Outlook vs Gmail: Which Email Platform is the Best for Your Budget?
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are the dominant efficiency suites on the planet of software application as a service (SaaS), both offering a wide variety of applications that contemporary business need.
While the functions of many of these applications are comparable, Microsoft and Google's proprietary offerings each have their own peculiarities, for much better or worse.
In this post, we will look at email through Microsoft Outlook and Google's Gmail for Business. Separately, the pair are the leading e-mail applications in business by market share and are pillars of M365 and Workspace, respectively.
Email might appear basic on the surface, but the distinctions in between Outlook and Gmail reveal that things are more complex than sending and getting mail.
The workings of each are different, starting with how they are accessed, and ending with the security and privacy supplied.
Pricing
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are priced per month, per user, and have different tiers of prices. As it pertains to the mail accounts themselves, the difference in tiers generally only affects storage area.
Utilizing Microsoft's Business Basic plan ($ 5/month/user when billed every year), each user gets 50 GB of email storage space, which is independent of the additional 1 TB of cloud storage in OneDrive.
Bear in mind, one of the most fundamental level of M365 does not consist of any of Microsoft's desktop applications, including Outlook. Users acquiring this strategy will need to be happy with the Outlook web app.
Google's Business Basic strategy ($ 6), provides just 30 GB of storage overall, combining e-mail storage and drive storage together.
That's right, 60% of the mail box storage attended to Microsoft accounts for 100% of your overall storage on Google's most affordable plan.
That discrepancy is likely an attempt by Google to upsell users to their premium strategies, with their Standard strategy ($ 12) leaping to 2 TB of drive storage, and the Plus plan ($ 18) going to 5 TB.
Microsoft supplies 2-5 TB of drive storage with their enterprise offerings, however mailbox storage can essentially be endless through unrestricted archiving starting with the E3 strategy ($ 32).
A grid revealing the prices and storage abilities of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
Scoring round 1 here, let's call it a draw. At the cheapest level, the 2 platforms are similar, and Gmail's web app might be worth the additional dollar monthly.
As you go up plans, the Outlook desktop app could swing your choice, as we will go over later. Remember, Microsoft's rates is based on a yearly commitment, while Google does not use yearly discount rates since this post.
This post is merely covering the 2 suites through the scope of their email applications, and these costs cover lots of other functions. If cost is your main factor, think about each suite in overall before making a decision.
Reduce of Use
The biggest distinction between the 2 suites overall is Microsoft's desktop apps, which are even more feature-packed relative to Google's web apps.
While the functions are not as various in between the email applications, the full Gmail experience is just accessible through a web internet browser.
With Outlook's desktop app, users get the complete Exchange server experience, with the added benefit of having the ability to read and prepare emails while offline.
If you are on a plane, replying to e-mails and working on files you prepare to send out later on might be the finest usage of your time.
With Outlook, you do not need to wait on the web to continue working, only to deliver your work.
Gmail's user interface can't be reached without web connectivity unless you first leap through some hoops.
At the time of this writing, you will require to utilize Google's Chrome browser, have Gmail bookmarked, and sync your e-mail via their offline feature, the dependability of which has actually been arguable throughout the years.
Both have mobile applications, so that concern can be worked around, but reacting to a bevy of work e-mails on a mobile device can be a struggle.
The complete suite of Microsoft Office desktop applications will be a much larger advantage for Microsoft in comparing other apps, but we'll still provide Outlook a slight, however considerable, advantage over Gmail due to ease of usage.
Searchability
As you would expect, the company known for its online search engine enables you to discover e-mails you need more reliably.
Gmail's advantage starts with its categorization utilizing labels. Several labels can be applied to each email or thread, and subcategories can be developed within labels to produce more of a filing system.
If multiple labels have actually been applied to a single e-mail or term, those messages will appear under each label. Furthermore, labels allow you to auto-filter incoming e-mails based upon hand-chosen criteria.
In Outlook, arranging is restricted to folders, forcing users to classify each email/thread into a singular location.
When it comes to the real search function, both permit users to search utilizing keywords, as well as folders/labels, senders, and date got.
Gmail not just has deeper advanced-search functions, by all accounts, but it is also flat-out more accurate.
This is the first solid win for Gmail, as Outlook's searchability and categorization are not as robust.
Security
Microsoft is the leader in this category, and it is not especially close. Their remarkable standing is not just huge, however it appears on 2 different fronts.
Google has actually come under fire recently regarding its handling of individual information, with reports that the business scans user emails. More notably, Google supposedly tracks your location, your activity, and even your voice for the purpose of targeted ads.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is far more transparent about their personal privacy policy and the information they gather.
If your organization transmits delicate or personal information routinely, it most likely goes without stating that you would feel more comfortable using Microsoft and Outlook. Even if you aren't sending out and getting personal managed it services information, it would take a great deal of other advantages to exceed such apparent privacy concerns.
For supervisors, Outlook uses a lot more internal security in the form of authorizations. While Outlook's folder company does not present the same searchability as Gmail's labels, it does offer users the capability to allow and prohibit certain actions within folders.
Outlook offers users 10 differing roles to pick from, along with a custom-made function where the supervisor can hand-select specific actions one by one.
These actions include everything from reading, editing, erasing, and sending messages to seeing your calendar's specific conferences or spare time.
Functionally, this allows supervisors to hand over tasks to their subordinates without providing full-blown access to more crucial information. It likewise stops dissatisfied employees from possibly taking or erasing details considered sensitive.
You can entrust account access to others in Gmail, which is basically like handing over the secrets to your cars and truck. You can't appoint levels of access, hide private messages, and even see messages sent out by your delegate in your place.
Among, if not the most important classification is a runaway win for Outlook. With detailed choices and a personal privacy policy that is much more transparent, Microsoft 365's email platform stands alone.
Calendar
Technically, Google Calendar is not a part of Gmail, though all it takes to sync the 2 is a Workspace account and a few clicks through Gmail's menu.
For the sake of taking a more comprehensive take a look at Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, we'll compare Outlook's calendar to Google Calendar here.
Gmail users lamented the platform's combination with other organizations or clients who used Outlook.
Some grievances included that updates to standing conferences made from Outlook accounts would not update in Google Calendar, and the failure to press upgraded info to participants.
Additionally, Google Calendar will automatically try to turn all of your video conferences into a Google Meet call. Its default setting will instantly post a Google Meet link into your calendar entry, which function needs to be disabled by an administrator.
Otherwise, both platforms have actually included combinations with the other, and by all accounts, they work seamlessly. For all intents and functions, this function is a draw.
Decision
Like a lot of things, this decision mostly boils down to personal choice. A lot of the distinctions between Outlook and Gmail have benefits based upon how your business operates, as well as your budget.
Ultimately, the transparency and security of Outlook make it the stronger offering. If you find yourself arranging through countless e-mails a day, however, Gmail might be the right option for you.