Lesson 1: Independent Course: What Account Do You Have?

About This Course

This is an independent course. It is not made, sponsored or endorsed by Google. It does not copy Google's documentation. It explains things in its own words and points you to Google's own help pages when you need the official detail.

Google changes its plans, prices, AI features and screens often, sometimes every month. Each fact in this course says when it was checked. The facts in this lesson were checked on 1 November 2026. If your screen looks different, trust your screen and write down the difference.

The first thing to find out is what kind of account you are signed in to. Everything after this depends on it: which apps you have, how much storage you get, and which Gemini (Google's AI assistant) features you can use.

The Four Kinds of Account

Think of a Google account like a mobile phone contract. The phone works the same way, but what you can do depends on whether it is pay-as-you-go, a contract you pay for yourself, or a phone your employer gave you.

1. Free personal account. Usually ends in @gmail.com. You manage it yourself and nobody else controls it.
2. Personal account with a paid plan. The same personal account plus a Google One storage plan or a Google AI plan. As of 1 November 2026, Google's plans page lists Basic (100 GB), Google AI Plus and Google AI Pro, and there is also a higher tier, Google AI Ultra. You still manage the account yourself.
3. Workspace Business edition. An account at a company address such as name@yourstartup.com. The editions are Business Starter, Business Standard and Business Plus, for up to 300 users. In a start-up, the founder often set it up and acts as the administrator.
4. Employer-managed corporate edition. Also a company address, but run by an IT team. It may be an Enterprise, Frontline, Education or other edition, and you will usually not know which one.

Types 3 and 4 are both managed accounts: an administrator controls them. The difference is who that administrator is.

Task 1: Check the Address and the Account Page (Web)

Do this now on a computer:

1. Open any Google page, such as Gmail or Google Drive.
2. Click your profile picture or initial in the top-right corner. Note the email address shown.
   • Ends in @gmail.com: this is a personal account (type 1 or 2). No administrator manages it.
   • Ends in a company or school address: this is a managed account (type 3 or 4).
3. Click Manage your Google Account to open your account page.
4. Look for a section called Payments & subscriptions and open your subscriptions. Any Google One or Google AI plan is listed there.
5. For a personal account, you can also go to one.google.com to see your current plan.

If you have several accounts, repeat this for each one. Switching between accounts comes later in the course.

Task 2: Check on Mobile

On a phone, the steps are similar but the menus sit in different places:

1. Open the Gmail, Google or Drive app.
2. Tap your profile picture in the top-right corner. The address of each signed-in account is listed.
3. Tap Manage your Google Account.
4. Swipe or scroll through the tabs to find Payments & subscriptions.

Differences between devices:

• On Android, you can also open the phone's Settings > Google to see the signed-in accounts.
• On iPhone, these pages open inside a Google app, so start from Gmail or the Google app.
• If a menu label doesn't match, look for the closest one and note what it says.

Task 3: Find Your Edition on a Managed Account

The edition of a managed account is shown only to administrators, in the Google Admin console under Billing > Subscriptions. Ordinary users can't see it there.

• If you are the founder who set up Workspace: sign in at admin.google.com with your administrator account, open Billing, then Subscriptions, and note the edition name.
• If someone else manages the account: ask them. You do not need admin access to do this course.

IT May Have Switched Features Off

On a managed account, administrators can decide which Google apps you can use and how those apps behave. For example, they can:

• turn off whole apps (YouTube, for example, can be blocked on a work account);
• limit sharing, such as stopping you sharing files outside the company;
• turn the Gemini app, or Gemini features inside Gmail, Docs and other apps, on or off for everyone or for chosen teams.

So if a feature taught later in this course is missing, it may be switched off on purpose, not broken. Don't try to work around it.

Who to ask: Google can't tell you who your administrator is, because that person belongs to your organisation. Try, in this order:

1. The person who gave you your username and password.
2. Your IT department or help desk.
3. In a small business, whoever runs your email or website.

Gemini check: open gemini.google.com while signed in to each account. Note whether it opens, and whether you see a message saying your organisation controls access.

Task 4: Start Your Course Log

Create a simple document or note called Course log. Add this first entry for each account you use:

• Date checked: (today's date)
• Email address: (you can hide part of it)
• Account type: free personal / personal with paid plan / Workspace Business / employer-managed
• Plan or edition: for example "Google AI Pro", "Business Standard" or "Unknown, asked IT"
• Administrator: none / me / name of person or team
• Gemini app opens? yes / no / blocked by organisation

You will add to this log in every lesson.

Key Takeaways

• This course is independent of Google and explains things in its own words. Facts are dated because Google changes often.
• A @gmail.com address means a personal account with no administrator. A company address means a managed account.
• Paid personal plans (Google One, Google AI) appear under Payments & subscriptions in your Google Account and at one.google.com.
• The edition of a managed account is visible only to admins, in the Admin console under Billing > Subscriptions.
• IT can switch off apps, sharing options and Gemini. Ask whoever gave you your account, or your help desk.
• Record your account type, edition, administrator and the date you checked in your course log.