Previously available through paid packages, Workspace, Google’s suite of office and collaborative tools for professionals and individuals, will soon be available in a free version. With some restrictions.
Last January, Google announced the upcoming end of G Suite, its free online office suite, renamed Workspace a year ago. Introduced about ten years ago, this very popular solution allows professionals and individuals to use many office tools – such as the Docs word processor, the Sheets spreadsheet, the Slides presentation module, etc. – as well as collaborative tools to share documents. Google has not been taking new subscriptions for this version of the suite for a long time, while maintaining it accessible to its referenced users. Small peculiarity, Workspace also allows users to use Gmail for their correspondence by exploiting not an address of the type [email protected] but a personalized address with their domain name (for example [email protected]). Alas, Google has decided to end this service next July, inviting its users to migrate to a paid version of Workspace. A hard blow for all those who had become accustomed to this formula and its advantages. To ease tensions, Google has justannounce a free version of its suite: Workspace Essentials Starter. But the account is not there.
What does Workspace Essentials Starter contain?
As in the other Workspace formulas, the Essentials Starter version allows you to use office tools and collaborate directly from Docs, Sheets and Slides, to organize videoconference sessions that can bring together a hundred people for an hour, to use Google Chat or take advantage of workspaces to manage schedules and task lists.
However, impossible here to use Gmail to manage email. If everyone can create a Workspace Essentials account with a personal or professional address, it cannot be used in Gmail, which greatly limits interactions between the modules of the suite and messaging. Pity. In addition, each user has a storage space limited to 15 GB (as with a usual Google account). If you want to take advantage of more space, you will have to go to the checkout and switch to a paid Workspace plan from €4.68 per month and per user in order to benefit from 30 GB of storage space in Google Drive (see Workspace offers). And, with this first formula, it is also possible to manage a personalized address with Gmail.
In addition, the size of teams wishing to collaborate within the same workspace is limited to 25 people, which clearly targets this version for SMEs and VSEs. Small compensation, it will be possible to create an unlimited number of teams.
When will Workspace Essentials Starter be available?
Google should start rolling out this new formula to replace G Suite in the coming weeks. The firm indicates that it may not be available until mid-February. However, it is already possible to register on the page already online. To take advantage of Google Workspace Essentials Starter, it will not be necessary to provide payment information (credit card number). And if you already use a Gmail account, Google offersexport data associated with it before converting it to the Essentials formula. You may retain access to certain services such as YouTube, Google Analytics or Google Ads, but you will lose access to other services which are not compatible with Essentials such as Gmail.