Managing Your Google Workspace with a Free Admin Account

If you manage a Google Workspace organization, you often need an administrative account for oversight, setup, or external management (such as hiring an IT consultant or managing multiple domains). However, Google Workspace charges a per-user fee for active licenses.

By utilizing Cloud Identity Free licenses, you can set up a dedicated administrator account that grants full console access without consuming a paid user seat.

Here is a step-by-step guide to setting this up properly.

Step 1: Turn Off Automatic License Assignment

By default, Google Workspace automatically assigns a paid license to any new user you create. You’ll want to disable this first so new accounts don’t automatically grab a paid seat.

  1. Log into your Google Admin Console (admin.google.com) using a Super Admin account.
  2. Navigate to Billing > License management.
  3. Click on your Google Workspace subscription.
  4. Locate the Automatic licensing setting and turn it Off.

Step 2: Add Cloud Identity Free to Your Account

If you haven’t already, make sure your organization has access to free Cloud Identity licenses.

  1. In the Admin Console, go to Billing > Get more services.
  2. Look for Cloud Identity Free and select it to add it to your account (this is a zero-cost subscription).

Step 3: Create a Dedicated Admin User

Now, create a new user account specifically designated for administration.

  1. Go to Directory > Users > Add new user.
  2. Enter the user’s details (for example, admin or your management email address).
  3. Under the license options, ensure Google Workspace is unchecked, and check Cloud Identity Free.
  4. Click Add new user to finalize.

Step 4: Organize Users with an Organizational Unit (OU) (Optional)

To keep your admin accounts neatly separated and easier to manage, you can place them in a dedicated Organizational Unit.

  1. Go to Directory > Organizational units.
  2. Click the plus icon (+) to create a new OU (e.g., Administrators or Management).
  3. Move your newly created admin user into this OU.

Step 5: Grant Administrative Permissions

An unassigned Cloud Identity user won’t have any power by default. You need to grant them the appropriate admin role.

  1. Go to Directory > Users and click on your new admin user.
  2. Scroll down to Admin roles and privileges.
  3. Click Assign roles.
  4. Select the appropriate level of access (such as Super Admin or a custom admin role depending on what needs to be managed) and click Save.

Summary

With these steps completed, you now have a fully functional administrator account that can log into the Google Admin Console, manage services, or provide external support access—all without taking up or paying for an extra Google Workspace user seat.