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 22.9% mindshare in EA, compared to Microsoft’s 14.1% 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

6,268 Views
5,616 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Microsoft Exchange Online

Read 89 Microsoft Exchange Online reviews

4,555 Views
3,562 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 (2nd)

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 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 Online is 14.1%, down from 15.4% 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 initial setup is very easy."

"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 email is excellent."

"Valuable features of the solution are that it's simple and effective."

"I like everything that Google does. They have good products."

"The solution is very stable."

"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."

"I think it is a great subscription for me. I think it is important, especially when making an internal email subscription. For example, I can easily create my colleague's email address, and we can use it. I benefited from G Suite. I am using the G Suite Drive, which provides 30GB of storage, and it is helping for me. I think it's better for me."

More Google Workspace pros

"Microsoft Exchange Online is an easy-to -use email solution."

"The most valuable feature is the cloud environment."

"It has helped us because we don't have to worry about servers crashing."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Exchange Online is it helps the IT department with problems."

"I would rate Exchange Online's stability nine out of ten."

"One of the important features is the collaboration tool used in Office 365. The security and DLP mechanisms are also quite good."

"It is a scalable product. We are using it for 500 users."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Exchange Online is its performance."

More Microsoft Exchange Online pros

Cons

"The initial setup is not intuitive at all."

"Integration with Microsoft Outlook could be improved. The new integration was implemented last September, and we are facing some issues with OAuth 2.0 authentication."

"Less customizations than there used to be."

"Integration with Microsoft Outlook could be improved."

"Google Mail's spam filter needs improvement. If I'm sending mail to another email user, sometimes it goes to the spam folder, and they won't know unless they check because they aren't seeing it in the primary inbox. They may miss important emails. At the same time, I'm receiving spam that shouldn't go to my inbox."

"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 your storage requirements in day-to-day work are large, then it will incur an additional cost since free storage is limited."

"We would like to use something within Google Workspace for project management, but we didn't find it there."

More Google Workspace cons

"Microsoft Exchange Online can improve message delivery. There are times we receive a message that the email failed to be delivered, and there is no reason given. We sometimes have emails that are flagged as spam that are not. We cannot do anything about it because it's not managed by us, it's managed by Microsoft."

"The solution should have a stand-alone application instead of us having to go through an internet browser."

"The integration could be better if it could integrate well with other products and software."

"There is room for improvement in terms of security, as it could be better."

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

"The solution could be a bit cheaper."

"I couldn't delete an email account because it was identified as my primary account by the application."

"The solution’s pricing could be better."

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."

"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 pay on yearly basis."

"The price of G Suite Enterprise is reasonable compared to HotSpot. I'm not going to say G Suite Enterprise is affordable. It's valuable, you find value in paying your gas bill or your electricity bill, because of what it allows you to do."

"It's cheaper to run a couple of users in a Google platform than what it would be with Microsoft Exchange."

"The price of Google Workspace is reasonable. I pay less than 100 a month."

"Approximately $6 per user, per month."

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

More Google Workspace pricing and cost advice

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

"They have raised their prices, and obviously, it hits our customers. Some of them are deciding to step back from Office 365. For customers who have bought the annual subscription, they are moving to the monthly subscription."

"The solution's pricing is reasonable."

"I pay approximately $120 or $150 per year, and as long as I pay that amount, they will do regular updates so that I always have the most recent and greatest version of the application."

"I find it reasonably priced."

"This solution requires a license."

"This is an expensive solution."

"I would give the cost a five out of ten."

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

Comms Service Provider

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

Amazon WorkMail vs Google Workspace

Compared 29% of the time

ProtonMail vs Google Workspace

Compared 8% of the time

Amazon WorkDocs vs Google Workspace

Compared 4% of the time

IceWarp vs Google Workspace

Compared 3% of the time

Zoho Mail vs Google Workspace

Compared 3% of the time

More Google Workspace Competitors

Amazon WorkMail vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 10% of the time

Zoho Mail vs Microsoft Exchange Online

Compared 6% 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

March 2025

Download Google Workspace product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange Online

March 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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