Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace: Which Is Right for Your Business in 2026?

This question comes up regularly: should a business use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace? Both are mature, capable platforms. Both have strong collaboration tools, cloud storage, email, and video conferencing. Choosing between them is less about finding the “best” platform and more about which one fits your business, your industry, and your existing workflows.

Here is a straight comparison.

Pricing (AUD, 2026)

Microsoft 365:

• Business Basic: ~$9.20/user/month (web and mobile apps only, 1TB OneDrive storage)
• Business Standard: ~$18.60/user/month (desktop apps included, 1TB OneDrive)
• Business Premium: ~$30.20/user/month (full security features, Intune, Defender)

Google Workspace:

• Business Starter: ~$9.00/user/month (30GB pooled storage per user)
• Business Standard: ~$18.00/user/month (2TB pooled storage per user)
• Business Plus: ~$27.00/user/month (5TB pooled storage, eDiscovery, audit)

At face value, pricing is broadly comparable tier-for-tier. The difference is in what you get at each level. Microsoft 365 Business Premium, at its price point, includes a level of endpoint management and security tooling (Microsoft Intune, Microsoft Defender for Business) that Google simply does not match at an equivalent price. For businesses with real security requirements, this changes the calculus significantly.

Desktop Applications vs Browser-Based

This is the most fundamental difference between the two platforms.

Microsoft 365 gives you full desktop applications - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook - installed locally on your devices (on Business Standard and above). These applications have deep functionality, work offline fully, and are the standard in most Australian professional and enterprise environments. Files are in .docx, .xlsx, .pptx formats - the formats your clients, suppliers, and government agencies expect.

Google Workspace is primarily browser-based. Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides are powerful for collaboration and work well on any device without installation, but they lack some of the advanced features of their Microsoft counterparts - particularly for complex spreadsheets, advanced formatting, and document-heavy workflows. Google does convert to and from Microsoft formats, but fidelity is imperfect for complex documents.

Verdict: If your team does significant document work, particularly anything requiring complex formatting or formulas, Microsoft 365’s desktop apps are a clear advantage. If your team works primarily in browsers or on Chromebooks, Google Workspace is a more natural fit.

Email and Calendar

Both platforms offer professional email hosting with your own domain.

• Microsoft Outlook (Exchange Online) is a mature email client with excellent calendar integration, rich rules and filtering, and broad support across mail clients and devices. The Outlook app on iOS and Android is strong.
• Gmail (Google Workspace) is familiar to almost everyone, fast, and has excellent search. Google Calendar is clean and effective.

The main practical difference for Australian businesses: Microsoft Outlook remains the default in most professional and enterprise environments. If your clients and partners are predominantly using Outlook, meeting invites, calendar sharing, and email integration tends to be smoother on the same platform.

Collaboration and Video Conferencing

• Microsoft Teams is included with all Microsoft 365 business plans. It covers chat, video meetings, calling (with the right add-ons), file sharing, and project collaboration in one application.
• Google Meet (video) and Google Chat (messaging) serve similar functions in Google Workspace. They are clean and reliable, but the integration depth of Teams - particularly with SharePoint, OneDrive, and third-party apps - is more extensive.

Both platforms support external collaboration with people outside your organisation.

Storage

• Microsoft 365: 1TB of OneDrive per user on all business plans, plus SharePoint for team storage
• Google Workspace: Pooled storage shared across users (30GB per user on Starter, scaling up on higher tiers)

Pooled storage can be an advantage for Google Workspace at higher tiers - if some users need more and some need less, it balances out. At the Starter tier, 30GB per user is tight for businesses with significant file storage needs.

Security

For Australian SMBs, security is increasingly the deciding factor.

Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes:

• Microsoft Defender for Business (endpoint protection)
• Microsoft Intune (mobile device and PC management)
• Conditional Access policies
• Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (advanced email threat protection)
• Azure AD Premium P1

This is a comprehensive security stack that an IT provider can deploy and manage. For businesses subject to the Essential Eight or looking at cyber insurance requirements, Business Premium is a strong foundation.

Google Workspace Business Plus and Enterprise offer solid security controls - advanced endpoint management, data loss prevention, Vault for eDiscovery - but the equivalent security depth requires Google’s Enterprise tiers, which are more expensive.

Verdict for security-conscious Australian businesses: Microsoft 365 Business Premium offers better security value at its price point.

Switching Costs

Switching platforms is not trivial. Consider:

• Data migration - emails, calendar events, contacts, and files all need to be migrated. This takes planning and can have fidelity issues.
• Training - staff accustomed to one platform need time to adjust to the other.
• Integrations - any business applications connected to your current platform may need reconfiguration.
• File format - moving between platforms may require converting existing documents, with potential formatting loss.

If you are already established on one platform and it is working adequately, switching carries real cost and disruption. The comparison above is most relevant to businesses choosing for the first time or facing a genuine reason to switch.

Our Recommendation for Melbourne SMBs

For most Melbourne small and medium businesses, Microsoft 365 Business Premium is our recommendation. The combination of familiar desktop applications, enterprise-grade security tools, strong IT manageability, and broad industry compatibility makes it the lower-risk choice for businesses that take their IT and security seriously.

Google Workspace is a legitimate and capable alternative - particularly for businesses that work heavily in browsers, run a mix of devices including Chromebooks, or have teams that prioritise simplicity over advanced features.

The right choice depends on your specific context. If you would like a recommendation tailored to your business, contact CX IT Services. We can assess your current environment and advise on the platform - and the licence level - that makes the most sense.