Google puts a limit on previously unlimited group video calls for Meet by an hour for free accounts

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Google is effectively ending “unlimited” group video calls in Meet for free Gmail accounts, according to support pages spotted by 9to5Google. Now users with free accounts who sign in to Meet will have conference calls set by the hour instead of the previous meeting duration of 24 hours.

Google’s unlimited group meeting offer came in handy because many traditional in-person jobs have moved online due to COVID-19. No need to worry about dropping a call or creating new meeting links means you can leave your video call during long family get-togethers.

Single calls are still unlimited

Meet opened to non-enterprise users in April last year to better compete with Zoom, at which time Google promised to keep unlimited meetings in place until September 30, 2020. The company later extended that window until March 2021, and then again until the end of June . Google still allows individual calls to stay on for as long as you need them, but with the second pandemic season approaching, longer conference calls will now cost extra — like currently subscribing to $7.99 per month in the single Google Workspace tier ($9.99 after January 2022).

Like Google, Zoom one-on-one calls are unlimited and free, but conference calls were handled differently. Zoom has periodically expanded beyond the 40-minute limit for meetings during certain holidays such as Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s Eve.

Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams all started as business communications products that were adopted by non-commercial users in the early days of the pandemic. Now that some of the free offers are gone, it will be interesting to see what services people are sticking with.

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