If you’re a freelance worker, or someone in need of a reliable digital office suite, chances are you’ll find yourself at a fork in the road. One direction points to Microsoft Office 365 and other leads to Google Suite. The decision is tough. Especially when you tap or click here to see these pro Microsoft tricks.
Make no mistake, both are great options and come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. But, when it comes to putting the two side by side, as far as apps, capabilities and other tech factors go, you’re talking about splitting hairs. This makes the decision that much more difficult.
But don’t panic. As always, we’ve got you covered. We’ll compare and contrast both suites and highlight each of their key features — including usability and pricing — to help you decide which best fits your needs.
G Suite vs. Office 365
Google Suite and Office 365 are both smartly produced integrated suites of collaboration and productivity apps. While G Suite offers Google apps like Gmail, Google Docs and Drive, Office 365 offers products and apps of their own, such as Outlook, Word and One Drive.
No doubt you’ve heard of these apps before, but maybe now you’re questioning which suite offers the best interface, products, apps and price for you.
Google Suite is made up of a plethora of applications. The most widely used are:
- Slides, a presentation app.
- Sheets, a spreadsheet app.
- Docs, a word processor.
- Drive, Google’s file storage platform.
- Gmail, Google’s email system.
It also offers top-notch integration of third-party apps, which can be downloaded from the Google Store.
Microsoft Office 365 also features a wide-range of well-known tools:
- PowerPoint, a presentation app.
- Excel, a spreadsheet app.
- Word, a word processor.
- One Drive, Microsoft’s file storage platform.
- Outlook, Microsoft’s email system.
To make collaboration even easier, Microsoft is compatible with other key programs, such as Skype and Microsoft Teams.
The best way to determine which option is best suited to your needs is to break down each and take a closer look at features, pricing and ease of use.
Gmail vs. Outlook
When it comes to email, some of the key attributes you’re looking for are interface, look, feel and storage. Right off the bat, we can tell you both Gmail and Outlook have two very different interfaces. Though both share the same inbox issues; tap or click here to learn more.
Outlook’s interface is loaded with tons of customization features, most of which you’ll never get around to using. Meanwhile, Gmail has its own set of functionalities. It offers a much simpler user experience and focuses on giving you essentials to complete tasks.
As far as look and feel, you’re talking Cadillac vs Corvette. Outlook is more traditional and has more of corporate look and feel, while Gmail is geared more towards the creative start-up type.
Storage is also a big a factor. Assuming you’ve gone with a free account, Gmail offers users 15GB of storage, which is shared across your Gmail, Google Drive and Photos. For the free account, Outlook only offers 5GB.
Here’s the pricing breakdown:
- Free – 15GB shared storage across Gmail, Google Drive and Photos.
- Basic $6/month – 30GB storage.
- Business $12/month – Unlimited storage and archiving plus low-code app development, smart search across G Suite, eDiscovery and audit reports.
- Enterprise $25/month – Unlimited storage plus advanced security and admin controls.
- Free Outlook account – 5GB storage
- Office 365 Personal $6.99/month – 1TB storage and access to all apps for one person.
- Office 365 Home $9.99/month (first month free) – 6TB storage (1TB per person up to 6 people) and access to all apps for up to six people.
- Office Home & Student 2019 $149.99 – One-time purchase for one person installed on one PC or Mac. No storage options.
As you can see, Google has Microsoft beat in terms of pricing and storage.
Docs vs. Word
Microsoft Word has been the go-to program for a long time, but Google Docs has come a long way and is making its case to be the next best thing. Docs takes the top spot with its fair share of Various features and tools, such as cloud storage, syncing and collaboration. Docs allows you to easily share and grant editing access to anyone you’re working with and visa versa.
In Docs, saving is automatic, and though these services are available with Office, only paying subscribers have access.
What Word lacks in auto-saving, collaboration and syncing, it makes up for with its functionality, formatting and offline access. Word is without a doubt the best option for those who need a document processor with offline access. This means you can easily create new offline documents that can be uploaded to the cloud when you’re online.
By default, Google Docs doesn’t offer offline functionality.
As far as formatting is concerned, Word takes the cake with ease. It makes it far easier to create unique text formatting rules than Google Docs does. When attaching images, spreadsheets or tables to your document, you don’t have to worry about whether the file will be formatted the same way if it’s opened with another third-party processor.
So, in terms of Doc vs. Word, Word is the clear winner with its offline access and formatting ease.
Sheets vs. Excel
Google Sheets is free to use, while Excel is more of a pay-as-you-go option. However, free doesn’t necessarily mean a better user experience. In fact, Excel’s key feature lies in its advanced functionality and hundreds of customization options. Plus, when it comes to mathematics and number crunching, Excel features more formulas, charts and graphs than Sheets.
Excel can also be used offline whenever you need it; however, Sheets allows users to collaborate with each other at the same time.
Overall, it seems there’s no clear winner. Excel is a clean choice right now, but Google is churning out updates left and right, much faster than Microsoft. This has resulted in the gap closing between the two. Tap or click here to learn more about Google’s updates.
Google is a solid choice for larger scale collaborations and public file sharing. And, let’s be honest, you can’t beat anything that’s free. But that offline access and the extra features makes Microsoft look like a winner too. Which do you use?
