What users are saying about
95 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 8 out of 100
Based on 95 reviews and ratings
91 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 8 out of 100
Based on 91 reviews and ratings
Feature Set Ratings
- Chatter ranks higher in 3 feature sets: Project Management, Communication, File Sharing & Management
Project Management
8.0
Chatter
80%
7.6
HCL Notes
76%
Chatter ranks higher in 6/7 features
Chatter ranks higher in 6/7 features
Task Management
8.4
84%
36 Ratings
7.0
70%
9 Ratings
Gantt Charts
7.9
79%
19 Ratings
7.0
70%
3 Ratings
Scheduling
7.8
78%
30 Ratings
10.0
100%
9 Ratings
Workflow Automation
8.4
84%
32 Ratings
8.0
80%
6 Ratings
Mobile Access
7.8
78%
49 Ratings
7.0
70%
10 Ratings
Search
7.5
75%
44 Ratings
7.0
70%
9 Ratings
Visual planning tools
8.3
83%
33 Ratings
7.0
70%
3 Ratings
Communication
8.4
Chatter
84%
6.5
HCL Notes
65%
Chatter ranks higher in 7/8 features
Chatter ranks higher in 7/8 features
Chat
8.8
88%
50 Ratings
9.0
90%
10 Ratings
Notifications
7.5
75%
53 Ratings
7.0
70%
10 Ratings
Discussions
8.2
82%
51 Ratings
8.0
80%
8 Ratings
Surveys
7.8
78%
34 Ratings
4.0
40%
5 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase
8.0
80%
36 Ratings
5.0
50%
7 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting
9.0
90%
13 Ratings
5.0
50%
4 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts
8.6
86%
20 Ratings
7.0
70%
3 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook
8.9
89%
23 Ratings
7.0
70%
6 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
8.3
Chatter
83%
6.2
HCL Notes
62%
Chatter ranks higher in 7/8 features
Chatter ranks higher in 7/8 features
Versioning
8.3
83%
28 Ratings
3.1
31%
4 Ratings
Video files
8.4
84%
33 Ratings
3.1
31%
5 Ratings
Audio files
7.6
76%
30 Ratings
3.1
31%
5 Ratings
Document collaboration
8.5
85%
41 Ratings
8.0
80%
8 Ratings
Access control
7.8
78%
34 Ratings
8.0
80%
8 Ratings
Advanced security features
8.8
88%
29 Ratings
8.0
80%
8 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive
8.9
89%
18 Ratings
8.0
80%
3 Ratings
Device sync
8.1
81%
27 Ratings
8.0
80%
5 Ratings
Attribute Ratings
- Chatter is rated higher in 2 areas: Likelihood to Recommend, Likelihood to Renew
- HCL Notes is rated higher in 2 areas: Usability, Support Rating
Likelihood to Recommend
8.8
Chatter
88%
56 Ratings
8.0
HCL Notes
80%
16 Ratings
Likelihood to Renew
8.1
Chatter
81%
2 Ratings
1.7
HCL Notes
17%
5 Ratings
Usability
7.3
Chatter
73%
7 Ratings
10.0
HCL Notes
100%
1 Rating
Availability
Chatter
N/A
0 Ratings
10.0
HCL Notes
100%
2 Ratings
Performance
Chatter
N/A
0 Ratings
10.0
HCL Notes
100%
2 Ratings
Support Rating
7.5
Chatter
75%
53 Ratings
9.0
HCL Notes
90%
4 Ratings
Online Training
Chatter
N/A
0 Ratings
10.0
HCL Notes
100%
1 Rating
Implementation Rating
Chatter
N/A
0 Ratings
9.0
HCL Notes
90%
2 Ratings
Likelihood to Recommend
Chatter
[Chatter] is the tool that makes our relations
stronger. It provides advanced ways of communication. I have trained my many
team members because of the easy features and functions of this tool, It is very user-friendly. Give it a try if you want to improve your relations with your
customers. It will surely enhance the productivity of your organization.
stronger. It provides advanced ways of communication. I have trained my many
team members because of the easy features and functions of this tool, It is very user-friendly. Give it a try if you want to improve your relations with your
customers. It will surely enhance the productivity of your organization.
Software Engineer
QvikInformation Technology & Services, 51-200 employees
HCL Notes
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.
Research Analyst and Consulting (Technology)
Frost & Sullivan Asia-PacificManagement Consulting, 501-1000 employees
Pros
Chatter
- Chatter provides us with a live internal conversation for all to see without the noise that other mediums have i.e. e-mail.
- One of the main features that really works well is the 'Groups' that you can join. We have multiple groups set up to not only distribute procedural changes and communicate news etc, but also have conversations around upcoming tasks in the months ahead.
- Chatter works really well in instances where we need to look over historical conversations that have been had and the sentiment of those conversations with our shareholders, often using hashtags.
Systems Support Administrator
FonterraDairy, 10,001+ employees
HCL Notes
- It has a really strong and robust database that's extremely scalable and holds up well to thousands of users and many different environments.
- It has a really good enterprise-grade framework for development custom database applications
- All of the custom database applications along with the email all have a nice uniform look and feel so their easy-to-use.
- I really like how it's developed and supported on every client OS (Windows, OSX, Linux)! The competitors definitely do NOT offer this (M$).
Sr Technology Engineer
TravelersInsurance, 10,001+ employees
Cons
Chatter
- Groups does not have the private messaging functionality. Since most collaboration takes place in Groups, private messaging would allow for relevant conversations to be contained and not reside separately.
- On a Group index page, there are two boxes for Information and Description. These content types seem redundant. You could replace both with a content type called About the Group. There could also be another box listing the Owners for quick reference.
- On the main index page, the newsfeed has the same look and feel of most social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Jive, IBM Connections, SharePoint. There could be an alternate display of tiles that shows People you interact with most frequently, Files you access most often, most recent Topics, etc. The display could be something like Delve in Microsoft Office 365.
- On the main index page in the right rail, it would be useful to have the ability to incorporate RSS feeds to gather outside content. Many departments heavily leverage RSS feeds to compile competitive intelligence and cultivate general awareness.
- For user profiles, can we combine Feed and Overview into one consolidated view? It would save users a click to find relevant information about the person. Also, the Contact module should also have the person's phone number for convenience.
- The Files feature does not allow for real-time, concurrent document editing. You have to download the document, make your edits, save, and then upload a new version, which only allows for one editor at a time.
Senior IT Specialist
Prudential FinancialFinancial Services, 10,001+ employees
HCL Notes
- Notes' backwards compatibility sometimes gets in the way. Menus are cluttered with extraneous, outdated options and features that modern users will never use, and Preferences are often difficult to navigate for those coming from Gmail or Outlook. We have greatly simplified this via Policies, but users still find it daunting to go through all the options that are available.
- The IBM Notes client for Windows & Mac is essentially the Eclipse Java development platform...so it is HUGE. Performance initially was very slow but IBM has done a good job of speeding things up. As IBM moves more toward cloud-delivered applications, this will not be as much of a problem.
- Notes and Domino can be complex to manage for administrators who are more accustomed to ActiveDirectory, Group Policy, etc. Editing a notes.ini file to add a feature, or working with XML files by hand to create a SmartUpgrade kit can be daunting to those coming from more modern administrative roles.
- Some users claim to "hate" Notes mail. While I have heard this less and less over the past 10 years, we have had 3rd party software offer plugins to Outlook and it's rare to see any for Notes.
- The client update process should be automated more. I would like to see the Notes client update quietly and quickly more like an Adobe software update. If an update fails it should automatically try again without prompting the user over and over.
- Notes multiple language spell checking is a downloaded add-on Java-based resource that has to be deployed in a convoluted way that is difficult for users to grasp. Therefore any foreign language spell check updates must be done individually per Notes client by IT, which is unfortunate. I would prefer to see that be a "live download" update option for users to get directly from IBM (don't make me download it and put it on my network).
Messaging and Collaboration Technology Developer
FLEXconPlastics, 1001-5000 employees
Pricing Details
Chatter
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
—HCL Notes
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
—Likelihood to Renew
Chatter
Chatter 8.1
Based on 2 answers
Chatter can fulfill at least 85-90% of our business requirements in an easy-to-use platform. Usability is a key requirement and we have had our share of bad usability experiences. In our experience, even the most novice users were able to pick up Chatter in a relatively short amount of time with little/no assistance.
Senior IT Specialist
Prudential FinancialFinancial Services, 10,001+ employees
HCL Notes
HCL Notes 1.7
Based on 5 answers
I've been in IT business and as a Programmer/Developer for 20+ years with too many programming languages experiences/back ground (C/C++/Visual Basic/Basic Program/Unix/COBOL/Java). Also with 18+ years with Lotus Notes/IBM Domino, I am still and always think Lotus Notes is the best RAD platform available!. When the time where resource is very limited and the expectation is very high and the turn around is too short, IBM Domino/Notes is the platform to use and it's the only choice available.
Lead Application Developer/Lotus Notes Domino Developer
VerizonInformation Technology and Services, 10,001+ employees
Usability
Chatter
Chatter 7.3
Based on 7 answers
It is easy to use but the impact of it feels like it is a bit antiquated. It does not feel collaborative and real time. Chatter is more akin to email versus Slack or Hangouts where it feels like problems are being solved as you are communicating.

Verified User
Executive in Sales
Higher Education Company, 11-50 employeesHCL Notes
HCL Notes 10.0
Based on 1 answer
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.
Lead Application Developer/Lotus Notes Domino Developer
VerizonInformation Technology and Services, 10,001+ employees
Support Rating
Chatter
Chatter 7.5
Based on 53 answers
If I ever came to a situation where i needed help they do a very good job of getting back to us quickly to explain our error or why we are not seeing something. The support is quick to help provide groups or teams if you seek. Fortunately it is user friendly so I rarely need support

Verified User
Account Manager in Sales
Computer Software Company, 5001-10,000 employeesHCL Notes
HCL Notes 9.0
Based on 4 answers
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.
Lead Application Developer/Lotus Notes Domino Developer
VerizonInformation Technology and Services, 10,001+ employees
Implementation Rating
Chatter
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
HCL Notes
HCL Notes 9.0
Based on 2 answers
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.
Lead Application Developer/Lotus Notes Domino Developer
VerizonInformation Technology and Services, 10,001+ employees
Alternatives Considered
Chatter
Skype is used more for audio calls. Chatter is used to track updates on items of interest in Salesforce. Chatter is deeply integrated with other Salesforce products. No other competing products come close. Slack is a traditional project management tool. So it does not compete with Chatter. Because of its close integration with Salesforce, it is a unique tool for Salesforce users.
CEO
Astrea IT Services Pvt LtdComputer Software, 51-200 employees
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 services propel an O365 solution to the forefront. Early adopters in international divisions have paved the way for Azure and O365.
Division Network Support Specialist
The Salvation ArmyNon-Profit Organization Management, 501-1000 employees
Return on Investment
Chatter
- Chatter has closed deals faster, and brought us in revenue at a quicker rate in turn.
- Chatter has left some things undone simply because people didn't see it and it has cost us a few deals.
- Overall, Chatter has brought us a cleaner, more efficient Salesforce process and brought in revenue because of organization.

Verified User
Account Manager in Sales
Computer Software Company, 1001-5000 employeesHCL Notes
- Over the years, we have lost countless hours of productivity from the thousands of crashes we have experienced.
- One benefit of IBM Notes is that it is very simple to train a new user on. Many people prefer and are familiar with Google tools, but those that use IBM Notes have very little trouble acclimating themselves.

Verified User
Analyst in Product Management
Sporting Goods Company, 501-1000 employees