Google Workspace vs. Microsoft 365 Licensing Calculator

Because Google's Business editions don't include data loss prevention. Google lists DLP for Gmail and Drive only in its Enterprise, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Frontline Standard and Plus, and Education editions (Google). DLP is how you stop sensitive data - patient records, card numbers, Social Security numbers - from leaving in an email or a shared link, and it's a control HIPAA, PCI DSS, and FTC Safeguards Rule programs are routinely measured against.

Google does sell cheaper editions, including Frontline editions for deskless staff. In our experience, none of them delivers the device management and security controls a compliant, secure environment needs, whatever the edition is labeled - so every user we price on Google is on Enterprise Standard, which Google quotes at around $35 per user per month when you request pricing. That's the real difference between the platforms: Microsoft lets you license each person for the work they actually do, and Google, in practice, doesn't.

Business Premium is the Microsoft 365 business plan that includes the security stack, not just the apps. It adds Intune device management, Defender for Business endpoint detection and response, Entra ID with conditional access, Defender for Office 365 email protection, and Purview information protection and DLP to the desktop Office apps (Microsoft).

The common mistake is Business Standard. It's cheaper and has the same Office apps, but it doesn't include Intune, Defender for Business, or conditional access - the controls that make the license worth having in a regulated business.

F3 is Microsoft's frontline license. It includes Entra ID and Intune Plan 1, so the phone or tablet is managed and access is controlled the same way as a desktop user's, plus Teams and the web and mobile versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (Microsoft).

What it doesn't include matters just as much:

• No desktop Office apps
• A 2 GB mailbox and 2 GB of OneDrive storage
• No Defender for Business endpoint protection
• No Microsoft Purview data loss prevention. For phone-only staff, Intune app protection policies do that job instead - blocking copy and paste into personal apps, blocking saves to personal storage, requiring a PIN, and wiping company data from a lost phone.

F3 fits someone who clocks in, messages, and completes forms on a phone or tablet. It doesn't fit anyone who documents on a laptop all day - put them on Business Premium.

Anyone who signs into a Windows PC or Mac for work, even if they also use a phone. Microsoft 365 licenses are assigned to people, not devices, and one Business Premium license covers that person's phone and tablet too.

Don't count shared addresses. billing@, intake@, and info@ can be shared mailboxes on Microsoft 365 and don't need their own license. Licenses are for people.

Because at current prices, Microsoft 365 costs less for every mix of users - and the gap widens as the share of phone-only staff grows. The calculator's break-even line shows how far Google's price would have to fall to match: for a team of 10 computer users and 10 phone-only users, below $17.50 per user per month. Google's own published Business Plus price is $22, and Business Plus doesn't include DLP.

The licensing number also understates the gap. Business Premium includes endpoint detection and response. Google Workspace doesn't include EDR at any tier, and Google's Windows management is narrower - Google can configure BitLocker encryption, but its settings only take effect if BitLocker is already turned on (Google). Intune can turn encryption on and enforce it. The calculator adds a low-end estimate of those tools - $11 per computer user per month - so you can see both numbers.

1. Migration. Moving mail, files, and calendars takes planning, and if your Google environment already holds regulated data, it takes a verified, documented migration - not a weekend project.
2. Backup. Neither platform's retention is an independent backup you control. HIPAA's contingency plan standard requires a data backup plan either way (45 CFR 164.308(a)(7)).
3. Email security, encryption, and archiving layers you may add on top of either platform.
4. Taxes, promotions, and partner discounts.
5. Billing terms. We use $25 for Business Premium. Microsoft lists it at $22 on an annual commitment and $26.40 month to month, so your actual cost depends on the term you choose.

Whichever platform you choose, build it in a tenant your business owns, with your people holding the top administrator role, and plug your IT provider into it. If a provider builds your environment inside their own account - or a reseller keeps a global administrator you can't see or remove - leaving that provider later can mean a fight over your own data. We work the other way on purpose: the tenant, the admin keys, and the data stay yours.

No. If you handle Controlled Unclassified Information under CMMC and DFARS, or ITAR technical data, Microsoft's government clouds (GCC and GCC High) and different licensing apply. This calculator models the commercial clouds only. Start with our CMMC page and the Cyber Risk & Compliance Gap Assessment.

Yes. We support both platforms, and if Google Workspace is already working for you and your controls are in place, we'll tell you that. When a business is choosing or re-evaluating, Microsoft 365 is our usual recommendation for the reason on this page: the license most people need already includes the security controls, so there's less to buy and fewer vendors to manage.

They're the clearest case. Registered behavior technicians and field clinicians often work entirely from a phone or tablet, which makes them F3 users on Microsoft - and Enterprise Standard users on Google. A practice with 5 office staff and 40 field staff pays $18,900 a year on Google at $35 per user, versus $6,300 on Microsoft 365: $12,600 less. Every person who touches client information, including 1099 contractors, should sign in with a company-managed account you control - never a personal Gmail.