Free Google apps are no longer free for business

BANGALORE, INDIA: Google has stopped  the free version of its Google Apps for Business. Hold on, that is only for new businesses. If you signed up for Google account before December 6, 2012, your account will remain free.

As has always been, changing with the times is what Google firmly believes in. This change too is to help businesses cope with the advancing trends.

"When we launched the premium business version we kept our free, basic version as well. Both businesses and individuals signed up for this version, but time has shown that in practice, the experience isn't quite right for either group. Businesses quickly outgrow the basic version and want things like 24/7 customer support and larger inboxes. Similarly, consumers often have to wait to get new features while we make them business-ready," said Clay Bavor, Director of Product Management, Google Apps, in a blogpost.

Now, individuals wishing to use Google's web apps like Gmail and Google Drive should create a free personal Google Account, which provides a seamless experience across Google's web services on any device.

For businesses, instead of two versions, there will be one. Companies of all sizes will sign up for the premium version, Google Apps for Business, which includes 24/7 phone support for any issue, a 25GB inbox, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee with no scheduled downtime. And the pricing is still $50 per user, per year.

"And as before, Google Apps for Education will be available as a free service for schools and universities," added the blog post.

Ever since Google Apps was launched in 2006, businesses have been benefiting from a suite of e-mail, calendar, word processing and spreadsheet apps, along with backups of e-mail.