Google Workspace vs Microsoft Exchange comparison

Google and Microsoft are both solutions in the Email Applications category. Google is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.1, while Microsoft is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.3. Google holds a 22.2% mindshare in EA, compared to Microsoft’s 11.4% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

Google Workspace

Read 102 Google Workspace reviews

6,268 Views
5,616 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Microsoft Exchange

Read 91 Microsoft Exchange reviews

3,291 Views
2,842 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Google Workspace

Microsoft Exchange

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Microsoft Exchange and Google Workspace compete in the business email and collaboration software market. Based on feature comparison, customer feedback, and user deployment ease, Google Workspace seems to have an upper hand due to its strong collaboration tools and simpler deployment.

Features: Microsoft Exchange offers Message Tracking, integration with third-party apps, and on-premises data protection, which are ideal for businesses heavily invested in Microsoft products. Google Workspace stands out with its real-time collaboration tools like Google Docs and Google Meet, intuitive interface, and seamless integration across all Google services.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Exchange users suggest improvements in storage management, deployment processes, and integration with non-Microsoft products. Google Workspace users point out a high learning curve and desired enhancements in chat features and compatibility with traditional email clients.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Exchange offers flexibility with on-premises and hybrid cloud deployments but requires significant initial setup. Its customer service has room for improvement. Google Workspace provides simple cloud-based deployment, making it accessible for small teams, with generally satisfactory customer support.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Exchange has a complex licensing model, considered cost-effective for large enterprises but potentially costly for smaller companies. Google Workspace provides flexible pricing tiers suitable for businesses of varying sizes, offering a strong ROI, especially valued for collaboration efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange

April 2025

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Helped 849,686 peers since 2012

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

Ranking in Wireless Email

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

102

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Storage (6th), Content Collaboration Platforms (2nd)

Microsoft Exchange

Ranking in Email Applications

3rd

Ranking in Wireless Email

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

File Archiving (3rd)

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 is 11.4%, down from 12.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Applications

Featured Reviews

Sunil-Nair

IT Manager at Universal Carpets & Rugs

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.

Read full review

Hesham Hussain

Head Of Infrastructure at ValU

A good solution for large enterprises, but is expensive when compared to other solutions

Regarding the decision of increasing the number of users, it depends on the organization's choice, whether to opt for CapEx or OpEx. Both options involve expenses over the years. Building an in-house Exchange solution requires investing in hardware, storage, connectivity, and administrative resources. Office 365 shifts the budget solely to OpEx as a subscription service. Scalability is another factor. Starting a new company favors Office 365 due to cost efficiency. As the organization grows, the choice depends on available resources and technical expertise. An internal Exchange setup is feasible with skilled engineers, while Office 365 suits those lacking in-house resources.

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

"I use Keep to assign tasks to a team of programmers, which is very easy."

"The initial setup is very easy."

"Google Meet is the most valuable function for me. It has enhanced collaboration in our team."

"It's more open than Microsoft and easy to use."

"G Suite and all of Google were the first to have a built-in multifactor authentication without needing to purchase another product."

"I have found the solution to be pretty stable."

"The features of Google Workspace that significantly improve our work include real-time collaboration on documents, dynamic email for easy suggestions and approvals, integration with BigQuery for data analysis, seamless document sharing and storage in Google Drive, and advanced calendaring capabilities."

"The most beneficial feature is Gmail, which we use extensively."

More Google Workspace pros

"The search tools are good."

"It's an excellent product from Microsoft. It provides more flexibility to the end-users. As it's connected with Teams, it also enables collaboration."

"I find the Outlook client very valuable. It allows me to connect to the Exchange Server and send and receive emails easily. The graphical interface is user-friendly and has a good look and feel."

"It gives me benefit in terms of integration with other services such as SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and OneDrive. It makes my work much easier."

"The product works very well."

"The most valuable features of Microsoft Exchange are it is always online and has broad email and file-sharing capabilities."

"The initial setup was straightforward and fast."

"Microsoft Exchange has good performance and is user-friendly."

More Microsoft Exchange pros

Cons

"In the next release, I would like to see more encryption of documents, mail, and things like that. There should be a better way to encrypt mail and documents that are pushed through this system. That would be some improvement or additional features that could be good to have."

"Everything is online, so you don't have a client on your desk. Working on email is online work, so can't do work offline and go back online. Sometimes it's not so intuitive. If you answer an email, it puts your answer at the bottom of the existing email."

"There's a bit of a learning curve."

"I'm not sure if Google Drive has a customizing feature, however, if it did, then it would be better."

"The cost could be improved. It can sometimes be a bit confusing figuring out how we are actually being charged."

"Google Workspace does a pretty good job, so it doesn't have that much room for improvement, but what would make it even better is if its apps, for example, Gmail, could integrate with more apps, such as Evernote and specific cloud-based platforms."

"The price could be reduced."

"We need more functionality with Google Sheets"

More Google Workspace cons

"I think it could be more scalable."

"In the version we have, I would like to see better communication between the end device and the Exchange server."

"In our current situation, the disappearance of sanctions would be a tangible improvement. We are basically cut off from technical support and it's very difficult to obtain any updates."

"Load balancing is lacking."

"From a security perspective, Microsft Exchange can be improved. All that needs to be added is security, but that's an internal hierarchical problem from the product itself and not the end-users."

"In terms of configuring the product, that's definitely an area in which they can make some improvements on."

"The default storage capacity is too small."

"When an update wants to come, it should just come maybe once or twice rather than having us deal with constant updating."

More Microsoft Exchange cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is reasonable."

"Licensing costs are on a yearly basis."

"The overall cost is very reasonable when considering all of the security features that you are receiving. It is a bit more expensive than our local host and/or other hosting companies that are available on the market, but it is worth it."

"We pay a monthly subscription for the use of this solution."

"We pay on yearly basis."

"The main challenge regarding startups with identity services is you could be on a platform that works well but the services are expensive. For example, Microsoft Azure costs approximately $30 per user which is expensive. You end up choosing a different platform, such as G Suite Enterprise because it is priced reasonably and is less expensive than other solutions."

"The price of the solution can vary."

"G Suite and Microsoft Office 365 offer products with similar functionality at several different price points. Zoho offer a more extensive range of products and attempts to provide all the applications required to run most small and medium-sized businesses."

More Google Workspace pricing and cost advice

"The price of Microsoft Exchange is reasonable."

"I rate Microsoft Exchange's pricing a six out of ten."

"There is an annual cost to use Microsoft Exchange, and the price could be less expensive."

"Microsoft Exchange itself does not require a license, but users who will have mailboxes will require a license. It depends on the number of users to choose which license. If you exceed 2,000 mailboxes, it's preferable to get the enterprise license."

"Microsoft's licensing structure is too complex, but its prices are affordable, though not cheap."

"I rate Microsoft Exchange a four out of ten for pricing because it is quite cheap, and many companies use the solution."

"We can get Exchange in the cloud along with the Microsoft 365 license."

"Microsoft Exchange is an inexpensive application."

More Microsoft Exchange pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Workspace?

I'm not satisfied with the cost because I feel these services should be free as they use our data.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Google Workspace?

As far as Google Workspace is concerned, it is working fine for us. Our needs are fulfilled, so that's fine. However, integration with Microsoft Outlook could be improved. The new integration was i...

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How does Zimbra Collaboration compare with Microsoft Exchange?

Zimbra is a free, open source collaborative software suite. The features I like best are the ease of integration and the email, calendar, and collaboration server with web interface. In addition, I...

See all answers

What do you like most about Microsoft Exchange?

The initial setup was straightforward and fast.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Exchange?

The licensing and pricing are quite costly, which can demotivate customers from opting for features and upgrades. However, the solution provides value for money if one is well-acquainted with Excha...

See all answers

Comparisons

Amazon WorkMail vs Google Workspace

Compared 29% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online vs Google Workspace

Compared 28% of the time

ProtonMail vs Google Workspace

Compared 9% of the time

Office 365 vs Google Workspace

Compared 4% of the time

GoDaddy vs Google Workspace

Compared 2% of the time

More Google Workspace Competitors

Zimbra Collaboration vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 19% of the time

KerioConnect vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 18% of the time

Open-Xchange vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 13% of the time

HCL Domino vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 12% of the time

ProtonMail vs Microsoft Exchange

Compared 5% of the time

More Microsoft Exchange Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace

April 2025

Download Google Workspace product report

Buyer's Guide

Microsoft Exchange

April 2025

Download Microsoft Exchange product report

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, MS Exchange

Overview

Similar to G Suite, all Google Workspace plans provide a custom email for your business and include collaboration tools like Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and more.

As we’ve evolved G Suite into a more integrated experience across our communication and collaboration tools, we’ve rebranded to Google Workspace to more accurately represent the product vision.

Google

Built to deliver the enterprise-grade security and reliability that businesses require, Microsoft Exchange provides email, calendar and contacts on your PC, phone and web browser.

Microsoft

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.

Paderborn-Lippstadt Airport, Scitec Nutrition, British Airways, InnoGames, Osteology Foundation, Franz Haniel & Cie. GmbH, NTC Contracting

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange

April 2025

Free Report: Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange

Find out what your peers are saying about Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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