Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365: India 2027

Quick answer: Choose Google Workspace if your team lives in a browser and wants the cheapest rupee-priced entry: Google's India page shows Business Base at ₹99 per user per month and Starter at ₹270. Choose Microsoft 365 if your staff run Excel macros, Word templates or Outlook on desktops, because the desktop apps start at Business Standard. Both cap their mainstream business plans at 300 users, and Google's prices exclude tax. Prices checked October 2026.

How we researched this: We read Google Workspace's India pricing page and its help articles on storage limits, external sharing and MX records, and Microsoft Learn's plan-options, OneDrive, SharePoint sharing and DNS articles. Facts are as checked in October 2026. Microsoft shows its rupee prices on its own India plans page and through partners, so we do not quote a Microsoft figure here.

What Google Workspace charges in India today

Google's India pricing page lists prices in rupees and says "All plans billed monthly, all prices ₹INR". The page also carries a toggle labelled "Annual (Save 16% with one-year commitment)", so confirm in the sign-up basket whether the price you see assumes that commitment. Every price on the page is "per user/month and does not include tax".

Three details change the arithmetic. Base is "only available in India" according to Google's storage-limits help article, so it is aimed squarely at this market. The introductory price on Standard is "only available for the first 20 users added, for 12 months" and "for new Google Workspace customers only", and standard pricing applies after 12 months. And Standard is where Google's page starts listing meeting recording, eSignature inside Docs and PDFs, appointment booking pages and the Google Workspace Migrate tool, which matters if you are moving data from another system.

Here is what that looks like for a 15-person Surat accounts and export-documentation office, using only list prices before tax. On Base, 15 users cost 15 x ₹99 = ₹1,485 a month, or ₹742.50 a month during the three-month introductory window. On Starter, the same team is 15 x ₹270 = ₹4,050 a month. On Standard it is 15 x ₹1,080 = ₹16,200, or 15 x ₹864 = ₹12,960 in year one under the introductory price. The 2 TB per user in Standard is only worth ₹810 more per head than Starter if people really store drawings, scans or video.

A second case: a 45-person Nagpur chartered accountancy practice whose staff mostly work on the browser-based client portals and the tax portals. Starter at 45 x ₹270 = ₹12,150 a month covers custom email, Meet and Drive for everyone. Moving only the five partners and managers who record client meetings to Standard adds 5 x ₹810 = ₹4,050 on list prices, which is cheaper than moving all 45. Mixing plans is a common way to keep the bill down, but confirm in Google's admin console that your chosen mix is allowed before you plan around it.

What Microsoft 365 Business gives you, and what to ask for

Microsoft Learn's plan-options article lists four business plans: Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium and Apps for business. It says these base per-user plans are "designed for organizations with up to 300 users", and the 300 limit is across the whole Business family: a company with 250 Premium seats can add only 50 more Business seats in total. Past that, Microsoft points you to its enterprise plans.

The same article's service table gives the difference that decides most purchases. Microsoft 365 Business Basic includes Exchange Online, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams and the Microsoft 365 apps for the web, but its "Microsoft 365 desktop client apps" row says No. Standard and Premium say Yes. Premium also lists Azure Information Protection as included, which Basic and Standard do not. Storage is simpler than Google's: Microsoft's OneDrive service description gives a 1 TB per user limit for Basic, Standard and Premium.

Because we do not quote a Microsoft rupee price, get three numbers from Microsoft's India page or a Microsoft partner before you compare: the price per user per month, whether it needs a one-year commitment, and whether the quote includes GST. Then put them next to Google's ₹99, ₹270 and ₹1,080 on a single sheet. The features in Microsoft's own plan table are below.

Cloud file storage and sync: how each tool treats your files

This is where the two suites differ most in practice. Google Drive storage is pooled: Google's help says storage is "shared between Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos" and that most editions pool it across the organisation. A Base company with 10 users has 10 x 20 GB as one pool. Pooled storage is "granted in stages": you get part at purchase and the rest after a first payment, which can take up to 72 hours to show. Plan for that if you migrate a large archive on day one.

Microsoft separates the jobs. OneDrive is described as storage "for individual licensed users" for their own work files, and the service description says storage of "departmental and organizational level data" is not supported there. SharePoint is named as the right home for team content. In practice that means a shared "Accounts 2026-27" folder belongs in a SharePoint site or a Teams channel, not in the finance manager's OneDrive. If the manager leaves, the folder stays.

If you outgrow either suite's storage or want a neutral sync tool, App Advisor's cloud storage category lists Dropbox, Box, pCloud, Sync.com and the Indian vendor DigiBoxx. Our cloud storage pricing guide for India compares them on cost per terabyte.

Secure file sharing: the settings to decide before day one

Most data leaks from these suites come from sharing links, not hacking, so decide your sharing rules before you invite anyone.

Google Workspace. Google's admin article says administrators can control whether users share files from Docs, Sheets, Slides and shared drives with people outside the organisation. You can turn external sharing off for the top organisational unit and turn it on only for chosen groups, and "Group settings override organizational unit settings". You can restrict sharing to certain domains, and a separate "visitor sharing" setting lets users share with people who have no Google account, either with anyone or only trusted domains. For a client-facing folder, Google suggests using a shared drive, where the shared drive acts as the folder.

Microsoft 365. Microsoft's overview says "External sharing is turned on by default for your entire SharePoint and OneDrive environment" and suggests turning it off globally before people start using sites. Sharing is set at organisation and site level, and the more restrictive value wins. If you allow "Anyone" links, users can still share with signed-in guests and internal users. To stop sharing, remove the guest's permission, or delete the Anyone link.

A practical rule for a 40-person Pune engineering consultancy: disable external sharing everywhere, then re-enable it for the project managers who send drawings to clients, and create one shared location per client. Add the tools covered in our guide to business password managers, because file-sharing controls do nothing if a client's login is shared on WhatsApp.

Moving your company email without losing a week of mail

Both vendors document the cutover the same way: create the users first, then change the domain's MX record.

• Google: after signing up you update the MX record so mail reaches Google. Google's help gives the current MX value as smtp.google.com; domains created before 2023 may still show legacy "aspmx" values, which keep working.
• Microsoft: the DNS-records article says to "add users and set up mailboxes in Microsoft 365 for all email users" before updating the MX record, because after the change all new mail for the domain goes to Microsoft 365 while "existing email stays at your previous email host" unless you migrate it. If an old MX record exists, remove it or give it a lower priority.

Do the switch on a Saturday and check one test mail from an outside address before Monday. If your vendor invoices or GST portal mails come to an address on the domain, test those first.

Which suite fits which Indian business

Pick Google Workspace when most work happens in the browser, the team is under 300, and you want a cost you can put in a quote: agencies, coaching institutes, D2C brands, trading offices. Base is the lowest published rupee price in this comparison, but its 20-user cap and 20 GB pooled storage per user make it a starter plan, not a destination.

Pick Microsoft 365 when you depend on desktop Excel with macros, Word mail-merge, Outlook on every PC, or Teams meetings you already run. Read our Slack vs Microsoft Teams price comparison and the video conferencing pricing guide before you decide whether Teams is a reason or a bonus. Companies that want device and email protection in the same subscription should read Microsoft's Business Premium documentation, which covers Microsoft Defender for Business alongside the apps.

Neither is the right answer for a 6-person shop that only needs invoices and stock. A billing system will help more than a suite; spend the money there. Also skip both if your sector rules require data to stay in India and your counsel has not cleared it. Our data residency guide lists what to ask. For a wider look at office suites, App Advisor's office suite category shows other options.

A three-week rollout plan

1. Week 1: List users, shared mailboxes and the folders everybody uses. Decide who owns each shared folder. Buy 3 to 5 paid seats on trial and test one real project.
2. Week 2: Set sharing rules, two-step sign-in and the shared locations. Migrate email by department, finance last.
3. Week 3: Switch the MX record, hold a 30-minute training on shared drives or SharePoint sites, and remove personal-account habits like emailing attachments to yourself.

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