"Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace both give a business email, documents, storage and video calls on a per user monthly subscription. The honest difference: Microsoft 365 suits organisations that live in Word, Excel and Outlook and want deeper device and security management; Google Workspace suits teams that live in the browser and prize simplicity. Most established UK businesses land on Microsoft 365, and switching later is harder than choosing well now.
What do Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace actually include?
Both platforms bundle business email on your own domain, calendars, cloud file storage, shared drives, video meetings, chat and a suite of office applications. Microsoft 365 centres on Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams, with full desktop applications on most business plans. Google Workspace centres on Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Meet, designed browser first. Both are mature, reliable and secure when configured properly; the differences that matter sit in daily working style, compatibility and management.
Which is better for email?
Functionally both are excellent. The practical question is what your team already knows: Outlook's folders, categories and calendar workflow versus Gmail's labels, search and conversation view. Migrating people between the two paradigms generates more helpdesk tickets than any technical factor, which is why the existing habits of your team should weigh heavily.
What about documents and compatibility?
This is where most UK businesses tilt to Microsoft. If your customers, suppliers, accountants and solicitors exchange Word and Excel files, native desktop Office removes a whole category of formatting friction. Google's editors open Office files well for everyday work, but complex spreadsheets with macros, and documents with precise formatting, belong in native Excel and Word. Browser-first teams doing collaborative, lightweight documents often prefer Google's real time editing culture.
Which is more secure?
Both platforms provide strong security foundations: multi factor authentication, encryption, spam and phishing filtering, and admin controls. The difference is depth of management. Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes device management and advanced identity protection that UK compliance frameworks and insurers increasingly expect, managed through one admin ecosystem. Equivalent depth on Google generally means higher tiers or third party additions. Whichever you choose, the configuration matters more than the logo: defaults on either platform are not a security posture.
Can we mix the two, or switch later?
Mixing happens, usually Gmail habits inside a Microsoft organisation or Teams arriving in a Google one, but running both doubles licensing, admin and confusion, so it is a transition state rather than a destination. Switching platforms is a real migration project: mail, files, calendars, permissions and retraining. It is entirely doable, and we run these migrations regularly through our cloud support service, but it argues for choosing deliberately now rather than defaulting.
Which should a West Midlands SME choose?
Choose Microsoft 365 if your work depends on Excel and Word, you exchange documents with professional services firms, you need managed devices and compliance evidence, or you run line of business software that integrates with Microsoft identity. Choose Google Workspace if your team is browser native, collaboration outweighs document fidelity, and your toolset is web applications. If you are genuinely torn, the answer is usually Microsoft 365 Business Premium for the management and security depth alone; talk to our IT support team and we will map it against what your business actually runs.
FAQs
Can we keep our email addresses whichever we choose?
Yes. Both platforms run email on your own domain, and addresses carry over in a migration. Nothing about your public identity changes.
Which is cheaper?
Entry plans are similarly priced per user and both scale by tier. The meaningful comparison is what your required tier includes, particularly around security and device management, rather than the entry price.
We already use Microsoft 365 but only for email. Are we missing value?
Almost certainly. Most businesses licence far more than they use: SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive and the security features often sit unconfigured. A licence review usually finds capability you are already paying for.
How disruptive is a migration between platforms?
Planned properly, users keep working throughout and the cutover happens at a weekend. The effort sits in preparation: mapping data, permissions and integrations before anything moves.
LeapIT supports both platforms across Birmingham and the West Midlands, migrates businesses in both directions, and will tell you honestly when the platform you are on is the right one. That conversation costs nothing.
