Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace in 2026: Which Should Your Melbourne Business Use?

We have migrated Melbourne businesses in both directions - from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365, and from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace. We have done it for law firms, accounting firms, construction companies, medical clinics, and everything in between.

After that experience, my view is that the “which is better” question is the wrong question. The right question is: which platform is a better fit for how your business actually works?

Here is my honest comparison, based on what I see in practice with Melbourne SMBs.

Where Microsoft 365 Wins

Desktop Office applications. If your staff regularly use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for complex documents - detailed financial models, legal documents with tracked changes, complex spreadsheets - Microsoft Office is meaningfully better than Google Docs/Sheets/Slides. Not marginally better. Substantively better.

This matters most for professional services firms. Law firms using document comparison and track changes, accounting firms building complex MYOB-integrated spreadsheets, engineering firms creating technical reports - for these businesses, the Microsoft desktop applications are genuinely superior tools.

Integration with Australian business software. The accounting software that Melbourne businesses actually use - MYOB, Xero (via add-ons), HandiSoft - integrates more naturally with the Microsoft ecosystem. Practice management software like LEAP, Actionstep, and Best Practice are all built to work with Microsoft 365. Google Workspace works fine alongside most of this software, but the integration is tighter on the Microsoft side.

Security and compliance features at scale. Microsoft Defender for Business, Intune for device management, Purview for compliance and data governance, Entra ID for identity management - the Microsoft security stack is more comprehensive and more integrated than Google’s equivalent for businesses of 20 to 200 staff. For industries with compliance requirements (legal, healthcare, financial services), the Microsoft platform gives IT administrators more tools.

Offline reliability. Microsoft Office applications work fully offline. Google Workspace is primarily designed for online use. For staff who work on trains, planes, or in areas with unreliable internet, this matters.

SharePoint for document management. SharePoint is not perfect, but for businesses that need structured document libraries with versioning, permissions, and metadata - particularly for client files or project documentation - SharePoint is more capable than Google Drive for complex document management scenarios.

Where Google Workspace Wins

Real-time collaboration. Google Docs genuinely leads on real-time co-authoring. Multiple people editing a document simultaneously, seeing each other’s changes in real time, commenting inline - this is Google’s strongest suit. Microsoft has improved significantly in this area, but Google still has a slight edge in fluidity.

Simplicity and onboarding speed. Google Workspace is easier to set up and easier for non-technical staff to use without training. If you are a startup or fast-growing business that needs people productive quickly, the onboarding time is shorter.

Gmail vs Outlook. This is genuinely subjective, but many users - particularly those who have grown up using Gmail - find it more intuitive. For a business whose staff are more comfortable in a consumer-Gmail-like interface, the preference is real.

Video and meeting infrastructure. Google Meet is good and deeply integrated with Calendar. Microsoft Teams is more powerful for larger organisations, but for a 15-person business that just needs reliable video calls, Google Meet does the job with less complexity.

Cost at small scale. Google Workspace Business Starter is approximately $10 per user per month. Microsoft 365 Business Basic is similar, but to get the full desktop Office applications you need Microsoft 365 Business Standard at around $20 per user per month. For a 15-person business, that is a meaningful difference.

The Decision Framework

Here is how I actually advise clients when they are deciding:

Choose Microsoft 365 if:

• Your staff regularly use complex Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files
• You use MYOB, LEAP, Actionstep, Best Practice, or other Australian professional software
• You have compliance requirements (legal, medical, financial services)
• You need robust device management (Intune)
• You have or plan to have more than 30 staff

Choose Google Workspace if:

• Your work is primarily collaborative document creation with minimal formatting complexity
• Your staff are more comfortable in a Gmail-like environment
• You do not rely on Australian professional software with deep Microsoft integration
• You are cost-sensitive and the desktop Office applications are not a priority
• You are a startup or small business that needs to be up and running immediately

Consider staying where you are if:

• Your staff are already comfortable and productive with your current platform
• You have significant investment in templates, workflows, or integrations in your current environment
• You cannot identify a specific business problem that switching would solve

The Migration Question

We regularly help businesses migrate between platforms. Here is what it actually involves:

A Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace migration typically takes two to four weeks for a business of 20 to 50 staff. The technical migration - email, calendar, contacts, files - is manageable. The harder part is the workflow and habit change, particularly for staff who are accustomed to Outlook and desktop Office.

A Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 migration is similarly scoped. Email and calendar migrate cleanly. Google Docs convert to Word, Google Sheets to Excel, and Google Slides to PowerPoint - but complex formatting does not always survive perfectly, and documents heavily formatted in Google may need cleanup after migration.

Both migrations require training, change management, and a transition period. Do not underestimate this.

What I Actually Recommend for Most Melbourne Professional Services Firms

For law firms, accounting firms, medical practices, and similar professional services businesses in Melbourne: Microsoft 365.

The integration with Australian professional software, the compliance features, the desktop Office applications, and the maturity of the IT management tools all point in the same direction. For these businesses, Microsoft 365 is the right call.

For creative agencies, tech startups, education providers, or businesses that are primarily Google-native already: Google Workspace is fine. Do not switch unless you have a specific reason.

For retail, hospitality, or businesses that primarily use cloud-based systems and are cost-sensitive: evaluate both based on specific requirements. The right answer depends on your actual software stack.

The worst outcome is choosing based on preference rather than workflow fit, migrating, and then discovering that your practice management software or accounting platform works significantly better with the other platform. Understand your software dependencies first - then choose.

One Note on Pricing and Licensing

Both platforms have moved to increasingly complex licensing tiers. Make sure you understand what you actually need.

For Microsoft 365, most SMBs doing real work need Microsoft 365 Business Standard ($20/user/month) to get the full desktop applications plus Exchange, SharePoint, and Teams. Business Basic ($10/user/month) gives you the web apps and mobile apps only - which is fine for some roles, but not for staff who spend their day in Excel.

For Google Workspace, most businesses need Business Standard ($14/user/month) to get adequate storage and video meeting capacity.

As a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider, we purchase and manage Microsoft 365 licences for our clients at competitive pricing. If you want to understand what the right licence mix looks like for your business, that is a conversation worth having before you commit.