Google Workspace vs. Microsoft 365: Which Is Cheaper for Small Teams?

Sarah, owner of a small artisanal bakery, needed to get her five-person team collaborating more efficiently. They were still sending attachments back and forth, losing track of versions, and her accountant was struggling to share spreadsheets. She knew she needed a modern office suite, but with margins tight, cost was her primary concern. The verdict for small teams like Sarah’s, prioritizing affordability without sacrificing core functionality, is clear: Google Workspace often comes out on top.

While both Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 offer robust suites of tools, Google’s entry-level pricing structure provides a more accessible and often sufficient starting point for small businesses. For just $6 per user per month, the Google Workspace Business Starter plan offers Gmail with custom business email, 30 GB of cloud storage per user, Google Meet for video conferencing, and the full suite of collaborative docs, sheets, and slides. This price point gets you a professional, integrated environment where your team can share documents, track inventory, and manage client communications without breaking the bank. The 30 GB of storage per user is usually ample for most small teams dealing with typical office files and presentations.

Now, let’s look at Microsoft 365’s comparable offering. The Microsoft 365 Business Basic plan starts at $6 per user per month when billed annually, or $7 per user per month when billed monthly. This plan includes web and mobile versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, along with Exchange email hosting, Microsoft Teams, and 1 TB of OneDrive storage per user. While the 1 TB storage is generous, the key differentiator for small businesses on a budget is the desktop application access. If your team absolutely needs the full desktop versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, you’re looking at the Microsoft 365 Business Standard plan, which jumps to $12.50 per user per month (billed annually) or $15 per user per month (billed monthly). For many small teams, especially those comfortable with web-based applications, the additional cost for desktop apps isn’t justifiable given Google Workspace’s perfectly capable browser-based alternatives.

The core advantage for Google Workspace in this comparison isn’t just the initial per-user price, but what that price *doesn’t* force you to pay for if you don’t need it. Small teams often find Google’s web-first approach to be perfectly sufficient and even preferable for its real-time collaboration features, which are natively built into the ecosystem. You’re not paying a premium for desktop software licenses you might not fully utilize, and the lower storage allocation in the starter plan is still generous enough for most general office use. For Sarah’s bakery, Google Workspace provided everything they needed to centralize recipes, manage staff schedules, and streamline orders without feeling the pinch of unnecessary features or higher monthly fees.

If budget is your top priority for team collaboration, sign up for Google Workspace Business Starter today.

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