Small businesses require a lot of work. Not only can it be difficult to start a small business, but the real work lies in maintaining and progressing through growth. This is hard to do without the right tools.
When people think about the components and factors that a small business requires in order to be successful, many do not even consider the importance of choosing the right email client and platforms for communication and productivity.
Gmail and Outlook are two very popular platforms among businesses and business owners. We’re here to help you choose between the two:
Pricing
Gmail for business is packaged under G Suite and Outlook is packaged under Office 365.
When comparing G Suite and Office 365 you’ll find that each has monthly subscription packages that charge small businesses per user per month.
When making any financial decisions for your business it is important to look at the quality of the services and if that quality is worth it for the price. With that being said, allow us to compare the pricing plans between G Suite and Outlook for business use:
Gmail via G Suite
G Suite has three monthly plans to choose from. The basic plan, the business plan, and the enterprise plan. The Basic plan costs $6.00 per user per month, the Business plan costs $12.00 per user per month, and the Enterprise plan costs $25 per user per month. The key differences between the three plans is that while most features and services are readily available and universal across all three plans, the Business and Enterprise plan offers more movement in terms of storage as they offer unlimited storage for all google services.
Outlook via Office 365
Office 365 has seven different plans to choose from. There’s the Business Essentials, Business, Business Premium, E1, ProPlus, E3, and E5. All plans are billed per user per month, and allows access to outlook. Plans range from as low as $5 per user per month, to as high as $35 per user per month. Among the seven plans, three are best suited for small businesses: Office 365 business plan, which costs $8.25, the Office 365 Business Premium which costs $12.50, and the Office 365 E5 which costs $35.
The Verdict
G Suite has three plans. Office 365 has seven, but only three of them are best suited for businesses. When you compare the three G Suite plans to the three business plans from Office 365, it is clear the G Suite is the more affordable option which is ideal for small businesses.
User Features and Applications
While G Suite and Office 365 both offer great and useful productivity services, it is important to look into the key features in order to choose the right platform for your small business. Both of these platforms offer features and services which are only exclusive to their platform and here is a basic rundown of each:
Gmail via G Suite
Gmail offers many features and integrations which make the platform suitable for small businesses. For starters, gmail on its own, allows users access to ample and/or unlimited storage. Gmail also allows users the most access to constant communications with integrations such as google hangouts via gmail.
Outlook via Office 365
Outlook also has great features in terms of storage and integrations. Outlook offers 50 GB of storage for outlook services and a separate amount for the rest of the Office 365 cloud, depending on which plan you have. This differs in the way that with Gmail and G suite, aside from the basic plan, all storage is unlimited. Outlook also has integrations for better communication such as with Skype.
Gmail vs. Outlook: Email Features
While Gmail and Outlook are both packaged under greater services, both platforms have their own benefits independent from G Suite and Office 365, and if you wanted to use just the email services alone, that is totally possible. Here are some key differences between the two.
Gmail
Gmail, the free version offers 15GB of free storage. Other than that there are some key benefits that only Gmail can offer. For starters, gmail uses artificial intelligence to sort out spam messages. Other intelligence features include Google Cloud Search which allows you to search through your emails without much hassle.
Outlook
Outlook also offers an ample amount of storage for outlook inboxes, at 50GB. They also have similar features such as email searching to get the job done, but these services aren’t as specialized as the cloud search features and artificial intelligences that Gmail has to offer. The one advantage that Outlook does have is offline availability.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, when it comes down to what is better for small businesses, it comes down to price, features, and ease of use.
While Outlook and Office 365 are great email clients and services, Gmail and G Suite still have the edge. Not only are the packages under G Suite much cheaper, but the services and features offer users a great sense of security in terms of storage, integrations, and actual email assistance.
