HCL Notes vs. Slack

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
Slack
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Slack is a group messaging or team collaboration app that aims to simplify communication for businesses. Features include open discussions, private groups, and direct messaging, as well as deep contextual search and message archiving, and file sharing. Slack integrates with a number of other tools, such as MailChimp, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Slack was acquired by Salesforce in December 2020. The product is free to use, and also has paid plans with more features and greater controls. The…
$0
Pricing
HCL NotesSlack
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Free
$0
Pro
$7.25*
per month per user
Business+
$12.50*
per month per user
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HCL NotesSlack
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details*Per active user, per month, when paying once a year. Pro is $8.75 USD per active user when paying month to month. Business+ is $15.00 USD per active user when paying month to month.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
HCL NotesSlack
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.
Slack
Chose Slack
Slack is far superior to Google Chat. There is much better organization and separation of groups/topics using channels and folders. I also believe that Slack is better than Teams. It has many integrations and functionality that make it similar, while also being more of a modern …
Chose Slack
Microsoft Teams, Discord and Google Chat
Chose Slack
Microsoft Teams is slightly more user friendly, due to it being connected to email. It connects to your calendar and is helpful to keep everything together. The notifications are a bit more helpful on Miro because it is live. I enjoy the ease of communication on Teams. It's …
Chose Slack
Slack is far superior to other interoffice communications I have used. It has more features for messaging like the ability to include emojis or react to messages. You can also edit and share messages between conversations. I'm not sure how other platforms have evolved but I …
Chose Slack
not much function as Slack offering. Public & Private Groups creation not available in Hangout
Chose Slack
I evaluated Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams and Google Chat. Slack stood out for its user friendly interface, powerful integrations and fast flexible communication. Microsoft teams felt more formal and complex, while Google chat lacked features. Slack best matched our …
Chose Slack
our team's current non-Microsoft(Google) tech stack, hard-coded into our workflow. It's infinitely more customizable than Teams, easily meeting our requirements. Additionally, Slack has unlimited external users, whereas Teams has limitation, so Slack is the obvious choice for …
Chose Slack
Slack works great with Salesforce and seems the most trendy. MS Teams has some more connectivity with the MS suite which is nice though and a bit more robust as a communication platform when using it for both chat and video. We use a combo of Zoom and Slack for internal …
Chose Slack
I have used Teams, Instagram, and WhatsApp for business, but Slack stands out for how organized and work focused it is. Unlike WhatsApp, which is more casual, or Instagram, which is not built for very professional and secure work chats, Slack keeps everything structured with …
Chose Slack
Trello is a task management tool platform that best complements Slack. Even though you can tag different team members to boards or specific tasks, Slack provides a more robust platform to communicate and share files, ideas, or issues about a task. And can be used as a general …
Chose Slack
I think obviously Slack is much much better than Google chat, in my previous organisation, we used to communicate everything via Google chat or email or Google meet, it was difficult to manage because those application combined had less options and features than Slack.
Chose Slack
I'm not a huge fan of Microsoft in general, I utilize Google and Slack more for my day to day.
Chose Slack

More Intuitive & Simpler Interface – Slack is easier to set up and navigate.
Faster Adoption – No need for complex Microsoft ecosystem integration.
Chose Slack
Slack has just been the best communications tool for our team. Slack integrations are the best, the fact that its multi-device functional and has great features like file sharing at a fast speed, screen sharing, quick and easy to use. I do not think we would ever consider and …
Chose Slack
Slack: It's easy to strike up a chat right away with one-click calls or huddles. By simply pressing the call button, both users are involved without the need to arrange a meeting. Microsoft Teams: With calendar invites, time slot choices, and numerous confirmation processes, …
Chose Slack
The UI is difficult to understand and also to find a particular chat it is difficult to search in Teams. Also Slack has cool features like Slack Workflows and To do lists and Slack Canvas which makes life more easier. Slack apps to integrate existing app and also I use Slack to …
Chose Slack
It is superior to other products in its ability to communicate quickly with other colleagues. I can collaborate and work on multiple projects with colleagues. It is just an amazing product to use at work. I like the ease of using the tool. It’s a much better product than teams …
Chose Slack
I absolutely hate Microsoft teams, I dislike Google chat, I really like Slack. The main reason for that rating boils down to UI and usability. At my company, we have to use teams and chat still when we are interacting with customers or certain other departments within the …
Chose Slack
Slack offers better chat then google chat for mobile devices AWS the Slack chat bot is more informative and efficient to use Azure dev ops and Slack are great to have side by side
Chose Slack
We did not found the same level of features on all these products. Where Slack is better than other ones, is that you are interacting with other really fast, you can jump in open channels, private channels, be updated about topics and also manage different workspaces. The …
Chose Slack
Slack is still one of the best Chat tools on the market, but Zoom Team Chat (Zoom Workplace) is coming up quickly and overall, provides a great tool that is included at no cost.
I believe that Slack still has some development advantages over the competitors at this point still, …
Features
HCL NotesSlack
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
6.9
Ratings
11% below category average
Slack
8.2
Ratings
6% above category average
Task Management7.00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Gantt Charts6.00 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Scheduling8.00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Workflow Automation5.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Mobile Access8.00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Search6.00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Visual planning tools8.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
9.2
Ratings
15% above category average
Slack
8.8
Ratings
10% above category average
Chat6.00 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Notifications9.00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Discussions9.50 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Surveys9.10 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase10.00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting10.00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts10.00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook10.00 Ratings8.90 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
Slack
8.7
Ratings
10% above category average
Versioning9.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Video files6.00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Audio files6.00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Document collaboration8.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Access control6.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Advanced security features8.00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive10.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Device sync8.00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Best Alternatives
HCL NotesSlack
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 NotesSlack
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(0 ratings)
9.4
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.7
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.2
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
HCL NotesSlack
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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Slack is really effective for smaller teams to use as an internal communication platform. I think that it's still suitable even for companies of up to 500-1000 employees, but for larger teams it's less appropriate (or would require more aggressive organization, e.g. keeping channels protected and on an invite-only basis). It's really helpful for small team-to-small team communication too (like in our case where we create external channels to support POCs/business partnerships). It's not great for direct collaboration (e.g. it's hard to iterate on a project spec or a document together, directly in Slack) but it's well suited for conversational coordination, like planning meetings or asking informational questions.
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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.
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  • Huddles Run smoothly without any interferences.
  • Smooth individual calls quick and easy without any interruptions.
  • seamless notifications across multiple devices
  • The ability to easily tag a team member to urgently attend to a specific escalation.
  • Slack being user friendly and able to integrate easily with other platforms and apps.
  • How to easily open up different channels for different escalations and needs.
  • a safe direct messaging option.
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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.
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  • Undoubtedly Slack’s search function is powerful but sometimes it is difficult to find specific messages or files in very active channels with high message volumes. This needs an improvement.
  • I have experienced notification issues on my phone. I am not receiving notifications and have missed important updates as a result. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app, but the problem still persists.
  • The Business Plus plan does not include support for data loss prevention or offline backup providers.
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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.
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Slack sitll lacks in functionality. It's better than Skype for Business in many ways, but it is still another chat/message board app. It has limits in free version and paid versions. Also Windows app has errors that bother me, for example, I see number on one of my team's icons. It suggests that one of channels has unread messages; I check all channels - no unread messages, but that "1" still appears
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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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The product is fantastic, it keeps everyone connected and ensures detailed connection.
User interface of Slack software is very is very straightforward no need for training.
Availability of unlimited tutorials and demos.
Slack can be easily tailored to perform specific tasks.
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
Yes, the app works 24/7. I don't even recall having any period that we could not use since the implementation. Even the maintenance periods are barely noticeable and our work is not impacted by it when it happens.
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Performance
No answers on this topic
Slack is a soft app, we don't have many issues with it. I recall one or two people complaining about something during our usage period, but I didn't have a bad experience. When the app is slow, usually the problem is with my computer or my internet. The app works just fine.
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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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Whenever I've had to troubleshoot an issue with Slack (which, to be honest, has not happened very often), their online documentation has been easy to locate, easy to understand, and effective in resolving my issue. Slack's ever-growing popularity also means that there's a large community of practice out there that can be depended upon.
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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.
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I was not part of the implementation team, but I recall being 100% happy and excited to learn and use a new tool. I'm still am to be honest.
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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.
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I like Slack better than ClickUp, because I would spend 30-60 minutes a day updating my ClickUp tasks. The way ClickUp was used was very micromanaging. I billed by the hour, so I was willing to put in the time to alert the boss what tasks I was working on.
One of my jobs used Hive - I mostly just ran it in the background in case anyone messaged me. I did not use it often.
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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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  • Slack has been incredibly helpful in connecting various tech apps and ecosystems, creating a more streamlined and responsive process.
  • Slack has made it significantly easier to communicate with our team members across multiple time zones, creating a more engaging environment for our all-remote team.
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ScreenShots