Microsoft Exchange vs. AppRiver from OpenText

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Exchange
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Exchange is a secure email / messaging gateway with file archiving and encryption / data loss capability, available as a hosted service (Exchange Online) or installed (Exchange Server).N/A
AppRiver from OpenText
Score 8.8 out of 10
N/A
AppRiver from OpenText (formerly from Zix from 2019, which was acquired by OpenText), is a hosted messaging gateway and security platform featuring anti-spam and email encryption / data loss capability.N/A
Pricing
Microsoft ExchangeAppRiver from OpenText
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft ExchangeAppRiver from OpenText
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft ExchangeAppRiver from OpenText
Considered Both Products
Microsoft Exchange
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Overall Exchange just has more features, therefore you can do more with it. It's relatively easy to manage once you know what you are doing and it just runs extremely well. When you need 99.99% email reliability, you can beat the robustness of Exchange.
AppRiver from OpenText
Chose AppRiver from OpenText
From AppRiver to Office 365, the support crew was exceptionally detailed and helpful. For new users, distribution groups, members on lists, and adding supplementary email addresses to current profiles for my teams, they led me through the process.
Chose AppRiver from OpenText
Initially we were using Microsoft Office 365 for licensing, an on-premise Exchange server for e-mail, and The E-mail Laundry for spam filtering. After months of unsuccessful attempts to migrate our e-mail to Office 365, AppRiver was the only solution that successfully …
Features
Microsoft ExchangeAppRiver from OpenText
Secure Email Gateway
Comparison of Secure Email Gateway features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Exchange
7.3
84 Ratings
14% below category average
AppRiver from OpenText
8.5
7 Ratings
2% above category average
Anti-malware6.567 Ratings9.86 Ratings
Customizability8.079 Ratings8.96 Ratings
Data Loss Protection8.368 Ratings6.94 Ratings
Threat Detection6.566 Ratings9.77 Ratings
Sandboxing7.444 Ratings6.75 Ratings
End-to-End Encryption6.767 Ratings9.07 Ratings
Management Tools8.080 Ratings8.67 Ratings
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Microsoft ExchangeAppRiver from OpenText
Small Businesses
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Score 9.4 out of 10
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Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Avanan
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Score 9.8 out of 10
Avanan
Avanan
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Avanan
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Score 9.8 out of 10
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Score 9.8 out of 10
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User Ratings
Microsoft ExchangeAppRiver from OpenText
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(102 ratings)
8.9
(31 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(4 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(6 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.9
(12 ratings)
8.4
(25 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft ExchangeAppRiver from OpenText
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
Creating and receiving emails is simple. Managing contacts is a nice feature, especially connecting to Active Directory. Calendar management is also helpful and sharing access to others' calendars for scheduling meetings is useful. And reserving resources such as rooms or equipment is also useful. Personal and shared mailboxes are good features, as well. Tasks are a little lacking, but other than that, the features are thorough.
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OpenText
AppRiver is great for both small and large organizations. Small businesses are unlikely to have much if any technical support staff available to them, for which AppRiver would be a great help. Likewise for large companies, having AppRiver can save your tech support team from dealing with basic, common, and repetitive application support, and allowing them to better focus on more important tasks at hand.
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Pros
Microsoft
  • As we have a large user base of 11,000 users we use MailTips to avoid people getting confused with people with similar names in the organization.
  • The integration between Teams Meeting and Resource booking is generally very good. The Scheduling Assistance makes it easy to scan calendars and find free periods to provisionally scheduled events.
  • Marking yourself as Out of the Office and busy is easy, as is sharing your calendar within the team/organization or individuals.
  • Voicemail integration and the ability to receive missed chats in your inbox are highly used and useful.
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OpenText
  • Very useful daily quarantine list emailed to users.
  • Suspicious emails can be viewed online in their sandbox to check validity before releasing from quarantine.
  • Multiple ways to filter emails (domain, email address, text, etc)
  • Link protection is one of the newest options available and we absolutely love it!!
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Cons
Microsoft
  • The two main factors for the better reliability & Uptime of internally hosted Exchange Server depends on Exchange Server configuration and the level of investment the organization is willing to provide for hosting the Exchange Server On-Premise Environment. As the data is stored in the organization’s hardware, any disaster may lead to the loss of email and servers.
  • Losing data might affect business continuity and rebuilding it can be costly.
  • Security remains a major concern.
  • Security of data loss is main concern. To ensure that, organization needs to configure networks, systems and Exchange platform against possible threats.
  • Hardware and license costs are high.
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OpenText
  • They do not support DMARC and DKIM at this time and I don't know when or if they ever will.
  • Their SPF record is not great and can possibly cause issues, at least that is what my support company has told me.
  • Scanning of links in emails seems super limited and or non-existent. THings get through with completely bad malicious all the time and I assume they are not scanning them or they don't have a proper AV on their end.
  • Once a domain is whitelisted any bad emails that may be spoofing that email domain are let through and no other filters apply to the emails. It's frustrating to have to white list 20+ individual email addresses from a company and not be able to white list just the domain and not feel secure doing that.
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Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
Email and calendars in a business setting are requirements. And Microsoft continues to be the standard of business applications. Microsoft 365 makes Microsoft Exchange easy to use. Everything is in the cloud. Let Microsoft take care of the hardware, the software, and the security. You just enable your business users with the functionality they need.
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OpenText
No answers on this topic
Usability
Microsoft
Microsoft Exchange has come a long way over the years and has nowhere near the technical overhead required for support as it did back in 2003/2007 and prior. The integrations with Teams, Defender, Sharepoint, Copilot and many other products make it a solid and well-rounded tool used for many day-to-day tasks.
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OpenText
AppRiver is very easy to use. A new employee can begin using it on their first day.
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Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
Exchange is setup with multiple servers behind load balancers to provide high availability.
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OpenText
No answers on this topic
Performance
Microsoft
I would say it's the best email product I've experienced.
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OpenText
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Microsoft
We have a good enterprise agreement with Microsoft which affords us quick phone support. I have found the support staff knowledgeable and prompt with a solution when required. At times it may be difficult to schedule a call back, this is mainly due to our need for calls early in the morning which happens to be during a shift change at Microsoft support.
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OpenText
AppRiver's live support is above what I expected, and I use it exclusively. I always get a professional, courteous, and knowledgeable tech that is easy to understand within a few minutes of placing a call. If you do have to leave a message they have always promptly returned my call.
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Implementation Rating
Microsoft
Implementation/conversion can be quite complex and, unless you have certified Exchange administrators in-house, you should strongly consider a 3rd party consultant for this implementation.
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OpenText
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
Microsoft Exchange Product The best cloud-based enterprise-grade archiving platform with a host of features that enable files to be securely archived and retrieved with advanced search options. This tool is very easy to use and has a User-friendly interface. It is a highly reliable platform that allows all employees to automatically store their data without any limitations. It offers a cost-effective solution with customized policy management. We are happy that the customer support team is always fast and concerned, and the product's uninterrupted service experience. It is very good that it stores data in real-time without losing it, even in the event of a disaster. The cost-effective solution and integration with other tools are seamless.
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OpenText
AppRiver requires the least amount of management time, the pricing is better and the minimums are such that almost all SMB's won't be buying shelfware. If you are an MSP, become a partner and you will see spam problems become a thing of the past.
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Scalability
Microsoft
The only time Exchange has failed us is when we did something to cause the failure.
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OpenText
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • It has been an important factor in allowing seamless communication with clients and scheduling business meetings, which in turn works in the company's favor.
  • Haven't noticed any negative impact Exchange has had on our ROI. The support team is also responsive and helpful.
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OpenText
  • Efficiency, teams adapt quickly to changes or new business needs.
  • Support gives us alternatives on how to establish new timings for new business lines on email.
  • An increase in profit owing to a reduction in the amount of assistance our in-house IT staff is required to provide.
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