FWIW, I realize that Google generally does not have a good perception around privacy, especially here, but I do want to highlight that Workspace is an entirely

FWIW, I realize that Google generally does not have a good perception around privacy, especially here, but I do want to highlight that Workspace is an entirely different creature. Because Workspace is a paid enterprise product, and Google sells it to the F500/G1000, plus a bunch of government agencies, the privacy controls are held to a much more stringent level. Workspace data, including email, cannot be used for advertising, for search result customization, maps data, or any other non-Workspace purpose. I'm a reasonably privacy conscious individual, and I trust my own personal data to Workspace because having worked on Workspace for two years at Google, I saw how carefully Workspace user data was treated, especially for paid users. None of that is to address the other points you bring up - simpler, cheaper - but I wanted to emphasize that I actually would trust Google more in this area than a random third-party hosted email solution. Someone like a protonmail or fastmail I don't consider "random", and I assume MSFT is as careful as Google given their enterprise background - but from smaller companies, I have a hard time believing they've invested so much effort in protecting user data as Google has. (obligatory disclosure: I work for Google, used to work on Workspace until about 6 months ago, just my opinions)