Detailed comparison
Béluga, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace.
Side by side, no embellishment, across 30 criteria that matter to Québec organizations. Including the ones where we don't win.
100 %
hosted in Québec, on servers we own
0
U.S. cloud provider anywhere in our infrastructure
7 modules
included in a single subscription, no à-la-carte add-ons
Criterion
30 points across 5 axes
Our solution
Béluga PME
$15 CAD / user · month
Microsoft
Microsoft 365 Business
See their current pricing
Google
Google Workspace Business
See their current pricing
Sovereignty & jurisdiction
Hosted in Québec
Live data and backups
Yes
No · global
No · global
Servers owned outright
No third-party cloud rental
Yes
Their centers
Their centers
Québec / Canadian parent company
No U.S. subsidiary
Québec
USA
USA
Out of reach of the U.S. CLOUD Act
2018 extraterritorial law
Yes
No
No
Out of reach of FISA 702
U.S. electronic surveillance
Yes
No
No
Government request notification
Unless legally forbidden
Yes
When allowed
When allowed
Regulatory compliance
Loi 25 compliant by default
No configuration required
By default
Must configure
Must configure
Data processing agreement in French
Governed by Québec law
QC Civil Code
U.S. law
U.S. law
Incident registry operated for you
Alongside our privacy policy
Included
Your responsibility
Your responsibility
Your data never used for AI
No model training
Contractual
Settings-dependent
Settings-dependent
Audit log and DLP rules
In the admin console
Included
Higher tier
Higher tier
Legal hold
No add-on module
Included
Higher tier
Higher tier
Pricing & terms
Prices listed in Canadian dollars
No exchange-rate swings
Native CAD
Converted USD
Converted USD
Monthly, no commitment
Cancel anytime
Every plan
Annual is common
Monthly costs more
Trial without a credit card
For organizations
30 days
Card required
Card required
Flat price regardless of team size
Unlimited users
PME+ · $30/mo
No
No
Free plan that never expires
For individuals
Yes · 1 GB
No
No
Contracts under Québec Civil Code
Québec jurisdiction
Yes
State of Washington
California
Features
Professional email + custom domain
IMAP/SMTP, guided DNS
Yes
Yes
Yes
Real-time collaborative documents
Co-editing, anchored comments
Docs · unlimited
Office Online
Google Docs
Built-in video meetings
PME plan · transcription included
50 participants
Teams
Meet
End-to-end encrypted messaging
Even we can't read it
Convo · default
No
No
Open standards (IMAP, CalDAV, CardDAV)
Your usual clients and devices
All three
Partial
Partial
Admin-governed AI connectors
Individual consent + global switch
Included · MCP
Paid Copilot
Paid Gemini
Built-in AI assistant
Matelot — we say it plainly
In development
Copilot
Gemini
Support & Québec ecosystem
Support in Québec French
In beta: the founders answer
Yes
FR-FR
EN / FR-FR
Built on open-source software
Postfix, Matrix, LiveKit, MinIO…
Yes
Proprietary
Proprietary
Export in standard formats
Without asking permission
vCard · iCal · IMAP
PST · limited
Takeout
Québec economy (taxes, salaries)
Money stays here
100 %
~0 %
~0 %
Product decisions made in Québec
Product, pricing, roadmap
Yes
Redmond
Mountain View
Comparison updated in August 2026, based on Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Google Workspace Business Standard. Their capabilities and prices evolve — check their documentation for current details.
In short
If the jurisdiction of your data matters,
If the jurisdiction of your data matters,
the choice is simple.
Microsoft and Google offer more features, more integrations, more scale — let's be honest. Béluga offers something else: the certainty that your data stays in Québec, under Québec law, with a company from here.