Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace both give a small business email on its own domain, shared calendars, online documents, file storage and video meetings. The decision rarely turns on features. It turns on what your people already use, what your clients send you, and how much administration you want to do. This guide compares them on the points that matter and leaves out prices, which change often.
At a glance
| Microsoft 365 | Google Workspace | |
|---|---|---|
| Email and calendar | Outlook and Exchange | Gmail and Calendar |
| Documents | Word, Excel and PowerPoint, with desktop apps on higher plans and web versions on all of them | Docs, Sheets and Slides, built for the browser |
| File storage | OneDrive and SharePoint | Drive and shared drives |
| Video meetings and chat | Teams | Meet and Chat |
| Administration | Microsoft 365 admin centre | Google Admin console |
| Often the better fit when | You depend on Excel, Word templates or Windows desktop software | You work mostly in the browser and want simple sharing |
Working with clients who send Office files is easier in Microsoft 365, although Google Workspace can open and edit them, and complex spreadsheets with macros may not convert cleanly.
Business email hosting: what to check
- Email on your own domain, rather than a free consumer address
- Mailbox size and attachment limits
- Spam and phishing filtering, and whether stronger protection is an add-on
- Multi-factor authentication, which should be switched on for every account
- Shared mailboxes and aliases, such as info@ or accounts@
- Retention and archiving, if you need to keep email for a set period
- Migration tools, if you are moving from another provider
If you only want email, a basic business email hosting plan from a web host can be cheaper, but you lose the shared documents and collaboration tools and usually the stronger security features.
What you pay for
Both are priced per user per month, in tiers. Compare what each tier includes: storage, desktop apps, security features and support. Annual billing is usually cheaper than monthly, and you should check whether quoted prices include VAT. It is rarely worth starting on the top tier. Begin with the plan that covers your needs and upgrade individual users later.
Security and compliance for UK businesses
- Multi-factor authentication. Switch it on for everyone. The Cyber Essentials scheme expects it on cloud services where it is available
- Administrator access. Keep it to a small number of named people, using separate admin accounts
- Where data is stored. Check the provider's data location options and the terms for transfers outside the UK, and make sure you have a data processing agreement
- Backups. Neither service is a backup in the full sense, because deletions and ransomware can sync across your account. Our guides to cloud backup software for small business and to cloud storage for business in the UK explain the difference
How to decide
- List the tools your team uses every day, and what your key clients use.
- Try both with two or three people for two weeks, including real files.
- Price the plan you would actually buy, for your number of users.
- Plan the move: who migrates the mailboxes, and when.
- Ask your IT provider for a view. Our guide to managed IT services for UK small businesses explains what to expect from one, and our overview of business security solutions puts the controls in order.
Planning the move
- List your mailboxes, shared mailboxes, aliases, calendars and shared files.
- Choose a quiet time and tell staff the date in good time.
- Plan the DNS change. Moving email means changing the MX records and updating the SPF and DKIM records for the new service, so ask your domain host or IT provider to help.
- Move mail, calendars and files with the provider's migration tools, and try it with one pilot user first.
- Keep the old mailboxes available for a while, in case something has been missed.
- Show staff the new tools and how to switch on multi-factor authentication.
- After the switch, check that mail is arriving, that sent items are delivered and that nothing is landing in spam.
Mistakes to avoid
- Buying the top tier for everyone by default
- Leaving multi-factor authentication optional
- Sharing one administrator login between several people
- Letting staff use personal accounts for work files
- Forgetting that a leaver's account holds company data, so plan how accounts are closed and handed over
- Assuming the suite is a complete backup