Google Workspace for Startups: Plans, Setup & Tools

For most startups, Business Starter is enough to begin: a custom email address, 30 GB of pooled storage per person, and Meet calls for up to 100 people. Move to Business Standard when you need more storage (2 TB per person), Meet recordings saved to Drive, appointment booking, or eSignature. Business Plus adds Vault and eDiscovery for teams with retention or legal-hold needs. The Business plans support up to 300 users, and Google offers a 14-day free trial.

The plan details below come from Google's Workspace pricing page, checked on 29 October 2026.

Google Workspace plans for startups

Prices depend on your country, whether you choose monthly billing or an annual commitment (Google shows a saving for a one-year commitment), and any current introductory offer. Check the pricing page in your own country before you sign up. Enterprise plans are priced through Google's sales team.

Which plan should a startup choose?

• Two to five founders, mostly email and documents: Business Starter.
• Recording customer calls, booking meetings, or storing large files such as video: Business Standard.
• Regulated work or a need to keep and search old email for legal reasons: Business Plus.

You can start on Starter and upgrade later. Starting smaller is cheaper than paying for features you won't use in the first year.

What's included in every plan

Google's plan comparison shows these apps in every Business plan:

• Gmail with your company's domain
• Calendar for shared calendars and meeting scheduling
• Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Vids for files and documents
• Meet for video calls
• Chat for team messages
• Keep for shared notes

For a closer look at how small teams use these apps together, see our guide to Google Workspace productivity tools.

How to set up Google Workspace for a startup

Google's Quick Start Guide for small businesses is written for teams of 2 to 9 people. It covers these steps:

1. Access your Admin console at admin.google.com with the administrator account you created at sign-up.
2. Set up your business email. This includes changing your domain's MX records so mail for your domain reaches Gmail. Google's guide on setting up MX records has the details.
3. Migrate your team's data, such as existing email, contacts, and calendars. See Google's migration options.
4. Build and manage your team by adding user accounts for employees and contractors.
5. Set up your organization's account, including security settings such as 2-Step Verification, and billing.
6. Set up meetings, email, cloud storage, and documents, including file-sharing settings for your team.
7. Set up and manage mobile devices if your team uses Workspace on phones.
8. Train your users so everyone knows where files and conversations live.

Startup setup tips

• Decide where company files live from the start, so important files don't stay in one founder's personal Drive when roles change.
• Turn on 2-Step Verification for every account, starting with administrators.
• Agree where work is tracked. Email, chat, and calendar each hold part of the picture. Decide early where tasks and customer follow-ups live.

Add a task board and CRM inside Gmail

Workspace has Google Tasks for personal to-dos, but no shared board that shows which stage each piece of work is in. Many startups add a separate project tool and then lose track of requests that arrive by email.

Kanban Tasks by Tooling Studio adds shared boards inside Gmail and Google Workspace. You can turn an email into a task with a link back to the message, assign it, set a due date, and add comments, attachments, and checklists. Dated tasks also appear in a Gantt view, and you can import your existing Google Tasks during setup. The Kanban for Gmail guide shows the setup.

When the first customers arrive, Sales CRM adds contacts, organizations, deals, and pipelines next to Gmail, starting from your Google Contacts.

Both apps are free for personal use. Teams cost $5 per user per month or $50 per user per year for each app.

Frequently asked questions

Is Google Workspace free for startups?

The Business plans are paid, with a 14-day free trial. Google sometimes offers introductory discounts, which are shown on the pricing page in your country.

Can I change plans later?

Yes. Many startups begin on Business Starter and upgrade when they need more storage, Meet recordings, or Vault.

Do I need my own domain?

A Business plan gives you a custom email address such as you [at] yourstartup.com, so you need a domain for it. Mail reaches Gmail once your domain's MX records point to Google.