Last Date to migrate to Google Workspace Premium.

Google Workspace subscription offers premium collaboration tools, more storage and increased security.

If you have G Suite Legacy free edition, you need to either upgrade to a paid Google Workspace subscription, or transition to a no-cost option without the premium features of using the ability to manage multiple users.

This was a  long term planning and it’s unclear how many users were using the services. However, it will be no surprise if there are more individuals, and non-enterprises users impacted.

G Suite became part of mass recognition. However, Google has finally decided to get rid of the G Suite legacy free edition. Google wrote an email to its users saying “it will now transfer all remaining users to an upgraded version of Google Workspace subscription.

Existing users will now have to upgrade to a Google Workspace subscription, in which prices vary for different regions accordingly.

The company has given time till the 1^st of June for existing users to upgrade plans. Once upgraded, users can access the services for free until the 1^st of July, 2022. However, if failed to upgrade to a paid subscription by June 1^st, the company will be automatically upgraded to a premium subscription on the features users use.

When upgrading to a paid Google Workspace subscription, you’ll have access to new premium collaboration and security features while continuing to have access to all your existing favourite features.

Google Workspace plans starts as low as –

1. Rs 125 per user per month for business
2. 672 per user per month for Business Standard
3. Rs 1260 per user per month for business plus.

Business Starter, Business Standard and Business plus plans have the maximum capacity of 300 users. However, Enterprise plans have no limit on users. Google Workspace customers may have access to additional features like Google Photos, and Manager for a limited promotional period.

In 2020, G Suite was rebranded as Google Workspace. The new Google Workspace acts as a one-stop location for all the productivity apps. It includes Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sheets, Meet and more apps.

Upgrading Google Workspace by 1^st of June, 2022

Google will begin upgrading subscriptions automatically on June 1^st, 2022. To complete the upgrade, users have to set up Google Workspace billing before  August 1^st, 2022. If users fail to provide the payment information, the Google workspace subscription will be suspended until users set up billing methods.

After 60 days of suspension, users will no longer give access to Google Workspace core services and to retore the suspended account, a valid form of payment will be needed. Even after, if users don’t upgrade to Google Workspace subscriptions, they will not lose any access to additional Google services or user’s paid content with your legacy edition (such as movies purchased in Google Play Store).

No Cost option for those who don’t want the upgrade-

A no-cost option will be provided to all customers who are unwilling to purchase a Google Workspace subscription or don’t want a feature like a custom domain or the ability to manage multiple users. Customers who choose the cost option will have access to services such as Google Drive and Google Meet and additional features like Google Search, Maps and YouTube.

Users have to join the waiting list in the Google Admin Console to choose the no-cost option before June 1^st, 2022. Those on the waiting list will remain on the legacy free edition until the no-cost option is available.

Once the option is made available, Google will contact the users to discuss what will happen to their accounts in the transition.

Also, users will be given 60 days to evaluate the no-cost option or to choose a Google Workspace subscription before any changes are made to the account.

If any user changes their mind even after the option for a no-cost option, they will have an option to upgrade to Google Workspace at any time.

When users upgrade in the Admin Console-

1. They will immediately switch to paid subscription, if Business edition and flexible payment plan is opted then billing won’t start until at least 1^st of August,2022.
2. Users won’t be able to switch back to the G Suite Legacy free edition.

Subscription Renew?

Your subscription renews on same billings cycle you signed up for, either monthly or annually. It’s not possible to switch billing cycle as you don’t find the renewal date of your Google Workspace subscription in Billing panel.

You actually charged depends on your billing plan:

• Monthly –Users will be charged on listed renewal date.
• Annual – Users will be charged 15 days before the renewal date. Google will send an email reminder 30 days before the renewal date to give time to update card information or disable the renewal.

Google has silently updated its support information to reflect that you have time until 1^st of June, 2022 to transition from our G Suite Legacy free edition account. This also states that the billing cycle for customers who upgraded to paid Workspace plan will start from 1^st of August, 2022.

If you don’t upgrade manually and workspace billing isn’t set up for account. Account will be suspended one the deadlines arrive. After 60 days of suspension, users will lose access to Drive, Gmail and Google services.

Google has also rolled out the free option (no-cost option), users will have to join a waiting list from Google Admin Console before June 1^st, 2022. This will ensure that the existing users can continue using the Legacy G Suite account after the new deadline has crossed and until no-cost option is available.

Google will give 60 days to try out the free plan, if users don’t like it, they have the option to upgrade to paid Workspace plan. If users have already upgraded the subscription and still want to try out the upcoming free option, they can contact the Google Support Sales to join the waiting list.