G Suite Edition Guide

Let G Suite pros help you make the right choice

G Suite has three editions: G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, and G Suite Enterprise. Not sure which G Suite edition you should go for? No worry, we have listed some of the factors that you should consider when selecting the G Suite edition that’s best suited for you.

Is there anything from the higher G Suite editions that you can’t live without?

G Suite only has 3 editions so choosing one should not be a challenge.
G Suite Business and Enterprise edition contain features that G Suite Basic doesn’t offer. If there’s a feature that is indispensable to your company, G Suite Basic edition is out of consideration. If none of the additional features fit your company’s needs, we suggest that you start with the G Suite Basic edition because you can upgrade to higher G Suite edition anytime when needed. Let us walk you through the 3 features that are not included in G Suite Basic to help you find the right G Suite edition.

What G Suite Basic does not have

1 – Google Vault

Vault allows enterprises to archive and export data from mailboxes, Drive, Hangouts Chat (with history on) and videos files of Hangouts Meet for compliance or legal purpose.

What we think
The main purpose of Vault is not for data backup but for e-discovery. Vault can largely reduce the cost and risk of compliance for the business.

2 – Google Shared Drive

Unlike the user Drive, files in a Shared Drive belongs to the organization instead of the user. If a member is removed from a Shared Drive, the ownership of the files remain the same. It is possible to give different permission according to different members.

What we think
In G Suite Basic, files in the Drive belong to the individual user while with G Suite Business and above, admin can set up Team Drive for departments or teams. Team Drive can also be used as a replacement of physical file server.

3 – Google Cloud Search

Quickly find any content using the search function within Drive, Gmail and Calender. However, the search result will only show contents that the user has permission to view.

What we think
Although Cloud Search is not a must have function, it’s an extremely handy function for organizations that have accumulated a vast amount of files lacking of proper management.

There’s no need to think about storage space when choosing a G Suite edition

Many would fear that after choosing G Suite Basic edition, the 30GB storage per user will soon become insufficient. In fact, it is very easy to upgrade to a higher G Suite edition regardless of what payment plan you have. Whether you are on an annual plan or a monthly plan, you can upgrade anytime. There’s really no need to go for the higher G Suite editions except for businesses in the creative field such as web design or any design companies that require very large storage space. General business can just start with G Suite Basic and upgrade anytime when the storage become insufficient.