Free G Suite ending? Keep your family's domain
Google is flagging old free G Suite accounts as commercial and asking families to pay for Workspace. Your addresses don't have to change either way.
Updated
Short answer
How do I move off the G Suite legacy free edition?
Five steps, in this order. Nobody in the family changes address.
- 1
Save a copy first
Run Google Takeout for every account before anything else. Takeout has to be turned on in the Admin console. If Google suspends the account, you still have the mail, contacts and files.
- 2
Create the same mailboxes
Sign up with the domain you already own and make a mailbox for each person, with the same names they use today.
- 3
Point the domain at us
If your DNS is at Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Namecheap, Porkbun or another provider we support, you paste an API key and we write the records. Anywhere else, including Squarespace (where Google Domains went), you paste a few records and the panel checks them as you go.
- 4
Bring the old mail across
Add the old Google account and the new mailbox to Apple Mail or Thunderbird, then drag the folders over. New mail starts arriving at the new mailbox as soon as the records are live.
- 5
Cancel the old subscription last
Once mail arrives in the new mailboxes and everyone's Takeout has finished, cancel the legacy subscription in the Admin console.
Google gives the same order on its Transition from a free edition page: export the data, then cancel the legacy subscription.
What Google is doing
The free G Suite legacy edition was meant to stay free for personal use. Since spring 2026, Google has been flagging some of those accounts as commercial, including family domains that have never been used for business, and The Register reported that Google hasn't said what triggers the flag.
The notice gives you 45 days. After that, Google says it will suspend the account: Gmail, Calendar, Drive and Meet stop working for everyone on it. For the first 60 days of suspension the admin can still sign in to export the data or start paying. Then the subscription is canceled.
Your three options
Appeal
Free, from the Admin console. Some families win. Others get a refusal with no explanation, and the clock keeps running while you wait.
Pay for Workspace
Nothing moves, and you pay per person, every month. A family of five pays for five business seats.
Move the mail
The domain is yours, not Google's. Point it at another provider and everyone keeps the address they've had for years.
Whichever you pick, don't wait until day 44. An appeal can take weeks, and moving the mail is easier while the old account still works.
What you leave behind
We do email, not Calendar or Drive. Shared calendars and files need a new home, and a free personal Google account or iCloud handles both well. Takeout gives you the files to bring along.
Each of our mailboxes holds 5 GB. If someone has fifteen years of mail and a lot of photos in it, move the recent years and keep the Takeout archive for the rest. How to export Gmail, both ways.
What it costs
You already own the domain, so you pay only for the mail: $19 a month for the whole family, with six mailboxes, ten aliases and a catch-all. No per-person pricing, and no contract.
Thinking of paying for Workspace instead? See what it costs a family of six, or compare every option.
Bring your domain, keep your addresses
$19 a month for the whole family. We set up the records with you and check them live.
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