Gemini for Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 Copilot

Gemini for Google Workspace

The published line is clear for my agents' chats — "your company data is not used to train models" when chatting with Gemini in Workspace — and the Cloud privacy notice covers Workspace with a dedicated GDPR section and references a Service Data Addendum. But I found no public information on retention periods for chats and files, on where logs live, on zero-retention terms with the model providers behind the product, or on abuse-monitoring retention. That is a promise, not a data lifecycle my compliance team can sign off.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

The product documentation states prompts, responses and data reached through Microsoft Graph are not used to train the foundation models behind Copilot, describes abuse monitoring as opted out, shows users deleting their own Copilot history and admins managing stored interactions with Purview, and backs this with a downloadable data protection addendum plus ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 certifications. The general privacy statement, though, says Microsoft "may use your data to develop and train our AI models", so the captured pages give different statements on training, and I found no public information on zero-retention terms with the named model providers.

Gemini for Google Workspace

Gemini is the named assistant across the plans and Google is named as the processor of customer data in the generative AI privacy hub, but I found no public information on where inference runs or through which provider. "Enterprise data regions" is listed as an Enterprise-tier feature on the pricing page, yet no European region for storage or for the models themselves is stated on the captured pages.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

OpenAI and Anthropic are named as the model providers behind the product, and for EU tenants the EU Data Boundary keeps traffic inside the EU for language-model processing, a residency commitment carried in the Product Terms since March 2024. Anthropic's models are documented as excluded from that boundary, and I found no public information on excluding a provider, enforcing EU processing across every model, or bringing our own model or key.

Gemini for Google Workspace

The pricing page documents a serious enterprise admin layer — data loss prevention, context-aware access, endpoint management from Fundamental to Enterprise, Vault to retain and search data, eDiscovery, S/MIME, secure LDAP and an Assured Controls add-on — which is well beyond a shared team workspace. But I found no public information on single sign-on with automated provisioning, group-level control over which models or agents each team may use, or exportable audit logs, so I cannot confirm the controls my IT department would operate on day one.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Retrieval provably respects source permissions — Copilot only surfaces data a user has at least view rights to, the semantic index honors the identity boundary, and Purview sensitivity labels are honored — and admins can block agents and switch off connected experiences, with tenant isolation through Entra and role-based access control. I found no public information on SCIM provisioning, group-level permissions per agent or connector, or exportable audit logs of Copilot use.

Gemini for Google Workspace

Inside the suite the knowledge reach is native — Gmail, Drive, Docs, Chat and Calendar are the product itself, with Office file interoperability and AppSheet pitched as a no-code platform with "advanced integrations", plus a migration tool. But I found no public information on connectors into ticketing, CRM or order systems, on a documented API or sync behaviour, or on how grounded answers cite their sources, and nothing on telephony beyond a Google Voice add-on sold separately. My agents live in the ticket and order systems, so this is the gap that matters most to me.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

There is a real connector framework — connectors that pull external data into Microsoft Graph for grounding, a documented connectors API with a five-step build, Graph REST APIs, SDKs, change notifications and Teams bots — and every grounded answer carries citations that are stored with the interaction. No CRM or ticketing connector is named on the captured pages, sync frequency is not stated, and I found no public information on MCP support.

Gemini for Google Workspace

Every plan is sold with Workspace Studio to "automate your workday with intelligent AI agents", and an AI Expanded Access add-on buys "more Workspace Studio automations", so agents exist as a real product surface. But I found no public information on what an agent can actually do — actions in other systems, human approval before consequential steps, triggers, run logs, or test-and-evaluate tooling before go-live. Nothing on the captured pages shows a conversation handover to a human with full context, which my forty-seat operation depends on.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Copilot Studio builds agents on a visual canvas with pre-built tools that deploy across Copilot, Teams, web and third-party messaging channels, agents can be created, tested and deployed from developer tooling, admins control which agents are allowed, and guardrails such as jailbreak and prompt-injection classifiers, harm filters and protected-material detection are documented. What I cannot find is what my contact centre lives or dies on: human approval before consequential actions, run logs, triggers and schedules, evaluation against test sets before go-live, and handover to a human agent with the full conversation context.

Gemini for Google Workspace

The vendor is Google LLC of Mountain View, USA — a non-European contracting entity — and a Cloud privacy notice covering Workspace exists with a dedicated GDPR section, with Google itself named as the processor of customer data. But I found no public information on where this product's customer data is hosted, on any European entity or safeguard around the US Cloud Act exposure, or on a named subprocessor list with locations; "Enterprise data regions" appears only as a feature name without a stated European region.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

For EU tenants the EU Data Boundary commits to storing and processing customer data inside the EU, a commitment in the Product Terms since March 2024, with a downloadable data protection addendum and Data Privacy Framework safeguards. But the vendor is Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Anthropic model processing is documented as outside the boundary, some data continues to transfer out in limited circumstances, and the United States is named among storage locations.

Gemini for Google Workspace

Per-user prices are public and exact in euros — Starter "€3.40€6.80 / user per month", Standard "€6.80€13.60", Plus "€10.55€21.10", each with "50% off for 3 months", a 16% saving on a one-year commitment, and an introductory offer capped at the first 20 users for 12 months — with a 300-user maximum on the standard tiers and no limit on Enterprise. Usage limits appear for some AI features, such as three Audio Overviews a day on Starter versus twenty on higher plans. But Enterprise is unpriced, add-ons including Voice and AI Expanded Access are "sold separately" with no figures, support upgrades are paid but unpriced, and there is no per-conversation or per-agent-run rate my CFO could forecast a contact-centre budget against.

Microsoft 365 Copilot

The licensing pages document structure in detail — eligible Office 365 plans, an SMB add-on with an annual commitment capped at 300 users, education purchases through EES or CSP, and government cloud availability — but I found no public information on actual prices: no per-seat figure, let alone the per-conversation price my CFO needs to forecast the annual cost.