Google Workspace Unveiled: Battling Microsoft 365 Head-On

Google Workspace is a powerful set of cloud-based productivity tools that have been designed to help individuals and businesses work smarter, faster, and more efficiently. It comprises a range of different software and services, including email, word processing, spreadsheets, file storage, video conferencing, project management, and more.

Google Workspace has been designed to help users collaborate more effectively, both within their own organizations and with external partners and clients. With real-time collaboration and communication features, users can work on documents, projects, and tasks together from anywhere, anytime, using any device.

Google Workspace was originally launched in 2006 under the name of Google Apps for Your Domain. It was designed to provide a suite of tools allowing businesses to move their operations online, making it easier to collaborate and share information across different teams and locations.

Over the years, Google has continued to expand and improve its suite of tools, adding new features and functionality to make them even more powerful and useful. In 2016, Google rebranded the suite as G Suite, reflecting its focus on providing a comprehensive set of business tools.

Today, Google Workspace is used by millions of individuals and businesses around the world, providing a flexible and scalable solution for modern-day workforces. With its user-friendly interface, powerful features, and cloud-based infrastructure, Google Workspace has revolutionized how people work and collaborate, making it easier than ever to get things done, no matter where you are.

Google allows Google Workspace administrators to adjust the settings for security and privacy. As a Google Workspace user, you will not see any advertisements while using the mentioned services.

Everyone can set up a standard free Gmail or Google account, but a Google Workspace account is created and managed by an administrator.

Now, let's see a list of these apps Google Workspace offers:

• Gmail
• Meet
• Chat  
• Calendar
• Sites
• Drive
• Docs, Sheets, Slides
• Forms, Keep, Jamboard, and sites for collaboration  
• Admin panel for managing users and services

Your data and information will be saved in Google's data centers and then synchronized to other data centers, for example, for backup.

If you’re working online, you definitely care about the software, tools, and services. So, here in this section, you will learn about these productivity suites and how to make the best choice for your business. Both Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 would try to win over your business with their cloud-based suites comprising various productivity apps and services.

Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 have these features

• Sending email
• Shared calendars attached to custom domains
• Online storage
• Productivity apps  
• Communication tools
• Team collaboration
• Management interface

Microsoft 365 vs. Google Workspace: Price

To talk about their pricing structure, you should consider that their price differs by country. If you are going to select a Google Workspace plan, you can easily choose from four available options:

• Business Starter — $6 per user per month
• Business Standard — $12 per user per month
• Business Plus — $18 per user per month
• Enterprise — custom pricing

Now, let's talk about the differences between these plans

• Storage

The Business Starter plan offers 30 GB, Business Standard 2 TB, Business Plus 5 TB, and the Enterprise plan offers unlimited storage per user.

• Video call

The Business Starter plan allows you to have 100 participants in a call. The Business Standard plan allows 150, Business Plus and Enterprise allow 250 participants.

• App creation

The Enterprise plan allows you to access Google's Appsheet tool, a no-code tool enabling you to create apps without coding.

• Search

Smart Search tool, which is available in all plans except Business Starter.

• Security features

Business Plus and Enterprise plans offer more security features, including Vault, which is used for retaining and searching users' data, and Endpoint management which gives more control over users' access to Google Workspace features.

Now, let's talk about Microsoft 365 pricing.

Microsoft 365 pricing differs based on your selected version: Home, Business, Enterprise, Education, etc. For example, Microsoft 365 Business Basic would cost $5 per user per month. Or, as another example, Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise costs $12 per user per month.

Storage varies depending on your plan, and you need to pay annually. The Microsoft 365 apps plans will only provide you with desktop apps.

The maximum number of users in Microsoft 365 Business plans is 300, but the Enterprise plans allow you to have unlimited users.

Not all of the 365 plans provide you with an email account, so if you use Microsoft 365 as your email service provider, you must avoid both the Business and Enterprise ‘Microsoft 365 Apps’ plans.

Microsoft 365 vs. Google Workspace: Storage

Microsoft 365 offers 1TB of storage with the ‘Business Basic’ plan compared to Google’s 30GB on its ‘Business Starter’ plan or other Google Workspace plans to give you 2TB or 5TB storage; this is useful to any business that needs to store many files in the cloud and compares positively to all the Microsoft ‘Business’ plans offering file storage of 1TB. For further insights into the world of Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 and how they each have their own unique features, immerse yourself in our Introduction to Google Workspace Online Training.

Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace allow you to buy more storage per user.

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