Are you, like many individuals, small business owners, or start-up companies, looking for a cost-effective and strong productivity plan? Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite) is one of the best productivity solutions available. Google’s productivity suite has a top-notch reputation and its pricing is competitive, which makes it an attractive option for many. The two most popular options for individuals and small businesses are the Business Starter and Business Standard licenses. Today I’ll compare Google Workspace Business Starter vs Business Standard to help you choose the right option for you.
| UPDATE: This article was originally written to compare G Suite licenses (the G Suite Basic vs Business plans), and has been updated to reflect Google’s rebranding of their productivity suite to Google Workspace from G Suite. To learn more about Google Workspace and find the best plan for you, click here and enjoy a 14-day free trial. |
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Choosing the Right Google Workspace Plan for You
If you have determined that Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) is the route you want to take, then your next step is to determine which one of their plans is best for you and your business needs.
There are three main plans offered within Google’s Google Workspace (formerly G Suite):
- Business Starter ($6 USD per user a month),
- Business Standard ($12 USD per user a month), and
- Enterprise (Contact sales for pricing).
Each plan provides you with secure professional email, pooled storage, and other productivity tools.
However, Google Workspace’s entry level plans, Business Starter and Business Standard are the two most appropriate options for individuals and for most small businesses.
Personally, I think Google Workspace Business Standard (formerly G Suite Business) is the better value (especially if you have a team of 5 or more), but let’s look at a comparison of Google Workspace Business Starter vs Business Standard so you can decide for yourself which makes more sense for you and your small business.
Google Workspace Business Starter vs Business Standard License Comparison
| Google Workspace Business Starter License Price: $6 USD/User/Month What is it? Professional office suite with 30 GB of pooled storage per user | Google Workspace Business Standard License Price: $12 USD/User/Month What is it? Enhanced office suite with 2 TB of pooled storage per user and archiving capabilities |
| ● Business email through Gmail ● Video and voice conferencing ● Shared calendars ● Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations ● Standard Support with options to upgrade to Enhanced or Premium support ● Security and administration controls ● 30 GB of pooled storage per user | ● Business email through Gmail ● Video and voice conferencing ● Shared calendars ● Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations ● Standard Support with options to upgrade to Enhanced or Premium support ● Security and administration controls ● 2TB pooled storage per user ● Smart search across Google Workspace and Cloud Search ● Archive and set retention policies for emails and chats ● eDiscovery for emails, chats, and files ● Audit reports to track user activity |
Cloud storage is expensive, and Google Workspace Business Standard offers 2TB of pooled storage per user, which is generous compared to many competitors.
In my view it makes Google Workspace the best deal on the market, but let’s look a little more closely at both plans:
Workspace Business Starter (formerly G Suite Basic)
Despite its former label of G Suite Basic, the Google Workspace Business Starter plan isn’t basic at all. It offers users powerful tools and resources that make it a great option for individuals, solopreneurs, and small businesses.
Features
Below are the features of the Google Workspace Business Starter plan.
- Users benefit from 30GB of pooled storage per user (it’s important to point out that while all of your docs and sheets files don’t count toward this total, your Gmail inbox does).
- Users can create email accounts with their own company domain.
- Shared calendars allow users to use Google Calendar to set up critical dates and terms.
- Google Chat allows users to securely exchange messages with your team in real-time.
- Google Meet allows users to set up video and voice conferences with up to 100 participants per call.
- Google Office Suite includes Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms which can be easily shared and managed in team drives.
- Google Workspace apps allow teams to work collaboratively in real-time.
- Sites give users the ability to create simple websites, integrate their website with other Google apps, and Google Sites supports HTML and JavaScript.
- Support is a critical feature of any office productivity suite, and Google Workspace Business Starter and Business Standard licenses include standard support, with options to upgrade to Enhanced or Premium Support for additional features.
- Alert Center allows users to view alerts, notifications, and important actions across Google Workspace.
- Google support also provides strong security that allows users to manage user accounts, security settings, and everything users need to keep their accounts safe
Who Should Consider This Plan?
Below are a few examples of users that may be best to choose a Google Workspace Business Starter (formerly G Suite Basic) license:
- Freelancers / Solopreneurs
- Small business with fewer than 5 employees
- A professional user who doesn’t have large storage needs
Workspace Business Standard (formerly G Suite Business)
Now let’s take a look at the features of the Google Workspace Business Standard. This plan is designed to meet the needs of small to medium-sized companies.
With Google Workspace Business Standard you get all of the features of the Business Starter plan and more. By many, it is considered to be the best value because it offers 2 TB of pooled storage per user.
Features
Let’s take a closer look at the features of the Business plan from Google. With Google Workspace Business Standard you’ll have everything included in the Business Starter plan, and you’ll also enjoy:
- Users benefit from 2 TB of pooled storage per user in Google Drive.
- Google Meet allows users to set up video and voice conferences with up to 150 participants per call (compared to 100 users on the Business Starter plan).
- Cloud Search, Smart Search, and eDiscovery all make finding the files, data, and documents you need easy, leveraging the power of Google’s search algorithms internally for your organizational data.
- Google Vault allows you to set data retention policies for chat, email and all company communication. This is important for larger companies who want to retain access to that communication for legal reasons.
- The ability to audit reports to track and monitor user activity. This allows you to provide customized training and resources to your team to ensure they’re fully leveraging the power of Google’s tools to improve their productivity.
Who Should Consider the Business Plan?
Below are a few examples of users that may benefit from the Google Workspace Business Standard plan:
- A team that needs more than 30 GB of storage per user.
- Growing small to medium-sized businesses who want an office productivity suite that will grow with them.
- Data-heavy businesses who want to leverage the power of cloud search and eDiscovery.
- Business users who need the email and message archiving and data retention feature.
Comparing File Storage Between the Two Licenses
Now let’s take a look at the two key differences between the Google Workspace Business Starter and Business Standard plans. Two big differences stand out when comparing the two plans. These two key feature differences are:
- storage, and
- search capabilities.
One of the major differences between the Business Starter and Business Standard plans from Google Workspace is the amount of cloud storage. Users need to take the size of their team and the number of user licenses they need into consideration when determining which plan works best for them. With the entry level plan, users have 30 GB of pooled storage per user. The more popular Business Standard plan offers 2 TB of pooled storage per user.
If your business or team needs to utilize large amounts of storage, the Business Standard plan provides 2 TB of pooled storage per user for only $12 per user, per month, which is a generous amount of strage compared to other plans.
It is important to recognize that the 30 GB of pooled storage limit in the Google Workspace Business Starter plan does not include Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, etc. However, your inbox, image and video files, etc. do count towards your 30 GB storage limit with the Google Workspace Business Starter plan.
So if you do high volumes of photo and video editing then you will want to consider opting for the improved storage available in a more expensive license.
Comparing Search and eDiscovery
One of the key differences between Google Workspace Business Starter and Business Standard is the search, eDiscovery, and auditing features that are available.
These features are included in the $12 per user, per month Google Workspace Business Standard plan.
Smart Search and Cloud Search (and why you’d want them)
Smart search and Cloud Search provide businesses with the opportunity to securely retain and search email and chat records while making the team more efficient.
For example, if you type the words “fiscal report,” then the results that come up can come from Gmail, Drive, Docs, or Slides.
Any information stored in any place within Google Workspace can be found when needed with Cloud Search, and Google’s internal algorithm learns how your team searches for the files they want, and prioritizes those in future internal file and document searches. (Google is pretty good at search)
The Value of Google Vault
Another feature that comes with Google Workspace Business Standard is Google Vault. Google Vault centers on data retention and eDiscovery.
Google characterizes Vault as a way of “keeping track of what matters” and “retaining, searching, and exporting your organization’s data from select apps.”
Vault allows businesses to protect their data, set retention rules, and hold on to certain data. Businesses can also retrieve information from any account in Google Workspace, even suspended accounts. This is a smart way to gather information related to legal matters and investigations if needed. This feature also prevents data loss from employee turnover. You won’t waste time re-creating projects an employee was working on if they suddenly leave or have a medical emergency.
Audit reports to track user activity can be obtained using Vault. The vigorous activity tracker allows you to see searches, content views, exports, and more across your organization. Not only is this a good way to ensure your team’s productivity, it also will give you a chance to monitor app usage and look for opportunities to help your team fully leverage Google’s productivity apps by providing them with training when it seems they are avoiding certain apps.
Google Workspace Business Starter vs Business Standard (final thoughts)
After the comparison of the two least expensive Google Workspace plans, hopefully you can make the best decision for your business needs.
To find your best fit, be sure to take into consideration the things you need, such as the amount of storage needed, the size of your team, and your business goals.
