Google Workspace price increases have arrived, and some users could expect to see a 20% hike in costs

Price changes for Google workspace customers are officially coming into effect following an initial change to rates announced by the tech giant last year. 

Users of the workplace collaboration software will now have to front a price hike of 20% for all monthly-billed, business-tier plans.

The $6 Starter plan will increase to $7.20 (£5.73), the Standard from $12 to $14.40 (£11.46), and the Plus from $18 to $21.60 (£17.20).

The price increase will only affect users on monthly-billed plans, however, and those paying for the software on an annual basis will be exempt.

The new payments will be reflected in the first billing cycle after this week, with reports suggesting the 14th, 15th, and 16th February as slated dates.

It's not just the business-tier platform that will be affected, either. Google is also raising prices for its Enterprise Standard plan. 

In a product announcement to the Google Workspace website, Google described the decision to increase the price of its Enterprise plan as aiming to “reflect the value we’ve added to the edition.”

This value is defined by new security controls and administrative features designed for large enterprises.

Google said it also plans to adjust prices for international uses based on local currency pricing, which the company said is a tactic it evaluates “periodically to maintain alignment with exchange rates to the US dollar”. 

“Customers that will be impacted by any foreign exchange adjustments will be notified in advance of these changes.”

Google Workspace users aren’t alone

While these changes are likely to put some additional strain on Google Workspace users, other business software users haven’t escaped unscathed.

Microsoft's Office 365 saw a price rise back in 2022 on the back of an original announcement in 2021.

Among the products affected were Microsoft 365 Business Basic and Microsoft 365 Business Premium, which both rose in price by $1 (about £0.80) and $2 (about $1.59) a month respectively.

Some of Microsoft's enterprise-focused products saw slightly greater increases, with Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, and Microsoft 365 E3 all increasing by $3 (£2.39), $3, and $4 (£3.18) respectively.

More recently, Microsoft announced that it would be increasing the price of its cloud services by 9% GBP, a decision which came into effect in April 2023.