Alternatives to Google Workspace for businesses
Google Workspace can be replaced service by service: email to your own mail server, Drive to Nextcloud, Docs to OnlyOffice or Collabora and Meet to Jitsi, all hosted in the European Union. The tricky part is not the price, it is getting years of email and shared files out without losing anything or breaking the links people have saved.
Last updated:
Leaving Google Workspace without losing anything
Mailboxes migrate in full over IMAP, with labels turned into folders. Gmail's multiple labels have no exact equivalent, so we agree the rule beforehand.
Files and shared links
Drive migrates to Nextcloud keeping structure and permissions, but the docs.google.com links people have in old emails and bookmarks stop working. That is why we keep Workspace read-only for a while.
Native documents
A Google Doc is not a file, it is a database record. Exporting it to .docx or .odt loses the revision history and some comments. If that history matters legally, decide what to archive before closing the account.
When it is NOT worth it
If your daily work is many people editing the same documents simultaneously, Google is still better at that. Migrate everything else and keep that piece.
What we replace
| What you use today | What we propose instead | What changes for the user |
|---|---|---|
| Email and office Microsoft 365, Google Workspace | Your own mail server on your domain (Stalwart, Mailcow) and a desktop or browser office suite (LibreOffice, OnlyOffice, Collabora) | Your .docx, .xlsx and .pptx files still open and save the same way. The webmail and the office suite look different. |
| Storage and sharing OneDrive, SharePoint, Google Drive | Nextcloud, with desktop and mobile apps | The synced folder works the same. So do share links, versioning and permissions. |
| Video calls Teams, Google Meet, Zoom | Jitsi Meet or Nextcloud Talk | People join from the browser with a link, nothing to install and no time limit. There is no Outlook integration: it integrates with your new calendar instead. |
| Servers and hosting AWS, Azure, Google Cloud | European providers (Hetzner, OVH, Scaleway, Infomaniak) or your own servers on site | Nothing, if your applications run in containers. If you use the provider's proprietary services, that part has to be rebuilt, and we say so in the assessment. |
| Backups The provider's own backup | Encrypted backups in two locations with Restic or Borg, plus regular restore tests | Nothing day to day. The difference shows up the day you have to restore. |
| Team chat Slack, Teams | Mattermost or Element | Channels, threads and full history, with no per-person fee and no limit on old messages. |
We do not propose anything we are not already running ourselves. If an alternative does not cover something you need, it appears in the assessment as a risk, not as a surprise halfway through.
How it works
Assessment
We go through your cloud and licensing bill, which services you actually use and how many people use them.
A written plan
You get a document with the estimated saving, the alternative for each service, the risks and the timescale. You decide with the figures in front of you.
Migration without downtime
A pilot with a small group, a department-by-department rollout and the old and the new running side by side as long as needed.
Maintenance on a fixed fee
We keep operating what we migrated: updates, backups, monitoring and incidents, for a predictable monthly fee.
Cloud cost assessment
We go through your cloud and licensing bill and hand you a written document within five working days: how much you can save and how, service by service, with the specific alternative, the new cost, the timescale and the risks. We quote for it as soon as we know the size of your setup.
If the assessment concludes that migrating is not worth it for you, we say so in the same document and that is the end of it. We prefer that to a migration that improves nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Will there be any downtime during the migration?
Not in the migrations we run, because the old and the new coexist for as long as needed. We move a small group of users first, check that everything they need works, and only then carry on department by department. Mailboxes are migrated with both copies live, so if something goes wrong we can step back without losing a message.
Will my staff have to learn everything from scratch?
No. Synced folders, email and Office documents keep working the same way. What really changes is the look of the webmail and the office suite, and for that we run hands-on training and leave written documentation. The most noticeable change is video calling, because the tool changes.
Where will my data be?
In the European Union, and we tell you which provider and which data centre before anything moves. If you choose self-hosting, on your own servers. Either way, the accounts and domains are in your name from day one.
Is this GDPR compliant?
Hosting in the EU with a European provider makes compliance simpler, because the international transfers you would otherwise have to justify disappear. But GDPR compliance does not come from changing provider: you still need your record of processing, your processor agreements and your security measures. We hand over the documentation for the technical side; the legal side is for your advisers.
Can I go back if I do not like it?
Yes, and that is one of the reasons for using free software and open formats. Data comes out in standard formats and the infrastructure is documented as code in a repository of yours, so another provider or your own team can carry on. Going back to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace means doing the journey in reverse, which is work but is possible.
How long does it take?
It depends on how many people and how many services move. The assessment takes five working days. An SMB moving email, files and video calling is usually a matter of weeks rather than months, and the actual timescale is in the written plan before we start.
Tell us about your situation
Tell us what you pay today and how many people use it. We reply within 24 working hours with a first assessment, no strings attached.
or write to us at info@esdis.es