In this guide 6 sections
Pick Microsoft 365 if your team lives in desktop Excel, Word and Outlook files, with macros and heavy formatting that must open exactly as built. Otherwise Google Workspace usually fits. Four things settle it: file habits, admin controls, what happens to a leaver’s mailbox, and how painful a later switch would be.
Start from how your team opens files today
Watch what people actually double click. If the accounts desk keeps macro-enabled workbooks, pivot tables and linked sheets, Microsoft 365 opens them as built, whereas Google Sheets converts most files but can break macros.
Now consider the sales team. They comment on one shared proposal or edit a tracker together, and in that case Google Docs and Sheets feel lighter because several people can type at once. Nobody saves a copy called final2.
Ask three heavy users to try a real quotation file in each product for a week, then note what broke and what felt slow. That settles more than any feature table.
- Macro-enabled workbooks and linked sheets
- Documents with tracked changes and styles
- Accounting package exports to Excel or CSV
- Shared trackers edited by several people
Compare mail, shared drives and calendars
Both give a business mailbox on your own domain, shared calendars and meeting links, so the real difference is how each feels after a month. Outlook suits people who work offline, rely on rules and folders, and want the desktop client to keep working when the connection drops. Gmail rewards people who search, not file.
Shared storage differs in feel. Microsoft uses SharePoint libraries and OneDrive sync that map onto folder trees staff already know, whereas Google shared drives let files belong to the team, not their author.
Send a large attachment. Open the sales@ shared mailbox. Book the meeting room calendar. Do all three before you decide.
Look at the admin controls you will actually use
Without an IT person, an office needs a short list: second-step sign-in, password resets, remote wipe for a lost phone, limits on external sharing and sign-in reports by country.
Microsoft offers deeper device management through Intune and conditional access on higher plans, which suits an office with many laptops and phones to manage. Google’s console has fewer switches to set wrongly.
Pick the product whose admin screen your office manager can read without a course, because a control nobody understands protects nothing and a wrong switch can expose a folder. Fewer switches mean fewer mistakes.
- Second-step sign-in enforcement
- Remote wipe for phones and laptops
- External sharing limits
- Sign-in and audit reports
Decide what happens when someone leaves
This is where small offices get hurt. A salesperson resigns, an admin deletes the account, and the quotes, customer threads and files owned by that person go with it, unless ownership was transferred first. Both can transfer ownership. An admin must do it first.
Set a leaver routine in either platform. Convert the mailbox to a shared one or forward it to the manager, move the files to a team drive, and remove the licence last. Keep the data for a set period.
Rehearse it on a dummy account, then confirm that the converted shared mailbox still receives mail from outside senders and that the manager can open every folder inside it.
Think about the cost of switching later
Moving between the two is possible. Mail, calendars and contacts migrate with vendor tools or a migration partner, yet formatting, shared links, macros and comment history rarely arrive intact. Staff need a few weeks to settle.
The cheapest switch is the one avoided. Run the pilot, choose, and agree naming rules for shared folders from the first day, because a tidy structure moves between platforms more cleanly than a messy one.
Book the trial this month.
Suite comparison scorecard
A scorecard has one row each for desktop file fit, mail and calendar, shared storage, admin controls, leaver handling and switching effort, scored from one to five. Scores go in after the week-long pilot. A notes column records the tester, the sample file and the date, so a doubtful score can be traced back to the exact test that produced it.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Can a small office use both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace?
Yes, though it rarely pays. Google for mail with Microsoft desktop apps for Excel is possible, but two admin consoles and two sets of sharing rules double the housekeeping. Most small offices do better choosing one.
Which is easier to administer without an IT person?
Google, usually. Its admin console has fewer options and is quicker to learn, which suits an office manager with an hour a week to spare. Microsoft’s console offers more control, which helps once many laptops need managing, but it takes careful setup and regular attention from someone who understands it.
What happens to a leaver’s mailbox?
An admin can convert it to a shared mailbox, forward it to the manager or export everything to a file for the records. Do it first. Deleting the user starts a short retention clock, and after it ends the data may be gone for good, along with every attachment and calendar entry inside.
How hard is it to switch later?
Mail and calendars move with standard tools. Shared links, macros and comment history are the hard parts, so plan a few weeks of overlap and agree a cutover date before anyone starts.