Zoho Mail vs. Gmail

Email is an integral part of almost all businesses today, and many competing services are available. Two notable names are Zoho Mail and Gmail, email clients that offer productivity tools and more. It’s crucial to choose one and stick to it, as this will promote a uniform platform for all workers.

Below, we’ll compare Zoho Mail and Gmail’s features, pricing plans, and more. Read on to learn more about the details.

What Is Zoho Mail?

Zoho Mail is an email client that’s part of the Zoho Workplace, a suite of productivity tools that allow teams from any location to work on a single project. It has no ads and boasts a clean, minimalist aesthetic designed for professionals. Zoho has a range of advanced features that make collaboration natural.

What Is Gmail?

Gmail doesn’t need an in-depth introduction here. As the world’s most popular email platform, many users already have Gmail as it’s tied to their Google accounts. The basic Gmail client is free, but there are professional features behind paid subscriptions.

Features

Now that you have a basic understanding of both platforms, we can delve into the features these clients offer.

Zoho Mail

Zoho Mail has many advanced features that make professional email communication second nature. These include the following.

• API (Application Programming Interface)
  
• Archiving emails
  
• Live chat
  
• Commenting on emails
  
• Folder-specific notifications
  
• Scrub
  
• Data recovery
  
• Routing
  
• Shared inboxes
  
• Task management
  
• Two-way audio and video communication
  
• Whitelisting and blacklisting
  

While Gmail does have some of these functions, they might not be as effective or inherent. For example, Zoho Mail has a designated way to whitelist or blacklist specific addresses, while Gmail doesn’t have a method for direct blacklisting.

You can see here that Zoho Mail can do more than send emails, as there are live chat and even call functions. These are crucial for real-time collaboration since they’re much faster communication methods.

Scrub is a great way to delete or archive large amounts of emails from up to five senders. Instead of manually clicking them one by one, all you need are several clicks. Zoho Mail will take care of the rest.

Like some clients, Zoho Mail can divide emails into folders, but it also allows for folder-specific notifications. If you set Zoho Mail to only send notifications for a specific folder, it will do so. This feature is convenient if you want to be kept up-to-date on urgent messages.

These aren’t even all the available features, as we’ve only covered unique ones Gmail doesn’t have.

Gmail

The various G Suite plans offer some powerful features that help teams collaborate. Here is a selection of features exclusive to Gmail.

• Email templates
  
• Tracking emails
  
• Mobile-optimized emails
  
• Third-party integrations available
  

Email templates are self-explanatory. They’re a feature that lets users choose from templates for the perfect message. Gmail has this function, but Zoho Mail doesn’t. Templates can save time when composing emails, but they’re not an essential feature.

Some employers choose to track emails and prevent their employees from abusing work email addresses. This is for security purposes and to keep trade secrets away from rival companies. It’s excellent that Gmail has this ability because accountability is vital in the workplace.

You may notice that Gmail changes messages if you’re on a mobile device so you can read them without squinting. Mobile-optimized emails are helpful but not crucial, as many people can read messages just fine.

Where Gmail definitively defeats Zoho Mail is the ability to support third-party integrations. Gmail can be combined with other apps, like Slack and Zoom, optimizing the workflow and keeping everything in one window.

Zoho Mail and Gmail have unique advantages, but the former has features geared toward quick team communication. Integrations are indeed helpful, but many workplaces don’t use an extensive amount of them. Therefore, Zoho Mail takes the victory in this regard.

Pricing

Both clients have free plans, but the advanced features are mostly locked behind a business account. This is a natural limitation, but rest assured. Zoho Mail and Gmail business plans aren’t costly subscriptions.

Zoho Mail

Zoho Mail’s free plan has 5 GB of storage, and the free plan works with a business domain if you have one. The added features from a paid plan are worth getting at $1 a month for each user at the time of this writing.

The pricing plans are as follows:

• Mail Lite: $1 a month
• Mail Premium: $4 a month
• Workplace: $3 a month

Workplace refers to the entire Zoho Workplace communication suite. It has tools like an online word processor, presentation software, and more.

Gmail

You can’t use the free Gmail plan with a business domain, and to use an address with a custom domain, you need to pay $6 a month per user. This plan also unlocks many of the business features.

Here are all the Google Workspace plans and their prices:

• Business Starter: $6 a month
• Business Standard: $12 a month
• Business Plus: $18 a month

Google Workspace is powerful, but the plans are rather expensive, especially for smaller businesses. That’s why Zoho Mail offers more bang for your buck.

Accessibility

Using collaboration software on a laptop or workstation is the standard, but many of these services offer mobile apps so workers can access projects on the go. Fortunately, Gmail and Zoho Mail both have Android and iOS apps.

One drawback Gmail and Google Workspace have is that the services are split into several apps. On the other hand, the Zoho Workplace only requires one app download.

The apps aren’t the whole experience, but it’s still beneficial that you can check in when away from the office.

Zoho Mail Wins

Zoho Mail and Gmail are both beneficial services, as many trust them for business communication. While Zoho Mail has more functions suitable for secure professional communication, Gmail’s sheer ubiquity does make it the more widespread email client. The lower prices of Zoho Mail’s plans make it a better choice for smaller businesses, though there’s nothing wrong with Google Workspace’s business plans. Ultimately, you’ll want to choose the email client that best satisfies your situation.