The G Suite productivity suite was officially renamed Google Workspace in 2020 as part of a massive reorganization of Google’s enterprise apps. The official claim is that this move is to be more future-proof and has developed a variety of optional migration packages. From 2022, all old users of the free version of G Suite will also need to pay for the corresponding functions of Google Workspace.
The search giant launched its Google Apps” suite 16 years ago, and it came to a close in 2012. The company hasn’t implemented major changes to the associated free accounts over the past decade, until today. In an email to IT administrators this morning, Google announced that “all remaining users will now be upgraded to a paid Google Workspace subscription based on your usage.
As a result, the only free experience plan of Workspace is the “Basic Edition” (for Nonprofits & Education / Fundamentals) for non-profit organizations and the education market. In the past few years, old business/personal users who enjoy Gmail, Drive, Docs and other applications for free will need to start paying for related Google value-added services based on custom domains (not limited to gmail.com).
Before May 1, 2022, this part of the old users must choose one of the new plans, otherwise, Google will automatically select the corresponding plan for them (the billing will start after at least two months). The upgrade process for existing G Suite Free Edition users is simple, with a few simple steps to seamlessly migrate to Google Workspace without disrupting the end-user experience.
In order to give old G Suite users some time to buffer, Google has also provided a 12-month limited-time offer for subscriptions after July 1, 2022 (or you can also choose to export organizational data).
- The Business Starter is priced at $6/user/month (up to $18).
- Small businesses with just one existing Gmail account can also opt for the $9.99 per month Workspace Individual plan (without custom email addresses).
- Google will suspend automatic subscriptions for Workspace accounts if billing details are not entered by July 1, 2022.
- After the 60-day suspension, users will lose access to G Suite core services, including Gmail, Calendar, and Meet.
- However, users can continue to access other Google services, such as YouTube and Google Photos albums.
Given that G Suite has been around for a long time, it’s not clear how many people are still using Google Apps, and Google’s forced paid upgrade is sure to spark some controversy. For the past two years, Google has been working hard to simplify the service it provides to businesses, with Gmail integration being a good example, as well as the classic Hangouts-to-Google Chat transition.