Google Workspace Essentials vs. Microsoft 365

I will state this with 2 basic examples, When I require documentation to be edited by many editors then Google workspace is the way to go. It provides the best synching capabilities and also sharing capabilities. In case of meeting conduction through google meet a notes section would be awesome for personal notes and the capability to record the meetings would also help a ton to improve the productivity of all users

Incentivized

I usually recommend Microsoft 365 to my clients to keep them away from the Exchange server (sorry!) Our business has a lot of issues with exchange email functions and copy machines. I always recommend they download the desktop version and use the online version as needed. You never know when you will be without an internet connection, but you can usually trust your laptop will have a decent charge, and you can still be productive! Let it sync when the powers are back on - or your connection is alive.

• Google Docs & Google Slides are essential to our company as we are remote. Multiple people can work on the documents at one time.
• Easy to share and store files in Google Drive.
• Google Calendar is amazing, it integrates seamlessly with other Google products and it's our company's primary calendar tool.

Incentivized

• keeps me extremely organized. It is so easy to link calendars, emails, and documents.
• keeps me well connected. It is so easy to send a quick message on teams or send an email to a group (for example, my particular team within the company).
• easy to use. Everything is straightforward, making it easy to find an answer to a question. There is even a search option to figure out how to do something within Microsoft.

• Record option to be there in Google meet
• ability to share documents outside google accounts need to be looked at
• Improvement in conversion to MS office based documents and converting those documents to googles format needs a little work.
• Will be good to have a pdf to word converter and vice versa

Incentivized

• I wish it was a little simpler to integrate things from one Microsoft Feature into another one. Perhaps I just don't know the tricks for that yet...after all these years of using it.
• I didn't like how it defaulted to saving the document automatically with changes, like Google Docs, but it seems that has now changed, and is better now.
• Generally, I really like how the suite works as is.

Incentivized

Now that our department has used G Suite Essentials for close to 2 years, I can't imagine not using it. It has proven to be a very practical tool for sharing files / folders on a shared drive. It also makes it easy to modify and update content. It is user friendly and the interface is simple.

Incentivized

I am completely satisfied with the product, and helps me on a daily basis. I do not the exact cost (it is not a cheap suite) but on the medium and long term the return on investment is guaranteed.

Incentivized

Google Workspace is very easy to use. Even the advanced features are also rendered with an intuitive user interface. Opting into new features is easy, with a clear indication of whether they cost extra or free. Communications about new features as well as security threats are easy to understand and follow up on.

Incentivized

It being the default office suite means it's user experience and idioms are things that everyone is generally very used to and fluent with.

The sharing is relatively simple, being directly hooked into Entra AD, and expiry being a first class concern.

It's usability decreases at scale, with multiple people simultaneously making edits can make documents unusable.

Over the past 8 years of using Microsoft 365, I have noticed that they change vendors often. This always leads to a poor experience in the beginning, then levels out after some time for the company to get things worked out. As a customer, it is really frustrating because I don't have time when something isn't working to have them "look into my issue" and get back with me. They have even closed a ticket I specifically told them to keep open. Your applications are only as good as the support.

Incentivized

Everything works and I use it all the time.

Incentivized

Google Workspace Essentials is more robust than Dropbox with the other features that are available. Google Workspace Essentials is very comparable to Microsoft 365, and we ultimately went with Google because at the time, it was free/priced better than MS, and now we have lots of legacy files already stored on Google servers, so a switch would be too time-consuming. We went with Google Workspace Essentials over OpenOffice because of the email features of using Google.

Incentivized

BTE, this search bar is not the best; I couldn't find Google Suite. In any case, it's challenging to find a suite with advanced tools that serves as an office. Google comes close, no one uses OpenOffice (hyperbole), and there isn't much else to use. If you add to that the recent collaborative functionalities, nothing really stacks up or compares; this has everything a person in an office (oversimplifying) needs to get work done.

Incentivized

• Our fundraising and development efforts nearly doubled 2020-2022, largely in part to the organizational tools within Google Workspace Essentials.
• We've opened up the capacity to work more closely with contractors in a more collaborative nature because of GWE's capabilities.
• It was integral to our brand overhaul.

Incentivized

• Microsoft 365 has really been effective and cost saving option for our organization in terms of managing the mailboxes, collaboration and messaging.
• There is multiple must have features which comes all together in one package and therefore is cost effective.
• The only negative impact according to me is its inability to protect the environment or domain from external attacks effectively.