Table of Contents
ToggleChoosing a productivity platform isn’t just an operational decision — it’s an infrastructure decision.
That distinction matters more than people realize. Every platform decision carries real weight — on security posture, compliance exposure, administrative overhead, and your ability to scale. The platform you run today becomes the foundation for the infrastructure decisions you’ll make over the next three to five years.
Many organizations started on Google Workspace because it was easy to deploy and cost-effective early on. Browser-based, lightweight, quick to stand up. For early-stage teams, that makes sense. But as headcount grows, compliance requirements emerge, and infrastructure complexity increases, the question shifts from “what can we use?” to “what can we actually govern?“
This guide is written for IT leaders actively evaluating that question. We’ll break down how these two platforms compare across the areas that matter most — cost structure, identity management, security depth, collaboration capabilities, AI integration, and long-term scalability — and offer a clear framework for thinking through the decision.
Key Takeaways
- Entry-level pricing between the two platforms is roughly equivalent, but total cost of ownership often diverges significantly as organizations add security tooling, backup, compliance, and endpoint management.
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium ($22/user/month) bundles the full enterprise security stack — Defender, Intune, Entra ID P1, DLP, and Purview — in a single license that frequently undercuts the cost of assembling equivalent capabilities from separate vendors.
- Microsoft 365 provides deeper, more native integration with identity management, endpoint control, and enterprise security frameworks — capabilities that become critical as organizations mature.
- Google Workspace performs well in browser-first environments with limited compliance requirements and simpler user bases.
- For organizations with Windows infrastructure, Active Directory, or growing regulatory obligations, Microsoft 365 typically aligns more closely with long-term IT strategy.
- Migration decisions are most often driven by security maturity and infrastructure alignment — not user preference.
- A properly planned migration strengthens governance, improves security posture, and reduces administrative fragmentation.
Licensing Cost vs. Total Cost of Ownership
The per-user licensing fee is rarely the whole story. What organizations pay for a platform is determined by what they need to add to make it enterprise-ready — security tooling, compliance management, endpoint control, identity governance, and the administrative labor to stitch it all together. The table below shows what each platform actually includes at each tier.
| Plan Tier | Google Workspace Price | Google Workspace What's Included | Microsoft 365 Price | Microsoft 365 What's Included |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry Tier | ~$6 /user/mo | • Gmail (30GB pooled storage) • Google Docs, Sheets, Slides (browser only) • Google Drive (30GB) • Google Meet (100 participants) • Google Chat • Google Calendar • Basic admin controls | ~$6 /user/mo | • Exchange email (50GB mailbox) • Teams (chat, video, 300 participants) • SharePoint (intranet, doc libraries) • OneDrive (1TB/user) • Web & mobile Office apps • Microsoft Forms, Lists, Planner • Entra ID (basic identity management) |
| Mid Tier | ~$12 /user/mo | • Everything in Entry Tier • 2TB pooled storage/user • Meet (150 participants, recordings, noise cancellation) • eDiscovery & audit (basic) • AppSheet (no-code app builder) • Gemini AI (bundled) | ~$12.50 /user/mo | • Everything in Entry Tier • Full desktop Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote) • Teams webinars & meeting recordings w/ transcription • Power Automate (standard connectors) • Microsoft Loop & Whiteboard • Copilot-ready platform (add-on available) |
| Mid Tier + Full Enterprise Security (Business Premium) | ~$22+/user/mo + separate security vendors | • Everything in Business Standard • 5TB storage/user • Google Meet (500 participants) • Enhanced eDiscovery & audit • Google Vault • Basic endpoint management • No native EDR, DLP, or advanced threat protection • Enterprise security requires separate vendors & cost | $22/user/mo (Business Premium) | • Everything in Business Standard, plus: • Microsoft Defender for Business (EDR/endpoint protection) • Entra ID P1 (conditional access, MFA, SSPR) • Microsoft Intune (full MDM/MAM) • Azure Information Protection (sensitivity labels, encryption) • Microsoft Purview (DLP, eDiscovery, audit, compliance) • Defender for Office 365 P1 (safe links, safe attachments) • Azure AD Seamless SSO & hybrid identity • One vendor. One admin console. One contract. |
Worth noting: Google raised its Workspace pricing approximately 17% in 2025 to bundle Gemini AI into standard plans. Microsoft has announced pricing adjustments effective July 2026. At the time of this writing, both platforms are priced comparably at equivalent tiers, making the value-per-dollar conversation more important than the sticker price.
How the Platforms Compare at Each Tier
The table above shows what each platform includes. Here is what those differences mean in practice.
Entry Tier (~$6/user/month)
At this tier, both platforms cover the basics — email, calendar, cloud storage, video conferencing, and document collaboration. For very small teams with straightforward needs, either platform is functional.
The differences are real but not dramatic. Microsoft’s 1TB of OneDrive storage per user is a significant advantage over Google’s 30GB pooled allocation. Teams’ persistent channel structure and meeting capabilities run deeper than Google Meet and Chat for ongoing project work. Outlook’s calendar and email management is more mature for business use. SharePoint, Microsoft Forms, Lists, and Planner are all included — tools Google either lacks outright or provides only in higher tiers.
At entry tier, neither platform is the wrong answer. But Microsoft already delivers more storage, more structure, and a more complete application set at the same price point.
Mid Tier (~$12/user/month)
This is where the platforms begin to diverge in ways that matter to daily work. Google Business Standard adds storage and larger Meet sessions — but the core applications remain browser-only.
Microsoft 365 Business Standard adds the full desktop Office suite: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook installed locally on up to five devices per user. For teams doing real document work — financial modeling, proposal writing, detailed presentations — this is not a minor difference. The capability gap between Google Sheets and Excel for complex analysis, or between Google Slides and PowerPoint for client-facing work, is meaningful and consistently cited by users who have worked in both environments.
Google bundles Gemini AI at this tier, which is a genuine accessibility advantage. Microsoft 365 Business Standard is Copilot-ready, with the add-on available for teams that want it. For organizations not yet ready to invest in AI licensing, both platforms offer solid productivity at comparable cost — but Microsoft’s desktop application depth and Teams’ collaboration infrastructure represent stronger long-term value.
Mid Tier + Full Enterprise Security: Business Premium at $22/user/month
This is where the comparison stops being close.
Microsoft 365 Business Premium delivers the complete enterprise security stack at $22 per user per month: endpoint detection and response, full mobile device management, conditional access, data loss prevention, compliance management, and advanced email threat protection — all from a single vendor, managed from a single admin console, under a single contract.
Google Workspace Business Plus at a comparable price point adds storage and larger Meet sessions. It does not include EDR. It does not include full MDM. It does not include DLP or the eDiscovery depth that regulated industries require. To reach comparable security coverage on Google Workspace, organizations must source, integrate, and pay for tools from multiple vendors separately.
Organizations that price out best-of-breed security tooling to match what Business Premium includes natively typically land at $35 to $65 per user per month — before accounting for the integration work, vendor management overhead, and IT labor required to keep disparate systems functioning together. Business Premium does not just win on features. It frequently wins on total cost.
One contract. One admin console. One renewal date.
Organizations running Google Workspace with a separately assembled security stack are managing multiple vendor relationships, multiple billing cycles, and multiple support channels — for capabilities Microsoft 365 Business Premium delivers as a single integrated platform. That complexity has a cost that never appears in a per-seat price comparison, but shows up every time there is an incident, an audit, or a renewal negotiation.
Identity and Access Management
Identity management is the foundation of a secure IT environment. For organizations managing remote teams, multiple offices, or sensitive data, it’s also where platform differences become most consequential.
Microsoft 365 integrates natively with Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory), which is the identity backbone that enterprise IT runs on. Out of the box, you get:
- Conditional access policies — enforce access rules based on user, device, location, and risk
- Multi-factor authentication with granular control
- Role-based access control across the Microsoft ecosystem
- Hybrid identity support — sync on-prem Active Directory with the cloud
- Mobile device management through Microsoft Intune
For organizations that already have Active Directory in place, this integration is seamless. For those moving to the cloud, Entra ID provides a clear path forward without abandoning existing infrastructure.
Google Workspace provides solid identity features — single sign-on, 2-step verification, context-aware access controls. For smaller, browser-first teams, that’s often sufficient. But for organizations that need layered policy enforcement, hybrid identity management, or deep integration with endpoint security, Microsoft’s identity stack offers more native control without third-party augmentation.
A note on complexity:
More capability does come with more configuration. Microsoft’s identity controls require investment in setup and ongoing administration. For organizations without a dedicated IT team or a trusted managed services partner, that’s worth weighing. But for organizations with growing security needs, the investment in proper configuration pays dividends in reduced risk and administrative clarity.
Security and Compliance Alignment
As organizations grow, compliance and auditability stop being nice-to-haves. For organizations in regulated industries — healthcare, financial services, legal, nonprofit services, they’re non-negotiable.
Microsoft 365 includes a mature compliance and security stack across its plans:
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP) — prevent sensitive data from leaving the organization
- eDiscovery tools — legal hold, search, and export capabilities across Teams, Exchange, and SharePoint
- Retention policies and records management
- Sensitivity labels and encryption via Microsoft Information Protection
- Detailed audit logs and activity reporting
- Conditional access and advanced threat protection through Microsoft Defender
- Microsoft Purview — unified compliance management across data, applications, and infrastructure
For IT leaders accountable to executive teams, boards, or external auditors, the depth of reporting and policy enforcement in Microsoft 365 is a meaningful differentiator. Microsoft Purview’s Compliance Manager provides a real-time compliance score, pre-built assessment templates for GDPR, HIPAA, SOX, and ISO 27001, and actionable recommendations for closing gaps. That kind of centralized visibility is difficult to replicate in Google Workspace without additional tooling.
Google Workspace supports security controls as well, strong baseline encryption, admin controls, and two-factor authentication enforcement. It meets the security bar for many organizations. But highly regulated industries and organizations with sophisticated IT governance requirements typically find Microsoft’s framework more aligned with structured compliance programs.
Real-world impact:
A large healthcare organization that implemented Microsoft Purview for data classification across SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive reported a 70% reduction in audit preparation time. For organizations without large compliance teams, that kind of efficiency gain has direct operational value.
Collaboration: Teams vs. Google Meet and Chat
This is where the platforms diverge most visibly in day-to-day experience and where the comparison becomes less about features and more about how your organization actually works.
Google Workspace built its reputation on real-time, browser-based collaboration. Google Docs lets multiple users edit simultaneously with almost no friction. Meet is clean and fast for scheduled video calls. For organizations with simple collaboration needs and a fully cloud-native workflow, this model works well.
Microsoft Teams is a different kind of platform. It’s designed for structured, ongoing collaboration across departments and projects — persistent channels, threaded conversations, integrated file storage, and deep ties to the rest of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
What Teams Brings to Your Organization
- Persistent channels — conversations, files, and notes stay organized and searchable long after the meeting ends
- Real-time co-authoring of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents directly within a Teams call, without switching apps
- Integration with SharePoint and OneDrive for governed document storage
- Built-in telephony through Teams Phone — replace your PBX and consolidate communication costs
- Power Automate workflows that connect Teams to other business systems
- Enterprise webinar capabilities with polls, Q&A, and large participant support
- 700+ third-party app integrations through the Teams App Store
For organizations that manage projects across departments, need to maintain organized records of decisions and communications, or want to consolidate phone and video on one platform, Teams provides a level of cohesion that Google Meet and Chat don’t quite match.
Google Chat and Google Meet are capable tools. Meet is simpler to use and performs well for straightforward video calls. But the ecosystem depth isn’t comparable — Teams is purpose-built for enterprise collaboration in a way that Google’s tooling, despite its improvements, has not yet fully replicated.
AI Integration: Copilot vs. Gemini
AI has become a meaningful part of the platform conversation. Both Microsoft and Google have embedded AI assistants into their productivity suites, and both are developing rapidly. But how they’re integrated — and what that means for your organization — differs in important ways.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft Copilot is built directly into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. It draws on the Microsoft Graph — your actual emails, documents, calendars, and meeting history — to provide contextually relevant assistance. That’s the meaningful differentiator: Copilot isn’t just a general AI assistant, it knows your organization’s data.
Practical examples of what this looks like in practice:
- Catch up on a missed Teams meeting in minutes, not hours — Copilot summarizes the transcript, pulls out action items, and identifies what you need to respond to
- Draft a client email in Outlook that draws on the last three months of correspondence with that contact
- Analyze a complex Excel dataset using plain English — ask the question, get the formula or chart
- Turn a Word document into a structured PowerPoint presentation, including speaker notes
Independent research commissioned by Forrester found that Microsoft 365 Copilot delivered 116% ROI over three years for enterprise organizations, with users saving an average of nine hours per month on routine tasks. For a 100-person organization, that adds up quickly.
Copilot is available as an add-on at approximately $30 per user per month. That’s a real budget consideration. But for organizations where staff time is a constrained resource, the productivity math is worth modeling before dismissing the cost.
Google Gemini
Google Gemini is embedded in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and Meet, and as of early 2025 is bundled into standard Workspace plans rather than sold as a separate add-on. For organizations already on Google Workspace, that bundling means access to AI without a separate procurement decision.
Where Gemini performs well: writing assistance in Docs and Gmail, meeting summaries in Meet, and brainstorming in a collaborative context. It’s approachable and fast to start using.
Where the gap shows: Gemini’s integration across the full suite is still maturing. Its capabilities in Sheets and Slides are more limited than Copilot’s counterparts in Excel and PowerPoint. The ability to create a full, structured presentation from a Word document — one of Copilot’s most-cited use cases — isn’t yet available in Gemini for Slides. And for organizations that need AI to surface context from across their existing communications and files, Copilot’s Microsoft Graph integration is significantly more developed.
Bottom line on AI: If your organization is already on Microsoft 365, Copilot is a natural extension of the tools your team already uses. If you’re evaluating platforms from scratch or actively considering a migration, the relative maturity of Copilot’s cross-app integration is a factor worth weighing.
Infrastructure and Ecosystem Integration
Google Workspace performs well in fully browser-based environments — and for cloud-native organizations with simple infrastructure, that’s a real strength. Lightweight, fast to deploy, easy to manage.
But most organizations don’t operate in fully cloud-native environments. Most are managing a mix of Windows endpoints, legacy systems, cloud services, and line-of-business applications. That hybrid reality is where Microsoft 365’s broader ecosystem becomes a structural advantage.
Microsoft 365 integrates natively across the full Microsoft stack:
- Windows endpoints and Windows 11 — managed through Intune without third-party MDM tools
- SharePoint — structured document management, versioning, and intranet capabilities
- Azure — cloud infrastructure, identity, and analytics in one governance model
- Power Platform — low-code automation (Power Automate) and analytics (Power BI) that extend M365 into real workflow value
- Dynamics 365 — CRM and ERP integration for organizations that need it
- Teams Phone — voice and telephony, replacing standalone PBX systems
The practical implication for IT leaders is that Microsoft 365 often reduces system fragmentation. Instead of managing separate tools for endpoint control, file governance, compliance reporting, and communication, you’re working within a single administrative framework. That has real value at any scale, particularly where IT team size doesn’t grow proportionally with the organization.
Google Workspace integrates well within the Google ecosystem and supports third-party tools through the Workspace Marketplace. But organizations managing Windows infrastructure, on-premises Active Directory, or Azure environments will find that integration story is thinner compared to Microsoft’s.
You’re not selecting an email platform. You’re aligning your collaboration layer with your broader IT architecture.
Scalability and Administrative Overhead
Governance complexity grows faster than headcount. An organization at 75 users doesn’t have 2.5 times the administrative overhead of a 30-person team — it often has five times the complexity when you account for department-level permissions, external sharing controls, shared mailboxes, data lifecycle policies, and role-based access management.
Microsoft’s administrative tooling is designed for exactly this kind of scaled governance. The Microsoft 365 admin center, Entra ID, Intune, and Purview are all built to give IT teams control without requiring custom configuration for every new scenario. Licensing flexibility — mixing E3, E5, Business Standard, and Business Premium by role — means you can right-size the spend without giving everyone the same tier.
Our experience with clients is that Microsoft 365 typically becomes the cleaner administrative choice as organizations grow, particularly in environments that require structured access governance or have compliance obligations that demand documented controls and audit trails.
Google Workspace can scale, and for browser-first teams it continues to do so effectively. But the administrative model differs — and as organizations grow, they often find they’re adding third-party tools to fill gaps that Microsoft fills natively.
When Each Platform Makes Strategic Sense
Google Workspace May Be the Right Fit If:
- Your team operates entirely browser-first with no dependency on Windows infrastructure
- Compliance requirements are minimal or not applicable to your industry
- Your user base is small and unlikely to grow significantly in complexity
- You have limited IT resources and need a platform that requires minimal administration
- Real-time co-authoring is the primary collaboration use case
Microsoft 365 Typically Becomes the Stronger Strategic Fit When:
| Signs It May Be Time to Evaluate the Move | |
|---|---|
| Security requirements are maturing | Windows or Azure infrastructure already in place |
| Compliance obligations are increasing | Structured document management is needed |
| Active Directory or Entra ID integration required | Endpoint governance needs to be centralized |
| Complex identity and access controls required | You're approaching or past 50 users |
| A merger or acquisition is on the horizon | Department-level permissions are becoming complex |
Migration conversations often start when one of these conditions emerges. Once you start to see several of them simultaneously, staying on Google Workspace often means managing around its limitations rather than building on its strengths.
Migration Is an Infrastructure Initiative — Not Just an Email Transfer
When IT leaders decide to move from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365, the scope of the project surprises some organizations. It’s not a data transfer. It’s an infrastructure initiative.
A properly executed migration accounts for:
- Tenant architecture design and Microsoft 365 environment configuration
- Email, calendar, and contact migration — preserving history and structure
- File and folder migration from Google Drive to OneDrive and SharePoint
- Permission and access mapping — ensuring groups and shared resources transfer cleanly
- Security baseline configuration — setting up Defender, DLP, conditional access, and Purview from day one
- License optimization — matching license tiers to user roles before going live
- User adoption and change management — the technical migration is only half the work
When executed strategically, a migration doesn’t just move users from one platform to another. It strengthens governance, improves security posture, and simplifies long-term IT management. Organizations that do this well come out with a cleaner environment than they had before.
Organizations that rush it — or treat it primarily as an email transfer — often inherit technical debt on the other side.
Align the Platform with Your Long-Term IT Strategy
Both Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are capable productivity platforms. Both support collaboration, communication, and cloud-based work.
The difference lies in governance depth, ecosystem integration, and enterprise control.
For organizations with growing security demands, compliance requirements, or hybrid infrastructure, Microsoft 365 more often aligns with where IT strategy needs to go — not just where it is today.
The platform you run today is the foundation for the infrastructure decisions you’ll make over the next three to five years. It shapes how you manage identity, secure endpoints, meet compliance requirements, and eventually deploy AI at scale. Getting that foundation right is worth the analysis.
Considering a Move from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365?
At PSM Partners, we work directly with IT leaders to:
- Evaluate your current architecture and risk exposure
- Identify security and compliance gaps
- Design a migration roadmap aligned to your infrastructure
- Execute Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 transitions with minimal disruption
If you’re assessing whether your collaboration platform still aligns with your long-term IT strategy, our team can help you model the decision and plan the next step.

