How to Create a Completely Free Google Workspace Admin User

Quick and easy-to-follow guide for Google Workspace administrators

When to consider creating a free Google Workspace admin user

You can create an admin account free of charge if you need it only to manage users, settings, payments, and so on.
This way, you don’t have to pay for your Super Admin user if you don’t need it to access the core Google services.

What you can do with a free admin user

You will be able to access Google Admin, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Keep and Meet.
You will have 15 GB of storage.
Other services will not be accessible.

Prerequisites to create a free admin user

To create a free admin user, you need to add the Cloud Identity Free service.
This service allows you to assign a different type of license, which is free. You can use it for regular user accounts, too.
We have included this in the step-by-step instructions below.

How to create a free Google Workspace admin user step-by-step with images

Step 1

Go to Google Admin https://admin.google.com and click the Billing icon.

Step 2

Click Add or upgrade a subscription above the list of your current Subscriptions.

Step 3

On the left, under CATEGORIES, select Cloud Identity.

Then on the right, under Cloud Identity Free, click GET STARTED.

Step 4

This page gives a general explanation of what Cloud Identity Free is. Click GET STARTED to continue.

Step 5

Click CHECKOUT.

Step 6

Click PLACE ORDER.

Step 7

Done, you can now add free user licenses.

Cloud Identity Free licenses are going to be auto-assigned by default.

Step 8

Now is the time to ensure that the new user you are about to create will not be auto-assigned a Google Workspace paid license. Otherwise, they will become a paid user.

The best thing to do is to create a new Organizational Unit specifically for your free admin user and turn off automatic Google Workspace licensing for the new OU.

This way, you can avoid turning off Automatic licensing for Google Workspace for other OUs, which may become an issue when you create new users in the future. If you turn off Automatic licensing for Google Workspace, new users you create will not be able to access any of the Google services until you manually assign them a Google Workspace license.

Click the Main menu icon – the three horizontal lines to the left of the Google Admin logo on the top left of the page.

Step 9

Hover over Directory and select Organizational units.

Step 10

Click the + icon on the top left to create a new organizational unit.

Step 11

We’ve named it Free Users and added a Description – Cloud Identity Free Licensing Only. This is optional. You can call it anything you want and give it any description. The Parent organizational unit is also up to you. Click CREATE.

Step 12

Once again, click the Main menu icon to the left of the Google Admin logo on the top left of the page.

Step 13

In the menu on the left, click Billing and then select License settings.

Step 14

On the left, under Organizational Units, select the new OU you created.

After that, click Google Workspace to update the Automatic licensing setting.

Step 15

Select OFF and click OVERRIDE.

Step 16

Now to create the free admin user, click the Main menu icon on the top left. Then click Directory and select Users.

Step 17

Above the users list, click Add new user.

Step 18

Fill out the fields as you wish. Then click Manage user’s password, organizational unit, and profile photo to add the new user directly to the new OU you made.

Step 19

Click Organizational unit and select the new one, then click ADD NEW USER.

Under Password, you have two options – leave it on Automatically generate a password if you don’t want to set the password yourself.

Alternatively, select Create password and type the password yourself.

To force a password change when the user logs in, leave the Ask user to change their password when they sign in box checked.

Click ADD NEW USER.

Step 20

Done!

If necessary, you can click the eye icon to the right of the hidden password to see it. You can also click COPY PASSWORD to copy it automatically.

Next, you may want to send sign-in instructions to the user’s current email address so they can learn how to sign in to their account. Click PREVIEW AND SEND.

Step 21

Without checking the box on its left, click the new user’s name on the Users page.

Step 22

Scroll down through the sections on the right until you see the Admin roles and privileges section, then select it.

Step 23

Click the top button to the right of Super Admin. It will switch to the right and turn blue.

Optionally, you can assign another admin role instead of the Super Admin one, but only Super Admin grants full permissions. Learn more about admin roles here.

Step 24

Click SAVE below the list of admin roles.

Step 25

This new user can now go to Google Admin https://admin.google.com and do anything there.

Go to the Apps section on the user’s page. You’ll see that it can access Drive (as well as Docs, Sheets, and Slides) Keep, and Meet, as well as the additional Google services that are not part of Google Workspace, such as Google Maps and YouTube. However, Gmail, Calendar, Sites, Chat, Meet, and Currents will never be accessible unless you assign a Google Workspace license to the user.

Ideally, you should receive emails sent to the admin email address at another account. Follow these steps to set up forwarding.