Outlook vs Gmail: Which Email Platform is the Best for Your Budget?
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are the dominant performance suites worldwide of software as a service (SaaS), both offering a wide variety of applications that modern-day companies need.
While the functions of a number of these applications are similar, Microsoft and Google's proprietary offerings each have their own quirks, for much better or worse.
In this post, we will take a look at e-mail through Microsoft Outlook and Google's Gmail for Business. Separately, the pair are the leading e-mail applications in company by market share and are pillars of M365 and Workspace, respectively.
Email might appear simple on the surface area, but the distinctions in between Outlook and Gmail reveal that things are more complicated than sending out and getting mail.
The functions of each are different, starting with how they are accessed, and ending with the security and privacy offered.
Pricing
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are priced monthly, per user, and have various tiers of pricing. As it refers to the mail accounts themselves, the difference in tiers typically just affects storage space.
Utilizing Microsoft's Business Basic strategy ($ 5/month/user when billed each year), each user gets 50 GB of email storage area, which is independent of the extra 1 TB of cloud storage in OneDrive.
Remember, the most fundamental level of M365 does not include any of Microsoft's desktop applications, consisting of Outlook. Users acquiring this strategy will have to be happy with the Outlook web app.
Meanwhile, Google's Business Basic plan ($ 6), supplies just 30 GB of storage overall, combining email storage and drive storage together.
That's right, 60% of the mail box storage provided for Microsoft represent 100% of your total storage on Google's most affordable strategy.
That disparity is likely an effort by Google to upsell users to their premium plans, with their Standard strategy ($ 12) leaping to 2 TB of drive storage, and the Plus strategy ($ 18) going to 5 TB.
Microsoft provides 2-5 TB of drive storage with their enterprise offerings, but mail box storage can basically be endless through endless archiving beginning with the E3 plan ($ 32).
A grid revealing the rates and storage abilities of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
Scoring round 1 here, let's call it a draw. At the most affordable level, the 2 platforms are similar, and Gmail's web app might be worth the extra dollar per month.
As you go up strategies, the Outlook desktop app might swing your decision, as we will go over later on. Keep in mind, Microsoft's prices is based on an annual commitment, while Google does not offer yearly discount rates as of this post.
This post is just covering the two suites through the scope of their email applications, and these rates cover many other functions. If cost is your primary aspect, think about each suite in total before making a decision.
Ease of Use
The greatest difference between the 2 suites total is Microsoft's desktop apps, which are far more feature-packed relative to Google's web apps.
While the features are not as various in between the email applications, the full Gmail experience is just available through a web internet browser.
With Outlook's desktop app, users get the complete Exchange server experience, with the included advantage of being able to read and draft e-mails while offline.
For instance, if you are on an airplane, responding to emails and working on files you plan to send later on may be the best use of your time.
With Outlook, you don't need to await the web to continue working, just to deliver your work.
Gmail's user interface can't be reached without internet connection unless you first leap through some hoops.
At the time of this writing, you will need to use Google's Chrome web browser, have Gmail bookmarked, and sync your email through their offline feature, the dependability of which has been arguable for many years.
Both have mobile applications, so that problem can be worked around, however reacting to a bunch of work emails on a mobile device can be a battle.
The complete suite of Microsoft Office desktop applications will be a much bigger advantage for Microsoft in comparing other apps, however we'll still offer Outlook a minor, however substantial, advantage over Gmail due to ease of usage.
Searchability
As you would expect, the business understood for its online search engine enables you to find emails you require more reliably.
Gmail's benefit starts with its classification utilizing labels. Numerous labels can be used to each e-mail or thread, and subcategories can be developed within labels to produce more of a filing system.
If several labels have actually been used to a single email or term, those messages will appear under each label. Moreover, labels permit you to auto-filter inbound e-mails based upon hand-chosen criteria.
In Outlook, arranging is restricted to folders, forcing users to categorize each email/thread into a particular location.
As for the real search function, both permit users to browse using keywords, along with folders/labels, senders, and date received.
Gmail not only has deeper advanced-search functions, by all accounts, however it is also flat-out more accurate.
This is the 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 remarkable standing is not just huge, but it appears on two different fronts.
Google has come under fire just recently concerning its handling of personal data, with reports that the company scans user emails. More especially, Google apparently tracks your location, your activity, and even your voice for the function of targeted ads.
Microsoft is much more transparent about their privacy policy and the data they collect.
If your business transfers delicate or individual data frequently, it most likely goes without stating that you would feel more comfortable utilizing Microsoft and Outlook. Even if you aren't sending and receiving personal information, it would take a great deal of other benefits to outweigh such apparent privacy issues.
For managers, Outlook uses a lot more internal security in the kind of approvals. While Outlook's folder company managed it services brisbane does not provide the very same searchability as Gmail's labels, it does offer users the ability to permit and prohibit particular actions within folders.
Outlook offers users 10 varying roles to pick from, in addition to a customized function where the manager can hand-select specific actions one by one.
These actions consist of whatever from reading, modifying, deleting, and sending messages to seeing your calendar's particular conferences or free time.
Functionally, this permits supervisors to hand over tasks to their subordinates without giving them major access to more important info. It likewise stops dissatisfied staff members from possibly taking or erasing information deemed delicate.
You can hand over account access to others in Gmail, which is basically like handing over the secrets to your vehicle. You can't designate levels of access, conceal personal messages, and even see messages sent out by your delegate on your behalf.
One of, if not the most important classification is a runaway win for Outlook. With thorough options and a privacy policy that is a lot 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 few clicks through Gmail's menu.
For the sake of taking a wider take a look at Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, we'll compare Outlook's calendar to Google Calendar here.
Gmail users regreted the platform's integration with other companies or clients who used Outlook.
Some problems consisted of that updates to standing meetings made from Outlook accounts would not upgrade in Google Calendar, and the inability to push upgraded information to participants.
Additionally, Google Calendar will instantly attempt to turn all of your video meetings into a Google Meet call. Its default setting will automatically post a Google Meet link into your calendar entry, and that function needs to be disabled by an administrator.
Otherwise, both platforms have added integrations with the other, and by all accounts, they work perfectly. For all intents and purposes, this function is a draw.
Decision
Like many things, this decision mostly comes down to personal choice. A number of the distinctions between Outlook and Gmail have advantages based on how your company operates, as well as your budget plan.
Ultimately, the openness and security of Outlook make it the stronger offering. If you find yourself sorting through countless emails a day, nevertheless, Gmail might be the right choice for you.