Rest of World: 100 million Google Workspace users switch to Zoho, cutting costs by about 70%

Flexisaf, a Nigerian education-technology startup, began cutting technology costs earlier this year and identified Google Workspace as one of its biggest expenses. The company had used Google Workspace since 2010, but with a current headcount of 100, the service became too expensive for the business.

In March, Flexisaf found a solution in Zoho, an Indian software company offering products similar to Google at a lower price. Flexisaf started migrating to Zoho, and once the switch is complete, it expects to save around 8 million naira (about $6,960) per year. Flexisaf’s head of people and talent, Sa’ad Shehu, said the rollout will begin with email and online meetings first, followed by adoption of other features over the coming months.

Zoho’s push in Africa as a lower-cost alternative

Zoho is positioning itself as a cheaper rival to global enterprise software providers such as Google and Microsoft. The company has expanded its presence in Africa by deploying local staff, introducing payments in local currencies, and sponsoring a baseball team to build visibility in the market.

Zoho’s vice president of marketing and customer experience, Praval Singh, said there is significant room for digital transformation across African countries, adding that many companies are adopting digital tools to improve how they operate.

Expansion timeline and product footprint

Although Zoho launched in India in 1996, it did not begin direct operations in Africa until 2019. At that point, each country in South Africa and Nigeria received a local sales presence. The company now employs around 60 staff across the continent.

Zoho offers work-management tools comparable to Gmail and Drive, alongside products including customer relationship management (CRM), human-resources management, and accounting software. Zoho has more than 100 million users worldwide, and its customers include Amazon, Mercedes-Benz Group AG, SpiceJet, and Zomato.

Singh also said Zoho’s approach differs from some competitors because it does not run advertisements or sell customer data to third parties.

Adoption signals and financial context

Zoho reported that in 2023 its user base in Nigeria rose 50% year over year, while revenue from South Africa grew 73%. The company declined to disclose specific user numbers in Africa or revenue figures for the continent. Zoho’s annual revenue surpassed $1 billion.

A Zoho spokesperson told Rest of World that customers include Pesapal of Kenya, Payfast of South Africa, and Quicket.

Local developer ecosystem and competition challenges

Despite early traction, African tech experts said Zoho still needs to strengthen branding and ties with the local tech community to build long-term competition against larger players. Prosper Otemuyiwa, a Nigerian software engineer and cofounder of ForLoop, a nonprofit developer community in Africa, said Zoho lacks the same level of credibility as Google.

Otemuyiwa said Google has built an ecosystem of tools and support, which can make users reluctant to switch, similar to how customers may pay for Apple products to stay within that ecosystem.

Local-currency pricing as a key driver

In 2021, Zoho began allowing African companies to pay for software in local currencies. The article describes this as a key driver of Zoho’s success in Africa because it helps customers and potential competitors avoid regulatory hurdles associated with dollar-denominated spending.

Kehinde Ogundare, Nigeria managing director, said Flexisaf’s experience reflects a broader trend: “We see rising adoption of Zoho in Nigeria when pricing is in naira and a local support team is in place.”

By contrast, the article states that African companies could only pay Google Workspace in dollars and euros, based on Rest of World’s verification.

Impact on African startups and switching decisions

Adewale Yusuf, cofounder and CEO of AltSchool Africa, said Zoho’s pricing strategy is central to its ability to win customers: “As long as naira pricing exists for anything priced in dollars, Zoho will win.” Yusuf added that Zoho’s products and pricing are strong, but that building trust and running effective marketing are also important to disrupt incumbents.

Yusuf said all of his companies now use at least one Zoho product.