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 4.6% mindshare in eD, compared to Microsoft’s 9.0% 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

1,937 Views
1,588 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

Read 8 Microsoft Purview eDiscovery reviews

2,715 Views
1,955 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: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Google Vault vs. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

March 2026

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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 (5th)

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 March 2026, in the eDiscovery category, the mindshare of Google Vault is 4.6%, down from 16.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is 9.0%, down from 27.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

eDiscovery Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery	9.0%
Google Vault	4.6%
Other	86.4%

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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Frank Radeck

Director, IT Infrastructure & Cloud Technology at a legal firm with 501-1,000 employees

Tasks that took an entire day before we implemented the solution now take just 30 minutes.

The most valuable feature of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is its ability to search across various platforms, including Exchange, SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive. It enables a streamlined, unified process for searching across these platforms. It is critical for Purview to be able to connect to iOS, Mac, and Android devices and data in other SaaS apps. From a support perspective, I can do things while I'm eating lunch or something else. It's more dynamic and responsive. I think everybody appreciates it. We're not tied to one device. Purview's multi-cloud capabilities are also essential for the same reasons. Keeping everything under one umbrella further increases the time savings. Purview accounts for critical regulations from around the world. This is crucial because we hold ourselves accountable to standards and need to align with them. Working at a law firm, we have clients who dictate to us what standards they expect. The visibility is excellent. As we move more things into the cloud, more opportunities exist to put everything under one umbrella.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

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

"In my opinion, the search functionality is the best feature. With Google Vault, we can quickly search for any email within Gmail accounts. And then we can get further information, such as if you want the full header or want to know any extra details about the emails."

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

"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."

"Google Vault acts as a great method for retrieving files from Google Drive and Gmail."

"Google Vault retains all deleted data from the previous four years, acting as backup security so this vital information can be made available to anyone who needs it."

"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."

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

More Google Vault pros

"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."

"The tool has been beneficial. Some of our previous users left the organization without sharing the information they had at a personal level. This information was related to the organization, and they didn't disclose it. Thanks to the product, it's easy for me to search and find out what communication a specific user has done, whether it's from SharePoint or any other platform. With Microsoft Purview eDiscovery, we can easily retrieve and restore this data."

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

"The ability to query everything that's in Microsoft and send links or add people, like managers, to review the documents is valuable. It's easy as I don't have to download and email anything. I just add them as a reviewer, and they can access it from there."

"Purview eDiscovery has made it significantly easier to handle rare litigation requests."

"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."

"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."

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

More Microsoft Purview eDiscovery pros

Cons

"Customer service has been a bit lacking."

"The knowledge base is not as in-depth as it should be."

"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."

"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."

"Searching could be improved. There's a lot of limitations when searching with Google Vault."

"My personal opinion is that Google Vault could improve if they could have a similar version to Microsoft 365 where you can have an eDiscovery manager account. With this, you can separate a regular person from an organization and just transfer the specific files."

"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."

More Google Vault cons

"I see two significant challenges with many of my clients. One is that there are some functionality gaps compared to specialized tools in the legal industry, like a legal hold tool or a document review tool. They have features that Purview eDiscovery lacks. Those gaps create a situation where I almost have to do things twice. I need to collect all my data in eDiscovery and ship it to another platform to complete the review."

"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."

"I would suggest adding more platforms. Currently, it's compatible with OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint, and Exchange. Adding more features, as Microsoft continues to expand their cloud offerings, would be beneficial. Exploring options like Azure Files might be an avenue for improvement."

"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."

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

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

"Microsoft Purview eDiscovery should be cheaper."

"I would suggest adding more platforms."

More Microsoft Purview eDiscovery cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"The solution is expensive."

"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."

"Google Vault comes as part of a package deal for us."

"The pricing is fairly cheap."

"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 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."

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

"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."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Comms Service Provider

University

Government

14%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

University

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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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Google Vault

March 2026

Download Google Vault product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

March 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

March 2026

Free Report: Google Vault vs. Microsoft Purview eDiscovery

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