XWiki vs G Suite

An affordable price plan

G Suite offers three different plans to choose from (Basic, Business, respectively Enterprise), with the lowest starting price point being at 5 EUR/user/month and growing to up to 23 EUR/user/month. All plans include Google’s productivity apps, but upgrades provide additional features to extend usability. Payment can be done monthly. XWiki’s pricing, on the other hand, includes four packages to choose from. Starting at 1 EUR/month/user and from the Silver Package upwards (3 EUR/month/user), all extensions and additional apps are included, for no extra cost. Accepted payment methods include monthly, annual or quote-based as per specification.

G Suite also offers a 14 days trial to test out the product. What sets XWiki apart is that it provides the free, standard Open Source version of the product. Entirely accessible and useable by anyone, it is a democratic and transparent software. We are strong believers of the Open Source core and letting you make your own choices, making it the safest option from an investment point of view.

Comparison between XWiki and G Suite

In terms of technology and features

In terms of usage: Similar purposes, different approaches

G Suite is a "Productivity Suite", encompassing Cloud-based collaborative tools developed by Google and serving businesses, institutes, and even nonprofit organizations. It is a solution for productivity and communication, making it an accessible alternative to desktop solutions and local storage. XWiki, on the other hand, is an Open Source software in the form of a second-generation wiki, with a focus on providing collaborative solutions to enterprises of all sizes. G Suite is made of familiar Google apps and comes tailored to each company's own branding and offers extra management features to ensure organizational control. When it comes to XWiki, each instance can be tailored to cater to your productive workplace platform, while also answering to more complex knowledge management needs: extranet, procedures, sale.

G Suite makes switching between email, documents, and chats a seamless experience, saving you time and effort. It integrates with several other day-to-day tools in order to boost productivity. The sample applies to XWiki as it integrates with many other third-party solutions. If it doesn't integrate yet, we, or the community, can make it happen. XWiki enables you to create, organize and share content in a systematized way, as a full intranet or even as an information-sharing website. Rights management, file attachments, import and export from and across multiple platforms and the WYSIWYG editor are just a few of the available features which can ease your experience with the tool. The nested pages feature, the ability to filter by tags and XWiki's structured model allow you to connect everything and ensure you have rapid access to information, whenever and wherever you need it. As confirmed by our clients, the features integrated into the platform can help you achieve your collaborative goals: "XWiki is a flexible and reliable solution for knowledge and document management. For us, the key has been the ability to mix structured and unstructured data, plus easy access to the structured data through livetables. The security features mean we've been able to set up wikis for different parts of the group and control access levels properly."

In terms of flexibility and extensibility: Tool to suit all vs Tool to suit you

The primary discrepancy lies in the ability for further development on top of the standard platform. XWiki and G Suite are two opposite types of product: G Suite is a proprietary, “as-it-is” software, allowing for limited customization, while XWiki is an Open Source software, meaning you are free to tweak the source code and adapt it to meet your needs. G Suite's flexibility primarily relies on the add-ons it provides which can extend the functionality of its apps, automate tasks and improve workflows. Similarly, XWiki offers over 750 apps and extensions - from Anviritus app, meetings and polls to forum and diagrams, they are yours to mix and match to meet specific business requirements. Moreover, XWiki integrates with Google Apps, giving you the opportunity to log in to XWiki using your Google account, import a Google Apps document as an attachment and even edit XWiki attachments in Google Apps.

XWiki, as well as G Suite, provide tools that allow non-technical users to create their own collaborative apps in a simple and intuitive manner. Both improve information structure and allow you to extensively customize it so that it is a suitable solution for the problem at hand. With G Suite’s App Maker, the created templates are shareable and can be used by anyone. It takes into account both the “Citizen Developer”, requiring no code in order to create the app, as well as the “Professional Developer” since it allows importing JS libraries and CSS for a more personalized approach. XWiki's App Within Minutes goes a step further - the code source itself can be tweaked, supporting full customization and tailor-made solutions. This is why it doesn’t include all types of features like notifications, complex fields or workflows - developers can add them for more in-depth tailoring. Because usage is intuitive and straightforward, you don't have to be an experienced user to leverage XWiki's features and capabilities. You are free to use it right off the bat, start with a simple knowledge base then upgrade it to undertake more complex projects.

What makes XWiki the right alternative?

The advantages of an Open Source model

• Better access to innovation. Open Source is becoming an enabler for innovation through the transparency and freedom it offers for development. Since it relies on the concept of community, contributors are freely and willingly working to improve the product. At XWiki SAS, we, too, are strong believers of this. As such, XWiki is a secure investment and has a better ROI as a result of the ongoing updates and improvements developed by the community.

• No vendor lock-in. Choosing where to deploy, what services to use and what features do the job is up to you. You don't have to deal with license fees, a lack of portability or the inability to customize the software as you wish. XWiki can effectively address all these needs. We know every business is unique, which is why XWiki can be deployed both on Cloud or on-premise and is made to adapt to your needs. However, there is no vendor lock-in, meaning that you can also move your hosting or your support to another provider. You are free to change your mind at any time.

• Extensive customization. XWiki offers a high degree of customization. Since the code can be tweaked and modified without restrictions, there is a broader range of possibilities in terms of tailoring solutions, which would be limited in the case of proprietary software. From the appearance of the wiki to the creation of applications to solve custom problems, it is all achievable. If projects become more and more complex, XWiki can comply with the requirements and turn into a real, collaborative intranet. With XWiki, meeting a company’s IT needs becomes easy, be it in the form of Intranet, Extranet or even as a Website.

• Long term viability. XWiki benefits from the Open Source values which dictate that the source code will always be available for further improvements. This means the sky is the limit in terms of customization and extensions. The community is continuously reviewing code, making improvements and fixing security gaps. As a result, XWiki will always be transparently developed and feasible as contributors report bugs, find fixes or suggest new features.