How to Migrate from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace: The India Guide
Saurav Jagdale
Technical Lead, Unico Connect
Moving a company from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace is a well trodden path: the tooling is mature, the steps are predictable, and a properly planned migration loses no data and almost no working time. A typical migration in India takes 2 to 8 weeks depending on company size, and the biggest costs are rarely the licenses. This guide walks through every step, what it costs in INR, where projects go wrong, and how to run the switch without disrupting your team. We have completed 200+ migrations through our Google Workspace practice, and this is the process we use.
Quick Answer
To migrate from Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace: audit your current tenant, pick a Google Workspace plan, set up your domain on a 14 day trial, configure security, migrate a pilot group first, then move everyone in stages while both systems run in parallel, switch your MX records, and finish with training. Plan 2 to 8 weeks end to end. Budget for temporary parallel licenses, migration tooling at roughly ₹400 to ₹1,200 per user if you use third party tools, and partner support if you lack in house IT. License costs in India start at ₹99 per user per month on the official Google Workspace price list.
Key Takeaways
- A planned migration loses no email, files, contacts, or calendar data, and user facing downtime can be close to zero.
- The real costs are parallel licenses, admin or partner time, and tooling, not the new licenses themselves.
- Migrate a pilot group first. Most surprises appear in the first 10 users, not the last 100.
- Google includes its own migration tooling: the data import tool in the Admin console for most moves, plus the Google Workspace Migrate tool with Business Standard and higher plans for large or complex estates.
- Run both systems in parallel for 2 to 4 weeks. Cutting over in one weekend is how data gets lost.
Why Indian Companies Switch
Three reasons come up in almost every migration conversation we have:
Cost. Google Workspace in India starts at ₹99 per user per month for the India only Business Base plan, against ₹145 for Microsoft 365 Business Basic. At the mid tier, the gap inverts on list price, but the AI line changes the total: Gemini is bundled into every paid Google Workspace plan, while Microsoft 365 Copilot costs extra: ₹1,496 per user per month on promotional pricing until 30 June 2026, and ₹1,745 at list price after that. For a 100 person team that wants AI for everyone, that difference alone is around ₹21 lakh per year at list price. The full comparison, including where Microsoft remains the better fit, is in our Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 guide.
Collaboration style. Teams that live in shared documents, comments, and quick video calls tend to fit Docs, Sheets, and Meet better than the SharePoint and OneDrive model.
Simplicity. One admin console, browser first apps on any device, and fewer moving parts to manage.
The migrations that go badly are almost never a technology problem. They are a planning problem: nobody mapped the shared mailboxes, nobody told the sales team their archives were moving, and the cutover happened on the Friday before a product launch. Plan the people part as carefully as the data part and the technology behaves.
Saurav Jagdale, Technical Lead, Unico Connect
What Actually Gets Migrated
| Microsoft 365 | Moves to | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Exchange email | Gmail | Full history, folders become labels |
| Contacts | Google Contacts | Including shared contact lists |
| Calendars | Google Calendar | Events, recurring meetings, and rooms |
| OneDrive files | Google Drive | Ownership and sharing mapped per user |
| SharePoint sites | Shared drives | Restructured, not copied one to one |
| Teams chats | Google Chat | The data import tool can migrate Teams chat; review its scope limits first |
| Teams meetings | Google Meet | Recurring invites are recreated |
| Distribution lists | Google Groups | Aliases stay free and unlimited |
Two honest caveats: Teams chat migration is newly supported by the data import tool but carries scope and formatting limits, so review what must be retained before relying on it, and deeply customized SharePoint sites need restructuring rather than copying. Flag both to your team early.
The Migration, Step by Step
Step 1: Audit and map your current setup
List every mailbox, shared mailbox, distribution list, OneDrive, SharePoint site, and third party app connected to Microsoft 365. This map decides your timeline, your tooling, and your risk. It is also step one of SmoothSwitch, the migration method we run for clients.
Step 2: Choose your Google Workspace plan
Match plan to needs, not headcount alone: Business Base (₹99, India only, up to 20 users) for small teams that mainly need email, Business Standard (₹1,080) for most companies, and Enterprise for advanced security needs. Current official prices, intro offers, and a GST calculator are on our Google Workspace pricing India page. Note that Google includes the Google Workspace Migrate tool with Business Standard and higher.
Step 3: Set up the domain on a trial
Google Workspace starts with a 14 day free trial. Verify your domain, create the admin account, and build your user list. Do not touch MX records yet: mail keeps flowing to Microsoft 365 while you prepare.
Step 4: Configure security before anyone moves
Two step verification policy, password rules, sharing defaults, mobile device management, and group structures. Doing this before migration means every user lands in a hardened environment, not a default one.
Step 5: Migrate a pilot group
Move 5 to 10 users from one team, ideally including one heavy calendar user and one heavy files user. Run them for a week. Every issue the pilot surfaces is an issue the company never sees.
Step 6: Migrate everyone in stages, in parallel
Move the rest of the company in batches by team, while Microsoft 365 stays live. Tooling options: the data import tool built into the Admin console (covers email, Teams chat, and OneDrive files from Microsoft 365), the Google Workspace Migrate tool included with Business Standard and higher for large or complex estates such as SharePoint and on premises Exchange, or third party tools such as CloudMigrator and BitTitan, which typically cost ₹400 to ₹1,200 per user. Most organisations run both systems in parallel for 2 to 4 weeks; for a 100 person team the overlapping license cost is approximately ₹29,000 to ₹58,000 depending on tiers.
Step 7: Switch MX records
Once batches are verified, point MX records to Google. Mail now arrives in Gmail. Keep Microsoft 365 in read only mode for a final overlap window so nothing is stranded.
Step 8: Train, support, and decommission
Short role based training sessions move adoption faster than documentation. After the overlap window, export anything residual, cancel the Microsoft licenses, and the migration is complete.
How Long Does It Take?
| Company size | Typical timeline |
|---|---|
| Up to 20 users | 1 to 2 weeks |
| 20 to 100 users | 2 to 4 weeks |
| 100 to 500 users | 4 to 8 weeks |
| 500+ users or heavy SharePoint | 8+ weeks, phased by department |
The variable that stretches timelines is rarely mailbox count. It is SharePoint complexity, third party integrations, and approval cycles.
What Does It Cost in India?
Beyond the Google Workspace licenses themselves, budget for four things:
- Parallel licenses: both systems run together for 2 to 4 weeks. Approximately ₹29,000 to ₹58,000 for a 100 person team, depending on subscription tiers.
- Tooling: ₹0 if the included Google Workspace Migrate tool covers your scope, or roughly ₹400 to ₹1,200 per user for third party tools.
- Admin time: a 50 to 100 person company without dedicated IT support should budget 40 to 80 hours of admin work for account provisioning, SSO configuration, shared drive mapping, and email routing.
- Partner support: outsourcing the migration to a certified partner in India typically ranges from ₹1,50,000 to ₹4,00,000 depending on size and complexity.
A useful sanity check: a Forrester Total Economic Impact study commissioned by Google found Workspace with Gemini delivered a 416% three year ROI, with the average employee saving about 3 hours per week. Migration costs are one time; the gains compound.
Common Pitfalls
- The weekend cutover. Moving everything in 48 hours with no parallel running. When something fails, there is no fallback.
- Forgetting shared mailboxes and aliases. They do not belong to any one user, so per user migrations miss them.
- Treating SharePoint as a copy job. Shared drives have a different structure; map it deliberately.
- No training plan. The tools work on day one; the team works at full speed only after someone shows them the Gmail, Drive, and Meet equivalents of their old habits.
- DNS changes during business hours. Switch MX records in a low traffic window with someone watching mail flow.
How Unico Connect Runs Migrations: SmoothSwitch
SmoothSwitch is our zero disruption migration method, refined across 200+ Workspace projects: we assess and map your current setup, migrate a pilot batch, stage the full cutover with both systems running in parallel, and support your team after go live. As an official Google Workspace partner we sell at the official Google prices, bill in INR with GST compliant invoices, and provide India based support before, during, and after the move. Start with the official pricing, or talk to us about your current setup.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace migration take?
Between 1 and 8 weeks for most companies: 1 to 2 weeks for teams under 20 users, 2 to 4 weeks up to 100 users, and 4 to 8 weeks up to 500 users. Heavy SharePoint usage, many third party integrations, or slow internal approvals are what extend timelines, not mailbox counts.
Will we lose any emails or files during migration?
No. A staged migration copies data while Microsoft 365 stays live, so nothing is deleted at the source until you decommission it deliberately at the end. The risky pattern is a single weekend cutover with no parallel running, which is why we never run migrations that way.
Will our email address change?
No. Your domain and every address on it stay exactly the same. Only the system behind them changes, when the MX records switch from Microsoft to Google.
How much downtime should we expect?
Close to zero for users. Mail keeps flowing throughout, because the MX switch happens only after mailboxes are migrated and verified. The practical impact is each user signing into a new inbox on cutover day, with their history already in place.
What happens to our Teams chats and meetings?
Meetings move cleanly: recurring invites are recreated in Google Calendar with Google Meet links. Teams chat can now be migrated into Google Chat with the data import tool in the Admin console, with some scope and formatting limits, so we review what must be retained and export archives where the limits matter.
Can we keep some users on Microsoft 365?
Yes. Split domain setups route mail correctly between both systems and are common during long phased migrations. As a permanent arrangement they add cost and admin overhead, so most companies treat them as a transition state.
What does the migration cost beyond the licenses?
Four items: parallel licenses for the overlap weeks (around ₹29,000 to ₹58,000 for a 100 person team), tooling (₹0 with the Google tools, the data import tool and Google Workspace Migrate, or roughly ₹400 to ₹1,200 per user for third party tools), 40 to 80 hours of admin time for a 50 to 100 person company, or ₹1,50,000 to ₹4,00,000 for a partner run migration in India.
Do we need a partner, or can we do it ourselves?
Teams with a capable IT admin and a simple setup (one domain, no SharePoint customisation, under 50 users) can self migrate with the data import tool in the Admin console. Get partner help when you have shared mailbox sprawl, custom SharePoint, compliance requirements, or no spare IT capacity. The partner cost usually pays for itself in avoided rework and faster adoption.
Which Google Workspace plan should we migrate to?
Most migrating companies in India land on Business Standard (₹1,080 per user per month) for the 2 TB storage, meeting recordings, and Gemini across apps, and it includes the Google Workspace Migrate tool. Teams of 20 or fewer that mainly need email can start at ₹99 on Business Base. Full plan details are on our pricing page.
Conclusion
A Microsoft 365 to Google Workspace migration is a solved problem when it is planned: audit, pilot, stage, parallel run, then cut over. The data moves completely, addresses stay the same, and the company keeps working throughout. Decide with real numbers: the official Google Workspace India pricing for the destination, our platform comparison for the decision, and SmoothSwitch when you want the move handled for you.
