HCL Notes vs. Mattermost

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
HCL Notes
Score 3.5 out of 10
N/A
Notes from HCL (formerly from IBM, acquired by HCL in late 2018) is a collaboration platform based on the Lotus platform.N/A
Mattermost
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Mattermost from the company of the same name in Palo Alto is a messaging, collaboration and communication platform providing high security and compliance for the businesses that need it.
$0
per month per user
Pricing
HCL NotesMattermost
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Free Self-Hosted
$0
per month per user
Professional
$10
per month per user
Enterprise
Contact Us
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HCL NotesMattermost
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
HCL NotesMattermost
Considered Both Products
HCL Notes
Chose HCL Notes
It helps in organizing work by just speaking to it, and you don't have to specifically type in the data and use it. It has a better UI and also is faster.
Chose HCL Notes
Outlook has been considered for years as a replacement platform. Pricing and support staff made it prohibitive. Our long-time use of Microsoft Office productivity suite naturally led us to consider the adoption of Office365. A recent investigation told us that Azure Cloud …
Chose HCL Notes
It had a simple user interface. It can be altered and modified to any database.
Chose HCL Notes
Our organization used IBM Notes before I started working there and is a legacy system that some teams still use. Many others in our company have switched to Slack and Google Hangouts as well as Google calendar. Slack and Google Hangouts offer a much better chat experience that …
Chose HCL Notes
As I stated previously, mail is mail. Notes is a fantastic option as a frontend for mail. On top of that, a business can be built from the custom applications that can be developed in it. We do have gmail as an option, but the vast majority of users are on Notes. We also choose …
Chose HCL Notes
I've already answered this question in the previous questions however to sum it up IBM Notes stacks up VERY WELL! It has a LOT of really good business/enterprise features like enterprise-grade Dropbox-like storage, synced email/calendar/contacts, it supports a LOT of …
Chose HCL Notes
Exchange is too resource hungry and cumbersome to restore granular. It requires several other Microsoft Servers to integrate just to meet IBM Notes in terms of features. As someone once described, doing an apple to apple [comparison] is difficult. If Exchange were taken as an …
Chose HCL Notes
We've looked at Exchange a few times. However, for more costly licensing and about the same amount of administrative support required, Exchange only does mail, calendar and contacts.

We do all that with Notes already, plus dozens of custom applications, and for less costly …
Chose HCL Notes
We originally selected Notes for it's ease of use, and ability to be customized. As the industry has progressed we have had to move on to a more progressive path.
Chose HCL Notes
I selected IBM Notes, because of its security features.
Chose HCL Notes
We are a small IT team and always had to deal with very high expectation, faster turn around time from users. Every application we've developed has very short turn around time and less resources. In the past 15 years, we can provide more application and doing it faster than …
Chose HCL Notes
Database development capabilities. Document management orientation.
Mattermost
Chose Mattermost
They're very similar. I think it's really a matter of preference. Again, one of the things I like about Mattermost is that it's strictly for business (atleast for us) it's different from the more mainstream messaging apps used so we can kind of separate work vs personal messages.
Chose Mattermost
Slack, Microsoft Teams and Discord
Chose Mattermost
It's cheaper and similar to Slack.
You can break down your project modules better here.
It's secure and self-hosted.
Chose Mattermost
Much more expensive than most chat applications but you have more control over things by self-hosting. Your security team will be able to design a very secure place to store all your code, passwords, and internal details, but most companies will not require this. It would be …
Chose Mattermost
In comparison to Slack, where Slack is strictly for internal communication, Mattermost actually has the format to display and not alter source code. Google chat is also even more limited in comparison to Slack and Mattermost. If you collaborate on code every single day, then …
Chose Mattermost
It is just as good if not better. Can be a superior option depending on the needs of your organization.
Chose Mattermost
These products all required cloud connectivity and licensing that was a significant cost. Mattermost allowed us to pilot this among just the Ops team and then evangelize this to the other infrastructure team. This allowed us to slowly show the value of this software and expand …
Chose Mattermost
Unlike Slack and Discord, Mattermost is self-hosted and focused on security. I used Discord before for community management and much simpler and less secure operations. Slack is great, but the fact that is cloud based takes out a lot of its independence.
Chose Mattermost
We used to have Mattermost and now we have Microsoft Teams. They are both very similar. Mattermost and Microsoft Teams are both great for communicating internally via calls, chats, meetings, etc. They are also both easy to set up an use. However, the Microsoft Teams mobile app …
Chose Mattermost
to reduce cost we shifted to Mattermost.
Chose Mattermost
Mattermost works better in that there aren’t constant updates and changes which can make finding past messages difficult. Mattermost also works better for channel creation and communication
Chose Mattermost
Slack is by far my personal favorite due to the age of the platform and the maturity of the features. Mattermost is a close 2nd-
Chose Mattermost
Honestly iv just used these two but when it comes to customization, they don't come close to Mattermost. Slack and Teams are Less flexible, Not self hosted. Not Open source,etc I will also say that i noticed integration capabilities are very limited with teams and slack and not …
Chose Mattermost
Mattermost is much faster and easier to use. It also has many more features beyond chat. They are more customizations and features for workflow and messaging on this platform also. The ability to integrate with other platforms via plugins, the security features, and the open …
Chose Mattermost
Mattermost is easier to use, faster, and less resource-intensive. Cross-platform support is great, and the mobile experience is awesome.
Chose Mattermost
I feel slack is a bit more difficult to use overall than Mattermost. Mattermost makes the tasks of communicating across departments and team members easier, as well as giving the ability to share information via hyper links, attachments, and other forms of communication among …
Chose Mattermost
We selected mattermost since we can control storage of our data. Slack is a great tool and offers more robust features compared to mattermost. However, the previously mentioned reason & the competitive pricing allowed us to stick with mattermost.
Chose Mattermost
key selling points for us was that its open source and can be self hosted.
Chose Mattermost
Mattermost is cheaper and offers the possibility of self-hosting compared to other competitors. This is a great advantage for our company.
Chose Mattermost
Microsoft Teams feels quite clunky and the video chat is buggy. Slack is close but maybe not quite as feature-rich. Mattermost just feels like the right tool for a company my size ~1000+ users. No one has had any major issues with this tool and there haven't been any …
Chose Mattermost
First of all, we don't lose messages; we can see or search messages from any point in the past. Second, it offers to manage the whole product ourselves from hosting to serving users of our organisation. We feel that we have full control over data, managing users, …
Features
HCL NotesMattermost
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
6.9
Ratings
11% below category average
Mattermost
8.3
Ratings
7% above category average
Task Management7.00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Gantt Charts6.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Scheduling8.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Workflow Automation5.00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Mobile Access8.00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Search6.00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Visual planning tools8.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
9.2
Ratings
15% above category average
Mattermost
8.4
Ratings
6% above category average
Chat6.00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Notifications9.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Discussions9.50 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Surveys9.10 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase10.00 Ratings6.10 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting10.00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts10.00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook10.00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
7.6
Ratings
4% below category average
Mattermost
9.1
Ratings
14% above category average
Versioning9.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Video files6.00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Audio files6.00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Document collaboration8.00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Access control6.00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Advanced security features8.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive10.00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Device sync8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
HCL NotesMattermost
Small Businesses
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.0 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.8 out of 10
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 9.0 out of 10
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
HCL NotesMattermost
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(0 ratings)
7.8
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.7
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
HCL NotesMattermost
Likelihood to Recommend
I often work with teams from other country and regions, hence HCL Notes is a very useful platform for internal company management operations. It standardized organisational work standards in most of the offices worldwide. HCL Notes also enables chat with other team around the world that I find very helpful when initiating conversation or just want to have a quick update rather than sending emails and waiting for replies. However, HCL Notes is not very efficient in web browsing and user still need to use other internet service providers.
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Mattermost is definitely appropriate for a growing company with team members spread out across the u.s. and Canada. It’s given me the ability to have access to anyone with the information I need or the ability to develop friendships, working relationships with people I otherwise wouldn’t have access to
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Pros
  • Data sharing via small database format is valuable as they are quickly deployed, easily managed and distributed on backend email servers.
  • Integrated messaging allows quick communications between geographical sites reducing long distance costs.
  • Policy documents for registering new users, setting initial security levels, assigning default database access is managed easily with the admin client.
Read full review
  • Easy intergration to our main CRM (Monday.com)
  • I'm not techy myself but I have seen a lot of our previous integrations in Slack transferred over to Mattermost so that's fun
  • The desktop and phone app (android) works well enough. I haven't tried it on the Apple ecosystem yet.
Read full review
Cons
  • The simple user experience can be touted as a positive, but it is also a negative in some ways. Compared to other calendars, email and chat tools, IBM Notes looks like it is from the 90s.
  • We have constant issues with chat crashing. This is the main reason so many people in our organization chose to switch away from Notes.
  • There aren't a lot of integrations with IBM Notes and other applications we regularly use. Notes seems to have been left behind by many.
Read full review
  • Basic features like custom status, collapsed reply threads are JUST rolling out - kind of slow for a workplace chat app.
  • I don't really get the idea of Playbooks and Boards - there are better, dedicated tools for stuff like this and it's not so easy to turn off.
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Likelihood to Renew
Since companies started to moved their email systems to the Exchange platform and the cloud, we are unable to find any new projects with IBM Notes, the marketing share and software price is another issue, so we have to move to another platform.
Read full review
Mattermost works perfectly within our company as a way to communicate seamlessly. I have had no issues with the product and continue to use it often while on and off site. The mobile app allows me to continue to communicate with my team even when I don't have my laptop with me.
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Usability
Easy to use for the user, most of the apps we developed, there is not much need for user training. Most of the times, we just do a demo to the users group and they can pick up from there.
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It's an extremely easy to use software, and I would recommend it to every company that is growing. I think they could improve their notification system, as it gets a little spammy sometimes and important notifications get lost. Also needs to improve the number of private chats that you are allowed to create.
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Support Rating
I've been using the production for a very long time and very happy with it. Also, all the online resources and forums for notes is very friendly and easy/quick for getting help. I found out that compared to Microsoft or Oracle or any other platforms, IBM Notes online forum is the best I have seen.
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We have not had to contact support for Mattermost ever. All that we have needed has been available in the documentation or website. One of our DevOps team members set it up in a couple of hours. The whole team was using Mattermost that same day. No support needed.
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Implementation Rating
Implementation is easy and smooth if the requirement is well gathered/documented. Notes is a RAD platform, all projects in Notes is simple in the implementation step.
Read full review
This went as expected. No surprises or major hurdles.
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Alternatives Considered
I've already answered this question in the previous questions however to sum it up IBM Notes stacks up VERY WELL! It has a LOT of really good business/enterprise features like enterprise-grade Dropbox-like storage, synced email/calendar/contacts, it supports a LOT of third-party add-ins, easy-to-use and friendly, very strong and robust, and most importantly it's a LOT more secure in my opinion than the competition.
Read full review
Unlike Slack and Discord, Mattermost is self-hosted and focused on security. I used Discord before for community management and much simpler and less secure operations. Slack is great, but the fact that is cloud based takes out a lot of its independence.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • ROI for us has been extreme. In the late 1990's we automated dozens and dozens of paper-based processes and created workflows for activities that had never been formalized before. Additionally all those forms with their comments, etc. have been captured in a central place to serve as audit trails.
  • Whenever we need faster access to data (mail or otherwise), it's quick and easy to deploy a new Domino server somewhere, setup replication of appropriate databases, and get the local Notes clients pointed to those resources. So that to me is positive ROI because it represents time savings based on user need.
  • Tech. Support would claim a negative ROI in terms of supporting the Notes client, Notes updates, peculiar Notes issues, and users who complain about Notes. That is certainly true to a point. The Notes client is a much more complex piece of software than, say, Outlook. But we have to remember that Notes deployments are not just for Mail but many, many applications as well. In the end I'd say we might have 1 or 2 user complaints per month, typically around Calendar issues more than anything else.
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  • The platform is adaptive to storage data center outages in case our cloud storage provider goes away, Mattermost still works with our local database. However, files couldn't be shared. We can switch storage to local temporarily; that's a benefit. Later it all syncs up to main storage.
  • When our team switched to Mattermost from paid solutions, we had much savings and access to unlimited past messages and storage quota (we use our cloud storage provider)
  • We have better visibility of our tools and other products running adjacent to Mattermost due to integration capability. We use it for notifications/ updates sent from other products.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Mattermost Screenshots

Screenshot of Channels: All team communications in one place.Screenshot of Playbooks: Orchestrates work across tools and teams.Screenshot of Boards: Project planning and milestones.Screenshot of Connections: Unites the entire technology stack through a single point of collaboration.