Outlook vs Gmail: Which Email Platform is the Best for Your Budget?
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are the dominant efficiency suites worldwide of software as a service (SaaS), both providing a wide range of applications that contemporary companies require.
While the functions of many of these applications are similar, Microsoft and Google's exclusive offerings each have their own peculiarities, for better or even 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 service by market share and are pillars of M365 and Workspace, respectively.
Email may appear easy on the surface, however the distinctions between Outlook and Gmail show that things are more complicated than sending out and getting mail.
The operations of each are different, starting with how they are accessed, and ending with the security and privacy offered.
Rates
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are priced per month, per user, and have different tiers of pricing. As it relates to the mail accounts themselves, the difference in tiers usually only impacts storage area.
Using Microsoft's Business Basic strategy ($ 5/month/user when billed annually), each user gets 50 GB of email storage area, which is independent of the extra 1 TB of cloud storage in OneDrive.
Remember, one of the most standard level of M365 does not include any of Microsoft's desktop applications, consisting of Outlook. Users acquiring this plan will need to enjoy with the Outlook web app.
Google's Business Basic plan ($ 6), provides simply 30 GB of storage in general, integrating email storage and drive storage together.
That's right, 60% of the mail box storage offered Microsoft represent 100% of your overall storage on Google's most inexpensive strategy.
That discrepancy is likely an attempt by Google to upsell users to their premium plans, with their Standard strategy ($ 12) jumping to 2 TB of drive storage, and the Plus strategy ($ 18) going to 5 TB.
Microsoft supplies 2-5 TB of drive storage with their enterprise offerings, but mailbox storage can basically be endless through unlimited archiving starting with the E3 plan ($ 32).
A grid showing the costs and storage abilities of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
Scoring round 1 here, let's call it a draw. At the cheapest level, the two platforms are comparable, and Gmail's web app might be worth the extra dollar each month.
As you move up plans, the Outlook desktop app might swing your decision, as we will discuss later on. Remember, Microsoft's prices is based upon an annual dedication, while Google does not use yearly discount rates since this post.
This post is just covering the 2 suites through the scope of their e-mail applications, and these costs cover lots of other functions. If price is your primary factor, consider each suite in overall before deciding.
Relieve of Use
The greatest difference between the two suites total is Microsoft's desktop apps, which are far more feature-packed relative to Google's web apps.
While the functions are not as different between the e-mail applications, the full Gmail experience is only available through a web browser.
With Outlook's desktop app, users get the complete Exchange server experience, with the included benefit of being able to check out and prepare emails while offline.
If you are on an airplane, responding to e-mails and working on files you prepare to send out later may be the finest usage of your time.
With Outlook, you do not require to wait for the web to continue working, just to provide your work.
Gmail's interface can't be reached without internet connection unless you initially jump through some hoops.
At the time of this writing, you will need to utilize Google's Chrome web browser, have Gmail bookmarked, and sync your e-mail via their offline feature, the dependability of which has been debatable over the years.
Both have mobile applications, so that problem can be worked around, but reacting to a bunch of work e-mails on a mobile phone can be a struggle.
The full suite of Microsoft Office desktop applications will be a much bigger benefit for Microsoft in comparing other apps, however we'll still provide Outlook a minor, but significant, advantage over Gmail due to reduce of use.
Searchability
As you would anticipate, the company known for its online search engine enables you to find e-mails you require more reliably.
Gmail's benefit begins with its classification utilizing labels. Numerous labels can be used to each email or thread, and subcategories can be produced within labels to produce more of a filing system.
If numerous labels have been applied to a single e-mail or term, those messages will appear under each label. Additionally, labels enable you to auto-filter inbound e-mails based upon hand-chosen criteria.
In Outlook, arranging is limited to folders, requiring users to classify each email/thread into a singular location.
When it comes to the actual search function, both enable users to browse using keywords, in addition to folders/labels, senders, and date got.
Gmail not only has deeper advanced-search functions, by all accounts, but it is likewise flat-out more precise.
This is the very first solid win for Gmail, as Outlook's searchability and classification are not as robust.
Security
Microsoft is the leader in this category, and it is not especially close. Their superior standing is not just huge, but it appears on 2 different fronts.
Google has actually come under fire recently concerning its handling of personal information, with reports that the business scans user e-mails. More especially, Google supposedly tracks your location, your activity, and even your voice for the function of targeted advertisements.
On the other hand, Microsoft is much more transparent about their privacy policy and the data they gather.
If your company transfers delicate or personal data regularly, it most likely goes without saying that you would feel more comfy utilizing Microsoft and Outlook. Even if you aren't sending and getting private information, it would take managed it services brisbane a great deal of other advantages to exceed such obvious privacy concerns.
For managers, Outlook provides much 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 provide users the ability to enable and prohibit certain actions within folders.
These actions include everything from reading, editing, erasing, and sending out messages to seeing your calendar's specific conferences or leisure time.
Functionally, this allows managers to hand over tasks to their subordinates without providing major access to more important details. It likewise stops unhappy workers from potentially taking or deleting information considered sensitive.
You can entrust account access to others in Gmail, which is basically like handing over the secrets to your automobile. You can't designate levels of access, hide personal messages, or even see messages sent by your delegate in your place.
One of, if not the most crucial classification is a runaway win for Outlook. With comprehensive alternatives and a 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 requires to sync the two is a Workspace account and a couple of 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.
Initially, Gmail users regreted the platform's combination with other companies or clients who used Outlook.
Some problems consisted of that updates to standing conferences made from Outlook accounts would not update in Google Calendar, and the inability to press upgraded details to individuals.
In Addition, Google Calendar will immediately try to turn all of your video meetings into a Google Meet call. Its default setting will immediately publish a Google Meet link into your calendar entry, which function requires to be disabled by an administrator.
Otherwise, both platforms have actually added combinations with the other, and by all accounts, they work effortlessly. For all intents and purposes, this function is a draw.
Decision
Like the majority of things, this decision mostly boils down to personal choice. Many of the distinctions in between Outlook and Gmail have actually benefits based on how your business operates, in addition to your budget.
Eventually, the openness and security of Outlook make it the more powerful offering. If you find yourself sorting through thousands of emails a day, however, Gmail may be the right alternative for you.