The short answer

Choose Microsoft 365 if your team lives in Word, Excel and Outlook, or your customers and suppliers send you Office files all day. Choose Google Workspace if your team prefers working in the browser, shares and edits documents together a lot, and doesn’t rely on advanced Excel. Either can be set up securely, and you can move between them later if you need to.

How they compare

  • Apps. Microsoft 365 is built around Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook; some business plans include the full desktop apps, others only the web and mobile versions. Google Workspace is designed for the browser, with Docs, Sheets and Slides, and can open and edit Office files.
  • Email. Microsoft 365 uses Outlook and Exchange; Google Workspace uses Gmail. Both work on your own domain and on phones.
  • Files. Microsoft uses OneDrive for personal files and SharePoint for shared company files. Google uses Drive, with shared drives for the team.
  • Meetings and chat. Microsoft Teams versus Google Meet and Chat. Teams is common in larger organisations, so it can help if your clients use it.
  • Security and admin. Both offer multi-factor sign-in, admin controls and audit logs. Microsoft’s higher business plan adds stronger device management and threat protection; Google’s higher editions add more management and security features too.

Which suits whom

Microsoft 365 tends to suit: accountants, engineers, manufacturers and firms that build complex spreadsheets, exchange Word and Excel files with clients, or already use Teams.

Google Workspace tends to suit: agencies, start-ups and teams that collaborate on the same document at the same time, work mostly in the browser, or use Chromebooks.

If you are torn, look at the files you send and receive most often. That usually settles it.

Things people forget when choosing

  • Licences are per user. Check the current plans and costs on Microsoft’s and Google’s UK websites, and only pay for the features each person needs. Microsoft lets you mix plans within one account.
  • Your domain’s DNS records. Whichever you choose, SPF, DKIM and DMARC must be set up, or your emails are more likely to land in spam.
  • Moving existing email. Old mailboxes, contacts and calendars can be migrated, but it needs planning so mail keeps flowing during the switch.
  • Who owns the account. The account should be in your business’s name, with at least two people who can get into the admin settings.

Getting it set up properly

Most problems with either platform come from a rushed setup: shared logins, no multi-factor sign-in, files saved in one person’s personal storage, or missing email records. See Microsoft 365 setup for UK small businesses or business email setup for how we do it, or run the free email check on your domain.