Google Classroom vs. Google Workspace

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Classroom
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
N/A
$0
per month
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Google Workspace enables teams of all sizes to connect, create and collaborate. It includes productivity and collaboration tools for work: Gmail for custom business email, Drive for cloud storage, Docs for word processing, Meet for video and voice conferencing, Chat for team messaging, Slides for presentation building, and shared Calendars.
$6
per month per user
Pricing
Google ClassroomGoogle Workspace
Editions & Modules
Education Fundamentals
$0
per license/per month
Google Workspace for Education Standard
$3
per student/per year
Teaching and Learning Upgrade
$4
per license/per month
Google Workspace for Education Plus
$5
per student/per year
Business Starter
$6
per user/per month
Business Standard
$12
per user/per month
Business Plus
$18
per user/per month
Enterprise
Contact sales team
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google ClassroomGoogle Workspace
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsEducation Fundamentals Version - 30-day free trial for qualifying institutions.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google ClassroomGoogle Workspace
Considered Both Products
Google Classroom
Chose Google Classroom
Paid solutions such as Powerschool Learning do provide a wider range of features and integrations, but Google Classroom is still a very powerful tool. If you're already a G-Suite user, it is a no-brainer. It's free, and is ready to use once your Google Users are created. It …
Google Workspace
Chose Google Workspace
Microsoft does a nice job and was the go-to for businesses. However, Google's emergence over the years has simply taken over and become the dominant suite in education. Although Microsoft is trying to keep up, the fluidity with which Google Suite works means users can share and …
Chose Google Workspace
I have not used a product with live working documents previously. Prior to using G Suite, students working with a group had to coordinate who was working on the document, share and then email out. The other alternative was for them to coordinate a time to work physically …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Google ClassroomGoogle Workspace
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
Google Classroom
7.8
53 Ratings
4% below category average
Google Workspace
-
Ratings
Course authoring7.545 Ratings00 Ratings
Course catalog or library7.536 Ratings00 Ratings
Player/Portal8.234 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning content8.038 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile friendly7.951 Ratings00 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications7.540 Ratings00 Ratings
Assignments8.452 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance management7.429 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning administration7.740 Ratings00 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics7.737 Ratings00 Ratings
Social learning7.846 Ratings00 Ratings
Gamification6.95 Ratings00 Ratings
Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning8.57 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google ClassroomGoogle Workspace
Small Businesses
Tovuti LMS
Tovuti LMS
Score 9.5 out of 10
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Sakai
Sakai
Score 8.7 out of 10
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Intellum
Intellum
Score 9.2 out of 10
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google ClassroomGoogle Workspace
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(73 ratings)
8.9
(113 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.0
(3 ratings)
9.1
(4 ratings)
Usability
3.0
(4 ratings)
9.1
(5 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.9
(14 ratings)
3.7
(12 ratings)
Implementation Rating
2.0
(2 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google ClassroomGoogle Workspace
Likelihood to Recommend
Google
- During the pandemic, the college needs a fast and easy solution to conduct Google Classroom. The integration with Google Accounts and Google Meet allows the university to run and access the Classroom on a large scale. - The teacher wants to conduct some exams in third-party software like Moodle. But we have not found any plugin for this famous open-source learning platform. The exam system in Google Classroom is so poor that it doesn't even fully screen the test when students are writing their exams.
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Google
Since our company is structured around Google Workspace at the moment, it is well suited for our entire workflow. I do have concerns though, for when it comes time for our company to have our own intranet built and how well the data migration will be from Google Workspace to that intranet that gets built.
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Pros
Google
  • Student-teacher communication - I love using Classroom for this because my students can always go back and check what was on Classroom by looking through the stream. This way they don't have to go dig through emails to find what they're looking for.
  • Posting to multiple classes - I can post the same announcement or assignment to multiple classes at once without having to repeat the process or send separate emails.
  • Streamlining grading - when students turn work in on Classroom, it all goes to one place and then when I'm grading I can open their documents directly from Classroom or my Drive folder. This way, I'm not looking through emails and Google Doc shared files for their assignment.
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Google
  • Google's service integration is seamless. Sharing files and documents with team members and clients couldn't be simpler. We can limit file sharing and access as needed.
  • As expected, Google Workspace integrates perfectly with Android phones allowing for a seamless mobile experience. Integration with iOS is also good.
  • Spam protection is second to none. I cannot remember ever finding a spam message in my inbox!
  • Google has a good reputation for email deliverability making it less likely your outbound mail ends up in someone's spam folder.
  • Google Workspace allows you to host multiple domains and alias domains on your account.
  • There is a robust set of tools to allow routing of mail to different mailboxes.
  • Collaboration is so easy with Workplace. Real time editing of documents is flawless. When chatting with collaborators, I can see their changes as they make them with no delay.
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Cons
Google
  • Although usually in the discussion with other LMS apps such as Schoology and Canvas, Google Classroom doesn't possess as in-depth of a platform. There is no ability to set individual learning paths, pace student work with completion settings, or embed other apps directly into teacher-created assignments.
  • The assignment creation options are limited. Teachers can only choose from creating an assignment (usually a link with directions), a material (usually a doc/slide/website, etc), a question, and a quiz.
  • With gamification taking on a new lens in education, there really isn't any way to use gamification elements with Google Classroom. There isn't any way to create Individual learning paths, or use badges and micro-credentials within Classroom. Outside programs would have to be used.
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Google
  • I have several Workspace accounts, and it can be kind of annoying to switch between them. For example, if I click in my work email but my Chrome defaults to my personal Workspace, I have to open the file differently or log in and out of the other account.
  • Meet is my least favorite feature. I find it very subpar to Zoom in both ease and picture resolution. It's harder to tell when you're sharing your screen and you can't see comments if you're presenting.
  • Google My Business can be difficult to navigate. I frequently forget where features are and have to hunt around for them.
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Likelihood to Renew
Google
Testing is particularly important in online learning, and Google Classroom falls far short of other learning management systems in this regard. Security is also a concern: while account control is reasonable for the account used with Google Classroom, the person controlling a particular account is often able to, for example, forward or download proprietary materials.
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Google
There is no better solution for cloud storage and real time collaboration. The amount of features included in G Suite is unmatched and out of other things we’ve tried over the years, nothing comes close to being as great of a tool.
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Usability
Google
This is only a product I would recommend to a humanities teacher. Math and science teachers cannot use this product the same way that I can as an English teacher. It is great for word process and for reading, but unable to handle the demands of math and science. Therefore, I would highly recommend this product to English or Social Studies teachers, but NOT math or science teachers
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Google
On the user end, it's great, probably some of the most user friendly products out there. On the admin side, it can get a little more arcane, but it's still better than a lot of other services. At worst I wrangle some CSVs to perform mass changes, but it's a far cry from the days of Powershell scripts or purely manual entry.
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Reliability and Availability
Google
We have had very little trouble in accessing Google Classroom. Our issues, if any, have risen from our server and not the Google servers.
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Google
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Google
Since this platform is provided by Google, the technical support is better than any others, and we are not required to bother about the space constraints for adding the contents. If we have a good uninterrupted internet facility we can access Google Classroom without any delay or lag. They have app support in both Android and iPhone.
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Google
My experiences of getting support have been positive. Calling in is not overly difficult, but it does require getting a PIN. The knowledge of those responding to the calls has been impressive. I have managed to work with them to fix two Google bugs that I had identified. These bugs required a some technical expertise and the support staff were able to understand the issue and forward the concerns to the appropriate persons. The first bug was fixed with 24 hours. The second bug took a little longer, but it was also more complicated to reproduce.
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Implementation Rating
Google
It was relatively easy to implement due to the simplicity of the platform. Even our more technology challenged teachers found it easy to get started with Google Classroom.
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Google
nothing to say
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Alternatives Considered
Google
I haven't tested or evaluated another digital classroom website or application. I feel like Google Classroom is convenient for many reasons such as compatibility to Google docs, slides, etc. I also love the ability to link to YouTube and other sites. I don't know if there would be a site that is easier to maneuver.
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Google
They are different. Over the years, one has had better support than the other. Google support is good, there have been times Microsoft support was awful, and times when it was significantly better. For me, Outlook is just a drain on resources. Word is that my primary word processor anyway, so I don't feel like I'm losing much. SharePoint seems capable of a lot, and exchange certainly is capable of a lot, but it requires so much configuration, even for a small business, that return on investment seems quicker and easier with Google Workspace. For those who absolutely need a completely Microsoft environment, Office 365 has that, Google Workspace does not. Still, I prefer Google Workspace over Office 365.
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Scalability
Google
It is very easy to push out this program across our buildings. Teachers are able to use it without much trouble.
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Google
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Google
  • Students are able to continue learning in a remote environment
  • Parents have a single, consistent organization structure to make it easy to track assignments and progress for multiple children
  • Much better solution than the quickly assembled Zoom-and-gloom of the previous spring when school abruptly went remote with no planning
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Google
  • Zero to no time managing tools allows us to focus on work saving us time and money
  • Google Workspace allowed us to seamlessly transition to a fully remote workforce when the Coronavirus pandemic started - no lost time or productivity.
  • Easily able to extend our workspace and add features, e.g. Voice, saving us time implementing other services.
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ScreenShots