Microsoft 365 vs. Google Workspace: Which Is Right for Your Organization?

Explore key differences between Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. Compare features & functions and learn why backup is a necessity for both.

Microsoft 365 (earlier known as Microsoft 365) and Google Workspace (formerly Google Workspace) are arguably the most popular and commonly used suites of business productivity tools. Through these productivity solutions, Microsoft and Google aim to offer a complete package of cloud-based applications and services for easier communication and collaboration.

Both suites are powerful, reliable and offer several benefits to businesses of all sizes. Therefore, it can be extremely difficult to decide which productivity suite is the right fit for your business. In this article, we will compare the two suites, analyze their features, plans and pricing, and key differentiators to help you make the right choice.

What is the difference between Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace?

Since Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are designed to boost productivity while enabling effective communication and team collaboration, the solutions are very similar. However, there are individual applications and management tools that are quite different from each other.

Each of these suites includes applications for word processing, spreadsheet calculation, presentation, email, instant messaging, video conferencing, calendar, web hosting, note-taking, etc., that organizations heavily rely on every day to accomplish critical business processes.

Here’s a comparison chart of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace for a quick overview:

Microsoft 365 vs. Google Workspace plans & pricing

Plans and pricing of a cloud solution play a crucial role in determining if the solution meets your budget and business requirements.

Microsoft 365 plans and pricing

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic: This basic plan is ideal for businesses that require simple remote solutions. This plan is available for $5 per user per month. It includes business email, 1TB of OneDrive for storage, and web and mobile versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Desktop versions of Office apps are not included in this plan.
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard: This plan is available for $12.50 per month per user and is best suited for organizations looking for complete remote and collaboration tools. It combines the Business Basic plan with all the premium office apps, including desktop versions.
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium: This Microsoft 365 edition costs $20 per user per month. In addition to the premium apps and cloud services available in Business Standard, it also includes advanced security and management services. This plan is suitable for organizations that require advanced threat protection and remote work solutions.
• Microsoft 365 Apps for business: This edition costs you $8.25 per month per user and is ideal for small businesses and startups that use Office apps and cloud file storage, but do not require Microsoft’s business email. This plan doesn’t include business email, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint.

Google Workspace plans and pricing

• Business Starter: If you have a small business or are just starting new, this plan is ideal for you. The cost of this basic plan is $6 per user per month and includes 30GB of cloud storage for each user. This plan doesn’t include shared drives for your team, AppSheet, Cloud Search and Vault (for retaining, archiving and searching data).
• Business Standard: This is the most popular Google Workspace plan and is available for $12 per user per month. This plan offers 2TB of cloud storage per user. This plan supports video meetings for up to 150 participants and also allows recording of the meetings. Similar to Business Starter, this plan doesn’t include Vault for data retention and eDiscovery.
• Business Plus: This plan is ideal for businesses seeking more storage capacity and enhanced security. It is available for $18 per user per month and includes several additional features like hosting online meetings for up to 250 participants, attendance tracking and Cloud Search. This plan provides enhanced security and management controls, including Vault and advanced endpoint management.
• **Enterprise:**Google’s most premium plan, the Enterprise edition offers unlimited cloud storage (as much storage as you need). This plan includes all the key features of Business Plus as well as other advanced capabilities and security solutions, such as in-domain live streaming, Connected Sheets, AppSheet, S/MIME encryption, DLP, data regions and enterprise endpoint management. You can avail custom pricing for this plan by contacting Google’s sales team.

Microsoft 365 vs. Google Workspace feature comparison

Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are feature-rich suites that integrate several efficiency-enhancing products into powerful, complete packages. Microsoft and Google aim to be your one-stop solution for efficiency and productivity with these web-based solutions. Let’s look at the features of both the productivity suites.

Email Suite

Microsoft 365 as well as Google Workspace provide custom business email, which means you can use your organization’s domain name as your email address.

Outlook vs. Gmail

Outlook is Microsoft’s email program that allows you to send and receive email messages. It also allows you to manage and organize emails, schedule meetings and keep track of your tasks. You can access Outlook on your PC, MAC or mobile device. Outlook allows you to sort, group or add labels to your emails, which makes it easier to manage emails.

Gmail, also known as Google Mail, is a web-based email service from Google. Gmail’s AI-driven feature is a handy tool that suggests words and phrases while you type. With Gmail, you can access several third-party apps that enhance its functionality. However, since these are separate apps, navigating and using them can be a bit time-consuming and cumbersome. Although Gmail doesn’t include a desktop app, you can connect your Gmail accounts to third-party apps like Outlook or Thunderbird.

Productivity and Collaboration

As productivity and collaboration platforms, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are designed to boost productivity while enabling you to work from anywhere. Let’s take a closer look at the productivity apps of each suite.

Microsoft 365 apps vs. Google Workspace apps

Both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace include applications for word processing, spreadsheet calculations and presentations. Microsoft 365 offers Word, Excel and PowerPoint, while Google has Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides respectively.

You can access Microsoft’s suite of productivity tools via PC, mobile and web applications. They include powerful collaborative capabilities, like real-time co-authoring, that allow your team to work on the same document concurrently.

Unlike Microsoft’s productivity tools that include both desktop and web versions, Google’s apps are exclusively web-based. That said, Google’s productivity applications have a cleaner interface and are simple and easy to access and use. Real-time co-authoring capabilities in these apps allow your team to suggest, comment, make notes and review changes on the document.

Communication

Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace offer a myriad of tools to communicate and collaborate with teams across your organization, clients and stakeholders.

Microsoft Teams vs. Google Meet

While both Microsoft Teams and Google Meet offer top-notch business functionality, Microsoft Teams is specifically built for business use. For instance, Microsoft Teams integrates more than 250 apps that you can use to collaborate effectively. Teams allows you to host video calls for up 300 participants at a time as well as chat with colleagues from the same app.

Google offers Meet and Chat for video calls and chat. Google Meet supports up to 250-participant video and voice conferencing, depending on your plan. It is integrated with other apps like Google Calendar and Gmail that allow you to schedule and host meetings seamlessly.

Both platforms include some common features, such as file and screen sharing, background customization, search functionality, recording meetings, in-transit encryption, etc. Google’s cloud-based video conferencing application has simpler layouts and an intuitive UI, which makes it relatively easy to use. Microsoft Teams’ advanced features make for a great overall collaboration and communication experience.

Microsoft 365 vs. Google Workspace security

Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are designed to meet stringent data privacy and security standards. The suites are regularly updated, which keeps them secure. Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace allow platform administrators to customize security protocols to control user access and permissions.

Microsoft 365 offers email protection from spam, malware and other threats with Exchange Online Protection. The robust solution provides more than 1,000 security and privacy controls that help you meet industry standards and regulations. Its security groups and custom permissions allow you to protect your business information from unauthorized access.

Microsoft 365 Enterprise editions give you access to advanced threat protection features like identity and access management that establishes secure connections between users, devices, applications and data, Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics, Data Loss Prevention for email and files, Windows Information Protection and BitLocker, Microsoft Security and Compliance Center, eDiscovery and advanced audit, and Microsoft Defender Antivirus and Device Guard, that secure your Windows devices against viruses, spyware and other malware.

Google Workspace offers phishing and spam protection for your email. It provides two-factor verification, group-based policy controls, Advanced Protection Program and endpoint management. With the Business Plus edition, you get access to Vault to retain, archive and search data and Secure Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) that allows you to connect your LDAP-based apps and services to Cloud Identity or Google Workspace. Google Workspace Enterprise edition gives you access to premium features like data loss prevention (DLP), security center and Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) encryption.

Key differentiators

The functionality of the two productivity suites is largely the same. However, a key differentiating factor that separates Microsoft 365 from Google Workspace is that Microsoft 365 apps are available in both desktop and web versions. As such, Microsoft offers licenses for “browser-based apps” and other licenses for “full installations.” This enables you to download and install desktop versions on their local devices and use them offline if required. Microsoft 365 also offers Publisher, a desktop publishing app, Access, a database app, Project, a project management tool, and Planner, a browser-based app, to organize and manage tasks.

Google Workspace doesn’t provide the installable desktop versions that you can use on your PC. However, Google Workspace does have a web-app feature that provides offline functions for Docs, Sheets and Slides.

Another key difference is storage. Microsoft 365 offers its users 1TB of cloud storage, while with Google Workspace, the storage capacity varies depending on the edition you purchase — from 30GB to infinite backup (with the Enterprise edition).

Both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are secure platforms. However, Microsoft’s multi-factor authentication takes it a notch higher as compared to Google Workspace’s two-factor authentication. Also, since Google Workspace integrates with a plethora of third-party apps, this may prove to be risky when users grant permissions to take advantage of these apps.

Microsoft 365 vs. Google Workspace: Which is the best for my business?

Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace have a long list of impressive features that are designed to make your workflow smoother and more productive. For startups or small businesses that require simple, easy-to-use business applications that could get you up and running instantly, Google Workspace is the best choice.

For businesses that require powerful and sophisticated features, Microsoft 365 is the go-to productivity suite. Microsoft 365 has similar capabilities for collaboration and productivity. However, the learning curve could be a bit steep when compared with the simplicity of Google Workspace.

In terms of “running a business” versus “saving money,” Google Workspace can be a great choice for businesses that don’t need all the functionality of Microsoft 365.

Secure your cloud data with Spanning Backup

From pricing and functionality, to storage and accessibility, there are a lot of factors that need to be considered when choosing the right productivity suite for business. However, for any business, the most important factor is undoubtedly security. In fact, according to Check Point’s Cloud Security Report, data loss and leakage are among the top concerns for cloud customers.

Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are reliable cloud platforms with 99.9% uptime guarantee. However, did you know that SaaS providers, such as Microsoft and Google, are not responsible for protecting your data? It’s your responsibility! Find out what’s included and what’s not in Microsoft 365 security and data protection and in Google Workspace security and data protection.

Microsoft and Google provide data protection from infrastructure threats such as hardware or software failure, power outages and natural disasters. However, they cannot protect your SaaS data from the most common causes of data loss like phishing, ransomware and malware attacks, human error, malicious behavior, and configuration and sync errors.

Spanning’s enterprise-class, easy-to-use solutions for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace fill the gaps in native functionality to protect your organization’s critical data from loss caused by these threats.

Find out how Spanning SaaS backup solutions enable administrators as well as users to restore data and get back up and running in just a few clicks.

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