SmarterMail vs Zimbra
March 10, 2025 | Author: Adam Levine
5★
SmarterMail offers all of the same features as Microsoft Exchange, but at a FRACTION of the cost. Unlike Exchange, features like audio and video group chat, and Team Workspaces for team meetings and group collaboration are included at no extra charge.
17★
Zimbra Collaboration Server is an email and calendar server plus much more; think about it like a next-generation Microsoft Exchange server. In addition to email and calendar, it provides file sharing, tasks, contacts, social media, document management and simplified administrative controls all in an award winning webmail user interface built with the latest AJAX web technology. ZCS also provides mobility and syncs to desktop client applications; the server is deployed on commodity Linux and Mac server hardware.
See also:
Top 10 Email Servers for business
Top 10 Email Servers for business
SmarterMail and Zimbra are, at their core, two remarkably similar attempts to keep people connected, organized and marginally less confused about where they’re supposed to be and when. Both allow you to send emails into the void, schedule meetings that will inevitably be rescheduled and keep a to-do list you will never actually complete. They are accessible on various devices, boast cloud or on-premises deployment and come armed with security features that try their best to keep out spam, though spam, much like an overenthusiastic houseguest, always finds a way in.
SmarterMail, conceived in the mysterious land of the USA in 2003, is a Windows-based alternative to Microsoft Exchange that caters primarily to small and mid-sized businesses looking for something functional but not bank-account-draining. It’s got built-in video conferencing for those who enjoy seeing their colleagues pixelated, a team chat that reduces email clutter by shifting the same conversations elsewhere and a licensing model so straightforward it almost feels like a clerical error. Also, it’s built for Windows servers, which means if you ever thought, “I wish my email system and my Windows Server could be best friends,” this one’s for you.
Zimbra, on the other hand, took its first breath in 2005 and has been owned by a succession of companies, like a well-traveled antique desk, eventually landing in the hands of Synacor. It’s more at home in the grand halls of enterprise IT, government offices and universities, where serious-looking people need serious-looking emails. Unlike its Windows-loving counterpart, Zimbra thrives on Linux, offers an open-source version for those who enjoy tinkering with things until they break and allows a bewildering array of third-party integrations. It is, in short, the email system of choice for those who look at a modular architecture and think, “Yes, I would like to complicate my life further, thank you.”
See also: Top 10 Email Servers
SmarterMail, conceived in the mysterious land of the USA in 2003, is a Windows-based alternative to Microsoft Exchange that caters primarily to small and mid-sized businesses looking for something functional but not bank-account-draining. It’s got built-in video conferencing for those who enjoy seeing their colleagues pixelated, a team chat that reduces email clutter by shifting the same conversations elsewhere and a licensing model so straightforward it almost feels like a clerical error. Also, it’s built for Windows servers, which means if you ever thought, “I wish my email system and my Windows Server could be best friends,” this one’s for you.
Zimbra, on the other hand, took its first breath in 2005 and has been owned by a succession of companies, like a well-traveled antique desk, eventually landing in the hands of Synacor. It’s more at home in the grand halls of enterprise IT, government offices and universities, where serious-looking people need serious-looking emails. Unlike its Windows-loving counterpart, Zimbra thrives on Linux, offers an open-source version for those who enjoy tinkering with things until they break and allows a bewildering array of third-party integrations. It is, in short, the email system of choice for those who look at a modular architecture and think, “Yes, I would like to complicate my life further, thank you.”
See also: Top 10 Email Servers