Google Workspace vs. Microsoft Exchange

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
Google Workspace enables teams of all sizes to connect, create and collaborate. It includes productivity and collaboration tools for work: Gmail for custom business email, Drive for cloud storage, Docs for word processing, Meet for video and voice conferencing, Chat for team messaging, Slides for presentation building, and shared Calendars.
$6
per user/per month
Microsoft Exchange
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Exchange is a secure email / messaging gateway with file archiving and encryption / data loss capability, available as a hosted service (Exchange Online) or installed (Exchange Server).N/A
Pricing
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Editions & Modules
Business Starter
$6
per user/per month
Business Standard
$12
per user/per month
Business Plus
$18
per user/per month
Enterprise
Contact sales team
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Features
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Secure Email Gateway
Comparison of Secure Email Gateway features of Product A and Product B
Google Workspace
-
Ratings
Microsoft Exchange
8.1
Ratings
3% below category average
Anti-malware00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Customizability00 Ratings7.90 Ratings
Data Loss Protection00 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Threat Detection00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Sandboxing00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
End-to-End Encryption00 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Management Tools00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Small Businesses
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.8 out of 10
Zoho Mail
Zoho Mail
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.8 out of 10
Avanan
Avanan
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.8 out of 10
Avanan
Avanan
Score 9.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Likelihood to Recommend
9.6
(0 ratings)
8.8
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.5
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
2.2
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
5.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google WorkspaceMicrosoft Exchange
Likelihood to Recommend
Since our company is structured around Google Workspace at the moment, it is well suited for our entire workflow. I do have concerns though, for when it comes time for our company to have our own intranet built and how well the data migration will be from Google Workspace to that intranet that gets built.
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For our clients, the switch to an entirely independent (parallel processing) Microsoft Exchange Server was a lifesaver because previous software versions frequently crashed. The clever viva add-on informs me of any things that are still uncompleted in my large email to-do lists. Migrating to Office 365 has never been easier because to the meticulous preparation that has gone into it. Web applications will load more quickly.
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Pros
  • It's terrific to have a suite of products that is built to work together, rather than having to piece tools together.
  • The email and calendar are the tools I use most often together. I use Gmail through Apple Mail rather than in the browser, and it works great. Also really easy to access and use my calendar.
  • I use the other suite of features both for my own company internally and to share files with clients. Super easy to use and share.
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  • An in-built calendar to manage your daily work schedule. Let's you create events, invite a particular group of people, accept invitations, and remind you of your upcoming meetings and tasks.
  • I also like the daily emails we get from Exchange that ask you to set aside time for yourself or your other hobbies to take a short break from monotonous work.
  • The email categorization feature is pretty good, especially the sort/search filtering option to navigate through your emails, which can also go through your deleted emails.
  • It has an excellent spam-filtering feature which greatly reduces the chance of malware and spam. I have hardly seen spam emails get through their filter. On the other hand, it also recognizes emails from external organizations that may be spam, but are important work emails.
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Cons
  • A single Google Workspace user should be able to have more than one Google Voice phone number (ideally)
  • At times, Google Meet seems a little clumsy (but I think they're about to address that with the new release...It may or may not be better. Who knows? :))
  • Some screen layouts are a tad clumsy, but they are sufficiently malleable that once one gets the hang of it, one can customize the environment quite a bit.
  • A viable (for small business), relatively-inexpensive, virtual desktop that would include/could include a Windows license or, at least close-to-perfect emulation.
  • It would be great if there was accommodation for those who send out a great deal of mail in a given day. Not everyone who does that is a spammer. Although, by Google standards, and relative to some others, Google allows for sending out a good bit of mail, for those who do mass volumes and would prefer not to have their own mail server, it would be good if Google could find a way to accommodate them.
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  • The two main factors for the better reliability & Uptime of internally hosted Exchange Server depends on Exchange Server configuration and the level of investment the organization is willing to provide for hosting the Exchange Server On-Premise Environment. As the data is stored in the organization’s hardware, any disaster may lead to the loss of email and servers.
  • Losing data might affect business continuity and rebuilding it can be costly.
  • Security remains a major concern.
  • Security of data loss is main concern. To ensure that, organization needs to configure networks, systems and Exchange platform against possible threats.
  • Hardware and license costs are high.
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Likelihood to Renew
There is no better solution for cloud storage and real time collaboration. The amount of features included in G Suite is unmatched and out of other things we’ve tried over the years, nothing comes close to being as great of a tool.
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Email and calendars in a business setting are requirements. And Microsoft continues to be the standard of business applications. Microsoft 365 makes Microsoft Exchange easy to use. Everything is in the cloud. Let Microsoft take care of the hardware, the software, and the security. You just enable your business users with the functionality they need.
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Usability
On the user end, it's great, probably some of the most user friendly products out there. On the admin side, it can get a little more arcane, but it's still better than a lot of other services. At worst I wrangle some CSVs to perform mass changes, but it's a far cry from the days of Powershell scripts or purely manual entry.
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Microsoft Exchange has come a long way over the years and has nowhere near the technical overhead required for support as it did back in 2003/2007 and prior. The integrations with Teams, Defender, Sharepoint, Copilot and many other products make it a solid and well-rounded tool used for many day-to-day tasks.
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
Exchange is setup with multiple servers behind load balancers to provide high availability.
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Performance
No answers on this topic
I would say it's the best email product I've experienced.
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Support Rating
I have not had to use much support for G Suite, but I imagine it would be a great service, as is everything else that Google provides. I've searched for questions through the help center, and that was easy to use and easy to find. I'm sure I would have no complaints.
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We have a good enterprise agreement with Microsoft which affords us quick phone support. I have found the support staff knowledgeable and prompt with a solution when required. At times it may be difficult to schedule a call back, this is mainly due to our need for calls early in the morning which happens to be during a shift change at Microsoft support.
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Implementation Rating
nothing to say
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Implementation/conversion can be quite complex and, unless you have certified Exchange administrators in-house, you should strongly consider a 3rd party consultant for this implementation.
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Alternatives Considered
We selected Google Workspace for it's ease of use and clean UI. Microsoft Office granted does have a lot of features and may be more advanced in certain areas (Excel vs sheets), however for the range of functions we need, google workspace provided the necessary features for an affordable price. In particular Outlook compared to Gmail is more outdated and clunky, and I have found more issues with Outlook's deliverability in the past than I do with Gmail. Meet is also much more modern and clean, with useful features like record and Gemini that feel much cleaner than Teams. I have also found that inviting external users (ones that don't use the same workspace as you) is much easier through google meet than teams calls. Drive also has a much cleaner UI, and easier to adopt than OneDrive.
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Microsoft Exchange Product The best cloud-based enterprise-grade archiving platform with a host of features that enable files to be securely archived and retrieved with advanced search options. This tool is very easy to use and has a User-friendly interface. It is a highly reliable platform that allows all employees to automatically store their data without any limitations. It offers a cost-effective solution with customized policy management. We are happy that the customer support team is always fast and concerned, and the product's uninterrupted service experience. It is very good that it stores data in real-time without losing it, even in the event of a disaster. The cost-effective solution and integration with other tools are seamless.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
The only time Exchange has failed us is when we did something to cause the failure.
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Return on Investment
  • Google Workspace costs us a little more, but our inboxes are safer for it.
  • Our email deliverability has improved significantly. No more lost or bounced emails with our invoices attached. Workspace helps us get paid!
  • Our support requests for undelivered email has disappeared.
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  • After testing I found Exchange very good at removing/quarantining malware.
  • The Global Address List is great for finding the correct person within the organization to deal with.
  • The Clutter feature is terrible. Sometimes putting important emails into that folder for no discernible reason.
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