Introducing AppSheet User Pass

alafontant · 03-14-2025 07:18 AM

Starting today, you can license any user of your apps with AppSheet User Pass. Each User Pass grants unlimited access to an AppSheet app for the month and your users can consume as many User Pass licenses as they need. This gives you the flexibility to pay for the features that will make a difference for your users, whether they are internal or external to your organization, signed-in or unauthenticated.

How does it work?

User Pass licenses are available to your app users as a pool, rather than assigned to individual users through the Google Admin console. Licenses are automatically consumed each time an eligible user accesses one of your AppSheet Enterprise Plus or AppSheet Core apps. Eligible users include those that do not already have an AppSheet license or have a license of a lower tier than the app owner, including internal, external, or unauthenticated users.
Users consume a license for each app they use - allowing you to license any of your app users at a discounted rate - regardless of the app owner's license. User Pass will not independently grant these users the ability to build apps with Core or Enterprise features, but it is possible for an eligible user to consume more than one User Pass license if they access multiple unique apps in a month. For example:

3. The pool of User Pass licenses resets at the end of the calendar month and unused licenses do not rollover. You will only be charged for the user pass licenses that you have committed to purchase.

How do I get started?

AppSheet User Pass is available for purchase starting today through the Workspace and the Partner Sales Console. It is not available through the consumer billing channel on appsheet.com.
Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about User Pass. When you are ready to purchase, you can buy directly from Workspace or work with your preferred sales representative. User Pass licenses can be monitored in the AppSheet Admin Console via the Licenses page.
AppSheet User Pass is now the primary method to license external and unauthenticated users. We recently alerted customers that starting April 10, 2025, the AppSheet Enterprise Standard External User and AppSheet Enterprise Plus External User licenses will no longer be available for purchase. Customers with existing external user licenses will not see any interruption in service during this transition and will receive additional notice with next steps.

MultiTech

$5 Each?!? 👀 Why?

I'd give you $2, maybe $3 - but not $5.
THB we'd want $1.

You're essentially saying that external users cost the same (in terms of resources, or whatever these monthly license costs are based on) as someone on the starter license.

Someone going into the editor and making apps, even given that the apps don't use Core features and limit themselves to only those inside the Starter plan, should cost more than someone that's just USING an app.

A rethink of this pricing should be given STRONG consideration IMHO.

alafontant

Really appreciate the feedback. I'll mention a few things worth considering. First, the User Pass license can be used by any app user - internal, external or unauthenticated. That means that it's possible to share an enterprise app with AppSheet Core users or unlicensed users, at a significant discount. Previously, it was necessary to upgrade every app user to AppSheet Enterprise Plus and there was no official option for unauthenticated users for Workspace customers, which made it really hard to scale proof-of-concept apps. This license provides flexibility for customers that do not want to pay the same price for their app creators and app users.

Second, the User Pass license is available for organizations that purchase their licenses through Workspace. Most of those customers already have AppSheet Core included in their Workspace license, with capabilities that exceed AppSheet Starter. These organizations also receive additional controls and monitoring capabilities through the Google and AppSheet Admin Consoles. We believe the combined value of these capabilities for app users matches the User Pass pricing.

Finally, if you have a significant number of app users, you can work with a Workspace seller or reseller to find an arrangement that matches your budget.

Guillermo

I don't understand this. Which are the benefits of this for a company?

Example:

Case A

If I have as a company 10 apps and purchase for an external user 10 AUPs because I want him to use every app, the cost will be 50$ monthly

Case B

I purchase a Core License for 6$ (Give or take) and he can access every app for 6$ monthly

Maybe I'm missing something

alafontant

When a customer has scaled several apps to their users, it may make sense to purchase an AppSheet Core or AppSheet Enterprise Plus license. However, there are many customers that are at the beginning of their AppSheet journey and are unsure if they want to upgrade all of their internal users or create an internal Google account for their external users. Some customers have a single app solution they want to test before deepening their investment. AppSheet User Pass makes it easy to scale these solutions quickly at a lower cost. Once satisfied that AppSheet addresses their use case, they can decide to upgrade on their timeframe - not upfront. User Pass also does not require customers to assign these licenses to users - rather the license is automatically granted upon login.

zito

I'll add one other use case that might not be obvious - in a larger organization, where there might be apps that are infrequently used, but used by many users throughout the year, it can be cost effective to license a pool of users at a lower price point vs. licensing every user in your organization.

I know I've spoken to customers where they have apps that an employee might access annually or quarterly, and it can be a tough pill to swallow that every user that wants to access that app needs an assigned AppSheet Enterprise Plus license, even though they use the app only a handful of times in a year. This gives organizations the flexibility to blend different licensing models to support the different usage patterns and adoption strategies.

Completely agree that if you have a set of apps that the same group of users access on a regular basis, it might make sense to just purchase full licenses for those users.

SkrOYC

I notice that this feature may introduce more holes into breaking ToS if missused by the people that tries to save on costs using AppSheet.
It's obviously not the right solution but seems like a good move anyways.

It's also a strong reminder that AppSheet is not the right tool for all jobs @MultiTech

OptimiX_XcrY

I don't get it.

So from now on,if I still want to access my 3 apps with my secondary non workspace account, I will pay an extra 5$*3apps=15$ ?

zito

If you already have AppSheet licenses for your secondary account, nothing changes. This is an alternate licensing option for very specific circumstances. I suspect if you have a team where everyone is frequent AppSheet users, traditional AppSheet licenses are the right call, for the reasons you describe.

Denzil_Snyman

@MultiTech I agree with a slightly lower price, I want to allow users onto the platform just as basic users with nothing more than doing their job and they are not workspace users most of the time....

As an example on only one app , I could bring 50 users onto the platform at let's say at $3 each, Appsheet making $150.

But at $5 I am stuck with not one of potential 50 externals users being interested.

Now across different apps for me alone this adds up to alot of potential income for appsheet and myself of course. Imagine this across all users on appsheet that build apps trying to get external users as clients...

I see so much profit for Appsheet if this can be modelled correctly... Not only workspace orientated.

AppliSuite

Question about "Unauthenticated users" mentioned in AppSheet User Pass documentation

According to the AppSheet User Pass documentation, one of the eligible user types is "Unauthenticated users: Users that don't sign in to the app."

I'm confused about this concept because, as far as I understand, AppSheet requires authentication when sharing apps:

When we share an AppSheet app with users, we typically need to specify their email addresses
Users need to authenticate with their Google accounts (either free Gmail or paid Google Workspace) to access the shared app through OAuth2 or similar authentication methods
This authentication process seems mandatory for accessing shared AppSheet apps

Given this standard authentication flow, how is it possible to have "unauthenticated users" access AppSheet apps? Is there a special configuration or app type that allows for access without authentication?

I would appreciate any clarification on how the "unauthenticated users" feature works with AppSheet User Pass.

Thank you!

Guillermo

Hi,

You can turn off the "Require sign in" option. This means that either you have a Public License (50$ / unlimited authenticated users) or anyone who access to the app with a singular device count as a unique user. So if there are more than 10 diferent accesses you are going to pay more than with the public license.

The are two problems I see here:

How is it possible to combine authenticated users with unauthenticated users?
The unauthenticated users will count as AppSheet counts today? We will have to pay 5$ for any access from a device?

I hope the AppSheet team could clarify this

AppliSuite

Thank you for your insights, @Guillermo

You've pointed out the two methods for unauthenticated users to access apps:

Publisher Pro license
Turning off "Require sign in" when publishing an app

In my opinion, the second option poses significant security risks in most business scenarios. Additionally, as you highlighted, using more than 10 User Passes ($5 each) would cost more than a single Publisher Pro license ($50).

I'd like to add these concerns to the discussion about unauthenticated users with User Pass:

Security risks: Disabling authentication requirements exposes apps to anyone with the URL, which is unacceptable for most business applications containing sensitive data
Cost efficiency: For any scenario with more than 10 unauthenticated users, Publisher Pro would be more economical than User Pass

I hope the AppSheet team can provide more clarity on these issues.

Jonathan1

Hi,

We need some clarification.

We are on enterprise plus account. 90% of our users are not part of our organization because we build apps for small businesses and all apps are created inside or account. I can see our users are considered as "external", it's normal, it is different organizations, we simply pay and adjust the amount of license, we were told by the billing team to do that.

Our concern is that we always sold Appsheet to our customers and encourage them to build several apps in the same organization, to get better performance and user pricing will remain the same if you use 1 or 5 apps. but with that change, If understand correctly, all our "External" users will now be counted as "User pass". is this the case? Or we will be able to say those are not User Pass, they use their apps everyday and wan't to keep them into Enterprise plus license?

This is important for us and it makes a big change into our user licensing.

User pass can be great in some scenario and we might buy some pass for a new project we have but for my current customers, it is not good if all our external users will now be counted per unique apps.

Thank you for your help.

alafontant

If you are sharing multiple apps with a user in another organization, we recommend that you create a Google account for them within your organization (this can be done with Cloud Identity Free at no additional cost). You can then assign them a license, either a Workspace license or the standalone AppSheet Core license.

Customers that need to "build several apps in the same organization", can do that as long as their users have an AppSheet Core or AppSheet Enterprise Plus license. If you are building on behalf of another organization, we would recommend, for financial and security reasons, that you build the apps with an account controlled by their organization admin. This ensures that your activities can be monitored and managed securely.

Jonathan1

Thanks for your reply!

Awesome!! That will be perfect for us. If I understand correctly, with Cloud Identity Free, I will be able to assign externeal users to these free users and I'll be able to only need to pay the Appsheet Enterprise license for these users.

That's great!!

I will also benefit of buying user pass for other kind of projects.

Is this correct?

alafontant

Yes your understanding is correct.

Jonathan1

Thanks again for your quick reply!

I can't see where I can assign my external users to the newly created users.

I can see "Assign licenses" inside my Google Admin billing tab, I can select my new user but that users is not link to the external detected users inside Appsheet App usage

alafontant

You cannot assign licenses to external users in the Workspace Admin Console. The procedure I described above is to create an internal account for the user of another organization. You can then assign an AppSheet license to that internal account so they can build and share apps in your environment. You could also follow this procedure from the opposite direction, with the external user creating an account for you in their organization, assigning a license, etc.

Jonathan1

Thank you for your reply, and sorry for the confusion. 🙂

To make it simple, how do I create an internal account for the user of another organization that we don't manage. This is the part I am missing because I see only my domain from the dropdown and we can't add a domain we don't own or has another Google workspce but I might be at the wrong place...

alafontant

You are creating a new account for that user with your own domain. Lets say that you own acme.com and the external user is from cymbal.com. You are creating a new account under your own domain (e.g., external-user-123@acme.com). They can then login to that new account and use your apps. This account is separate from their cymbal.com AppSheet account. It is not possible to link AppSheet accounts from across Workspace organizations. Please review the documentation for more information.

Jonathan1

I understand, Thank you!

Jonathan1

It's not working. If the domain already belongs to another workspace account or if it's not possible to take control of the domain, we can't assign that domain in the cloud identity. A lot of them already got workspace, some are using regular gmail account or other services to login, like microsoft, apple or others. I'm not able to assign these users.

Would be great to assign external users to other custom user we could create with cloud identity :

ex.:
let's say a user connect with : userA@gmail.com
we need to assigne to : userA@ourdomainwemanage.com

Is there something I am missing?

Kawano164

I have one point I’d like to confirm and ask you to reconsider.

It concerns how AppSheet Core Edition works with Google Workspace when two separate organizations (let’s call them Organization A and Organization B) both have their own Google Workspace subscriptions that include AppSheet Core.

I previously contacted Japanese support and was told that if Organization A creates an AppSheet app, and Organization B wants to use it, users in Organization B would be treated as “External Users.” This means each user in Organization B would consume a user license (UserPass) to access the app.

Wouldn’t this significantly hinder the widespread adoption and use of AppSheet?

Many people around us use Google Workspace, but not many of them are actively using AppSheet apps. Also, while AppSheet is great “no-code platform”(Thank you VERY MUCH!), building and maintaining specialized applications still requires experience and technical skills.

If Organization A creates a useful app, and Organization B wants to use it, will Organization B still have to pay extra for user licenses, even though Organization B already has a Google Workspace subscription that includes AppSheet Core Edition? If this is the case, wouldn’t every organization be forced to develop and maintain their own apps in-house, defeating the purpose of sharing and collaboration?

If my understanding is incorrect, please let me know. Thanks!

alafontant

Your understanding is correct, but let me provide some additional context. AppSheet Core was included in most paid Google Workspace subscriptions to make widespread adoption within organizations easier. As you can imagine, that entitlement to AppSheet Core does not extend to users outside of the organization that do not have a paid Workspace license. If you are sharing multiple apps with a user in another organization, we recommend that you create a Google account for them within your organization (this can be done with Cloud Identity Free at no additional cost). You can then assign them a license, either a Workspace license or the standalone AppSheet Core license. This is not only more economical than User Pass, but also ensures that the user is subject to your organization's policies. If the goal is to share insights about how to build a useful app then, as long as your organization permits, you can make the app a public sample that the other organization can copy.

OptimiX_XcrY

If organization A have a paid Workspace license , and organization B also have a paid workspace licence,

Can Org B use appsheet app created by Org A without being cosidered an external user? Both orgs being appsheet core licenced

Kawano164

Thank you for your reply!

Let me confirm your explanation meaning.

Scenario:
We have two organizations, A and B, each with their own Google Workspace (GWS) accounts, including AppSheet Core licenses. Their domains are @companyA.com and @companyB.com, respectively.

What happen: (please correct if I am wrong)
If companyA want to use their appsheet app with companyB, you need to pay another license fee or user pass for company B even though they both are already paying GWS account fee including Appsheet core.

Your Suggestion :

Make new companyB user account inside companyA GWS via Cloud Identity Free; companyBuser@companyA.com
- This step is free. But companyBuser@companyA.com still can't use companyA appsheet app. Because they only pay companyB.com GWS fee but not companyA.com GWS fee or companyA appsheet license fee.
And you can't assign them GWS license or appsheet license to let companyBuser@companyA.com use the app without paying another GWS or license fee for companyBuser.
At the end, companyA should pay double GWS fee for companyBuser even though companyB is already paying GWS fee only for use appsheet app together.

This licensing model creates a significant barrier to collaboration between organizations using AppSheet.

It’s analogous to requiring an additional Google Workspace fee to share a Google Doc between two organizations – which is not the case. The ability to share Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides seamlessly across organizational boundaries is a key benefit of GWS.

Requiring duplicate licensing for AppSheet significantly hinders its adoption and usefulness for inter-organizational workflows. The Public sample is good system, but it’s not suitable for using app together.

I’m a strong advocate for AppSheet and believe it has immense potential. Its inclusion in Google Workspace was a fantastic step. However, I believe that removing the requirement for duplicate licensing when sharing apps between GWS organizations would dramatically increase its adoption and value, both in Japan and globally.

I respectfully request that you reconsider the current licensing model for inter-organizational AppSheet app sharing and explore options for making this process free of charge, similar to other GWS applications.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

alafontant

We understand and appreciate the feedback. The intention is not to charge users multiple times when they have an AppSheet Core or AppSheet Enterprise Plus license. We will investigate the prevalence of "inter-organizational AppSheet app sharing".

Guillermo

Thank you @alafontant

I think this is all we wanted to know, We are not asking for something exceptional, just something that is fair.

AppliSuite

@alafontant

Thank you for your response and for taking our feedback seriously. It's reassuring to hear that the intention is not to charge users multiple times when they already have AppSheet licenses. I'm looking forward to hearing the results of your investigation into inter-organizational app sharing.

I'd like to share some practical perspectives that might help with your investigation:

In the past, I was consulted by a company with paid Google Workspace subscriptions about implementing AppSheet, specifically with the requirement to share apps with external users. Ultimately, they decided against adoption because sharing with free Gmail accounts was problematic.

For certain scenarios, AppSheet User Pass is indeed valuable. Google Workspace administrators typically resist creating new user accounts or adding part-timers and student workers to Cloud Identity, finding it cumbersome and inconvenient. However, since these temporary workers typically already have free Gmail accounts, purchasing User Passes as needed eliminates the hassle of account management and learning unfamiliar systems like Cloud Identity. Under these conditions, Workspace administrators might welcome the User Pass option.

The problem arises when organizations that already pay for Google Workspace (with bundled AppSheet Core) are asked to bear additional User Pass costs—either themselves or requesting their collaboration partners to pay. They believe they already "own the licenses," making this concept difficult to explain or justify to them.

Construction companies and content creation studios frequently use subcontractors. There are many industries that have regular customer/vendor relationships. In these sectors, it's natural to want shared apps for data exchange, project progress tracking, logistics, quotes, deliveries, invoicing, and more across organizational boundaries.

However, User Pass is valuable for scenarios like event management, where you temporarily need many part-timers or student workers without AppSheet Core licenses. Purchasing only the necessary User Passes and having them sign in with free Gmail accounts provides adequate security, making it attractive to event managers. Similarly, in convenience stores, restaurants, cafes, and fast-food establishments where many employees are part-timers, creating Google Workspace accounts or adding them to Cloud Identity is impractical, making User Pass a potentially useful solution.

I believe the distinction should be: if both organizations already have AppSheet Core licenses (whether through Google Workspace or direct purchase), they should be able to share apps without additional licensing costs. This would better support inter-organizational collaboration while still maintaining the value of User Pass for the scenarios where it's truly needed.

@zito

AppliSuite

@alafontant , @zito

I fully support @Kawano164 's opinion regarding the new AppSheet User Pass licensing model. In the scenario he described, doesn't the AppSheet User Pass effectively amount to double charging for licenses?

There's definitely a legitimate need for sharing AppSheet apps between organizations for business purposes. For example, when Company A outsources work to Company B, Company A would naturally want to share their AppSheet app with Company B for progress tracking and management.

From practical experience, I know that Cloud Identity is not a viable solution in these cases for several reasons:

First, many Google Workspace administrators are unfamiliar with Cloud Identity. Even if they are aware of it, do they truly understand the differences between Google Workspace and Cloud Identity? When we suggest implementing Cloud Identity to these administrators, they're likely to resist or be hesitant.

Second, if the use of Cloud Identity is rejected, it's unreasonable to expect organizations to accept additional charges through AppSheet User Pass. For companies A and B working closely together with multiple apps and users, these costs could quickly become substantial.

In conclusion, shouldn't AppSheet User Pass be limited to users who:

Do not have a paid Google Workspace subscription (and therefore don't have the bundled AppSheet Core license)
AND do not have an AppSheet Core license purchased directly from AppSheet with a free Gmail account

Such users clearly don't have any AppSheet Core license, so everyone can understand why they would need to pay to use Company A's AppSheet applications. But charging organizations that already pay for AppSheet Core seems inequitable and creates unnecessary barriers to collaboration.

Guillermo

@alafontant wrote: @zito
I know I've spoken to customers where they have apps that an employee might access annually or quarterly, and it can be a tough pill to swallow that every user that wants to access that app needs an assigned AppSheet Enterprise Plus license, even though they use the app only a handful of times in a year. This gives organizations the flexibility to blend different licensing models to support the different usage patterns and adoption strategies.

I have a question here @alafontant @zito

Lets say I have on of these apps that are used annually or quarterly but I want the employees to be able to access the app whenever they want.

I have 300 employees, so I buy 300 user passes:

January: 35 user accessed the app
Feabruary: 300 users accessed
March: No one accessed

¿How much will I be charged on each month?

It would be great the following:

31st Dec: I pay 1500$ as a deposit
31st Jan: I pay 175$
28th Feb: I pay 1500$
31st Mar: I pay 0
1st Apr: I cancel the user pasess license method and I receive the 1500$ deposit

This will give us all the flexibility we need

alafontant

Billing for AppSheet User Pass is not based on usage - it is a subscription like all other Workspace licenses. You can work with your Workspace sales representative for custom pricing arrangements.

Guillermo

Thank you for your answer @alafontant know this is not interesting for Google.

But it also means that if you have users that only access the app sometimes, if has been more than 30 days from the last time you need to buy a User Pass repeatedly.

In the way the 3rd ponit of this post you mention:

The pool of User Pass licenses resets at the end of the calendar month and unused licenses do not rollover.

That is kind of pay per usage, ¿What happen if rollover from on month to other 100 User passes and 101 users access the app?