Google ended 2018 with 5 million customers paying for G Suite

From storage solutions to machine learning-powered APIs, the enterprise is an important market for Google Cloud. During Alphabet’s Q4 2018 earnings, Sundar Pichai announced that G Suite now has 5 million paying customers.

The Google CEO tends to report the latest G Suite figures during Q4 earnings every year. Like in 2016 and 2017, the company ended 2018 with one million new customers. There are now 5 million businesses paying per user every month for G Suite.

The “Basic” tier is currently $5 and “Business” is $10. However, starting in April, it will rise to $6 and $12, respectively. G Suite Enterprise Edition will remain at $25 per user/month, with Google noting that the price increase reflects new features and apps added over the past decade. Before this increase, Google has maintained the same pricing since G Suite’s launch.

During the conference call, Pichai also noted how the number of Google Cloud Platform (GCP) deals over $1 million doubled, with a similar increase in multi-year contracts. The company is also having success signing more multi-million dollar contracts.

G Suite includes Gmail, Calendar, Hangouts Chat, Meet, Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, as well as customer help. Higher tiers feature unlimited storage, support for archiving and audits, app-development, and smart search.

Gmail last week received a big Google Material Theme update on Android and soon iOS, while other recent redesigns include Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides on the web. Moving forward, Google notes that more of the company’s apps will be updated with the unified design language. Other trends include incorporating machine learning to help boost productivity and set itself apart from competitors.