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With the popularity of various Google services, be it Gmail– the most popular email solution today, Google Docs– the most popular alternative to Microsoft Word, or Google Meet– the most popular Zoom alternative today, most likely you’ve used at least one of them in the past year.
While most of the core Google applications and services are 100% free, Google also offers paid Google Workspace subscriptions with additional premium, business-focused features for its applications and services.
Unfortunately, how Google differentiates its Google Workspace editions, and the pricing of each can easily confuse users.
It can be challenging for users to navigate each of these editions’ offers and features, and when discussing pricing, you’ll also need to take into account the number of users you’ll need to access the Google Workspace applications.
In this post, we’ll share a detailed list of the Google Workspace editions available, the features your business can expect from each edition, and the pricing of each.
Different Google Workspace Editions and Their Pricing
Google offers a wide variety of Google Workspace editions, and there are even unique, custom-tailored editions for healthcare businesses and retail businesses, among others, and nonprofit (and government) organizations may qualify to use unique Google Workspace editions.
Yet, the different Google Workspace plans can be categorized based on three major differentiators:
- Type of organizations
- Features and capabilities (Google Drive storage space, the maximum number of participants on Meet, etc.)
- Number of user licenses
With that being said, below, we will discuss the standard Google Workspace plans available for most businesses, their features, and the pricing of each edition:
Google Workspace Business
There are three different Google Workspace Business editions available: Starter, Standard, and Plus, with the Plus edition being the most expensive and offering the most features/functionalities.
It’s important to note that Google Workspace Business editions are only available for organizations with up to 300 user licenses.
If you need more than 300 licenses, then you should give Google or a resale partner a call and inquire about the Enterprise editions (more on this later).
When you get your paid Google Workspace plan from Google Workspace reseller and partner like Pythian, you get the same pricing you’d get from Google, but on top of that, you’ll get extra features from Pythian, including but not limited to personalized training and education, custom cloud product development, fast and reliable customer support, and so much more.
Below, we will discuss each of the three Google Workspace Business editions, their differences, and the price of each.
- Google Workspace Business Starter. Pricing is $6/user/month, and you’ll get the following features:
- Personalized, branded business email with advanced security features
- 100 maximum video conference participants in Google Meet
- 30 GB of Google Drive cloud storage
- Security and management control features
- Standard support only
- Google Workspace Business Standard. Pricing is $12/user/month, and you’ll get the following premium features:
- Personalized, branded business email with advanced security features
- 150 maximum video conference participants in Google Meet
- 2 TB of Google Drive Cloud Storage
- More security and management control features
- Standard support initially, paid upgrade to Enhanced customer support available
- Business Plus edition. $18/user/month with the following features:
- Personalized, branded business email with advanced security features
- 500 maximum video conference participants in Google Meet, attendance tracking
- 5 TB Google Drive Cloud Storage
- Enhanced security and management control features, including Google Vault and advanced endpoint management
- Standard support initially, paid upgrade to Enhanced customer support available.
Google Workspace Enterprise
If you need more than 300 user licenses, then you’ll need to contact Google and inquire about the Google Workspace Enterprise edition.
The Enterprise edition offers more features than the Business Plus edition, and there is no minimum license requirement for the Enterprise edition. You can register for the Enterprise edition even as an individual (if your budget allows.)
In the Google Workspace Enterprise edition, you’ll get the following unique features:
- Custom business email with advanced security features
- eDiscovery, and retention with Google Vault, S/MIME encryption
- 500 video conference participants in Meet, noise cancellation, in-domain live streaming
- Up to unlimited Google Drive Cloud Storage
- Enhanced security and management control features, including Google Vault, advanced enterprise endpoint management, DLP, and data regions
- Enhanced support initially, paid upgrade to Premium customer support available.
Google Workspace Essentials
Google Workspace Essentials editions are Google’s offer for businesses that already own their own domain name and/or have used a third-party email client and/or calendar solutions (i.e., Microsoft Outlook.)
The Essential editions allow the registered users to use Google Workspace’s core features while facilitating integrations with the existing email clients/calendar solutions they are using.
There are three different Essential editions available:
- Essentials Starter: available for free for teams up to 25 users with premium features for the following services:
- Google Drive storage
- Google Docs editor
- Google Meet video conferencing
- Google Chat, including chat spaces
- Jamboard (digital whiteboard) (additional hardware required)
- Google Calendar
- Google Tasks
- Directory management
- Google Sites
- Google Keep
Essentials: (no longer available for new customers, only for existing subscribers), offering all features offered in the Essential Starters plus Groups for Business, additional security features, policy controls, and pooled storage features.
Enterprise Essentials: upgrading from Essential Starters to Enterprise Essentials will provide these additional features:
- 24/7 customer support
- Pooled storage for over 100 different file types
- Shared team drives
- Up to 150 participants in Google Meet with chat recordings, noise cancellation, and other premium features
- Advanced security features: advanced endpoint management, security alerts, data retention, eDiscovery (search and export your data with Google Vault)
Google Workspace Individual
The Google Workspace Individual edition is designed for self-employed professionals or an individual who wants to use Google Workspace’s premium features on their own (1-man team).
Pricing for the Workspace Individual edition is $9.99 per month.
Google Workspace Individual edition offers the following features:
- Premium Google Meet capabilities: longer group calls, call recording, etc.
- Advanced Calendar functionalities: create your own professional appointment page so your clients can book themselves, automatically integrated with your Google Calendar.
- Branded email: branded email using your domain name.
Conclusion
While the different Google Workspace plans available and the pricing of each can be confusing at first, in the end, it’s about which features and how many users you’ll need to effectively achieve your goals.
Therefore, it’s best to first assess your objective of investing in Google Workspace, the must-have features you’ll need, the number of licenses, and your budget before committing to a plan. The idea is to get the most affordable edition that includes everything you need in achieving your objective.
Hopefully, the tips we’ve shared above can help you in making a better-informed decision when choosing the best Google Workspace plan for your business, and also in making the most of your investment.
