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Google Vault vs Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 Vault
Ranking in Email Archiving
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
eDiscovery (3rd)
Microsoft Purview Data Life...
Ranking in Email Archiving
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
5.2
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Document Management Software (6th), Data Governance (26th), Microsoft Security Suite (27th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Email Archiving category, the mindshare of Google Vault is 10.9%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management is 2.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Archiving Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Google Vault10.9%
Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management2.5%
Other86.6%
Email Archiving
 

Featured Reviews

Rahul Gill - PeerSpot reviewer
GWS/M365 Consultant at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Has supported data retention and export tasks while leaving room for greater automation and feature expansion
If we can have more APIs open for Google Vault, that would be great, and instead of doing it manually, it would be better to do it programmatically. I think there is an API available with Google Vault, though I'm not certain about it. I have never used Vault programmatically, but if APIs exist, then it's beneficial, and if there aren't any, we should have the capability for programmers to create some sort of scripting so they can fetch the data. I assess the export feature in Google Vault in terms of ease and efficiency as quite efficient because most of the data we want to see is available in MBOX and PST formats. If possible, I would want to see Google Vault support additional formats such as iCal, iCad, or CardDAV, which are for iPhone users.
ST
Ict Systems Manager at Lltnpa
Automated retention has transformed compliance workflows and now simplifies audit responses
The deep native integration with Microsoft 365 is what ultimately made me decide on Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management over Enterprise Vault and OpenText Content Manager. Auto-apply retention labels using machine learning is the specific integration with Microsoft 365 that made it the deciding factor for me over Enterprise Vault or OpenText. Manually labeling content at our data volumes is not realistic. The automated classification based on sensitive information types and trainable classifiers is what makes the program actually scale. That feature gets used constantly. We went from inconsistent ad-hoc retention practices to a consistent, automated, documented program across the whole organization with Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management. That shift from a compliance audit perspective is enormous.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features are automatic document and email retention."
"I think the most valuable features are Gmail and Drive, and the solution is also very helpful with Google Chat messages because sometimes you might be missing some information and you can search for it in Google Vault, a very helpful feature for our customers."
"Overall, I would rate Google Vault a ten out of ten."
"The audit part of the tool is the most useful for me."
"Google Vault acts as a great method for retrieving files from Google Drive and Gmail."
"What I appreciate about Google Vault is that one of the best features is the ability to use retention policies; it covers mail, chat groups, calendars, sites, Drive, and Google Voice, and the data will remain in Google Vault even if it gets deleted by the user accidentally or intentionally."
"Search feature is valuable for our customers."
"Overall, it's a very good product, and I recommend it with some consideration for future improvements."
"The UI is the most valuable feature."
"We went from inconsistent ad-hoc retention practices to a consistent, automated, documented program across the whole organization with Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management."
"The impact of Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management on my unified data catalog has improved a lot; the improvements I see are in the lineage, the discovery, and the labeling."
"The system is stable; I haven't encountered any worldwide stability issues unlike other office products."
 

Cons

"Google Vault lacks speed."
"The knowledge base is not as in-depth as it should be."
"Customer service has been a bit lacking."
"The price of the solution could improve and the search could be easier."
"Compared to Microsoft, they have more features in terms of compliance and retention policies."
"One thing I've noticed is that it splits the data files into multiple parts, like the PFT files. For example, when there is a large data size of any account, the backup process splits it into many files. This can be confusing and not very efficient when trying to manage the backups."
"Although it does a good job of searching through data and exporting it, I feel that Google Vault should have more export options available to the user. As a reseller, our customers demand a lot from their Google products, and exporting is one area where there's a lot of improvement needed."
"Many of our customers are facing problems related to backup and data splitting, and when they ask Google technical support about the reason for the data splitting, they haven't received a proper answer."
"The initial setup took longer than we expected. Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management is not a turn-it-on-and-go product."
"I think labeling could use a lot more AI assistance. AI implementation into labeling would be beneficial."
"The time it takes to scan is one issue; when we raise high-volume issues and tickets related to scanning failures, it relates to permission errors, which are technical challenges."
"Microsoft's Purview Data Lifecycle Management preview features can be unreliable, hindering their usefulness."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."
"The pricing is fairly cheap."
"Google Vault comes as part of a package deal for us."
"Last year, the price was randomly increased and our customers were really facing a challenge around this. Google launched new pricing under different plans, where formerly there were only three plans, and now there are four, each with their own separate usage allowances. I think it's good, though. The basic plan is now the Business Starter plan, and many customers find this plan very convenient and minimal in price. Overall, the pricing for all the plans is good."
"If you have Google Enterprise, then Google Vault is free to use."
"Google Vault is a cheaply priced product. Monthly payments are to be made towards the licensing costs attached to the solution. There are no extra costs apart from the licensing costs attached to the solution."
"The service operates on a pay-as-you-go basis, charging an extra one cent per field of metadata scanned in our data."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise3
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Vault?
There is no setup cost; it's only the pricing which one needs to pay upon subscribing to Google Vault services.
What needs improvement with Google Vault?
If we can have more APIs open for Google Vault, that would be great, and instead of doing it manually, it would be better to do it programmatically. I think there is an API available with Google Va...
What is your primary use case for Google Vault?
A few use cases for Google Vault involve using it for custodian purposes where we have to store their mails, calendars, and mostly the mails, which we have done as a custodian process in order to s...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management?
Better coverage outside Microsoft 365 is a feature I wish Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management had that it does not offer today. If I could change one thing about Microsoft Purview Data Life...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management?
Automating retention and deletion across our Microsoft 365 environment is my main use case for Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management. At Microsoft scale, Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and T...
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management?
Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management implementation is very much a team-wide effort. The policies apply organization-wide across all Microsoft 365 users. The management side, configuring pol...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Microsoft Information Governance, Microsoft Purview Records Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Broadcom, Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital, Globeflight, Maven Wave, McClatchy, NII Holdings, Safetec, Sheboygan County
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Vault vs. Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.