More

    Google Workspace vs. Microsoft 365: What’s the best office suite for business?

    Once upon a time, Microsoft Office dominated the enterprise world. By the late ‘90s and early 2000s, Microsoft’s workplace suite had brushed apart rivals comparable to WordExcellent Office and Lotus SmartSuite, and there was no competitors on the horizon.Then in 2006 Google got here together with Google Docs & Spreadsheets, a collaborative on-line phrase processing and spreadsheet duo that was mixed with different enterprise companies to kind the Google Apps suite, later rebranded as G Suite, and now as Google Workspace. Although Google’s productiveness suite didn’t instantly take the enterprise world by storm, over time it has gained each in options and in reputation, boasting 6 million paying clients, in keeping with Google’s most up-to-date public stats in March 2020.Microsoft, in the meantime, has shifted its emphasis away from its conventional licensed Office software program to Microsoft 365 (previously Office 365), a subscription-based model that’s handled extra like a service, with frequent updates and new options. Microsoft 365 is what we’ve targeted on on this story.Nowadays, selecting an workplace suite isn’t so simple as it as soon as was. We’re right here to assist.Google Workspace vs. Microsoft 365Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 have a lot in frequent. Both are subscription-based, charging companies per-person charges each month, in various tiers, relying on the capabilities their clients are searching for. Although Google Workspace is web-based, it has the aptitude to work offline as effectively. And whereas Microsoft 365 is predicated on put in desktop software program, it additionally offers (much less highly effective) web-based variations of its purposes.Both suites work effectively with a spread of units. Because it’s web-based, Google Workspace works in most browsers on any working system, and Google additionally provides cell apps for Android and iOS. Microsoft offers Office shopper apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, and its web-based apps work throughout browsers. The suites additionally provide the identical primary core purposes. Each has phrase processing, spreadsheet, presentation, e mail, calendar, and contacts packages, together with videoconferencing, messaging, and note-taking software program. Each has cloud storage related to it. But these particular person purposes are fairly completely different from one suite to the opposite, as are the administration instruments for caring for them in a enterprise surroundings. And each suites provide scads of further instruments as effectively. So it may be exceedingly troublesome to resolve which suite is best for your small business.That’s the place this piece is available in. We provide an in depth have a look at each facet of the workplace suites, from an application-by-application comparability to how effectively every suite handles collaboration, how effectively their apps combine, pricing, help, and extra. Our focus right here is on how the suites work for companies, reasonably than particular person use. Pricing: Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 subscriptions in contrast“Follow the money” is the hallowed chorus of investigators all over the place, and whenever you’re beginning to resolve which workplace suite is best for you, it’s a very good place to begin as effectively. Individuals can use a number of of the net apps from each suites — together with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides in addition to Microsoft Word Online, Excel Online, and PowerLevel Online — at no cost, however companies ought to look to the paid Workspace and Microsoft 365 subscriptions for vital safety and administration options.Check out the next tables, first for Google Workspace, after which for Microsoft 365, to check plans and pricing.Google Workspace pricing choices for enterpriseGoogle Workspace is available in 4 business variations: Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, and Enterprise. Business Starter, at $6 per consumer per 30 days, comes with the total suite of purposes and 30GB of storage per consumer.  At $12 per consumer per 30 days, the Business Standard plan consists of all that, plus 2TB of storage per consumer in addition to archiving, enterprise search capabilities, and extra administrative instruments. Business Plus at $18 per consumer per 30 days consists of all the pieces the Business Standard model provides, plus much more administrative controls and enterprise instruments.Enterprise has all the pieces that Business Plus does, in addition to extra administrative controls and a low-code utility builder. You’ll need to contact Google for pricing particulars for Enterprise. Google Workspace enterprise plans
    1 All cell apps accessible for Android and iOS

     
    Business Starter
    Business Standard
    Business Plus
    Enterprise

    Price
    $6/consumer/mo.
    $12/consumer/mo.
    $18/consumer/mo.
    Contact Google gross sales for pricing

    Create paperwork, spreadsheets, shows
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes

    Mobile versions1 of Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes

    Email, customized domains, shared calendars, videoconferencing, crew messaging
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes

    Drive file storage
    30GB per consumer
    2TB per consumer; shared drives for groups; search throughout all firm content material in Google Workspace
    5TB per consumer; shared drives for groups; search throughout all firm content material in Google Workspace
    Unlimited; shared drives for groups; search throughout all firm content material in Google Workspace

    Additional enterprise instruments
    Forms, Sites, Keep, Smart Fill, Smart Cleanup, Answers
    Forms, Sites, Keep, Smart Fill, Smart Cleanup, Answers
    Forms, Sites, Keep, Smart Fill, Smart Cleanup, Answers
    Forms, Sites, Keep, Smart Fill, Smart Cleanup, Answers, AppSheet

    Security and administration instruments
    Basic instruments together with endpoint administration and group coverage based mostly controls
    Everything in Basic plus extra highly effective instruments together with Google Workspace Migration Tool
    Everything in Business Standard plus extra highly effective instruments together with safe LDAP, superior endpoint administration, and Vault for retaining, archiving and looking knowledge
    Everything in Business Plus and extra highly effective instruments together with enterprise-level endpoint administration, knowledge loss prevention, S/MIME encryption, extra

    For extra detailed info, take a look at Google’s web page evaluating pricing plans. Also notice that some options accessible in higher-level Google Workspace plans can be found for buy as standalone companies. Additionally, Google provides specialised variations of Workspace Enterprise for healthcare and life sciences, retail, manufacturing, and authorities organizations, and there are a selection of free and paid Workspace variations for nonprofits and academic establishments.Microsoft 365 pricing choices for enterpriseMicrosoft 365 enterprise subscriptions are extra difficult and vary from $5 per consumer per 30 days for Microsoft 365 Business Essentials, probably the most primary model for small companies, to $35 per consumer per 30 days for Microsoft 365 E5, probably the most feature-packed model for enterprises. Confusingly, Microsoft renamed all of its small enterprise plans from Office 365 to Microsoft 365, however on the enterprise stage, it provides each Office 365 and Microsoft 365 plans.The tables beneath define what you get with every model. The three plans within the first desk are for small companies with as much as 300 staff; those within the second desk are meant for bigger organizations.Microsoft 365 small enterprise plans
    1 Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerLevel desktop apps accessible for Windows and Mac2 All cell apps accessible for Android and iOS3 Publisher and Access desktop apps accessible for Windows solely

     
    Microsoft 365 Business Basic
    Microsoft 365 Apps for Business
    Microsoft 365 Business Standard
    Microsoft 365 Business  Premium

    Pricing
    $6/consumer/mo.
    $8.25/consumer/mo.
    $12.50/consumer/mo.
    $22/consumer/mo.

    User restrict
    300
    300
    300
    300

    Create paperwork, spreadsheets, shows
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes

    Desktop1 / mobile2 variations of Word, Excel, PowerLevel, Outlook
    No / Yes
    Yes / Yes
    Yes / Yes
    Yes / Yes

    Exchange e mail internet hosting, customized domains, shared calendars
    Yes
    No
    Yes
    Yes

    Microsoft Teams and SharePoint
    Yes
    No
    Yes
    Yes

    OneDrive file storage
    1TB per consumer
    1TB per consumer
    1TB per consumer
    1TB per consumer

    Additional enterprise instruments
    OneNote, Outlook, Microsoft Forms, Visio, Microsoft Lists, Microsoft Bookings 
    Access3, Publisher3, OneNote, Visio
    Teams, OneNote, Outlook, Microsoft Forms, Visio, Microsoft Lists, Microsoft Bookings 
    Teams OneNote, Outlook, Microsoft Forms, Visio, Microsoft Lists, Microsoft Bookings 

    Security and administration instruments
    Basic instruments together with risk administration, archiving, and auditing
    Only primary instruments, not together with archiving and auditing
    Everything in Business Basic plus e mail safety
    Everything in Business Standard plus superior risk safety, Azure info safety, and Intune cell gadget administration

    Office 365 and Microsoft 365 enterprise plansScroll proper to see all plans.
    1 Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerLevel desktop apps accessible for Windows and Mac2 All cell apps accessible for Android and iOS3 Publisher and Access desktop apps accessible for Windows solely

     
    Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise
    Office 365 E1
    Office 365 E3
    Office 365 E5
    Microsoft 365 E3
    Microsoft 365 E5

    Pricing
    $12/consumer/mo.
    $10/consumer/mo.
    $23/consumer/mo.
    $38/consumer/mo
    $36/consumer/mo.
    $57/consumer/mo.

    User restrict
    No restrict
    No restrict
    No restrict
    No restrict
    No restrict
    No restrict

    Create paperwork, spreadsheets, shows
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes

    Desktop1 / mobile2 variations of Word, Excel, PowerLevel, Outlook
    Yes / Yes
    No / Yes
    Yes / Yes
    Yes / Yes
    Yes / Yes
    Yes / Yes

    Exchange e mail internet hosting, customized domains, shared calendars
    No
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes

    Microsoft Teams / SharePoint
    Yes / No
    Yes / Yes
    Yes / Yes
    Yes / Yes
    Yes / Yes
    Yes / Yes

    OneDrive file storage
    1TB per consumer
    1TB per consumer
    5TB per consumer; extra accessible on request (if fewer than 5 subscriptions, 1TB per consumer)
    5TB per consumer; extra accessible on request (if fewer than 5 subscriptions, 1TB per consumer)
    5TB per consumer; extra accessible on request (if fewer than 5 subscriptions, 1TB per consumer)
    5TB per consumer; extra accessible on request (if fewer than 5 subscriptions, 1TB per consumer)

    Windows
    No
    No
    No
    No
    Yes
    Yes

    Additional enterprise instruments
    Delve, Sway, OneNote, Publisher3, Access3, Forms
    Everything in M365 Apps/Enterprise plus Stream, Visio for the online, Planner, To Do, Microsoft Whiteboard, Yammer, Viva Insights, Viva Connections, Power Apps, Power Automate, extra
    Everything in O365 E1 plus Outlook desktop shopper, Dataverse for Teams, extra
    Everything in O365 E3 plus telephone and audio conferencing and Power BI Pro
    Everything in O365 E3
    Everything in O365 E5

    Security and administration instruments
    Identity and entry mgmt, gadget and app mgmt, Group Policy help, Microsoft Graph API, shared laptop activation, Active Directory sync for SSO
    Identity and entry mgmt, gadget and app mgmt, primary authorized compliance, Active Directory sync for SSO
    Everything in O365 E1 plus Group Policy help, shared laptop activations, info safety, primary eDiscovery and auditing
    Everything in O365 E3 plus superior compliance, risk safety, Office 365 Cloud App Security and Threat Protection
    Everything in O365 E5 plus superior endpoint and app mgmt, risk analytics, Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Intune
    Everything in M365 E3 plus superior info safety, risk safety, identification and entry mgmt, compliance

    Find out extra about Microsoft 365 small enterprise plans, in addition to the Office 365 enterprise plans and Microsoft 365 enterprise plans. Microsoft additionally provides an array of Microsoft 365 plans for instructional, authorities, nonprofit, and different establishments.In addition, many Office apps and companies can be found on an à la carte foundation. Some firms desire to pay for a lower-level plan after which pay for one or two of these things as add-ons reasonably than paying for a higher-level complete plan.Google Workspace vs. Microsoft 365: App by appEvery enterprise has completely different wants, and yours might place higher worth on sure apps than others. For some firms, phrase processing and e mail may be a very powerful apps in an workplace suite, whereas others would possibly want a strong spreadsheet program above all the pieces else.To assist, we’ve in contrast the most important workplace apps in Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 so you may zero in on the apps which can be most necessary to your small business and let their strengths and weaknesses information your general resolution. We’ve included solely the highlights beneath; if you need extra particulars about every app, we’ve linked to Computerworld articles that supply in-depth comparisons.Word processing: Google Docs vs. Microsoft WordDeciding on whether or not your small business could be higher off with Google Docs or Microsoft Word is pretty easy. Which is extra necessary to your customers: easy-to-use collaboration or the best vary of doc creation and modifying options? For collaboration, Google Docs is best. For as totally featured a phrase processor as you’ll discover anyplace, you’ll need Word.By saying Word has superior options, I don’t imply a bunch of instruments that your small business might by no means use. I imply nice capabilities that make your workflow simpler and extra productive.For instance, in case you’re making a report, brochure, resume, or virtually another type of doc, Word provides a wonderful set of pre-built templates so you will get writing quick, realizing that your doc can have a strong, helpful design. Word has 300 completely different enterprise templates alone, whereas Google Docs solely has 55 whole templates of every kind, together with private, enterprise, and academic ones. (Microsoft claims Word has hundreds of templates, however we couldn’t depend all of them.) Word additionally provides extra chart sorts and types for embedding into paperwork. IDG

    Microsoft Word has way more highly effective options than Google Docs, together with many pre-built templates from which to decide on when creating a brand new doc. (Click picture to enlarge it.)

    But Google Docs outshines Word with regards to stay collaboration. Collaborating is seamless and has been constructed into the app from the bottom up, whereas in Word it’s tougher to make use of, not as complete, and feels tacked-on reasonably than an integral a part of this system. IDG

    When it involves doc sharing and stay collaboration, Google Docs outshines Microsoft Word by a large margin. (Click picture to enlarge it.)

    For non-live collaboration — modifying and marking up paperwork for overview by others — Word has all the time been the gold commonplace, however Google Docs has come a great distance and now’s practically pretty much as good as Word. Word’s modifying instruments have barely finer-grained controls, however other than that, they’re about even.For a extra in-depth comparability, head to “Google Docs vs. Microsoft Word: Which works better for business?”Spreadsheets: Google Sheets vs. Microsoft ExcelDo customers in your organization principally work alone on spreadsheets, or do they ceaselessly collaborate with others? The reply to that can decide whether or not Excel or Google Sheets is best for your small business.For those that primarily work by themselves, Excel is the clear winner. As with Word, its extensive choice of templates provides a humiliation of riches. For instance, there are greater than 80 templates only for various kinds of budgets. Whether it’s a enterprise price range or a special-purpose price range, comparable to for a advertising and marketing occasion, you’ll doubtless discover one that matches your wants and that may be simply edited. By distinction, Google Sheets has solely three completely different price range templates.Excel additionally provides way more chart sorts than Google Sheets — 19 in all — together with common ones comparable to column, line, pie, bar, and space; extra advanced ones comparable to radar, floor, and histogram; and a few which can be recognized primarily to knowledge professionals, like field & whisker. And many chart sorts have a number of subtypes — for instance, among the many bar charts you may discover clustered bar, stacked bar, and so forth, and every of these has two variations. Google Sheets has solely seven principal varieties of charts and a handful of particular person charts that may’t be categorized. It’s additionally less complicated to create charts with Excel than it’s in Google Sheets. IDG

    Excel has way more subtle options than Google Sheets, together with many extra chart sorts. (Click picture to enlarge it.)

    Google Sheets far outpaces Excel in real-time collaboration, although. As with Docs, collaboration is baked instantly into Sheets. Not solely does it have extra highly effective instruments, however they’re naturally built-in and straightforward to entry. The similar holds true for modifying and commenting on spreadsheets. IDG

    Google Sheets’ collaboration instruments are highly effective and straightforward to make use of. (Click picture to enlarge it.)

    For a extra in-depth comparability, see “Google Sheets vs. Microsoft Excel: Which works better for business?”Presentations: Google Slides vs. Microsoft PowerLevelAs with phrase processing and spreadsheet apps, whether or not Google Slides or PowerLevel is greatest for your small business comes all the way down to a single level: Do you prize collaboration or highly effective options in a presentation program? If collaboration is king in your organization, Google Slides is best. For each different motive, PowerLevel is.For instance, PowerLevel’s FastStarter function makes fast work of beginning a presentation. Choose the subject of your presentation, and FastStarter walks you thru creating a top level view, starter slides, templates, and themes. Although Google Slides does provide an Explore software that means layouts in addition to photographs and different content material associated to your slideshow subject, it’s by no means equal to FastStarter. IDG

    PowerLevel has quite a few options Google Slides can’t match, together with FastStarter, which walks you thru creating a top level view, starter slides, templates, and themes. (Click picture to enlarge it.)

    Similarly, with PowerLevel, it’s simpler so as to add graphics, transitions, animations, and multimedia. It has extra chart and desk sorts as effectively. And it provides subtle choices with regards to giving the presentation itself, with modern capabilities comparable to Rehearse Timings, which occasions how lengthy you tackle every particular person slide as you rehearse a presentation. That means, you received’t get slowed down on any particular person slide, and you may apply giving every slide its simply due. Google Slides has nothing prefer it.However, Google Slides guidelines with regards to collaboration, with far outstrips the kludgy and awkward capabilities constructed into PowerLevel. And as a result of Slides provides fewer capabilities than Excel, it’s barely simpler to create slides in it, as a result of it doesn’t pack as many options into the interface. IDG

    Slides isn’t as highly effective as PowerLevel, however its interface is much less cluttered and complicated. (Click picture to enlarge it.)

    For a extra in-depth comparability, see “PowerPoint vs. Google Slides: Which works better for business?”

    Recent Articles

    How to turn your laptop into a desktop workstation

    The massive distinction between laptops and desktops is that the latter are, effectively, massive. You want a desk or a desk and equipment like...

    Why even hybrid RTO mandates are hurting overall job satisfaction

    Though most firms have settled on return-to-office (RTO) insurance policies now that COVID-19 is now not thought-about a world well being emergency, many proceed...

    Chromebooks are about to change in a massive way

    Beyond the Alphabet(Image credit score: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)Beyond the Alphabet is a weekly column that focuses on the tech world each in...

    Open Roads Review – Quick Trip

    I as soon as learn in a really profound article...

    Foldable Phones in 2024: What to Expect From Samsung, Google and Others

    Last 12 months marked a big second for the foldable cellphone trade. Newcomers Google and OnePlus launched their first bendable telephones. Motorola and Samsung...

    Related Stories

    Stay on op - Ge the daily news in your inbox