is limited. The mobile app is functional but not user-friendly, and updates are not as frequent or innovative as competitors'. Some workflows feel clunky, and the overall user experience lags behind modern standards. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** HCL Notes is ideal for businesses that rely on custom-built Notes applications or need secure internal communications. It's particularly useful in industries like finance, legal, and government where data integrity, security, and auditability are critical. For organizations already deeply invested in Domino infrastructure, Notes continues to provide value with low latency and dependable performance. ### 5. Traditional e-mail client software along with business collaboration fuctions **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Suman K. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 24, 2024 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** HCL notes is quite easy to use as the users don't require additional learning to use the software. It offers other tools like Calendar, To-do list, Contact list, etc. along with the email client, which is quite helpful. We consider it a secure platform to share information among the staff members of the organization. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** The user interface could be more professional and modern as it offers legacy design and features that are quite problematic sometimes. It is not 100% capable of handling modern HTML emails. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** We use HCL notes in our organization as the primary email client. All of our staff members have been provided an account on the HCL notes so that they can send or receive emails from both internal and external users. ### 6. HCL Notes is great but its use is declining **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mickey J. | CEO, Management Consulting, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 25, 2024 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Rock-solid stable. Well integrated email, calendar, and other functions. Enables really easy implementation of company databases that we use every day to run our business. Setup is very easy, and its security features are unparalelled. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Not many IT specialists know how to use Notes - mostly because it wasn't supported for a very long time (treated like an orphan by IBM). **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Integrated system is our interface for every business application. ### 7. Much more than just secure email, whole of business functionality when paired with Domino **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Daniel B. | President, Computer Software, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 26, 2023 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** I've long enjoyed the rapid and flexible "full text" search in Notes. My primary use involves custom applications built in Domino for Notes clients, used in house and distributed to many customers. It's hard to beat the rapid development possibilities paired with indexed "no-sql" data storage. I've also been impressed with HCL's continued stewardship of the product, pushing thoughtful updates and modernization. My customers appreciate the all-in-one-place utility of Notes, combining their email access alongside business and operational applications. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** HCL Notes remains strongly connected to its legacy of on-premise and in-house administration. This can present some friction for organizations that have otherwise committed to cloud or distributed (low or no in-house administration) solutions. There were some initial bumps in the road as HCL took over from IBM, although those appear to have smoothed over. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** Although this prompt only allows me to choose email client, Notes is much more than just an email client. It's a full featured application platform hosting email, in-house solutions (like support, logs, timesheets, whatever your imagination or consultant / developers can provide). This is the major value for me with HCL Notes; email is simply a cherry on top. ### 8. Secure Email **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ravi M. | Senior Systems Analyst, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 19, 2023 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Email is secure and make documentation is easy. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Some of the mails with HTML contents cause the notes client to crash. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** easy to use and easy to save data. ### 9. Using it since years ago **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Paolo A. | Channel manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 18, 2022 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Easy to use and great for sharing info among the team. **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** A little bit old design and often loses the sync between the unread mail and the counter **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have all that we need in one application and that is great. We save time in usage and support ### 10. Huge competitive advantage **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Simon B. | IT & Compliance Director, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 17, 2022 **What do you like best about HCL Notes?** Security and RAD features. We are able to build new APIs and other features in hours, sometimes minutes. The security and replication allow us to achieve 99.999% uptime for our company. And the licence terms are very reasonable. A top quality product with great support! **What do you dislike about HCL Notes?** Some legacy features are problematic. QA when bringing out new releases can be spotty, with obvious errors that should not have made it into production. Documentation is improving, but still leaved something to be desired. **What problems is HCL Notes solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have been able to provide a complete technical solution to our enterprise with no reliance on alternative technologies. We have significant compliance obligations and Notes' workflow capabilities have been great at implementing high levels of compliance. ## HCL Notes Discussions - [In what industries is IBM Notes mostly used?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/in-what-industries-is-ibm-notes-mostly-used) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [View HCL Notes pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/hcl-notes/reviews/hcl-notes-review-9434184?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-13+19%3A18%3A41+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=1a0cf1cd-f4d1-4bfa-a3be-e6244e4e3079&secure%5Btoken%5D=7c787be37db680ff64e21f30a181b72c1391754dfc7b22dd55b68a3da16e8619&format=llm_user) ## HCL Notes Features **Inbox Tools** - Unified Inbox - Filters - Reminders - Notifications **Coordination Tools** - Calendar - Contacts - Task Management **Software Options** - Desktop Application - Mobile Application **Email Client - Agentic AI** - Autonomous Task Execution - Cross-system Integration ## Top HCL Notes Alternatives - [Microsoft Outlook](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-outlook/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (3,423 reviews) - [Thunderbird](https://www.g2.com/products/thunderbird/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (334 reviews) - [Front](https://www.g2.com/products/front/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (2,443 reviews)