Published on October 28, 2026 · The mitza.es team
Having an address like name@yourcompany.es is the first thing that tells people a business is serious. The question is where to host it: on the email that comes with your hosting, on Google Workspace, on Microsoft 365 or on another service. For most small businesses the real decision is between the first two suites, because they include much more than email: calendar, shared documents, video calls, storage and control over who accesses what.
What business email is and why it's worth it
Business email is email that uses your company's domain instead of a generic one (gmail.com, hotmail.com…). It gives your customers confidence, makes it easier for your messages to stay out of spam if it's properly configured, and gives you control: if a person leaves the company, the account and its contents remain yours. With a personal email, that information leaves with them.
Options for setting up your company's email
- Email included with the hosting. It's the cheapest and simplest option, but with mailboxes of limited size, fewer tools and reliability that depends on the shared server.
- Google Workspace. Gmail on your domain plus Drive, Docs, Sheets, Meet and Calendar, all from the browser.
- Microsoft 365. Outlook and Exchange, plus Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams and OneDrive/SharePoint, with desktop apps on the plans that include them.
- Other alternatives (Zoho, European email services): less well known, sometimes cheaper or with guaranteed hosting in Europe; worth reviewing if data sovereignty is the priority.
Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365: comparison by criteria
Email and calendar
Gmail is very fast and simple; Outlook is more powerful in rules, delegation and shared calendars. If your team already lives in Outlook, switching to Gmail takes some adjustment, and vice versa.
Documents and collaboration
Google Docs, Sheets and Slides stand out for real-time collaboration and ease of sharing. Word, Excel and PowerPoint are the de facto standard in companies and accounting firms: if you exchange a lot of complex documents (spreadsheets with macros, templates, layouts), Microsoft's formats cause fewer compatibility problems.
Video calls and chat
Google Meet and Microsoft Teams cover the basics with enough quality. Teams is more complete as a team-work platform (channels, files, integrations); Meet is simpler to use with outside clients.
Storage and administration
Both include cloud space per user, with amounts that depend on the plan. Both admin consoles let you create users, apply security policies and manage devices; Microsoft's is deeper and also more complex, so it usually requires some experience.
Price
Both charge per user per month, with several plans and a discount if you commit for a year. Prices change frequently (Microsoft has announced increases, and we cover that in what changes in Microsoft 365 for your SME), they're published without VAT and they vary depending on whether you pay monthly or yearly, so always check the official websites before deciding. A fair way to compare is to include what you'll actually use: do you need the desktop Office apps? How much storage? More than one mailbox per person?
When to choose Google Workspace and when Microsoft 365
Google Workspace usually fits better if your team works almost entirely in the browser, values simplicity and collaborates a lot on shared documents, or if it already uses Gmail and Drive every day.
Microsoft 365 usually fits better if your accountant, your customers or your suppliers work with Office, if you need the desktop apps with all their features, if you use Teams as your work hub or if you have programs that integrate with Outlook and Excel.
There's no universal answer. What is worth doing is choosing a single suite for the whole company: mixing the two multiplies compatibility, permission and cost problems.
Setting up email properly: SPF, DKIM and DMARC
When you send an email, the receiving server checks whether it really comes from your domain. Three DNS records make that possible, and without them your messages are more likely to end up in the spam folder, or to be spoofed by someone using your address:
- SPF: lists which servers can send email on behalf of your domain.
- DKIM: signs messages with a key to prove they haven't been altered.
- DMARC: tells the receiver what to do if SPF or DKIM fail (nothing, quarantine or reject) and sends you reports.
Since 2024, Google and Yahoo require SPF, DKIM and DMARC from anyone sending large volumes (more than 5,000 messages a day) to their users; even if you never reach that figure, it's good practice for any domain. If you also use bulk-mailing or invoicing tools that send email from your address, they need to be added to SPF and DKIM so they aren't flagged as suspicious.
Account security: what can't be missing
- Two-step verification for all users, and keys or an authenticator app for administrators.
- Long, unique passwords. You can create them with the password generator and check them with the checker.
- At least two trusted administrators, so you don't depend on a single person.
- Alerts for suspicious attempts and a periodic review of devices and access.
- Phishing training. Email is attackers' favorite way in; we cover it in our article on AI phishing and deepfakes.
Cloud email needs a backup too
Google and Microsoft guarantee that the service works, but not that you'll recover what you or an employee delete by mistake (beyond the recycle bin, with limited time frames) or what an attack encrypts. An independent copy of the mailboxes and documents is the insurance almost nobody buys until they need it. How to approach it: the 3-2-1 backup rule remains the reference.
How to migrate your email in five steps
- Inventory: mailboxes, aliases, distribution lists, rules and connected devices.
- Choose a suite and a plan, and add the domain by verifying ownership through DNS (you need access to your DNS zone; more details in the guide to domain and hosting).
- Prepare the records: MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC, with a low TTL in the days beforehand so the change propagates quickly.
- Migrate the mailboxes (email, contacts, calendars) and keep the old server until you confirm that nothing is still arriving there.
- Configure the devices and turn on two-step verification; then switch off the old service.
Common mistakes when choosing business email
- Staying on free accounts (gmail.com) for the business to avoid “complicating things”.
- Changing provider without telling whoever manages the domain and losing email because of wrongly set MX records.
- Leaving the domain in the name of a provider or a former employee.
- Not turning on two-step verification “because it's annoying”.
- Mixing different suites within the same team.
- Not backing up mailboxes because they're “in the cloud”.
How this connects to your cloud strategy
Email and documents are usually the logical first step for a small business thinking about moving to cloud services. If you want to see the whole picture (types of service, risks and when it pays off), read our guide to cloud computing for small businesses.
How we can help at Mitza
We configure and migrate email, set up the domain records properly and train your team. If you're in southern Madrid, see our IT maintenance, or tell us about your case on the contact page.