As a small business owner, you’ll have your choice of email solutions. But while there are literally hundreds of email providers to choose from, for most entrepreneurs, the choice boils down to Outlook vs. Gmail.
So is one inherently better than the other? And if not, how should you make your decision?
Pricing and Packages
Gmail and Outlook are both free services for individual users, but if you’re going to use them for business purposes, you’ll need to upgrade to business accounts. Each email service is typically sold as a package deal with a broader range of apps, features, and services for business—Gmail is a part of G Suite and Microsoft Exchange (the service behind Outlook, in many cases) is part of Office 365. The annual fees vary, but you can see the prices for Office 365 and for G Suite are very similar—though in many cases, G Suite gets the edge.
Security and Core Functionality
Both email apps send and receive email at a rate and reliability that you would expect, and neither suffers from outages that could put your business in jeopardy. They also employ similar security measures, so there’s no real advantage in one solution over the other here.
Email Storage
With Gmail, you’ll get a higher amount of storage by default, though both solutions offer additional storage at higher subscription rates. However, keep in mind that even a limit of 5 GB (the default for Outlook users) is quite substantial; unless you’re sending large attachments on a regular basis, it could be years before you meet that threshold.
Organization and Search
Organization is where things get more subjective. Outlook and Gmail offer different types of organization; Outlook uses a system of folders and subfolders, while Gmail uses a system of labels. Though neither system is inherently better than the other, labels do offer more flexibility, allowing you to mark emails as belonging to multiple categories at once. Gmail also offers alternative marking systems, including importance markers and stars, while Outlook offers flags.
In terms of search, it shouldn’t surprise you that Gmail offers a better overall solution. Its search is faster and more thorough, and you can modify it with the use of search operators to narrow down exactly what you’re looking for.
Customizability
Outlook provides some degree of customizability, with options for different custom themes, but Gmail is far more customizable overall. In Gmail, users have the power to toggle settings on or off to their liking, sometimes rearranging the entire app to suit their preferences. With Gmail, you’ll also have access to tons of third-party apps and extensions to improve your productivity or add new features, giving Gmail a distinct advantage in this showdown.
The Bottom Line
While some business owners may prefer one solution over the other because of their history or personal preferences, Gmail tends to be better, on average, thanks to its flexibility and organizational system. Make sure you give each platform a try before you finalize your decision.
