By It’s expected by the year 2025 that the world will generate 463 exabytes of data every day. If you’re not sure what an exabyte even is, you’re not alone!
Know though that that’s a lot of data.
Here’s another thought… Where is all of that data coming from? If you work in an office environment, chances are, the partial answer to that question is from tools like Office 365 and G Suite.
Both Office and G Suite offer several solutions that help companies work more efficiently. That similarity has created a lot of G Suite vs Office 365 debate which is what we hope to settle in this post.
Our core question — If you’re a business owner, should you be investing in Office or G Suite? Below, we walk through comparable factors so you can decide for yourself.
Table of Contents
Cost
The number one question you probably have on your mind when comparing office to G Suite is cost. To that end, you may be disappointed to learn that there’s no clear-cut winner as both suites of products have very similar price points.
G Suite will get you started at $5 per month, per user, while Office will run you $6. Note that G Suite does offer a free, non-commercial version of its software that you might want to experiment with before upgrading to the business version.
Apps Offered
The application offerings featured in both G Suite and Office are, again, similar. In G Suite, expect to enjoy Docs, Sheets, Slides, Keep, Calendar, Hangouts, Gmail, and Photos. With Office, you’ll find Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook.
G Suite may seem more enticing given that it offers a few more products than Office. With that said, many of G Suites fringe tools likely won’t get much use from you.
Comparing both suite’s core offerings, applications function with a similar level of proficiency. We’ll say that office shines a little brighter than G Suite if you plan to install applications on a single computer and do your work from there. The downside to that workflow is needing to manually update your tools.
As you can see at https://setapp.com/how-to/update-microsoft-office-on-mac, updating office products on non-Microsoft computers can get tricky.
Remote Access
We just mentioned that Office apps shine when you install them on a single computer in a dedicated office setting. What about when you’re working in the cloud though? How does the G Suite vs Office 365 debate play out when you’re planning on getting work done on the go?
We can say that while Office 365 does offer workable cloud solutions, G Suite takes the cake by a mile on this front.
G Suite has always been focused on tools being cloud-based and being able to function in concert with any device that can access the internet. Office 365 has been playing catch-up on those fronts.
Employee Familiarity
When you’re onboarding a business solution, you have to think about how your employees are likely to acclimate to what you’re purchasing. After all, if your employees are unable to use the tools that you’re investing in, what good are they?
While younger employees will likely be familiar with both G Suite and Office, older ones are certain to have more comfort with Office given that it has been on the scene for much longer and their places of employment leading up to working with you probably used Office exclusively.
For that reason, when it comes to ensuring the flattest possible learning curve, we like Office.
Email Accounts
You’ll be glad to know that both G Suite and Office 365 offer email support to businesses. That means, with the help of these tools, you can gain access to email addresses that leverage your business name in your email’s title (john.doe@mybusiness.com).
With G Suite, your email back-end will be powered by Gmail. With Office 365, you’ll be powered by Outlook. We like Gmail better than Outlook and consequently, have to give the edge to G Suite on this front.
Cloud Storage
Cloud storage is becoming increasingly important to businesses as more data is flowing out of companies each year (as we shared in this post’s intro). Because of that, both G Suite and Office have accommodated their customers with ample storage additions that aim to serve businesses’ various needs.
At base pricing, you’ll enjoy 30GB of cloud storage on G Suite. Office 365 sees that number and raises it to a whopping 1TB, giving Office the clear edge on this front.
Granted, unless you’re working in a very multimedia-heavy industry, you’re not likely to burn through 30GB of data anytime soon. And if you do, you can always upgrade your storage allowance.
Security
With data breaches seemingly happening every day, considering security is more important than ever when running a business. To that end, both G Suite and Office cover customers well with secure websites, 2-factor authentication, document protection options, and more.
You’ll be safe with either product (or as safe as one can expect), so we wouldn’t let security sway you to one suite of solutions versus another
The Verdict to G Suite vs Office 365
By now, you should realize that both G Suite and Office 365 represent viable business solutions that will serve you well. We can’t have a G Suite vs Office 365 discussion without picking a winner though, so here’s our take.
Investing in G Suite seems like the future-safe solution as we’re finding increasing amounts of the young, US-based workforce feeling more comfortable with it over Office. Furthermore, we think that G Suite offers more bang for your buck given its lower base price and portability.
If you feel more comfortable with Office tools because of your prior training with them though, by all means, go with that.
For more guidance on G Suite, Office 365, and other technology solutions, explore more of the newest content on our blog.
