Google is backing down after igniting a firestorm, and will not force free, legacy G Suite accounts to upgrade to paid Google Workspace plans.

Google allows individuals and businesses to use its services in concert with their own domain name. This means they can have an email that ends in their domain name, rather than @gmail.com. For years, it was possible to sign up for this service, called G Suite, for free.

Eventually Google renamed the service to Google Workspace and ended the free accounts, although existing accounts were grandfathered in. Unfortunately, last week the company said it was killing off all free accounts, and users would have to migrate to a paid Workspace account or lose their account altogether.

Needless to say, Google’s plans went over like a lead balloon and the company is finally backing down. In a new support page section, the company is now giving individuals the option to move to another free account.

In the coming months, we’ll provide an option for you to move your non-Google Workspace paid content and most of your data to a no-cost option. This new option won’t include premium features like custom email or multi-account management. You’ll be able to evaluate this option prior to July 1, 2022 and prior to account suspension. We’ll update this article with details in the coming months.

The change of plans is no doubt welcome news to remaining G Suite users.