Google Vault vs Microsoft Purview eDiscovery comparison

Google and Microsoft are both solutions in the eDiscovery category. Google is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.5, while Microsoft is ranked #1 with an average rating of 7.8. Google holds a 5.3% mindshare in eD, compared to Microsoft’s 10.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 87% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Google Vault

Read 13 Google Vault reviews

1,873 Views
1,630 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Read 8 Microsoft Purview eDiscovery reviews

2,518 Views
1,838 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

Google Vault

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 6, 2024

Google Vault and Microsoft Purview eDiscovery compete in enterprise information governance. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery often has the upper hand due to its advanced features, making it a valuable investment.

Features: Google Vault integrates seamlessly with Google's ecosystem and offers basic archiving capabilities. While Microsoft Purview eDiscovery provides comprehensive legal hold functionality, advanced search options and analytics for in-depth data management.

Room for Improvement: Google Vault users note limitations in complex search functionalities, reporting capabilities, and features offered. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is often criticized for the complexity of navigating its extensive features, which may overwhelm new users, potential usability enhancements and simplified interface needs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Google Vault is known for easy setup, swift deployment in the Google workspace, and straightforward customer service. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery, although requiring a steeper learning curve initially, benefits from strong technical support and provides long-term value once integrated.

Pricing and ROI: Google Vault often has a lower initial setup cost, appealing for basic functionalities. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is more expensive yet known for better ROI due to its advanced capabilities and suitability for robust enterprise-grade needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Google Vault vs. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Google Vault vs. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

December 2025

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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 eDiscovery

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Email Archiving (4th)

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Ranking in eDiscovery

1st

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Microsoft Security Suite (22nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the eDiscovery category, the mindshare of Google Vault is 5.3%, down from 17.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is 10.7%, down from 26.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

eDiscovery Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery	10.7%
Google Vault	5.3%
Other	84.0%

eDiscovery

Featured Reviews

Rahul Gill

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.

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reviewer2595618

Senior System Engineer at a sports company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Has made it significantly easier to handle rare litigation requests

The speed of it is valuable. I am able to search even 10,000 mailboxes for specific content. It helps search and accommodate the often limited information provided by users regarding what they need. It provides a solid starting point, and then we are able to refine the data from there. That has been very helpful because we do not always get enough information from our users to know what to look for. For example, a user is missing an email from x date but does not know anything else. In such a case, I give them a list of emails to look at so that they can tell me what they are missing. It is not a lack of the tool. It is more of a lack of the user providing info.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Data retention is very valuable to us."

"One of the noteworthy aspects is that nothing ever gets deleted, which is convenient."

"Google Vault is a solution we can use for the data export of end-users."

"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."

"My impression is that the initial setup process is not that difficult."

"You can retrieve any type of data; for example, if a user accidentally deletes data, as an admin with access to Google Vault, you can easily restore the deleted data."

"The most valuable features are automatic document and email retention."

"It is a very stable solution...It is a very scalable solution."

More Google Vault pros

"The machine learning wasn't half bad. I really like that part. I thought it was novel. It pretty much automated it, once you trained the model."

"Microsoft Purview eDiscovery has saved me personally a lot of time because I can query it, and it touches everything we have as a full Microsoft shop."

"The speed of it is valuable. I am able to search even 10,000 mailboxes for specific content. It helps search and accommodate the often limited information provided by users regarding what they need."

"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is the content search. We can use it to find the data we need by searching for keywords, phrases, or the sender or recipient. It helps us gather information from current employees or ones who have left the company."

"The return on investment is saving the equivalent of one or two full-time IT department employees and a few hours per week for legal staff."

"Tasks that took an entire day before we implemented Purview now take just 30 minutes."

"I think eDiscovery Premium has made dealing with data from Teams much more accessible than any other platform."

"The most valuable features are automatic content logging tagging. Performing these tasks manually would be impossible. Since most of our data is already in Microsoft, it's convenient to run it through this tool."

More Microsoft Purview eDiscovery pros

Cons

"For us, customer service has been a bit lacking, probably with a rating of a five out of ten."

"Google Vault lacks speed."

"Compared to Microsoft, they have more features in terms of compliance and retention policies."

"So, when doing a search, perhaps in some instances when you use terms, the information is not very precise in the sense that I'm not getting what I'm looking for. And in some instances, the information, not all the time, but in some instances, it might not be accurate. For example, when doing a search, if you use too many terms, it might not return any results."

"The price of the solution could improve and the search could be easier."

"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."

"eDiscovery could be improved with additional information and an easier way to retain it."

"Customer service has been a bit lacking."

More Google Vault cons

"The sorting and filtering of the result data need improvement, and the interface for writing queries is not user-friendly for business users."

"We find that many critical functions are available only to E5 license holders. It would be beneficial to have more options available for E3 customers. Enhanced Teams functionalities and better capture of text message data, both SMS and MMS, would also be improvements."

"The query language can be time-consuming to figure out if you don't know it initially."

"The query language can be time-consuming to figure out if you don't know it initially. While there are options with dropdowns to select criteria, having a natural language feature would be beneficial. Copilot is expected to add such functionality in the future."

"The sorting and filtering of the result data need improvement, and the interface for writing queries is not user-friendly for business users. We still need all the backend stuff. We have to use Graph API to interface with everything and create custom interfaces on the front end to make it easier for the end users, which is costly. The reporting, sorting, and filtering capabilities that other products have aren't available natively in Purview."

"We find that many critical functions are available only to E5 license holders."

"It has been one of the most solid tools I have worked with. However, Purview Data Loss Protection for remediating policy violations needs refinement, for example, in defining what constitutes a credit card because that is where I get the most false positives."

"Purview eDiscovery works, but it's not entirely perfect. There were times when search results would get hung up or error codes would be presented and we'd have to contact Microsoft to get that sorted out."

More Microsoft Purview eDiscovery cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."

"The pricing is fairly cheap."

"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."

"If you have Google Enterprise, then Google Vault is free to use."

"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."

"In the positions that I've had through contracting over the years, I've heard talk of it being overpriced and underperforming compared to its competitors."

"The pricing and licensing with Microsoft can be complex, and licensing is known to be a challenge because it changes frequently. While the licensing for Purview is not as tricky as other Microsoft products, navigating licenses since the shift to E3 and E5 plans has been a task, as individual licenses must now be purchased separately."

"Microsoft Purview eDiscovery comes as part of Microsoft 365 licenses."

"With the full bundle, pricing is not a significant concern. As an M3, I find the Purview pricing of 1250 per user worthwhile."

"The costs associated with E5 licensing are currently expensive for us, so we use the E3 license, which comes with fewer features and functionalities."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Government

13%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	3

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Google Vault?

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview eDiscovery?

The setup process was very straightforward. We acquired pricing through our reseller in NASDAQ, eliminating the need to search for prices ourselves.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview eDiscovery?

The query language can be time-consuming to figure out if you don't know it initially. While there are options with dropdowns to select criteria, having a natural language feature would be benefici...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview eDiscovery?

I sometimes use it for legal holds or to find lost items, and to determine what is going on. However, most of the time, my use case is legal-related.

See all answers

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Compared 4% of the time

Mimecast Mailbox Continuity vs Google Vault

Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

Varonis Platform vs Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Compared 7% of the time

Exterro vs Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Compared 6% of the time

Microsoft Purview Audit vs Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Compared 5% of the time

Everlaw vs Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Google Vault

January 2026

Download Google Vault product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

January 2026

Download Microsoft Purview eDiscovery product report

Overview

Google Vault lets you retain, hold, search, and export data to support your organization’s archiving and eDiscovery needs. Vault supports:

Email messages
Chats in classic Hangouts with history turned on and Google Talk chats that are on the record
Google Groups
Files in Google Drive and Team Drives
Conversations in Hangouts Chat

Vault is entirely web-based, so there's no need to install or maintain any software. Vault is included with G Suite Enterprise, Business, Education, or Drive Enterprise edition. (Compare editions) Or you can buy Vault licenses for an additional $5 per user, per month.

Google

Efficiently respond to legal matters or internal investigations with intelligent capabilities that reduce data to only what’s relevant. Discover data where it lives. Discover and collect data in place, within your Microsoft Purview boundary. Manage workflows efficiently. Streamline your eDiscovery process with an end-to-end workflow from one platform. Accelerate your process. Get insights quickly with built-in capabilities, reducing review time and costs.

To learn more about our solution, ask questions, and share feedback, join our Microsoft Security, Compliance and Identity Community.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

Broadcom, Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital, Globeflight, Maven Wave, McClatchy, NII Holdings, Safetec, Sheboygan County

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Google Vault vs. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

December 2025

Free Report: Google Vault vs. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

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