Effective communication and seamless collaboration are paramount for businesses and individuals alike. This is where Google Workspace comes in, a comprehensive suite of cloud-based productivity tools designed to enhance teamwork, streamline workflows, and empower organizations to thrive.
What is Google Workspace?
Formerly known as G Suite, Google Workspace offers a range of applications that most people are already familiar with, such as Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Meet, etc. While all of these applications do have free versions available to the general public, Google Workspace turbocharges them with features designed to boost collaboration and productivity.
In this article, we will delve into the world of Google Workspace, exploring its key components, benefits, pricing, and more. Whether you are an entrepreneur, a small business owner, or a corporate professional, this guide will provide you with all the essential information you need to harness the power of Google Workspace and unlock your full potential.
Essential Business Tools of Google Workspace
Leveraging the right tools is crucial for maximizing productivity and fostering effective collaboration. Google Workspace offers a tailored suite of essential business tools to meet your unique needs. These tools encompass various aspects of business operations, ranging from communication and document management to collaboration and scheduling.
Let us delve deeper into some of their tools, pointing out the reason they have become indispensable for modern businesses.
Gmail
When it comes to email communication, Gmail has become a household name, with millions of individuals already familiar with its user-friendly interface and robust features. This familiarity makes the adoption of Gmail within Google Workspace a seamless transition for businesses.
Google Workspace lets you use all the features of Gmail, but with your own domain name as the email. Letting you use a professional email like [email protected] for business purposes.
Google Meet
Work From Home would not be possible without an easy and quick replacement for in-person meetings. Google Meet achieves this by connecting you with your coworkers through virtual meetings, which you can schedule and put on everyone’s calendar via the Calendar app.
While there are other virtual meeting solutions out there, such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom, Google Meet is the only one that integrates seamlessly with the rest of Google’s ecosystem.
Chat
Being able to chat with your coworkers while within the other Workspace applications was never easier. You can send messages to colleagues while drafting an email to double check something you are working on.
Calendar
The Calendar app integrates seamlessly with other applications in the Google Workspace, letting you organize and plan your tasks, meetings, and events. All in one place.
Drive
The second most popular feature after Gmail, Google Drive lets you store & share files seamlessly within the Workspace. It integrates with Sheets, Docs, Slides, as well as Gmail. It provides a cloud-based storage solution to you and everyone in your Google Workspace.
Docs, Sheets, & Slides
Google Docs, Sheets, & Slides provide cloud-based alternatives to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, respectively. They feature real-time collaboration features where teams can work together on a single file seamlessly and effortlessly.
Users can then share these files through Google Drive and communicate with each other through a meeting that they can start from within the application itself.
Other Applications
In addition to the core applications, Google Workspace offers other powerful tools that further enhance productivity and collaboration. These are:
Google Forms – Provides a simple and straightforward way to create and distribute forms for surveys, questionnaires, and feedback. The results are stored in a Google Sheet file in the Google Drive, connecting everything together.
Jamboard – A virtual whiteboard where your team can collaborate and come up with ideas together. Whether it is by doodling, sketching, or simply importing in images for inspiration.
Google Keep – Ever wanted to take notes during a meeting? Or wanted to write down a neat idea while on the bus? Google Keep lets you do exactly that. It is a lightweight note taking application that lets you create checklists, set reminders, and organize your notes.
What platforms can I use Google Workspace apps on?
Google Workspace offers flexible accessibility, allowing users to work seamlessly across various platforms. Whether you prefer web browsers, mobile devices, or desktop applications, Google Workspace is designed to cater to your needs.
Cloud-Based Access
Google Workspace apps are primarily cloud-based, which means that you can access them through any web browser. This approach enables users to utilize Google’s applications on different operating systems, such as Windows, macOS, or Linux.
Simply log in to your Workspace account and access your files and productivity tools from any compatible browser, ensuring convenience and compatibility.
Mobile Applications
Most of the Workspace Tools have their own dedicated mobile applications for both Android and iOS devices. Whether you are using a smartphone or tablet, you can download and install the respective apps for Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, Meet, and Chat.
These mobile apps provide a seamless and optimized user experience, allowing you to stay productive while on the go.
Google Drive’s Desktop Application
For those who prefer working with files offline or require local synchronization, Google Drive provides a desktop application. This application enables you to synchronize your files and folders between your computer and the cloud, ensuring that your data is readily accessible even without an internet connection.
With the desktop application, you can conveniently access and manage your files directly from your computer’s file explorer.
Google Workspace Pricing
Google Workspace offers two editions: one for individuals and another specifically tailored for businesses and focused on collaboration. The pricing structure varies depending on the edition you use, and the number of users within a business.
For Individuals
Google Workspace’s individual edition is an excellent choice for solo entrepreneurs who are looking to enhance their productivity and maintain a professional online presence.
- Professional Email Tools – Custom layouts, templates, and mail merge to get you started efficiently in your email marketing campaigns.
- 1 TB of Cloud Storage – More than enough for most small businesses, automatically shared between your Gmail, Drive, and all other Google Apps.
- Schedule Appointments & Meetings – The Google Calendar app lets any potential leads schedule appointments with you automatically as long as they have an email address.
- Automatic Availability Updates – Your availability updates automatically whenever an appointment or meeting gets scheduled.
Missing Features
There are a handful of features missing from Workspace Individual.
Custom Email Addresses – Individuals do not get a custom email address. If you wish to use a professional email address such as “[email protected]” then you must switch over to Workspace Business.
Teams & Collaborations – Workspace Individual does not support multiple users, nor does it support most of the collaboration tools that come with the regular Workspace subscriptions.
Pricing
Google Workspace Individual has two payment plans:
- Monthly @ $9.99 per month
- Annual @ $8.33 per month
For Businesses
Pricing for Workspace Business depends primarily on the number of users your organization is going to have. There are three tiers of Workspace Business accounts.
Business Starter
All users will have access to all of the standard Workspace features and applications with the following key highlights.
- Custom Emails – Each user can have their own custom business email while also having access to general business mailboxes.
- Storage – 30 GB per User
- Video Meetings – Up to 100 participants
There are two payment plans: monthly ($7.20 per month) or annual ($6.00 per month).
Business Standard
Designed for businesses that need a little bit more juice in their cloud storage, the Business Standard plan does not provide many features over the Starter one.
- Storage – 2 TB per User
- Video Meetings – Up to 150 participants + recordings
There are two payment plans: monthly ($14.40 per month) or annual ($12.00 per month).
Business Plus
The Business Plus plan provides additional cloud-storage as well as plenty of added email & security features. Most of these security features revolve around controlling your team members’ access privileges.
- Additional Email & Security features
- Storage – 5 TB per User
- Video Meetings – Up to 500 participants + recordings + attendance tracking
There are two payment plans: monthly ($21.60 per month) or annual ($18.00 per month).
Enterprise
Workspace is also available for large enterprise-level organizations that need more security than the average business. It offers fully scalable cloud-storage, and the highest level of security available for Workspace users.
Pricing for Workspace Enterprise is only available via contacting Google Workspace’s sales team.
Ready to create your Google Workspace account? Make sure to check out our latest guide.
Level up your Google Workspace with Mailmeteor
Running email campaigns without a reliable email service solution can present numerous challenges and set you back instead of pushing you forward. This is where a modern privacy focused solution like Mailmeteor becomes crucial to your online email campaigns. Mailmeteor is the #1 emailing platform for Gmail. Trusted by 5 million users worldwide, it is the best email service to send personalized mass emails with Gmail. Track your results in real time and follow up easily to get more replies.
Send Emails in Bulk – Mailmeteor lets you send your emails in bulk effortlessly. Something that would otherwise be a long and exhausting process.
Personalize for Each Recipient – Emails hit differently when they have your name in it. Mailmeteor lets you achieve exactly that. By using data from a Google Sheets document, you can personalize each email according to the recipient’s expectations.
Schedule & Run Campaigns on Autopilot – Set up your email campaigns at the end of the workweek and rest peacefully during the weekend while Mailmeteor delivers your emails.
Mailmeteor is a tried-and-tested solution, featured on the recommended apps list in the Workspace Marketplace. Designed to make your email efforts less tedious, Mailmeteor streamlines the process of sending personalized emails in bulk. From scheduling campaigns, to tracking email open rates, Mailmeteor provides a complete and comprehensive solution to businesses wanting to capitalize and grow their email channel.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I purchase Google Workspace Individual or Business Starter?
Workspace Individual is primarily designed for a single user who is already using Google’s free services for their business, and they simply wish to power it up with additional functionality.
If you are interested in a custom email address, then you have no choice but to use Business Starter because Workspace Individual does not come with customer email addresses. Business Starter is more affordable, has more features, and gives you a custom email address. It also lets you add more users in the future if you ever plan to expand your business.
The only drawback of choosing Business Starter is that Business Starter comes with only 30 GB of cloud storage whereas Workspace Individual gives you 1 TB.
Why should I pay for Google Workspace if Google Apps are available for free?
Google Workspace provides an additional layer of functionality and security on top of the free Google Applications. Features such as custom email addresses, shared mailboxes, and pooled cloud storage make collaboration easier than ever.
By paying for Google Workspace, you are saving on the countless hours spent synchronizing work between colleagues, sharing and sending documents to each other, and having to share passwords to access mailboxes. The additional layer of security and features added by Google Workspace more than pays back for itself over time.
Can I send bulk emails with Google Workspace?
Absolutely! If you have a mailing list of subscribers, then you can use your Google Workspace account to send emails to them in bulk. There is a limit of daily emails set by Google, which is a lot higher for Workspace accounts.
While it is possible to send the email manually, we highly recommend an emailing service to do the heavy lifting for you especially if you want to personalize the emails sent to each recipient. (You can achieve this by using Mailmeteor.)
- Free Gmail Account – Up to 500 emails per day.
- Google Workspace – Up to 2,000 emails per day.
What is Google Workspace Marketplace?
Google Workspace supports third-party applications that power up your Workspace experience. You can access these applications and enable them through the Google Workspace Marketplace. Some of the Editor’s Choice categories are:
- Intelligent apps – AI powered apps such as GPT for Sheets and Docs
- Work From Everywhere – Zoom & Team integration for Google Workspace.
- Business Essentials – Productivity boosters and mail merge plugins like Mailmeteor.
