2025 Licensing Model Explained

2025 Licensing Model

The new licensing model will require all users in your domain to be assigned a Workspace for Education Fundamentals license. Previously, all users automatically received this license, and each domain had unlimited Fundamentals licenses. With this change, users will need to be assigned a Fundamentals license to access all the basic features and core services of Workspace for Education, and each domain will have a finite number of licenses to use.

Caution: If users are on an Education Standard or Education Plus license, they will also need an Education Fundamentals license assigned. For existing users, Google will handle this assignment.

For Existing Education Domains

For existing Education domains, Google will transition you to the new licensing model between now and February 2025:

• Your domain will receive enough Education Fundamentals licenses to cover current users with an additional buffer. This licensing means you should have enough licenses to cover your users for the foreseeable future.
  • License Breakdown: Customers will receive Gmail only and AU licenses equal to the number of Fundamental licenses they receive. So if a customer has 10K users today, they'll receive 10K Fundamentals (plus a buffer), 10K Gmail Only licenses (plus a buffer), and 10K AU licenses (plus a buffer). Technically, customers will also receive 10K Gmail Only AU licenses (plus a buffer), which allows admins to archive Gmail Only users.
• Admins will be responsible for managing their provisioned Education Fundamentals licenses, either through the Admin console or an automated license management tool.
• For existing users in your domain, Google will assign their Education Fundamentals licenses for you, and their ability to interact with Google services will not change. Based on this information, Google admins do not need to take any immediate action during the transition period starting in March 2025. Existing users will retain their Fundamentals license automatically.

For New Education Domains

For new Education domains created on or after November 13, 2024, you will be on the new licensing model:

• Your domain will receive a set number of Education Fundamentals licenses (2,500 maximum), which you may assign to users in your domain or save for future users. As a user graduates or leaves their institution, admins may un-assign their Education Fundamentals license to free it up for another user.
• Education domains may request additional licenses via Google Support. CDW Education is not able to increase this cap for you.

Featured Support Stack

Workspace Licensing and Lifecycle Management (K-12 or Higher Education): Navigate the complexities of Workspace licensing and get a comprehensive understanding of licensing types to make informed decisions for user needs within your organization.

To learn more about how Support Stacks can impact your Google Workspace for Education domain, connect with a Google Customer Success Specialist.

New License Types for Education

Starting in February 2025, Google will add a new license type and status to Education domains: Gmail Only User and Archived User.

• Gmail Only User License Type: Gmail Only licenses allow users to access Gmail, Calendar (no attachments or Meet creation), Meet (join only), and Contacts only (in addition to additional services). All other Workspace services (Drive, Editors, etc.) are disabled. This license is beneficial for Higher Ed alumni and K-12 staff who need email but do not need Drive. CDW Education cannot request additional Gmail Only User licenses on your behalf. Files in Drive owned by users with a Gmail Only license are still accessible by collaborators and impact Drive storage. Administrators can change ownership of files using the Investigation Tool, as all other methods are disabled for Drive files (GAM, Takeout, other API).
• Archived User Status: This status ensures that user data is retained and protected by the same security as users with an Education Fundamentals license but does not allow users to sign in to their Google Account on any system, including Workspace services. For many organizations, you'll likely designate staff no longer employed by your organization to preserve their accounts for file retention needs. Admins can request additional Archived User licenses via Google Support. CDW Education cannot request additional Archived User statuses on your behalf. Files in Drive that Archived users own are still accessible by collaborators and impact Drive storage.

Note: Assigning a user the new Gmail Only license type will automatically un-assign their Fundamentals license, returning it to your license pool for assignment to another user. Changing a user’s status to Archived will automatically un-assign their Fundamentals or Gmail Only license, returning it to your license pool for assignment to another user.

Warning: If a user does not have a Fundamentals, Gmail Only, or Archived User license assigned to their account, files owned by that user will be deleted and no longer be accessible. Additionally, these users’ data will not be retained in Vault.

See, Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals licensing model & available license types

2025 Minimum Purchase Requirements

Starting February 1, 2026, for renewals, and October 1, 2025, for new purchases, new minimum purchase requirements for Workspace for Education Standard and Plus will go into effect.

• For institutions purchasing Education Plus or Education Standard, the old model of receiving one staff license for every four paid student licenses will be discontinued. This change takes effect February 1, 2026, with customers seeing the change at their renewal.
• Education Standard and Education Plus subscriptions must purchase the greater of 50 licenses or the total enrollment, including all full- and part-time students and all staff who require a license. Previously, Standard and Plus required a purchase covering only full-time enrollment. A new Student Enrollment Verification Letter will be provided that reflects this change.
• Renewals will have a different date for when these requirements take effect. For most existing customers, these changes will apply upon renewal on or after February 1, 2026. 

More information is available at Google’s Help Center, Google Workspace for Education pricing, and licensing.