Google gives businesses a deep bench of tools, and most of the useful ones are free. The catch is that the lineup has changed a lot: the old ‘Google Toolbar’ list is long gone, several products have been renamed, and a few have been shut down entirely. This is a refreshed, 2026 guide to the Google business apps actually worth using, split into the two groups that matter, the Workspace tools your team works in every day and the free marketing and analytics tools that show you how your website and campaigns are doing, plus a note on what has been retired since the old version of this list.
Key takeaways
- Google’s business tools fall into two buckets: Google Workspace for productivity and a set of mostly-free marketing and analytics tools.
- Workspace (Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Meet, Calendar, and more) now has Gemini AI built in across the paid plans.
- The free marketing stack, Google Analytics 4, Search Console, Google Ads, Business Profile, Trends, and Looker Studio, covers most of what a small marketing team needs.
- Names changed: Webmaster Tools is now Search Console, Data Studio is Looker Studio, and My Business is Business Profile.
- Several old favorites are gone, including Google Correlate and the Full Value of Mobile calculator, so drop them from any legacy list.
Google Workspace: the tools your team works in
Workspace is Google’s paid productivity suite, and it is where day-to-day work happens. Gmail remains one of the most-used business email services, now with 15 GB of shared storage on free accounts and far more on paid plans, not the few megabytes an old version of this article quoted. Google Drive stores and shares your files in the cloud, with Docs, Sheets, and Slides for documents, spreadsheets, and presentations that several people can edit at once. Google Meet handles video meetings, Calendar coordinates schedules, and Chat covers team messaging. Keep holds quick notes and lists that sync across devices, and Forms builds surveys and intake forms in minutes. The 2026 addition worth knowing is Gemini, Google’s AI, which is now built into Workspace on the paid Business plans to draft text, summarize, and help in Meet. Workspace Business pricing runs from about $7 to $22 per user per month depending on tier.
Google’s free marketing and analytics tools
The second group is where Google gives away seriously capable software. These are the tools that tell you how your site and campaigns perform, and most cost nothing beyond the ad spend itself.
| Tool | What it does | Cost | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics 4 | Website and app traffic, behavior, and conversions | Free | GA4 replaced the old Universal Analytics, which was retired in 2023 |
| Google Search Console | How your site appears in Google Search, plus indexing and errors | Free | This is the tool formerly called Webmaster Tools |
| Google Ads | Search, display, and video advertising | Pay per click | The platform is free; you pay for the ads themselves |
| Google Business Profile | Your listing on Search and Maps for local customers | Free | Formerly Google My Business; essential for local businesses |
| Google Trends | What people are searching for, by topic, time, and place | Free | Useful for content ideas and seasonal timing |
| Looker Studio | Dashboards that pull Analytics, Ads, and other data together | Free | Formerly Data Studio |
A couple of others round out the set. Google Tag Manager makes it easier to add and manage tracking tags without editing site code every time, and Think with Google is a research and insights hub, the successor to the old Think Insights, rather than a tool you install. Used together, Analytics 4, Search Console, and Looker Studio give a small team a clear, free picture of what is working, and Google Ads plus Business Profile cover the paid and local sides of getting found.
What has been retired since the old list
If you are working from an older roundup, prune it. Google Correlate, which matched search patterns to real-world trends, was shut down in 2019. The Full Value of Mobile calculator is gone. The Google Toolbar that once anchored these lists was discontinued years ago, so ‘available in the Google Toolbar’ is no longer how any of this works. And two products you may still see referenced simply changed names: Webmaster Tools became Search Console, and Data Studio became Looker Studio. Naming aside, the capabilities largely live on in the current tools above.
How to build your Google stack
Start with the group that matches the job. If you need email, files, and collaboration, Workspace is the foundation, and for most small businesses it is worth the per-user cost over the free consumer accounts for the admin controls, custom domain email, and support alone. If your priority is understanding and growing your web presence, begin with the free trio of Analytics 4, Search Console, and a Business Profile, then add Google Ads when you are ready to pay for traffic and Looker Studio once you want the numbers in one dashboard. You do not need all of them at once. Pick the two or three that map to your current goal, learn them well, and add the rest as the need becomes real.
Frequently asked questions
Are Google business tools free? The marketing and analytics tools, Analytics 4, Search Console, Trends, Business Profile, and Looker Studio, are free; you only pay for Google Ads spend. Google Workspace, the productivity suite, is a paid subscription, roughly $7 to $22 per user per month by tier.
What happened to Google Webmaster Tools? It was renamed Google Search Console in 2015. It does the same core job, showing how your site performs in Google Search and flagging indexing and technical issues, under the new name.
Is Universal Analytics still available? No. Google retired Universal Analytics in 2023, and Google Analytics 4 replaced it. If you have an old UA setup in your notes, move to GA4, which uses a different, event-based measurement model.
What replaced Google My Business? It is now called Google Business Profile, and you can manage it directly from Google Search and Maps. It remains the key free tool for local businesses that want to show up when nearby customers search.
Does Google Workspace include AI now? Yes. Gemini, Google’s AI, is built into Workspace on the paid Business plans, where it can draft and summarize text across Gmail, Docs, and other apps and assist in Meet.
The verdict
Google’s business tools are still among the best value in software, but only if you use the current lineup rather than a decade-old list. Lean on Workspace for the work your team does every day, and on the free stack of Analytics 4, Search Console, Business Profile, Trends, and Looker Studio to see and grow your web presence. Skip the retired tools, learn the handful that map to your goals, and let Gemini take some of the routine drafting off your plate. Used deliberately, this set covers most of what a small or midsize business needs to run and market itself without paying for a pile of separate software.
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