Comparing Zoho and Google Docs

Almost everyone is familiar with Google Docs to some degree, even if they haven’t used the services themselves. So, when trying to explain to someone what Zoho is, it seems natural to start out by saying that Zoho is an online office suite similar to Google Docs. However, this comparison isn’t quite fair to Zoho for a number of reasons.

To begin with, Google Docs only consists of four core office applications: a word processor, a spreadsheet application, a presentation creator, and a form maker. Along with these four applications, Google does have other utilities such as Gmail, Picasa for photo sharing, and a web site creation tool – just to name a few. However, these additional offerings are somewhat disconnected from one another in the sense that there’s no centralized dashboard that links all of these applications together.

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Even though Google Docs does include a sidebar panel where you can select and categorize all available files, no matter which application they're associated with, this isn't quite the same as a central dashboard – and it's certainly not of the same quality as Zoho's offering in this area. The customizable dashboard in Zoho helps you manage your entire work-flow, calling attention to items that need to be dealt with along with organizing all files in an easily accessible format. This is a certainly a boon to individual users, especially power users, but it's almost a necessity to business users, especially in today's world where the problem isn't availability of information, but being able to access and use information without overloading.

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All else aside, since they are actually online already, online office suites should excel at file sharing and instant web publishing. For the most part, both Zoho and Google Docs do a good job in this regard, but Zoho is decidedly better. With a single click, you can decide how you want to share or publish a file in Zoho, and the facilities for sharing a file privately are straightforward and simple. With Google Docs, these capabilities aren't terrible, but they could still use a bit of work. When trying to share files in Google Docs, I've often had trouble with lagging menus and unexecuted requests in addition to reports of it taking hours for the recipient to receive notification on file changes. With Zoho, no such problems have been encountered, and file sharing has been almost instantaneous.

Now that Google Docs has come out with a business version (Google Apps Premier), it might be better to make the comparison between this version and Zoho. However, unlike the standard version of Docs, Google Apps Premier isn't free – costs for the service start at $50 per user per year. However, Zoho has a free version available for all of its applications, both for the standard office apps and the more full-featured business tools. Then, as you find that you need more space or additional tools, you can add on as needed and only pay for what you need. Prices vary depending on which options you choose.