Most owners only ever look at the subscription line, because that is the bill with the platform's name on it. The costs that decide the comparison are invoiced separately, under other vendors' names, for jobs the email subscription could already be doing. The sections below put a real number on each piece so you can check it against your own setup.
Is Google Workspace cheaper than Microsoft 365?
On the subscription line alone, the two are broadly comparable for a small business, and exact figures shift as both vendors adjust pricing, so check each vendor's current pricing page for today's seat cost. Treating that line as the whole decision is the mistake. The total cost of either platform is the subscription plus everything bolted onto it, and that is where Google Workspace tends to pull ahead.
What are you paying for separately that Google Workspace already includes?
Google Workspace bundles file storage, team chat, and video meetings into the same subscription as email. A business built around Microsoft email very often pays for those capabilities a second time through standalone tools:
| Tool you may be paying for | Google Workspace includes | Approx. annual cost, 50 users |
|---|---|---|
| Dropbox | Google Drive + Shared Drives | $9,000 |
| Slack | Google Chat | $4,350 |
| Zoom | Google Meet | $8,000 |
| Total redundancy | All included | ~$21,350 |
Those figures are a ceiling estimate based on 50 users at standard annual pricing. Not every business pays for all three, and the only way to know your real overlap is an audit. But even one of the three usually covers the cost of switching several times over.
How much does it cost to switch from Microsoft 365?
A NeuGenity migration from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace is $750 plus $100 per mailbox, with the cutover scheduled over a weekend so the team never loses a working day. The full breakdown, with examples by company size, is in the migration cost guide, and the migrations page has an interactive calculator that totals it for you.
Which is right for a small business?
If your business already lives in spreadsheets with deep macros or depends on Windows-only desktop software, Microsoft may fit better, and an honest assessment will say so. For most small businesses that mainly need secure email, files, and collaboration, Google Workspace removes tools rather than adding them, which is why it usually wins on total cost. A security assessment is the cleanest way to see your real stack before deciding.