Migrating Off Google Workspace to European Tools (2026)

Moving off Google Workspace means replacing five or six tightly bundled services — mail, files, documents, calendar, and meetings — and the migration succeeds or fails on how honestly you map each one before you start. This guide breaks Workspace into its components, lists the European replacements for each, and walks through the migration itself in the order that keeps your business running throughout.

Why do organisations make this move at all? The three reasons we hear most: keeping company data with a provider that answers only to European law (see our guide to the CLOUD Act), reducing dependence on a single US vendor account that controls email, files, and identity at once, and — for some — cost. All of the tools below are European-headquartered and reviewed in the EuropeanStack directory, and the EU alternatives to Google Workspace page tracks the full-suite options.

What Does Google Workspace Actually Bundle?

Google Workspace bundles seven distinct services, and each has mature European replacements. Mapping them explicitly is the first migration step, because different teams in your organisation depend on different pieces.

The EU alternatives to Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Meet pages compare the options for each component in more depth.

Should You Choose One Suite or Best-of-Breed?

Choose one integrated suite if you are replacing Workspace for a whole organisation; choose best-of-breed tools if only one component matters to you. A single suite means one admin console, one bill, and one migration project. Separate tools mean better individual products but more integration work.

• If you want one bill and one admin console, pick an integrated European suite: Infomaniak (Switzerland) bundles mail, drive, docs, and meetings; mailbox.org (Germany) covers mail, calendar, and office documents; Proton (Switzerland) combines Proton Mail, Proton Drive, Proton Calendar, and Proton Meet under one subscription.
• If you want maximum control or self-hosting, build on Nextcloud (Germany): files, documents via Collabora or ONLYOFFICE, calendar, and video calls on infrastructure you choose — including European cloud hosting from providers like Hetzner or OVHcloud.
• If end-to-end encryption is the priority, Proton's suite and Tuta encrypt content so the provider itself cannot read it — see our Proton Mail vs Tuta comparison for the trade-offs.
• If you only need to replace one component, keep the rest of Workspace for now and migrate incrementally. Email is the most common first move because it is the anchor of the account.

How Do You Migrate the Data? A Seven-Step Plan

A Workspace migration runs in seven steps, and the order matters: prepare the new environment fully before you touch MX records, so email never drops.

1. Inventory what you actually use

List every active user, shared mailbox, Google Group, shared drive, and third-party app connected via Google sign-in. The OAuth connections are the hidden dependency: every tool your team logs into with a Google account needs a new sign-in method after migration.

2. Pick the target stack and run a pilot

Choose from the table above, then migrate a pilot group of 3–5 users for two weeks before committing everyone. The pilot surfaces the problems no checklist catches — a critical spreadsheet with scripts, a shared calendar workflow, a client who only ever emails one alias.

3. Prepare the new environment before cutover

Create all users, aliases, and groups at the new provider while email still flows through Google. Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records for the new provider in advance — mail deliverability depends on them, and they take time to verify.

4. Migrate email

Most European providers import directly from Gmail: Proton's Easy Switch, and the built-in importers at Infomaniak and mailbox.org, pull mail, contacts, and calendars over an authorised connection. For bulk or unusual cases, the open-source imapsync tool copies any IMAP mailbox to any other. Migrate historical mail first, switch MX records, then run a second incremental pass to catch messages delivered during the changeover.

5. Migrate files and documents

Export via Google Takeout or sync tools, noting one critical detail: Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides are not files but database entries, and export converts them to .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx. Native Office formats open cleanly in ONLYOFFICE and Collabora, but complex spreadsheets — especially anything using Apps Script — need manual review. Shared-drive permission structures do not transfer automatically anywhere; plan to rebuild sharing in the new tool.

6. Migrate calendars

Export each calendar as an .ics file and import it at the new provider, or let the provider's importer handle it. Recreate shared calendars and meeting-room resources manually — resource booking is the piece that maps least cleanly between providers.

7. Cut over, then decommission slowly

After MX cutover and the final mail sync, keep the Google tenant alive in read-only form for 60–90 days as a safety net. Only delete it once your retention obligations are met and nobody has needed to check an old document in a month.

What Are the Common Migration Pitfalls?

The five failures that hit Workspace migrations most often are all avoidable if you know they are coming:

1. Google-format documents that break on conversion. Apps Script automation, complex pivot tables, and linked sheets do not survive export. Find them in the pilot, not after cutover.
2. OAuth sign-ins nobody catalogued. When the Google account goes, so does "Sign in with Google" for every connected SaaS tool. Inventory these in step 1 and move users to password-manager or SSO logins first.
3. Shared-drive permissions. No importer recreates Google's sharing model. Budget real time to rebuild folder access in the new system.
4. MX cutover without a second mail pass. Mail delivered to Google between your bulk copy and the DNS change is silently stranded unless you run an incremental sync afterwards.
5. No user training. The tools are different, and the fastest way to generate internal resistance is to switch without showing people where their daily workflows moved. A one-page "where did X go" note per team prevents most of it.

How Long Does a Migration Take?

A realistic Workspace migration takes two weeks for a small team and one to three months for a mid-sized organisation. The work is rarely the data transfer itself — it is the inventory, the pilot, and the permission rebuild.

Related Reading

• The CLOUD Act explained for EU companies — the legal reason data location alone doesn't settle the sovereignty question
• EU data residency: what it actually means — residency vs sovereignty vs localisation, without the marketing
• EU alternatives to Google Workspace — the full-suite comparison page
• Best European cloud hosting providers — if you are self-hosting Nextcloud