Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
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 user/per month
Microsoft Exchange
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Exchange is a secure email / messaging gateway with file archiving and encryption / data loss capability, available as a hosted service (Exchange Online) or installed (Exchange Server).N/A
Pricing
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Editions & Modules
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
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Considered Both Products
Google Workspace
Chose Google Workspace
Google got a good jumpstart on building out a more comprehensive and consolidated platform. Microsoft has been around such a long time that they still have some archaic tech debt in their platform. Dropbox feels like it decided to pursue the more comprehensive suite a little …
Chose Google Workspace
Google Workspace is in a good competition with Microsoft 365 and is ahead in many areas. Although MS365 is moving in the 'cloud' direction, Google has always been 'cloud' based and is still ahead in that area. For newer, smaller companies, Workspace is a great choice. For …
Chose Google Workspace
Something I highlight is the management of email and G-Drive. Since they are services directly connected to the network and mostly require a browser, emails or files are not lost, since they will always be in a trash can. It has happened to me with Microsoft that files get …
Chose Google Workspace
We selected Google Workspace for it's ease of use and clean UI. Microsoft Office granted does have a lot of features and may be more advanced in certain areas (Excel vs sheets), however for the range of functions we need, google workspace provided the necessary features for an …
Chose Google Workspace
I've used Microsoft Teams (and sometimes still do for client projects with Teams being the client's workspace), but I find it to be a difficult and cumbersome work environment to manage and navigate.
Chose Google Workspace
Google Workspace offers many more collaboration tools then the Microsoft products. Although the Microsoft products are familiar to so many people, picking up The Google suite of tools is easy. Google also allows us to truly be in the cloud and work from any device from …
Chose Google Workspace
never looked at anyone else - we knew Google Workspace was right for us!
Chose Google Workspace
We used before on my previous role Microsoft teams where you can only casually exchange messages, but Google Workspace allows me to access all the applications that I need in just once access without closing the window that I'm currently working on and it can be used to email …
Chose Google Workspace
I find Workspace easier to use and manage, better security, and the gmail interface and features is way better. Plus 3rd party integrations. Support sucks though from my experience. Most other email solutions do not enforce authentication and domain alignment or have MFA, which …
Chose Google Workspace
It is like a one stop shop for all the software needed at work. Easy to create an account and easy to access.
Chose Google Workspace
Google Workspace huge advantage is the interface that everyone is familiar with (from using personal Google services). Also, the administration panel is straightforward and easy to use - does not require expert tech knowledge to move around. As a result, it is a perfect tool …
Chose Google Workspace
Simpler onboarding and most used tool by SMEs
Chose Google Workspace
Google Workspace is your all in one go-to tool. No other product offers the versatility and a large selection of tools like Google workspace does. Gmail is incredibly faster than any other email client available out there, and some tools like Google Spreadsheets have replaced …
Chose Google Workspace
Though Microsoft offers some great ideas to help you better your work, I believe Google tops Microsoft in the area of office applications. Google mail, Google Sheets, Google forms, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Drive, and Google Video Meetings are easy to use to …
Chose Google Workspace
Google Drive blows Dropbox out of the water by making its shared assets accessible without requiring app installs and paid subscriptions for outside users. The speed at which it handles all of your stored assets makes it advantageous for demanding projects in the music and film …
Chose Google Workspace
Google Workspace's web-based word processing apps are much more robust than Microsoft's equivalent. For example, multiple users working on a single google docs document will very rarely run into issues with synching or continuity, whereas Microsoft's online Word is not as …
Chose Google Workspace
Slack has more IT functional integrations that Google Chat/Spaces at this time. It is being used in more of a "shadow IT" configuration currently with a limited set of paid licenses. Facebook for business was missing key integrations and with Google Spaces/Currents, it was …
Chose Google Workspace
Google Workspace is a formidable opponent to Microsoft 365. It provides all of the solutions that 365 does, but does it with more finesse. I find it easier to navigate Google Workspace than I do 365, especially when comparing Google Drive to Microsoft OneDrive. Google Drive is …
Chose Google Workspace
I've used Office 365 in the past, along with some of Zoho's tools, and none of them have delivered the experience that I get from Google Workspace. Office 365 was slow and cumbersome when I evaluated it, and the interoperability of Google apps far surpasses that which I can get …
Chose Google Workspace
There are lots of things that Microsoft 365 does better than Workspace. The problem is that I am stuck in the Google world. It would take way too much time and energy to change platforms. There are lots of other options to choose from but none of them are perfect. Workspace is …
Chose Google Workspace
The tools are similar, however, in Excel and Sheets specifically, Microsoft is much more useful in transforming and manipulating a lot of data.
Chose Google Workspace
From an ease of use standpoint, Google Workspace is far simpler and easier to use. It offers what we need where Office offers too much of each app/service adding complexity over convenience. Our prior use of Office and even some occasional use of 365 just as a backup is often …
Chose Google Workspace
I believe Google tops Microsoft in all areas EXCEPT the office applications. I prefer Gmail, Drive, and Google Video Meetings to Outlook, OneDrive, and Teams meetings, but that could just be me. In my experience, it has been easier to use these applications without much trouble …
Chose Google Workspace
We previously used Zoho Suite free tier. Deliverability was good and their spam protection was almost as good as Google's. The one drawback to Zoho was the inability to host more than one domain. Zoho's paid tier is cheaper than Google's, but [I feel] you don't get the same …
Chose Google Workspace
There are lots of competitors to various tools in Workspace, like Meet versus Zoom. However, Microsoft is the other big competitor I can think of for Google Workspace as a whole. To me, at least, the strength of Workspace is how easy it is to share and collaborate with others. …
Microsoft Exchange
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Exchange is the DeFacto groupware product. It handles mail and calendar so well that it is mostly unrivaled. While I used Zimbra at a previous employer, we ended up moving to Microsoft Exchange because of better Outlook use and the overall Microsoft Exchange product …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Google Workspace has much more limited functionality compared to Exchange. I believe it is a bit cheaper on the most basic subscription tier but that's about the only reason to consider using it. It may also be worth considering if you have other workloads using Google Cloud …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
We have not tried other Email server products yet, but we are about to make this step in the near future. We are definitely going to try several Linux-based Email Server solutions so that we can choose the one that better suits our needs. Have some time to do this, as our …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
We had a Zimbra on-premise server earlier and were pretty satisfied with it. But when compared with the advanced features of the Microsoft Exchange server, we could easily justify our purchase team to go for this since we already have O365 apps.
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Exchange Product The best cloud-based enterprise-grade archiving platform with a host of features that enable files to be securely archived and retrieved with advanced search options. This tool is very easy to use and has a User-friendly interface. It is a highly …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Both items are used by me on a daily basis. Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint don't seem to have a lot in common to me. When working with the Exchange platform, it's all about scheduling events in the calendar and sending emails. I was able to find the most crucial …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Most of the 365 subscriptions include desktop and cloud versions of Microsoft programs. These "traditional" software may be installed on a desktop computer and used offline without any problems, as long as you have a working Internet connection. Because so many firms still …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
1) The cost per user is almost the same (around $3 USD more than Google Workspace) but the Office tools that Microsoft includes are the best in the market. The end-users are really adapted to them and the other tools like Google Sheets and Google Documents are really bad. 2) …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Given all businesses I have worked for used Windows OS and Microsoft applications, it makes sense to stick with Microsoft Exchange. It's a given that if you use Microsoft applications you should use Microsoft Exchange.
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Exchange is used by several companies worldwide due to its versatility and competitive rates which includes Office 365 (depending on the license purchased), it stacks up against other vendors e.g., Google. MS Exchange provides shared mailboxes which are not available …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
In comparison to Amazon SES, Microsoft Exchange was significantly more flexible and customizable. Amazon SES seems more complicated from an administrative standpoint. It became more difficult for us to consider migrating to a new platform since our workers were more comfortable …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
It has better ease of integration with the servers and company data. It has a relatively better cost compared to all the tools available. The privacy features and capabilities are something best in class.
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Office 365 is not recommended for shared use so we are using Microsoft Exchange. This helps to have access to multiple users and easy access to emails and calendars to provide support round the clock.
Chose Microsoft Exchange
MDaemon is too simplistic for complex uses, while Exchange covers any uses and scale for every customer size.
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft Exchange offered far more flexibility and customization than Google Workspace. From an administration perspective, it seemed easier to work with Exchange than with Gsuite/Google Workspace. Our employees were more familiar with Microsoft and their comfort level made …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Easy to use, keeping calendar as an inbuilt feature and other AI tools which are missing on other companies features.
Chose Microsoft Exchange
I myself am a front-end user of both products. I don't really see too much of a comparison between Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint. When using the Exchange platform it is more about calendar appointments and email communication. Using share Point I was able to …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Microsoft is more sturdy and feature-packed than GSuite. Especially with the Office integrations, even though the UI doesn't stand up against them, it offers way better features and is just more convenient to use for what we require at our organization.
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Office 365 is pure ease. You get excellent compatibility with the entire Microsoft Office suite, as well as affordable access to Microsoft Office applications. All of this is supported by Microsoft's extremely dependable cloud. It's a great option for small businesses that …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
We use Zimbra for some specific tasks in our company. Microsoft has superiority over Zimbra in terms of the graphical user interface. I like the Microsoft exchange interface as it is more futuristic. Also, Microsoft exchange has a better user experience. Zimbra mail can be …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
It gives the impression of being a more professional and more robust tool. Despite the large amount of data, it always manages them at its best, without performance problems.
Chose Microsoft Exchange
Google workspace has excellent spam filtering, but poor customizability without resorting to third-party software or hacks/workarounds. Microsoft 365 has its own problems. We are currently using both Microsoft Exchange and Exchange Online (Microsoft 365) to handle mailbox …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
We found the Microsoft Exchange to be more robust and loaded with features which made our life easy and our ability to communicate and provide\get updates more efficient. Microsoft Exchange provided more advanced security features which were what our organization was looking …
Chose Microsoft Exchange
It provides me enhanced security over Gmail and is easy to navigate all around the console but its cost can be made less cheap as compared to Gmail.
Features
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Secure Email Gateway
Comparison of Secure Email Gateway features of Product A and Product B
Google Workspace
-
Ratings
Microsoft Exchange
7.3
Ratings
15% below category average
Anti-malware00 Ratings6.50 Ratings
Customizability00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Data Loss Protection00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Threat Detection00 Ratings6.50 Ratings
Sandboxing00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
End-to-End Encryption00 Ratings6.70 Ratings
Management Tools00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Small Businesses
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.9 out of 10
Zoho Mail
Zoho Mail
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.9 out of 10
Avanan
Avanan
Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.9 out of 10
Avanan
Avanan
Score 9.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(0 ratings)
8.5
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
2.2
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Likelihood to Recommend
I find that google workspace covers all the bases that I would need my day to day work solution to offer. Workspace is perfect if you're someone working in sales who regularly sets up and hosts meetings. The meet solution is reliable, the transcription through Gemini is almost always perfect, and the recording function is easy to use. Calendar backs this up well by being simple and easy to use. Although having the ability to share your calendar link for people to book in meetings would elevate this further. You can also never go wrong with Gmail, it is reliable, has strong spam filters and rarely ever goes down. On the flip side, despite Docs, Slides and Sheets covering the basic functionalities that you would need to create a good base level of documents, it does lack some advanced functionalities that other providers offer. Especially in Sheets, I use sheets regularly for importing and exporting data for cold outreach, it works perfectly fine for this, but if you were looking to start creating dashboards etc using sheets as the base for this, it can start to get a bit tricky and limited.
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For our clients, the switch to an entirely independent (parallel processing) Microsoft Exchange Server was a lifesaver because previous software versions frequently crashed. The clever viva add-on informs me of any things that are still uncompleted in my large email to-do lists. Migrating to Office 365 has never been easier because to the meticulous preparation that has gone into it. Web applications will load more quickly.
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Pros
  • Google Calendar...amazing. I don't need to ask team members when they're busy anymore and play this game of bouncing times back and forth. All I need to do is enter their email address and it shows my calendar and theirs side by side and then select the day and time I find that works best for the both of us.
  • I actually prefer Google Meet over Zoom. Zoom bogs down my computer and I find their UI overcomplicated for what it actually does. Google Meet is simple and does practically everything Zoom does without needing to pay any extra money.
  • Sheets integrates with our CRM (Copper) so it's perfect for us. Being able to export information out of our CRM into sheets and then create pivot tables from that data makes our lives a million times better.
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  • An in-built calendar to manage your daily work schedule. Let's you create events, invite a particular group of people, accept invitations, and remind you of your upcoming meetings and tasks.
  • I also like the daily emails we get from Exchange that ask you to set aside time for yourself or your other hobbies to take a short break from monotonous work.
  • The email categorization feature is pretty good, especially the sort/search filtering option to navigate through your emails, which can also go through your deleted emails.
  • It has an excellent spam-filtering feature which greatly reduces the chance of malware and spam. I have hardly seen spam emails get through their filter. On the other hand, it also recognizes emails from external organizations that may be spam, but are important work emails.
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Cons
  • 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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  • The two main factors for the better reliability & Uptime of internally hosted Exchange Server depends on Exchange Server configuration and the level of investment the organization is willing to provide for hosting the Exchange Server On-Premise Environment. As the data is stored in the organization’s hardware, any disaster may lead to the loss of email and servers.
  • Losing data might affect business continuity and rebuilding it can be costly.
  • Security remains a major concern.
  • Security of data loss is main concern. To ensure that, organization needs to configure networks, systems and Exchange platform against possible threats.
  • Hardware and license costs are high.
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Likelihood to Renew
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.
Read full review
Email and calendars in a business setting are requirements. And Microsoft continues to be the standard of business applications. Microsoft 365 makes Microsoft Exchange easy to use. Everything is in the cloud. Let Microsoft take care of the hardware, the software, and the security. You just enable your business users with the functionality they need.
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Usability
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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Microsoft Exchange has come a long way over the years and has nowhere near the technical overhead required for support as it did back in 2003/2007 and prior. The integrations with Teams, Defender, Sharepoint, Copilot and many other products make it a solid and well-rounded tool used for many day-to-day tasks.
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
Exchange is setup with multiple servers behind load balancers to provide high availability.
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Performance
No answers on this topic
I would say it's the best email product I've experienced.
Read full review
Support Rating
I have not had to use much support for G Suite, but I imagine it would be a great service, as is everything else that Google provides. I've searched for questions through the help center, and that was easy to use and easy to find. I'm sure I would have no complaints.
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We have a good enterprise agreement with Microsoft which affords us quick phone support. I have found the support staff knowledgeable and prompt with a solution when required. At times it may be difficult to schedule a call back, this is mainly due to our need for calls early in the morning which happens to be during a shift change at Microsoft support.
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Implementation Rating
nothing to say
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Implementation/conversion can be quite complex and, unless you have certified Exchange administrators in-house, you should strongly consider a 3rd party consultant for this implementation.
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Alternatives Considered
Google got a good jumpstart on building out a more comprehensive and consolidated platform. Microsoft has been around such a long time that they still have some archaic tech debt in their platform. Dropbox feels like it decided to pursue the more comprehensive suite a little late, and only seems to appeal to smaller businesses instead of being able to scale as big. Google Workspace covers all of the bases well enough with good add-on or enhanced functionality that satisfies the needs of different businesses across the spectrum.
Read full review
Microsoft Exchange Product The best cloud-based enterprise-grade archiving platform with a host of features that enable files to be securely archived and retrieved with advanced search options. This tool is very easy to use and has a User-friendly interface. It is a highly reliable platform that allows all employees to automatically store their data without any limitations. It offers a cost-effective solution with customized policy management. We are happy that the customer support team is always fast and concerned, and the product's uninterrupted service experience. It is very good that it stores data in real-time without losing it, even in the event of a disaster. The cost-effective solution and integration with other tools are seamless.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
The only time Exchange has failed us is when we did something to cause the failure.
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Return on Investment
  • Google Workspace costs us a little more, but our inboxes are safer for it.
  • Our email deliverability has improved significantly. No more lost or bounced emails with our invoices attached. Workspace helps us get paid!
  • Our support requests for undelivered email has disappeared.
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  • After testing I found Exchange very good at removing/quarantining malware.
  • The Global Address List is great for finding the correct person within the organization to deal with.
  • The Clutter feature is terrible. Sometimes putting important emails into that folder for no discernible reason.
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ScreenShots