Google Apps For Business Get New Billing Options, User Limits

Recently, Google has been taking steps to provide better services directed at small, local business. Over on the Google Enterprise Blog, they announced changes to Google Apps for Business that they say will make them easier for small businesses to adopt and manage.

As the nature of many small businesses is uncertainty, especially in the current economy, Google says that it wants to provide easier payment options for Google Apps. Small businesses who want to benefit from Google’s targeted business applications can now sign up without a contract. They are now offering a $5 per user per month "flexible plan" that requires no long-term commitment. Businesses can add or subtract users whenever they please.

Google will continue to offer their original pricing plan, the “annual plan,” which is a $50 per user per year deal which would actually save you $10 per user over the course of the year as compared to the flexible plan. The catch is, of course, you have to enter into a 1-year commitment when opting for the annual plan.

Google is also switching from upfront payments to end of the month payments to help small businesses that may lack the cash flow to pay up front.

These options and changes look like they could really benefit the small business owner. $5 per month per user with no contract is a reasonable offer for an app service that can lift the maintenance and IT burden off the shoulders of the small business itself.

With this announcement, Google is also changing its free apps user limit to 10. Previously this number was 50. From the enterprise blog:

Starting on May 10, new organizations (excluding schools and non-profits) with more than 10 users will need to sign up for our paid service, Google Apps for Business, which offers valuable features designed for businesses – customer support, more generous storage limits, a 99.9% SLA, and more. This change will allow us to deliver on the expectations of our small business customers and invest in new features that will help them succeed.

Only new customers will be impacted; existing Google Apps customers can expand beyond 10 users (up to a maximum of 50) at no additional charge, and we’ll continue to offer Google Apps for free to groups with 10 users or fewer. Schools and non-profits that qualify for Google Apps for Education will not be affected.

Another way that Google is touting improved functionality for small business is with ease of installation. Google Apps for Business now has a new setup wizard that they say will allow new users to set everything up for their business in less than an hour. In the future they hope to make this process even faster with no-credit card, single sign-in pages.