Finding a Google Workspace alternative starts with one number: Google's own tool for exporting a whole Workspace organisation typically takes 72 hours and can take up to 14 days. It also needs a super admin account at least 30 days old with 2-Step Verification turned on (Google Workspace Admin Help, page updated 18 September 2026). The suspension clause in Google's terms carries no such delay. Section 4.2 lets Google "immediately Suspend all or part" of a customer's services on four listed grounds, one being its reasonable belief that suspension is required to comply with any applicable law (Google Cloud Terms of Service, which also govern Google Workspace services).
That gap between a slow exit and an instant cut-off matters more than GDPR paperwork, because suspension is the risk that actually fired in 2025 through US and EU sanctions law plus a contract that lets the provider act first.
By Dan Colta. NodeSparks is a two-person EU automation studio building owned automations for SME teams. We run our own automation stack on rented EU servers. Prices below come from each vendor's own page or announcement, retrieved 26 September 2026 and excluding VAT. The arithmetic on top is ours.
Key Takeaways
- Leaving is slow and a suspension is not. Google's org-wide Data Export can take up to 14 days (Google Workspace Admin Help) while its terms allow immediate suspension to comply with any applicable law (Google Cloud Terms of Service).
- The 2025 cut-offs were real and narrower than the headlines. One sanctioned ICC official lost his Microsoft email and Microsoft says it never suspended services to the court (The Register).
- An EU provider still has a switch. SAP blocked Nayara's support portal under EU sanctions (LiveLaw). Moving changes which country's law can trigger the cut-off.
- For 20 seats, Google Workspace Business Standard lists at €3,264 a year against €960 for mailbox.org Standard by our arithmetic, with 10 GB of Drive per user against Google's 2 TB (Google, mailbox.org).
- Migrate identity first, because a suspended Google account also locks every app behind "Sign in with Google".
Why is one Google Workspace account a single point of failure?
Because one account holds the three jobs EU companies buy cloud for most. Eurostat found that among EU enterprises buying paid cloud in 2025, 85.15% used it for email, 71.69% for office software and 71.53% for file storage (Eurostat). In Workspace those three sit behind one identity, which also signs you into everything else.
Every Business edition, Starter included, supports single sign-on with Google as the identity provider and ships a catalog of 200+ preconfigured SAML apps (Google Workspace Help, page updated 21 September 2026). When Google is your identity provider, a suspended account locks the CRM, the accounting tool and every app your team reaches through "Sign in with Google" along with mail and Drive.
The law behind that clause is not only European. The US executive order of 6 February 2025 sanctioning the International Criminal Court prohibits providing "funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of" any blocked person (The White House). That reaches a US vendor's email service wherever the customer sits. A Frankfurt data region changes where the bytes live, not which sanctions law binds the vendor.
What has actually been switched off since 2025?
Both of 2025's best-documented US-vendor cut-offs ran through Microsoft. AP reported on 15 May 2025 that Microsoft cancelled the ICC chief prosecutor's email after US sanctions, forcing him onto Proton Mail (AP via PBS NewsHour). Nayara Energy lost access to hosted Teams and Outlook data after EU sanctions and had it back within two days of going to court (The Register).
The ICC case was one sanctioned person, chief prosecutor Karim Khan, not the institution. Hugh Milward, a Microsoft senior director, told the Commons Business and Trade Committee it was "the ICC's decision" to terminate Khan's access. Microsoft then apologised for an unspecified "inaccuracy" and said it had been in touch with the ICC throughout the process that disconnected its sanctioned official. It added: "At no point did Microsoft cease or suspend its services to the ICC" (The Register, 18 February 2026). The same article cites Dutch press reports that Microsoft told the court to end Khan's access or lose email organisation-wide, which Microsoft declined to elaborate on. The court moved anyway, deciding to shift about 1,800 workstations to openDesk, the open-source suite from German federal company ZenDiS (heise online, 30 October 2025).
Nayara was a whole company. The Register, quoting the EU's sanctions listing, reports that the Indian refiner is 49% owned by Rosneft, the Russian state oil company (The Register, 4 August 2025). Microsoft removed Nayara's access after the EU's sanctions package of 18 July 2025. The Register's headline says the cut-off was "perhaps" due to EU sanctions.
The record also cuts the other way. SAP, a German vendor, blocked Nayara's access to the SAP Support Portal on 24 July 2025, citing EU sanctions. LiveLaw reported on 22 September 2026 that the Delhi High Court had ordered SAP India to restore support in an interim order (LiveLaw). An EU provider is bound by EU sanctions law and will apply it. Moving swaps exposure to US sanctions and US policy for exposure to EU law, which binds an EU company already.
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Feb 2025 | US executive order sanctions ICC officials and bars providing services to blocked persons | The White House |
| 15 May 2025 | AP reports Microsoft cancelled the ICC chief prosecutor's email; he moves to Proton Mail | AP via PBS NewsHour |
| After 18 Jul 2025 | Microsoft removes Nayara Energy's access to hosted Teams and Outlook data; restored within two days of its court filing | The Register |
| 24 Jul 2025 | SAP blocks Nayara's support portal under EU sanctions | LiveLaw |
What is a Google Workspace alternative, mapped by function?
One German bundle covers most of it and self-hosted parts cover the rest. mailbox.org Standard is €4 per user per month net, with mail, calendar, contacts, Office and Meet run from Berlin data centres (mailbox.org).
| Function | Google Workspace (US) | Proton Workspace (Swiss) | mailbox.org (German) | Self-hosted or EU-hosted part |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Standard, €13.60 annual | Standard, €12.99 annual | Standard, €4 net, 20 GB mail | Open-Xchange, the server Schleswig-Holstein moved to | |
| Calendar and contacts | Included | Included | Included | Open-Xchange |
| Docs and sheets | Included | Proton Docs and Sheets, included | Office, included in Standard | Collabora Online Business, €3 on premise, up to 99 users |
| File storage | 2 TB per user | 1 TB per user | 10 GB Drive | Nextcloud Enterprise Standard, €71.29 per user per year, from 100 users |
| Video calls | Google Meet | Proton Meet, 100 participants | Meet, included in Standard | OpenTalk Standard, €7.50 monthly or €75 a year (Berlin); Jitsi Meet on your own server |
| Identity and SSO | Google as SAML identity provider | No SSO listed on its plans page | No SSO listed on its business page | Keycloak, no licence fee; Cloud-IAM managed Keycloak (French), free to 100 users |
Per user per month unless stated, excluding VAT (Collabora does not state VAT treatment), retrieved 26 September 2026 from Google, mailbox.org, Collabora, Nextcloud, OpenTalk and Cloud-IAM. Proton prices are from its 31 March 2026 launch post and matched the price feed its plans page loads on 26 September 2026. Open-Xchange: Land Schleswig-Holstein.
A self-hosted Google Workspace alternative is a set of parts. Three labels in that table matter more than the prices.
Proton AG is based in Geneva, which makes Proton Workspace Swiss rather than EU whatever the EU-alternative directories say (Proton).
Jitsi Meet is Apache 2.0 open source (GitHub) while its trademark belongs to 8x8, Inc. (Jitsi), a Delaware company based in Campbell, California (SEC EDGAR). Run it on your own server rather than meet.jit.si.
Nextcloud's paid Enterprise subscription starts at 100 users (Nextcloud), which by our arithmetic makes Standard €7,129 a year at that minimum before the Talk, Groupware and Office add-ons. Smaller teams are pointed to Nextcloud One, a managed service hosted in Germany.
Keycloak is open source identity and access management and a Cloud Native Computing Foundation incubation project (Keycloak). It costs nothing to license and real hours to own. Cloud-IAM, a French company in Rennes, runs managed Keycloak with Scaleway and Outscale as its European hosting options (Cloud-IAM). Its Freemium tier is free up to 100 users with one realm, shared infrastructure and no uptime SLA. Paid plans with a 99% SLA start from €225 a month (Cloud-IAM). Wikis and knowledge bases are a separate decision, covered in self-hosted Notion alternatives.
What does a 20-person EU stack cost next to Google Workspace?
Less, if you accept less storage. At list prices retrieved 26 September 2026, 20 seats of Google Workspace Business Standard cost €3,264 a year against €960 for mailbox.org Standard by our arithmetic (Google; mailbox.org). The gap narrows fast once you match Google's 2 TB per user.
The cheapest bar is not like for like, since mailbox.org Standard gives each user 10 GB of Drive (mailbox.org) against 2 TB in Business Standard. The one plan here that matches Google's storage is Proton Workspace Premium, with 3 TB per user (Proton) at €19.99 per user per month on annual billing, the same as at its 31 March 2026 launch (Proton). That is €4,797.60 for 20 seats by our arithmetic. Proton Standard lands €146.40 under Business Standard, too small a gap to choose it on price.
mailbox.org Premium, with 100 GB of Drive each at €12 per user per month (mailbox.org), still undercuts Business Standard at €2,880 for 20 seats. Adding OpenTalk Standard at €75 per user per year for 50-person calls (OpenTalk) brings mailbox.org Standard plus OpenTalk to €2,460 for 20 seats.
Collabora Online Business for 20 users is €720 a year in licences by our arithmetic (Collabora), while servers, backups and patching hours are the real bill, the same pattern as self-hosting a social media scheduler.
What breaks when you leave Google Workspace?
Google's own documentation covers all five things that break, starting with an org export that can take up to 14 days (Google Workspace Admin Help). The costliest item is Apps Script, because scripts bound to a Sheet cannot be pulled through the Drive API at all (Google for Developers).
| What breaks | What the documentation says | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Getting the data out | Data Export needs a super admin at least 30 days old with 2-Step Verification, typically takes 72 hours, can take up to 14 days and deletes the archive 60 days after it starts (Google) | Run a full export now, while the admin account works |
| Apps Script and Sheets automations | "Container-bound scripts cannot be accessed through the Google Drive API" (Google for Developers) | Rewrite each automation against the new stack |
| Sign in with Google | Every app on SSO trusts Google as identity provider (see the SAML catalog above) | Re-point every app to the new identity provider before cut-over |
| Gemini | Folded into Business plans in January 2025 (Google) | Budget for AI separately or accept losing it |
| Shared drives and sharing | A filtered export skips shared drives: "Data that isn't owned by an individual user, such as a document in a Shared Drive, is not exported" (Google). Business editions lack the Drive inventory report of who each file is shared with (Google) | Run the full export, pull each file's sharing with the Drive API's permissions.list (Google for Developers), then re-share |
The same help page adds that an export cannot be cancelled from the Admin console once started and that organisations above 1,000 users must contact Google support first.
Our inference is that the tool assumes a working admin account and is no help after a suspension. Run it before you need it and keep the archive off Google.
Apps Script has no shortcut: "only standalone scripts can be imported or exported" (Google for Developers, page updated 3 September 2026) and even recovered code calls Google-only services such as SpreadsheetApp and GmailApp. If most of yours are Monday reports, the automated weekly reporting build shows the shape a rewrite usually takes.
In what order should you migrate off Google Workspace?
Identity first, then mail, files, documents and automations, because Google's role as identity provider is what lets one suspension spread past mail. At government scale a mail-only move takes months: Schleswig-Holstein needed six for 40,000+ mailboxes (Land Schleswig-Holstein). A 20-seat company moves far less, yet the same order applies.
- Export everything now. Run the full Data Export while your super admin still works and store the archive off Google.
- Move identity. Business editions support single sign-on through a third-party identity provider (Google Workspace Help). Stand up Keycloak yourself or on Cloud-IAM and re-point every app while Google mail keeps running. It is the same app list you need to offboard a leaver (employee onboarding automation).
- Move mail and calendar. Copy mailboxes first and change MX records last. Expect a rough patch after the switch: Schleswig-Holstein hit problems before its move succeeded (The Register, 15 October 2025).
- Move files. Re-create sharing from the permissions you pulled.
- Move documents and rewrite automations last. They depend on everything above.
When staying on Google Workspace is the right call
When your business runs on Google-only automation or bundled AI. In January 2025 Google cut Business Standard with the Gemini add-on from $32 to $14 per user per month (US list prices) by folding Gemini into the plan (Google Workspace blog). No EU bundle priced here matches that plan's AI plus 2 TB of storage per user.
- Apps Script and Sheets automations run core processes and nobody has budget to rewrite them.
- Your team relies on Gemini. Replacing it means a separate AI bill, priced out in the self-hosted AI payback period.
- Users need 2 TB each. The one EU-or-Swiss plan here that exceeds it, Proton Workspace Premium, costs more than Business Standard.
- Nobody will own identity and backups. A Keycloak server whose only admin has left is a worse single point of failure than Google.
The middle position is to keep Workspace, run the full export now and move identity to a provider you control, which shrinks the blast radius to mail and files without moving a mailbox.
FAQ
Six questions are answered below, from which EU stack to pick to when staying on Workspace is right. For deciding which SaaS to replace at all, use the SaaS replacement playbook.
The bottom line
An EU stack moves the kill switch under your own law rather than removing it. SAP showed in July 2025 that a German vendor will enforce EU sanctions too (LiveLaw). What you gain is the law you already answer to. An export taken while the admin still works is an exit that waits on nobody.
No bundle replaces the automation layer, meaning the Apps Script rewrites and the identity wiring. That is the lane NodeSparks works in. To rank which automations deserve rebuilding first, start with the Ops Automation Playbook.
Sources (retrieved 2026-09-26):
- Google Workspace Admin Help, Export all your organization's data: https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/migrate/export-all-your-organizations-data
- Google Cloud Terms of Service (also served as the Google Workspace terms): https://cloud.google.com/terms?hl=en
- Google Workspace Help, Compare Business editions: https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/getting-started/editions/compare-business-editions
- Google Workspace pricing (Ireland): https://workspace.google.com/intl/en_ie/pricing.html
- Google Workspace blog, Gemini in Business and Enterprise plans (15 January 2025): https://workspace.google.com/blog/product-announcements/empowering-businesses-with-ai
- Google for Developers, Apps Script: Importing and Exporting Projects: https://developers.google.com/apps-script/guides/import-export
- Eurostat, Cloud computing: statistics on the use by enterprises: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Cloud_computing_-_statistics_on_the_use_by_enterprises
- The White House, Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/imposing-sanctions-on-the-international-criminal-court/
- Associated Press via PBS NewsHour, Trump's sanctions on ICC's chief prosecutor have halted tribunal's work (15 May 2025): https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/trumps-sanctions-on-iccs-chief-prosecutor-have-halted-tribunals-work-officials-and-lawyers-say
- The Register, Microsoft throws spox under the bus after Parliament testimony on ICC email kerfuffle (18 February 2026): https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/18/microsoft_asks_uk_parliament_to_correct_record/
- heise online, International Criminal Court Kicks Out Microsoft (30 October 2025): https://www.heise.de/en/news/International-Criminal-Court-Kicks-Out-Microsoft-10964189.html
- The Register, Microsoft briefly turned off Indian company's cloud, perhaps due to EU sanctions on Russia (4 August 2025): https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/04/nayara_energy_microsoft_india/
- LiveLaw, Delhi High Court directs SAP India to restore support services to Nayara Energy (22 September 2026): https://www.livelawbiz.com/top-stories/delhi-high-court-directs-sap-india-to-restore-support-services-to-nayara-energy-amid-eu-sanctions-551165
- Land Schleswig-Holstein, Mailsystem der Landesverwaltung komplett auf Open Source umgestellt (6 October 2025): https://www.schleswig-holstein.de/DE/landesregierung/ministerien-behoerden/I/Presse/PI/2025/cds/251006_cds_ox
- The Register, Schleswig-Holstein open source migration (15 October 2025): https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/15/schleswig_holstein_open_source/
- Proton, Introducing Proton Workspace (31 March 2026): https://proton.me/business/blog/proton-workspace
- Proton, Business plans: https://proton.me/business/plans
- mailbox.org, mailbox Business: https://mailbox.org/en/business/
- Collabora Online, Pricing: https://www.collaboraonline.com/pricing/
- Nextcloud, Enterprise pricing: https://nextcloud.com/pricing/
- OpenTalk, Prices: https://opentalk.eu/en/prices
- Jitsi: https://jitsi.org/
- SEC EDGAR, 8x8 Inc company filings: https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001023731
- GitHub, jitsi/jitsi-meet: https://github.com/jitsi/jitsi-meet
- Keycloak: https://www.keycloak.org/
- Google Workspace Admin Help, Choose the Workspace data you want to export: https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/migrate/choose-the-workspace-data-you-want-to-export?hl=en
- Google Workspace Admin Help, Export your organization's Drive inventory: https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/reports/export-your-organizations-drive-inventory
- Google for Developers, Drive API permissions.list: https://developers.google.com/drive/api/reference/rest/v3/permissions/list
- Cloud-IAM, Pricing: https://www.cloud-iam.com/pricing
- Cloud-IAM, Legal notice: https://www.cloud-iam.com/legal-notice
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Google Workspace alternative for an EU company?
It depends on how much storage and bundled AI you need. mailbox.org Standard, run from Berlin data centres, costs €4 per user per month net and includes mail, calendar, contacts, Office and Meet with 10 GB of Drive. Proton Workspace Standard costs €12.99 on annual billing with 1 TB per user, the same as at its 31 March 2026 launch. Proton is Swiss, not EU. Google Workspace Business Standard lists at €13.60 with 2 TB per user. Prices exclude VAT and were retrieved on 26 September 2026.
Can Google suspend a whole Google Workspace organisation?
Yes, under its own terms. Section 4.2 of the Google Cloud Terms of Service, which also govern Google Workspace services, lets Google immediately suspend all or part of a customer's services on four grounds. One is Google's reasonable belief that suspension is required to comply with any applicable law. Leaving is slower: Google's org-wide Data Export typically takes 72 hours and can take up to 14 days. None of the 2025 cut-offs documented in this post was Google's. The US-sanctions case ran through Microsoft and the EU-sanctions cases through Microsoft and SAP.
Did Microsoft cut off the International Criminal Court's email?
Not the court's. AP reported on 15 May 2025 that Microsoft cancelled chief prosecutor Karim Khan's email after US sanctions and that he moved to Proton Mail. A Microsoft director later told the UK Parliament that ending Khan's access was the ICC's decision. Microsoft then apologised for an inaccuracy, said it had been in touch with the ICC throughout the process that disconnected its sanctioned official and said it never ceased or suspended its services to the ICC. heise reported on 30 October 2025 that the court will move about 1,800 workstations to openDesk.
Does moving to an EU provider remove the risk of being cut off?
No. An EU provider is bound by EU sanctions law and will apply it. SAP, a German vendor, blocked Indian refiner Nayara Energy's access to its support portal on 24 July 2025, citing EU sanctions. LiveLaw reported on 22 September 2026 that the Delhi High Court had ordered SAP India to restore support in an interim order. Moving swaps exposure to US sanctions and US policy for exposure to EU law, which binds an EU company already. The gains are the jurisdiction you already answer to plus a smaller blast radius once identity leaves Google.
How long does it take to export all data from Google Workspace?
Google's org-wide Data Export typically takes 72 hours and can take up to 14 days. It needs a super admin account at least 30 days old with 2-Step Verification. It cannot be cancelled from the Admin console once started, organisations above 1,000 users must contact Google support first and the archive is deleted automatically 60 days after the export begins. Our inference: the tool assumes a working admin account and is no help after a suspension. Run it before you need it and keep the archive off Google.
When should a company stay on Google Workspace?
Stay when Apps Script and Sheets automations run core processes and nobody has budget to rewrite them, when the team relies on Gemini, when users need 2 TB of storage each or when nobody will own identity and backups on a replacement stack. Gemini now sits in the base price: Google cut Business Standard with the Gemini add-on from $32 to $14 per user per month (US list prices) in January 2025. A sensible middle path is to stay, run a full export now and move identity to a provider you control.