Tired of Google Workspace? Proton thinks it might have the answer, and offers supposedly easy switching too

Proton launches Google Workspace migration tool

Proton is pitching Easy Switch for Business as a zero-downtime migration tool for Gmail, contacts, and calendar. Tired of Google Workspace? Proton thinks it might have the answer, and offers supposedly easy switching too.

Proton has launched a new Easy Switch for Business tool to help companies migrate from Google Workspace with minimal disruption and downtime, in the face of a growing number of companies looking to turn their backs on Big Tech. The announcement comes as European businesses especially look to find alternatives to US software giants, amid concerns over data privacy, regulatory compliance and broader tech sovereignty.

Proton says its Easy Switch tool is meant to tackle some of the challenges companies are most worried about when switching, like operational disruption and cost.

While Proton's product offerings also include Drive, Docs and Sheets, this tool specifically relates to email, calendars and contacts. Importantly, Google Workspace and Proton run simultaneously during the migration so there's no disruption. Users can continue as per normal while the change is happening without experiencing outages or disruptions. It also means that IT teams and admins can move selected user accounts first and onboard teams in stages while running the two suites at the same time, affording them time to make sure things are running as expected.

Proton boasted that over 100,000 organizations – including newsrooms, law firms, tech companies, consultancies, NGOs and government agencies – have already moved to its platform.

Limitations and caveats

The company doesn't currently offer a similar tool for Drive and the documents within it, instead forcing users to export from Google Drive and re-upload to Proton Drive. More importantly, Proton doesn't have any mass migration or export system for its Drive for users seeking to move away from the platform. Due to file-by-file encryption, users must open and download every file individually.