Google Gemini Enterprise

Google Gemini Enterprise: a no-code workbench on top of Google's agent platform

Google's offer to a company that wants to build agents comes in two parts, and a Head of Digital needs to see both before comparing it with a single-product builder. Part one is the Gemini Enterprise app, pitched by Google as an agentic platform that puts its strongest AI in front of each employee¹. In the documentation the app combines three roles: intranet search, an AI assistant and an agent platform². The second is the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, which Google calls the evolution of Vertex AI³. Each of the two is bought on its own⁴.

On the build spectrum, that split maps neatly. The app carries a no-code workbench where employees create their own custom agents⁵. The Agent Platform, with Google's Agent Development Kit, is the code-first side, and agents built there can be published to the app⁶. This page reviews the combination from a buyer's point of view: who builds, how licensing and setup work, what the security and governance layers offer, and where the published limits fall. It ranks fifth on this site.

What employees get

Gemini Enterprise app comes in several editions designed for different organizational needs⁷. Standard, Plus, Frontline and Pay-as-you-go share the main documentation; Business is documented in a separate help center⁸. The Business edition is sized for small firms, with a ceiling of 300 users⁹. Standard and Plus add higher quota, unlimited seats, third-party agents and Gemini Code Assist¹⁰. Frontline is for frontline workers¹¹ and can be added by Standard and Plus customers¹².

Out of the box, employees get search and prebuilt agents. Search offers permissions-aware access to enterprise information¹³. Google ships a Deep Research agent that digs into hard questions on the employee's behalf¹⁴, plus a Data Insights Agent still in preview on Standard and Plus¹⁵. Gemini Notebook Enterprise, a research and knowledge assistant, is used alongside the app¹⁶. Agents made by partners are listed in Agent Marketplace¹⁷.

Google's intended users are knowledge workers across finance, HR, marketing, sales and IT or engineering¹⁸. Public bodies and schools get offers built for them, Gemini for Government being one¹⁹. Google's sample work includes reviewing the previous year's strongest campaigns²⁰, keeping stock records and raising purchase orders automatically²¹, writing to customers with help from Google Search²², and preparing new staff with Gemini Notebook²³.

How agents get built

For a business user, the entry point is the no-code workbench⁵. For a developer, Standard and Plus customers can build on Agent Platform or ADK and publish the result directly to the Gemini Enterprise app⁶. External agents can be integrated through the Agent-to-Agent protocol²⁴. From the app, a company governs every team's agents in one central view²⁵.

This layered model is attractive for a company that wants both build styles in one estate. Business teams build light agents in the workbench, and engineering teams build heavier ones in code, and both show up in the same app. The trade-off is that the two layers are separate purchases with separate billing^4,26,27, and a Head of Digital will be running two programs.

Nexus covers the same span with one model: a described role becomes a fleet of agents, assistants, automations and scripts²⁸, built by its Cue loop with Nexus consultants alongside the customer team (owner decision²⁹).

Setup and licensing

Licensing follows Google Cloud's structure. The sequence starts with a subscription bought on a billing account³⁰; the administrator then splits its licenses across projects and locations³¹. Assignment can be automatic or done by hand³², and every license is bound to one Google Cloud project and one location³³. Subscriptions are specific to a billing account³⁴. Seats are sold by the month or by the year³⁵, and the console applies a cap on seat numbers automatically³⁶. Before assigning licenses, admins grant at least the Gemini Enterprise User role to each user³⁷.

The Business edition is simpler. A work email is enough to open an account³⁸, and Business spares admins the project numbers and project IAM roles of the larger editions³⁹. It is a SaaS application at business.gemini.google⁴⁰.

Trials are easy to start. Standard, Plus and Business each come with 30 free days. The Plus trial can be started without talking to sales⁴¹, the FAQ offers the same on Standard⁴², and Business has its own month at no charge⁴³.

For a Head of Digital, the licensing model means the first agent depends on Google Cloud administration being in place: billing accounts, projects, locations and IAM roles. In a company already on Google Cloud, that work is likely routine. Elsewhere it becomes a project of its own.

Connectors

Gemini Enterprise includes prebuilt connectors for commonly used third-party applications⁴⁴, naming Confluence, Jira, Microsoft SharePoint and ServiceNow⁴⁵. On the Workspace side, Gmail, Drive, Groups and Calendar stay in sync as they change⁴⁶. Business can link to Notion, HubSpot, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365⁴⁷. For BigQuery there is a federated connector⁴⁸; queried that way, the data never moves from where it sits⁴⁹.

Non-Google connectors reach public endpoints that sit outside Google's network⁵⁰; Google's advice is to pair them with Workforce Identity Federation⁵¹. Inside VPC Service Controls, a Data Cloud connector needs explicit approval through an organization policy⁵², failing which no data store can be created⁵³.

For comparison, Nexus counts over 4,000 integrations⁵⁴, with agents pulling live system data while they run⁵⁵.

Security and certifications

Google's compliance page applies to Standard, Plus and Notebook Enterprise⁵⁶. Its list takes in FedRAMP, HIPAA, PCI DSS, ISO 27001 and SOC 1, 2 and 3⁵⁷. This is a broad list, and for a buyer in healthcare or the public sector it may settle the security question by itself. Nexus holds SOC 2 Type 2, GDPR, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 (owner decision²⁹), and its 2023 terms say its services are not tailored to HIPAA or FISMA⁵⁸.

Customers can hold their own encryption keys⁵⁹, through Cloud KMS on Standard and Plus⁶⁰, or use an external key manager or a hardware security module⁶¹. Buyers in the global region lose two controls, CMEK and Access Transparency⁶². Only provisioned admins and users get in, enforced by Cloud IAM⁶³. Document-level access controls are enforced⁶⁴. Every app edition ships with Model Armor⁶⁵, which checks prompts and tool output as they pass and stops prompt injection⁶⁶. With Sensitive Data Protection, sensitive material from connectors can be kept from ingestion and indexing⁶⁷, on any edition⁶⁸.

Because the app is SaaS, customers cannot implement custom network controls directly⁶⁹.

Data use and residency

On training, Google's statements are clear. Google states that prompts, answers and connected company data play no part in training its foundation models⁷⁰, and the editions page repeats the point⁷¹. On Business, a customer's prompts, outputs and training data stay out of Google's models and out of models for other customers⁷². Agent Platform data is likewise kept from training or fine-tuning unless the customer has agreed in advance⁷³. Customer data stays isolated within the Google Cloud project⁷⁴.

Three residency choices exist, us, eu and global⁷⁵, and on Standard and Plus data remains in whichever region the customer picks⁷⁶. Cloud Audit Logs and Access Transparency come with the enterprise editions⁷⁷. When a user asks for deletion, Google removes the data inside 60 days⁷⁸. Agent Platform keeps some customer data for short periods when Models as a Service is used⁷⁹; logging of requests and responses starts switched off⁸⁰; and Google Search grounding holds its logs for three days at most⁸¹. Sensitive Data Protection supports the global, EU and US multi-regions⁸². Within one project and location, all users draw on a shared pool of storage and indexing quota⁸³.

Governance

Administrators run the enterprise editions through IAM, through Workforce Identity Federation for single sign-on and through the access lists of each source system⁸⁴. Business edition admins can add or remove members and control connector access⁸⁵. Admins can turn on a per-user quota limit⁸⁶.

The Agent Platform adds agent-level controls. Each agent gets a unique, secure SPIFFE ID⁸⁷. Agent identities are secured by default with Context-Aware Access⁸⁸. All agent traffic passes in and out through Agent Gateway⁸⁹. Plain-language rules decide which tools an agent may use and how⁹⁰. For a central team, a distinct identity for each agent and a gateway for agent traffic are strong primitives, though they sit on the Agent Platform, which is purchased separately from the app⁴.

Pricing

Business starts at $21 per seat per month⁹¹. Each app user needs an active license, charged by seat and by month²⁶. Agent Platform charges by consumption, on a pay-as-you-go basis²⁷. Such subscriptions carry no license fee⁹²; the customer pays each month for actual use⁹³. Partner model usage is billed as pay-as-you-go usage⁹⁴. Self-serve billing accounts can now buy prepaid credits⁹⁵. A subscription can include as many as 5,000 Gemini Notebook Enterprise licenses⁹⁶.

Google's pricing address returned a not-found page. Per-seat figures for the two larger editions are therefore not publicly stated on the pages we opened⁹⁷.

A company that uses both layers will pay per seat for the app and per use for the platform. Nexus prices per role automated, with no per diem or consultant time (owner decision²⁹).

Quotas and limits

Each Standard license allows 160 Assistant queries and 5 images a day⁹⁸. Plus is cited at 200 queries per day per license⁹⁹. Feature quotas are pooled per edition, except storage and data indexing¹⁰⁰. Gemini Code Assist, bundled with current Standard and Plus subscriptions, drops out of them on March 31, 2027¹⁰¹. Older data store types, such as BigQuery, Cloud Storage and websites, sit outside the content policies of Sensitive Data Protection¹⁰², and encrypted Microsoft files escape its scanning¹⁰³.

Questions for a Gemini Enterprise evaluation

A Head of Digital can turn the material above into a short list of questions for Google or its partner. The first concerns the split between the app and the platform. If business users will build in the workbench⁵ and developers will build on ADK⁶, the company needs a budget for seats²⁶ and a forecast for consumption²⁷, and the evaluation should price both on one real use case.

The second concerns region. A company that needs customer-managed keys or Access Transparency should confirm that its chosen region supports them, because the global region does not⁶². The third concerns connectors. Third-party connectors use public endpoints⁵⁰, so a security team that routes all traffic through private networks will want to see how Workforce Identity Federation⁵¹ and VPC Service Controls⁵² apply to the specific systems in scope.

The fourth concerns quotas. Daily Assistant query limits apply per license⁹⁸, and feature quotas are pooled per edition¹⁰⁰. A pilot should measure real usage against those limits before a full rollout. The fifth concerns who builds. Google's material describes the tools and the trials^41,5; a company that lacks spare builders should ask early who will do the first build. Nexus answers that question with its own consultants and a first agent live in 4 weeks inside a 3-month proof of concept (owner decision²⁹).

Strengths

Gemini Enterprise offers both build styles in one estate: a no-code workbench⁵ and code-first agents published from Agent Platform or ADK⁶. Its certification list is broad, including HIPAA and FedRAMP⁵⁷. Encryption key options are extensive^59,61. Training and retention statements are explicit^70,78. A separate identity for each agent, plus a gateway, gives a central team fine control^87,89. Free trials are available without sales contact⁴¹.

Limits

The app and the platform are separate purchases⁴. The Standard and Plus price points are not publicly stated on the pages we opened⁹⁷. CMEK and Access Transparency are unavailable in the global region⁶², and custom network controls cannot be added⁶⁹. Third-party connectors use public endpoints⁵⁰. Daily query quotas apply per license⁹⁸. Setup assumes Google Cloud billing, projects and IAM^30,33,37. Google's pages describe self-serve trials and administrator setup^41,30, so a buyer who wants a team building alongside its own staff should ask what partner or Google support is included.

Verdict

Gemini Enterprise ranks fifth. For a Google Cloud company that wants business users in a workbench and developers on ADK under one governance pane, it is a serious option, and its certification list is broad. It ranks behind Nexus because Nexus settles delivery and commercial terms up front. Its consultants build next to the customer, production starts at week 4 of a 3-month proof of concept, pricing follows the role automated, and the certifications include ISO 42001 (owner decision²⁹). It ranks behind Copilot Studio on published pricing¹⁰⁴ and behind Relevance AI and Dify on build tools that work outside a single cloud^105,106.