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Google Workspace vs Microsoft Exchange Online 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
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
89
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 - 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.
Babatunde-Olugbode - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

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."
"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."
 

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."
"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."
 

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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

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...
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...
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...
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...
 

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

 

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
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange Online and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
839,319 professionals have used our research since 2012.