Features depend on your account type
You can use Google Chat with a personal account or a Google Workspace account from your work or school. The features available depend on the type of account. With a personal account, you can only join chats and rooms that you're invited to. Review the table below for other differences between account types.
Compare features by account type
| Google Workspace account | Personal account | |
|---|---|---|
| Add or remove a star | ✔ | ✔ |
| Start a message | ✔ | ✘ |
| Create a room | ✔ | ✘ |
| Message a bot | ✔ | ✘ |
| Set up webhooks in messages | ✔ | ✘ |
| Delete messages | ✘ | ✘ |
Features are different for external users
In Chat, external users and rooms are marked external so that you always know if you're chatting with people outside your organisation. Review the table below for differences between internal and external rooms.
Compare internal and external rooms
| Internal member | External member | |
|---|---|---|
| View room history | ✔ | ✔ |
| View room members | ✔ | ✔ |
| Post messages in rooms | ✔ | ✔ |
| Delete messages in rooms | ✔ | ✔ |
| Rename rooms | ✔ | ✘ |
| Add or remove people, bots and webhooks in rooms |
✔ | ✘ |
| Invite users to rooms | ✔ | ✘ |
Differences with direct messages
- Both participants can delete their own copy of an entire external conversation (all messages). The participants can't, however, delete individual messages in an external conversation.
External users need a Google Account
To use Google Chat, people outside your organisation need a Google Account. They need either a Google Workspace account or a personal Google Account (for example, ends in @gmail.com). If the external contact is a Google Workspace user, their organisation needs to turn on Chat and the external chat option. Otherwise, they can’t get invitations, join a room or reply to direct messages.