You wanted one place for your inbox, your calendar, and your files. Instead, you found three tabs, three logins, and three separate bills.

Picture a shared office where every desk sits in a different building. You would spend half your day just walking between them. Business email with calendar, drive and docs under one roof fixes that.

Google and Microsoft are the usual answers, but they are not your only ones. Maybe the bill keeps climbing, maybe the admin settings overwhelm you, or maybe you want your client data kept private.

Here are 7 options beyond Google and Microsoft, sorted by who each one actually suits. You will also see the honest trade-offs, so you can decide quickly and get back to work.

What to Check Before You Choose

Run through these six points first. They take two minutes and prevent most regrets.

• One login for everything. Confirm that mail, calendar, storage, and documents live in one account, not three tools stitched together.
• Real document editing. Some options store files but cannot edit them. Check for a built-in writer and spreadsheet if you need them.
• Setup you can manage alone. Look for providers that walk you through domain records, so you never need to hire a technician.
• Where your data lives. Location matters most for legal, health, and client work, so check it before you commit.
• Cost as you grow. Per-user pricing climbs with every hire, while bundle pricing stays flat. Compare both for next year’s headcount.
• Moving out later. Pick a provider that lets you export mail and files in standard formats.

Quick Comparison

Skim this table first, then read deeper only where something catches your eye.

Option	Starting Price	Mail and Calendar	Drive and Docs	Best For
Truehost Workplace	From $4.80/year	Yes	Yes, lighter tools	Small teams wanting one login for little money
Zoho Workplace	$3/user/month, annual	Yes	Yes, full apps	Budget teams wanting a full suite
Proton Workspace	$12.99/user/month, yearly	Yes, encrypted	Yes, encrypted	Confidential client work
Lark	Free up to 20 users	Yes	Yes	Chat-first teams
Fastmail	$5/user/month, annual	Yes	Storage only, no editor	A polished inbox
Nextcloud Hub	Free software, hosting extra	Calendar, plus a mail client	Yes	Teams with technical help
ONLYOFFICE DocSpace	Free cloud tier listed	No	Docs only	Document-heavy teams

1) Truehost Workplace

Truehost Workplace gives a small team its own domain email, a shared drive, a calendar, and office documents in one account. You pick a bundle, connect your domain, and everyone signs in the same way.

Pricing follows mailbox bundles instead of per-user licences, so a new hire never triggers a new subscription. Nobody needs a technical background to get started, and no approval process stands in the way.

Pricing: From $4.80 a year for one mailbox with 3 GB, or $22.20 a year for five mailboxes with 50 GB. Larger bundles reach 20 mailboxes and 200 GB at $88 a year.

Features

• Look established from day one. Every address uses your own domain, so clients see a real business instead of a free account.
• Keep your inbox and files together. A built-in drive, calendar, and office documents sit behind one login.
• Add people without watching the bill. Flat bundle pricing means growth does not multiply your costs.
• Start the same day. No eligibility review or admin maze stands between you and a working inbox.

Pros

• Very low cost per mailbox
• Simple enough for non-technical owners to run alone

Cons

• Collaboration tools are lighter than Google or Microsoft, so heavy co-editing teams may want more
• Standard bundles top out at 20 mailboxes

Best For: Small businesses, freelancers, and agencies that want everything under one login for very little money.

2) Zoho Workplace

Zoho Workplace bundles mail, calendar, cloud storage, and a full set of document, spreadsheet, and slide apps. It is the closest like-for-like swap for Google’s suite at a much lower price.

Zoho runs its own data centres and shows no ads. Teams already using Zoho CRM get the most out of it.

Pricing: Standard is $3 per user a month on annual billing, or $4 monthly. Professional is $6 per user a month on annual billing.

Features

• Get a whole suite in one login. Mail, WorkDrive, Writer, Sheet, and Show all sit under one account.
• Chat and meet without extra tools. Cliq and Meeting come with the plan, so calls need no separate subscription.
• Scale storage as you grow. Professional raises mail to 100 GB per user and shared team storage to 1 TB.

Pros

• Full suite at a very low price
• No advertising anywhere

Cons

• The apps are capable rather than polished, and the layout feels unfamiliar at first
• Mail-only and Workplace plans overlap, which makes the plan menu confusing

Best For: Price-sensitive teams that want a complete suite.

3) Proton Workspace

Proton Workspace encrypts your mail, calendar, and files so that even Proton cannot read them. It is built in Switzerland for people whose clients expect confidentiality.

Its document and spreadsheet editor lives inside Proton Drive. That keeps sensitive drafts in one private place.

Pricing: Workspace Standard is $12.99 per user a month on yearly billing, with 1 TB each. Mail Essentials is $6.99 on yearly billing, with 15 GB.

Features

• Protect client confidence. Messages and files are encrypted, so a provider breach does not expose your content.
• Edit documents privately. The built-in editor keeps drafts inside the encrypted drive.
• Run several brands. Standard supports up to 15 custom domains.

Pros

• Strongest privacy protection on this list
• Calendar, drive, and editor included even on the entry plan

Cons

• Highest per-user price here
• Desktop mail apps need the Proton Bridge helper installed

Best For: Legal, health, finance, and advisory teams.

4) Lark

Lark puts chat, email, calendar, documents, spreadsheets, and a wiki in one workspace. The Starter plan is free for up to 20 users with 100 GB of storage.

Teams that already live in chat find it natural. Email becomes one app among many instead of the centre of the screen.

Pricing: Free for up to 20 users. Basic is $6 per user a month on annual billing.

Features

• Try it without paying. The free plan covers a full team of up to 20 people.
• Keep conversations beside the work. Docs, Base, and Wiki open straight from the chat.
• Use your own domain. An admin verifies the domain, then points the mail records to Lark.

Pros

• Free for small teams
• Generous set of built-in apps

Cons

• A bigger change in habit, since chat leads and email follows
• The free plan limits video to one-on-one calls

Best For: Chat-first teams of up to 20 who want a free start.

5) Fastmail

Fastmail is a fast, ad-free email service with calendars, contacts, and file storage. It has run its own servers since 1999.

It has no document editor and no video calls. Choose it when the quality of your inbox matters most.

Pricing: Standard is $5 per user a month on annual billing, with 60 GB in total.

Features

• Stay focused. No ads and quick search keep the inbox calm.
• Share calendars and addresses. Shared calendars and addresses such as support@ come with every business plan.
• Reach a real person. Human support sits behind the product instead of a maze of help articles.

Pros

• Polished, fast interface
• Works with standard mail apps on Standard and above

Cons

• No document editor, so you need separate tools for Docs
• File storage is capped at 10 GB on Standard

Best For: Professionals who want a refined inbox and will handle documents elsewhere.

6) Nextcloud Hub

Nextcloud Hub is open-source software that gives you files, calendar, contacts, chat, and an online office. You run it on your own server or buy it from a managed host.

One catch surprises people. Nextcloud Mail is an email client, not a mail server, so you still need a separate host for business email.

Pricing: The software is free. You pay for the server, or for a managed host that charges per user.

Features

• Own your data completely. Files stay on infrastructure you choose.
• Edit documents in the browser. Nextcloud Office handles documents, spreadsheets, and slides.
• Add chat and calls. Talk covers messages and video in the same place.

Pros

• Full control over where files live
• No per-user licence on the software itself

Cons

• Someone must handle updates, backups, and security
• It needs a separate mail host for your actual email

Best For: Teams with a technical person who want to own their files.

7) ONLYOFFICE DocSpace

ONLYOFFICE DocSpace is a document workspace, not a mailbox. It offers Microsoft-compatible online editors and shared rooms for working on files with clients and teammates.

Pair it with a separate mail provider if documents are your main job. Used that way, it covers the Docs part of your wishlist.

Pricing: A free cloud tier has been listed, and self-hosted options are paid. Check ONLYOFFICE’s own page for current plans.

Features

• Open Office-style files without broken layouts. Compatible editors keep client documents looking right.
• Share by room. Each client or project gets its own room with its own access rules.
• Choose where it runs. Use the cloud version or host it yourself.

Pros

• Strong for document-first teams
• Handles Office-format files smoothly

Cons

• No email or calendar of its own, so you need a second service

Best For: Document-heavy teams that already have their email sorted.

Two More Names You Will See in Other Lists

You may spot openDesk on other comparisons. It is a sovereign open-source workplace built for European public bodies, with costs that come from deployment. For a small business, it rarely makes sense.

What You Give Up, and How to Move Without Losing Mail

Leaving Google or Microsoft costs a little. You get fewer add-ons, and some clients expect their shared files to open exactly as before. The move itself is calm when you follow the right order.

• Keep the old service running. Cancel nothing until the new inbox sends and receives properly.
• Move email first. Add your domain, publish the records your new provider gives you, then import your old mail.
• Export calendars and contacts. Google exports calendars as ICS files and contacts as vCard or CSV, which most providers accept.
• List every app that signs in with Google. Switch those logins before the old accounts disappear.

The Bottom Line

Remember those three tabs and three logins? You can close two of them. Every option here brings your inbox, calendar, and files closer together without sending you back to Google or Microsoft.

If you want one login, a flat low cost, and no technician, Truehost Workplace is the simplest start. Choose Zoho for a full suite, Proton for confidentiality, and Lark for a free chat-first team. Pick Nextcloud only if someone on your team enjoys running servers.

Ready to see what fits your team? Explore Truehost email hosting or compare the Workplace plans.