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Google Workspace vs Zarafa comparison

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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
6.6
Number of Reviews
106
Ranking in other categories
Wireless Email (1st), Cloud Storage (8th), Content Collaboration Platforms (2nd)
Zarafa
Ranking in Email Applications
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Email Applications category, the mindshare of Google Workspace is 17.7%, down from 18.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zarafa is 1.9%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Email Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Google Workspace17.7%
Zarafa1.9%
Other80.4%
Email Applications
 

Featured Reviews

Hikmah Hikmah - PeerSpot reviewer
Brand Protection Analyst at Corsearch
Collaborative tools have improved team communication and file organization across projects
Before I was in a Microsoft environment, which had its own software that was not website-based. When I moved to Google Workspace, it was not seamless because I have to access it through a web view in the browser. Most of it does not have stable connection because it is based on web view. It would be great if Google Workspace had its own application built into the PC or a desktop application. The operation is a bit different from Microsoft, which makes it difficult for me. For example, with Microsoft, we could easily access the shared mailbox with one URL and have access to it. With Google Workspace, we have to set it up by ourselves inside our own mailbox, which is a bit difficult because of how it operates differently. I think it can be improved more. Currently, guidelines are just in the form of a document that we can read by ourselves. It would be really helpful if the guidelines themselves were built into the environment itself. Since Google Workspace is in web view, maybe that would be possible. That would be more helpful than just reading a document.
it_user302112 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Consultant IT Infrastructure at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
Our customers are able to use this groupware solution to connect to Active Directory and OpenLDAP, although Postgres support would be an improvement.
Zarafa has several very valuable features, among them a very good Outlook-like web interface. Furthermore, ZPush for talking between ActiveSync and mobile devices is a valuable asset. In addition, one is able to connect via Outlook and the exchange protocol to Zarafa. This makes Zarafa a free, and working, alternative to Microsoft Exchange.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The document sharing in which multiple people can work on the same document. To go along with that is the archiving of documents. If you mess up a document, it's easy to go get a previous version."
"It's a good solution. It's simple to use and navigate."
"The implementation was very easy."
"Google Mail lets you link a task to a specific email and add a reminder. That's helpful for reviewing your schedule. It's based on Slack, so you don't have these folders like in Microsoft mail. Using Slack instead of folders is a bit more intuitive. It's easier to find again a specific email than using Microsoft Suite. If you misplace things, it's much easier to find them because of Google's search capability."
"I like everything that Google does; they have good products, it's easy to use, the solution is stable, the scalability is good, it's smarter than I am, there are always more features that I need to explore, and I'm happy with its current integration capabilities."
"Google seems to be a more stable environment than our current on-premise Microsoft solution that we're replacing."
"There are several areas where a G Suite implementation can reduce costs: lower license fees than some competing products, reduced hardware and IT support costs, and other benefits that can provide a competitive advantage such as improved productivity, increased collaboration, flexible working, easy scaling for new employees, and the ability to add and remove licenses as required."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"This makes Zarafa a free, and working, alternative to Microsoft Exchange."
 

Cons

"Google Workspace does a pretty good job, so it doesn't have that much room for improvement, but what would make it even better is if its apps, for example, Gmail, could integrate with more apps, such as Evernote and specific cloud-based platforms."
"We've had difficulty using PowerPoint files in G Suite. PowerPoint has some functions that are not available in G Suite, so when you convert from PPTX to the Slides format, they don't work."
"I have found that certain applications, such as G Suite Sheets, are hard to use."
"The solution is not user-friendly and it doesn't integrate that well with Microsoft Office, which is one of the bigger business apps on the market, compared to Google Sheets and applications of that sort."
"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."
"The only inconvenience is the fact that you have limited storage. After a while, you have to buy a surplus."
"Scalability could be improved, we sometimes have issues when there is a lot of data."
"The pricing is very high, although I cannot tell if this is the result of the Indian vendors artificially inflating it."
"Not really, although the Zarafa-index component was using a lot of memory and disk I/O bandwith."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"2,500 Rupees per month per user."
"There are several areas where a G Suite implementation can reduce costs: lower license fees than some competing products, reduced hardware, and IT support costs."
"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."
"The pricing of Google Workspace, so far, has been reasonable."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"We pay a monthly subscription for the use of this solution."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business64
Midsize Enterprise16
Large Enterprise29
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Workspace?
The company made the decision to migrate, so I'm not sure why specifically. The company is moving the data and the Microsoft subscription is no longer continued, so I have the choice to use Google ...
What needs improvement with Google Workspace?
Before I was in a Microsoft environment, which had its own software that was not website-based. When I moved to Google Workspace, it was not seamless because I have to access it through a web view ...
What is your primary use case for Google Workspace?
I have been using Google Workspace for file organizing, including Google Drive, Spreadsheet, Gmail, and Google Form, with most of my usage being in Spreadsheet. I do use Google Groups, which combin...
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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.
Tivoli, InterAkt Contour, Riagg Rijnmond, Lammerink, Revell, KMP, International School of the Hague
Find out what your peers are saying about Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and others in Email Applications. Updated: October 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.