HCL Notes vs. OpenText Hightail

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
HCL Notes
Score 6.6 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
OpenText Hightail
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
OpenText Hightail is a cloud-based collaboration software for creative content reviews and approvals. With one place for teams to share large, multimedia files, collect precise feedback and approve content, Hightail streamlines the creative process and helps teams keep projects on schedule.
$0
100MB per file upload
Pricing
HCL NotesOpenText Hightail
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Lite
$0
100MB per file upload
Pro
$15
per user, per month
Teams
$30
per user/per month
Business
Custom
per user, per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
HCL NotesOpenText Hightail
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details—Lite: Send large files with anyone. Files are limited to 100MB for each file size uploaded, 2GB storage max. Files expire after 7 days. Pro: Send large files with anyone and set advanced security permissions such as expiration dates and access codes. Files are limited to 25GB for each file size uploaded, with unlimited storage. Teams: Send large files, collaborate in real-time and manage creative projects with your team. The Hightail Teams plan allows you to purchase multiple users online (from 1-30 users per organization) and allows users to send file sizes up to 50GB with unlimited storage. The Teams plan also includes features such as file previews, organization, annotations, version control, discussions, follow-ups, approval routing and more. Business: Create unlimited visual project folders (called a Space) with collaboration and project management features such as approval routing and assigning to-dos, upload unlimited files up to 100GB each, protect them with access codes and manage user permissions., plus intuitive admin controls , detailed activity analysis for your entire company, advanced organization options and priority support.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
HCL NotesOpenText Hightail
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
HCL NotesOpenText Hightail
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
6.9
10 Ratings
13% below category average
OpenText Hightail
-
Ratings
Task Management7.09 Ratings00 Ratings
Gantt Charts6.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Scheduling8.09 Ratings00 Ratings
Workflow Automation5.06 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile Access8.010 Ratings00 Ratings
Search6.09 Ratings00 Ratings
Visual planning tools8.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
9.2
10 Ratings
14% above category average
OpenText Hightail
-
Ratings
Chat6.010 Ratings00 Ratings
Notifications9.010 Ratings00 Ratings
Discussions9.57 Ratings00 Ratings
Surveys9.14 Ratings00 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase10.06 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts10.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook10.05 Ratings00 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
HCL Notes
7.6
9 Ratings
7% below category average
OpenText Hightail
-
Ratings
Versioning9.04 Ratings00 Ratings
Video files6.05 Ratings00 Ratings
Audio files6.05 Ratings00 Ratings
Document collaboration8.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Access control6.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Advanced security features8.08 Ratings00 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive10.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Device sync8.05 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
HCL NotesOpenText Hightail
Small Businesses
Stackby
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Score 9.8 out of 10
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.7 out of 10

No answers on this topic

Enterprises
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 8.7 out of 10

No answers on this topic

All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
HCL NotesOpenText Hightail
Likelihood to Recommend
7.0
(16 ratings)
9.0
(8 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.7
(5 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
HCL NotesOpenText Hightail
Likelihood to Recommend
HCL Technologies
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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OpenText
Hightail is my go-to source when I need to send large files that would never fit as regular attachments. That being said, sometimes there are files that would perfectly fit as attachments but I want the security that Hightail provides when sending sensitive or private material. It's very comforting knowing that the content I'm sending is only being received and viewed by the intended parties. It's also comforting for my clients when it's THEIR content that I'm sending for review.
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Pros
HCL Technologies
  • 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$).
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OpenText
  • Management of content, communication, spaces, and projects in general.
  • Control of processes, tasks and activities between the different members of teams.
  • Collaborative work through different media and channels.
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Cons
HCL Technologies
  • 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).
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OpenText
  • Some of our recipients are not very tech-savvy and can get confused with how to download a file. There is some room for improvement by making it clearer where the user should click to download the file.
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Likelihood to Renew
HCL Technologies
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.
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OpenText
No answers on this topic
Usability
HCL Technologies
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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OpenText
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
HCL Technologies
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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OpenText
No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
HCL Technologies
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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OpenText
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
HCL Technologies
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.
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OpenText
Honestly, once we started using Google Drive more efficiently and saw what improvements OpenText Hightail had made, it was hard to choose. But now that we more consistently use Google Drive, I use it probably 75% more than I use OpenText Hightail for the same tasks. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be a customer at OpenText but it's great to have both options.
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Return on Investment
HCL Technologies
  • 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.
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OpenText
  • Hightail simply saves time. We no longer struggle with trying to meet the requirements of OutLook. When we have a file that is too large to send via OutLook we just "hightail it".
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ScreenShots

OpenText Hightail Screenshots

Screenshot of Improve review process with inline commenting for visual files.Screenshot of Compare each update instantly with visual versions.Screenshot of Bring everyone and everything together in a Space.Screenshot of Improve the audio and video review process with time-stamped commenting.