Google's AI for Individuals and SMBs: Clarity, Costs, and Strategic Choices

Google's AI options are powerful but confusing. Here's how I compared Google One vs Workspace—and why SMBs should think twice before locking in.

Rob Hoeijmakers

04 Jun 2025 • 4 min read

Introduction: Untangling the Options

Google's AI offerings can appear deceptively simple, but the reality is far more complex. Over the past few months, I’ve examined how individuals and small businesses (SMBs) can access the best of Google’s AI tools—particularly Gemini Advanced.

This article breaks down the two main paths: Google One (for individuals) and Google Workspace (for businesses), including how they compare in features, pricing, and practical value.

Google One AI Premium: Personal-Use Simplicity

For individuals, Google offers the Google One AI Premium plan at €22/month. This includes:

Access to Gemini Advanced, Google's most powerful AI model
Usage inside tools like Gmail, Docs, and other Google apps
Family sharing until June 2025 (note: this may change)
Access to NotebookLM, a powerful research and synthesis tool

This setup works well for personal productivity and experimentation. It also gives access to NotebookLM, which may be the strongest proposition in Google's AI suite. However, it lacks the collaborative infrastructure needed in a business environment. There are also limited integration points with external AI services or enterprise tools.

What Is Google Workspace?

Google Workspace is Google's business productivity suite, formerly known as G Suite. It includes:

Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Calendar, Meet, and Drive
Admin controls, custom domains, and user management
AI features integrated into each core app (if using the right tier)
Most importantly: shared Drives for centralised team storage

Workspaces are priced per seat, typically starting from €6 to €18/month depending on the plan.

To get advanced AI features—including Gemini for Workspace apps like Gmail and Docs, and access to Gemini Advanced—you need to choose a plan or add-on that includes Gemini. Google currently offers this as an AI-enhanced Workspace tier, not as a separate "add-on" SKU.

Pricing for these AI-enhanced tiers starts at around €13/month per seat (on annual commitment), in addition to the base Workspace cost.

Why Workspace Might Offer Extra Value

While Google One Premium focuses on individual users, Workspace unlocks more advanced workflows:

You get shared Drives, which integrate well with ChatGPT Team
You gain control over user permissions, file access, and collaboration
It may offer small branding and domain benefits for client-facing communications

In our case, this integration with ChatGPT Team was the trigger to explore Workspace. It added practical value that One Premium alone could not. And yet—this value remains highly contextual.

Reconsidering the Bundle: A Personal Perspective

Despite recognising the functional benefits, I must admit: I strongly dislike bundles. Over the years, they have led to lock-in scenarios that reduced flexibility and slowed down decision-making.

When my business partner challenged me to explain why we needed Workspace, I struggled to offer a compelling answer:

Gmail? Not essential.
Google Drive? Useful, but not unique.
Domain branding? A minor benefit.

And the AI? Gemini, though fast-improving, still doesn’t feel as capable or responsive as ChatGPT.

The only compelling argument for Google's AI right now might be NotebookLM — but you get that with Google One Premium too.

Pricing Strategy: Why Is Google's AI So Cheap?

Compared to ChatGPT Plus (€20) or ChatGPT Team (€25–€30+ per seat), Google's Workspace AI pricing is unusually low. Why?

Google treats AI as a feature of an ecosystem, not a product in itself
It’s using low pricing to accelerate adoption, particularly in the SMB market
Google can rely on its infrastructure scale (TPUs, data centres) to absorb AI costs better than smaller providers

Essentially, Google isn’t trying to profit from AI seats directly—it wants you (and your team) in the Google ecosystem.

Final Verdict: Context Matters

For individual users, Google One Premium is the simpler choice and gives you access to Gemini Advanced and NotebookLM without any long-term commitment.

For small teams and SMBs, Workspace with the AI add-on can be affordable and more capable—but only if you actively benefit from Drive integrations, team workflows, or domain branding.

Yet if you're wary of vendor lock-in and already use ChatGPT heavily, Workspace may feel redundant. My own take? Use Workspace if the integrations are mission-critical. Otherwise, stay lean with Google One and remain flexible.

In a follow-up post, I’ll explore how the Google Drive + ChatGPT Team integration works in practice. That, too, was interesting, but only if you're all-in on connected workflows.

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Note: Pricing reflects EU conditions as of mid-2025 and may vary by country or billing cycle.