Google Workspace or Microsoft 365: which suits a growing business?

Google Workspace suits small teams that work almost entirely in a web browser and share files mainly with each other. Microsoft 365 suits businesses whose people work in Word, Excel and Outlook on their own computers, swap documents with clients and suppliers who use Microsoft, or need control over company laptops and who can open which files. Both do email, calendars, video calls and file storage well, so the choice usually comes down to how your team works today and how it will work once you've grown.

Which is better for a business, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365?

Neither is better for every business, but they're built around different habits. Google Workspace was designed for the browser: Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Slides all run in a tab, several people can edit the same file at once, and there's very little to install or look after. Microsoft 365 was built around the desktop apps most office workers already know, with the same files available in the browser and on phones, and with stronger tools for managing devices and protecting company data as a business grows.

That's why young businesses often start on Google Workspace and why many of them move to Microsoft 365 later. Nothing went wrong with Google. The business simply started working with larger clients, bigger spreadsheets, more staff and more laptops, and the browser-first approach began to get in the way.

How do Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 differ?

The biggest everyday difference is the apps. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides are good for writing and sharing, but businesses that exchange contracts, tenders, financial models and board packs with other firms mostly receive Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Opening those in Google's apps works for simple documents, while complex formatting, tracked changes and large spreadsheets with macros are where people start to lose time. Microsoft's Business Standard and Business Premium plans include the desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, which each person can install on up to 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets and 5 phones, while Business Basic gives you the web and mobile versions only.

Storage works differently too. Google pools storage across the business, with 30 GB per person on Business Starter, 2 TB on Business Standard and 5 TB on Business Plus, according to Google's UK pricing page. Microsoft gives every person 1 TB of OneDrive storage on all three business plans, plus a separate mailbox with 100 GB of space, and shared files for teams live in SharePoint.

Security and device management is where the gap widens as you grow. Both suites filter spam and malware and support two-step sign-in. Google keeps its advanced endpoint management and its Vault archive for Business Plus. In Microsoft 365, Business Premium adds Intune to manage company laptops and phones, Defender for Business to protect them from ransomware and malware, and tools that find and protect sensitive data in email and files. For a business handling client data, that difference often decides the question.

Price is closer than most people expect. Google lists Business Starter at £5.90, Business Standard at £11.80 and Business Plus at £18.40 per user a month. Through us, Microsoft 365 costs £8.50 per user a month with a Business Basic licence or £15.50 with Business Standard, billed monthly with no annual commitment and no contract. Both prices include our management of Microsoft 365, from adding new starters and removing leavers on the day to checking that security settings stay switched on.

Both suites cap their business plans at 300 users, after which you move to their enterprise plans, so either will see a business of 5 to 200 people through several years of growth.

When does a business outgrow Google Workspace?

The signs tend to arrive together. Clients send Word documents with tracked changes and expect the same back, and the formatting slips each time a file passes through Google Docs. The finance team's spreadsheets have grown too big or too complex for Sheets, so someone has quietly started using desktop Excel on a personal licence. New starters join every few months and nobody is quite sure which laptops hold company files or who still has access to the shared drives.

Left alone, these become small daily costs. People redo formatting, chase the latest version of a file, and work around tools rather than with them. The bigger risk is control: when someone leaves, a business needs to know it can remove their access on the day and that company data isn't sitting on a laptop nobody manages. That's usually the point where a growing business starts looking at Microsoft 365, and it's where most of our new clients start with us.

What does moving from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 involve?

A move has two halves: email and files. Email, calendars and contacts move from Gmail into Microsoft 365 using Microsoft's own Google Workspace migration tooling, which copies people across in batches while both systems stay running. Files move from Google Drive into OneDrive and SharePoint with Microsoft's Migration Manager, which carries the folder structure and sharing permissions across. We keep your folders as they are and convert Google Docs, Sheets and Slides into Word, Excel and PowerPoint as they move.

The order matters more than the tools. Your Google Workspace subscription should stay live until everyone has checked that their email and files have arrived, because Google says that once a subscription is cancelled, users' data is deleted and can't be restored, and it advises exporting anything you want to keep first. The last step is switching your domain's email records so new mail arrives in Microsoft 365, which is why the person doing the move needs access to your domain.

How long it takes depends on how many people you have and how much email and how many files they hold. We plan the move for out of hours, so a small team can be moved in a few hours and larger teams take a few days, without anyone losing a working day. We did this for Modi, a lighting and furniture retailer, moving it from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365, and we now look after its domain and its Microsoft 365 email.

This kind of move suits businesses of 5 to 200 people who are happy to be supported remotely by a small team, wherever their staff work. If you need someone on site to set up every desk, or you're planning a 500-seat enterprise rollout, a larger provider with field engineers will suit you better.

What should you check before you switch?

Start with the licence. If most of your team works in the browser and only a few people need desktop Excel or Outlook, a mix of Business Basic and Business Standard licences keeps the cost down, because Microsoft lets you combine its business plans within the 300-user limit. If you hold sensitive client data or have staff working from home on company laptops, look closely at Business Premium.

Then look at who does the move and who looks after Microsoft 365 afterwards. Ask what the monthly price covers, whether support is by email or phone and in which hours, and what extra time costs. Check whether you're tied into a contract: we work month to month with no contract, and every client we've signed has stayed with us. And check the provider's standing with Microsoft, because an official Microsoft partner, as we are, buys and manages your licences directly.

Is it time to move?

These questions usually show whether Google Workspace is still the right fit.

• Do clients or suppliers regularly send you Word or Excel files that don't survive a round trip through Google Docs or Sheets?

• Is anyone in the team paying for desktop Office on the side because Google's apps can't do what they need?

• If someone left tomorrow, could you remove their access to email and files the same day, and be sure no company data stayed on their laptop?

• Do you know which laptops and phones hold company files?

• Are you planning to take on more staff in the next year?

If you answered yes to the first two, or no to the third and fourth, Microsoft 365 is probably the better fit for where your business is heading.

So which should you choose?

Stay on Google Workspace if your team is small, works in the browser and rarely exchanges complex documents with other businesses. Move to Microsoft 365 when your clients work in Word and Excel, your team needs the desktop apps, or you need firmer control over who can reach your data and devices. The move itself is a planned project rather than a leap, as long as your Google subscription stays live until everything has arrived.

Our Microsoft 365 page sets out how we move a team from Google Workspace, what the Business Basic and Business Standard plans include, and the monthly price for looking after it afterwards.