G Suite Business vs Enterprise License Comparison

Whether you’re a start-up or a large business, G Suite offers users some of the best tools for collaboration, organization, and security. After deciding that G Suite is the right productivity suite for your business needs, your next step is to determine which G Suite plan is the best option for you. G Suite offers users three different paid plans:  Basic, Business, and Enterprise. As a business owner, you will want to consider the G Suite Business vs Enterprise plans.

Why Choose G Suite For Your Business?

G Suite is strongly supported professionally by Google and has an extensive user community. 

According to Google, over five million teams work faster, smarter, and more collaboratively than ever before with G Suite. From small companies to Fortune 500s, G Suite meets the business needs of a variety of users. Users need to take a deep look at the needs of their business when determining what they need from a productivity suite.

All of the G Suite plans allow users to conduct business efficiently with a professional online presence. Another advantage is the flexibility in pricing, with each license tier available at a different monthly fee. And honestly, that’s something I really like about G Suite – you pay your license fees month-to-month, not annually. For businesses that are seasonal this is especially attractive, as it lets you to grow and shrink your license footprint as your needs change throughout the year, saving a lot on your office suite licensing.

Let’s take a deeper look at the plans focusing on the Business and Enterprise options.

G Suite Business vs Enterprise Comparison

First, let’s take a side-by-side look at some of the features available with G Suite Business vs Enterprise.

	G Suite Business	G Suite Enterprise
Intelligent office suite	✅	✅
Secure cloud-based storage	Unlimited	Unlimited
Access across devices (phone, tablet, computer)	✅	✅
Access without an internet connection	✅	✅
Microsoft Office compatibility	✅	✅
Central admin console	✅	✅
Advance enterprise-grade controls		✅
Google cloud search within G Suite	✅	✅
Ad-free experience	✅	✅
Vault for eDiscovery and archiving	✅	✅
Premium Cloud Identity Features		✅
Mobile device management	✅	✅
24/7 online, email, phone support	✅	✅
Security Center		✅
Mobile Device Management	✅	✅
Advanced-Data Loss Prevention for Gmail and Drive		✅
Easy to use mitigation tools	✅	✅

A Closer Look at G Suite Business

An Enhanced Office Suite with Unlimited Storage and Archiving

Now let’s take a deeper look at the G Suite Business plan and the unique ways it could work for your business (and where it comes up short).

The Business plan is considered to be the next step up from the Basic plan at $12 per month (you can read my G Suite Basic vs Business comparison for more on the differences). This price is often considered to be the best value of the G Suite licenses because once you hit 5 licenses this tier offers unlimited storage, unlike the Basic plan which only offers 30 GB of data.

The business license tier is also the most popular plan offered by Google.

So let’s take a closer look at the features of the Business plan and see what all the fuss is about.

Collaboration

• Users benefit from unlimited cloud storage in Google Drive (if fewer than 5 users, it is 1 TB per user with this license)
• Users can create email accounts with their company domain
• Shared calendars in G Suite Business allow users to use Google Calendar to set up critical dates and meetings
• Hangouts Chats allows users to securely exchange messages with your team in real-time
• Hangouts Meet allows users to set up video and voice conferences with up to 150 participants per call at the same time

Google’s Excellent Cloud-Based Productivity Apps

• Google Office Suite includes the apps: Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms
• All of the apps allow teams to work collaboratively in real-time from wherever they are
• Sites give users the ability to create simple websites from square one, integrate their website with other Google apps, and Google Sites supports HTML and JavaScript

G Suite Business Security Features

• Like other G Suite editions, the Business plan offers 24/7 support via phone, email, and online (and unlike Zoho Workplace, most Google support is domestic)
• The G Suite Alert Center allows users to view alerts, notifications, and important actions
• Provides strong security that allows administrators to manage user accounts, security settings, and everything users need to keep their accounts safe
• Encryption and advanced spam filtering in Gmail
• Cloud Search uses the power of Google to search across your company’s content
• Google Vault allows users to retain, search, and export their organization’s data from select apps

Is the G Suite Business License Right For You?

So, who is the G Suite Business edition ideal for?

Below are a few examples of users that will benefit from this plan in particular:

• A team that needs more than 30 GB of storage per person
• Small to medium-sized businesses and startups
• Users who need the email and message archiving feature (Google Vault)
• Teams that need video conferencing for less than 150 participants
• Users who don’t yet have a need for advanced admin and security control features

G Suite Enterprise

Premium Office Suite with Advanced Controls and Capabilities

Now let’s take a look at the Enterprise edition of G Suite. It has all of the features of the Business edition, including unlimited cloud storage, Google Vault for eDiscovery, and archiving with Cloud Search.

The G Suite Enterprise plan comes at a cost of $25 per month. The primary differences between G Suite Enterprise and Business licenses lie in the premium administrative controls, enhanced security, and customization abilities available in G Suite Enterprise.

Let’s take a closer look at these advance features:

Premium Administrative Controls

• Scan images for text – users can identify and mitigate loss of confidential data in scanned images
• Use a third-party archiving solution to store and discover mission-critical emails
• Analyze Gmail logs with BigQuery using advanced and customized queries
• Automate mobile device management tasks to create custom rules that are set off by suspicious activity
• Automate user provisioning with Cloud Identity Premium to authorize apps and establish rules for mobile management

Enhanced Security in G Suite Enterprise

• Enhanced Google Drive security with Data Loss Prevention (DLP) adds another layer of protection to prevent sensitive information becoming available to those who should not have it
• Scan emails for specific content using DLP rules, such as credit cards or social security numbers, and create policy-based actions when this information is detected
• Security center access provides advanced security information and analytics as well as additional visibility and control into security issues affecting your domain
• Set up rules to uncover harmful attachments with the Security Sandbox
• Use S/MIME encryption to increase email security
• Enhance transparency with real-time logs and approval controls
• Email integration with third-party archiving tools
• Drive security key usage for users with two-step verification to prevent unauthorized access if someone obtains a user’s password

Enterprise-Wide Collaboration

• Google Meet creates enterprise-wide video meetings with up to 250 participants
• Record and share video meetings from Google Meet in Google Drive
• Attain Cloud Identity enterprise security, application management, and device management services

Is the G Suite Enterprise License Right For You?

So, who is the G Suite Enterprise license ideal for?  Below are a few examples of users that will benefit from this edition:

• Businesses with large teams, which creates the need for greater admin and security controls related to G Suite apps
• Teams that require security features like device management rules, security key management, and data loss prevention
• Users who need the ability to integrate with third-party archiving tools
• Businesses with video conferencing and or live streaming needs up to 250 participants on any call
• Larger businesses that deal with sensitive data and need enhanced security measures

What Features Are Unique to G Suite Enterprise vs Business

Users with the Enterprise edition have unlimited email, document, and photo storage per user. All G Suite editions include 24/7 phone and email support but the Enterprise plan includes priority email support.

A critical function needed by all businesses is a company brand email address that includes customized email addresses for all users and a business address in Google Sites. G Suite Enterprise edition includes migration services, supported by various browsers, mobile-friendly, and has a convenient mailing list that can be controlled by both administrators and users. 

Where Enterprise Sets Itself Apart

As I mentioned, the big distinction between G Suite Enterprise and Business is its advanced security and business controls. 

G Suite Business and Enterprise both provide critical security functions such as a 2-step verification and security system. However, the Enterprise edition provides Drive data loss prevention and Gmail data loss prevention.  These functions allow businesses to define rules that protect privacy using Data Loss Prevention. Sub-functions are available with the Enterprise edition such as sending an email to super administrators; sending an email to the user who created, edited, or uploaded a file with sensitive information; or blocking the sharing of any file with sensitive information.

G Suite Enterprise has an exclusive feature that allows Gmail log search in BigQuery.  With this feature businesses are able to analyze Gmail logs by using advanced custom queries, keep Gmail data for as long as needed, use various third-party tools to perform extensive analysis, and generate custom reporting and dashboards. 

G Suite Enterprise can also set up a third-party archiving solution to archive Gmail journal messages. Users can extend this function to adhere to email requirements, continue the use of a third-party archiving solution, and permit user access to archives.

And G Suite Enterprise is the only edition that offers security key management.

This function allows administrators to view and manage the security setting for a certain user in the Google Admin console. G Suite Enterprise lives up to its premium security status with S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) encryption for email, which adds another level of security.

Final Comparison: G Suite Business or Enterprise

So now that we have taken a closer look at the G Suite Business vs Enterprise editions, which one is the best option for you? Let’s do one last comparison of the two licenses to help you determine which one best meets your needs.

• Startups with tight budgets and limited data loss prevention needs will more than likely find that G Suite Business meets most of their needs. 
• The businesses that need to strongly consider the G Suite Enterprise edition are those that need advanced administrative and security controls. This is generally not necessary for small businesses or startups. Google has robust security and data protection, which generally can meet the needs of all but the larger businesses with sensitive data who want more control and enhanced security measures.