What does a Google Workspace migration plan include?
A good migration plan covers five things: what you have today, how and when you will move it, who does the work, how your team will hear about it, and how you will support people afterward. We run every project through the same five phases: Discovery, Planning, Migration, Adoption, and Support. Each phase has a clear output, so you always know where the project stands and what comes next.
The plan does not need to be long. For a small office it can fit on a few pages. What matters is that the decisions are written down before anyone touches DNS or starts copying mail. Most migration problems trace back to a decision nobody made, such as who owns a shared mailbox or what happens to old archives. If you want a ready-made list to work from, start with our Google Workspace migration checklist.
How do you start with discovery?
Discovery starts with an inventory of every account, mailbox, calendar, and file location you plan to move. List each user, their mailbox size, and any shared mailboxes, distribution lists, or room calendars. Note where files live today: OneDrive, SharePoint, a file server, or personal laptops. Record your domain registrar or DNS host and who has the login, because you will need it for the MX record change.
Discovery is also when you find the items that need a decision. Some content does not carry over on its own, such as mail rules, signatures, and chat history. Our guide to what does not migrate automatically lists the common ones so you can plan for them instead of finding them after cutover.
Finally, confirm your licensing. Google Workspace Business editions cover up to 300 users. If your organization is larger than that, or close to it, plan for an Enterprise edition. Match the edition to how your team works. Business Starter includes 30 GB of pooled storage per user, Business Standard includes 2 TB pooled per user with Meet recording, and Business Plus adds Vault and eDiscovery. If you handle health information, review our HIPAA setup page early, because the edition and settings you choose affect how you can configure the account.
How long should you plan for?
Plan for the timeline your data and decisions require, not the one you hope for. The copy itself is often the shortest part. Discovery, approvals, and cleanup can take longer than moving the mail. Data volume matters more than headcount: ten people with years of archives can take longer than thirty people with light mailboxes, because both Google and Microsoft limit how fast data moves through their systems.
Build your timeline backward from a target switchover date, and leave room for a pilot group. Our guide on how long a Google Workspace migration takes breaks down each phase and the factors that stretch or shorten it.
Should you move everyone at once or in stages?
Most small organizations should move everyone at once, in a single cutover. It is simpler: one MX change, one training push, and no period where half the office is on each system. A staged migration moves people in batches. It makes sense for larger teams, multiple offices, or organizations that cannot risk a full switch in one go, but it requires coexistence planning so mail and calendars work between the two systems.
Our comparison of a staged migration vs single cutover walks through the tradeoffs. If you are combining companies after a merger, see our mergers and acquisitions migrations page, since those projects usually need staging.
How does the cutover actually work?
The cutover is the moment new email starts arriving in Gmail instead of your old system, and it happens when you change your domain's MX records. Before that, you copy existing mail, contacts, calendars, and files into Google Workspace while people keep working normally. After you change the MX records, you run a final pass to pick up anything that arrived or changed during the switch.
That final pass is called a delta migration. It is how people keep working through the move while recent messages still reach their new inbox. Read MX record cutover, explained for the DNS side, and what is a delta migration for how the final sync works.
How do you prepare your team?
You prepare your team by telling them early, telling them often, and telling them exactly what will change on their screen. People handle change better when they know the date, what they need to do, and where to get help. A short series of messages works better than one long email.
Plan at least an announcement, a reminder a week out, a day-before note with sign-in steps, and a check-in after the switch. Name one contact for questions. Our employee communication plan covers what each message should say. For deeper training ideas, see the Google Workspace adoption and training guide.
What does a migration cost?
A migration has two costs: the one-time migration work and the ongoing Google Workspace licenses. The migration cost depends on user count, data volume, your source platform, and extras such as staged batches, Active Directory sync, or single sign-on. A simple IMAP move takes far less effort than an Exchange server with public folders and years of archives.
Licensing is separate. As of October 2026, Business Starter is $7 per user per month on an annual plan, Business Standard is $14, and Business Plus is $22. Compare those against your current Microsoft invoice rather than published price lists. Our guide to what drives the cost of a migration explains each factor, and our pricing page shows what each plan includes.
What happens after the switch?
After the switch, your focus moves from data to people. The first few weeks are when users find a missing folder, a phone that will not sync, or a scanner that still sends to the old server. Plan to answer those quickly, and keep the old system available until you are confident nothing is missing.
This is also the right time to turn on security settings such as 2-Step Verification and email authentication. We include 14 days of support after every managed migration. Our guide to the first 30 days after a migration lays out what to check and when.
Which migration approach fits your organization?
The right approach depends on how much help you want. Self-service works for small, simple email moves where someone on your team is comfortable with DNS and the Google Admin console. Our Free plan gives you a self-service email tool for that case. A managed migration makes sense when you have files, calendars, shared mailboxes, or a firm deadline.
Our Standard plan covers email, contacts, calendars, and files with delta sync and a weekday switchover. Premium adds a dedicated account manager, staged batches, Google Groups, Active Directory sync, SAML single sign-on, and a weekend switchover. Google Migrations is a service of Lingows, a Google Cloud Partner since 2013. Compare options on our migration plans and process page, or contact us to talk through your situation.
Frequently asked questions
Can we keep using our current email during the migration?
Yes. The bulk copy runs in the background while your team keeps working in the old system. People switch to Gmail on the cutover date, and a delta pass afterward copies anything that arrived or changed in the old system during the switch.
Do we need Google Workspace licenses before the migration starts?
Yes. Each user needs a Google Workspace account before data can be copied into it, so licenses start before the cutover. Plan for a short overlap where you pay for both systems, then cancel the old licenses once the delta pass is done and nothing is missing.
Will our email addresses change when we move to Google Workspace?
Not if you keep your domain. Google Workspace uses your existing domain, so addresses stay the same and outside contacts keep writing to the same place. Addresses only change if you decide to rename users or consolidate domains as part of the project.
Who should own the migration inside our organization?
Pick one person who can make decisions and reach the right people quickly, often the office manager, operations lead, or IT lead. They approve the plan, answer questions about users and data, send staff messages, and act as the main contact for your migration partner.
