The Office 365 vs Google Apps for Business (G Suite) debate has left many SMB’s and large enterprises struggling to figure out which is the best solution for their organization.
While both offer a similar set of features, there are a few key differences that should factor into your decision on which to use.
We’re not going to pour over all the minute details of these productivity suites – for in-depth analysis of their features and pricing, see GetApp and this post from Style Factory.
In the modern business environment, we feel the ability to share and collaborate on easy to create and richly formatted documents are really the key decision points.
So instead, we’re going to compare these services in 2 critical areas: Document Creation and Team Collaboration.
Office 365 vs Google Apps: Document Creation
Microsoft Office 365 is undoubtedly the most popular and widely used document creation solution. Microsoft has been on the cutting edge of document creation since the 90’s and it’s Office suite of business applications have set the industry standard for most of that time.
Today, more than 1 billion people use Microsoft Office, and over 60 million businesses use Office 365.
But while Microsoft has enjoyed market domination for many years, beginning in 2006, Google Apps has steadily evolved its platform into a solid rival in the business application space, and today, 3 million businesses are paying to use G Suite.
It’s clear that in terms of quantity of users, Microsoft is head and shoulders above Google. But as by Joe Mariano of Gartner research explains, “One of the biggest hurdles for Google achieving broader enterprise adoption is just the fact that the company’s products aren’t identical to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other Microsoft Office apps.”
It’s also been reported that only 7.5 percent of U.S. businesses with fewer than 250 employees are using the cloud version of Microsoft Office.
Which makes sense when put into perspective: enterprises who’ve been relying on Microsoft Office for years face the difficulty of migrating their large organization to a new system, while small businesses likely enjoy the freemium model Google has employed, using the free version of Google Apps until they need the extra features that G Suite offers.
These considerations aside…
What’s the Difference in Their Document Creation Features?
Right out of the box, most Microsoft Office plans give you all their familiar apps – Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, etc. – with the ability to install them locally as well as use them in the cloud.
For many users who haven’t bought into “pure cloud computing,” it’s a strong benefit to be able to easily work offline and only upload files when needed. Be aware, however, that the Business Essentials and Enterprise E1 plans only offer the online version of their apps.
Conversely, G suite operates entirely in the cloud, and with every plan, you’ll receive Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, etc. This is how G Suite has positioned itself as the go-to solution for team collaboration across all devices (more on that later).
Since everything is created and stored online, it doesn’t matter if you’re using a Windows computer, MacBook, or smartphone, you’re able to simply and easily log in and get to work on all your materials any time or place.
And if you have the Chrome browser installed, Google Apps offer the ability to work on documents offline in case of internet outages; then, once you reconnect, all your changes will be automatically synced.
Apart from the cloud/local distinction, feature set is another key differentiator between the two.
Having been developed over the years in a desktop environment, where storage space and computing power were relatively unlimited compared to the needs of operating large cloud installations, Microsoft offers a much broader and deeper set of features than Google Apps.
From the ability to use any font you’d like (including any premium fonts your business may use), to format templates and macros, Microsoft Office allows near complete control over your document creation processes – with two caveats.
First, many of the features Office offers that G Suite doesn’t are only available in the offline (and more expensive) versions of their software.
And second, most users and companies won’t likely need the added benefits – even Office power users will likely be able to make due with what Google offers.
But how do the two stack up when it comes to collaboration?
Office 365 vs Google Apps: Team Collaboration Features
The term collaboration in today’s world almost exclusively refers to the cloud. As more and more organizations do and share work online, it becomes increasingly important to use a service that makes their jobs easier and more efficient.
G Suite
G Suite has marketed themselves as the prime solution for cloud collaboration – and as a from-the-start internet company, Google does this extremely well.
With all of their apps built from the beginning in the cloud, Google has made it extremely easy for team member to work on documents in real time, share important documents and feedback (through intuitive comment features), and above all, keep all your documents safe and secure without the fear of losing them due to hardware problems.
G Suite’s collaborative editing features are also incredibly easy to use.
You can leave suggestions for changes that other team members can accept or reject, multiple people can leave comments on a single item in any document, and you can restore accidentally deleted sections through their always-on revision history tracking (a feature that has to be manually set in Microsoft).
Office 365
Microsoft Office started as a pure desktop solution, but through Office 365, they have created a rich, web-based counterpart for all their key business apps.
To share any Office document, all you have to do is click the “share” button and enter the email address of the person you wish to send it to, or create a shareable link you can send to them. After your document is shared, you can easily remove that link to turn off sharing.
Essentially, you have full control over who can see your documents, who can’t, and when they can see them.
As we mentioned before, Office 365 apps like Excel have way more features than G Suite’s alternatives, but many of those advanced options are not applicable in the web-based version; for example, the “freeze panes” feature isn’t available in Excel online.
However, unlike Google Apps, Office 365 allows you to you to create a document with those advanced features on your desktop, and whenever anyone accesses that document online, those features will be included; so in our freeze panes example, you could freeze a sheet offline and the online version would include the frozen panes, though you won’t be able to modify them.
How to Choose the Right Solution for Your Business
So essentially the decision boils down to this:
- If you prefer to work offline or need the most advanced document creation features available and have the budget for the licenses you’ll need, go with Office 365.
- If you work in a mostly cloud-based work environment, don’t mind a more limited creation experience, or would prefer to save the cost of buying office productivity software, go with Google Apps.
When it comes to choosing the right solution for your business, consider how you use your current software, the workflow you desire for your organization, which of these best matches your team’s preferences, and of course your budget!
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Also published on Medium.