Adam,
Thanks for the heads-up, and the link to the Google article. I had checked my Google account yesterday, and there was no sign of anything about retaining my legacy GSuite account. But today there is. A couple of clicks, and I was able to confirm retention of the ‘free’ GSuite legacy offering.
Too late for me - I canceled my account on Sunday. That’s really fine with me, but too bad I wasn’t notified about this change of heart from Google - I might have switched everything back. This is exactly what I suggested Google should do when this news first came out - carve out a way for free domain accounts to remain with limited services. It’s too bad it took them until two weeks before the June 1 deadline to decided to do this.
When I signed up I think that the maximum number of accounts at the free level of G Suite was only 10. Judging from your posts, it was higher before I signed up.
How can one determine the maximum number of email addresses for a G Suite account?
As quoted above, I was resigned to converting my G Suite legacy free edition (hereinafter, “G Suite”) account to a Workspace account; I was even looking forward to having support for it.
Yesterday I received my email about keeping my G Suite account and am trying to decide all over again! The email says:
In addition to recent innovations like smart canvas, meetings in documents, and dedicated Spaces to help organize people, topics and projects, Google Workspace includes more storage, increased security, 24/7 support, and more.
Has anyone else tried to evaluate the benefit of these G Suite vs. Workspace enhancements?
I tried to figure out what these “enhancements” provide:
- Smart Canvas appears to provide new features for Google’s apps: Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
- Meetings in Documents looks like a way to hold a Google Meeting from within a Docs, Sheets, or Slides
- Spaces supports collaborative work of virtual teams.
- More storage: 15GB for vs. 30GB for Business Starter Workspace
- Increased Security: I couldn’t identify any security enhancements moving from G Suite to Workspaces.
Now that I’m retired, I’m not anticipating a lot of opportunities to use Smart Canvas, Meetings in Documents, or Spaces.
So for me, the benefits of transitioning from G Suite → Workspace are:
- Storage: I get more per user storage (15GB vs. 30GB) but that’s easily addressed by just paying for additional storage. For example, my G Suite account has 100GB for just $20/year, or ($20/12=) $1.67/month.
- Support: I could ask questions instead of searching the Internet for answers.
It really seems like a really easy decision to just stay on G Suite for free rather than paying $3/month/user through August 2023 and $6/month/user thereafter.
Am I missing anything?
I’m doing the same thing - staying on it for free for my personal, not-for-business domain. All I’m using is their email with a custom address. I do have an extra storage subscription though because my email now total 25 GB.
If you go to https://admin.google.com/ and login, then go to https://admin.google.com/u/1/ac/billing/subscriptions?hl=en it shows it there.
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My recollection is that when I signed up for the old ‘free’ GSuite many years ago, the limit was 10. However, I just checked the status (having converted my account to their new no-charge legacy offering), and find that my limit is now 100 
Does anyone know the restrictions/limits imposed on Google Meet on these new legacy free accounts? (# of participants, length of conference).
Thanks.
I just checked and I have 50. But, I haven’t yet converted my account to “their new no-charge legacy offering” so perhaps it will grow to 100—just like yours—when I do? 
I’ve been poking around on the administrative portion of my G Suite legacy free edition account and I see that there is an option to add a “secondary domain” which apparently allows two separate domains under a single account.
I have an other non-business domain that I’d love to add to my existing G Suite account.
Apparently, however, adding a secondary domain is NOT an option for G Suite legacy free edition accounts: Note: If you have the legacy free edition of G Suite, the “Add a domain” option isn’t available.
You have to upgrade (and pay for) a Workspace account in order to add a secondary domain.
Does anyone have a creative idea for adding a secondary domain to a G Suite legacy free edition?
Mine was 50 and remained 50 afterwards.
Doug
My account got put on workspaces before the option to stay on legacy was an option. I contacted their chat support to get switched back to legacy per Upgrade from G Suite legacy free edition - Google Workspace Admin Help and chat guy said he fixed that for me after sending me an email to respond to verifying I don’t use it for business. But I still see that option to add a secondary domain…I also don’t see anything indicating I’m back on legacy… :(
I’m on legacy now but I also see that option to add a secondary domain. I haven’t tried it though.
You can go to Sign in - Google Accounts and verify your status. Here you see mine shows legacy is selected.
Yeah I had already upgraded to Workspace and that thing said you could downgrade. Mine still says workspace but the guy in chat support told me this: Google Workspace Support, Art: That is it. Thank you for choosing! I’ve noted that you are interested in an alternative Workspace experience at no cost. You can continue to enjoy your Google Workspace edition for no cost. You will not be billed for your Google Workspace account for the foreseeable future. No further action is needed at this time.
I just transitioned and selected add a domain But the radio button for adding a secondary domain can NOT be selected:
The New York Times published this article on how unhappy small businesses are that they now have to move to and pay for Google Workspace. (I “gifted” the article so you can read it without a New York Times subscription.)
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I read that article. Thanks for gifting it. It sums it up.
I changed my personal account domain to be the free version going forward. And over the next week I guess (sigh) for at least one year I’ll change my tiny business account to their intro paid version. Sigh.
While it was still testing the apps, it even told business owners that the products would remain free for life, though Google says that from the beginning, the terms of service for its business software stated that the company could suspend or terminate the offering in the future.
This, again, is the thing that bugs me about this. As the article says, thousands of domains among millions of domain accounts are/were free. Nobody has been able to add a free account for about ten years. Google has the right to change its mind charge, for sure, but it sure seems petty to me.
And the end of this is that it’s making me consider ending my free gmail account as my primary mail account and switch to fastmail. I already have the fastmail account - I’m just deciding if I’ll make the switch. Maybe I’m the only one - I don’t know.
You are not. I have been considering this exact same move. I dumped the free Google GSuite after they made this change and have not missed it.
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Apparently changes are coming to Gmail:
Do you have any idea whether these changes will roll out to us Free Legacy G Suite users?
It looks like the same changes in the legacy accounts. It’s already changing in appearance in mine. I rarely go in via the web though, so I mostly don’t notice.