Google Workspace Pricing Updates And Auto-Transitions

This blog post was updated on June 12, 2024

It was originally published on November 15, 2021

Note: This blog post talks about the transition from G Suite to Google Workspace that began in October 2020.

All good things come to an end and so does reasonable SaaS pricing. In this blog post, we share updates about the changes in pricing of Google Workspace (formerly G Suite, formerly Google Apps) and how this will impact your subscription plans.

Google Workspace History

In 2020, Google rebranded G Suite, its suite of productivity tools to Google Workspace. The rebrand was accompanied by major updates aimed at better integrating all of Google’s applications with Gmail as its focal point. The idea was to make it easy for you to do all of your work without having to leave Gmail. So, thanks to the new updates and integrations, you have the ability to launch a video chat from Gmail on one window while collaborating with colleagues on a Google doc on another window, in real-time.

Along with the rebrand and new logo, came new subscription plans. G Suite Business became Business Plus. But the name is not the only thing that changed. The subscription prices went up by a staggering 50%.

We have covered all of the pricing details and features offered in our blog What Is Google Workspace And How Does It Impact Your G Suite Account? 

Google Workspace Plans

Here are the different Google Workspace pricing plans per user per month:

Payment	Business Starter	Business Standard	Business Plus	Enterprise
Billed Annually	$6	$12	$18	Contact Sales
Billed Monthly	$7.2	$14.4	$21.6	Contact Sales

You can find this pricing info on the Google Workplace Pricing page

G Suite To Google Workspace Transition

The transition from G Suite to Google Workspace began in October 2020. Soon thereafter, moving to Google Workspace became mandatory as the old Suite Basic and Business plans were going to be deprecated. You would have received communication from Google about this transition.

As far as the transition work was concerned, you didn’t have to worry as the system would have transitioned you to an equivalent plan automatically. It would make sure that the plan you were transitioning to would have all of the important features that the plan you currently had did. So for example, if your current subscription plan was G Suite Business, the auto-transition would move you to the new Google Workspace Business Plus as it would match the features of your current plan.

Google Workspace Feature Changes

With the new pricing plans of Google Workspace, it appears that you will be forced to subscribe to a more costly plan if you want to retain the features that you currently get. If you stick with a plan that is equivalent in pricing with your existing plan, you will be losing access to a ton of features.

For small businesses, this is especially important to consider because many of these features are related to security and data protection. For example, the Vault feature was available with G Suite Business priced at $12 /user/month but now to gain access to Vault you will need the Business Plus plan at $18 /user/month. But that is just one feature.

Here are some examples of features you will lose in addition to Vault.

Security-Related Features

• Holds and retention rules stop protecting your organization’s messages and files.

• Data that users deleted more than 30 days ago is immediately removed from all Google systems and can’t be recovered.

• Advanced endpoint management—You can’t set up company-owned Android devices or selectively distribute apps to Android devices.

• Sharing with external people – You can no longer stop users from sharing links or files with people outside of your organization.

• You can no longer choose a geographic location for your data.

Video Conferencing Related Features

• Advanced video conferencing Meetings are limited to 150 participants.

• Advanced controls in Calendar – Rooms aren’t automatically released when all attendees decline. 

• Rooms that decline invitations aren’t replaced. 

• Admins can’t clear room calendars or put rooms in maintenance mode.

• You can’t set a default duration for events.

Here’s a detailed list of the features included in the different Google Workspace plans: 

Features	Business Starter	Business Standard	Business Plus	Enterprise
Gmail Business email	✔	✔	✔	✔
Custom email for your business	✔	✔	✔	✔
Phishing and spam protection that blocks more than 99.9% of attacks	✔	✔	✔	✔
Ad-free email experience	✔	✔	✔	✔
Meet Video and voice conferencing	100 participants	150 participants	500 participants	1000 participants
Meeting length (maximum)	24 hours	24 hours	24 hours	24 hours
US or international dial-in phone numbers	✔	✔	✔	✔
Digital whiteboarding	✔	✔	✔	✔
Meeting recordings saved to Google Drive	—	✔	✔	✔
Moderation controls	—	✔	✔	✔
Hand raising	—	✔	✔	✔
Polling and Q&A	—	✔	✔	✔
Breakout rooms	—	✔	✔	✔
Attendance tracking	—	—	✔	✔
Noise Cancellation	—	—	—	✔
In-domain live streaming	—	✔	✔	✔
Drive Secure cloud storage	30 GB per user	2 TB per user	5 TB per user	5 TB per user with ability to request more
Drive For Desktop	✔	✔	✔	✔
Support for over 100 file types	✔	✔	✔	✔
Shared drives for your team	—	✔	✔	✔
Target audience sharing	—	✔	✔	✔
Chat Team messaging	✔	✔	✔	✔
Turn history on or off by default	✔	✔	✔	✔
Auto-accept invitations	✔	✔	✔	✔
One-to-one external chat	✔	✔	✔	✔
Advanced chat rooms, including threaded rooms and guest access	—	✔	✔	✔
Calendar Shared calendars	✔	✔	✔	✔
Appointment booking pages	—	✔	✔	✔
Browse and reserve conference rooms	✔	✔	✔	✔
Docs, Sheets, Slides Collaborative content creation	✔	✔	✔	✔
Keep Shared Notes	✔	✔	✔	✔
Sites website builder	✔	✔	✔	✔
Forms survey builder	✔	✔	✔	✔
Interoperability with Office files	✔	✔	✔	✔
Easier analysis with Smart Fill, Smart Cleanup, and Answers	✔	✔	✔	✔
Writing assistance with Smart Compose, grammar suggestions, and spelling autocorrect	✔	✔	✔	✔
Custom branding for document and form templates	—	✔	✔	✔
Connected Sheets	Fundamental	Fundamental	Fundamental	Enterprise
AppSheet Build apps without code	✔	✔	✔	✔
Security & Management
2-step verification	✔	✔	✔	✔
Group-based policy controls	✔	✔	✔	✔
Advanced Protection Program	✔	✔	✔	✔
Endpoint management	Fundamental	Fundamental	Advanced	Enterprise
Google Workspace Migrate tool	—	✔	✔	✔
Vault - Retain, archive, and search data	—	—	✔	✔
Data loss prevention (DLP)	—	—	—	✔
Cloud Identity Premium	—	—	—	✔
Context-aware access	—	—	—	✔
Security center	—	—	—	✔
S/MIME encryption	—	—	—	✔
Data regions	—	Fundamental	Fundamental	Enterprise
Access transparency	—	—	—	✔
Assured Controls (includes Access Management)				Available for an added cost; contact sales
AI Classification				Available for an added cost; contact sales

Conclusion

So the main takeaway is that some important admin and security features have been moved to a higher plan and you will have to pay more if you want to retain access to them. The evolving threat landscape and stricter regulatory compliance requirements necessitate that you retain some if not all of these features.

Do you need help migrating to or from Google Workspace? Click the button below to contact our Google Workspace migration specialists for a smooth, hassle-free transition.

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About The Author

Hari Subedi

Marketing Manager at Jones IT

Hari is an online marketing professional with a focus on content marketing. He writes on topics related to IT, Security, Small Business, and Mindfulness. He is also the founder and managing director of Girivar Kft., a business services company located in Budapest, Hungary.