Google Workspace

What it is

Google Workspace is the boring foundation most small companies actually run on: email on your own domain, shared documents and spreadsheets, calendars, video meetings and file storage, administered centrally so leavers can be cut off in one place. Gemini is included, in Gmail on Starter and across Gmail, Docs and Meet from Standard.

The plans differ mostly on storage and meeting capability. Starter gives 30 GB pooled per person and meetings for 100 participants; Standard adds 2 TB, meeting recording, noise cancellation and appointment booking pages; Plus adds 5 TB, 500-participant meetings with attendance tracking, eDiscovery and Vault for retention and search.

Who it's for (and who it isn't)

It fits almost any business that needs professional email and shared documents, which is almost any business. The specific reason to pay rather than use free consumer accounts is administration: you own the accounts, so when someone leaves, their files and mailbox stay with the company.

It is a weaker fit for organizations already committed to Microsoft, where the equivalent suite is the obvious answer and mixing the two creates friction. And for a solo operator with no colleagues, the case is thinner, though a professional email address on your own domain is still worth the entry price.

Pricing

Google Workspace is paid with a 14-day trial and no free tier. Business Starter is EUR 6.80 per user per month with 30 GB of pooled storage per person, custom business email, Gemini in Gmail and video meetings for 100 participants. Business Standard is EUR 13.60 per user per month with 2 TB, Gemini in Gmail, Docs and Meet, meeting recording, noise cancellation and appointment booking pages. Business Plus is EUR 21.10 per user per month with 5 TB, eDiscovery, 500-participant meetings with attendance tracking and Vault. Enterprise is custom with data loss prevention, context-aware access and 1,000-participant meetings. Prices shown are on annual billing, which saves 16%. Prices as shown here were quoted in euros.

Storage is the practical upgrade trigger. 30 GB per person sounds generous until a team shares video files.

Set it up

Official guide: Quick Start Guide for small businesses

1. Sign up for Google Workspace on Business Starter (EUR 6.80 per user/mo, shown on annual billing, with 30 GB of storage per person). There is no free plan, but there is a 14-day trial. Have your business web address ready, such as yourcompany.com, because your email addresses will end with it. A domain name you do not own yet is billed separately. You now have a Business Starter trial.
2. Go to admin.google.com and sign in with your admin account. In the Admin console, the control panel for your company's people and settings, open Menu, then "Directory", then "Users", then "Add new user". Enter "First and last name" and "Primary email", then click "Add New User". Each person you add costs EUR 6.80 per user/mo. Choose "Copy Password" to hand them their login, then click "Done". You now see the person in your list of users.
3. List every address your business uses, such as info@ and invoices@. Each one must exist in Google as a user (step 2) or as an alias, an extra address that delivers into one person's inbox. For an alias, open Menu, then "Directory", then "Users", click the person's name, click "Add Alternate Emails", enter the part before the @, and click "Save". Aliases cost nothing extra, up to 30 per user. Every address you use now has a place to land.
4. Warning: once you save this record, new email for your domain goes to Google, which rejects mail to any address you did not create in step 3. Mail already delivered stays with your old provider. Open the DNS settings where you bought your domain. Remove other MX records (entries that say where email is delivered) and add one: Type "MX", Name blank or "@", Priority "1", Value "smtp.google.com". Your domain now lists one MX record, which points to Google.
5. Back in the Admin console, open Menu, then "Account", then "Domains", then "Manage domains". Click "Activate Gmail" next to your domain and follow the steps on screen. Google can take up to 72 hours to recognize your new MX record. You have now activated Gmail for your domain.
6. In your DNS settings, find the TXT records and look for one that starts with v=spf1, your SPF record, which lists who may send mail for your domain. If your domain already has an SPF record, add include:_spf.google.com to it, before ~all, and add no second one: two SPF records can send all your company's email to spam. If there is none, add a TXT record with Host "@" and Value v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all. Your domain now has one SPF record that includes Google.
7. In the Admin console, open Menu, then "Security", then "Authentication", then "2-step verification". 2-Step Verification asks for a second proof, such as a prompt on a phone, when someone signs in with a password. Check "Allow users to turn on 2-Step Verification", leave "Enforcement" on "Off" and click "Save". Each person can now turn it on: they open their Google Account, tap "Security & sign-in" and select "Turn on 2-Step Verification".

When this works, your team has company email addresses that receive mail through Google, every address your business uses has a place to land, and everyone can switch on the second check at sign-in.

To require 2-Step Verification later, first open Menu, then "Reporting", then "User Reports", then "Security" to see who has turned it on. Then go back to the 2-step verification page, choose "On" under "Enforcement" and click "Save". Do this only once everyone shows as enrolled, because from then on anyone who has not set it up can be locked out of their account.

On Business Standard (EUR 13.60 per user/mo): 2 TB of storage per person.

Strengths and limitations

The strength is that it is complete and unremarkable. Email, documents, meetings and storage that work, administered centrally, at a price that is small per person, is the correct outcome for infrastructure.

The limitations are lock-in and storage economics. Moving a company's email and document history to another provider later is a real project. Pooled storage means one heavy user affects everyone. And putting your business communications, documents and calendar with a single provider is a concentration decision worth making deliberately, particularly regarding where data is stored and processed.