An honest comparison of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace for Canadian businesses, from security to collaboration to cost. We manage both.
The Question We Hear Most Often "Should we be on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace?" It comes up in nearly every IT assessment we run for new clients. And the honest answer is that both platforms are excellent, both are mature, and the right choice depends on your business more than the software. We manage tenants on both platforms. Some of our clients run Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Intune and Defender. Others run Google Workspace Business Plus with Context-Aware Access and Chrome Enterprise. A few even run both. After years of configuring, hardening, and migrating between the two, what I can tell you is that the platform matters less than how well it is managed. That said, there are real differences worth understanding before you commit. Security and Identity Microsoft builds its security model around Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory). Conditional Access policies let you define rules like "block access from outside Canada" or "require a compliant device for SharePoint." Paired with Intune for device management and Defender for endpoint protection, you get a tightly integrated security stack that covers identity, devices, and data in one console. Google takes a different approach with BeyondCorp, its zero-trust framework. Context-Aware Access evaluates every login attempt based on who the user is, where they are, and what device they are using. Chrome Enterprise adds browser-level controls: forced security extensions, blocked malicious add-ons, and enforced Safe Browsing. Google leans heavily on the browser as the security perimeter, which makes sense when most of your work happens in a browser tab. Both models work. Microsoft gives you deeper device-level control through Intune, which matters if your team uses thick desktop applications like practice management software or CAD tools. Google gives you simpler, faster deployment when your team lives primarily in web applications, and