Outlook vs Gmail: Which Email Platform is the Best for Your Budget plan?
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are the dominant performance suites in the world of software as a service (SaaS), both using a large range of applications that modern business need.
While the functions of many of these applications are similar, Microsoft and Google's exclusive offerings each have their own quirks, for much better or even worse.
In this post, we will take a look at e-mail through Microsoft Outlook and Google's Gmail for Business. Individually, the pair are the leading e-mail applications in business by market share and are pillars of M365 and Workspace, respectively.
Email might seem simple on the surface area, however the distinctions in between Outlook and Gmail reveal that things are more complicated than sending out and getting mail.
The workings of each are various, beginning with how they are accessed, and ending with the security and personal fixed price it support privacy offered.
Prices
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are priced per month, per user, and have different tiers of prices. As it pertains to the mail accounts themselves, the distinction in tiers typically only impacts storage space.
Using Microsoft's Business Basic plan ($ 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.
Bear in mind, one of the most standard level of M365 does not include any of Microsoft's desktop applications, including Outlook. Users buying this strategy will need to enjoy with the Outlook web app.
On the other hand, Google's Business Basic strategy ($ 6), offers simply 30 GB of storage overall, integrating email storage and drive storage together.
That's right, 60% of the mailbox storage offered Microsoft accounts for 100% of your total storage on Google's cheapest strategy.
That discrepancy is likely an effort by Google to upsell users to their premium plans, with their Standard plan ($ 12) jumping to 2 TB of drive storage, and the Plus plan ($ 18) going to 5 TB.
A grid showing the rates and storage capabilities of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
Scoring round 1 here, let's call it a draw. At the cheapest level, the two platforms are similar, and Gmail's web app might be worth the extra dollar monthly.
As you move up strategies, the Outlook desktop app might swing your choice, as we will discuss later on. Keep in mind, Microsoft's pricing is based on a yearly dedication, while Google does not provide annual discount rates since this post.
This post is simply covering the 2 suites through the scope of their e-mail applications, and these costs cover lots of other features. If cost is your main factor, think about each suite in overall prior to making a decision.
Alleviate of Use
The most significant distinction in between the 2 suites total is Microsoft's desktop apps, which are even more feature-packed relative to Google's web apps.
While the functions are not as different between the email applications, the complete Gmail experience is only available through a web internet browser.
With Outlook's desktop app, users get the complete Exchange server experience, with the added benefit of being able to read and prepare emails while offline.
If you are on a plane, replying to e-mails and working on files you prepare to send out later on may be the finest use of your time.
With Outlook, you do not need to wait for the internet to continue working, only 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 through their offline function, the dependability of which has actually been debatable for many years.
Both have mobile applications, so that concern can be worked around, but responding to a bunch of work e-mails on a mobile device can be a battle.
The full suite of Microsoft Office desktop applications will be a much larger advantage for Microsoft in comparing other apps, but we'll still give Outlook a small, however significant, advantage over Gmail due to alleviate of use.
Searchability
As you would anticipate, the company understood for its online search engine allows you to discover e-mails you require more reliably.
Gmail's benefit starts with its categorization using 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 numerous labels have been used to a single e-mail or term, those messages will appear under each label. Furthermore, labels allow you to auto-filter inbound e-mails based on hand-chosen criteria.
In Outlook, sorting is limited to folders, requiring users to categorize each email/thread into a particular location.
When it comes to the real search function, both enable users to browse utilizing keywords, in addition to folders/labels, senders, and date received.
Gmail not just has deeper advanced-search functions, by all accounts, however it is likewise flat-out more precise.
This is the very 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 especially close. Their superior standing is not just huge, however it is apparent on 2 different fronts.
Google has actually come under fire just recently regarding its handling of personal data, with reports that the business scans user emails. More notably, Google supposedly tracks your place, your activity, and even your voice for the function of targeted advertisements.
Microsoft is much more transparent about their privacy policy and the information they collect.
If your service transmits delicate or personal data regularly, it most likely goes without stating that you would feel more comfy using Microsoft and Outlook. Even if you aren't sending out and receiving private data, it would take a great deal of other advantages to exceed such obvious privacy concerns.
For managers, Outlook offers much more internal security in the type of authorizations. While Outlook's folder organization does not provide the exact same searchability as Gmail's labels, it does give users the capability to permit and disallow particular actions within folders.
Outlook offers users 10 varying functions to choose from, in addition to a customized role where the supervisor can hand-select particular actions one by one.
Functionally, this allows managers to entrust tasks to their subordinates without providing full-scale access to more vital info. It also stops disgruntled staff members from possibly stealing or deleting information considered sensitive.
You can entrust account access to others in Gmail, which is basically like turning over the secrets to your automobile. You can't appoint levels of access, conceal private messages, and even see messages sent by your delegate in your place.
Among, if not the most essential classification is a runaway win for Outlook. With thorough options and a personal privacy policy that is far 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 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 integration with other organizations or clients who utilized Outlook.
Some complaints consisted of that updates to standing conferences made from Outlook accounts would not upgrade in Google Calendar, and the failure to push upgraded information to individuals.
In Addition, 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, 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 flawlessly. For all intents and functions, this function is a draw.
Verdict
Like the majority of things, this decision mostly comes down to personal choice. A number of the differences between Outlook and Gmail have advantages based upon how your business operates, along with your budget plan.
Eventually, the openness and security of Outlook make it the stronger offering. If you discover yourself arranging through thousands of e-mails a day, nevertheless, Gmail might be the right choice for you.