TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Google Workspace for Education

Score9.5 out of 10

37 Reviews and Ratings

Get a Demo

What is Google Workspace for Education?

Google Workspace for Education includes Google products like Classroom, Meet, Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, to create an online ecosystem for learning. The Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals edition is available at no per student cost to available institutions.

Categories & Use Cases

Most Frequent Users

Top 3 industries using Google Workspace for Education
Based on HG Insights installation data
View all Reviews
#1 most frequent

Educational Services

59.8%

395 installations of 661

#2 most frequent

Public Administration

19.1%

126 installations of 661

#3 most frequent

Other Services (except Public Administration)

3.9%

26 installations of 661

Reviews

What users are saying about Google Workspace for Education.
View all reviews

The All-in-One Platform That Keeps Our School Running Smoothly

Incentivized
Michael CherninView profile
System Software Administrator in Information Technology at WBAIS (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use it for everything at our school district: Communication (Gmail, Chat and Meet), collaboration (Docs, Sheets and Slides) and coursework management (Classroom). We use the highest tier, Google Workspace for Education Plus, for our students and faculty and staff. This gives us many powerful features, like originality reports in Classroom, Labels in Drive and many security features.

Pros

  • Email: The best email experience, period. It's fast, has the best mobile apps and tons of addons that extend it.
  • Office suite: The Google editors might not have all the features of their MS Office counterparts, but they have most of them and the apps are surprisingly performant.
  • Domain management: The Google Admin Console, coupled with the GAM command line tool, is very powerful, easy to use and simplifies any admin's work.

Cons

  • The core Google Classroom experience can always be more powerful. They've added many features over the years, but it's still not on par with dedicated LMSs.
  • Plus customers should be getting at least some of the premium Gemini features. Getting both a Plus license and a Gemini subscription for all staff is very expensive for a school.
  • I often encounter issues when force-installing Android apps on Chrome devices using the Admin Console.

Return on Investment

  • The IT department doesn't need to rely on on-premise servers, spending at least 50% less on servers after moving to GWfE from an Exchange and an on-prem backup server.
  • Our teaching staff saves an average of 2-3 hours per week using Google Drive, the various Google editors and Classroom, instead of emailing files or managing paper-based workflows.
  • Google Meet replaced Zoom for us, saving around $5000 annually.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft 365

Other Software Used

Canva, Figma, Miro, Google Cloud Platform, Follett Destiny Library Manager, Jamf Pro, JumpCloud, Finalsite Composer, BambooHR®, Jotform, AppSheet

Google Workspace for Education - your most valuable tool

Incentivized
Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology (501-1000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Google Workspace for Education is used to manage email accounts, groups, meetings, service accounts, and devices, including Chromebooks and mobile devices. This platform enables us to enforce organizational policies, conduct e-discovery, control allowed extensions and applications, and support theft recovery.

Pros

  • Integrates their apps across their ecosystem very well
  • Regularly debuts new, useful features
  • Granular control of devices
  • Excellent security policies

Cons

  • The admin console regularly feel sluggish
  • Require third party tools to make changes to bulk devices
  • Support could be a little better

Return on Investment

  • There has been a steady evolution of new features coming out that reduced the need for third party tools
  • We have been able to sign agreements to lock in annual renewal costs for up to 5 years
  • It's a ubiquitous platform, finding support is generally pretty easy

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft 365

Other Software Used

Lightspeed Classroom Management, Mosyle, CrowdStrike Falcon

Still rock solid

Incentivized
Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

It provides a bedrock of tools and apps that our business can use for communication, content creation, and collaboration. It is compatible with our other companies we do business with. It has great support, documentation, and is on the cutting edge of new features and technology. The new AI tools are phenomenal and only getting better.

Pros

  • security
  • support
  • cutting edge
  • collaboration
  • uptime

Cons

  • better regulatory compliance
  • better training videos and tutorials
  • better price for new AI features

Return on Investment

  • Meet regulatory compliance, but at a cost
  • Allows us to use new AI tools...but again at a steep cost
  • helps teams of dozens meet regularly remotely instead of conference rooms!

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft 365 and Apple iCloud

Google Workspace for Education is GREAT

Incentivized
Verified User
Administrator in Information Technology (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Google Workspace for Education to host our email and file storage. There is major upside to not having to manage a mail server. The scope of our use case is over one thousnad users. The business problems it solves are numerous. Mostly not maintaing an Exchange server. Users are familliar with the interface. This limits the amount of training we have to perform.

Pros

  • Ease of mailbox managemnt.
  • Easy for users to adapt to.
  • Simple from an administrative standpoint.

Cons

  • Better management if spam.
  • Imporved recognition of phishing scams
  • Admin dashboard can be somewhat confusing.

Return on Investment

  • It's far less expensive than comparable competitors.
  • We are saving 50% compaed to othere options.
  • Users understand how to use it reducing training costs.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft 365

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365, Veeam Data Platform, Avigilon Access Control Manager (ACM)

Google, the leader in collaboration.

Incentivized
Tim GriffinView profile
ICT Client Services Manager in Information Technology at Kambala (201-500 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Google Workspace for Education as our default for cloud storage, email back end, and browsing (via Chrome). The school has moved to using the Google Suite for docs, presentations, and spreadsheets. The problem that this solves is that it unifies the way the school manages content. Allowing staff to collaborate on documents saves time in knowledge transfer.

Pros

  • Collaboration
  • Toolset
  • Reliability

Cons

  • Integrations
  • Removal of tools
  • Support

Return on Investment

  • Unifying document management has saved time for people to find what they need.
  • Collaboration abilities across the suite allow for streamlined workflows.
  • The ever-expanding toolset within the ecosystem allows for dynamic shifts in the way organisations can manage their digital footprint.

Alternatives Considered

Microsoft 365

Other Software Used

SolarWinds Service Desk (SSD), Apache Tomcat, MySQL