No more free Google Apps

spitfire

Former Lurker
Sep 4, 2007
309
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Bedlam
Just got this email in from Google:

Starting today, we're no longer accepting new sign-ups for the free version of Google Apps (the version you're currently using). Because you're already a customer, this change has no impact on your service, and you can continue to use Google Apps for free.

Should you ever want to upgrade to Google Apps for Business, you'll enjoy benefits such as 24/7 customer support, a 25 GB inbox, business controls, our 99.9% uptime guarantee, unlimited users and more for just $5 per user, per month.

That sucks as I am pretty much addicted to using their free email for new domains. What do you guys use?
 


$5/month isn't bad at all considering the buttload of storage they give you.

I only use one domain in apps anyway. forward email from other domains and add aliases to send as them.
 
Hah. Are we seriously deliberating a $5/monthly charge? Three years ago on WF threads like would have gotten the same treatment as Drew Myers.

Having said that, it's nice to see Google trying to squeeze more money out of their clientele. Considering that they missed earnings back to back, it's no surprise that they are attempting to figure out other venues to monetize their users.

On top of that, when we first signed up with Google Apps, wasn't there some sort of message that said it's only free for the moment being?
 
Hah. Are we seriously deliberating a $5/monthly charge? Three years ago on WF threads like would have gotten the same treatment as Drew Myers.

Having said that, it's nice to see Google trying to squeeze more money out of their clientele. Considering that they missed earnings back to back, it's no surprise that they are attempting to figure out other venues to monetize their users.

On top of that, when we first signed up with Google Apps, wasn't there some sort of message that said it's only free for the moment being?

Well, I use it for a few dozen domains and use separate accounts rather than aliasing to avoid Google tying my domains together. On each domain I have 3-5 users as there is currently no cost. I realise that Google will eventually make free users pay and a cost of (lets say) $240/domain per year especially for domains with low email volume would be excessive when there are cheaper alternatives available.
 
I call shenanigans.

Check again. Are you sure that e-mail actually came from Google?

I can't see them starting to charge for Gmail. They want your data, not your money.

EDIT: I can still signup for a free Google Apps account.
 
Reminds me of something I read at WaFo recently:

"Google also makes many changes without asking us if we agree with them, and without respecting our business.

The online world is as cruel as the offline world."
 
^^^ How's that for integrating with smartphones/tablets/etc? Rarely check email at desk anymore, feels like a waste of time.
 
^^^ How's that for integrating with smartphones/tablets/etc? Rarely check email at desk anymore, feels like a waste of time.

I just use the main web interface bookmarked on my Android browser. It's mobile friendly and good enough to quickly check mail and reply. For heavy lifting, the service can apparently be integrated with apps like K-9 or Maildroid on Android - not sure about iPhone. You can pull in all your POP accounts and GMail as well. What sold me initially was the amount of domains allowed on a single account. You use their MX hosting service for your domains and shut down your mail server on your own hosting to free up resources. It takes a few days to learn your way around the admin panels to set up properly. There is a good knowlegebase and forum.
 
Looks good. Are there any deliverability issues?

Pretty much rock solid. I've only remembered maybe 2 outages over the years I've been with them and never for more than 2-4 hours. Just got to make sure you set up your MX records properly if you use them to host mail for your domain (great spam protection BTW). You can also do DNS/custom DNS through them for no additional charge on that account level. Pretty good deal actually. Pretty comprehensive feature set - like I said takes some time to get familiar with it and set it up, but worth it IMO.