The free version of Google Apps is history. The current sign up page makes no mention of the previously free Standard edition. Instead, new users get a 14 day free trial, and then must pay $50 per user per year after that trial. Google Apps is a suite of online applications like gmail, Google calendar, Google Docs, etc. that are packaged and tailored for business use.
Earlier this year we reported that the usage caps were being squeezed by Google over time for Google Apps, from 200 users down to just 50. When the service first launched in August 2006 it was free and described as “a service available at no cost to organizations of all shapes and sizes.” A paid version first appeared in 2007.
Dave Girouard, Google’s President of Enterprise, commented on our post that talked about the decreasing number of users allowed for the free version, saying that the cap reductions were needed to keep resellers happy, adding “There’s no reason to believe that the cap will continue to “move down” – we have no plans whatsoever to do that.”
I guess not. They didn’t move the cap down, they just killed the Standard product entirely. No mention of this change was made at a Google Apps press event held last month.
You can actually still see the free version at this page. But it doesn’t appear to be linked to from any Google page at this point. We’re emailing Google for comment.
The old version of Google Apps had a comparison chart of the Standard and Premier versions that looked like this:
Update: A Google spokesperson says, “In experimenting with a number of different landing page layouts, the link to Standard Edition was inadvertently dropped from one of the variations. We are in the process of restoring it and you should see it soon. We have no intention of eliminating Google Apps Standard Edition, and are sorry for the confusion.”
Update 2: A link to the Standard edition has been added back to the landing page.
what happens to older accounts….are we safe?
in the past Google has said that accounts keep the settings they had at signup, so if you had 200 users, you kept them. I can only assume they’ll keep free accounts active. They may have legal issues if they didn’t, and the negative press would be stunning.
its a 30 day trial… and whatever happen to “Don’t be evil”?
30 day free trials are evil?
Of course not but NOT announcing it scares existing users. We may one day receive a notice saying that we can start paying or have our account closed.
no, its OK to BE a devil.. after 30-days trial!
Ya, A moment I saw that google killed the free edition, I stoppd breathing. I have a more than 2 dozen clients on google apps and did not want to migrate them from google to elsewhere.
Is free trails are evil, simply because they are note free!!
Yeah. They better not ditch old users. I use google apps for my mail, as gmail is simply the best.
Then you’d be more than happy to pay for it, they’re providing a service – if they want to charge for it, they have every right to do so. I’d personally move because I don’t value a Google Apps account at $50/month, yet many may.
Per year, not per month. $4/mo.
Your data was never safe.
Whenever a company that’s so huge hosts the data of the entire world, it’s a prime target for hackers.
And who needs to put their data at risk “in the cloud” when you can have it safe and local using the free OpenOffice suite.
Actually it’s a good thing the free version of Google Apps has vanished – less people will be at risk.
your pc with OO VS 999 big brained G-monkeys?
That no match, don’t be foolish.
Geeez, you’ve totally fallen for the GooG marketing guys’ strategy…
My Group uses a Google Apps free account. We still have it.
while it would suck to lose functionality for older users, it’s not out of the question. That’s the beauty of the “beta” tag that has been there for all these years. Anything can change when they go out of beta, including adding a fee for use.
Honestly, I don’t see a problem with charging for Google’s services. You can get e-mail, docs, probably Wave in the near future, online storage, API access, web page creators and hosting, and more for $4.50 a month. Not bad.
I’m a big fan of “cloud” computing, since I travel a lot. I have a couple laptops, a netbook, and home and office desktops all running OS X, and I love Mobile Me for ease of keeping all my life synchronized from a central location. To me, $100 a year is fair for that. $50 seems like a bargain.
do you guys now know what proper journalism is?? check your facts! check your facts! check your facts!
I noticed this the other day…. You can still get to it here;
http://www.goog...el/standard/new
Sorry, forgot to mention that it still works to sign up, I did that just a couple of days ago.
yeah i link to that near the end of the post. I’d say it’s time to set up a free account pronto if you want one any time in the future.
I totally agree, sign up now before it’s too late!
The only part of google apps for domain that I use is Gmail. It’s best, easiest and fastest way of setting up an email address on a newly purchased domain I reckon. And you get the awesome Gmail interface too boot!
Yes, but that’d mean registering new websites to be able to link it up. Unless there’s a way to “reserve” it without needing to supply a domain name.
You can always use some bogus URL, not go through with the verification process, and then set up a “real” URL later as a domain alias on the account. I wouldn’t do that, as who knows how long they’ll let you live without verifying your domain, but, well, there you go.
Right….. that seems to be the best option…
Looks like it’s still available Mike:
http://www.goog...roup/index.html
Perhaps they are forcing everyone to try the Premier and if you don’t want to pay, switch you back to Standard Ed. after the 30 days is up?
There is still this message on the lower part of the page…
——————-
Looking for a specific solution?
Google Apps for schools, non-profits, ISPs, developers and resellers
——————-
Non profits is what you are looking for.
http://www.goog.../org/index.html
Still totally linked, just harder to find:
1.) http://www.google.com/apps/ click whatever, like Business IT managers, to get to …
2.) http://www.goog...ource=catch_all click “non profits”
3.) Click See details and sign up
4.) Ah, this looks familiar. Click Standard Edition, and you can sign up…
Google probably realized most startups and domain owners never upgraded to the paid plan and since the free plan was such good value for money (free) – it had to make business sense to either just really limit the free version (they tried) or go completely commercial.
Ths spanish version of google app is still offering the standard edition for free, listed as usual.
You can see it at:
http://www.goog...itions_spe.html
This make no sense at all. It was so much easier to create an email address using Google Apps, set up a few filters, and forward to my regular email -than using unreliable POP3 services and doesn’t have the awesome spam filters that I come to expect.
If they package Google Wave with Google Apps, instead of it’s own free version I’m going to be doubly pissed. Google were the guys who created entitled brat’s like myself who expect a lot of freebies on the net, they can’t expect us to start forking over money now. SORRY.
“If they package Google Wave with Google Apps, instead of it’s own free version I’m going to be doubly pissed”
Dude – can you tell us why you are “entitled” to Google’s or anyone commercial company’s products for free?
Do you have no clue how much it costs to design, development, test, and host these services?
I’m sick and tired of all these lazy “free-loving” tree-huggers.
Since when do hippies use Google Apps?
Where you looking?
Here is free version: http://www.goog...s/editions.html
Panicers.
C’mon Google! WTF? Are the relevant ads not enough to support this or has corporate greed somehow introduced itself into the Google Ethos? “Do No Evil, unless it’s to our own brand image”?
I sincerely hope the G-men and G-women who thought this was a good idea reconsider–if for no other reason than for the impact this will have on the loyalty of current users and potential growth.
Hmm, Maybe it’s the Economy, Stupid! Or maybe it is just a stupid decision in the realm of strategic growth.
Who clicks the ads? Or do you?
I even have most advertise websites blocked through /etc
if you don’t click on ad or blocks ads, then don’t complain when web companies starts charging. I kept on hearing on techcrunch that people rather pay than see ads, yet they complain like a little girl when company does do that.
I helped a good friend set up Google Apps Gmail and on his very first use, he not only clicked an ad, it was so relevant to him that he bought the product – I watched him do it. So, some people clearly do click on ads in Google Apps Gmail.
Why don’t you people give a try to Zoho Business?
This is very interesting, as where Google leads others follow. Could we see any of the myriad Web 2.0 companies struggling to make money hope that they can do the same? I notice Plaxo starts charging for using the Outlook sync tool at the end of this month too ($60 a year).
Who’s next?
If web services are following the same patterns on free/freemium/paid that, say, internet access has then I wonder whether this will ultimately lead to Google (or someone else) taking a subscription fee from web users for unlimited access to chargeable web services? Managed through users logging in to those sites using their Google ID through OpenID…
Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz
I was able to register and adminster a new account last week. Google now only shows the Premier and Education edition so it took me quite some time to dig around the Google Apps site before I found the correct signup page. When you login, it still says Standard Edition. Still works like a dream though, but wondering for how long?
Same here, I just signed up for a free account last week and had to dig around a bit to find it.
Stupid move by Google. Really dumb.
If I’m forced to move my Google Apps stuff from Google, then you can be sure I’ll be moving everything else away from them too.
I don’t mind paying for good service, but I do mind sneakily introducing charges, lowering limits and treating users like idiots.
This is a blow.
It was so easy to buy my domain name, set up Google Apps for my email and have a presence on the web.
Michael, you scared me there for a while… good morning rush though here in Greece!
Has Chris Anderson been informed?
But it’s for business only, standard edition is still free.
Check “Not a business? Explore Standard Edition” option in this page: http://www.goog...ss/details.html
yeah, but i can’t find links to that from the google apps landing page. the links to the standard edition seem to all be turned off.
perhaps they are simply testing the conversion and how people deal with no free version.
The free version still exists, but they make you sign up for the paid version’s free trial and downgrade to the free version once you’re in.
That sounds like an A/B test created to drive people crazy.
@google, remember you say what ? don’t be evil.
And in this day in age we all know charging for anything is evil…
Really?
I mean, REALLY?
The end of free?
standard edition here http://www.goog...roup/index.html
Great move for startups!
For two reasons:
It seems that the big corporates are starting to believe that cross-subsidy of businesses (ie Adwords revenues to support Apps) is not viable in the long term.
This will give startups a much more level playing field when entering into new markets.
Secondly, it will also teach users that the web is not a totally free environment and we can finally start charging comensurate fees for our web apps. We are not talking $20 per month, or even $10 per month but say $30 per annum.
This will allow us to turn freebie web sites into proper well run and well supported businesses. Which is ultimately better for the user and for entrepreneurs.
Absolutely!
Thanks, I was waiting for someone to say this. You’re absolutely right. Amazing that people are bitching about Google charging for this stuff – they probably look at their few hundred people who work on Google Apps and say: uh, this can’t really just continue to be a cost drain. $50/year for what you are getting from them is quite reasonable.
Great point. In the give-away economy, the investor class has too much control, and we see one hype driven market bubble after another. Selling products gives the broader mass of society a vote in what is valuable, engaging all of us more deeply in deciding what matters.
That being said, you can hardly blame businesses for chasing investors: that’s where the money is. Around 34% of the wealth in the US is controlled by 1% of the population, and it is easier to dupe these folks out of some dollars, than to try to get average working people to buy something. Unfortunately, that leads to a lot of misdirected economic activity.
Simple solution is to put the top income tax rate up around 90%. That’s where it was throughout the 50’s and early 60’s. Kennedy cut it to 70%, where it remained until Reagan brought it below 50% and the investor duping investor party began. Take money out at the top and feed it back in at the bottom, where it can be more carefully allocated by a broad middle class as it works it way back to the top.
rushed there a bit, didn’t you…
Don’t let me you didn’t see this coming
Oops what will happen for the existing ones? will they charge or what? do some respond to it.
The free version has been tough to find for a while, but they are really hiding it now, aren’t they. . .
I imagine there will always be a free version, at the very least to support App Engine. They might make it harder to find from the marketing page though.
What do some of you whiners feel is wrong with $50 for a great application?
I have used Google Apps for ages and it keeps my small business on track – $50 is worth it
It’s a bit like a token thank you or tip for a great service
Stop moaning!
David
like Dom said: I don’t mind paying for good service, but I do mind sneakily introducing charges, lowering limits and treating users like idiots.
$50 per user ends up being harder to swallow if you were trying to run a small business with more than one user on it. I’ve been considering it for a project, but would need about 15 accounts (all part time people) – that’s $750 by my reckoning, and much less affordable.
Also, if more people had paid earlier, they might not feel it necessary to start hiding the free version in the first place. :/
I think $750 per year is hardly a big amount for a business with 15 accounts.
The other search engines should point to the free version as the first response in the search query for Google Apps
if you change a language, like UK, there is still a link “Not a business? Explore Standard Edition”`
Is it the beginning of the end of the “Free services by Google” era?
guess when the company becomes that big, they forget the culture they were founded upon. greedy assholes.
This really sucks, i’m sure the after effect of the economy failure is affecting google now. So the monetization effort. If this fails. They’ll cut jobs. Anyways i got my freebie… Hope no one loses jobs. Once an organisation grows too large, it becomes like a cancer, dragging down the supporting structure or dependants… This is what is happening. So don’t put all your eggs in the google basket. Always have a fall back.
A while ago, I have already been reducing my use of Google products because I felt like it was monopolizing my Internet life. I also had privacy concerns. Now looks like my moving away from it has been a good decision. Corporations do need to sustain themselves financially. The move away from the free version is probably not too surprising. Call me a cynic. But when a corporation says do no evil, I tend not to believe it, at least not whole-heartedly.
It’s really amazing what’s happening here right now. Google changed some Websites in order to hide the free Standard version of apps. It is still available and as the experience tells us, already activated standard apps won’t be shut down. So why such a fuss? Anybody here, thinking that it’s his constitutional right to sign up to free google apps standard edition?
Of course, it might be a good idea for google to clarify things. And it is frustrating, that is has become quite difficult to find the page in order to sign-in to your existing account.
Since when did Google start this? lol
Actually, you can still access the free version or Google Apps. They mainly changed the focus from individuals to enterprise accounts.
If you look at the bottom of the page, you still have a link for “Non-profit” which leads you to: http://www.goog.../org/index.html and register a free account.
And this comes after six HOURS of downtime, and after not having clearly explained what happened and what corrective measures will be taken (other than a generic “uh, shit broke, and we’ll fix it”)…
You’re confusing app engine with google apps.
I use Google Apps Gmail exclusively and there has not been 6 hours of downtime in the last couple days – or EVER!
I remember it taking a while to find the free version when I signed up to Google Apps around a year ago. Google clearly don’t want to advertise the free version, so I guess we just need to make sure everybody knows it’s there!
That said, in case they are thinking of removing the free version for new users, I have just registered the other domain names I own for free accounts, in case I want to use them in the future!
Google seems to be squeezing the Premium accounts too. I remember the Premium account used to have Postini email archiving feature included in price…now it seems to be gone…and totally replaced with an extra charge model…http://www.google.com/postini/
In fact, it seems to be getting harder and harder to understand exactly what Google is offering…it seems to change so much, and information is awkwardly worded and difficult to access.
There is no free lunch!
Google needs more bucks to pay Youtube bills
Yes ,I observe the same, last week when I was setting up an email address on one of my friend domain.
I am happy that I made account on the Google Apps last year but still not sure that what would happen with older accounts. Lets see…
So when will Bing Apps be launching?
It has, its called Microsoft Office.
It has. It’s called Microsoft Office.
It’s funny – I’ve been having issues with Google Apps and A Google App Engine application I’m developing (technology news aggregator, ranked by twitter – tFeeder). Something that worked for me before did not work this time. The only solution was to use the older version of Google Apps control panel – the new version just did not work.
Now I figure it might have to do with this free / non-free versions (the older link you mention is to the old control panel, the new one is the trial only panel.
You can still sign up for the free version from the Uk site. Just click on “Not a Business – Standard Edition”
http://www.goog...ss/details.html
There’s still a free version, you have to sign up for paid and then downgrade to the free version within 30 days. It’s easy, I just did it a few weeks ago for a client.
Google Apps FREE Standard Edition died on July 7th 2009. It was a tragic loss of our innocence, because we had always thought that Google would live by the motto “Don’t be evil”.
Apparently the devil in the form of accountants and marketing liars has taken over. First Michael, now Google, what a )**%$* month this is…
What about Billy Mays
Do you know how much would that service be if you had to setup your own server?. What I know is far the $50.
Seems like a marketing decision. As a reseller, I can tell you it is working.
What business isn’t willing to pay $50/user/year for email + office collaboration? It is totally worth it.
the smart business who can get email plus office basically for free or minimal costs via linux and open source/open office.
I mean 50 dollars a year for email and office is a lot to me. For 20 people that is 1000 dollars a year for something that is not essential in its benefits and advantages.
Google may be worried about anti-trust. I bet the lobbyists from Micro$oft etc have been complaining how free Google Apple == unfair competition. Google don’t want anything like M$’s IE lawsuits.
free Google Apps == unfair competition. D’Oh!
Google screws you and it’s MS’ fault…
In Danish it’s still there: http://www.goog...itions_spe.html
it’s $50! Why does everyone expect a free lunch?
It’s a good service, just pay it if you needed to!
Here’s why: because Google will use the information in your account to target ads to you, which means that they’re benefiting from your personal data.
I hope this post is updated with Google’s comment. I had been wondering about this myself.
I wouldn’t have such a big problem with it if it were monthly. Absolutely worth the fees. But like someone posted earlier… a small business that wants to use it as their platform and has 15 people in the organization has to shell out $750 upfront. That is tough on a shoestring… now paying $62/month is not as hard… I mean, make the monthly payment an extra 10%… but don’t make it so hard to get in at the smallest level (even the 4 or 5 account companies have to shell out $200 bucks upfront for the year)… remember, we are trying to ween them off the BS hosting accounts they have popped to their crappy Outlook installs for YEARS. And they are paying 8 bucks a month for unlimited pops.
Makes it very difficult for us as consultants to “convince them” of all the benefits when they wont even consider parting with it all upfront, untried, etc. The smallest businesses are just now starting to understand what “collaborative online suites” are. Before this they just sit on their pirated copies of office that a nephew installed and pop their email and use a local calendar that someone “mass invites” around the office to “sync up”
$50 bucks a year is great for the service. Paying it all upfront kills interest before we can get them “hooked” on it.
I have pushed about 100 clients on… and most love it now… How do I push more? I guess for 90% of them we have to go back to standard POP and that’s all they care about… thereby losing the potential for long term relationships.
Give us a monthly option. Make it similar to a POP service to lure in the current POPPERS. Let them taste collaboration without killing the wallet in one shot.
lol….how can an organization with 15 employee have problem paying 750 up front? you gotta be kidding.
While I won’t presume to know the dollars and cents behind the program, even free Google Apps is hardly a free lunch. It’s supported by advertising and that means adding millions of new outlets for advertisers – which, according to Google’s current business model, is all their primary goal. Just like gmail.
I will say, this may be all much ado about nothing. I just signed up a new, free Google Apps account with no problems. I’ll wait to hear from Google on why they have changed their registration page (maybe temporarily?) before I hound them too much.