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Google Meet will soon be free for anyone with a Gmail account

The tech giant is expanding Meet's availability in May.

Google

You’ll soon be able to access Google Meet for free even if you’re not a G Suite customer: Starting in early May, you’ll be able to sign up for Meet as long as you have a Gmail account. Some of the features you can enjoy include the ability to create and host meetings with up to 100 participants by going to Meet’s website or using its iOS or Android app.

You’ll also be able to start and join meetings straight from Google Calendar, use real-time captions and display an expanded tile view layout. Free account meetings will be limited to 60 minutes per session, but Google won’t enforce that rule until after September 30th, giving you as much time as you need for work-from-home conferences. The tech giant says it will gradually expand Meet’s availability, though, so you may not be able to use it as the same time as everyone else. To get a notification once you can start using it, simply sign up for updates on this page.

Google already made the service’s premium features free to access for G Suite customers until September 30th. And unlike free users, G Suite customers can have up to 250 participants in a call, can live stream for up to 100,000 viewers and can record and save calls. Still, getting free access to the video conferencing service sounds useful now that most people are sheltering from home, especially after Google rolled out a gallery-like layout to make it a more viable alternative to Zoom.