Google Workspace vs Webmail for a Sri Lankan Business
An address such as info@yourcompany.lk tells a customer they are writing to a business. An address at gmail.com or yahoo.com does not, however good the business behind it is.
There are two common ways to get email at your own domain name: Google Workspace, and webmail on a hosting server. They do the same basic job and differ in almost everything else, the price most of all. This guide compares Google Workspace vs webmail for a small or medium business in Sri Lanka, with a year’s cost in rupees for each, so you can choose with the figures in front of you.
The short answer
- Choose webmail if you need a professional address for a few people and you use email simply: to send quotations, answer customers and receive invoices.
- Choose Google Workspace if your team shares calendars and files, meets online, keeps years of mail, or cannot afford email being down.
The rest of this guide explains why.
Why not keep using a free Gmail address?
A free address works. It has three costs that do not show on any bill:
- It names Google, not you. yourcompany@gmail.com could belong to anyone. An address at your own domain can only be yours.
- It belongs to a person. When the employee who opened the account leaves, the address, its password and every conversation in it can leave too. Addresses at your domain belong to the business: you can close one, hand it to the next person or forward its mail.
- It does not grow. You cannot give sales, accounts and support their own addresses under one name.
Both options in this guide solve all three. They differ in what else they give you.
What webmail is
Webmail is a mailbox on a hosting server, at your own domain name. It gives each person an address and a place for their mail, and nothing else.
At GIXEZ IT a webmail box costs LKR 1,999 a year. It holds 1 GB, and more space is LKR 500 a year for each extra 1 GB. Setting it up on your domain is included.
You are not tied to one screen: a webmail box can be read in a browser, in the mail app on your phone, or in Outlook.
One gigabyte holds a great many plain messages. It fills much faster if people send and keep photos, PDFs and scanned documents, so check how your team uses email before you decide.
What Google Workspace is
Google Workspace is Google’s email and office service for businesses. Each person gets Gmail with your domain name in the address, and with it Google Calendar, Google Meet for video meetings, and Google Drive for files.
GIXEZ IT sets up the Business Starter edition for LKR 3,200 per user, per month, paid for a quarter or a year at a time. That price includes the configuration, support in moving the mail you already have, and customer support.
According to Google’s comparison of its business editions, Business Starter includes:
- 30 GB of storage for each user, shared between their mail and their files
- Video meetings for up to 100 people
- 2-Step Verification and other sign-in protections
- A 99.9% uptime guarantee and Google’s standard support
- Up to 300 users
It does not include recording of meetings; that starts with the next edition up.
You will see Google Workspace advertised at other prices, by Google itself in US dollars and by other companies in rupees. Before you compare, check three things: which edition it is, how much storage each user gets, and what the price covers besides Google’s own charge. With GIXEZ IT it covers setting everything up, moving your existing mail, and customer support.
In daily work this means more than a bigger mailbox. A meeting is booked in a calendar everyone can see, a quotation is one shared document and not five attachments, and a customer abroad can be met face to face without anyone installing anything.
Google Workspace vs webmail, side by side
| Webmail | Google Workspace Business Starter | |
|---|---|---|
| Address at your own domain | Yes | Yes |
| Storage for each person | 1 GB; LKR 500 a year for each extra 1 GB | 30 GB |
| Calendar, video meetings, shared files | No | Yes |
| Price at GIXEZ IT | LKR 1,999 per box, per year | LKR 3,200 per user, per month |
| How it is paid | By the year | By the quarter or by the year |
| Set up for you | Yes | Yes, with migration support and customer support |
| The domain name | You buy it | You buy it |
What each costs in a year
The two prices are quoted differently: webmail by the year, Google Workspace by the month, though you pay it a quarter or a year at a time (a quarter for one user is LKR 9,600). Put on the same footing, for one year:
| People | Webmail (1 GB each) | Google Workspace |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LKR 1,999 | LKR 38,400 |
| 3 | LKR 5,997 | LKR 115,200 |
| 5 | LKR 9,995 | LKR 192,000 |
| 10 | LKR 19,990 | LKR 384,000 |
GIXEZ IT’s prices are exclusive of VAT. Google Workspace costs about nineteen times as much for each person. Whether that is expensive depends on what you would otherwise pay for, or do without: a shared calendar, online meetings, a place for the company’s files, and mailboxes thirty times the size.
If storage is the only thing you are short of, webmail with more space may be enough. A webmail box with 10 GB is LKR 6,499 a year: LKR 1,999 for the box and LKR 4,500 for nine more gigabytes.
An example: an owner and two staff
Take a shop with three people who need an address: the owner, a salesperson and someone who keeps the accounts.
- With webmail, three boxes cost LKR 5,997 a year. If the salesperson sends photos of stock all day and needs 5 GB, that box is LKR 3,999 (LKR 1,999 and four more gigabytes), and the year’s total is LKR 7,997.
- With Google Workspace, three users cost LKR 115,200 a year, and the shop also gets shared calendars, online meetings and 30 GB each.
If all the shop needs is three trustworthy addresses, webmail does it for about a fourteenth of the price. If the three of them already struggle with files sent back and forth and meetings arranged by phone, the difference buys something they will use every day.
The domain name is extra, either way
Both need a domain name, and neither price includes one. You buy the name, and its DNS settings stay in your hands. If you do not have a name yet, see how to register a .lk domain: the registry’s own price for yourcompany.lk is LKR 5,000 a year.
How to choose
Webmail is the better choice when
- you are one to five people and email is not where you do your work
- you want the lowest yearly cost for a professional address
- you already keep your files and calendar somewhere else
Google Workspace is the better choice when
- the team needs to see each other’s calendars and book meetings
- you hold meetings online with customers or with staff in other places
- several people work on the same documents and spreadsheets
- people keep years of mail and large attachments
- losing email for a day would cost you orders
A mixed answer
You can start with webmail and move to Google Workspace when the team grows. Nothing is lost by starting small: when you move, GIXEZ IT’s Google Workspace price includes support in bringing your existing mail across.
What you need to get started
Whichever you choose, setting it up takes the same few things:
- A domain name, such as yourcompany.lk, bought by you, and access to its DNS settings.
- A list of the addresses you want: one for each person, and shared ones such as info@ or sales@ if you want them.
- Your existing mail, if you want it moved. With Google Workspace, support for the move is part of GIXEZ IT’s price.
- One person in charge. Decide who in the business may add an address, close one and reset a password.
GIXEZ IT then sets the service up on your domain and creates the mailboxes, and your team signs in.
If you are also getting a website
You may not need to buy email at all. Every web design package from GIXEZ IT includes email accounts of 1 GB each at your own domain: one with Starter, five with Premium and ten with E-Commerce. See the packages for what else each one includes.
Questions about business email
Is webmail enough for a small business?
For many, yes. If a few people use email to write to customers and suppliers, a webmail box at your own domain does the job for LKR 1,999 a year each. It stops being enough when the team needs shared calendars, online meetings or much more storage.
Can I move from webmail to Google Workspace later?
Yes. Your addresses stay the same, because they belong to your domain and not to the service behind it. GIXEZ IT’s Google Workspace price includes support in moving your existing mail.
Do I need a website to have business email?
No. You need a domain name, such as yourcompany.lk. A website can be added to the same name later. If you have not chosen a name yet, see our guide on how to register a .lk domain.
Does Google Workspace email work in the Gmail app?
Yes. Google Workspace email is Gmail with your own domain in the address, so it works in the Gmail app on a phone and at gmail.com on a computer.
How many email addresses come with a website package?
One with Starter, five with Premium and ten with E-Commerce, each with 1 GB of storage.
Get business email set up for you
GIXEZ IT sets up both: Google Workspace at LKR 3,200 per user a month, and webmail at LKR 1,999 per box a year. Read more on our business email page, see the email packages, or tell us how many addresses you need.
