Microsoft Outlook Pricing, Features, Reviews & Comparison of Alternatives

Pros
Microsoft Outlook is full of far more features than most email clients. I really like being able to set automatic replies when I am away from work. I like the number of plugins compatible with Outlook. If you have a Microsoft Exchange inbox, Outlook makes it very easy to set up your email, without having to deal with POP/IMAP settings. The ability to share contact groups among other employees comes in very handy. Most importantly, at least for our company, it can store an extremely large amount of emails before causing the software to become unstable.

Cons
Outlook is not without its problems. It tends to be filled with randomly occurring bugs. I often have to use the inbox repair tool provided by Outlook for our employees. Some are caused by overwhelming amounts of emails being stored offline, which is understandable. Often, however, other bugs appear randomly. Sometimes Outlook is just suddenly unable to start, despite not having to load a large amount of data and requires the use of the inbox repair tool. Most recently I was unable to make an employee's laptop able to send emails until I downgraded him from Outlook 2016 to 2013. The support for problems such as these is very poor. Asking questions on the Microsoft forum often results in a generic list of things to try that any IT Manager would have already thought to try. One last point of criticism is Outlook's handling of POP3 protocol. Many users who were originally connected to Outlook via POP3 noticed their emails would come in bunches, rather than right after they were sent. It's hard to say how much of that is Outlook's fault, but certainly if you are choosing to use Outlook, I would recommend IMAP and Exchange over POP3. Overall, Outlook is a terrific tool, but it would be greatly improved if Microsoft took more time to address its bugs as well as provide better support to their customers.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 8/10

Pros
Outlook is am amazing email management tool. I have started using during my years in the university as it was using microsoft ecosystem. At first it felt unfriendly after gmail, but after little time I noticed an amazing UI/UX, I played around to discover the possibilities, extentions and functionality and it is awesome! All you have about gmail is simply gone here. Of course, it has some flaws, but in general, it give you everything in terms of email management (personal or business)

Cons
Microsoft ecosystem in general is a drawback here. If you are a poweruser like myself, you are probably familiar, how hard it is to switch from one ecosystem to another. Yes, outlook is great, but is onedrive better then google drive? - hard to say. Many people like google drive. And now we have google photos as well, and google calendar. All work perfectly together and if you switch to outlook, something might be lost. This is the biggest drawback. Overal, outlook is very nice product and I am happy to see its evolution into something better each year!

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
We use Microsoft environment in our corporation and Outlook plays a crucial role in it. Easy to use, secured and very powerful in terms of functionalities, contact syncing across platforms and devices and also native integration with google translator and other add-ons makes Outlook very functional.

Cons
Sometimes Outlook doesnt provide notifications for email and the desktop app doesnt show few emails. I am pretty sure Microsoft is working on these issues but rest it's a great and functional app.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
Microsoft Outlook does a really great job of offering one of the most expansive user experiences out there. One can customize their inbox in a myriad of ways and set up automations in order to make workflow more productive. The tool offers extensive ways to communicate information, schedule meetings, and integrate other business tools within the platform. Furthermore, being able to organize an inbox or inboxes is very easy and efficient.

Cons
Microsoft Outlook is incredibly expansive. Therefore, it takes quite a bit of time in order to fully explore all the possibilities. Furthermore, menus can be a bit confusing for new end-users. I would recommend each business to spend ample time fully training-out end-users in the tool in order to fully gain the benefits from the service. I think there is a lot of value that can be lost when Outlook is used for the sole purpose of emailing.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10

Pros
I have been using Outlook for almost 20 years now. It's definitely the best overall email application for business, hands down. The depth of the features, the almost limitless customizability, and the tools and features it provides are the best in the industry. I love setting up RSS feeds to Craigslist searches. Not something people would normally think about. The amount of features is so overwhelming that most users never break the surface of the depth of Outlook. I love customizing it to meet my needs.

Cons
The biggest issue Outlook has is the lack of UI customizations. You have just a few colors to pick from as well as a few patterns. It's PATHETIC. There is no dark mode, no ability to change the overall theme, and very few UI options. Microsoft has stripped out those features in the latest version and users just have to deal with the fact that Microsoft doesn't want you to customize the UI out of the box. I really hate that about Outlook.

Rating breakdown

Likelihood to recommend: 10/10