by GoogleTeam chat
Chat included with Google Workspace from $7 per user, with SSO, Chat audit logs and a HIPAA BAA on every Business plan.
Chat included with Workspace from $7 a user, with SSO, Chat audit logs and a HIPAA BAA on the cheapest Business plan.
If your company already pays for Google Workspace, Chat costs nothing extra: Google says it is included at no additional cost. On Business Starter ($7 a user with a one-year commitment) the admin editions table lists SSO with your own identity provider, Chat log events in the audit tool and external one-to-one and group direct messages, and an admin can accept Google’s HIPAA BAA in the Admin console. The same $7 buys business email, Meet and Drive.
Against 3 other products we reviewed in Team chat: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Google Chat | Microsoft Teams | Slack | Zoom Workplace |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Compliance includedChat included with Workspace from $7 a user, with SSO, Chat audit logs and a HIPAA BAA on the cheapest Business plan. | Worth the priceChat, meetings and guest access for $4 a user, under Microsoft’s SOC 2, ISO 27001 and default HIPAA BAA terms. | Built-in reachChat on its own terms: channels shared with other companies, unlimited history and custom retention from $7.25 per active user. | Compliance includedRetention periods, legal holds and searchable chat exports on the entry paid plan, with meetings, mail and calendar in the same app. |
| Overall score | 7.0 | 7.5Best | 7.1 | 5.9 |
| Free option | 14-day free trial | Free plan | Free plan | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $7/user/mo | $4/user/mo | $7.25/user/mo | $14.16/user/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Plan priced for 50 people | Workspace Business Starter, $7/user/mo with a 1-year commitment ($8.40 flexible) | Teams Essentials, $4/user/mo paid yearly | Pro, $7.25/user/mo billed annually ($8.75 monthly) | Workplace Pro, $14.16/user/mo billed annually ($16.99 on the monthly view) |
| What else the plan includes | Gmail, Meet, Drive (30 GB pooled per user), Docs | Meetings up to 300 people, 10 GB storage per user | Chat only: huddles, canvases, lists, workflows | Meetings up to 30 hours, Mail and Calendar clients, 10 GB cloud recording per user |
| 50 people, annual terms | $350/mo | $200/mo | $362.50/mo | $708/mo |
| Free option | 14-day Workspace trial | Free Teams for personal accounts; 1-month business trial with a card | Free plan: 90 days of history, data older than 1 year deleted | Basic: one free license; cloud chat copies kept 2 years |
| Retention, legal hold, eDiscovery | Vault on Business Plus ($22) | Retention policies from Business Basic ($7); eDiscovery cases need Microsoft 365 E3 or E5 | Custom retention on Pro; legal holds and Discovery API on Enterprise+ | Retention periods, legal holds and Chat History search and export on every paid plan |
| SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 | Both (Google Workspace) | Both (Teams in scope) | Both | Both (Zoom Chat in scope) |
| HIPAA BAA | Accepted by an admin in the Admin console | By default through Microsoft’s data protection addendum | HIPAA support listed on Enterprise+ | Zoom signs BAAs; plans not named, healthcare through sales |
| EU data storage | Data regions from Business Standard ($14) | For tenants that sign up in the EU | Business+ and up, set up through sales | Regional Infrastructure for Education and Enterprise accounts |
| Company SSO | Third-party IdP on every Business plan | Microsoft Entra ID (free version included) | SAML from Business+ ($15); Pro has Google OAuth | SAML from Business ($18.33) |
| Audit log | Chat log events on every Business plan | Purview Audit (Standard) from Business Basic | Enterprise+ | Admin activity logs from Pro |
| Working with outside people | Starter: external 1:1 and group DMs; external spaces from Standard | Guest access included | Pro: guests and Slack Connect channels | External contacts in chats and channels, admin-controlled |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Google Chat gives the strongest admin controls on the cheapest plan here, because they come with Workspace. It is not sold alone, and retention, eDiscovery and EU regions start on higher plans. | From its public pages, Teams Essentials is the cheapest way here to give 50 people chat and meetings, under Microsoft’s certifications and default BAA. Plan on Business Basic or above if you need retention policies or an audit log. | From its public pages, Slack is the most complete chat product sold on its own, with the only free team plan here. Admin and compliance controls step up by plan: SAML on Business+, audit logs, legal holds and HIPAA on Enterprise+. | From its public pages, Zoom Workplace puts the most records controls on its entry paid plan here: retention, legal holds and chat exports on Pro. It is also the most expensive way here to give 50 people chat, and SSO starts on Business. |
Evidence: Google Chat: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Microsoft Teams: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Slack: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Zoom Workplace: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
Review from public pages
Written from Google Chat's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 15, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
We read the Google Workspace pricing page, the Google Chat product page, the Workspace admin editions comparison, and Google's help pages on Chat history, data regions, SSO, Chat log events and HIPAA on Oct 15, 2026, plus Google Cloud's SOC 2 and ISO 27001 pages; we did not sign up for this review. Chat is not sold on its own: the product page says it is included with Workspace at no additional cost and points businesses without Workspace to a 14-day trial.
The pricing page opens on an introductory rate, $6.30 instead of $7 for Business Starter, which applies to the first 20 users for 12 months for new customers. Switching off the one-year commitment shows the flexible price, $8.40. Business plans are capped at 300 users.
The admin editions table is more detailed than the pricing page and, in one place, differs from it: the pricing page lists one-to-one external chat on Business Starter, while the editions table lists external one-to-one and group direct messages there, with external spaces from Business Standard. Chat history is on by default in spaces; with history off, messages are deleted after 24 hours.
Business Starter lists SSO with a third-party identity provider and Chat log events in the audit and investigation tool, with a verified domain.
vs Slack: Slack lists SAML SSO from Business+ and audit logs on Enterprise+.
An admin accepts Google’s BAA electronically, and Chat is on the HIPAA included functionality list.
vs Slack: Slack lists HIPAA support on Enterprise+.
Business Starter at $7 includes Gmail with a custom domain, Meet, Drive and Docs as well as Chat.
The editions table lists external chat for one-to-one and group direct messages on every Business plan, with admin controls to allow or restrict it.
Google points businesses without Workspace to a 14-day trial; the page does not say whether a card is needed.
Vault, for retention rules, holds and search, and automatic deletion of Chat messages are listed on Business Plus at $22 a user.
Workaround: On every plan, admins can turn Chat history on or off.
Data regions (United States or Europe) are supported on Business Standard and Plus, not Business Starter.
Turning on external spaces, and the pricing page’s threaded rooms with guest access, need Business Standard ($14).
Workspace is billed per user. Business Starter is $7 a month with a one-year commitment or $8.40 flexible; Standard $14 or $16.80; Plus $22 or $26.40; Enterprise through sales. New customers get 10% off the first 20 users for 12 months.
For 50 people on Business Starter: 50 × $7 = $350 a month, or $4,200 a year, at list price. With the introductory offer, year one is 20 × $6.30 + 30 × $7 = $336 a month (our arithmetic). Vault, for legal hold and eDiscovery, needs Business Plus: $1,100 a month for 50. The same price covers email, meetings and storage.
The editions table lists basic data exports on every Business plan. Google’s Chat page says businesses can migrate data from Slack, Teams or Meta Workplace into Chat with Workspace APIs or the data migration service.
From its public pages, Google Chat gives the strongest admin controls on the cheapest plan here, because they come with Workspace. It is not sold alone, and retention, eDiscovery and EU regions start on higher plans.
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| Plan priced for 50 people | Workspace Business Starter, $7/user/mo with a 1-year commitment ($8.40 flexible) |
| What else the plan includes | Gmail, Meet, Drive (30 GB pooled per user), Docs |
| 50 people, annual terms | $350/mo |
| Free option | 14-day Workspace trial |
| Retention, legal hold, eDiscovery | Vault on Business Plus ($22) |
| SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 | Both (Google Workspace) |
| HIPAA BAA | Accepted by an admin in the Admin console |
| EU data storage | Data regions from Business Standard ($14) |
| Company SSO | Third-party IdP on every Business plan |
| Audit log | Chat log events on every Business plan |
| Working with outside people | Starter: external 1:1 and group DMs; external spaces from Standard |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 15, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Google Chat yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 15, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Google Chat yet.
Google Chat lists 4 plans. The cheapest paid plan, Business Starter, costs $7/user/mo.
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-15.
Source: workspace.google.com pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.
We read the pricing, help, licensing and trust pages of three team chat apps on the same day and scored them on the same six indicators. What 50 people cost on the cheapest plan with chat, what else that plan buys, where retention, compliance and admin controls start, and who should pick which.
