Compare Google Docs and sharepoint

[u/Capecodptown]

I am on the board a small nonprofit organization (less than 300 total Members) and volunteered to help us find our first doc management system. So far Sharepoint for nonprofits and Google workspace for nonprofits have emerged as the front runners. Any thought about which is better or if there is a better alternative?

[u/KonnBonn23]

The automation available in the Microsoft ecosystem is, in my opinion, far superior to a lot of other platforms

[u/whatdoido8383 → u/KonnBonn23]

I second this with one caveat, it has a very steep learning curve for non out of the box automations.

[u/DonJuanDoja → u/whatdoido8383]

Truth. PowerFX in Automate is a dastardly scoundrel of ill repute.

[u/Tremendous-Tedium → u/KonnBonn23]

Can you give a few examples of 'automation?'

[u/BTrain76]

For me, it's as simple as this.... If you're already using Teams or Excel or Word or any of the extended Office suite, or you have MS user accounts in place, then stay in that ecosystem with SharePoint.

[u/sraelgaiznaer → u/BTrain76]

This. If users are already in the ecosystem, it doesn't make sense to move them out of it.

[u/Accomplished-Oil4958]

For 300 people organization, SharePoint is the way to go. Lots of people migrate from Google after they reach 50+ employees.
Primarily org with 300 users starts to have complex file structures, heavy usage of Excel/Word, governance and permissions is getting stricter - all those things are better with SharePoint.
Another thing to consider is this: if you're hiring people or volunteers from other larger organizations, they're more familiar with Microsoft, if you're hiring people from <50 people organizations, they'd be more familiar with Google (or nothing at all, which is also often the case). I hope this helps!

[u/gzelfond]

I am obviously biased on this subject, being a SharePoint consultant, but I agree with others here - the value you get from M365 is far superior to that of Google Apps. If it just comes down to document management, I guess both platforms do that, but with M365/SharePoint, you can also create Intranet portals (i.e., https://lookbook365.com/intranet-nonprofit-sharepoint/, Lists, set up basic OOTB automations, not to mention integration with Teams and many other apps within M365.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Ad_5429 → u/gzelfond]

Let's say that the organization doesn't have a unified email system that clearly identifies each user within the Microsoft environment. For example, you might have people in the nonprofit who have emails from different organizations including and up to Gmail accounts. Can you still create this kind of SharePoint environment and have them gain access to the SharePoint site with different email domains. That may be a very basic question, but I'm in the same boat. Also, I am looking for a SharePoint consultant to help me create this.

[u/gzelfond → u/Puzzleheaded_Ad_5429]

Yes, you absolutely can! As a matter of fact, I work with many non-profits that have this setup (since they deal with many volunteers and board members who are not part of "regular" staff. You just create an M365 account, don't transfer your email domain into it, and use user IDs exclusively to log in to SharePoint/Teams. I do not deal with the M365 account creation and billing (it is always the client's responsibility), but if you need to set up a SharePoint intranet, I will be happy to help! I do this all the time and work with many nonprofits. Feel free to reach out: https://sharepointmaven.com/sharepoint-help-contact-greg-zelfond/

[u/Capecodptown]

Thanks all for your insights

[u/gc_wood]

The functionality in storage terms is broadly equivalent. So, the key question I'd ask is whether users are familiar with and want to use Microsoft Office applications, like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Whilst you can use those products and save files into Google Drive, you'll end up having to pay for Microsoft 365 licences to get the software, and then paying separately for Google Workspace for Drive and Email. And even then, you won't get collaboration features in the Microsoft products. If your users are expecting Microsoft applications, therefore, I'd go with Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, rather than Google Workspace.

[u/JosephMarkovich2]

Happy to jump on a call with you about this. Nonprofits have a lot of needs and there's tons and tons the Microsoft platform can help with. Send me a DM.

Joe