Why I switched from Google Workspace to Office 365 in 2025.....oops. I Switched Back.

Why I switched from Google Workspace to Office 365 in 2025

I have been using Google Workspace for quite a while.....problably about 2 years or so. I also have a shared Family account for personal use with Microsoft Office 365 ($129 / year), and was also paying Google for access to Workspace for an additional $14.00 a month for my small business. But it wasn't just the cost that drove me to switch.

After a while I noticed that my documents in Office 365 weren't being saved exactly the same as I had written it in Office Word and Excel, according to my clients. So, let me put this into perspective. I used the offline version of Office apps on my Mac or PC and then uploaded them to my Google Workspace account to share with clients since Workspace was more commonly used by people that I interact with.

But nothing is perfect. When I was looking at my monthly cost, I realized that Office 365 offers more at the entry level for business use than Google offers at their base business plan. In addition, Microsoft has Bookings included in their base plan, more storage, and better collaboration offerings than Google - and it was less expensive.

Not to mention that it's another win to move away from the Google ecosystem.

Since I was already invested in a subscription for Office 365 Family, I finally decided that this is no brainer to switch. Clients can use the free online version of Microsoft Office if they have to, plus all of the apps that I now use with Microsoft are also universally available online for anyone.

Update: 4.7.2025

Well.......I was with Microsoft 365 Copilot for about 2 weeks, but as it turns out I went running back to Google Workspace and agreed to pay them more than double of Microsoft's pricing.

Why?

Instant cross-platform integration, appointment settings with automatic integration of Stripe to collect payments, and the announcement of encrypted Gmail communication. In addition, Microsoft 365 Copilot's server went down twice within the 2 weeks I had the service - not impressed in the least.

Sometimes the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence, and you get what you pay for.