Guides / Comparisons

Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365: Which Suite Fits Your Business?

Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 for small businesses: prices as of October 2026, storage, desktop apps, AI and who should pick which.

Mythex Team · 2026-10-22 · 6 min read

Pick Google Workspace if your team works mostly in the browser, shares files constantly and wants the simplest admin. Pick Microsoft 365 if anyone on the team lives in desktop Excel, Word or Outlook, you trade Office files with clients all day, or you need device management and security tools in the same subscription. As of October 2026 the entry prices are identical in the US ($7 per user per month on an annual plan for both), so the choice comes down to how your team works, not price.

Side-by-side

Sources, all as of October 2026: Google's Workspace pricing page and its help article comparing Flexible and Annual plans (which lists the USD prices); Microsoft's business plans and pricing page and its July 2026 pricing update.

How we compared

We read each vendor's own pricing pages, plan comparison tables and help articles in October 2026 and took prices and limits from there. We did not run hands-on tests or benchmark the AI features. Prices are US list prices before tax. Both companies vary prices by country and run introductory discounts, so check the page for your region at checkout. Where a figure wasn't shown on the vendor's site (for example, Microsoft's Teams meeting size per plan on the page we used), we left it out rather than guess.

Prices: now level at every tier

Microsoft raised its business prices on July 1, 2026. Its licensing update lists Business Basic going from $6.00 to $7.00 and Business Standard from $12.50 to $14.00 per user per month, with Business Premium at $22.00. Existing customers keep their old price until renewal.

Google's US list prices on an annual plan are $7, $14 and $22 for Business Starter, Standard and Plus. On Google's Flexible plan, with no commitment, they are $8.40, $16.80 and $26.40.

So at list price the two suites line up almost exactly. The real differences are in storage, desktop apps, AI and security.

Microsoft also sells versions without Teams, which are cheaper: $5.40, $10.79 and $18.79 per user per month for Basic, Standard and Premium, according to the same update. These make sense only if you already use another tool for chat and meetings.

Storage

Google is more generous above the entry plan. Business Starter gives 30 GB per user, pooled across the company. Business Standard jumps to 2 TB per user and Business Plus to 5 TB, also pooled.

Microsoft gives every business user 1 TB of OneDrive storage on all three plans, plus a separate mailbox (100 GB primary). That makes Microsoft's entry plan the better deal on storage: 1 TB versus Google's 30 GB at the same $7. From the middle tier up, Google gives more.

Apps and how people work

Google Workspace is browser-first. Docs, Sheets, Slides, Gmail, Calendar, Drive and Meet all run in a tab. Several people editing the same file at once is the normal way to work, and sharing is a link. There are no desktop versions of Docs or Sheets.

Microsoft 365 gives you the familiar Office apps. Business Basic includes only the web and mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Business Standard and Premium add the desktop apps, installable on up to 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets and 5 phones per user. Microsoft's plans also bundle extras such as Bookings, Planner, Forms, Loop and Clipchamp.

The honest version: if someone on your team builds big financial models in Excel, uses macros, or receives complex Word documents with tracked changes from clients, Google Sheets and Docs will frustrate them. If your team writes short documents, shares lots of files and rarely opens a desktop app, Google is simpler.

Meetings and chat

Google Meet's participant limit grows with the plan: 100 on Starter, 150 on Standard and 500 on Plus. Recording meetings needs Standard or above.

Microsoft's business plans come "with Teams" or "without Teams". The with-Teams versions include chat, calls, meetings and webinar hosting (from Standard). If your clients or partners already use Teams, that alone can decide it.

AI features

Both suites now bundle an AI assistant, and both charge more for the deepest version.

• Google: Business Starter includes Gemini in Gmail and basic access to the Gemini app. From Business Standard, Gemini works in Gmail, Docs, Meet and other apps, and you get more Gemini Notebook use. No separate AI add-on is needed for the business plans.
• Microsoft: Copilot Chat is included on the business plans. Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams costs more: Business Standard with Copilot is $23.50 and Business Premium with Copilot is $32.00 per user per month, paid yearly. Existing customers can add Copilot Business, listed at $21 and discounted to $18 per user per month for the first year until December 31, 2026. Some advanced AI features are billed on usage.

If AI inside your documents is a priority and you don't want to pay extra per seat, Google's Standard plan is the cheaper way to get it as of October 2026.

Security and admin

Microsoft Business Premium is the stronger security bundle for a small business. It adds Intune for device management, Defender for Business for device protection, Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 for email, and Purview for data protection. If you need to manage company laptops, Premium covers what would otherwise be several separate products.

Google's Business Plus adds Vault for eDiscovery and retention. Data loss prevention and data regions are Enterprise-only on Google.

Who should pick which

Switching later

Moving between the two is possible but takes time. Email, calendars and contacts can be migrated. Documents convert, but complex Excel files and heavily formatted Word documents are the most likely to need fixing, so test your most important files first. Pick the suite your heaviest users need, not the one the most people find pleasant.

Where a custom tool fits

Neither suite is a business system. Teams often end up running bookings, client requests or inventory in a shared spreadsheet because it's there. That works until two people edit the same row, or a client needs to see their own data without seeing everyone else's.

That's the point where a small custom app can help, and it sits next to either suite rather than replacing it. With Mythex you describe the tool in chat, see it in a live preview, and publish it to a URL; it adds a database and login when the app needs them. The Free plan gives 5 credits a day and Pro starts at $25 a month. Keep Gmail or Outlook for email and Docs or Word for documents. Our build vs buy guide and internal tool ideas for teams cover when that's worth doing, and replacing expensive SaaS with your own tool covers the trade-offs.

Verdict

At $7, $14 and $22 per user per month, the two suites now cost the same at list price. Choose Google Workspace for browser-first teams, easy sharing, more storage from the middle tier and AI included without an add-on. Choose Microsoft 365 for desktop Office apps, Teams, a big 1 TB allowance on the cheapest plan, and, in Premium, a full security and device-management bundle. Try both: each offers a free trial, and a week of real work will tell you more than a feature table.