With the shift towards a hybrid of remote and office working companies need to adopt cloud collaboration solutions to ensure their employees can access company resources to efficiently do their jobs and stay productive.

The most common model available is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). For SMBs, SaaS are ready-to-use solutions designed to digitalise management or operational functions.

While there are several SaaS-based productivity options, there are two leaders in the space, namely Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) and Google Workspace (formerly G-Suite).

If you are deliberating on which platform to go with, here are some key differences between Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.

Depending on the size of your company or the type of industry you are in, file storage will be a crucial factor in deciding which SaaS option to go for.

With the Microsoft 365 Business Basic plan, you will receive file storage and sharing of 1 TB per user. Meanwhile, the Google Workplace Business Starter plan only offers 30GB of cloud storage per user. However, if you opt for Google Workspace’s Business Standard or Business Plus plans, you will enjoy 2 TB and 5 TB of storage (pooled, with minimum 5 users), respectively.

As for email storage, the Microsoft Business Basic plan comes with a 50GB inbox, on top of the 1 TB file storage offered. Meanwhile, the Google Workspace Business Starter plan’s email storage is part of the 30 GB of cloud storage provided per user. 

Business Protect Basic is a service that provides real-time threat and data protection for all devices from desktop to mobile platforms. While offering protection to your office setup, it also features mobile security which protects your employees’ devices and data though application scanning, blocking of unsafe websites and mobile device management. 

One of the most significant selling points for Microsoft 365 is the desktop applications the service offers. With the Microsoft Business Standard ($16.90 per month) and Premium ($29.96 per month) Plans, your employees will enjoy fully installed Office applications on up to five computers per user license. The applications are also available with the Basic package but can only be accessed online.

They will also be able to install Microsoft Office on up to five mobile devices per user license. As most businesses operate with Microsoft 365 applications such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, this will be a crucial factor in opting for Microsoft 365 over Google Workspace.

However, suppose your business has flexible application requirements. You can then consider Google Workspace’s suite of applications such as Docs, Sheets and Slides. Technically with Google Workspace, you can create documents from both Google Workspace and Microsoft Office. It is just that you can only create basic Microsoft Office documents, and formatting will likely be an issue.

When it comes to comparing applications, Word and Excel easily integrate with the entire Microsoft 365 platform. This can improve workflow efficiencies if written docs and spreadsheets are a major part of day-to-day business. On the other hand the Google suite offers stronger collaboration functions. In sitations where employees aren’t working side by side this is very helpful.

A key element of remote working is video conferencing to stay connected with your team. Both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace have their own video conferencing tools, namely Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.

The most significant difference between the two video conferencing options is the participant limits on calls. For Microsoft 365, you will be able to have up to 300 participants on a call. However, in Google Meet, your team is restricted to just 100 pax on the Business Starter plan, 150 pax on the Business Standard plan, and 250 pax on the Business Plus plan.

When weighing the two options SMBs need to consider how many users need access, how much storage is required and how important is collaboration over functions and usability. Picking the right cloud office software ultimately comes down to business need and budget.