Google Suite vs. Office 365: which one do you need?
Every business needs comprehensive and integrated productivity tools that make teamwork simpler and faster. Google Suite and Office 365 are productivity tools that exist on the cloud, offering document, spreadsheet, and presentation creation as well as collaboration, storage, email, and more.
What They Offer:
Both of them offer similar applications and features for businesses. The most significant features that these both offer are:
- File storage: the ability and space to save all your files online in individual Drives, and share them with others. The amount of storage offered differs by plan.
- Collaboration: the ability to collaborate in real-time with other team members, whether in a document, by video, or in a communication platform.
- Web Applications: a word processor, spreadsheet application, conference calling, and more, all online, freeing up your desktop of apps and files.
- Video Calling: the ability to conference call with your team and with others.
Quick Price Comparison
Google Suite
- Basic: $6 per user per month
- Business: $12 per user per month
- Enterprise: $25 per user per month
Office 365
Small business / SMEs
- Office 365
- Business Essentials — $5 per user per month
- Business — $8.25 per user per month
- Business Premium — $12.50 per user per month
These are the prices if you pay annually; monthly plans cost more.
Enterprise
- Office 365
- E1 — $8 per user per month
- ProPlus — $12 per user per month
- E3 — $20 per user per month
- E5 — $35 per user per month
All of these plans are annual.
Overall, the basic Microsoft 365 plan is a better deal, but once you start moving into higher plans, G Suite generally offers more for less.
Web, Desktop, or Both?
All of these Office plans (except the Business Essentials and the E1) offer Microsoft Suite for desktop. While this may not be a necessary tool for all businesses, it is probably the largest difference to consider when choosing between both options. Of course, all of them offer web applications.
Google vs. Office: The Big Differences
- G Suite is more minimalist and convenient, where Office is more feature-packed and can handle more robust amounts of data. This generally applies to everything from word processing to their video and collaboration tools.
- G Suite is generally easier to use, while Office is more familiar to most users.
- Office 365 offers desktop applications, while Google Suite doesn’t.
Based on your business’ needs and budget, you can choose between these two distinct but powerful sets of productivity tools and get your team and business on the right track.
