Once a workspace is live, the next question is which tier to run. Nonprofit, Business Starter, Business Standard and Business Plus overlap heavily on the surface — the same Gmail, the same Docs, the same admin console.
The practical differences show up in four places: how much storage each user gets, whether Meet can record, what retention and discovery tooling you have, and how the bill scales as headcount grows.
Side-by-side comparison
| Nonprofit | Business Starter | Business Standard | Business Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storage per user | 30 GB | 30 GB | 2 TB | 5 TB |
| Meet participants | 100 | 100 | 150 | 500 |
| Meet recording | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Shared drives | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Vault retention | No | No | No | Yes |
| Cost per user / month | $0 | Low | Mid | High |
Storage is the first wall you hit
30 GB per user sounds workable until a design, video or grants team starts storing assets in Drive. Once users hit the ceiling, Gmail stops receiving mail — which is why storage, not features, is the most common upgrade trigger.
Before upgrading everyone, audit usage in the admin console. Most organisations find that under 15% of accounts drive the pressure, and a targeted upgrade for those users is far cheaper than a blanket move.
Shared drives change how teams work
Shared drives move file ownership from individuals to teams. If your organisation has ever lost access to documents when someone left, that is the problem shared drives solve — and they are not available on the nonprofit or Starter tiers.
A simple decision framework
- Under 20 users, light file usage, no compliance requirement → nonprofit or Starter is enough.
- Any team storing media, or needing recorded meetings and shared drives → Business Standard.
- Regulated data, legal hold, or eDiscovery obligations → Business Plus or Enterprise.
- You need capacity for a large user count without a recurring per-seat bill → a provisioned 300-licence workspace.
Where the Mapdad plan sits
Our provisioned workspace gives you up to 300 licences with Gemini AI on a one-time $499 payment. For an organisation that would otherwise pay per seat every month, that changes the cost curve entirely — but it is a licence-capacity play, not a compliance product. If you need Vault-grade retention for regulated data, buy the Enterprise tier directly from Google.
Frequently asked questions
Can I mix tiers inside one workspace?
Yes. Google allows different licence types within a single organisation, so you can upgrade only the users who need more storage or recording.
Does upgrading migrate my data automatically?
Yes — accounts, mail and Drive contents stay in place. Only quota and feature flags change.
Do nonprofit accounts get Gemini AI?
Gemini availability varies by tier and region. The Mapdad provisioned plan includes Gemini AI on the licences supplied.
300 licences, one payment
Gemini AI included, extra licences via Google Chat support, six-month replacement warranty.
See the Workspace plan