Licensing overview for paid editions

Simply put, a user needs a license to use a Google service. Once Google Workspace for Education license is assigned, users have access to the tools included with Google Workspace. Available features also depend on the role of the user.

• Google Admin: A user who has access to the Google Admin console.
• End-User: A user who does not have access to the Google Admin console but uses Google Workspace.

But what happens when a user is suspended? When you suspend a user, you'll want to reclaim their assigned license so you can reassign the license to another user. It is a good idea to create a workflow plan for both assigning and reclaiming licenses.

Note: Some licensing methods are only useful for initial license assignment, not reclaiming licenses. Take a look at the Methods of Assigning Licenses section below. 

Checking your number of available licenses

Before assigning Workspace licenses to users, check your Admin console Billing area to verify the number of licenses you have available to provision. For Standard and Plus licenses, you have two separate subscriptions; one for students and one for staff. 

Who you should provide a license to

• All Google administrators that you want to have access to the Advanced Security Features need to be assigned an Education Standard or Education Plus license. You can delegate access to security features for other roles as well.
• Any end-user that you would like to have access to these features: Record in Meet, Live Stream, Cloud Search, and/or Originality Reports. 
• Additionally, you must assign a license for end-users if you are leveraging any of these features: Managing Windows 10 devices through the Admin console, data regions, Gmail BigQuery exports, and context-aware access
• Review our paid editions features document for help in planning. Features requiring an end user to be licensed are marked.

Viewing and tracking licenses in the Admin console

Add the license assigned column to your Users page to view assigned licenses at a glance. 

1. 1. Go to Admin console main menu > Directory > Users > Manage Columns (settings wheel) 
   2. Select License from the Add new column drop-down.
   3. Click Save. The new column appears at the left in the Users grid. 
   4. In the All organizations panel at the left, click Users from all Organizations Units.
   5.  Above the Users grid, click Add filter.
   6. Select Assigned License.
   7. Select the license> type.
   8. Click Apply.
   9. Click on a user's name to open their individual user page. 
   10. Scroll down to the License card.

Methods of assigning licenses

The following are different methods you can use to assign user licenses.

• Assign or remove individual Licenses *
• Use a CSV file to bulk assign licenses *
• Auto-licensing by OU * 
• Google Apps Manager (GAM)
• Google Cloud Directory Sync (GCDS)
• CDW Amplified for Education's Licensing Tool, license by group or OU

* These methods CANNOT be configured to automatically remove licenses from suspended users. 

The best option for your organization depends on your OU structure and your user provisioning process. Read the individual articles above for more information.

Google's Licensing Resource: Provisioning Google Workspace for Education Licenses