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 using 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 peculiarities, for much better or worse.
In this post, we will take a look at email through Microsoft Outlook and Google's Gmail for Business. Individually, the pair are the leading e-mail applications in organization by market share and are pillars of M365 and Workspace, respectively.
Email may appear easy on the surface area, however the differences between Outlook and Gmail show that things are more complex 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 offered.
Prices
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are priced per month, per user, and have different tiers of rates. As it relates to the mail accounts themselves, the difference in tiers generally just affects storage area.
Using Microsoft's Business Basic strategy ($ 5/month/user when billed each year), each user gets 50 GB of e-mail storage space, which is independent of the additional 1 TB of cloud storage in OneDrive.
Keep in mind, the most basic level of M365 does not include any of Microsoft's desktop applications, consisting of Outlook. Users buying this plan will have to be happy with the Outlook web app.
Google's Business Basic strategy ($ 6), provides simply 30 GB of storage overall, combining 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 least expensive strategy.
That discrepancy is likely an attempt by Google to upsell users to their premium plans, with their Standard plan ($ 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 enterprise offerings, but mail box storage can essentially be unlimited through unlimited archiving beginning with the E3 strategy ($ 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 2 platforms are similar, and Gmail's web app could be worth the extra dollar per month.
As you go up strategies, the Outlook desktop app could swing your decision, as we will talk about later on. Keep in mind, Microsoft's prices is based upon a yearly commitment, while Google does not use yearly discounts as of this post.
This post is simply covering the two suites through the scope of their email applications, and these rates cover numerous other features. If rate is your main factor, think about each suite in overall before making a decision.
Ease of Use
While the features are not as various in between the email applications, the complete Gmail experience is just available through a web browser.
With Outlook's desktop app, users get the complete Exchange server experience, with the added advantage of being able to read and prepare emails while offline.
If you are on an airplane, replying to emails and working on files you prepare to send later might be the finest usage of your time.
With Outlook, you don't need to wait on the web to continue working, just to deliver your work.
Gmail's interface can't be reached without web connection unless you first leap through some hoops.
At the time of this writing, you will require to use Google's Chrome browser, have Gmail bookmarked, and sync your email via their offline feature, the reliability of which has been arguable over the years.
Both have mobile applications, so that concern can be worked around, however responding to a bevy of work e-mails on a mobile device can be a struggle.
The full suite of Microsoft Office desktop applications will be a much bigger advantage for Microsoft in comparing other apps, however we'll still give Outlook a slight, however substantial, benefit over Gmail due to ease of usage.
Searchability
As you would anticipate, the business understood for its search engine permits you to find emails you need more dependably.
Gmail's benefit starts with its categorization using labels. Multiple labels can be used to each email or thread, and subcategories can be produced within labels to produce more of a filing system.
If multiple labels have been used to a single email or term, those messages will appear under each label. Additionally, labels enable you to auto-filter inbound emails based upon hand-chosen requirements.
In Outlook, arranging is limited to folders, forcing users to classify each email/thread into a singular location.
When it comes to the real search function, both permit users to browse using keywords, as well as folders/labels, senders, and date received.
Gmail not only has deeper advanced-search functions, by all accounts, but it is likewise flat-out more precise.
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 classification, and it is not especially close. Their exceptional standing is not just huge, but it appears on two various fronts.
Google has actually come under fire just recently concerning its handling of personal information, with reports that the business scans user emails. More especially, Google apparently tracks your place, your activity, and even your voice for the function of targeted ads.
Microsoft is much more transparent about their privacy policy and the information they gather.
If your service sends delicate or individual information routinely, it most likely goes without stating that you would feel more comfortable using Microsoft and Outlook. Even if you aren't sending and receiving private information, it would take a lot of other benefits to surpass such apparent privacy issues.
For supervisors, Outlook provides much more internal security in the form of approvals. While Outlook's folder organization does not present the same searchability as Gmail's labels, it does give users the ability to enable and prohibit specific actions within folders.
Outlook provides users 10 varying roles to select from, in addition to a custom-made role where the manager can hand-select specific actions one by one.
These actions include whatever from reading, modifying, erasing, and sending messages to seeing your calendar's specific conferences or spare time.
Functionally, this enables supervisors to entrust jobs to their subordinates without giving them full-blown access to more important details. It likewise stops dissatisfied staff members from possibly taking or deleting details deemed delicate.
You can entrust account access to others in Gmail, which is essentially like turning over the secrets to your car. You can't appoint levels of gain access to, conceal personal messages, or even see messages sent by your delegate in your place.
One of, if not the most crucial category is a runaway win for Outlook. With thorough 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 requires to sync the 2 is a Workspace account and a few clicks through Gmail's menu.
For the sake of taking a wider look at Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, we'll compare Outlook's calendar to Google Calendar here.
Initially, Gmail users lamented the platform's integration with other organizations or customers who used remote access to a network Outlook.
Some complaints consisted of that updates to standing meetings made from Outlook accounts would not upgrade in Google Calendar, and the inability to press 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 immediately publish a Google Meet link into your calendar entry, which function requires to be disabled by an administrator.
Otherwise, both platforms have included integrations with the other, and by all accounts, they work effortlessly. For all intents and purposes, this function is a draw.
Decision
Like most things, this decision mostly comes down to personal preference. A lot of the differences between Outlook and Gmail have advantages based on how your company operates, in addition to your budget.
Ultimately, the transparency and security of Outlook make it the stronger offering. If you find yourself arranging through countless e-mails a day, nevertheless, Gmail may be the right option for you.