Instead of googling yourself and struggling to understand the new Google Workspace licenses, we provide you in this blog with a comparison of the new Google Workspace licensing with its key differentiators, compared to the former G Suite licenses. In addition, we have listed the answers to the 5 most frequently asked questions about Google Workspace that we have received as a Google Cloud Premier Partner.
Workspace licenses: cheat sheet & comparison
The former G Suite licensing
Before, Google used to differentiate the G Suite licenses based on a set of features, like Shared Drives. Opting for G Suite Basic brought you all the default functionalities needed to run your business.
Moving towards G Suite Business enabled you to future-grow your G Suite adoption with more features for both your employees and your admins.
For the full Google experience you would need to go with G Suite Enterprise, providing you the complete toolset.
With the new name, new branding and new functionalities of Google Workspace, Google is changing the key differentiator for the licenses from functionalities to amount of licences. In this blogpost you can find everything about this rebranding, while we’ll continue with the licenses explanation in this post.
Google Workspace Licensing Model
Companies up to 300 licences will by default be included into the new Google Workspace Business license, providing you still the options to go for the right toolset with 3 subtypes: starter, standard and plus.
The new Google Workspace Enterprise license has no minimum requirements but will be assigned towards all companies as of 300 seats. Within this license type, you will be able to choose the most relevant toolset as well. Here, you can choose from: essentials, standard and plus.
So far, so good. But are you still wondering what this change means for you?
Licensing Comparison Cheat Sheet
We’ve used the functionalities as an entry point, because that’s how we previously would have chosen the needed license. We then created the comparison table below. You’ll see the former G Suite Business licenses options in column 2. The next columns indicate the functionality within the new Google Workspace licensing.
Download this cheat sheet to get the full scope of all functionalities for each license:
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The key differentiators of Google Workspace licenses
Storage limits in Google Workspace
For starters, storage will only remain unlimited in the Google Workspace Enterprise standard and plus license. However, this might not have such a big impact. The Google Workspace Business standard has a storage capacity of 2TB and the Google Workspace Business plus even provides 5TB.
You can verify in your admin console your current average data usage and conclude yourself the impact for your organisation.
Google Vault moves to Enterprise
What you probably have noticed already is that Vault will only be available for eDiscovery into the Google Workspace Business license.
The full functionality is moving to the Google Workspace Enterprise license. The Security Center will only be available for this latter license type.
Video Conferencing capabilities in Google Workspace
Looking at Google Meet, the number of maximum participants to video meetings is different for each license type and sublevel (see table above). It’s very nice to see that the recording option remains available for all licenses in the Google Workspace Business standard license.
Even Q&A and polls will be part of these licenses. In-domain live streaming on the other hand, will only be available in the Google Workspace Enterprise standard license.
Cloud Search
Google Cloud Search remains available for the Google Workspace Business standard and plus license as well as for the Google Workspace Enterprise standard and plus. Within both types the ‘plus’ license versions will provide options to use Cloud Search across 3rd-party repositories.
For a full comparison of all features included in the new Google Workspace licenses, you can find an overview on the support page for Google Workspace Business and Google Workspace Enterprise.
FAQs
Let’s now dive into the most frequently asked questions we receive from our current G Suite customers.
1. Where can I find my current contract and what will happen at renewal time?
Click here to find your current billing type. Your current G Suite Basic and G Suite Business contract will remain valid until the end of the contract duration.
If your current contract is a G Suite Enterprise license, Google will automatically transition your contract into a Google Workspace Enterprise plus license with your current price.
Contact our Customer Success Team to go over the changes and actions for your organisation.
2. I need help with timings & deadlines for the new licensing
We’ve received many questions from customers asking when they do need to ac. Renewals, upgrades, … all is possible until the end of the year..
Renewals are possible until 31/12/2020 providing you the option to stick with your old license type and extending the duration of your current contract. As of January 1st, you will only have the option to choose one of the new Google Workspace licenses.
Upgrades are possible until 31/12/2020 for old G Suite Basic licenses towards G Suite Business and G Suite Business towards G Suite Enterprise, including extending the duration of your contract.
Flex plans will be converted into the new Google Workspace licenses as of april 2021.
3. Will Google change my license automatically?
There will always be a sales representative involved in the change of your license. However, if you don’t act by April 2021 the licence will change.
We recommend having a chat with one of our Devoteam G Cloud experts. We can help you with this change of licenses, and more!
4. Can we still opt for a mix of licenses?
Yes, this is still possible, but there are some rules you’ll have to follow. . Google still needs to communicate these rules, but they will certainly be in line with the minimum amounts of seats.
This in order to be able to have a split in licenses, a minimum number in the highest SKU, etc. .
5. What are the prices for each Google Workspace license?
When Google Workspace was announced, only the license price in dollars was listed. You can find the corresponding value in EUR in the table below.
As you can see, the brand change from G Suite to Google Workspace has brought along a whole new licensing structure. This change is an important one for current and future customers of Google Cloud’s collaboration suite. We’re convinced there is an interesting new Google Workspace license for every organisation, and hope to have answered your question about Workspace licensing in this article.
Want to know more?
Watch this webinar ‘Introducing Google Workspace’, where we explain the difference between G Suite and Google Workspace licenses and reply to questions from our customers. If you still have questions about the license change, please contact our Customer Success team at fourcast.css@devoteam.com.