by Don’t get too carried away by today’s big “AI for Google Workspace” announcement, because this is also the day for a Google Workspace price increase. Last month, Google announced that prices for the most common “professional” editions of Google Workspace would increase by 20 percent, and the company would launch an “annual” billing option on March 14. Today is the big day and with this new billing plan, the highest prices have arrived on the Google Workspace signup page for new users. Existing users will see that 20 percent price increase sometime in the future, too, with the first rollout coming in April. If you don’t want to pay a lot more for Workspace, the new Annual plan will let you commit to one year of Workspace at the old price.
Google’s new Workspace branding is confusing. Google used to only have a brand for the paid, business version of Google apps, which come with a custom domain option for your Gmail account. It used to be called “G Suite” and before that it was “Google Apps for Your Domain”. However, the new branding, “Workspace”, applies to both paid business and free consumer accounts. To be clear, the free consumer Google accounts for Gmail and Docs and everything else are still free, but the three most common business editions—Business “Starter,” “Standard,” and “Plus”—all go up to price. Businesses pay for these accounts per user per month, so the pricing can add up quickly.
Annual plans were previously available to businesses through the old call route of a corporate sales representative, but now any business manager will be able to sign up for an annual plan online. Unlike month-to-month “Flexible” plans, Google’s terms of the deal say you’ll be locked into the number of users you choose at the start of your year, and while you can add new users and pay more, you can’t flights. While you’re locked into one year of service, billing is still month-to-month, and added users will increase your bill in the future to prorate. You may not cancel the agreement earlier.
New users pay more today, existing users pay more starting next month
Google prices are rising.
Many of these software-as-a-service businesses offer you a deal if you sign up for a full year. Instead of a discount, Google actually increases the price of Workspace from month to month, so committing to an annual plan can save you money. It’s hard to imagine email stopping anytime soon, right?
Prices are up 20 percent across the board for the three main “professional” editions. The “Business Starter” version, which offers 30GB of storage per user, ranges from $6 per user per month to $7.20. “Business Standard” bumps you up to 2TB per user and adds more Google Meet features like noise cancellation and meeting recordings. This used to cost $12 per user per month, but will now be $14.40. Business Plus, the 5 TB plan, was $18 a month, but is now $21.60.
Apparently Google would like it if everyone committed to a yearly plan instead of a monthly one. These new prices are already showing on the Google Workspace pricing page, although by default it shows the cost of one month of the annual commitment price instead of the flexible plan price you’d actually pay if you paid month-to-month. If you hover over a tiny “i” icon, you’ll see that the month-to-month flexible price is now 20 percent higher.
The new Workspace pricing is live.
Ron Amadeo
It is difficult to determine an exact time for the price increase for existing users. Google says that “the new pricing will begin in April of this year and run through 2024, depending on factors including the number of licenses, current contract terms, and payment plan. For example, pricing for existing Google subscriptions Workspace with 10 or fewer licenses it won’t change until January 2024.” So… some point over the next nine months, and maybe longer than that, I guess. Google says: “Customers will be notified via the Google Workspace Admin Console at least 30 days before their price changes take effect and will be provided with more specific information to help them navigate these changes.”
It’s not hard to imagine why Google is raising prices. Google Cloud, the division that Workspace is a part of, is still not profitable, and higher prices for its most popular product will help with that. Google Cloud employees—and only Google Cloud employees—have recently been asked to share offices to consolidate real estate, so there’s a real belt-tightening going on there. Assuming the newly announced new AI features make it to the masses, running these functions also represents a big increase in server costs for Google, and someone has to pay for that, too.
