Windows 10 End of Support: Upgrade Costs for Indian SMBs in 2026

Windows 10 stopped receiving standard security updates on 14 October 2025, and by now most Indian SMBs have either made a plan or are quietly hoping the problem goes away. It won't. A finance team in Pune running an unpatched laptop with a customer GST portal login is one phishing email away from a very bad week. The real question is no longer whether to move off Windows 10, but where to move, and what it will cost once the GST invoices, per-seat rupee pricing, AI add-ons and the inevitable hardware refresh are all counted. That is where most decision-makers get stuck, and it is where the comparison below will help.

This guide is written for owners of 10 to 200 person businesses in cities like Chennai, Indore, Coimbatore, Jaipur and Hyderabad who are weighing Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace India 2026 pricing and want an honest view beyond the headline per-user figure. We will look at total cost of ownership, how GST input credit works on each option, where AI features are actually included, a worked migration example, and the mistakes we see repeatedly when we help clients make this call.

Key Takeaways

• Windows 10 is out of mainstream support. Plan for Windows 11 hardware and budget for devices, not only licences, because older machines often fail the TPM 2.0 check.
• Compare list prices in rupees after GST, and always ask whether the vendor's India invoice is GST-compliant and eligible for input tax credit (ITC).
• Microsoft 365 usually wins where you run desktop Office heavily, use Teams with clients, or need Power Platform and Azure AD integration. Google Workspace usually wins on simplicity, browser-first work and lower admin overhead for teams of 5 to 50.
• AI features are bundled differently. Check which tier includes Copilot or Gemini features, because the entry tiers often do not.
• Migration effort, data retention and training time often cost more than the first year of licences. Price them in.
• Get the decision documented before the migration window closes, not after your accountant asks why ITC is missing.

Microsoft 365 vs Google Workspace India 2026 pricing: what you are actually paying for

Start with the rupee number, because that is what your bookkeeper will see. Both vendors price in USD internationally, but Indian customers buy through local partners or resellers who quote in INR with 18 percent GST added, and that rate applies to most business software and SaaS services. Pricing changes, so verify current rates with your reseller before signing, but as a planning baseline at the time of writing, business-tier plans sit roughly in these ranges per user per month before GST:

• Google Workspace Business Starter and Standard plans, which cover email, Drive, Meet and Docs with a mid-tier storage allowance.
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard and Business Premium, which differ mainly in whether desktop Office apps, advanced security and device management are included.

The subtle point is that the cheapest Microsoft tier often excludes desktop Office apps, which many Indian offices still rely on for Excel-heavy accounting and Word-based document workflows. Compare like with like: a Google Workspace Standard seat against a Microsoft 365 Business Standard seat, not against a web-only Basic tier.

Total cost of ownership is more than the licence

For a 40-person firm in Bengaluru, we typically model five cost buckets over three years:

1. Licences, including GST, multiplied by seats and years.
2. Devices, because Windows 11 requires supported hardware. Many 2016 to 2018 laptops fail the TPM 2.0 and CPU requirements and need replacing.
3. Migration, covering mailbox moves, Drive or SharePoint data, and cutover support from a partner or in-house admin.
4. Training and productivity dip, which is real for the first two to four weeks regardless of platform.
5. Add-ons, such as backup, compliance archiving, AI assistants and third-party security tools.

In our experience the licence line is often 40 to 60 percent of the three-year total for a small office. The rest is hardware and people time, which is why a cheap licence can still be the wrong choice if it forces a rushed hardware purchase.

How GST and input tax credit change the comparison

For a GST-registered business, the question is not what you pay but how much you can claim back. Input tax credit on software services is available when the invoice is in your company's name, carries your GSTIN, shows the correct SAC code for the service, and the vendor has actually remitted the tax. Resellers in India issue these invoices routinely, but the quality varies. We have seen firms discover in March that an invoice was issued in a proprietor's personal name, which was not eligible for ITC.

Ask your reseller four things before buying:

• Will the invoice be issued to the legal entity with its GSTIN?
• What SAC code is used, and does it match your accountant's expectation for SaaS?
• Is the invoice generated on the GSTN portal and visible in GSTR-2B?
• Can they split invoices by department or cost centre if you need that for internal accounts?

Both Microsoft and Google work through Indian channel partners, and both support GST-compliant billing through them. The difference you will feel is the partner, not the vendor. This is the stage where a local IT consultant earns their fee, because the partner that is cheapest on the quote is not always the one that issues clean invoices every month.

A Pro Tip on renewals and the GSTR-2B mismatch

Here is a non-obvious trap. When licences are auto-renewed through a reseller, the new invoice sometimes arrives after your accountant has closed the quarter, and the ITC shows up in a different period from the payment. That is technically fine, but it creates reconciliation noise. Ask for the renewal invoice date to be aligned with your financial calendar, and put a calendar reminder for 30 days before renewal to confirm the GSTR-2B line is in place.

Where AI features fit: Copilot, Gemini and what is included

AI is the newest line item and the one most likely to be misquoted. Microsoft offers Copilot as an add-on for Microsoft 365 business plans, and Google has folded Gemini capabilities into certain Workspace editions while offering standalone add-ons. Availability, tier inclusion and rupee pricing change frequently, so treat any vendor slide as a starting point and confirm in writing.

Practical questions to ask:

• Which exact plan includes the AI features I need, and is it a seat-level add-on or an organisation-wide entitlement?
• Does the AI respect our data-retention and access controls, and where is prompt data processed?
• Are the features available for all Indian languages we need, and do they work offline or only in the browser?
• What is the minimum seat count and contract length for the add-on?

For a 12-person marketing agency in Mumbai, we found that the AI assistant was useful for drafting and summarising client calls but added almost nothing to the finance team's work. The right move was to buy the AI add-on for four seats rather than the whole company, and revisit after a quarter with actual usage data.

Worked example: a 15-person logistics firm in Gurgaon

A logistics company in Gurgaon with 15 office staff and about 30 field users was running a small on-premises Exchange server, an aging file share and a patchwork of personal Gmail accounts for field coordinators. Their monthly infrastructure and hardware upkeep came to roughly ₹45,000, including power backup servicing, a backup vendor and parts. Windows 10 was on most desk machines, and three laptops were already past the point of upgrade.

We modelled three options over 36 months:

1. Stay on-prem and patch Windows 10 with Extended Security Updates, which was costly and deferred the real problem.
2. Microsoft 365 Business Standard for all 45 users, with Teams and SharePoint, plus Windows 11 refresh for 9 machines.
3. Google Workspace Business Standard for all users, with Drive as the file store and Chrome-based access for field staff, plus Windows 11 refresh for 9 machines.

The Google option came out roughly ₹3,000 to ₹4,000 per month cheaper in licences at their seat mix, but the Microsoft option was preferred by the finance lead because the accounting package they used had tighter integration with desktop Office. The team chose Microsoft 365 and negotiated the hardware refresh into a single purchase. Their post-migration monthly run-rate settled around ₹22,000 including licences, backup and admin support, down from ₹45,000, with the saving partly offset by the one-time migration cost. The real win was not the monthly number; it was that the field coordinators stopped using personal email for customer records.

The lesson is that cost savings from leaving on-prem are real, but the choice between Microsoft and Google should follow the applications your people actually use, not the cheaper seat price on a spreadsheet.

Comparing Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and Zoho for Indian SMBs

Zoho Workplace is worth a serious look, especially for firms that already use Zoho CRM, Books or Desk, and for price-sensitive teams that want Indian data-centre options. The table below is a practical comparison for planning, not a feature brochure.

Criteria	Microsoft 365 Business	Google Workspace Business	Zoho Workplace
Desktop Office apps	Included on Standard and Premium tiers	Not included; browser-based Docs and Sheets	Browser-based suite; limited desktop integration
Best fit	Excel-heavy, Teams-based, Windows-first offices	Browser-first, collaborative, lean-admin teams	Zoho ecosystem users and cost-sensitive SMBs
Admin complexity	Moderate to high; needs an admin who knows Entra ID and device policy	Low to moderate	Low to moderate
AI add-ons	Copilot as a paid add-on on eligible plans	Gemini features in eligible editions and add-ons	Zia AI assistant features across the Zoho suite
India billing via local partners	Widely available through resellers	Widely available through resellers	Direct and partner billing with GST invoicing
Typical fit size	20 to 500+ users	5 to 500+ users	5 to 200 users

Read the table as a shortlist filter. If your accountant lives in Excel macros, Microsoft 365 has the strongest case. If your sales team lives in Google Docs and Sheets already, moving them to Microsoft will cost you more in change management than you save. If you are a Zoho customer for CRM and accounts, the integration argument for Zoho Workplace is real.

A step-by-step checklist for choosing and migrating

If you are reading this in an owner's chair with a decision due this quarter, here is the sequence we recommend. You can brief your vendor or your internal admin directly from this list.

1. Inventory your devices. Run a hardware audit and flag machines that cannot run Windows 11. Note the TPM status and CPU generation.
2. Inventory your applications. List every application that depends on desktop Office, local file shares, or specific mail clients.
3. Map your data. Identify mailboxes, shared drives, and any files with retention or regulatory requirements. Note where customer data sits.
4. Shortlist two platforms. Usually Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, with Zoho as a third option if you already use Zoho.
5. Request GST-compliant quotes from two or three partners, asking the four invoicing questions listed earlier.
6. Model three-year TCO including devices, migration, training and add-ons.
7. Pilot with one team for two weeks, measuring login issues, sync problems and user satisfaction.
8. Plan cutover in phases, starting with mail, then files, then collaboration tools. Keep a rollback window open for at least two weeks.
9. Set up backup and retention on day one. Native retention is not the same as a recoverable backup.
10. Train and document. Create a one-page guide for each role, and hold a short session for the most sensitive users.

Common Mistake: migrating before the hardware plan is locked

The most expensive mistake we see is moving mail and files to the cloud while the Windows 10 machines are still in use, then discovering in month three that 20 percent of laptops must be replaced anyway. The cloud platform works on old machines, but the security problem remains. Lock the device refresh plan before the first mailbox moves, or at least decide which machines are being retired, so you do not pay twice for the same work.

Security and compliance: what Indian SMBs must check

Your obligations under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the rules being framed under it apply to how you handle personal data of customers and employees, regardless of which platform you choose. Be clear with your vendor and partner about where data is stored, who can access it, how long it is retained, and how you would respond to a breach notification. For firms in regulated sectors such as financial services, healthcare or government vendors, add the sector-specific requirements from your regulator to that list.

Practical controls that work on either platform: enforce multi-factor authentication for all accounts, disable legacy authentication, restrict external sharing by default, and use device management for any laptop that holds client data. These controls matter more than the brand name on the contract.

Frequently asked questions

Is Windows 10 still safe to use in 2026?

Windows 10 no longer receives standard security updates for most editions, so new vulnerabilities will not be patched through normal channels. Machines that stay on Windows 10 for sensitive work should be moved to a supported OS or placed under an extended update programme if one is available for your situation. Continuing to run it on internet-facing or customer-data machines is a risk most businesses cannot justify.

Is Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace cheaper for a small business in India?

It depends on the tier you need. Google Workspace is often cheaper per seat at comparable business tiers, but Microsoft 365 can be the better value if you need desktop Office apps and already own compatible hardware. Compare Standard against Standard, include GST, and add the cost of any AI add-ons you plan to use.

Can I claim GST input tax credit on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace?

Generally yes, for a GST-registered business using the service for business purposes, provided the invoice is issued to your entity with your GSTIN and the vendor has reported the tax. Confirm the SAC code and invoice format with your chartered accountant before you buy.

How long does a migration from on-prem to cloud take for a 20-person office?

For a typical 20-person office with a modest file server and a single mail domain, a well-planned migration takes two to four weeks from kickoff to cutover, with another two weeks for stabilisation and clean-up. Rushed migrations take longer because of rework.

Do I need a partner or can I migrate myself?

Small offices with a confident internal admin can migrate themselves, especially for Google Workspace. Most firms benefit from a partner for the mailbox cutover, tenant setup, device enrolment and backup configuration, because mistakes at those steps are hard to undo. A consultant also helps with GST-compliant billing and the procurement comparison.

What happens to my data if I cancel the subscription?

Read the termination clause and data export terms before signing. Both major platforms offer data export tools, but the timeline and format vary, and retention after cancellation is limited. Keep a periodic export of critical data as part of your normal backup routine.

Should I wait for the next pricing change before deciding?

Waiting rarely helps. Pricing and bundled features change, but the cost of running unsupported Windows 10 machines grows every month. Set a decision date, document your reasons, and revisit the choice at renewal rather than delaying the migration indefinitely.

Where eDarpan fits in

eDarpan works with Indian SMBs on the parts of this decision that are hard to do alone: sizing the right licence tier, getting GST-compliant billing set up through the right channel, planning the device refresh, and running the migration with a rollback plan. Our Microsoft 365 licensing and Google Workspace licensing teams can quote both options side by side so you are comparing the same scope. If you are also rethinking where your workloads run, our cloud migration and managed services team can help with the infrastructure side, and our IT consulting engagements are useful when the decision touches several systems at once. Background reading on data localisation is in our posts on sovereign cloud data centres in India and whether data localisation is worth the cost, and if you are comparing cloud providers as well, our AWS, GCP and Azure checklist is a useful companion.

If you want a second opinion on your shortlist, or a fixed-scope quote comparing Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace for your headcount, get in touch with the eDarpan team. You can also read more about how we work on our about page or browse everything we offer on the services overview.

Image credit: Office in progress by lilszeto via flickr (BY-ND 2.0), sourced through Openverse.