Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace
Tech Geum resells Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Zoho. Recommending the wrong one costs us more than it saves, so this page says where each genuinely wins.
Prices from both vendors’ India sites, checked 21 September 2026. Microsoft repackaged its suites on 1 July 2026, so comparisons written before then describe products that no longer exist.
Three questions usually settle it. Does any critical software require Outlook or Exchange? Does anyone genuinely live in Excel? Are your devices Windows and domain-joined? A single yes points firmly at Microsoft. If all three are no, and nobody internally wants to run a multi-portal admin console, Google is likely the better fit. On the 14 capabilities compared below, 6 favour Microsoft, 5 favour Google and 3 are genuinely even.
Six things Microsoft 365 does better
Serious spreadsheet work
The big one, and it is not close. If your business runs on Excel with macros, VBA, Power Query or models of real size, Sheets is not an equivalent. It is capable and genuinely better for simultaneous editing, but a finance team that lives in Excel will feel every limitation.
Long, heavily formatted documents
Word handles hundred-page documents with styles, cross-references, tracked changes across many reviewers and rigid formatting better than Docs. Legal, tender and publishing work often depends on precisely that.
An existing Windows estate
Domain-joined devices, Group Policy, identity already in Entra ID — Microsoft 365 fits into that without a fight. Moving to Google means running two identity systems or migrating one, which is a project rather than a footnote.
Software that expects Outlook
Plenty of industry applications integrate with Outlook and Exchange and nothing else. Where that application is central to how you operate, it settles the question on its own.
Replacing a phone system
Teams Phone can genuinely replace a PBX. Google Meet does not attempt this. Note it is a paid add-on rather than part of any Business plan.
Free shared mailboxes
Microsoft provides shared mailboxes without a licence. Google has no unlicensed equivalent, so organisations with many shared addresses can find Google costs more than a headline comparison suggested.
Six things Google Workspace does better
This page sits in our Microsoft section. It would be easy to make this list shorter than the one above, and it would also be useless to you.
Real-time collaboration
The advantage that is not marketing. Several people editing one document simultaneously, with comments and suggestions that work the way people actually review things, remains better in Google. Microsoft has closed much of the gap in the browser and not on the desktop.
Administration you can hold in your head
One admin console against several Microsoft portals with overlapping settings. For an organisation with no dedicated IT, that difference compounds every month.
Finding things
Search across mail and files is noticeably better in Google. It sounds minor and it is the feature people mention most often, unprompted, a year after moving.
Mixed device estates
Browser-first means a Mac, a Windows laptop, a Chromebook and a phone all behave alike. Organisations with varied hardware spend less time on per-platform problems.
Licensing you can explain
Fewer editions, fewer add-ons, fewer traps. Microsoft's SKU matrix is genuinely hard to reason about — this cluster has a whole page devoted to explaining it, which rather makes the point.
Storage at the top tier
Google Workspace Standard provides 2 TB pooled per user against 1 TB on Microsoft's Business plans, and pooling suits organisations with uneven usage.
India list prices, side by side
Per user per month, annual commitment, both excluding GST. Checked 21 September 2026. At the comparable tiers Microsoft is currently the cheaper of the two, which is the opposite of what most people expect.
| Tier | Microsoft 365 | Google Workspace | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry, email and web apps | Business Basic — ₹170 | Base — ₹99 (max 20 users) | Google's Base is an India-specific tier capped at 20 users with 20 GB. Microsoft's Basic has no such cap and 1 TB. Compare Basic against Starter instead. |
| Email and web apps, no cap | Business Basic — ₹170 | Starter — ₹270 | Like for like at this tier, Microsoft is cheaper and includes considerably more storage. |
| With desktop Office apps | Business Standard — ₹860 | Standard — ₹1,080 | Microsoft is cheaper and includes desktop Office. Google has no desktop equivalent, but gives 2 TB pooled against 1 TB. |
| With device management and security | Business Premium — ₹1,830 | Enterprise — on request | No clean comparison; Google quotes Enterprise individually. |
Price alone is a poor way to choose between these two — the gap is small relative to what a wrong choice costs in migration and lost productivity. Full dated tables: Microsoft 365 pricing and Google Workspace pricing.
14 capabilities compared
6 favour Microsoft, 5 favour Google, 3 are even. That is close enough that the tally is not the answer — which of these rows matters to your business is.
| Capability | Microsoft 365 | Google Workspace | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheets | Excel — macros, Power Query, large models | Sheets — better shared editing | Microsoft |
| Word processing | Word — long, complex, heavily formatted | Docs — fast, collaborative, simpler | Microsoft |
| Real-time collaboration | Good in browser, weaker on desktop | Simultaneous editing done properly | |
| Outlook — powerful server-side rules | Gmail — better search, labels not folders | Even | |
| Search | Adequate | Noticeably better across mail and files | |
| File storage | SharePoint and OneDrive — powerful, complex | Drive and Shared Drives — simpler | Even |
| Storage allowance | 1 TB per user on Business plans | 2 TB pooled per user on Standard | |
| Administration | Several portals, specialist knowledge | One console | |
| Device management | Intune, with Business Premium | Endpoint management by tier | Microsoft |
| Identity | Entra ID — deep, and the Windows default | Capable, less deep on Windows estates | Microsoft |
| Telephony | Teams Phone — a real PBX replacement | Not attempted | Microsoft |
| Shared mailboxes | Unlicensed | No unlicensed equivalent | Microsoft |
| Licensing clarity | Two product lines, similar names | Fewer editions, easier to reason about | |
| Video meetings | Teams — more features | Meet — simpler for guests | Even |
Six things that are genuinely a draw
A good deal of comparison content manufactures differences here. These are areas where both products are good and the choice should not turn on them.
Email reliability and spam filtering
Both excellent. Anyone claiming a decisive edge here is selling something.
Video meetings for ordinary use
Teams has more features; Meet needs no install and is simpler for external guests. For a normal meeting neither will change your life.
Mobile apps
Both good. Not a deciding factor.
Baseline security
At comparable tiers both give you MFA, conditional access, device management and audit logs. The difference is how hard they are to configure, not what they can do.
Presentations
PowerPoint is ahead for polish; Slides for collaboration. Most people are not working at a level where it matters.
AI assistance
Copilot and Gemini are both capable, both cost real money, and both are worth piloting with a few people rather than buying for everyone.
Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace — common questions
helpWhich is better, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace?
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Neither, in the abstract. The question that decides it is what your work actually consists of. If your business runs on desktop Excel, on long formatted documents, or on software that expects Outlook, Microsoft is the better answer. If simultaneous real-time collaboration and a simpler administrative surface matter more — particularly with no dedicated IT — Google usually is. We resell both, so the recommendation costs us nothing either way.
helpWhich is cheaper in India?
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At the comparable tiers, currently Microsoft — which surprises people. Checked 21 September 2026, Microsoft 365 Business Basic is ₹170 against Google Workspace Starter at ₹270, and Business Standard is ₹860 against Google Standard at ₹1,080. Google's Base tier is cheaper at ₹99 but is an India-specific plan capped at 20 users with 20 GB of storage. Both exclude GST. Prices move, which is why the date is on this page.
helpWhy do older comparisons show different prices?
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Because Microsoft repackaged its commercial suites on 1 July 2026 — Copilot moved into the headline Business SKUs, a separate without-Teams line appeared at lower prices, and a tier was added above E5. A comparison written before that date is describing packaging that no longer exists. Ours carries the date it was checked for exactly this reason.
helpCan we move from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365?
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Yes, and we do it regularly. Gmail, Contacts and Calendar migrate directly. The part needing design is files — Google Shared Drives and SharePoint sites are different models and do not map one to one. Apps Script automations, AppSheet apps, Google Sites and Chat history have no migration path and are rebuilt or retired. Our dedicated page covers that properly.
helpIs Excel really that much better than Google Sheets?
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For ordinary spreadsheet work, no — Sheets is perfectly good and better for shared editing. For serious work, yes, and it is not close. Macros, VBA, Power Query, pivot-heavy models and large datasets are where Excel remains ahead. The honest test is whether anyone in your organisation would describe themselves as living in Excel. If so, that answer outweighs most of the rest of this page.
helpWhat about running both?
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Some organisations do, usually as a historical accident rather than a decision — one department adopted one, another the other. It is workable and it doubles your administration, splits identity and confuses people about where files belong. If you are in that position, it is worth deciding deliberately which is primary rather than letting it persist.
helpDoes Tech Geum actually sell both?
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Yes. Tech Geum is an authorized Google Workspace reseller and a Microsoft 365 CSP reseller, and we implement Zoho as well. That is the only reason a page like this can be written honestly — a specialist in one platform has a commercial interest in the conclusion, and this one does not.
helpHow do we decide without getting it wrong?
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Start with the constraints rather than the features. Is there software that requires Outlook? Does anyone genuinely live in Excel? Are devices Windows and domain-joined? Any single yes usually settles it toward Microsoft. If all three are no and nobody internally wants to run a complex admin console, Google is likely the better fit. Where it is genuinely balanced, the cost of choosing wrong is a migration, which is why a short consulting conversation is cheaper than a coin toss.
Related pages
The same comparison, from the Google side
Written first, and reaching the same conclusions from the other direction.
Google Workspace to Microsoft 365
If you have decided to move to Microsoft.
Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace
If you have decided to move the other way.
Microsoft 365 Pricing in India
The full Microsoft price tables in INR, dated.
Google Workspace Pricing in India
The Google equivalent, dated the same way.
Microsoft 365 vs Zoho Workplace
The third option, and materially cheaper than both.
Microsoft 365 Consulting
If the decision is genuinely balanced and worth an hour of someone's time.
Microsoft 365 Services
Licensing, implementation, migration, security and support.
Talk it through before you commit
Tell us what your team actually does all day. Where the decision is genuinely balanced, an hour of conversation is cheaper than migrating twice.
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We resell both, so neither answer pays us more
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Prices quoted in INR with GST, whichever you choose
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We will tell you to stay where you are when that is right
If you are weighing Zoho as well, our page for Microsoft 365 partner in Kozhikode sets out when each of the three is the better buy.
Prefer to talk first? Call +91 99467 89916 or email admin@techgeum.com.