A newer version of this blog article can be seen here

This is part three of a five part series on comparing the features & services in G Suite by Google versus those in Microsoft 365. To directly jump to the other blog articles in the series, select from the following:

  1. Which Cloud Office Suite Should Your Business Use?
  2. G Suite Basic vs Microsoft 365 Business Basic
  3. G Suite Business vs Microsoft 365 Basic Standard
  4. G Suite Enterprise vs Microsoft 365 Business Premium
  5. G Suite Enterprise vs Microsoft 365 Enterprise E3/E5 & Office 365 Enterprise E1/E3/E5

G Suite Business by Google vs Microsoft 365 Business Standard

In part 1 of this blog series, we outlined the flagship features and services that are offered and embedded within the various licenses offered in G Suite by Google and Microsoft 365 (formerly Microsoft Office 365). In this blog article, we will specifically talk to the features, services and pricing of G Suite Business Plan by Google versus the Microsoft 365 Business Standard Plan

When selecting the version of the license you are about to purchase for each cloud business suite, it’s very important that you make an informed decision based on the pricing, quality, and quantity of the features and services that are available in each company suite version.

At my organization, Creospark, we specialize in helping organizations understand each cloud productivity license and associated features they are purchasing, and in turn helping them deploy and migrate to the services included with that license. For Microsoft cloud services, we also provide free 24 by 7 phone bilingual support to our customers when purchasing the licensing from us.

Please note, that this article has been created in August 2020, so it may be out of date as soon as Microsoft or Google alter their pricing or services.

We found that the G Suite Business Plan and Microsoft 365 Business Standard Plan had feature sets which were similar in functionality, services and pricing and were worthy of comparison when making a decision on each for your business.

These business plans are best suited for businesses that need access to the basic applications and require more cloud storage. See below for a Pricing and Feature comparison.

Pricing Comparison

G Suite Business Plan by GoogleMicrosoft 365 Business Standard Plan
US Pricing$12.00 USD / per user / per month
$12.50 USD / per user / per month
Canadian Pricing$15.60 CAD / per user / per month
$16.00 CAD / per user / per month

Feature Comparison

G Suite Business Plan by GoogleMicrosoft 365 Business Standard Plan
Word processing, spreadsheets, presentations (Web based applications)YES
(Google docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets)
YES
(Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher – PC only, Access – PC only)
Desktop version of appsNOYES
(install on up to 5 PCs or Macs)
Email (including business domain), calendar, video conferencingYES
(Gmail, Meets, Chats)

Email storage
(Unlimited)

Attachment Size
(25 MB sending / 50 MB receiving)
YES
(Microsoft Teams, Outlook & Exchange)

Email storage
(50 GB)

Attachment Size
(150 MB)
Cloud storageGoogle drive with unlimited cloud storage or 1 TB per user if fewer than 5 users
OneDrive with 1 TB of storage on top of 50 GB mailbox
Additional Tools*Keep, CurrentsSharePoint, Microsoft Teams, OneNote, Microsoft Bookings, MileIQ
Security and Management– Advanced protection program (includes defense against phishing, safeguard data by limiting access to it, block fraudulent account access)
– Data regions
– Archive and set retention policies for emails and chats
– Endpoint management
– Enterprise grade access control with security key enforcement
– eDiscovery for emails, chats, files
– Audit reports to track user activity
– Protect email against spam, malware
– Meets international, regional, industry specific standards
– Control access to business information with security groups and custom permissions
– Create password policies
Additional informationNo Limit Posted
Max 300 users

*”Keeps” is a G Suite application for Shared notes which is similar to Microsoft’s “OneNote“. “Currents” is a G Suite application to engage employees which is similar to “Microsoft Teams“. “SharePoint” is a Microsoft intranet and document management system that is used internally. “Microsoft Bookings” makes it easier for your customers to schedule and manage appointments via online tools. “MileIQ” gives your business tools for real-time, accurate mileage tracking and reporting.

Refer to part 1 of this blog series to get a more thorough understanding of what each individual services like “Keeps”, “Currents”, “OneNote”, “Microsoft Teams”, “Microsoft Bookings”, “MileIQ” and “SharePoint” are.

Pricing Conclusion:

G Suite’s business plan offers unlimited cloud storage if your business signs up with more than 5 users. Compared to Microsoft 365’s plan which offers a max of 1 TB of storage, G Suite does offer more storage at a cheaper price. However, Microsoft 365’s Business Standard plan offers desktop version of apps which is advantageous because of reasons such as greater user experience and functionality. G Suite currently does not offer desktop versions of their applications. So for the small difference in pricing, it still makes sense to go with Microsoft.

Services Conclusion:

Although the G Suite Enterprise plan offers applications similar to the Microsoft 365 Business Premium plan, the Microsoft 365 apps have an edge over the ones available in G Suite. The desktop version of the Microsoft 365 apps allows the user to have access to more complex functions compared to G Suite web-based apps. Not to mention that SharePoint in combination with Microsoft Teams are great collaboration tool that allows your business to share documents and to customize a platform just for your employees. G Suite’s alternative to SharePoint is a combination of Google Drive which allows for document sharing and Google Sites to create a team site. SharePoint’s edge over G Suite’s solution lies within its ability to be a one stop shop to create websites, manage and storage documents while allowing greater customization capabilities. Let’s not forget Microsoft Teams, G Suite’s equivalent to Google Meet.

Microsoft Teams is a hub for teamwork that allows for video conferences, chats, file storage and collaboration, with Microsoft apps integrated seamlessly within. The experience with Microsoft Teams vastly surpasses that of Google Meet whose main use is video meetings as Microsoft Teams is so much more than video meetings with the clever implementation of “teams” and “channels” and other features such as document collaboration and other integrations that allows for a great teamwork experience. Furthermore, additional great services such as Microsoft Bookings and MileIQ are available with Microsoft 365 Business Standard which Google doesn’t have any competing products for. If you’re interested in learning more about incorporating Microsoft 365 in your business, feel free to contact us to get started.

Hopefully now you have a good understanding of G Suite Business Plan versus the Microsoft 365 Business Standard Plan and how they correlate to one another for both G Suite by Google and Microsoft 365.

Next up, let’s move on to Part 4 of this blog series where we will specifically compare G Suite Enterprise vs Microsoft 365 Business Premium and the individual features and services you get for both.

Posted by: Noorez Khamis & Linda Chen

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