Google Workspace or Microsoft 365: which fits our business?

Key facts

• Both suites cover email, calendar, file storage, chat and video meetings.
• Microsoft 365 business plans with desktop apps start at Business Standard.
• Business Premium adds Intune, Entra ID P1 Conditional Access and Defender for Business.
• Google Workspace is browser-first and integrates closely with Chrome and ChromeOS.
• Switching suites later is a migration project, not a license change.

The short comparison

Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 both deliver hosted email, calendar, documents, file storage, chat and meetings. Google built its suite for the browser from the start. Microsoft built its suite around Office desktop apps, then added cloud services, identity, device management and security around them.

The table lists long-standing differences at a high level. Edition contents change, so confirm current features before you buy.

When Microsoft 365 is the better fit

• Your finance, legal or engineering staff need desktop Excel, Word or PowerPoint features.
• Clients or partners exchange complex Office files and expect them to round-trip cleanly.
• You run Windows PCs and want to manage them with Intune and Autopilot.
• You need Conditional Access, endpoint detection and response, or Purview compliance controls in one suite.
• You use or plan to use Teams Phone, SharePoint intranets or Power Platform apps.

When Google Workspace is the better fit

Google Workspace is a sound choice for many businesses. Startups, schools and distributed teams that live in the browser often find it simple to run. If it serves you well and nothing in your app, device or compliance needs points to Microsoft, staying put is reasonable.

• Your team works almost entirely in a browser and rarely needs desktop Office features.
• Real-time co-editing in simple documents is the main collaboration pattern.
• You use Chromebooks or want a very light device footprint.
• You have a small IT function and value a simple admin console.
• Your key line-of-business apps already integrate with Google.

Questions that usually decide it

Most decisions come down to four areas. Which apps do people actually open every day, and do any require Office desktop features? How will you manage and secure laptops? What do clients, insurers and auditors expect? What does your team already know?

Pilot both with real work if the answer is not clear. Have a finance user build their monthly workbook, have sales share files with an outside client and have IT enroll a laptop. Real tasks reveal gaps faster than feature lists.

If you decide to switch

Moving from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 covers Gmail, Calendar, Contacts, Drive and shared drives, plus DNS, identity and device changes. Microsoft provides native migration tools for mail and Drive, and third-party tools fill gaps. Some items, such as Google Sites, Forms and Apps Script automations, do not migrate directly and must be rebuilt.

Map Drive content to the right destination. Shared drives usually belong in Teams and SharePoint, not in one person's OneDrive. Typical timelines run from a few weeks for small organizations to several months for larger or more complex ones, set after discovery.

How Accred Consulting approaches it

Accred Consulting helps you test the decision against your real apps, devices and compliance needs before you commit. When Microsoft 365 is the right fit, Accred migrates you off Google Workspace: discovery inventories mail, Drive, shared drives and integrations, and the proposal sets scope, a fixed price and timeline. US-based specialists move mail, calendar and files in planned waves, map shared drives into Teams and SharePoint, and set up identity and security. Handover includes documentation and knowledge transfer.

Track record: 475+ client projects, 2,000+ migration workstreams and 210,000+ users migrated by a US-based team. Company facts · Case studies

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