You may already have Gmail if you use Google Workspace (previously known as G Suite). If you use them on a daily basis for work and personal life, you will notice that they are similar but distinct in many ways. Gmail may include Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms, but there are some restrictions on how you can use them.
Google Meet on a Gmail account, for example, can only have 60-minute sessions, whereas Google Workspace can have sessions lasting up to 24 hours. Or if a Gmail user accidentally deleted something from Google Drive, the administrator of Google Workspace can recover the file if it was deleted within 25 days.
Google is aware of this and recently announced that anyone can sign up for a Google Workspace subscription on your Gmail account. However, there is a catch that you should be aware of, which Google has yet to reveal.
Gmail subscriptions to the Google Workspace add-on will be available for a monthly fee of $9.99. And will soon be available in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, and Japan. Google did not reveal any information about the rest of the world roadmap.
“A lot of people — especially those who simply want Gmail to be Gmail and don’t care about all of this collaboration stuff in their private lives — will hate this.”
Gmail users’ interfaces will change to be more professional and collaborative after subscribing to Google Workspace. If you’re the one hosting the video call, you’ll be able to use Google Meet to conduct Q&A, live captions, polls, and hand raises. If you’re concerned about data security, you can bring your own encryption keys to encrypt your files. This feature is currently available only for Google Workspace and will remain so until Gmail subscribers can subscribe to Google Workspace.
There will be a lot of features that improve your collaboration experience on your Gmail account. However, there are still some missing pieces that Google hasn’t revealed. Is there going to be an admin console for Gmail users? Will we have more control over our accounts, such as the ability to restore deleted files from Google Drive? We may need to wait until Google begins deploying the services in the United States before we can get a clearer picture.
Google Workspace is designed for businesses and can be managed centrally, whereas Gmail is managed by individual users. We’ll have to wait and see how Google prepares the Google Workspace for Gmail users.