No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Google Workspace vs Zarafa comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

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 most beneficial feature is Gmail, which we use extensively."
"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."
"I like G Suite, it's more open than Microsoft and easy to use."
"The valuable feature of Google Workspace is its integrated environment where everything is pre-integrated, like chat and document sharing in Gmail."
"This is a good product, it is really scalable, and I definitely recommend it."
"The implementation was very easy."
"The solution is very stable."
"It's certainly easier to meet. We have offices around the world and the ability to have a company meeting on Google Meet platform makes it a whole lot easier to actually have everybody virtually in one room at the same time."
"This makes Zarafa a free, and working, alternative to Microsoft Exchange."
 

Cons

"What needs improvement in Google Workspace is the Google Drive app, in particular, making the process of finding the shared and most used files and folders easier. The first time you get an invite to view a file or folder in Google Drive and you view that folder or file, it's pretty easy, but the next time you try to access it again, sometimes, it's a bit difficult to find what was shared with you. An additional feature I'd like to see in Google Workspace is the option to un-send messages in Gmail. Microsoft has a message recall feature, and this isn't available in Gmail, so it's the feature I'd like to be added to Gmail."
"The stability is good and it permits collaboration, but I think in the last couple of years it hasn't been as good as the Microsoft solution."
"There are a few issues with the formatting of Google Docs when they get converted to Microsoft docs."
"There are times the plugins or extensions in the solution do not work properly and I need to disable and enable the solution."
"Integration with traditional e-mail clients (Outlook) is not there."
"Integrating Copilot with Google Workspace is slightly difficult."
"In Google Meet, there is no feature for recording a meeting. It should have a feature for recording."
"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."
"Not really, although the Zarafa-index component was using a lot of memory and disk I/O bandwith."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is a bit on the higher side than normal. For a basic Google account it costs $100, but Enterprise is %150."
"The price per client within the business is too high."
"I give the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most affordable."
"Traffic management tools may be required for larger setups and should be included in any pricing calculations."
"The price of Google Workspace is reasonable. I pay less than 100 a month."
"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."
"We have purchased an annual subscription."
"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."
Information not available
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Email Applications solutions are best for your needs.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

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...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

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.