Google Workspace for your company: from the domain to the access review

The team's email sits on personal Gmail addresses, files on personal drives, and the shared calendar is pieced together from forwarded invitations. While everyone is still around, this works. But then an employee leaves, access to the folder with contracts leaves with them, and customers keep writing to an address nobody reads.

Google Workspace solves exactly this: company email on your domain, shared cloud storage, collaborative documents, video meetings and a single admin console where the company manages accounts and access. Below is the path from choosing a plan to checking email, security and working access. Start with two or three users: check sign-in, data migration and access, then bring in the whole team.

Business plan limits and features were checked against Google's official help on 9 September 2026, and euro prices against Google's pricing page on 1 November 2026. Subscription terms and interfaces change, so before you pay, compare them with the Business editions, Compare Business editions and What's new in Google Workspace pages.

This guide is based on Google's documentation, not on the set-up of a specific organisation: feature availability depends on the edition, domain verification, region and roll-out schedule.

What Workspace includes and who it suits

The package includes Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, Chat and admin tools. Business editions are designed for organisations with 1 to 300 users; larger companies have Enterprise plans.

Once the domain is verified, employees get addresses like name@yourcompany.sk. The administrator manages accounts and security settings, and files on shared drives stay with the organisation even when the team changes.

You can also sign up with an existing address without verifying a domain, but then some features will not be available. For a full company launch, it is better to verify the domain straight away.

"Google Pro" — what people usually mean by it

The unofficial name "Google Pro" is used for different products:

• Google Workspace — the business suite with email, storage and collaboration apps;
• Gemini in Workspace — AI features inside Google's apps and the separate Gemini app;
• Google AI Pro — a subscription for a personal Google account; it does not replace a Workspace business licence.

AI is included in all current Business editions, but the feature set differs. Business Starter gives basic access to Gemini and selected features in Gmail and Vids. Business Standard and Business Plus add advanced Gemini capabilities in Gmail, Chat, Meet, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms and Drive. For example, automatic meeting notes — the Meet feature Take notes for me — are available in Standard and Plus, but not in Starter.

Gemini Notebook, formerly called NotebookLM, is available in all Business plans; in Standard and Plus the access level is higher than in Starter. For teams that hit the standard limits of advanced features, Google offers the AI Expanded Access add-on. Choose a plan by the feature your team will actually use, not by the word AI in the description.

Plans and limits

Google has three Business plans. On the pricing page for the eurozone, they are listed in euros per user per month, excluding VAT:

Scroll horizontally to read the table.

In US dollars, the same plans cost $7, $14 and $22 with an annual commitment and $8.40, $16.80 and $26.40 on the flexible plan with no commitment. The annual option is usually better value. The payment method and commitment terms depend on the region, subscription type and how you sign up. Tax is charged under the rules of the billing profile's country — in Slovakia this is VAT (DPH).

Example: ten Business Standard users on an annual commitment cost €136 a month excluding taxes. In dollars, that is $140 on the annual plan or $168 on the flexible one.

The available payment methods depend on the billing profile's country: check them in Google's help for your country or with your chosen reseller. If an intermediary sets up the subscription, the domain and the main administrator must still remain under your company's control.

Storage is counted for the whole organisation. Ten Standard users have a pooled limit of 20 TB, but it does not reserve 2 TB for each employee. In addition, Google unlocks new capacity in stages: right after purchase only part of it is available, and the full limit comes after payments equivalent to US$30. The increase can take up to 72 hours after payment.

For most small companies, a sensible starting point is Business Standard: shared drives, meeting recording, 2 TB per user of pooled storage and advanced Gemini features. Starter is enough if you have few files and do not need meeting recording. Plus is worth it when you need Vault, advanced device management or meetings of up to 500 participants.

Before you start: what to prepare

You will need the company domain and access to its DNS settings — the records that connect the domain to email and other services — as well as a list of employees and a payment method. If your company has someone responsible for personal data, let them know in advance: employees' and customers' email and files will be held by Google as a data processor, and under GDPR this needs to be reflected in the company's documents. Google publishes its data processing terms in a separate agreement — the Cloud Data Processing Addendum.

It is easier to start with a pilot on a few users. The official Quick Start Guide describes such a pilot as an optional but useful way to check Gmail, data migration and mobile access before the full launch.

Step 1. Register your organisation

1. Open Google Workspace and start the sign-up.
2. Enter your company details and a contact address.
3. Add an existing domain or register a new one.
4. Create the first administrator account.
5. Store the recovery details separately from the administrator's work computer.

Step 2. Verify the domain

Google will issue a verification code — you add it to DNS as a TXT record, a text string Google uses to confirm that the domain is yours.

1. Open the DNS settings at your registrar or DNS provider.
2. Add the TXT record Google has issued.
3. Go back to the set-up wizard and run the verification.
4. If the record is not found, wait for the DNS changes to propagate and try again.

What you should see: in the admin console, the domain is marked as verified.

Step 3. Create pilot users

Add two or three accounts and check sign-in, Drive, Calendar and mobile access. At this stage you do not need to turn on Gmail for the whole domain or touch the MX records.

After the pilot, add everyone else — one by one, via a spreadsheet or through directory sync.

Step 4. Switch email to Google

MX records specify which servers receive email for your domain.

1. Write down the current MX records and the settings of the old email service.
2. At a time agreed in advance, replace them with the values from the Google Workspace wizard.
3. Do not switch off the old system until you have checked delivery.
4. Send test emails within the organisation and to external addresses.

What you should see: an email to the company address arrives in Gmail, and a reply reaches the external recipient.

Important. Do not change the MX records until the domain is verified and the users' mailboxes are ready. Otherwise incoming email may temporarily stop reaching employees.

Step 5. Set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC

These three mechanisms confirm that servers are allowed to send email on behalf of your domain and reduce the risk of address spoofing.

• SPF: If only Google sends your email, the basic record is: v=spf1 include:_spf.google.com ~all. If emails are also sent from a CRM, a mailing service or other systems, first combine them into one SPF policy: a domain must have only one SPF record.
• DKIM: Generate a key in the Gmail authentication settings in the admin console, add the issued TXT record to DNS and then turn on signing.
• DMARC: Start in monitoring mode, for example v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc-reports@example.com, replacing the address with a mailbox for reports. Once you have checked all the services allowed to send email from your domain, move to quarantine — putting suspicious emails into spam — or reject — rejecting them.

Having the records in DNS is not enough. Open the headers of a test email: SPF, DKIM and DMARC must show PASS.

Step 6. Migrate old data

Google has tools for migrating email, calendars, contacts and files; the options available depend on the source and the edition.

1. Choose the source: Google, Microsoft Exchange Online, Outlook, IMAP or another supported service.
2. Migrate one pilot user first.
3. Check folders, dates, attachments, contacts and calendar events.
4. After checking, start the bulk migration.
5. Keep the old system available until the final reconciliation is complete.

In 2026, Google added import from Microsoft OneDrive. For your specific migration, check in the current wizard whether your source is supported and what its limitations are.

Step 7. Turn on basic security

1. Give employees a deadline to enrol a second sign-in factor, then enforce 2-Step Verification.
2. Keep super administrator rights with as few responsible people as possible.
3. Add and test recovery options for administrator accounts.
4. Check mobile devices and the ability to end sessions remotely.
5. Set up rules for external access to Drive and Chat.

What each plan offers

Scroll horizontally to read the table.

Some features may depend on domain verification. Before choosing a plan, check the feature you need against the official comparison table.

Five working scenarios

A new employee. The goal is to give the person a working environment without forwarding files by hand. Create an account. Then grant access to:

• groups and Chat spaces;
• a role on the department's shared drive;
• work calendars.

Result: the employee signs in with a company account and sees only what has been assigned to them. The shared-drives scenario requires Standard or Plus.

One document instead of five copies. Create a document on a shared drive, assign roles and work through comments and suggestions. You can check the result in the version history: you see who changed what, and the original file stays with the organisation.

A meeting with a recording and notes. In Standard and Plus, the organiser can record a Meet meeting and turn on the available Gemini features, including Take notes for me. Supported languages vary, so before a work meeting check the language you need and your organisation's settings. The recording and the generated materials will appear in the organiser's Drive. Check in advance how participants are notified that the feature is being used.

Review the recording and the AI-generated notes before you send them to a customer.

A shared department address. So that several employees can read emails to sales@, info@ or hello@, create a group, add members and set posting permissions. A group does not need a separate user licence. Test the scenario with an email from an external address and a reply from the responsible employee.

Contractors as guests. Workspace guests accounts are available in all Business and Enterprise editions. A user invites an external person via Google Chat, and that person gets a managed guest account in the Workspace Guests organisational unit.

A guest can take part in permitted chats, work with files shared with them and join Meet meetings. They have no Gmail, Calendar or Gemini in Workspace; they cannot create Chat spaces, add people to them or install Chat apps.

Each paid Business or Enterprise licence comes with five free guest accounts: ten licences — up to 50 guests.

Do not confuse guests with visitor sharing. With visitor sharing, an external person gets access to individual Drive files using a verification PIN. A guest account is created in the Workspace Guests organisational unit and opens up a wider set of services. Guest invitations in Chat are allowed by default; an administrator can turn them off under Security → Access and data control → External sharing → Guest invitations. Guests can reply to client-side encrypted emails only in Enterprise Plus with the Assured Controls add-on.

What changed in 2026

AI control centre. Google's changelog of 4 May 2026 introduced the AI control center — a place where the administrator manages AI and agent access to Workspace data. The set of capabilities and the edition required depend on the roll-out schedule, so check the conditions in your own console before turning it on. In Business plans, access to individual AI features is still configured in the settings of the respective services.

Migration and audit. Google added import from Microsoft OneDrive and Microsoft Teams, expanded Workspace audit logs and added detailed Gemini Notebook audit logs. These features are rolling out gradually — check what is already in your console.

Check before bringing everyone in

• the domain is verified;
• pilot users can sign in;
• MX records route email to Google;
• incoming and outgoing test emails are delivered;
• SPF, DKIM and DMARC pass the check;
• migration has been tested on one user;
• employees have enrolled a second factor;
• mandatory 2-Step Verification is enforced after the enrolment deadline;
• administrator rights are restricted;
• shared drives belong to the organisation;
• group addresses accept email from outside, if needed;
• external access, visitor sharing and guest invitations have been checked;
• Take notes for me settings, participant notification and the required language have been checked;
• critical data is included in a separate backup plan;
• recovery options for administrator accounts have been tested.

If every item is done, bring in the rest of the employees. Before the full launch, also define both the backup procedure and the steps for when an employee leaves.

Backups and employee departures

Workspace stores working data and provides tools for recovery, export and retention, but that does not replace a separate backup strategy. Vault in Business Plus is mainly for rule-based data retention, search, export and eDiscovery in legal proceedings; do not treat it as a full replacement for an independent backup.

When an employee leaves:

1. Change the password and end active sessions.
2. Transfer the files from their personal Drive to a responsible colleague.
3. Check who owns their calendars, groups and automations.
4. Set where new incoming email will go.
5. Suspend the account or, if your edition provides for it, assign a compatible Archived User licence.
6. Delete the account only after a confirmed transfer and in line with data retention rules — including GDPR requirements on retention periods.

Suspending and archiving are not the same: before choosing Archived User, check its terms and compatibility with your edition.

The first two weeks after launch

• check whether emails reach several external email services;
• review DMARC reports and add any legitimate sending sources you forgot;
• tighten DMARC only after checking the email flow;
• move working files from personal drives to shared ones;
• run a short training on Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Meet and the rules for external access;
• review the event logs and any unfamiliar administrator actions;
• collect feedback from the pilot group and adjust permissions before the full launch.

Official pages worth relying on:

• Business editions: prices and the main differences between plans;
• Compare Business editions: a detailed table of features and limits;
• Quick Start Guide for medium-size businesses: pilot, users, email, security and migration;
• Manage Workspace guests: guest accounts;
• What's new in Google Workspace: the changelog.

Read next: once email, calendar and files are in one place, you can connect AI agents and automations to them — MCP in plain words: how AI gets access to work data; and before giving a service access, it helps to know how to connect an MCP server without giving it more than it needs.

If you are choosing a Workspace edition, planning an email migration or want to connect your company services with automation, we will go through the access and data requirements in a free 30-minute meeting with Simplit. Discuss your task