Google Workspace is affordable, flexible, and beloved by remote teams – but it's also one of the most quietly bloated parts of many organizations' tech budgets.
We regularly help teams untangle the sprawl and discover they're paying for overlapping platforms, underused licenses, and a grab-bag of tools doing the same job in slightly different ways. Unlike Microsoft 365, Google Workspace doesn't come with much insight into usage, which makes it easier for waste to go unnoticed, sometimes for years.
Here's how Google Workspace spending gets out of control – and what your organization can do about it.
Common Culprits: Where Google-Centric Organizations Overspend
Zoom + Google Meet
If you're already paying for Google Workspace Business or Enterprise, you've got a capable video conferencing tool – yet many teams still pay for Zoom in addition to Google Meet. Why? Habit, preference, or specific features – but it is absolutely worth asking: do you really need both? (And if so, how many Zoom licenses does the organization really need?)
Dropbox + Google Drive
Another big one. If you've moved to Google Workspace but still pay for Dropbox, it's time to audit usage. Files may be duplicative, orphaned, or unused entirely – but still racking up storage costs.
Project Management Overload
It's rare to find a Google Workspace org using just one project management tool. More common: some combination of Asana, Trello, Confluence, ClickUp, Monday.com, and Notion. Each tool has its merits, but without clear roles and governance, they quickly become overlapping sources of cost, complexity, confusion, knowledge management nightmares, and security issues.
Google Cloud Charges with No Oversight
Whether it's Firebase, BigQuery, or general Google Cloud Platform (GCP) usage, we've seen organizations spend hundreds (sometimes thousands) of dollars each month on resources no one remembers setting up or using. Unlike Microsoft, Google's admin reporting tools are less robust, making it harder to catch these early.
Why It's So Easy to Overspend on Google Workspace
Google's platform is incredibly flexible – but it's also decentralized by design. With fewer controls, there's often no clear owner of license management, platform governance, or usage analytics. And Google's admin tools aren't exactly helping – Workspace's built-in reporting is limited, and GCP billing analytics require time and technical knowledge to decipher.
That means waste isn't always intentional, but it is avoidable.
Five Ways to Reduce Google Workspace and GCP Waste
Map the Stack
Start with an inventory of what you're using – not just Google Workspace, but everything connected to it: chat, storage, video, docs, forms, whiteboarding, task tracking, and AI. Then layer on any third-party platform used for the same purposes.
Audit Project Management & Collaboration Tools
If you've gone three or more tools for tasks and docs, it's time to consolidate. Pick one as your source of truth and phase out the rest.
Look for Orphaned Dropbox Accounts
If you've migrated to Google Drive, check for legacy Box or Dropbox accounts still in use (or worse – still paid for and completely unused).
Review GCP Billing Regularly
Even if you're not actively building on GCP, log in and look at your billing dashboard. Shut down any inactive resources and consider setting budget alerts.
Assign License and Tool Ownership
Who's in charge of Workspace provisioning? Of app integrations? Of billing and renewals? Make sure someone is tasked with checking usage and consolidating where appropriate.
Final Thoughts: Redundancy is a Hidden Cost
We're not anti-tool. We're anti-chaos.
Google Workspace works best when it's the backbone – not one of several overlapping systems doing the same thing. If you're going to pay for Zoom, Dropbox, Slack, and ClickUp on top of Google Workspace, make sure it's because those tools are mission-critical – not because no one hit pause to ask, "Do we still need this?"
Want help figuring out where your Google stack is working, and where it's working against you? We help teams bring clarity, governance, and intentionality to their platforms.
Because smarter tech means stronger teams – and fewer surprise invoices.
