How Google Admins can Save Money by Understanding the Relationship between Google Cloud Identity, Google Workspace, and Google Cloud

Google Cloud Identity

What is Google Cloud Identity?

Google Cloud Identity is Google’s identity provider (idP) that is used by both Workspace and Google Cloud.

To access it, goto admin.google.com. There are two versions: Cloud Identity Free and Cloud Identity Premium. The premium version includes all the features of the free version and adds endpoint device and security capabilities.

By default, Cloud Identity Free includes 50 free licenses but you can request more free licenses by following these instructions.

Do I need to purchase a Google Workspace license to use Google Cloud?

The Licenses Assigned to a User

No.

Users think they need a Google Workspace license to use Google Cloud because Google asks you to try Google Workspace when you sign up using a **you@your-company.com email address. You will have to select a Google Workspace trial but you can cancel it before the trial period ends so you are not charged. Behind the scenes, a Cloud Identity license is provisioned and you can verify the licenses a user has by going to “Directory → Users → <user> → Licenses**”.

Google Workspace and Cloud Identity licenses are separated so Google Workspace does not become a requirement to use Google Cloud.

No Licenses Error

Another source of confusion is when you get a “No license available for new user” error when creating a new Google Cloud user in Cloud Identity.

The error message says to purchase more Google Workspace licenses so users think they need more Google Workspace licenses to use Google Cloud. To resolve this error, goto “Billing → License settings” and **disable “Automatic Licensing”**. Automatic Licensing automatically assigns a Google Workspace license and throws an error if there are no more Google Workspace licenses left. By disabling automatic licensing, only Cloud Identity Free licenses will be assigned to new users so you do not have to purchase additional Google Workspace licenses.

If you need a mix of Workspace and non-Workspace users, manually assign the Workspace and Cloud Identity licenses to the respective users.

Disable Automatic Licensing

Can I get Cloud Identity Premium for Free?

A lot of people don’t know that **Cloud Identity Premium is included with Google Workspace Enterprise Editions.**

If you’re already a Google Workspace customer and are interested in the security and device management features of Cloud Identity Premium, then talk to your account team about upgrading to Google Workspace Enterprise Edition. You can save money and get additional features by bundling Google Workspace and Cloud Identity Premium together.

From my experience, the additional features of Google Workspace Enterprise Edition that users find most valuable are data loss prevention, context-aware access (aka Zero Trust access), and a larger number of participants in Google Meet.

Summary

• Google Cloud Identity is Google’s Identity Provider for Google Services.
• Google Workspace is not required to use Google Cloud. Save money by not purchasing unnecessary Workspace licenses.
• Disable Automatic Licensing and manually assign Workspace and Cloud Identity licenses to have a mix of Workspace and Non-Workspace users. Save money by only purchasing the correct number of licenses for your Workspace users.
• Save money by getting Cloud Identity Premium free with a Google Workspace Enterprise Edition subscription.

Free Training

Upgrade your Cloud Identity Skills with this FREE course from Coursera.

[embed]Introduction to Cloud Identity Offered by Google Cloud. Introduction to Cloud Identity serves as the starting place for any new Cloud Identity…www.coursera.org

And this FREE YouTube course from Goldy Arora.

[embed]

Resources

• Cloud Identity One Pager
• Compare Google Workspace Editions
• Google Cloud Identity vs Google Workspace vs Google Cloud Platform
• Turn off automatic Google Workspace licensing during setup
• About automatic licensing for organizational units
• How to manage automatic licensing settings
• Creating and managing organization resources
• Identity & Access management: Authentication with Cloud Identity