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Google Workspace vs Microsoft Exchange Online comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

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
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Wireless Email (2nd), Cloud Storage (6th), Content Collaboration Platforms (3rd)
Microsoft Exchange Online
Ranking in Email Applications
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

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 Online is 14.1%, down from 15.5% 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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Overall, I rate Google Workspace a ten out of ten."
"Everything is synchronized across every single device you use to access G Suite. That is why we like it."
"The valuable features of this solution are ease of use, performance is great, and collaboration. It is very easy to share and joins documents."
"The solution is stable."
"There are several online forums and a lot of support materials online."
"The solution offers very good email. It's a very good email provider."
"We haven't had any issues with scalability - we have over a thousand employees, and G Suite just scales."
"The corporate email feature on Google's Gmail is fantastic."
"Exchange Online doesn't just do email, it allows for collaboration with inbuilt chat and calling facilities and document sharing."
"Exchange Online's best feature is its webmail platform."
"I have not had issues with stability of the product."
"It is a reasonable solution."
"This solution makes it very easy to receive and detect problems about the mail flow and offers very good reporting. In general, it's very easy to manage the organization's mailboxes."
"Microsoft Exchange Online is easy to use. You have a common storage where people can store documents. It also helps with version control."
"We also create technical presentations, so most of the time we are dealing with MS Word and Excel. Sometimes, we also use Visio for diagramming. Our overall experience is good."
"The most valuable feature of Microsoft Exchange Online is its ease of use."
 

Cons

"Less customizations than there used to be."
"In Google Meet, there is no feature for recording a meeting. It should have a feature for recording."
"The meeting platform of Google Workspace has room for improvement."
"And I think Google Translate could add more features. For example, it could be integrated when typing in a document or a web browser like Grammarly."
"There could be more options in Google G Suite. They can include HD calling for Google Meet. The layout portion in the calendar for Google G Suite can be better designed. When we get into the calendar and start scheduling meetings, we do have few hiccups here and there. The layout can be a little easier. People from different backgrounds are finding it a little bit tough to understand. It should be more intuitive. At the moment, it has a completely white background. To do power saving, it would be good if they can release a darker background. There are a few issues with the formatting of Google Docs when they get converted to Microsoft docs. It would be amazing if they can resolve it in the next release."
"I talked with G Suite recently because my G Suite has a temporary block. I communicated with the G Suite representative or Google representative, and he told me that I sent a lot of emails, so my email was temporarily blocked. But I know I have not sent more than 500 emails daily to reach the limit. I sent only 5,200 emails, but unfortunately, my G Suite account was temporarily blocked for 24 hours, and then he resolved it. I think they need to improve G Suite because this temporary block is not fair."
"I believe Google Drive has potential for improvement. Enhancements could be made in terms of synchronization and the functionality of the Google Sheets app, particularly in areas like formulas and pivot tables, to make it more comparable to Microsoft Excel. Google Chat needs to make improvements so that we can send Excel and PDFs from the mobile app itself. I would like to see Google Bard integrated with the product."
"The solution could improve the Google Cloud identity login to laptops that sometimes do not work. The collaboration for Google sites, they are not equivalent to others, such as Sharepoint."
"Microsoft Exchange Online should have a faster search feature."
"This solution involves a lot of work for an administrator. It is not always easy to find exactly what you are looking for within the system."
"The ActiveSync services and the mapping services could be improved."
"The solution could improve with the integrations with some of the known applications is still not possible, there must be more connectors."
"It will be much better if the tool is integrated with OpenAI."
"I think there should be an incorporation of DLP on the business premium version of Exchange, as well."
"Using this solution is initially quite complicated."
"We use different software for email spoofing filters and similar functions because Exchange is quite limited in this area."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I give the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most affordable."
"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."
"It's low in cost as compared to Office 365. There is an annual licensing cost."
"Pricing is something concerning. We find the solution very expensive."
"The pricing is comparable, it's pretty decent."
"Careful consideration should be given to the different licensing options and provisions should be made for additional applications that may be required for your particular business."
"I rate Google Workspace's pricing five to six out of ten. We do not pay any extra costs."
"It's about $8.30 up a user per month."
"We pay per user per year for the cluster with over a thousand users."
"There is an annual license required to use this Microsoft Exchange Online."
"The licensing price is ok, I'd rate it as four out of five."
"My company needs to make monthly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product. I feel that the price of the product is affordable."
"The subscription fee is monthly."
"The pricing is a bit more expensive than other solutions."
"I think it's just awesome. There's no argument about how much value you get on the per user, for user expenditure. It's really great, I don't have any issues with it. I think it's excellent."
"We have yearly licensing costs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Educational Organization
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
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 do not have any major suggestions for improvement. However, while the security functionalities are similar to those in competitors like Active Directory, they could be optimized for stronger secu...
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 pricing for Microsoft Exchange Online is quite reasonable, in my opinion. Many licensing options are available so that we can choose based on the customer's needs. For example, if a customer on...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Exchange Online?
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 o...
 

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: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.