| For business leaders looking for the right productivity suite providing balance between productivity, ease of use, quality documents, and easy and secure file sharing, the number of options can be a challenge. Office 365 and Google Workspace are the two most utilized productivity suites in offices around the world, but which is better? In this comparison we review five key features to help you determine which suite is right for you. Applications (document and spreadsheet editors)
Popular opinion says that most document editors are the same, and that with Google Docs and Microsoft Word, it makes no difference. But is that really the case? Google has basic document editing features, which are simple and limited compared to the features you get with Microsoft Word. If you need to write a document more complicated than a short report or a single page letter, then you will be better off using Office 365. Microsoft’s suite offers greater flexibility with your documents than Google’s suite, with Office 365 allowing users to seamlessly embed features from one application to another across any of the Office productivity components. Google, on the other hand, struggles to do the same. Office has been around since the late ’80s. And, over the past four decades, Microsoft has made constant changes and improvements to the document-editing capabilities in Word, as well as their entire Office suite. Email and collaboration
Both Office 365 and Google Workspace offer email, calendar and contacts. However, Office 365 really shines in how it leverages Exchange to provide robust collaboration features such as shared mailboxes, resource calendars, Teams, etc. Users who are already familiar with Outlook will enjoy a richer experience thanks to its tight integration with Office 365 as opposed to Google Workspace which requires using either the web interface or Google Workspace Sync to utilize features in Outlook beyond email. Storage
Storage is where the two suites align the closest: Google Drive and One Drive share many similarities. Both have a desktop application, allow file sharing and offer free and paid storage. Cloud storage is purely based off personal preference or business requirements. Bottom line: There are more similarities than differences. Currently this factor is negligible in your decision. User interface
In terms of user interface, it is largely a matter of which suite you already know. If users are PC and Office-centric, then Office 365 is familiar and easy to use with both a desktop and web-based system. Organizations with younger workforce who grew up using Gmail and G Suite might be more comfortable with Google’s mostly web-based interface. That said, both are relatively simple to learn. Security
Google has made strides in user security over the years, building out a minimal set of security features, allowing admins to control user accounts, access and document control. With Microsoft, on the other hand user security is built into every level and admins have full control of the access policies for internal and external users. This level of control allows you to make custom policies based on your unique infrastructure and security needs. Microsoft has also made it clear that they will not harvest user data for advertising. The takeaway
While Microsoft and Google are comparable for office suite functions and storage, Microsoft offers significant advantages in user privacy, feature-rich editors and customizable layered security for your organization. | 
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