Google Workspace sits apart from the rest of the catalogue. It is not infrastructure you deploy onto; it is the email, documents and collaboration layer an organisation uses every day. The choices are correspondingly different.
What a Workspace account gives you
At minimum: professional email on your own domain, Drive storage, and the Docs, Sheets and Slides suite, with Meet and Calendar alongside. Everything else is a question of how much storage, how much administrative control and how much compliance capability you need.
How the editions differ
| Dimension | What changes as you move up |
|---|---|
| Storage per user | Rises substantially with edition |
| Meet participants and recording | Larger meetings, recording and attendance tracking |
| Security controls | Vault retention, DLP, context-aware access |
| Admin capability | More granular policy, audit and endpoint management |
| Support | Faster response commitments |
The practical decision points are usually storage and retention. Teams that handle large files, or that have a legal requirement to retain and search mail, need the higher editions. Teams that mostly write documents and send email do not.
What seat count means
Workspace is licensed per user. A seat is a person with their own account, mailbox and storage allocation. Shared mailboxes and group addresses do not consume a seat, which is worth knowing before you buy more than you need: info@ and support@ can be group aliases delivered to real users rather than separate paid accounts.
The non-profit 300 seat configuration reflects Google’s non-profit programme, which offers Workspace to eligible registered non-profit organisations at reduced or no cost for a substantial number of seats. Eligibility is determined by Google and requires verification of the organisation’s non-profit status.
Migration is the real work
Buying the account is the easy part. Moving an organisation onto it involves:
- Domain verification, proving you control the domain.
- MX records, pointing mail at Google rather than the old provider.
- Mail migration, moving existing mailboxes across.
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC, so your outbound mail authenticates correctly.
- User provisioning, creating accounts and setting group membership.
The authentication records are the step most often skipped, and the consequence is outbound mail landing in spam folders. Do them as part of the cutover, not afterwards.
Before you use it
Change the delivered credentials, enable two-step verification on the super administrator account, create a second administrator so you are not locked out if one account is lost, store recovery codes somewhere safe, and review existing users and groups. Set up the admin audit log, and restrict super administrator rights to the smallest number of people who genuinely need them.
Common questions
Can I use my existing domain?
Yes. You verify ownership and then point the MX records at Google.
Do shared addresses need their own seat?
No. Group addresses and aliases do not consume a licence.
Can I change edition later?
Yes, editions can be changed through the admin console, subject to the terms of your subscription.