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Google Workspace vs Microsoft Exchange comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

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 (6th), Content Collaboration Platforms (2nd)
Microsoft Exchange
Ranking in Email Applications
3rd
Ranking in Wireless Email
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
File Archiving (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Google Workspace is 22.9%, down from 23.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange is 11.4%, down from 12.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Sunil-Nair - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Hesham Hussain - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

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."
"Being able to back up our data on Google Drive is a critical and valuable feature for our customers. It is just in sync. Imagine you change a file on the desktop, and it gets updated directly to your Google Drive. Our laptop is completely in sync with Google Drive. Google Meet, Google Sheets, and Google Docs are also amazing products. They're very versatile and easy to use as compared to Office 365. I am using Google Sheets and Google Docs, which first save the work on my memory or ROM, and then on my RAM. It gives me better productivity through Google Sheets and Google Docs."
"Google seems to be a more stable environment than our current on-premise Microsoft solution that we're replacing."
"If I'm addressing certain emails from banks — automatic emails, like OTP, etc. — I can create rules and forward that OTP to the specific email IDs. You can create rules and deliver mail to different groups using the forwarding feature. It's handy."
"The solution offers very good email. It's a very good email provider."
"A complete integrated environment for our business. I get Google docs, Gmail, online space, and calendar where I can easily perform all documentation, storage, and communications online."
"It's a secure solution that enables you to choose those you wish to share with."
"Google Workspace is an excellent tool for communicating with people, which allows users to collaborate and edit files simultaneously."
"The deployment is a plug-and-play process."
"It is a product that is simple to manage, and easy to use."
"It is a very scalable solution."
"The initial setup was straightforward and fast."
"All of Exchange's features are valuable. For example, we can configure the MAPI profile, IM profile, or mobile profile."
"With the cloud coming in, scalability is not an issue even for Microsoft."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Exchange is its communication capabilities."
"It's a very user-friendly application. The mail server is also valuable when compared to other services like SquirrelMail."
 

Cons

"The user interface, especially on Google Drive, could be better."
"In Google Meet, there is no feature for recording a meeting. It should have a feature for recording."
"Google Workspace needs to be more flexible, like Microsoft Excel."
"We've had difficulty using PowerPoint files in G Suite. PowerPoint has some functions that are not available in G Suite, so when you convert from PPTX to the Slides format, they don't work."
"I would rate the stability a five out of ten."
"When I compare with Office 365, G Suite has fewer features."
"With the Internet of Things, a platform that integrates well with others would be even better."
"The price could be reduced."
"The cost could be cheaper."
"There is a lot of spam email that comes in, so they should add functionality to help fix this problem."
"When we started using Exchange on the cloud, we had a lot of initial problems relating to our main database and we also experienced issues with the accidental deletion of inboxes, amongst other things. In fact, many of the files we had moved to the cloud had disappeared. There also seems to be a problem with the retention of information."
"The only thing that could be improved is the pricing."
"It is costly, so it depends on how much you want to pay."
"One major area for improvement is the need for repeated authentication when running a meeting."
"Microsoft Exchange could improve by being more secure. We are always looking to have more security."
"The platform could be more user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The main challenge regarding startups with identity services is you could be on a platform that works well but the services are expensive. For example, Microsoft Azure costs approximately $30 per user which is expensive. You end up choosing a different platform, such as G Suite Enterprise because it is priced reasonably and is less expensive than other solutions."
"The pricing of Google Workspace, so far, has been reasonable."
"We pay on yearly basis."
"You pay for Google Workspace based on your usage and the apps you use, but in my case, it's free, but if I used it a lot more, I'd probably need to pay. 15GB is enough for me, but I see myself upgrading and paying the additional charges for more storage regularly."
"We normally purchase the license on a yearly basis."
"The overall cost is very reasonable when considering all of the security features that you are receiving. It is a bit more expensive than our local host and/or other hosting companies that are available on the market, but it is worth it."
"The solution is expensive."
"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."
"Microsoft Exchange itself does not require a license, but users who will have mailboxes will require a license. It depends on the number of users to choose which license. If you exceed 2,000 mailboxes, it's preferable to get the enterprise license."
"I rate Microsoft Exchange's pricing a six out of ten."
"There is an annual cost to use Microsoft Exchange, and the price could be less expensive."
"The product pricing is reasonable if you utilize its full suite of features."
"It is not expensive."
"The price of Microsoft Exchange could improve. In Egypt, the price keeps increasing."
"Its price is okay."
"We can get Exchange in the cloud along with the Microsoft 365 license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

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.
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.
What needs improvement with Google Workspace?
As far as Google Workspace is concerned, it is working fine for us. Our needs are fulfilled, so that's fine. However, integration with Microsoft Outlook could be improved. The new integration was i...
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...
What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange?
The initial setup was straightforward and fast.
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...
 

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

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.