Google workspace is the brand name for Google’s office suite. It was earlier known as G Suite. In fact, even before that, it was known as Google Apps for your domain when it was launched in 2006. How this Google Workspace Review article is structured:
- Introduction to Google Workspace.
- Google Workspace vs Google Apps.
- Overview of the products
- Prices for Google office suite
- Reviews
Isn’t Google workspace the same as the free Google apps?
Well, yes it is and no, it’s a bit different. Most of the office applications like Gmail, Google Docs are available as free services. However, Google Workspace provides enterprise level tech support, more storage and ease of corporate IT management.
Google first launched the set of free applications in 2006. However, it was more like a beta testing for their corporate apps package which they launched in 2007. It offered 10GB of storage along with support for API. It also guaranteed uptime for their services unlike the free apps which have no such guarantee. Although they are still quite reliable.
Finally after over 15 years of development and updates, they rebranded their services under the name of Google Workspace on Oct 6, 2020.
What is new in the Google Workspace?
The October 2020 changes can be partly attributed to the Covid19 pandemic. Firstly, the pandemic lead to a surge in the use of teleconferencing. It also changes how we look at work from home. It was the first time in history that work from home became the primary way to do work. Secondly, the pandemic also brought user friendly application Zoom to the spotlight. It could become a threat to Google in future.
This type of reactionary product strategy is to make the Google’s office suite more tightly bound. A stronger eco-system of apps which goes beyond single functionality works better for the organizations in the long run.
Additionally, Google also believes in progressive changes that help make their apps more productive. One the major changes in the functionality has been cross-app communication. A use in Google workspace can seamlessly connect their Google Slides presentation to a video conference call. File sharing has also been improved between different apps.
What are the products in the new suite? Google Workspace Products review
| Application category | Product name | Functionality |
| Website and Hosting | Custom Domain, Google Sites | Build ready to use website right from hosting, web design and domain. |
| Communication | Gmail, Meet, Chat | World’s most popular email platform, other applications are also usable. |
| Storage | Google Drive | Cloud storage is fiercely competitive and difficult to differentiate. |
| Office & Productivity Tools | Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Keep, Calendar | These are the core of any business documentation. Most users may consider MS Office as the default in this category. |
| IT & Administration | Currents (employee engagement), Google Endpoint, Admin, Vault | Up and coming suite of applications to manage IT and administrative tasks. |
| Smart Work | Apps Script, Cloud Search | Contemporary tools to leverage big data, cloud and analytics to improve productivity. |
Google Workspace Pricing
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Google has recently changed the pricing for it’s products. This comes with the Ocotober 6th, 2020 annoucement for rebranding of the office suite. You can see the overview of all the plans below:
Business Starter plan
The starter plan is decent enough for a small business. It offers the minimum pricing of $6 per month for each user. This plan includes all the free apps. Additionally, it also includes email address and added video storage. As we have previously discussed, the focus is now on the video. Google has also added the option of having 100 participants in a video meeting. This is definitely a business friendly addon.
Business Standard plan
Business Standard plans adds on some extra features over the business starter plan. This panda users also get an additional 50 participants per video conference. Additionally, there is also an added option for recording. This option is missing in the free and business starter versions. As an added extra benefit, the users also get up to two terabytes of cloud storage. All of this comes at the cost of 12 USD per user per month.
Business Plus plan
A business plus plan is the penultimate tier of Google Workspace offerings. This plan comes at the cost of 12 USD per user per month. In this plan you will get some additional features as well. Firstly, the customers get eDiscovery and retention along with the secured business emails. This feature allows for. Keeping a track of the past data, searching the data as well as exporting organizations data. Competitors like Zoho also offer these kinds of features. Finally, this plan also integrates advanced security features.
Enterprise plan
This is the highest tier of the Google Workspace plans. In this plan, there are certain additional features which may be useful for larger organizations. Again, we see a recurring theme across the different plans. The enterprise plan offers some extra features for the video meeting participants. Additionally, it also offers enhanced support and security features. However, the pricing is not disclosed publicly. It would be customized according to the organization’s specific needs. Here is a summary of some key additional features in the enterprise plan of Google Workspace:
- Unlimited storage
- S/MIME encryption
- Noice cancelling in Video Meetings
- Domain Live Streaming
- Advanced data management tools
- Endpoint security
- Enhanced support
Review of Google Workspace Support Tiers
Finally, to clarify, here are the support tiers offered:
- Free support
- Standard support (Business Starter, Business Standard and Business Plus) plans
- Enhanced support (Included in the Enterprise plan; paid addon for the Business Standard and Business Plus plans)
- Premium Support (paid addon for the enterprise plan)
The major difference between these support tiers is the time and effort that is provided in resolving customer queries. The support tickets would be handled faster and more efficiently in the higher pricing tiers. Moreover, the same is reflected in the support tiers as well.
Expandability via the all-new Marketplace
Any office suite may not offer everything that the customers demand. One of the way of providing expandability is through external applications. The users would have access to an all new Google Workspace Marketplace.
You can see, that there are already some common apps like Trello and Cisco Webex included in the Marketplace. There are some really nifty tools as well for working with files on the cloud that can be difficult otherwise.