Google Vault is a retention and eDiscovery tool included with some Workspace editions. MonitorWorkspace is an admin dashboard built for day-to-day user monitoring, offboarding, and operational compliance — the workflows Vault wasn't designed for.
Google Vault is the right choice if you need long-term legal holds, eDiscovery searches for litigation, and retention policy enforcement across Gmail and Drive. MonitorWorkspace is the right choice if you need a real-time admin dashboard with user monitoring, one-click email transfers during offboarding, Google Chat export, group health auditing, and license tracking — tasks that Vault either can't do or makes unnecessarily complex.
If your organization is on Business Plus or Enterprise, yes — Google Vault is included. But Vault is a legal and compliance archive, not an admin operations tool. It's designed for lawyers running eDiscovery searches, not IT admins offboarding employees at 5 PM on a Friday. MonitorWorkspace fills the operational gaps: real-time dashboards, one-click email transfers, Google Chat export, 2FA status monitoring, group health audits, and license waste detection.
Many teams use both: Vault for long-term legal retention and MonitorWorkspace for the daily admin work Vault wasn't built for.
| Feature | MonitorWorkspace | Google Vault |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & Availability | ||
| Free tier | Up to 10 users | |
| Included with Workspace | Separate product | Business Plus & Enterprise only |
| Available on Business Starter/Standard | All editions | Add-on ($5/user/mo) |
| Starting price | $3/user/mo | $5/user/mo add-on (or included) |
| Day-to-Day Admin | ||
| Real-time user dashboard | Live status, 2FA, storage | |
| Email transfer (offboarding) | One-click migration | Export only, no transfer |
| Google Chat export | Full space export | Search & hold only |
| Google Groups health audit | Stale member detection | |
| License tracking & optimization | ||
| 2FA enrollment monitoring | ||
| Admin action audit trail | Up to 1 year | Vault tracks its own actions only |
| Legal & Retention | ||
| Legal hold | Indefinite preservation | |
| Retention policies | Custom rules per OU | |
| eDiscovery search | Gmail, Drive, Chat, Meet | |
| MBOX / PST export for legal | ||
| Data preserved after user deleted | Transfers data before deletion | Retained by policy |
| Experience | ||
| Setup time | 10 minutes | Already enabled (if included) |
| Learning curve | Minimal | Moderate (legal-oriented UI) |
| Built for IT admins | Built for legal/compliance teams | |
| Self-service signup | N/A (admin console toggle) | |
Free for up to 10 users. Works alongside Google Vault — use Vault for legal holds, MonitorWorkspace for everything else.