Google actually stopped offering free g Suite accounts back in 2012, but the company allowed tons of users to keep their free accounts active. Anyone with a custom domain could sign up for these accounts and access Gmail and most of Google’s tools. Google killing off these free accounts is sure to upset many users, but it’s hard to be upset about getting something for free for more than ten years.
The terminated plans are called the “G Suite legacy free edition,” so if you’re using one of those accounts, you’ll need to move to Google Workspace (and start paying). If you want to go free, you can also get a standard @gmail.com account, though you’ll lose your custom domain and some other features G Suite used to offer.
If you choose not to go that way, Google will automatically upgrade subscriptions “based on the features you currently use” on May 1st (you’ll have to set up billing for that to happen, though). If you don’t upgrade, Google will suspend your account.
Google is also offering people who choose to upgrade a discount on a year of paid service, which is a nice peace offering. However, that’ll hardly compensate for the fact that some users have purchased all sorts of things on these accounts, and they may not want to start paying. Unfortunately, purchases and subscriptions won’t transfer to a free Gmail account, so users may have to upgrade to keep their stuff.
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