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Google Workspace vs Microsoft Exchange Online comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.7
Google Workspace boosts productivity and efficiency with integration and collaboration features, despite potentially high costs.
Sentiment score
7.4
Companies achieved significant ROI with Microsoft Exchange Online, realizing savings and operational efficiency without hardware investment.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.1
Google Workspace offers varied customer service; users appreciate fast responses but face challenges with technical support and direct assistance.
Sentiment score
6.4
Microsoft Exchange Online support is often praised for responsiveness, but user experiences vary with occasional delays and expertise issues.
With Gemini, I was charged for a year without receiving any guidance on its usage.
In the past, we experienced a problem with automatic emails being blocked, and the support team resolved the issue quickly.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Google Workspace is praised for its scalability, flexibility, and integration, despite minor resource limitations and licensing concerns.
Sentiment score
7.9
Microsoft Exchange Online offers impressive scalability for large organizations, efficiently managing growth despite potential cost increases.
It supports around 2,500 users in our company, and this scalability assists us in maintaining our infrastructure.
Scalability involves another configuration with a new email configuration, involving some authentication issues with Microsoft Outlook.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Google Workspace is praised for reliability and stability, despite occasional Outlook integration issues and internet-related performance hitches.
Sentiment score
8.0
Microsoft Exchange Online is stable and reliable, with minimal downtime and improved stability since 2010, despite occasional external glitches.
The stability of Google Workspace is excellent and very solid.
This stability is crucial to us because it ensures we do not lose communication or connection while using messaging and accessing files.
The only issue is collaboration with Outlook, where I am having a bit of a problem.
 

Room For Improvement

Google Workspace faces performance, usability, and integration issues, needing improvements in functionality, security, and productivity tools.
Microsoft Exchange Online struggles with integration, security, and usability, with users seeking better performance, pricing, and support.
The new integration was implemented last September, and we are facing some issues with OAuth 2.0 authentication.
The security functionalities are similar to those in competitors like Active Directory, but they could be optimized for stronger security features.
 

Setup Cost

Google Workspace pricing ranges from $8-$15 per user, seen as reasonable but sometimes costly, with licensing complexity concerns.
Enterprise users have mixed experiences with Microsoft Exchange Online's pricing, citing affordability for some, but high costs and complex licensing for others.
The current cost is approximately seven to ten euros per user per month.
 

Valuable Features

Google Workspace offers seamless integration, collaboration, security, multi-device access, and affordability with tools like Gmail, Drive, and Meet.
Microsoft Exchange Online provides unlimited storage, strong integration, enhanced security, spam filtering, and efficient remote access for diverse organizations.
These tools enhance productivity by allowing us to edit the same file at the same time, making collaboration much smoother.
They can access different teams from anywhere, collectively putting files, sharing them, and managing them.
 

Categories and Ranking

Google Workspace
Ranking in Email Applications
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
104
Ranking in other categories
Wireless Email (1st), Cloud Storage (8th), Content Collaboration Platforms (5th)
Microsoft Exchange Online
Ranking in Email Applications
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Google Workspace is 21.0%, down from 24.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Exchange Online is 13.1%, down from 16.1% 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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Educational Organization
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Comms Service Provider
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 don't see many areas of Google Workspace that could be improved or enhanced because everything I have been using has been effective. Regarding the user interface, when calling a member in the org...
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 cost of Microsoft Exchange Online varies between $4 and $25 per user per month, depending on the different plans we use for different users.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Exchange Online?
The mobile version of Microsoft Outlook has limited features compared to the desktop version. We find fewer features in the mobile version of Microsoft Exchange Online, so that could be improved if...
 

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: July 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.