I have been working with both of these cloud products for a while and comparing the two could take more than one post but I would like to get down to just the nuts and bolts of the difference between the two services Microsoft Office 365 and Google G Suite.
Pricing
Google G Suite offers two packages plus their Google Drive package let me explain in detail. The Basic G Suite package comes with a custom domain and the entire Google suite with 30 gig of storage for $5 dollars a month. The G Suite for business comes with unlimited cloud storage, Google Vault better admin controls and several other add-ons for $10 dollars month. If you just want Google Docs with no domain and unlimited storage it does not exist, you can get 1 TB for $9.99/month or 10 TB for $99.99 and up and up. The price goes higher depending on your space needs.
Microsoft OneDrive is a little easier to understand. The Basic Plan with no Office 365 with 50 gigs of storage goes for $1.99 month. The Office 365 package with 1 TB of storage its $6.99 month. OneDrive for Business which includes Office365, domain, email, Sharepoint, Skype, OneNote, OneDrive and many other programs is $9.99 month. Microsoft does not even offer an unlimited storage plan.
Storage
When it comes to storage and sharing Google has Microsoft beat hands down. Google Drive is Google Drive no matter what computer or account you’re using. Microsoft has OneDrive or OneDrive for Business both have different functionality, upload limits and automatic backup restrictions depending on which one you buy. One works with Groove one does not it’s just a mess. Sharing folders on OneDrive is a pain because you have set permissions unlike Google where you can just add permissions with only 2 options read-only or read and write. With Google Drive you can just use a sharable link if you want it’s just way easier. One of the big downfalls here for Microsoft is unlike Google they don’t offer an unlimited storage plan which I think hurts them a bit.
This is another spot where Microsoft falls short yes they do offer free outlook.com email like Gmail but the spam filters have always been an issue for Microsoft I think they need to rethink their entire spam filter situation. Google takes this hands down.
Office Apps
This is one place where Microsoft shines Office beats the G Suite hands down. Word has so many features that Google Docs just does not including grammar checking, language packs, mail merge and word art just to name a few features. Excel defiantly has the advantage when it comes to functions and charts over Google Sheets and its limited spreadsheet ability. PowerPoint shines over Google Slides with its capabilities. Google Keep is really new and does not have desktop integration that Microsoft OneNote has in the note taking market. Microsoft partnership with Apple helps them out more in mobile market now as well. Microsoft Office debut was in 1990 and it shows they have had 26 years to perfect the product.
Sites
Microsoft SharePoint while way more complex then Google Sites does have more options do to its large market share. While both products do have enterprise solutions Microsoft with Azure works great. Google has Google Active Directory Sync and Google Apps Password Synchronization which does almost the same thing. Microsoft built an entire industry around SharePoint causing it to have huge market share and capability better then Google Sites.
Communication
Google hangouts is the one diamond in the rough while I feel it has way better functionality then Skype and has some of the best and easiest integration with YouTube due to Skype’s large market share and brand notoriety very few people use Google Hangouts. I think functionality wise Google wins hands down Skype can’t even touch Hangouts. With the lack of user knowledge and adoption of Google’s messaging services Skype wins this battle but for how long.
Overall both products offer value depending on what is important to you as a user. If storage is more important maybe you should lean towards Google’s business plan for ten dollars a year. If Word and Excel are something you need Office 365 for $6.99 maybe the right purchase. But realize both products are great and are stronger in one place then the other you just need to find what’s most important for you the user.