Now that Google has all but ended its free Google Workspace offering, some will want to find a free or less expensive alternative. Here are your options.
Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) has ended its free offerings – you can no longer pay for a domain name and use Google’s corporate email for free. This won’t really be a concern for large organizations as they are all already on a paid plan, but small businesses or individuals using Google Workspace are now forced to pay or look for an alternative.
Upgrade to a paid Google Workspace account
For most users, the easiest transition is to upgrade to a paid account. You don’t need to transfer your data if you can afford a minimum of €4.68 per month. For that price, you’re entitled to 30GB of storage, Gmail with your own domain name, and video conferencing for up to 100 participants.
Microsoft 365 for business
The Microsoft suite is a direct replacement for Google Workspace. Its offer starts at €5.10 per month, but you’ll have to spend double that to have email and Office apps on your desktop. Microsoft offers 50GB of storage per box and 1TB of OneDrive storage, which is more than Google Workspace’s 30GB. However, Microsoft 365 Business remains quite expensive. Google Docs, Sheets and other apps are included for free in the Google plan.
Zoho Workplace
Zoho Workplace offers almost all the features of Google Workspace at a lower price. You can use your own email domain name with 5 GB of storage for free and no ads. You can create a business on Zoho and invite up to 5 users at no additional cost. There is a 25 MB attachment limit, but the rates are attractive.
If you’re looking for a free alternative to Google Workspace, it really can’t get any better. You can visit the Zoho Mail pricing page. If you add more than five users, the plan starts at $1 per user per month (billed annually). The 50 GB plan costs €3.60 per user per month, which is cheaper than Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 Business.
For those who want the full package, Zoho Workplace is a worthy alternative. Email, cloud storage, video calls, an alternative to Slack and office apps from €2.70 per user per month.
iCloud+
If your Google Workspace company only has one person, you might consider using a domain name with iCloud email service. The iCloud+ plan costs €0.99 per month for 50GB of cloud storage, and you can use your own domain name.
iCloud+ is not intended for business, so it should not be used to manage multiple users in an organization. For individuals, you have access to iCloud email and Apple office apps like Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Collaboration is also very effective in Apple apps.
That being said, you shouldn’t be using iCloud+ if you don’t have Apple devices. Indeed, support for the service on Windows and Android is unreliable at best.
ProtonMail
ProtonMail offers end-to-end encryption for your email. In other words, the content of your emails cannot be read by the service provider. If you’re looking for a more secure alternative to Google Workspace, ProtonMail’s free plan may be right for you.
Paid plans start at €3.99 per month with 15GB of storage, support for your own domain name, and up to 10 email addresses. ProtonMail doesn’t have an office suite, but you can use its Proton Drive cloud storage if you opt for the most expensive plan at $9.99 per month.
Be careful, even if you use an end-to-end encrypted email service, encryption only works if you send emails to other users with the same level of protection. For example, if you send a message to a Gmail user, no encryption will occur because Gmail does not encrypt emails in its service.
Cryptpad
If you’re looking for an alternative to Google Docs with added security, CryptPad is end-to-end encrypted. The free plan offers 1GB of storage and alternatives to Google Docs and Sheets, among other tools. If you don’t plan on storing large files, the free plan should be enough. If you’re willing to pay, paid plans start at $5/month for 5GB of storage.
Other Email Alternatives for Google Workspace
Here are some more decent options for those who need a non-Google email service: