Outlook vs Gmail: Which Email Platform is the Best for Your Budget?
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are the dominant performance suites on the planet of software as a service (SaaS), both providing a wide range of applications that modern business need.
While the functions of a lot of these applications are comparable, Microsoft and Google's proprietary offerings each have their own quirks, for much better or even worse.
In this post, we will take a look at email through Microsoft Outlook and Google's Gmail for Business. Individually, the set are the leading e-mail applications in service by market share and are pillars of M365 and Workspace, respectively.
Email may appear basic on the surface area, however the differences between Outlook and Gmail reveal that things are more complicated than sending and receiving mail.
The workings of each are various, starting with how they are accessed, and ending with the security and personal privacy supplied.
Prices
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are priced monthly, per user, and have various tiers of rates. As it refers to the mail accounts themselves, the distinction in tiers generally only impacts storage space.
Using Microsoft's Business Basic plan ($ 5/month/user when billed every year), 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, one of the most basic level of M365 does not include any of Microsoft's desktop applications, including Outlook. Users buying this plan will need to enjoy with the Outlook web app.
Google's Business Basic plan ($ 6), offers simply 30 GB of storage overall, combining email storage and drive storage together.
That's right, 60% of the mailbox storage attended to Microsoft represent 100% of your overall storage on Google's most affordable plan.
That disparity is likely an attempt by Google to upsell users to their premium strategies, with their Standard plan ($ 12) jumping to 2 TB of drive storage, and the Plus plan ($ 18) going to 5 TB.
Microsoft offers 2-5 TB of drive storage with their business offerings, but mailbox storage can essentially be unlimited through endless archiving beginning with the E3 strategy ($ 32).
A grid revealing the costs and storage abilities of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
Scoring round 1 here, let's call it a draw. At the least expensive level, the two platforms are comparable, and Gmail's web app could be worth the extra dollar each month.
As you move up strategies, the Outlook desktop app might swing your choice, as we will discuss later on. Bear in mind, Microsoft's prices is based upon a yearly dedication, while Google does not offer yearly discount rates since this post.
This post is just covering the two suites through the scope of their e-mail applications, and these costs cover numerous other features. If price is your main factor, consider each suite in total prior to making a decision.
Reduce of Use
The greatest difference in between the 2 suites overall is Microsoft's desktop apps, which are far more feature-packed relative to Google's web apps.
While the functions are not as different in between the email 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 advantage of being able to check out and draft e-mails while offline.
If you are on an airplane, replying to e-mails and working on files you prepare to send out later might be the best usage of your time.
With Outlook, you don't need to wait for the internet to continue working, just to provide your work.
Gmail's user interface can't be reached without web connection unless you initially leap through some hoops.
At the time of this writing, you will require to use Google's Chrome internet browser, have Gmail bookmarked, and sync your email through their offline feature, the reliability of which has actually been debatable over the years.
Both have mobile applications, so that issue can be worked around, however responding to a bunch of work e-mails on a mobile phone can be a battle.
The full suite of Microsoft Office desktop applications will be a much larger advantage for Microsoft in comparing other apps, however we'll still provide Outlook a small, but significant, advantage over Gmail due to reduce of usage.
Searchability
As you would anticipate, the company known for its search engine permits you to discover emails you require more dependably.
Gmail's advantage begins with its categorization utilizing labels. Numerous labels can be applied to each email or thread, and subcategories can be created within labels to produce more of a filing system.
If several labels have 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, sorting is limited to folders, forcing users to classify each email/thread into a singular location.
When it comes to the actual search function, both enable users to search using keywords, as well as folders/labels, senders, and date got.
Gmail not just has much deeper advanced-search functions, by all accounts, however it is also flat-out more accurate.
This is the first strong win for Gmail, as Outlook's searchability and categorization are not as robust.
Security
Microsoft is the leader in this classification, and it is not particularly close. Their superior standing is not simply vast, however it is apparent on two various fronts.
Google has come under fire recently concerning its handling of personal information, with reports that the business scans user e-mails. More significantly, Google supposedly tracks your area, your activity, and even your voice for the purpose of targeted advertisements.
Microsoft is much more transparent about their personal privacy policy and the data they collect.
If your business transfers delicate or personal data routinely, it most likely goes without saying that you would feel more comfy utilizing Microsoft and Outlook. Even if you aren't sending out and receiving personal data, it would take a lot of other benefits to outweigh such apparent personal privacy concerns.
For managers, Outlook offers even more internal security in the form of permissions. While Outlook's folder company does not present the gold coast it same searchability as Gmail's labels, it does give users the capability to permit and prohibit certain actions within folders.
Outlook provides users 10 differing roles to choose from, along with a custom role where the manager can hand-select particular actions one by one.
These actions include everything from reading, modifying, erasing, and sending messages to seeing your calendar's particular meetings or downtime.
Functionally, this enables supervisors to hand over tasks to their subordinates without providing major access to more vital information. It also stops unhappy staff members from potentially taking or deleting details deemed sensitive.
You can hand over account access to others in Gmail, which is basically like turning over the keys to your vehicle. You can't designate levels of access, hide private messages, or perhaps see messages sent by your delegate in your place.
One of, if not the most crucial category is a runaway win for Outlook. With extensive 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 takes to sync the 2 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.
Gmail users regreted the platform's integration with other companies or clients who utilized Outlook.
Some grievances included that updates to standing meetings made from Outlook accounts would not upgrade in Google Calendar, and the failure to push updated details to participants.
Furthermore, Google Calendar will immediately attempt to turn all of your video conferences into a Google Meet call. Its default setting will instantly publish a Google Meet link into your calendar entry, which function requires to be disabled by an administrator.
Otherwise, both platforms have actually included combinations with the other, and by all accounts, they work effortlessly. For all intents and functions, this function is a draw.
Verdict
Like many things, this choice mostly comes down to individual choice. Much of the differences between Outlook and Gmail have actually benefits based on how your business runs, along with your spending plan.
Eventually, the transparency and security of Outlook make it the more powerful offering. If you discover yourself arranging through countless e-mails a day, nevertheless, Gmail may be the right option for you.