AI Ultra Access Is Going Away. Here Is What to Do Now.
Google is retiring the AI Ultra Access add-on for Workspace. It is already off the shelf, and remaining licenses will be removed from customer accounts starting 7 July 2026. If your organization bought Ultra seats for power users, you have a decision to make. The good news: for most teams, the alternatives are simpler and cheaper.
What Actually Changed
Google has been simplifying its Workspace AI lineup all year. The direction is clear: standard AI capability gets baked into Workspace plans themselves, one add-on covers teams that need higher usage limits, and the heavyweight agentic platform lives on Google Cloud as Gemini Enterprise.
What You Lose, What You Keep
The transition is not one-to-one. AI Expanded Access covers most everyday creative and productivity workloads, but a few developer-oriented tools fall out of the Workspace bundle entirely.
Going away with the add-on
- Google Antigravity access via Workspace
- Gemini CLI entitlements via Workspace
- Gemini Code Assist entitlements via Workspace (still available as its own subscription or through Google Cloud)
Continuing without Ultra
- Video generation continues in the Gemini app and Google Vids, even though Flow access changes
- Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet stays included in your Workspace plan
- NotebookLM, image generation, Workspace Studio remain available, with higher limits through AI Expanded Access
Your Three Immediate Options
| Option | What happens | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Do nothing | Your Ultra licenses transition to AI Expanded Access and the Ultra subscription ends at the close of your current term. | Teams whose Ultra users mainly used image, video, and NotebookLM features anyway. |
| Transition early | Move users to AI Expanded Access yourself and cancel Ultra. Before 7 July 2026 on flexible plans, before renewal on annual plans. | Admins who want a controlled cutover and a clean bill instead of a forced migration. |
| Cancel outright | Your final bill is prorated to the cancellation date. Users fall back to the standard AI access included in their Workspace edition. | Organizations where Ultra was bought speculatively and usage never materialized. |
The Alternatives, Mapped to Real Needs
Instead of asking "what replaces Ultra," ask what your users were actually doing with it. In our experience across Thai and Singaporean clients, Ultra seats split into three groups: everyday Gemini users who never needed it, creative and operations teams pushing image, video, and automation limits, and a small group that wanted a true AI platform with agents and governance. Each group has a better-fitting home now.
Gemini in Your Google Workspace Plan
Business Standard, Business Plus, and Enterprise editions already include Gemini across Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Meet, plus standard access to the Gemini app and NotebookLM with enterprise-grade data protection. Your prompts are not used to train models, and admin controls live in the console you already use.
For a large share of former Ultra users, this is genuinely enough. Drafting, summarizing, meeting notes, "help me write," and standard image generation are all covered at no extra cost beyond the Workspace plan itself.
AI Expanded Access Add-on
This is where Google is pointing Ultra customers, and it is the default landing zone if you take no action. AI Expanded Access sits on top of Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, and unlocks higher usage of the features that matter to creative and operations teams:
- Advanced image generation with Nano Banana Pro in Slides, NotebookLM, and the Gemini app
- Professional video generation with Veo 3.1 in Vids, including AI avatars
- Higher limits in Workspace Studio for automations, from email labeling to always-on workflows like pre-meeting briefs
- Real-time speech translation in Meet that preserves the speaker's tone and voice
- Expanded access to the Gemini app and NotebookLM
One note for budget planning: Workspace plans included promotional access to several of these higher limits until early 2026. That promotional period has ended, so teams that got used to elevated limits will need this add-on to keep them.
Gemini Enterprise on Google Cloud
If your Ultra users were really chasing an AI platform rather than higher Workspace limits, Gemini Enterprise is the answer Google wants you to look at. It is a different product category: a full agentic AI platform on Google Cloud that connects to your company data, lets teams build and govern AI agents, and works across your stack, including Microsoft 365 and third-party systems, not just Workspace.
- Company-wide AI search and chat grounded in your own documents, drives, and applications
- Prebuilt and custom agents for research, sales, support, and internal workflows, with a no-code agent builder
- Governance and security built for enterprises: central policy, audit, and access control over every agent and data connector
- Tiered pricing starting around 21 USD per user per month for the Business tier, with Standard around 30 USD and Plus tiers above that on annual commitments
For developer tooling specifically, Gemini Code Assist continues as its own subscription through Google Cloud, so engineering teams losing the Workspace entitlement have a direct path to keep it.
A Simple Decision Framework
Here is how we run this conversation with clients in Bangkok and Singapore:
| If your Ultra users were... | Move them to |
|---|---|
| Writing, summarizing, everyday Gemini chat | Standard Gemini in their existing Workspace plan |
| Generating images and video at scale, building automations | AI Expanded Access add-on |
| Wanting agents, company data grounding, and governance | Gemini Enterprise on Google Cloud |
| Coding with Gemini Code Assist or the CLI | Standalone Gemini Code Assist via Google Cloud |
Two practical tips before July. First, pull your Gemini usage reports from the Admin console now, so you are deciding on data rather than job titles. Second, if you are on an annual plan, your real deadline is your renewal date, not 7 July, which gives you room to negotiate the transition properly, especially if you buy through a partner.
The Bigger Picture
This is not Google retreating from AI. It is the opposite: AI is becoming the default in Workspace rather than a premium SKU, with one clear add-on for power users and a serious enterprise platform above it. The customers who win in this transition are the ones who treat it as a licensing optimization exercise. In most of the migrations we have modeled, blended per-user AI spend goes down after the move, while the teams that genuinely need advanced capability end up with better tools than Ultra ever gave them.
Need Help Planning Your Transition?
Digigen is a dual-certified Google Cloud Partner and Microsoft Solutions Partner serving businesses across Southeast Asia. We will audit your current AI Ultra usage, model the cost of each path, and handle the licensing move end to end, in Thailand, Singapore, and beyond.
Talk to Our Team
