Google announced that it is making paid Workspace features available to non-paying Google account holders, creating a single, integrated experience for everyone.
“Over the last year, we’ve delivered innovations that bring together the content, communications, and tasks that help millions of businesses, nonprofits and classrooms transform how they collaborate, make the most of their time, and have more impact,” A post written by Google vice presidents Kelly Waldher and Aparna Pappu reads. “Now we’re bringing those same innovations to everyone else. Starting today, all of Google Workspace is available to anyone with a Google account.”
Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!
"*" indicates required fields
To date, Google Workspace—previously called G Suite—has worked a bit like Microsoft/Office 365. The firm offered both free and paid versions of services like Gmail, Docs, and Sheets, and the paid versions offered more functionality alongside management capabilities. But with this change, paid Workspace features are being made available to non-paying customers, creating a simpler, singular codebase for Google to maintain and offering customers even more value.
And one might argue that the newly free Workspace isn’t really free, as you need to enable Google Chat in Gmail to access the paid features. Google Chat is Google’s answer to Zoom, the darling of the pandemic era, and rival services like Microsoft Teams.
Google is also introducing a new paid Workspace offering called Workspace Individual. This is aimed at entrepreneurs and other individuals who work alone or in very small businesses, and it provides premium services related to booking services, professional video meetings, and personalized email marketing, and Google says more features are planned for the future. Workspace Individual is coming soon to Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, and the United States. No pricing information is available yet, but you can sign-up here for more information.
flakti
<p>Why I’m leaving the Linux world and going back to Windows</p>