Looks like things aren’t going as smoothly as expected
Google announced in mid-January that its grandfathered “G Suite legacy free edition” users will have to upgrade to a paid plan no later than May 1, 2022. Failing to transition by then would lead the company to automatically subscribe and charge you for a tier it deems fitting when the day arrives, though this would only happen if you have Google Workspace billing set up. The move disgruntled a lot of legacy G Suite customers, with some attorneys even contemplating filing a possible class-action lawsuit over this. All that hue and cry did not go unnoticed as Google hinted in a survey that it would provide legacy customers using fewer than 10 “seats” with “more options” in the coming months. With the May 1 deadline fast approaching and the free tier nowhere to be seen, the big G has delayed the transition timeline by a month.
Google has silently updated its support document (via Ron Amadeo) to reflect that you now have time until June 1, 2022, to transition away from your grandfathered G Suite legacy free edition account. This also means that the billing cycle for customers who upgrade to a paid Workspace plan will now start from August 1, 2022. If you don’t manually upgrade and Workspace billing is not set up for the account, your account will be suspended once the deadline arrives. 60 days after that, you’ll lose access to Gmail, Drive, and other Google services. To regain access, you will need to enter a valid payment method.
To try out the free option whenever it is available, you’ll have to join a waiting list from the Google Admin console before June 1, 2022 — this is still rolling out, so worry not if it does not immediately show up in the console. This will ensure that you can continue using the legacy G Suite account after the new deadline has crossed and until the no-cost tier is available. Google will provide 60 days to try out the free plan once it is available, and if you don’t like it, you can upgrade to a paid Workspace plan. If you have already upgraded to a paid tier and still want to try out the upcoming free option, you can contact Google support to join the waiting list.
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