The coronavirus pandemic and remote work caused Google Meet to momentarily remove the time limit on calls with free accounts, however that benefit has just ended. The application has reimposed the maximum time of 60 minutes for users who do not pay for the service.
Google has specified that the 60-minute limit for free accounts only applies to group meetings , that is, when there are three or more participants. Individual Google Meet calls (with two participants) have a wider limit, these are cut off after 24 hours, more than enough time for most occasions.
The Mountain View company does not want the cut-off to be abrupt, so it ensures on its support page that “ at 55 minutes, everyone receives a notification that the call is about to end up. To extend the call, the host can update their Google account. Otherwise, the call will end after 60 minutes. ”
Restrictions on Google Meet have returned
It is a mechanism similar to that of Zoom, which cuts group calls at 40 minutes and shows a warning with the remaining time beforehand. In all cases, once the time has expired, it is possible to start a meeting with the same participants as many times as necessary.
The truth is that the time restrictions on free Google Meet accounts were postponed several times. Apparently, the company did not want to leave users “cut off”, but it was also a good strategy to compete with Zoom which made a similar decision.
Now that the world is heading towards a “new normal” the company has decided that it is time to pay and that free time has served to win over several users and companies that switched to this service.
To say goodbye to time limits on Google Meet, it will be necessary to subscribe to one of the Google Workspace monthly plans. These have prices starting at 4.68 euros per user in the case of the Business Starter edition. The Business Standard edition is 9.36 euros per user. The Business Plus, meanwhile, is 15.60 euros per user.
