Google has announced that it will start charging new business users who sign up to Google Apps. 

Nothing personal

Google Apps for Business is a cloud-based productivity suite that includes services such as Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Sheets and more. Up until now, these products were free to use.

Google's director of product management, Clay Bavor, announced in a blog post that users will now have to pay when signing up for business services, explaining the move would allow Google to work on providing better products for paying customers. 

“With focus we’ll be able to do even more for our business customers. We’re excited about the opportunity to push Google Apps further so our customers can do what matters most to them – whether that’s scooping ice cream, changing the face of healthcare or contributing to lifelong learning,” Bavor wrote.

Apps for cash

From now on, new business users must sign up for the US $50 per year package, which includes Google Apps for Business, 24 hour phone support, and a 25GB inbox.

This change does not affect existing Google Apps for Business users, who can continue using the service free of charge. 

Cloudy skies clearing

Google Apps is used by five million businesses and has over 40 million users globally. And while most of these users are signed up to the free version, Google Apps still netted Google a tidy US $1 billion in the past year. 

Google's been investing heavily in its cloud-based services and recently launched Google Drive, which competes with cloud-based services such as DropBox and Apple's iCloud.

Will business users accept having to pay for a service they can acquire freely elsewhere? Google's betting they will. 

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