The short version
- Both are reliable, secure and charged per person per month. The choice is mostly about how your team already works.
- Pick Google Workspace if you live in Gmail, Google Docs and your phone. Pick Microsoft 365 if you rely on Outlook, Word and Excel desktop apps.
- Whichever you choose, set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Without them, your quotes are more likely to land in spam.
- Keep your domain and your email accounts in your business's name, not a past web designer's.
A quote from mike@smithrenovations.ca looks more established than one from smithrenos1987@gmail.com. Business email at your own domain is one of the cheapest ways to look like a real company, and it means email stays with the business when staff come and go.
For most small businesses, that means Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Here's how to pick.
What you get with either one
Both are mature, reliable and secure. Both give you:
- Email at your own domain, with a mailbox for each person
- Calendars, contacts and shared calendars
- Online file storage and sharing
- Video calls
- Apps for phones, plus working in the browser
- Admin controls so you can add and remove people, and keep their email when they leave
Both charge per person, per month, with a few plan levels. Prices change, so check each provider's current Canadian pricing. For a small team, the cost difference is rarely what decides it.
Where they differ
| Google Workspace | Microsoft 365 | |
|---|---|---|
| Email app | Gmail (in the browser or the Gmail app) | Outlook (desktop, browser and phone) |
| Documents | Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, mainly in the browser | Word, Excel and PowerPoint, including the full desktop apps on most business plans |
| Working together | Very easy, built around sharing and editing live | Good, especially with Teams and SharePoint |
| Feels most natural for | People who already use Gmail and Google Drive | People who already use Outlook, Word and Excel |
| Chat and calls | Google Chat and Meet | Microsoft Teams |
Pick Google Workspace if...
- You and your team already use Gmail and like it.
- You mostly work on your phone or in a browser.
- You want simple, live document sharing with customers and staff.
- You don't depend on advanced Excel or Word features.
Pick Microsoft 365 if...
- You live in Outlook, or your bookkeeper and clients send you Excel files all day.
- You need the full desktop versions of Word and Excel.
- Your industry software connects to Outlook or Microsoft accounts (common in accounting, legal and some clinics).
- You use Teams already, or the businesses you work with do.
If you genuinely don't care, pick the one your team already knows. Fighting an unfamiliar inbox every day costs more than any feature difference.
The setup step most people miss: SPF, DKIM and DMARC
Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo are strict about email that doesn't prove where it came from. Three records on your domain do that job:
- SPF lists which services are allowed to send email for your domain, like Workspace or 365 and your website's contact form.
- DKIM adds a digital signature to each email that shows it wasn't changed along the way.
- DMARC tells receiving servers what to do with emails that fail those checks, and helps stop people faking your address.
Missing or broken records are one of the most common reasons business emails and quotes land in spam. They're also why contact form emails from your website sometimes vanish. Set them up once, properly, for every service that sends email for you.
Other things to get right
- Own your domain. It should be registered in your business's name, with logins you control.
- Use shared addresses like info@ or quotes@ as aliases or shared inboxes, rather than paying for extra people.
- Turn on two-step login for every account. Email is the key to everything else.
- Move your old email over so you don't lose years of history.
- Keep email separate from your web host. Then changing website hosts never touches your email (see switching hosts safely).
Already on one and thinking of switching?
You can move from one to the other, or from your web host's basic email, without losing your messages. The key is planning the cut-over so mail keeps flowing while the records change. It's usually a quick job with the right steps, and a painful one without them.
Want it done for you?
We'll help you pick, set up your mailboxes and shared addresses, move your old email over and add the records that keep you out of spam. Everything stays in your name.See our business email setup →