As you probably know Google Workspace is a paid tool that can drastically improve the productivity of your small business. However, you might not know that there are several ways to get this tool for free. Yes completely free!
But first, let’s do some math here. Suppose you are a paid Google Workspace customer and have a business account with a team of 5 users. So on average, you are spending $6 x 5 (users) = $30 a month. Which makes it $30 x 12 (months) = $360 a year. For some businesses, it’s a lot of bills to pay but for some, it’s fair but who don’t like freebies, right? On the other hand, there are different ways to avoid these reoccurring bills by taking advantage of different sponsored programs by Google. This means you can use Google Workspace for free.
The free Google Workspace works as same as the paid one however there are some certain eligibility criteria to get it for free. It’s not for everyone. That is why, in this post, I have explained 5 ways to get Google Workspace for free, legitimately.
Quick Overview
1. Free Google Workspace for Education
I am not sure if you have heard of that but Google Workspace is offering a standard plan for K–12, higher education institutions, and homeschool co-ops. This offer by Google is already claimed by 80M teachers and students. This standard plan includes unlimited document storage, Meet video conference, and unlimited email accounts. You can also take advantage of Google Classes which is specially designed to do fast assignments and projects. Plus, they get full 24/7 support and security from Google.
Here are some example of universities using Google Workspace for free
There are several other institutes that provide free Google Workspace for the students.
Features
- Unlimited data storage (no limit)
- Build for most educational field
- Live Streaming up to 100k viewers
- Full 24/7 support from Google
Besides the standard edition, the Education Enterprise edition charges are $4/user/month for students and $4/user/month for staff and faculty. The additional feature of Enterprise edition is a large video conference with up to 250 participants. So if you fit into the eligibility criteria, go ahead and give it a try.
Apply for Google Workspace Education
2. Free Google Workspace for Nonprofit
Another way to get Google Workspacefor free is by having a Google Nonprofit account. Google rewards certain nonprofit organizations to raise their effectiveness across the globe using Google technologies like Youtube, Ads, Google Workspace, Earth, and Donation tools. If you have already signup with a nonprofit account you can have a Google Workspace basic account to make your collaboration more productive at no extra charge.
Features
- Works similar to Google Workspace basic account
- Most of the non-profit NGO’s fits eligibility criteria
- Get bonus tools from Google Workspace to get impactful exposure
- Full 24/7 support
The only problem with this free access is that you only get 30GB storage options. So you have to limit your uploading files if you want to take full advantage of this service. Other than that you can use all Google Workspace apps like Gmail, Calendars, Docs, Spreadsheet, etc.
Request a Google Workspace Nonprofit account
3. Free Google Workspace Trial
Google Workspace allows complete access to all the tools, free for 14 days. The good thing is that Google won’t charge you anything for this, not even asking for your credit card details. All you need to verify your existing domain with Google Workspace and start using the service for 14 days as a trial. You can create documents, upload files, create multiple users with standard limitations. After your trial ends, you may continue using the services by paying $6 a month per user.
Not only this, but we can also help you save 10% per month/user on your first-year billing. You can ask us for an exclusive Google Workspace promo code that can give you a flat 10% off when you redeem it. These codes are applicable for both Google Workspace Starter as well as Standard plans.
Features
- Completely free Google Workspace basic account for 14 days
- Create a team of multiple users for testing
- Upload and share files, send emails normally
- Upgrade account with 10% discounted offer
- Full 24/7 customer support
4. Google Workspace Legacy Free Edition
This is the type of free-to-use Google Workspace edition which was discontinued on December 6, 2012. However, this edition is still free to use and there are no charges for it. That means new customers are no more eligible to get such an account. So ask your colleagues or business partners if they have the legacy free edition.
Google Workspace’s legacy free edition has all the similar features as Google Workspace but without any customer support. However, each account can create up to 10 different users and 15 GB of the photo, email, and document storage. It also includes unlimited video conferencing using Google Meet. So you can say that it is more like a personal Google account but it allows you to create 10 branded name@yourdomain.com professional email addresses.
Features
- Only available for existing user
- Lifetime license with absolutely no cost
- Send unlimited emails, upload 15GB data maximum
5. Use Free Personal Google Account
If you love Google and its free services, you already know that you can create free emails on Google’s public domain i.e Gmail.com. You can create a free account for your small business too.
For example, if you have a Christinacaters.com domain and your business is located in LA, then you can get a free Google email account for it. Email like christinacatersla@gmail.com or christinacaters@gmail.com is a great to pick, subject to availability. However, it is very rare to find your desired email address but if it’s available, go get it.
On the other hand, I won’t recommend this method to send emails too often. I’ve tried it myself and Google doesn’t allow you certain things like sending emails having links on it or sending bulk emails to many people at once. Other than that, this method is cool for storing data online.
Create free Google account
Conclusion
So currently these are official methods of getting a Google Workspace account for free. I don’t think there is any other legit way right now but who knows there might be another method in the future. I would love to update this post for you if I find one.