Google tells G Suite customers: Pay up or lose it

From 2006 to 2012, did you have a free G Suite account? You have till May to make a payment.

Google has announced that the company's early adopters of its custom domain G Suite service will no longer receive a free ride. Google has long provided the option to use Google apps on a custom domain, allowing you to have a Google email address that does not end in "gmail.com." During the first six years of the service's existence, the lowest tier included a free custom domain account. Now, you must pay to use a custom domain with a Google account. Google disabled the ability to establish these accounts for free in 2012, but it wouldn't affect existing users' accounts, would it?

As with 9to5

Google was the first to reveal that it will terminate free G Suite accounts that do not upgrade to a premium account. Google is notifying customers of "G Suite legacy free edition" accounts through email that they have until July 1 to begin paying. A support page describes the steps involved in this process. Beginning May 1, Google will attempt to automatically "upgrade" customers to a paid account if billing information is provided. If such information is not received by July, accounts will be "suspended." These accounts will lose access to "core" Google services such as Gmail and Calendar after 60 days.

Google began offering bespoke domains in 2006 under the name "Google Apps for Your Domain." Since then, the service has gone by a variety of names—"Google Apps for Work," then "G Suite," and finally "Google Workspace"—but the setup has remained consistent: You receive Gmail and other Google applications, but they are custom-branded for your business, giving them a more professional image than a gmail.com email address. The service is currently priced at $6 per user, per month, with higher tiers available for users with higher storage requirements. Between 2006 and 2012, the entry-level tier was free.

These users committed no wrongdoing when they subscribed to G Suite's free tier years ago, and seeing Google pull the rug out from under them in this manner is upsetting. You trust Google and entrust the company with all your data, and you assume that at the very least the fundamental terms of your account will remain constant in perpetuity. Google, on the other hand, is modifying the terms for these individuals and informing them that they either begin paying or risk losing their account.

Google acknowledges that consumers can export certain data using Google Takeout, but if you're not willing to pay, establishing an account under a consumer Google account is a significant amount of work. These were mainly fully operating Google accounts, and there is no mechanism to export things like book, movie, music, or app purchases. Additionally, you're likely to lose your Google Voice number. If you exploited your G Suite account in this manner, your only option is to begin paying. It would have been good to see the corporation go the extra mile and provide an easy mechanism for users to transfer their data to a new email address associated with a free consumer account. However, Google is not doing so.

 

If you're unsure about the status of your Google business account, you can visit admin.google.com's "Billing" page. If you notice a notification indicating that you are using a "G Suite legacy" account, you can anticipate receiving an email shortly explaining how you will be affected by the change. If you obtained your Google Apps account through a bundled service, such as a domain hosting site, you should contact that provider.