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Google Workspace vs Microsoft Exchange Online comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Google Workspace
Ranking in Email Applications
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Wireless Email (2nd), Cloud Storage (6th), Content Collaboration Platforms (3rd)
Microsoft Exchange Online
Ranking in Email Applications
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Google Workspace is 22.2%, down from 24.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange Online is 14.1%, down from 15.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Sunil-Nair - PeerSpot reviewer
Email collaboration and accessibility have improved team productivity
The valuable features include the email service, email updates, and Google Drive. People are given email access to Google Drive. The team can share manual files and work accordingly. They can access different teams from anywhere, collectively putting files, sharing them, and managing them. Additionally, the manufacturing product does not require any downgrades. It works fine and continuously for the last three or four years. Users can access their emails from anywhere in their browser without a laptop or can directly access from Gmail. This is helpful for salespeople.
NancyHartman - PeerSpot reviewer
Effective collaboration achieved with versatile features and good customer service
There are always improvements needed. My personal issue with using OfficeSuite and the Exchange Server is that one has to cobble together a whole bunch of different applications. Therefore, a lot of scripting and programming knowledge is necessary. I am not an IT person; I am an educator, a trainer, a user. I want to get the work done. However, I find that the Exchange Server and possibly the way our company has set up access permissions require extensive programming knowledge. It might take six to eight weeks to get a programmer's time to build something, whereas I can use something like Smartsheet that will do everything I want without needing a programmer. Smartsheet is more end-user friendly compared to a Microsoft product. Microsoft believes an expert IT person should manage everything, however, I want to manage things on my own in a simplified way. That is not easy using the Exchange Server or Microsoft Office. It is not end-user friendly for development, and a programmer is needed. Once set up, using them as an end-user is fine. I find that the automations are not robust, and the FedRAMP systems are not robust. I have a few issues with Exchange and Office, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It's certainly easier to meet. We have offices around the world and the ability to have a company meeting on Google Meet platform makes it a whole lot easier to actually have everybody virtually in one room at the same time."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"The solution is very stable."
"We use Google Sheets extensively for things like sharing plans, data, test reports, and more."
"The document sharing in which multiple people can work on the same document. To go along with that is the archiving of documents. If you mess up a document, it's easy to go get a previous version."
"The tool helps me keep a backup of old emails. Like everyone else, I love the Google search engine for searching emails on webmail. The Google Workspace connector for Outlook works well, so I have no issues with that."
"The solution is stable."
"Convenient to share and collaborate documents."
"A valuable feature of the solution is its global usability."
"The solution is scalable."
"The most valuable features of Microsoft Exchange Online are the frequent updates. They upgrade and optimize the features to make them better and better. They have a very strong ecosystem and they integrate together."
"The initial setup was straightforward."
"It allows us to work from home, at any time or anywhere."
"The solution is very easy to set up and quite quick to deploy."
"One of the important features is the collaboration tool used in Office 365. The security and DLP mechanisms are also quite good."
"Tech support has been great, when necessary."
 

Cons

"Expensive with a complicated licensing structure."
"The solution needs to be more user-friendly and improve its tools and features."
"What needs improvement in Google Workspace is the Google Drive app, in particular, making the process of finding the shared and most used files and folders easier. The first time you get an invite to view a file or folder in Google Drive and you view that folder or file, it's pretty easy, but the next time you try to access it again, sometimes, it's a bit difficult to find what was shared with you. An additional feature I'd like to see in Google Workspace is the option to un-send messages in Gmail. Microsoft has a message recall feature, and this isn't available in Gmail, so it's the feature I'd like to be added to Gmail."
"The solution could always be more secure, although that doesn't affect me so much."
"Google could integrate Gemini AI with Google Workspace to enhance user experience."
"We need more functionality with Google Sheets"
"If you use a name with a special character like a slash in the folder, it will crash the migration, with no warning. There is no pre-warning or anything to tell you that if you use characters in a file name that it will crash the migration."
"The stability should be addressed."
"Microsoft Exchange Online should have a faster search feature."
"The efficiency could improved."
"I would like to let new users know that there are challenges regarding user provisioning, HRMS and the AD. Also, the data migration integrity needs to be checked in terms of the old data."
"Migration can be an issue if you do not have a good audit process."
"The solution must provide better security features."
"It should integrate better with social media formats."
"The solution could be a bit cheaper."
"Documentation is lacking."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay a monthly subscription for the use of this solution."
"The pricing is comparable, it's pretty decent."
"The price of Google Workspace is reasonable. I pay less than 100 a month."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"Licensing costs are on a yearly basis."
"2,500 Rupees per month per user."
"The price per client within the business is too high."
"The pricing is very high, although I cannot tell if this is the result of the Indian vendors artificially inflating it."
"The price of the solution could be less expensive."
"There is an annual enterprise subscription to use Microsoft Exchange Online. The price is reasonable."
"Microsoft Exchange Online is too expensive."
"The price is not competitive."
"It is a cluster solution."
"I pay approximately $120 or $150 per year, and as long as I pay that amount, they will do regular updates so that I always have the most recent and greatest version of the application."
"The licensing price is ok, I'd rate it as four out of five."
"The pricing for this solution is good. We renew our contract every three years. I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Google Workspace?
Easy-to-build forms are allowing me to get feedback and information from my internal teams as well as from the customers very efficiently with the result data in structured manner.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Workspace?
The pricing for Google Workspace is moderate. I would rate it a five out of ten, indicating it is neither cheap nor expensive. The current cost is approximately seven to ten euros per user per mont...
What needs improvement with Google Workspace?
I do not have any major suggestions for improvement. However, while the security functionalities are similar to those in competitors like Active Directory, they could be optimized for stronger secu...
What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange Online?
The benefits are widespread and effective communication. We use Microsoft Teams for meetings within and outside our organization. Additionally, Teams can be used for chat, allowing us to track comm...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Exchange Online?
The pricing for Microsoft Exchange Online is quite reasonable, in my opinion. Many licensing options are available so that we can choose based on the customer's needs. For example, if a customer on...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Exchange Online?
There are always improvements needed. My personal issue with using OfficeSuite and the Exchange Server is that one has to cobble together a whole bunch of different applications. Therefore, a lot o...
 

Also Known As

G-Suite Enterprise, G-Suite, Google Apps for Business, G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G-Suite Basic, G-Suite Business, Google Vault
Exchange Online, Exchange Online Plan 1, Exchange Online Plan 2, MS Exchange Online
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

There are over five million businesses that use Google Apps for Business worldwide. Some key customers include The Roche Group, National Geographic, American Red Cross, City of Los Angeles, Flight Centre, and Konica Minolta.
Bank Alfalah Ltd., Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Blue Star Infotech, Scitec Nutrition, Resolution Films, British Airways, Empire Cinemas, InnoGames
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange Online and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
852,764 professionals have used our research since 2012.