Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite, is a popular cloud-based platform. Developed by Google, it is used for productivity, collaboration, communication, and storing data of businesses, organizations, and teams. With this, you can create professional Gmail accounts with custom domains and access to other productivity applications.
It offers real-time collaboration where they create documents in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Share the documents with other team members, and multiple users can edit or view the same shared file at the same time. With Google Workspace, you can easily share your files, invite collaborators, and manage permissions without needing to send large email attachments.
For a business, Google Workspace is a great option as it contains built-in security features to protect the data while improving team productivity. In this blog, I will explain more about Google Workspace, how it works, steps to set up the account, and other important information.
What Apps Does Google Workspace Offer?
G Suite provides you with various Google tools with advanced features to help manage the business's communication, productivity, and collaboration. Below are the core applications that are included in the suite.
- Gmail: A professional email service where businesses use custom domain email addresses for communication.
- Google Calendar: A scheduling tool to manage meetings, events, and reminders.
- Google Docs: A web word processor where users can create, edit, and collaboration documents in real time.
- Google Sheets: A web spreadsheet application that is used for data analysis, reporting, and team collaboration.
- Google Drive: Cloud storage where you can store, organize, and share files safely and from anywhere.
- Google Forms: An application to create surveys, quizzes, and feedback forms.
- Google Slides: An online presentation tool to create and share professional presentations.
- Google Meet: A video conferencing platform where you conduct online meetings, team collaboration, and webinars easily.
Google Drive is a central storage platform where all your files and documents are securely stored and shared. Gmail, Google Meet, and Google Calendar are for communications in organizations. Whereas Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms provide you with real-time collaboration.
Along with it, Google Workspace has an Admin Console where all the administrators manage users, permissions, and organizational settings.
Difference between Google Workspace and Gmail
G Suite and Gmail both provide you with email services. But they are used for different purposes and provide different features. Below, I have compared these two programs to understand their dynamics.
| Feature |
Gmail |
Google Workspace |
| Target Audience |
Individuals |
Businesses or Enterprises |
| Cost |
Free |
Paid (monthly fee per user) |
| Email Account |
Personal (@gmail.com) |
Business (@company.com) |
| Storage |
Limited storage on Google Drive |
Increased storage on Google Drive |
| User Management |
Not applicable (no additional users) |
Managed through Google Admin Console |
| Access to Apps |
Google Docs, Slides, Sheets |
Complete G Suite apps |
| Additional Features |
No additional features |
Custom email domains, advanced admin controls |
| Multi-support |
Single user |
Multiple users |
| Multi-platform Compatibility |
Compatible with various platforms |
Designed for seamless integration across platforms |
| Security |
Basic security measures |
Enhanced security features like data loss prevention, advanced threat protection, and encryption at rest and in transit |
Google Workspace Editions
There are several editions of Google Workspace for different types of users and organizations. It offers subscriptions to individuals, businesses, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations. Each edition contains a different set of features, storage limits, and security benefits. Below are the paid editions provided by G Suite:
- Individual Edition: The individual edition is for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and individual users who need professional tools for productivity. It contains popular apps like. Users do not need a business domain to use the Google Workspace tools.
- Gmail
- Google Calendar
- Google Drive
- Google Docs
- Google Sheets
- Google Slides
- Google Meet
- Business Editions: The Google Workspace Business Editions are for small and medium-sized businesses that need secure communication, collaboration, and cloud storage. This edition offers flexible pricing and a set of productivity tools.
- Business Starter: 30 GB storage, video meetings with up to 100 participants, and professional Gmail with a custom domain.
- Business Standard: 2 TB storage, video meetings with up to 150 participants, and advanced collaboration features.
- Business Plus: 5 TB storage, advanced security, video meetings with up to 250 participants, and enhanced security and device management.
- Enterprise Editions: It is for large organizations that need advanced security, compliance, and scalability.
- Enterprise Essentials: Includes business features with core collaboration tools, cloud storage, and Google Meet. But it does not contain Gmail and Calendar.
- Enterprise Standard: Complete Google Workspace suite with advanced security, compliance features, and large storage capacity.
- Enterprise Plus: Advanced data protection, analytics, enhanced security, management tools, premium support, and administrative controls.
- Essentials Edition: Google Workspace Essentials edition offers basic collaboration tools to teams who want to use Google Workspace with their existing email systems. It includes tools that only focus on file storage, communication, and teamwork.
- Google Drive
- Google Meet
- Google Docs
- Frontline Edition: It is designed for frontline employees like retail staff, healthcare workers, and customer service teams. The purpose of this is to improve communication and coordination between frontline teams.
- Gmail
- Google Chat
- Google Meet
- Security and Management features for organizations
- Education Editions: For schools, colleges, and universities, they can use Google Workspace for Education. It offers collaboration and productivity tools for digital learning, classroom management, and online teaching.
- Nonprofit Editions: The Google Workspace Nonprofit edition is for nonprofit organizations to improve smooth operations and communication. With this edition, the nonprofit organization manages internal communication, collaborates with teams/volunteers, and organizes outreach and support activities.
How Does G Suite Cost?
Different Google Workspace editions have different prices. The price of the program is affordable. Below are the costs of subscription according to the editions you are using.
- Business Starter: Annual plan - $7 per user per month, and Flexible plan - $8.40 per user per month
- Business Standard: Annual plan - $14 per user per month, and Flexible plan - $16.80 per user per month
- Business Plus: Annual plan - $22 per user per month, and Flexible plan - $26.40 per user per month
- Enterprise Starter/Standard/Plus: Custom price and contact with the Google sales team.
- Education Plus: $5 per user per year
- Frontline: Price is discounted and varies
- Individual: Starts with $9.99 per month
- Essential Starter: No cost option for teams up to 100 users, and only need Docs, Drive, and Meet
You have learned about different Google Workspace editions and prices. Now, you have purchased the G Suite plan, but don’t know how to use it. In the next section, I am going to explain how to create Google Workspace account and work with it.
Prerequisites Before Creating Google Workspace Account
Before creating a new account in G Suite, there are some requirements that you must fulfill.
- First, create a domain name for your organization. By using your domain, you can create professional email addresses. If you already own a domain, use it to set up your account.
- You also need to create an administrator account associated with your domain. This account will become a primary admin account to manage your users, configure series, and control Google Workspace features.
- Along with your primary email address, you also need a recovery email address that is not part of your domain. This is used for recovering your administrator account if you fail to log in.
- Ensure that your domain ownership is verified and update the DNS records to use Gmail and other services.
How to Set Up Google Workspace?
After preparing your admin account. Below are the steps to create and configure a Google Workspace account for the business.
- Go to the web browser and navigate to the Google Workspace official page.
- Click the Get Started button. Provide Business Name, the number of employees, and your region.
- Type your current contact information for account recovery details.
- If you have a domain, choose Yes, I have one I can use and provide it.
- If not, then click No, I need one and purchase the new domain directly through Google.
- Enter primary username and secure password.
- After that, log in to your domain host in a separate tab.
- Get the TXT record from Google, copy this record, and paste it into the DNS settings.
- Click Verify Domain. Now, set up MX records.
- Go to the domain host’s DNS settings and find the MX records.
- Delete any existing records and replace them with the new Google Workspace MX records.
- Save the changes. After several hours, your Gmail will start.
- From the Admin Console, add your team members. Choose the edition and provide payment information.
Expert Advice: Once your account is active, you can start adding users, setting up Gmail, migrating data, and configuring with Google apps. After properly setting up your account, if you want to migrate your data from the old account. Then you can use the manual option. But, manual processes take time and can be a risk taking. Instead of this, you can use professional software like SysTools Google Workspace Migration Tool, a professional application that moves your data without any issues.
Conclusion
This blog discussed what is G Suite and how does it work. It also provides an overview of the different G Suite subscription plans and guidelines for choosing the right one. G Suite is a cloud computing, productivity, and collaboration services that is used to store and manage information and documents online. It is also able to secure the information with the help of Google Vault and cloud search.
Users' Most Asked Questions
No, Google Workspace is not the same as Gmail. Gmail is a service by Google for managing emails. Google Workspace is a complete suite that provides services like productivity, collaboration, and communication. Gmail is a part of G Suite.
Google Workspace is mainly used for improving productivity and collaboration for businesses, organizations, and teams to manage their data and accounts.
Yes, G Suite was rebranded as Google Workspace in October 2020. Now, all the services of the suite are available in Google Workspace with better functions and security.