Google Workspace vs ProtonMail comparison

Google and Proton Technologies are both solutions in the Email Applications category. Google is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.1, while Proton Technologies is ranked #10 with an average rating of 9.0. Google holds a 22.9% mindshare in EA, compared to Proton Technologies’s 4.7% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Google users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 50% of Proton Technologies users who would recommend it.

Google Workspace

Read 101 Google Workspace reviews

6,268 Views
5,616 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

ProtonMail

Read 1 ProtonMail review

1,107 Views
1,013 Comparison Views

50% willing to recommend

Google Workspace

ProtonMail

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

Google Workspace and ProtonMail are competing in the productivity and secure email communication categories respectively. Google Workspace has the upper hand in integration and collaboration, whereas ProtonMail takes the lead in privacy and security.

Features: Google Workspace includes tools such as Gmail for email, Calendar for scheduling, and Docs and Drive for document management and storage. These features make it ideal for teams looking for workflow efficiency. ProtonMail prioritizes email security with end-to-end encryption, ensuring privacy for users concerned about secure communication. It provides a user-friendly interface with distinct security attributes that cater to privacy-centric users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Google Workspace offers an easy deployment process coupled with extensive support resources for enterprises. Businesses can benefit from its various integration options and customer service capabilities. ProtonMail offers a secure and privacy-focused deployment, which may require some technical skills to set up. Its service emphasizes secure installations over ease of deployment, targeting users who prefer a more controlled setup process.

Pricing and ROI: Google Workspace provides scalable pricing plans suitable for businesses of various sizes, offering significant ROI through its broad application suite and integration. ProtonMail employs a premium pricing structure tailored to providing robust email security, which may be more appealing to users prioritizing privacy. Google Workspace's cost-effectiveness is beneficial for comprehensive productivity, while ProtonMail justifies its price through unmatched privacy features.

To learn more, read our detailed Email Applications Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Email Applications

March 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 845,406 peers since 2012

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

7.3

Number of Reviews

101

Ranking in other categories

Wireless Email (2nd), Cloud Storage (6th), Content Collaboration Platforms (2nd)

ProtonMail

Ranking in Email Applications

10th

Average Rating

9.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Google Workspace is 22.9%, down from 23.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ProtonMail is 4.7%, up from 3.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Email Applications

Featured Reviews

Sunil-Nair

IT Manager at Universal Carpets & Rugs

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.

Read full review

Vitor Vicente

Works

Secure email communication facilitates safe financial exchanges and enhances data privacy

I use ProtonMail for exchanging invoicing with clients, managing financial information, and receiving notifications from bank accounts and investment brokers. It's dedicated to high-importance communication involving financial information The auto encryption of attachments is valuable. ProtonMail…

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"When it comes to email, Google has a very good anti-spam engine or solution. We get very less spams. We don't have to use an external anti-spam solution with this."

"It's secure. It offers data security and user privacy. I use it for personal purposes. The interface is okay, and it's easy to use."

"G Suite and all of Google were the first to have a built-in multifactor authentication without needing to purchase another product."

"The user interface is fantastic. It's also available for the individual person, so that's also a great thing about it."

"Good performance, even on relatively slow connections; no local apps required."

"Good search features, reliable storage, and quick thinking."

"The initial setup is very easy."

"The most valuable part of G Suite is the integration among all of the components. It's also highly reliable because it's always available. And G Suite's ability to collaborate on all the standard office tools has no rival. It's amazing because you can work seamlessly with any of your colleagues on the same document."

More Google Workspace pros

"The auto encryption of attachments is valuable."

Cons

"The tool should improve its on-prem capabilities to include people who are working offline. The pricing is also a challenge for both the Indian and overseas markets. The tool has a cap of 300 licenses. The product's price has also increased by 10 percent. Businesses are struggling to justify the ROI. Users cannot block emails unless they have a strong firewall."

"The synchronization is a bit of an issue."

"One area of improvement for Google Workspace is the Google Meet functionality. Currently, users cannot upload files directly through Google Meet; instead, they have to share links via Google Drive, which adds unnecessary steps and complexity."

"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."

"Google needs to improve its support."

"G-Suite is excellent for what we're trying to do, but it could use some extra features. For example, it would be helpful if we had a seamless way to convert Excel macros to Google Sheets."

"With the Internet of Things, a platform that integrates well with others would be even better."

"Integration with Microsoft Outlook could be improved."

More Google Workspace cons

"One improvement could be the integration between ProtonMail and Proton Pass, allowing sharing of specific secrets via email."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Traffic management tools may be required for larger setups and should be included in any pricing calculations."

"G Suite and Microsoft Office 365 offer products with similar functionality at several different price points. Zoho offer a more extensive range of products and attempts to provide all the applications required to run most small and medium-sized businesses."

"Licensing costs are on a yearly basis."

"We normally purchase the license on a yearly basis."

"The pricing is comparable, it's pretty decent."

"2,500 Rupees per month per user."

"The price of Google Workspace is reasonable. I pay less than 100 a month."

"I rate Google Workspace's pricing five to six out of ten. We do not pay any extra costs."

More Google Workspace pricing and cost advice

Information not available

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Email Applications solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

14%

Educational Organization

12%

Comms Service Provider

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Workspace?

I'm not satisfied with the cost because I feel these services should be free as they use our data.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Google Workspace?

As far as Google Workspace is concerned, it is working fine for us. Our needs are fulfilled, so that's fine. However, integration with Microsoft Outlook could be improved. The new integration was i...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ProtonMail?

The UI was previously cumbersome, however, it has improved. One improvement could be the integration between ProtonMail and Proton Pass, allowing sharing of specific secrets via email. However, thi...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for ProtonMail?

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Exchange Online vs Google Workspace

Compared 29% of the time

Amazon WorkMail vs Google Workspace

Compared 29% of the time

Amazon WorkDocs vs Google Workspace

Compared 4% of the time

IceWarp vs Google Workspace

Compared 3% of the time

Office 365 vs Google Workspace

Compared 3% of the time

More Google Workspace Competitors

Zoho Mail vs ProtonMail

Compared 18% of the time

Microsoft Exchange vs ProtonMail

Compared 13% of the time

Microsoft Exchange Online vs ProtonMail

Compared 11% of the time

Amazon WorkMail vs ProtonMail

Compared 5% of the time

Zimbra Collaboration vs ProtonMail

Compared 3% of the time

More ProtonMail Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Google Workspace

March 2025

Download Google Workspace product report

Buyer's Guide

Email Applications

March 2025

Download ProtonMail product report

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

Similar to G Suite, all Google Workspace plans provide a custom email for your business and include collaboration tools like Gmail, Calendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, and more.

As we’ve evolved G Suite into a more integrated experience across our communication and collaboration tools, we’ve rebranded to Google Workspace to more accurately represent the product vision.

Google

ProtonMail is the world‘s largest encrypted email provider, with over 11 million users trusting us to secure their data every day. We are the email service of choice for security-conscious enterprises.

Proton Technologies

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, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others in Email Applications. Updated: March 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

845,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our list of best Email Applications vendors.

We monitor all Email Applications reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.