Google Workspace vs Microsoft Exchange comparison

Google and Microsoft are both solutions in the Email Applications category. Google is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.2, while Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.4. Google holds a 23.8% mindshare in EA, compared to Microsoft’s 11.3% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Google Workspace

Read 101 Google Workspace reviews

6,522 Views
5,908 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Microsoft Exchange

Read 91 Microsoft Exchange reviews

3,748 Views
3,240 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Google Workspace

Microsoft Exchange

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

Microsoft Exchange and Google Workspace compete in the business communication and collaboration category. Google Workspace appears to have the upper hand due to its real-time collaboration and cloud accessibility.

Features: Microsoft Exchange offers tools like Message Tracking, Outlook integration, and strong security features catering to on-premise needs. Google Workspace emphasizes collaboration with Google Docs, Sheets, and Meet, providing seamless integration with Google services.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Exchange needs to improve storage management, integration with non-Microsoft products, and simplify initial setup. Google Workspace faces challenges in transitioning from Microsoft tools, lacks offline capabilities, and has function gaps in Google Sheets compared to Excel.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Exchange deployment often requires significant IT resources for on-premises or hybrid setups with reliance on third-party expertise. Google Workspace simplifies cloud-based deployment but has sporadic customer service issues.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Exchange offers varied pricing based on deployment with complex licensing, whereas Google Workspace has straightforward, user-based plans. Both provide potential ROI, with Google Workspace excelling in cloud-based value.

To learn more, read our detailed Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange

January 2025

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Helped 831,683 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Google Workspace

Ranking in Email Applications

1st

Ranking in Wireless Email

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

101

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Storage (4th), Content Collaboration Platforms (2nd)

Microsoft Exchange

Ranking in Email Applications

3rd

Ranking in Wireless Email

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

File Archiving (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Google Workspace is 23.8%, up from 22.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange is 11.3%, down from 13.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Applications

Featured Reviews

Sunil-Nair

IT Manager at Universal Carpets & Rugs

Email collaboration and accessibility have improved team productivity

The valuable features include the email service, email updates, and Google Drive. People are given email access to Google Drive. The team can share manual files and work accordingly. They can access different teams from anywhere, collectively putting files, sharing them, and managing them. Additionally, the manufacturing product does not require any downgrades. It works fine and continuously for the last three or four years. Users can access their emails from anywhere in their browser without a laptop or can directly access from Gmail. This is helpful for salespeople.

Read full review

Hesham Hussain

Head Of Infrastructure at ValU

A good solution for large enterprises, but is expensive when compared to other solutions

Regarding the decision of increasing the number of users, it depends on the organization's choice, whether to opt for CapEx or OpEx. Both options involve expenses over the years. Building an in-house Exchange solution requires investing in hardware, storage, connectivity, and administrative resources. Office 365 shifts the budget solely to OpEx as a subscription service. Scalability is another factor. Starting a new company favors Office 365 due to cost efficiency. As the organization grows, the choice depends on available resources and technical expertise. An internal Exchange setup is feasible with skilled engineers, while Office 365 suits those lacking in-house resources.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The product can scale easily."

"The security and privacy policies of G Suite make it efficient, and the organizational data is secure."

"The initial setup is very easy."

"We find Google Drive and mail useful for our services."

"It has saved us money."

"personally prefer to use G Suite applications, such as Gmail, Slides, and Sheets, because they give you the freedom to share the document you're editing and co-work with other colleagues simultaneously."

"It is quite a useful tool. It allows many people to work on a document. You can actually provide review comments and tag anybody to make the comment changes. You can also attach a document in Google Chat."

"In terms of email, I could probably do the same things with other programs, however, I find 90% of my usage is Gmail."

More Google Workspace pros

"It is user friendly."

"The most used feature of Microsoft Exchange is the email capability, especially since it integrates with the calendar."

"The technical support services are good."

"Internal communication stability within Exchange is ensured by the stability of the internal network which is guaranteed by default."

"The functionality on the user side is quite good. Exchange provides an excellent platform for collaboration between users."

"The tool's most valuable feature is associated with the fact that it stands out for being beneficial for managing emails."

"The email management system is very easy to set up, configure, and use."

"What I love about Microsoft Exchange is the good integration since 2013, particularly its integration with the calendar and other software such as Zoom, TeamViewer, AnyDesk, etc."

More Microsoft Exchange pros

Cons

"The solution could always be more secure, although that doesn't affect me so much."

"When I compare with Office 365, G Suite has fewer features."

"Expensive with a complicated licensing structure."

"We noticed that sometimes when we forward emails to somebody, it is being relocated as part of the communication somewhere else. The traceability and other features should be improved."

"If you use a name with a special character like a slash in the folder, it will crash the migration, with no warning. There is no pre-warning or anything to tell you that if you use characters in a file name that it will crash the migration."

"I'm not sure if Google Drive has a customizing feature, however, if it did, then it would be better."

"With the Internet of Things, a platform that integrates well with others would be even better."

"I find the price high for the full suite features. Compared to Exchange Online, the price might not be too high, but you cannot choose only one functionality. When you buy Google Workspace, you have to get everything, including file storage and communication tools, which I don't use."

More Google Workspace cons

"Some users encounter stability issues. I connect with the support team through my local partner, which takes time."

"The default storage capacity is too small."

"The security features could be improved. There should be a better policy management system."

"Microsoft could make it easier to combine comments in the GUI. It isn't easy to do certain things in Exchange, primarily if the administrator isn't used to the command line, so I think the customer interface could be improved."

"I think it could be more scalable."

"The solution could be more user-friendly."

"An improvement would be to combine Exchange and Teams so that emails, calls, and chats can be integrated into one window."

"In terms of Microsoft Exchange, I think maybe what can be done is to make it more user-friendly."

More Microsoft Exchange cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is reasonable."

"There are different versions of the solution available, such as premium."

"Careful consideration should be given to the different licensing options and provisions should be made for additional applications that may be required for your particular business."

"There are benefits that can provide a competitive advantage, e.g., improved productivity (with appropriate training), increased collaboration (with correct use of tools), flexible working - work from home or remote locations, easy to scale - fast onboarding of new employees, and ability to add and remove licenses, as required."

"I give the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most affordable."

"The solution is expensive."

"Licensing costs are on a yearly basis."

"We have purchased an annual subscription."

More Google Workspace pricing and cost advice

"Licensing fees are paid monthly."

"We pay for the license annually."

"I have Outlook 365 Professional, and Exchange comes in the bundle with other solutions, such as Word and OneDrive. I pay for the use of the bundle monthly and I can imagine if you are a company with many licenses the pricing model would be a lot different."

"Its price is very affordable, and basically, it is the standard of the industry. We have the Exchange 365 subscription, which includes the usage of Exchange Online. I don't know the specific cost, but it is the retail price of Microsoft 365 E3 licenses. Microsoft's licensing is not very easy to understand. Microsoft changes rules every other day, which makes it difficult for us to understand the licensing not only for Exchange but also for other products. It can sometimes be really complex to understand what you need to have in order to comply with Microsoft licensing."

"The product pricing is reasonable if you utilize its full suite of features."

"I rate Microsoft Exchange's pricing a six out of ten."

"It's working very well. There is no problem, but the price is not the best."

"The price of Microsoft Exchange is reasonable."

More Microsoft Exchange pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

11%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Workspace?

Easy-to-build forms are allowing me to get feedback and information from my internal teams as well as from the customers very efficiently with the result data in structured manner.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Workspace?

I'm not satisfied with the cost because I feel these services should be free as they use our data.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Google Workspace?

Google Workspace lacks the ability to copy and move files from one folder to another easily. I also find it challenging to perform many operations using the context menu in Google Sheets, Google Do...

See all answers

How does Zimbra Collaboration compare with Microsoft Exchange?

Zimbra is a free, open source collaborative software suite. The features I like best are the ease of integration and the email, calendar, and collaboration server with web interface. In addition, I...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange?

The initial setup was straightforward and fast.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Exchange?

The licensing and pricing are quite costly, which can demotivate customers from opting for features and upgrades. However, the solution provides value for money if one is well-acquainted with Excha...

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Exchange Online vs Google Workspace

Compared 33% of the time

Amazon WorkMail vs Google Workspace

Compared 31% of the time

ProtonMail vs Google Workspace

Compared 6% of the time

IceWarp vs Google Workspace

Compared 4% of the time

Dropbox vs Google Workspace

Compared 1% of the time

More Google Workspace Competitors

Zimbra Collaboration vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 23% of the time

KerioConnect vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 17% of the time

HCL Domino vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 12% of the time

Open-Xchange vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 12% of the time

ProtonMail vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft Exchange Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace

January 2025

Download Google Workspace product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange

January 2025

Download Microsoft Exchange product report

Also Known As

G-Suite Enterprise, G-Suite, Google Apps for Business, G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G-Suite Basic, G-Suite Business, Google Vault

Exchange, MS Exchange

Overview

Similar to G Suite, all Google Workspace plans provide a custom email for your business and include collaboration tools like Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and more.

As we’ve evolved G Suite into a more integrated experience across our communication and collaboration tools, we’ve rebranded to Google Workspace to more accurately represent the product vision.

Google

Built to deliver the enterprise-grade security and reliability that businesses require, Microsoft Exchange provides email, calendar and contacts on your PC, phone and web browser.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

There are over five million businesses that use Google Apps for Business worldwide. Some key customers include The Roche Group, National Geographic, American Red Cross, City of Los Angeles, Flight Centre, and Konica Minolta.

Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Scitec Nutrition, British Airways, InnoGames, Osteology Foundation, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, NTC Contracting

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange

January 2025

Free Report: Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange

Find out what your peers are saying about Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.

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