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Welcome to The<\/span> Exchange, a weekly startups-and-markets newsletter. It\u2019s inspired by the daily + column where it gets its name. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here.<\/em><\/p>\n In recent weeks, several companies tweaked the free tiers of their products, from Slack and Otter.ai to Google Meet and Heroku. This ties back into a crucial question for freemium businesses: When should you start charging? And does that look different in a downturn? Let\u2019s explore. \u2014 <\/i>Anna<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Oh, how things have changed.<\/p>\n You are already used to reading this on The Exchange, whether we are talking about public markets, venture capital or macroeconomic indicators. But now there\u2019s another sign of the times: Free tiers are becoming less generous.<\/p>\n An email I received from Google made it clear that we are in a very different mindset than when the pandemic started. \u201c<\/i>To help us all stay connected,\u201d the email read, \u201ctwo years ago we offered the premium version of Google Meet to everyone and announced that we would temporarily not enforce the 1-hour time limit for group meetings. Beginning this month, group meetings with three or more participants will revert to having a 1-hour limit.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019d like to host longer group meetings on Google Meet, you will have to sign up for a paid plan. In other words, Google is cutting down on its largesse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nNo time for freebies?<\/h2>\n