There was a time in the late 90s and early 2000s when Microsoft office ruled the business world. Microsoft office conveniently outshined competitors like lotus SmartSuite and WordPerfect office. Microsoft was at its peak. A few years later in 2006, there came spreadsheets and Google docs which were manufactured by Google. It was a conjunction of spreadsheets and online word processing pair that formed Google apps suite by joining with other business services. It was later rebranded as G Suite.
The arrival of Google’s productivity suite didn’t overtake the Business world just like that, it did so gradually by gaining momentum in both popularity and features. They now boast of having over 5 million paying customers presently. Microsoft, on the other hand, has moved its attention away from ordinary traditional licensed office software to office 365. Office 365 is a version of Microsoft software that is based on subscription. It is treated more like a service with new features and updates all the time.
For easy selection of the right fit for one’s business, this document provides a quick comparison between the two.
Let’s Begin.
Pricing:
Pricing is a factor that can help you decide which one to choose between the two suites. If you have gone through the characteristics of both suites, you can come back to this part immediately without been concerned with the rest of the article. The mode of subscription both offers is a per-user-per-month subscription. Also, Microsoft offers an annual payment option with a discount.
G Suite Pricing Options
Google suite is packaged in three versions which are Basic, Enterprise and business. The basic package comes with 30GB storage and full suite application at $6 per user month. (For nonprofit purpose, they can use G suite basic for free). The business plan at $12 monthly includes all the basic packages, plus archiving and unlimited storage, additional administrative tools, enterprise search capabilities, and low-code application environment. The last package includes all that the business version offers more administrative controls at $25 per month.
Also, read: What’s New in the 2021 Release Wave 1 for Dynamics 365 for Sales
Microsoft Office 365 Pricing Option for Business
The subscription for office 365 is more complicated. They range from Basic at $5 per month to $35 monthly for office 365 E5, the full packaged version for the enterprise. The table below describes what you get with each version. The plans on the left are for small businesses that have up to 300 employees while the plans on the right are for larger organizations.
Plans:
G Suite Business Plans
Basic | Business | Enterprise | |
Price | $6/user/mo. | $12/user/mo. | $25/user/mo. |
Create documents, spreadsheets and presentations | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Mobile versions1 of Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Email, custom domains, shared calendars, videoconferencing, team messaging | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Drive file storage | 30GB/user | Unlimited (if < 5 users, 1TB per person) | Unlimited (1TB per person if < 5 users) |
Additional business tools | Forms, Currents, Sites, Keep, | App Maker, Forms, Keep, Currents, Sites | Forms, Keep, Currents, App Maker, Sites |
Security and management tools | fundamental tools including mobile device management, security alerts and SSO | The Basic plan including more powerful tools like retention policies, archive and eDiscovery | The Business plan with powerful tools including, hosted S/MIME for Gmail, data loss prevention and access control with security key enforcement |
1 All mobile apps available for Android and iOS |
Office 365 Business Plans
Office 365 Business Essentials | Office 365 Business | Office 365 Business Premium | Office 365 ProPlus | Office 365 E1 | Office 365 E3 | Office 365 E5 | |
Pricing | $5/month | $8.25/month | $12.50 /month | $12/month | $8/month | $20month | $35/month |
User limit | 300 users | 300 users | 300 users | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Create documents, spreadsheets and presentations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Desktop1 / mobile2 versions of Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook | No / Yes | Yes / Yes | Yes / Yes | Yes / Yes | No / Yes | Yes / Yes | Yes / Yes |
Exchange email hosting, custom domains, shared calendars | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business and SharePoint | Yes | No | Yes | Teams only | Yes | Yes | Yes |
OneDrive file storage | 1TB/ user | 1TB /user | 1TB/user | 1TB/user | 1TB/user | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Additional business tools | OneNote, Planner, Yammer, Delve, MyAnalytics (basic), more | Access3, Publisher3, OneNote, more | Access3, Publisher3, OneNote, Planner, Yammer, Delve, MyAnalytics (basic), more | Access3, Publisher3, OneNote | OneNote, Planner, Yammer, Delve, MyAnalytics (basic), Power Automate, more | Access3, Publisher3, OneNote, Planner, Yammer, Delve, MyAnalytics (basic), Power Automate, more | Access3, Publisher3, OneNote, Planner, Yammer, Delve, MyAnalytics (full), Power Automate, Power BI, more |
Security and management tools | Basic tools including mobile device management, archiving, threat management and auditing | Basic tools (omits Exchange Online Protection) | Basic tools | Enterprise-level tools (omits Exchange Online Protection) | Everything in Business Premium plus more powerful tools including retention policies | Everything in E1 plus more powerful tools including data loss prevention and required 2-factor authentication | Everything in E3 plus more powerful tools including advanced threat protection and eDiscovery |
1 Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint desktop apps available for Windows and Mac 2 All mobile apps available for Android and iOS 3 Publisher and Access desktop apps available for Windows only |

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