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Google Workspace vs ProtonMail comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

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
6.7
Number of Reviews
105
Ranking in other categories
Wireless Email (1st), Cloud Storage (7th), Content Collaboration Platforms (2nd)
ProtonMail
Ranking in Email Applications
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Google Workspace is 15.1%, down from 23.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ProtonMail is 7.5%, up from 3.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Google Workspace15.1%
ProtonMail7.5%
Other77.4%
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

AR
Assosiate Professor at Palazzo del Mediterraneo
Collaborative work with students has improved but storage limitations and support issues remain
We have Google Workspace, and we use it primarily for Drive to collect items. We categorize folders with topics and material either for students or for research. We use Google Doc to share documents, especially when we assign homework to be corrected for peer correction or classroom correction. With Teams and Microsoft, we use it for collective calls and exam supervision because we use video surveillance through camera with Teams. We use Teams for meetings and to share material with students. The ability to share documents with students and assign them things and correct them in real time has been beneficial. You can verify what they write, and they can contribute and cooperate to create a collective document, which is something that our society nowadays requires. The ability to cooperate, especially those who work with languages and those who work with writing, need to learn how to cooperate. There is co-editing and co-writing, all these sorts of things. I love the fact that I can easily have access to folders that I can categorize and where I can upload research material and teaching material.
AP
Media Content Creator Intern
Trust and anonymity play a key role in secure communications
I am uncertain about the two-factor authentication feature. I have had integrations with other Proton services and have used Proton VPN once, though it has limited features. Simple Mail, which was acquired by ProtonMail, has been very useful for me. The pricing is moderate. I have not used any paid services from ProtonMail. It is not very costly, but I have not used any premium services. I am a customer of ProtonMail. I would rate ProtonMail an eight out of ten due to their transparency and the utility of their simple login feature. My job and company name should remain hidden.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We haven't had any issues with scalability - we have over a thousand employees, and G Suite just scales."
"G Suite Enterprise is scalable."
"G Suite and all of Google were the first to have a built-in multifactor authentication without needing to purchase another product."
"The collaboration features are valuable."
"Only a few competitors can do precisely what Google Workspace does in terms of email management and calendar management through its Gmail and Google Calendar apps. It's a very seamless platform."
"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."
"The calendar is the most valuable feature."
"G Suite Enterprise is user-friendly, and the technical toolkits and other information are on the website. Additionally, the technical documents are comprehensive."
"The auto encryption of attachments is valuable."
"What I appreciate most about ProtonMail is that they are trusted, which is why I choose them."
 

Cons

"The initial setup is not intuitive at all."
"If you use a name with a special character like a slash in the folder, it will crash the migration, with no warning. There is no pre-warning or anything to tell you that if you use characters in a file name that it will crash the migration."
"In some cases, we are using the Google Meet functions but only when we have external clients. Internally, we are using Slack. Google Meet virtual meeting function is not as advanced as the one in Slack and should improve."
"Sometimes, I would like to be able to use the solution offline, and I can't do so. It would be ideal if there was some sort of offline mode available."
"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."
"I found that there is no desktop application for this solution, and that's a major fault of this application."
"They can maybe improve its graphical user interface. Google is not really known for having a PC interface. It is just a nice-to-have feature."
"Less customizations than there used to be."
"I think it is good but I feel that only tech-savvy people use ProtonMail. It is not that popular among other people."
"One improvement could be the integration between ProtonMail and Proton Pass, allowing sharing of specific secrets via email."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We normally purchase the license on a yearly basis."
"There are benefits that can provide a competitive advantage, e.g., improved productivity (with appropriate training), increased collaboration (with correct use of tools), flexible working - work from home or remote locations, easy to scale - fast onboarding of new employees, and ability to add and remove licenses, as required."
"It's low in cost as compared to Office 365. There is an annual licensing cost."
"We pay a monthly subscription for the use of this solution."
"Pricing is something concerning. We find the solution very expensive."
"Licensing costs are on a yearly basis."
"The pricing is very high, although I cannot tell if this is the result of the Indian vendors artificially inflating it."
"We receive value for the price that we pay."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Comms Service Provider
22%
Educational Organization
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
Government
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business64
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise27
No data available
 

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?
The only inconvenience is the fact that you have limited storage. After a while, you have to buy a surplus. It is not intuitive with Teams. It is hard to find categories and folders in Teams. I do ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ProtonMail?
The pricing is competitive, offering good value on the average plan. It’s approximately $100 for annual billing.
What needs improvement with ProtonMail?
In terms of what can be improved in ProtonMail, I think it is good but I feel that only tech-savvy people use ProtonMail. It is not that popular among other people. Therefore, we do not use it for ...
What is your primary use case for ProtonMail?
My use cases include using ProtonMail for Drive occasionally for storing files. After some time, I stopped using that feature. Primarily, I use it for sending emails when I want to maintain anonymi...
 

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
No data available
 

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.
Wall street journal,The New york times, The Gurdian, Forbes, Fox News
Find out what your peers are saying about Google Workspace vs. ProtonMail and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,707 professionals have used our research since 2012.