Outlook vs Gmail: Which Email Platform is the Best for Your Budget plan?
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are the dominant efficiency suites in the world of software application as a service (SaaS), both providing a vast array of applications that modern-day companies require.
While the functions of a number of these applications are similar, Microsoft and Google's proprietary offerings each have their own quirks, for better or worse.
In this post, we will look at e-mail through Microsoft Outlook and Google's Gmail for Business. Independently, the pair are the leading e-mail applications in organization by market share and are pillars of M365 and Workspace, respectively.
Email might seem basic on the surface area, however the differences between Outlook and Gmail show that things are more complex than sending and receiving mail.
The functions of each are various, starting with how they are accessed, and ending with the security and personal privacy provided.
Pricing
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are priced per month, per user, and have various tiers of rates. As it pertains to the mail accounts themselves, the difference in tiers normally just affects storage area.
Using Microsoft's Business Basic plan ($ 5/month/user when billed annually), each user gets 50 GB of email storage space, which is independent of the additional 1 TB of cloud storage in OneDrive.
Bear in mind, the most standard level of M365 does not consist of any of Microsoft's desktop applications, including Outlook. Users buying this strategy will have to be happy with the Outlook web app.
Google's Business Basic plan ($ 6), provides just 30 GB of storage in general, combining e-mail storage and drive storage together.
That's right, 60% of the mail box storage provided for Microsoft accounts for 100% of your total storage on Google's most inexpensive plan.
That inconsistency is likely an effort by Google to upsell users to their premium strategies, with their Standard strategy ($ 12) leaping to 2 TB of drive storage, and the Plus plan ($ 18) going to 5 TB.
Microsoft provides 2-5 TB of drive storage with their business offerings, however mailbox storage can essentially 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 most affordable level, the 2 platforms are comparable, and Gmail's web app might be worth the additional dollar each month.
As you move up plans, the Outlook desktop app might swing your decision, as we will talk about later. Bear in mind, Microsoft's rates is based upon an annual commitment, while Google does not use annual discount rates since this post.
This post is merely covering the 2 suites through the scope of their e-mail applications, and these rates cover lots of other functions. If cost is your primary factor, consider each suite in total before making a decision.
Relieve of Use
The most significant difference in between the 2 suites overall is Microsoft's desktop apps, which are much more feature-packed relative to Google's web apps.
While the functions are not as various between the email applications, the full Gmail experience is only available through a web internet browser.
With Outlook's desktop app, users get the complete Exchange server experience, with the included benefit of having the ability to check out and draft emails while offline.
For instance, if you are on an aircraft, responding to e-mails and dealing with documents you plan to send out later might be the very best use of your time.
With Outlook, you do not require to wait for the web to continue working, only to deliver your work.
Gmail's interface can't be reached without web connection unless you first jump 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 by means of their offline function, the dependability of which has actually been arguable throughout the years.
Both have mobile applications, so that issue can be worked around, however responding to a bevy of work emails on a mobile device can be a battle.
The complete suite of Microsoft Office desktop applications will be a much larger benefit for Microsoft in comparing other apps, but we'll still give Outlook a small, but considerable, advantage over Gmail due to ease of usage.
Searchability
As you would anticipate, the company understood for its online search engine allows you to find e-mails you require more reliably.
Gmail's advantage starts with its classification utilizing labels. Multiple labels can be used to each e-mail or thread, and subcategories can be created within labels to produce more of a filing system.
If several labels have actually been applied to a single email or term, those messages will appear under each label. Furthermore, labels enable you to auto-filter inbound e-mails based on hand-chosen requirements.
In Outlook, arranging is restricted to folders, requiring users to categorize each email/thread into a singular place.
When it comes to the real search function, both permit users to browse utilizing keywords, along with folders/labels, senders, and date received.
Gmail not only has much deeper advanced-search functions, by all accounts, but it is also flat-out more accurate.
This is the first solid win for Gmail, as Outlook's searchability and categorization are not as robust.
Security
Microsoft is the leader in this category, and it is not particularly close. Their remarkable standing is not just large, however it appears on two different fronts.
Google has come under fire just recently regarding its handling of personal data, with reports that the company scans user e-mails. More especially, Google reportedly tracks your managed service providers brisbane place, your activity, and even your voice for the purpose of targeted ads.
Microsoft is much more transparent about their personal privacy policy and the data they gather.
If your organization transfers sensitive or individual data routinely, it most likely goes without saying 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 obvious privacy concerns.
For managers, Outlook provides much more internal security in the kind of permissions. While Outlook's folder organization does not provide the very same searchability as Gmail's labels, it does offer users the ability to permit and prohibit certain actions within folders.
Outlook gives users 10 differing roles to pick from, along with a customized function where the manager can hand-select specific actions one by one.
These actions consist of everything from reading, editing, deleting, and sending out messages to seeing your calendar's specific meetings or downtime.
Functionally, this allows supervisors to entrust jobs to their subordinates without giving them full-blown access to more important details. It also stops dissatisfied staff members from possibly taking or erasing details deemed sensitive.
You can delegate account access to others in Gmail, which is essentially like turning over the secrets to your automobile. You can't designate levels of access, conceal private messages, or perhaps see messages sent out by your delegate in your place.
Among, if not the most essential classification is a runaway win for Outlook. With comprehensive choices and a personal privacy policy that is far more transparent, Microsoft 365's e-mail platform stands alone.
Calendar
Technically, Google Calendar is not a part of Gmail, though all it takes to sync the two is a Workspace account and a couple of 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.
At first, Gmail users regreted the platform's combination with other services or clients who utilized Outlook.
Some grievances included that updates to standing conferences made from Outlook accounts would not upgrade in Google Calendar, and the inability to push updated information to participants.
Furthermore, Google Calendar will immediately attempt to turn all of your video conferences into a Google Meet call. Its default setting will automatically post a Google Meet link into your calendar entry, which function requires to be disabled by an administrator.
Otherwise, both platforms have actually added integrations with the other, and by all accounts, they work flawlessly. For all intents and purposes, this function is a draw.
Verdict
Like many things, this decision mainly boils down to individual preference. A lot of the differences in between Outlook and Gmail have advantages based on how your company runs, as well as your spending plan.
