Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 pricing in 2026, plan by plan

Email, documents and storage are usually the one tool every person in a company has, so the per-user price matters more here than almost anywhere else. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 start at the same price, but they split features into tiers differently. This post lines up the plans and shows where teams commonly pay for more than they use.

All prices below were checked on the vendors' own pricing pages on 31 October 2026.

Google Workspace

From Google's pricing page, per user per month in USD:

Starter, Standard and Plus can be bought for at most 300 users. Enterprise has no user cap.

The page offers a 1-year commitment that it says saves 16%, but the prices shown are the same either way, so ask for the committed price at checkout. It also shows a limited-time introductory discount with its own terms and dates. Budget on the regular prices above.

What each step up adds:

• Starter: custom business email, Gemini in Gmail, and basic security and management controls.
• Standard: 2 TB of storage, eSignature in Docs and PDFs, appointment booking pages, Meet recording, and Gemini across Docs and Meet.
• Plus: Vault for retention, archiving and eDiscovery, advanced endpoint management, and Meet attendance tracking.
• Enterprise: data loss prevention, context-aware access, data regions and enhanced support.

Microsoft 365 for business

From Microsoft's plan comparison, per user per month, paid yearly:

All of these business plans are for up to 300 users. Every plan includes 1 TB of cloud storage per user, and the plans with email include a 100 GB mailbox. The cards are labelled as annual subscriptions that auto-renew, so note the renewal date when you buy.

What each step up adds:

• Basic: email, Teams, web and mobile Office apps, and 1 TB of storage.
• Standard with Copilot: desktop Office apps on up to 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets and 5 phones per user, plus Copilot in the apps.
• Premium with Copilot: device management, phishing and malware protection, sensitive data protection, and a 1.5 TB mailbox archive (50 GB on Basic and Standard).
• Apps for business: desktop Office apps without email or Teams.

Side by side

The entry plans cost the same, but they're built differently. Google's Starter has much less storage. Microsoft's Basic has no desktop Office apps. The middle and top tiers cost more on Microsoft, partly because Copilot is now bundled in and the desktop apps are included.

For a 25-person team, every seat at list price:

Where teams overpay

Paying for desktop apps nobody opens. If most people work in a browser, Microsoft Basic at $7 covers them. Only the people who need desktop Excel or Word need Standard. Ask your reseller or Microsoft whether you can mix plans in one tenant before you buy everyone the same tier.

Paying for Teams and Slack. If your team chats in Slack, the "no Teams" versions of Microsoft 365 cost $1.60 to $3.20 less per user each month. Across 25 users on Standard, that's $960 a year. Our Slack pricing breakdown covers the other side of that decision.

Paying for a video tool you already have. Both suites include video meetings: Google Meet on every Workspace plan, and Teams on the Microsoft plans that include it. If you also pay for Zoom, see how to cut video meeting costs.

Buying the compliance tier for everyone. Vault on Google Plus and the security features in Microsoft Premium matter when you have retention or device-management requirements. If only a regulated part of the business needs them, price that group separately.

Ignoring storage. Google Starter's 30 GB is pooled, so a few heavy users can push the whole company onto Standard. Check usage in the admin console before upgrading everyone. A shared drive tool you already pay for, like Dropbox or Box, may duplicate what Standard includes.

What to do with this

1. Count who needs desktop Office, who needs compliance features, and who only needs email and docs in a browser.
2. Price that mix on both suites using the tables above.
3. Take the cheaper quote to your current provider or reseller before renewal. Our guide to negotiating a SaaS renewal covers the timing.

If you'd rather have resellers compete for it, post an RFP with your seat counts, current spend and renewal date, and let vendors bid. It's free, and you can post anonymously.