Google workspace vs Microsoft 365: Which is better?

Many of us have a Google account, whether it is for personal communication, work, school, or any other purpose. It is hard to imagine life without using Google’s many different apps that make our lives easier – Gmail, Drive, Search, Calendar, Contacts, Keep, Maps, and others. Small businesses and organizations have benefitted from Google’s free custom domain name and business features, allowing them to have their business identity and communication without paying anything. 

Google apps have recently rebranded to Google Workspace, featuring a revamped interface and upgraded tools designed to make the end-user experience more streamlined, efficient, and resourceful. However, there is one update customers, especially businesses, might not cherish as much.  

Is G Suite still Free?

One of the most prominent reasons businesses and organizations seemed to opt for Google instead of its competitors was G Suite. It was a set of services which allowed users to configure custom domains and business email addresses at no cost to the organisation. With the configured email addresses, the users were given access to various Google applications, such as Docs, Sheets, Drive, and others. 

In October 2020, Google rebranded the G Suite as Google Workspace, which added several new features and services, enhancing the user experience. In June 2022, Google announced that it is ending the free service. All users who availed of Google Workspace for business purposes will have to upgrade to the Business Edition, or their accounts will be suspended. Now, users have the option of four business plans, as mentioned below: 

• Business Starter: For £4.14 per month per user, this plan provides the user with a custom business email, the ability to hold video conferences with up to 100 people, and 30 GB of cloud storage per user; however, this plan does not include a Shared Drive. Individual user’s files can be manually shared between users, whereas having a dedicated shared area in which an organisation can store files for simple collaboration is considerably more efficient.  

• Business Standard: This plan is a slight upgrade from the Starter, which costs £8.28 per month per user and features 150-person video meetings, 2 TB of cloud storage per user, and a Shared Drive. 

• Business Plus: For £13.80 per month per user, this plan gives users a business email, 500-person video meetings with recording features, retention, eDiscovery, and 5 TB of cloud storage per user with advanced controls.

• Enterprise: This top-tier plan has the most extensive and advanced features for every user, including S/MIME encryption, noise cancellation, in-call streaming, unlimited storage, and advanced security. It is priced accordingly. 

Google Workspace vs. Microsoft 365 

As cloud computing has developed over the past 15+ years, Google and Microsoft emerged as giants when considering productivity and collaboration tools. Being two of the world's largest tech companies, they have enabled the freedom of working from almost anywhere by allowing users to email, participate in group meetings, produce content and more through cloud technologies. 

Both companies have historically gone head-to-head in facilitating their business customers, but Google has held an edge over Microsoft with its free business emails and custom domain services. However, since Google has removed the free tier, there is currently little to separate the two cloud services.  

Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 Pricing Comparison 

Its plans start from £4.50 per user per month and go upwards accordingly. Some notable features include 1TB of cloud storage per license, video calling, security, anytime phone and web support, and the standard Office Apps: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneDrive. Microsoft 365 also has four business plans: 

• Business Basic - priced at £4.50 per user per month, it features up to 300 attendees within a Teams call, Web and Mobile versions of the standard Office Apps, including Teams, Exchange, and SharePoint. Though Exchange and SharePoint are the basic domain versions of the applications in this package, the Office Apps are only available online. 

• Apps for Business – priced at £7.90 per user per month, this plan merely features the five standard Office Apps, with Access and Publisher available. Teams are not included, as the package primarily aims at the basic generic usage of Microsoft’s Office Apps. 

• Business Standard – priced at £9.40 per user per month, the Business Standard mirrors the Business Basic, with the added use of Access and Publisher applications, and the full versions of Exchange and SharePoint. The user can also host Webinars, which feature a Registration Form that sends out an email confirmation and records the reaction, giving the user metrics on those attending.
• Business Premium – priced at £16.60 per user per month and provides Microsoft's top tier of service. It features everything in the Business Standard Package, including further access and data control, with advanced security and cyber threat protection. Though Microsoft has a standard data security process to protect their customer’s data, advanced security offers to protect against highly sophisticated threats that could lurk in email attachments or hyperlinks. 
  
  

The Apps for Business package is the only one which focuses solely on the Office Apps. The other three give much more functionality. With this, each package issues each license holder a 50GB mailbox and the ability to implement a custom domain name for their email addresses. On top of the use of Teams 

Besides this, Microsoft 365 also contains four Enterprise plans, making it easier for larger businesses to determine what they need. 

• E1 – priced at £7.50 per user per month 
• E3 – priced at £20.20 per user per month 
• E5 – priced at £33.40 per user per month 
• Apps for Enterprise - £11.50 per user per month 

Each plan offers a plethora of work management, analytic and security management tools, reflected in the pricing and based upon different levels of application functionality. Microsoft 365 has more comprehensive and flexible pricing plans, allowing you to tailor its cloud services according to your business needs and requirements. 

How much Cloud Storage do you get with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365

Regarding cloud storage, Google Workspace offers a range of storage on Google Drive, starting from 30GB per user on a Business Starter plan to 5 TB of storage per user on their Business Plus package. At the same time, Microsoft 365 gives you 1 TB OneDrive storage for each user, along with 50 GB of email storage. Generally, 1 TB storage per user is sufficient, and users seldom need more. So, if you don’t need more storage, Microsoft 365 has Enterprise plans that allow you to choose the amount that you need. 

Email 

Gmail and Outlook are leaders in the email sphere, and both allow you to use any email program other than their respective applications or web platforms to access your email. When it comes to sending and receiving emails, both email providers are known to be quick and robust.  

However, Gmail makes it easier for you to search for emails and files within your email storage. It also allows you to filter emails through various search terms and criteria. While Outlook also has a smooth interface and functionality, its desktop application has far more features than the browser version. 

What Business Apps do you get with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365?

Businesses and organizations use productivity and collaboration tools like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 due to the various apps they provide. Google Workspace has the following useful apps:

• Google Docs 
• Google Sheets 
• Google Slides 
• Google Drive
• Calendar
• Google Meet 
• Gmail 
• Google Chat 

These apps can be accessed through their apps on any device or through the browser as well. On the other hand, Microsoft 365 features the following apps: 

• Microsoft Word 
• Microsoft Excel 
• Microsoft PowerPoint 
• Microsoft OneDrive 
• Microsoft Outlook 
• Microsoft SharePoint 
• Microsoft Exchange 

A major benefit of Microsoft 365 apps is that you can access them on your browser, smartphone, tablet, and even find their desktop versions for download. Therefore, you get more accessibility and freedom to work as you wish with these apps. 

Collaboration and Communication 

When it comes to cloud services and business suites like the ones we are comparing, it is crucial to compare their collaboration features, as well as the ease of communication they provide. Both Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 strive to provide their business users with seamless connectivity and real-time collaboration.  

Speaking of collaboration, both productivity tools and their apps allow real-time multiuser editing, which allows entire teams to work on the same document, sheet, or presentation without having to send files back and forth repeatedly. Moreover, you can also leave comments, set up different versions, use colour-coding to distinguish the work of different users, etc. 

Moving on to communication, Google Workspace helps you connect with up to 250 people through voice and video conferencing on Google Meet, while Microsoft 365 offers access to up to 300 people. The latter also helps you collaborate with your team through Skype and Microsoft Teams, offering you the flexibility of controlling everything from your laptop or other devices. 

Apart from this, both platforms have advanced collaboration and file sharing features and allow you to get more work done efficiently. 

Security 

Google and Microsoft are 2 of the largest tech companies in the world, and each of them has state-of-the-art cyber security systems in place designed to protect the sensitive data of thousands of companies. Moreover, each service provider has its own set of cloud security protection measures that keeps millions of users safe from hacking, phishing, and other malicious actions. 

Apart from this, both Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are equipped with data loss protection so that your data isn’t only in safe hands but it also backed up on various sources. This way, even if there is a rarely occurring downtime, you will be able to access all your files, emails, and other business material normally. 

Plus, these suites include services like multi-factor authentication, unusual activity detection, 99.9% uptime guarantees, and many others. So, when it comes to the security of your business data, you don’t have to worry about anything. 

Support 

Last but not least, it is very important to consider the support provided to you by Google or Microsoft so that you can quickly get the answer to your queries or concerns or tailor your services and features. While these service providers rarely have any downtime, you can contact them for support if you experience any disruption in service. Microsoft 365 comes with round-the-clock online and phone support, while Google Workspace requires you to pay for enhanced support. 

Move to Microsoft 365 with Texaport 

That’s all we have for you on the recent changes to Google Workspace, as well as a comprehensive comparison between it and Microsoft 365. As you can see, both the service providers are at the top of the list. However, Microsoft 365 offers you flexible pricing plans, and it also features powerful desktop applications. 

If you are a new business looking to set up Microsoft 365, or an existing employee looking to shift from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365, Texaport has you covered. We are certified and experienced Microsoft partners, and we provide unlimited support and consultation services to businesses of all sizes.  

Texaport offers a fully managed migration service to move your company data effortlessly to Microsoft 365. Our process ensures no downtime or data loss. Get in touch with us and explore the vast range of features that Microsoft 365 provides.