The plans side by side
| Google Workspace Starter | Microsoft 365 Basic | Google Workspace Standard | Microsoft 365 Standard | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | £5.90 annual, £7.00 flexible | £5.40 annual | £11.80 annual, £14.00 flexible | £10.80 annual |
| Email storage | 30 GB pooled with Drive | 100 GB mailbox | 2 TB pooled | 100 GB mailbox |
| File storage | Shared with the 30 GB | 1 TB OneDrive | Shared with the 2 TB | 1 TB OneDrive |
| Desktop apps | None — browser based | Web and mobile only | None — browser based | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook |
| Video calls | Google Meet | Teams | Meet, with recording | Teams |
Our guide to what business email costs in the UK covers the cheaper and dearer options too.
Choose Google Workspace if…
- Your team already works happily in Gmail, Google Docs and Sheets.
- People mostly work in a browser, on Chromebooks or across mixed devices.
- Real-time collaboration on documents matters more than complex spreadsheets.
- You do not depend on Excel macros, complex Word templates or desktop Outlook.
Choose Microsoft 365 if…
- Your team lives in Outlook and Excel, or your clients and suppliers send you Office files you need to edit faithfully.
- You want the larger mailbox: 100 GB per user on every business plan.
- You use, or want, Teams for calls and chat.
- You need device management and conditional access — Business Premium is strong here.
The things comparison tables miss
- Outlook. Many UK businesses are attached to Outlook. Google offers a sync tool so Outlook can work with Workspace, but it is a compromise rather than the native experience.
- Storage is pooled differently. Google’s storage is shared between mail and files; Microsoft’s mailbox and OneDrive are separate allowances.
- Switching later is real work. Moving between the two means migrating mail, calendars, contacts and files, and retraining people. Choose for the next five years, not the next five months.
- AI is now bundled. Both companies have folded their AI assistants into their business plans in some form and priced accordingly. Check what you are actually paying for.
Where hosted Exchange fits
Hosted Exchange is a third option for a narrower set of businesses: those who want Exchange and Outlook — shared calendars, delegate access, public folders — but not the whole Microsoft suite, and who want their email hosted in the UK with a named engineer and no annual commitment. It is not the cheapest option: Microsoft 365 Business Basic costs less per user and has a larger mailbox. Our honest comparison of hosted Exchange and Microsoft 365 sets out when each makes sense.