Google Workspace vs Microsoft Exchange Online comparison

Google and Microsoft are both solutions in the Email Applications category. Google is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.1, while Microsoft is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.8. Google holds a 23.3% mindshare in EA, compared to Microsoft’s 14.4% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Google Workspace

Read 101 Google Workspace reviews

6,330 Views
5,707 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Microsoft Exchange Online

Read 89 Microsoft Exchange Online reviews

4,675 Views
3,650 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Google Workspace

Microsoft Exchange Online

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

Microsoft Exchange Online and Google Workspace compete in the email and collaboration tools sector. Microsoft Exchange Online appears to have the upper hand with its strong security framework and compatibility with Office applications, while Google Workspace is favored for its exceptional collaboration tools and ease of use.

Features: Microsoft Exchange Online offers stability, comprehensive integration with Office applications, and a substantial security framework. It boasts significant storage capacity and is praised for its spam filtering capabilities. Google Workspace shines with its collaboration tools, document sharing via Google Drive, and seamless application integration. Its interfaces are user-friendly and support real-time collaboration.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Exchange Online could enhance third-party app integrations and simplify administration. It faces challenges with migration processes and security vulnerabilities. Google Workspace needs better integration with traditional email clients, improved performance for offline tasks, and enhanced compatibility with Microsoft Office file formats. Users also seek more flexibility in Google Meet.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Exchange Online is available across private, public, and hybrid clouds, with substantial technical support. However, users desire quicker response times. Google Workspace operates mainly on public clouds with straightforward integrations but receives mixed reviews on technical support, with expectations for faster resolutions.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Exchange Online tends to have a higher price point due to its extensive features and security options, offering a good return on investment by reducing on-premise costs. Google Workspace offers competitive pricing with a flexible suite of tools. Although affordable, some users find its pricing high for the functionalities available compared to alternatives like Microsoft 365 but value its productivity enhancements.

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

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange Online

March 2025

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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

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

101

Ranking in other categories

Wireless Email (2nd), Cloud Storage (6th), Content Collaboration Platforms (3rd)

Microsoft Exchange Online

Ranking in Email Applications

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Google Workspace is 23.3%, up from 23.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange Online is 14.4%, down from 15.2% 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

Babatunde-Olugbode

Technical presales engineer at Avetium Consult Ltd

Offers good user interface and seamlessly integrates with other Microsoft services

I like its user interface. I don't struggle or face any challenges while using it. The design interface is simple. I haven't had any trouble managing it for a long time. Even if I encounter a challenge or two, I can always reach out to Microsoft for help. So, overall, it's been a very positive experience. Having everything under one account was valuable. I just had to go through cybersecurity for licensing and download everything. With one account, you can download Office and use Online features directly from your Exchange. There are security solutions in place, and we take customer data very seriously. For example, if I accidentally create a forwarding rule or send an email with an image attached, I get a notification immediately. Compliance-wise, it's quite good online. We can do many things. Even if I can't click on something or upload a specific file type, it'll still be stored for compliance or investigation purposes. So, subscribing to these features. The benefits are widespread and effective communication. We use Microsoft Teams for meetings within and outside our organization. Additionally, Teams can be used for chat, allowing us to track communication and see user activity. Those are the key points that have proven to be beneficial.

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 corporate email feature on Google's Gmail is fantastic."

"Google Workspace is an excellent tool for communicating with people, which allows users to collaborate and edit files simultaneously."

"G Suite Enterprise is user-friendly, and the technical toolkits and other information are on the website. Additionally, the technical documents are comprehensive."

"The most valuable part of G Suite is the integration among all of the components. It's also highly reliable because it's always available. And G Suite's ability to collaborate on all the standard office tools has no rival. It's amazing because you can work seamlessly with any of your colleagues on the same document."

"The most beneficial feature is Gmail, which we use extensively."

"The solution's technical support is very good."

"The real-time editing feature is valuable."

"The features we use quite a lot are the mail and Google Drive. We can store documents and share documents between both employees here, locally in Sweden, and we have an office in the US as well. It's a very easy way to share information and documents, and have online meetings and stuff with Google Meet. We use it quite a lot."

More Google Workspace pros

"The overall usage was all good."

"The solution offers complete scalability and flexibility."

"I like that Exchange Online is easy to use and that I do not need to maintain the previous Exchange Server. I also do not need to worry about the security of the Exchange Server. If there are any issues, then it will be the service provider's problem and not mine."

"The best thing about Microsoft Exchange Online is that it's integrated with the Outlook application."

"The product was simple to use."

"The solution is easy to access, and you can bring your own device to access from anywhere."

"The features of Microsoft Exchange Online are very intuitive and well-built, keeping the user experience in mind. The usability and the accessibility are the best aspects of this solution."

"Intuitive and easy to use."

More Microsoft Exchange Online pros

Cons

"Integration with Microsoft Outlook could be improved."

"The product could improve the number of participants allowed in a meeting and the strength of the meetings."

"The cost could be improved. It can sometimes be a bit confusing figuring out how we are actually being charged."

"For Google Docs, if you upload a Word document up to Google Docs, it could mess up your formatting quite a bit."

"The feature set of Google Sheets is limited."

"We need more functionality with Google Sheets"

"There is some redundancy in the functionality between certain modules."

"Everything is online, so you don't have a client on your desk. Working on email is online work, so can't do work offline and go back online. Sometimes it's not so intuitive. If you answer an email, it puts your answer at the bottom of the existing email."

More Google Workspace cons

"In the past, we had issues with DB in mailboxes."

"Microsoft Exchange Online could improve the management usage, it should be more user-friendly."

"They should tighten their cloud security."

"Migration can be an issue if you do not have a good audit process."

"When you migrate from on-prem to cloud, if you choose to or are forced to do the hybrid, they need to devise a way to undo the hybrid."

"Microsoft Exchange Online should have a faster search feature."

"Cloud security is always a concern and the solution can always increase their security."

"The price could be cheaper."

More Microsoft Exchange Online cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's low in cost as compared to Office 365. There is an annual licensing cost."

"It's about $8.30 up a user per month."

"The price per client within the business is too high."

"The pricing of Google Workspace, so far, has been reasonable."

"I rate Google Workspace's pricing five to six out of ten. We do not pay any extra costs."

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

"The pricing is very high, although I cannot tell if this is the result of the Indian vendors artificially inflating it."

"We normally purchase the license on a yearly basis."

More Google Workspace pricing and cost advice

"The subscription fee is monthly."

"We pay per user per year for the cluster with over a thousand users."

"The product is very cheap."

"The product is expensive and has an annual subscription."

"The model is one which is pay-per-use go. There is no license. We are talking about per-user subscription-based use."

"The cost is around $12 to $16 per user."

"This is an expensive solution."

"The costs of this platform vary based on subscriptions, but it is generally reasonable."

More Microsoft Exchange Online pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Government

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Government

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?

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange Online?

The benefits are widespread and effective communication. We use Microsoft Teams for meetings within and outside our organization. Additionally, Teams can be used for chat, allowing us to track comm...

See all answers

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

The pricing for Microsoft Exchange Online is quite reasonable, in my opinion. Many licensing options are available so that we can choose based on the customer's needs. For example, if a customer on...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Exchange Online?

There are always improvements needed. My personal issue with using OfficeSuite and the Exchange Server is that one has to cobble together a whole bunch of different applications. Therefore, a lot o...

See all answers

Comparisons

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ProtonMail vs Google Workspace

Compared 8% of the time

Amazon WorkDocs vs Google Workspace

Compared 4% of the time

IceWarp vs Google Workspace

Compared 4% of the time

Zoho Mail vs Google Workspace

Compared 3% of the time

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Amazon WorkMail vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 10% of the time

Zoho Mail vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 5% of the time

ProtonMail vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 4% of the time

Zimbra Collaboration vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 4% of the time

Open-Xchange vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 3% of the time

More Microsoft Exchange Online Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace

February 2025

Download Google Workspace product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange Online

February 2025

Download Microsoft Exchange Online 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 Online, Exchange Online Plan 1, Exchange Online Plan 2, MS Exchange Online

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

Exchange Online helps protect your information with advanced capabilities. Anti-malware and anti-spam filtering protect mailboxes. Data loss prevention capabilities prevent users from mistakenly sending sensitive information to unauthorized people. Globally redundant servers, premier disaster recovery capabilities, and a team of security experts monitoring Exchange Online around the clock safeguard your data.

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.

Bank Alfalah Ltd., Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Blue Star Infotech, Scitec Nutrition, Resolution Films, British Airways, Empire Cinemas, InnoGames

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange Online

March 2025

Free Report: Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange Online

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