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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Chat

    Score7.9 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Chat, formerly Hangouts Chat, is a collaboration tool competing with Slack, designed to make it easy for teams to be able to get their work done in one place. From direct messages to group conversations, Chat helps teams collaborate, and with dedicated, virtual rooms to house projects over time — plus threaded conversations — Chat helps users track progress and follow up tasks. Chat currently supports 28 languages and each room can support up to 8,000 members.N/A

    Freehand by InVision

    Score7.7 out of 10
    N/AFreehand, from InVision headquartered in New York, is an online whiteboard that enables teams to plan, brainstorm, and draw together. It aims to give everyone a simple way to visually represent ideas with charts, diagrams, and drawings. Whether for mind mapping, creating a customer journey map, or drafting up an org chart, Freehand can help teams make ideas and plans visual.

    $4

    per month per user

    Pricing
    Google ChatFreehand by InVision
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Freehand Free
    $0
    per year per user
    Freehand Pro
    $4
    per month per user
    Freehand Enterprise
    Custom Quote
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google ChatFreehand by InVision
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google ChatFreehand by InVision
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    No answer on this topic
    InVisionApp Inc.
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    24 Answers
    88%
    Would buy again
    90 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    26 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    61 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    24 Answers
    87%
    Happy with the feature set
    89 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    16 Answers
    97%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    37 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    95%
    Implementation went as expected
    19 Answers
    98%
    Implementation went as expected
    54 Answers
    Features
    Google ChatFreehand by InVision
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of Google Chat and Freehand by InVision
    Feature
    Google Chat
    8.3
    26 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Freehand by InVision
    -
    Ratings
    Task Management8.014 Ratings00 Ratings
    Gantt Charts8.29 Ratings00 Ratings
    Scheduling8.616 Ratings00 Ratings
    Workflow Automation7.312 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Access9.225 Ratings00 Ratings
    Search9.123 Ratings00 Ratings
    Visual planning tools7.713 Ratings00 Ratings
    Communication
    Comparison of Communication features of Google Chat and Freehand by InVision
    Feature
    Google Chat
    8.9
    26 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Freehand by InVision
    -
    Ratings
    Chat9.826 Ratings00 Ratings
    Notifications9.126 Ratings00 Ratings
    Discussions8.824 Ratings00 Ratings
    Surveys9.417 Ratings00 Ratings
    Internal knowledgebase8.915 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with GoToMeeting8.07 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts8.215 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Outlook9.06 Ratings00 Ratings
    File Sharing & Management
    Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Google Chat and Freehand by InVision
    Feature
    Google Chat
    8.6
    26 Ratings
    7% above category average
    Freehand by InVision
    -
    Ratings
    Versioning8.817 Ratings00 Ratings
    Video files7.623 Ratings00 Ratings
    Audio files7.922 Ratings00 Ratings
    Document collaboration8.021 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access control9.318 Ratings00 Ratings
    Advanced security features9.319 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Google Drive8.115 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device sync9.624 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google ChatFreehand by InVision
    Small Businesses
    Flock
    Score9.5 out of 10
    Whimsical
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Troop Messenger
    Score9.8 out of 10
    Whimsical
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
    Score9 out of 10
    Whimsical
    Score9.3 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google ChatFreehand by InVision
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.2
    (26 ratings)
    7.9
    (102 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.0
    (9 ratings)
    Usability
    8.9
    (9 ratings)
    7.5
    (16 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.7
    (3 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (3 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.3
    (3 ratings)
    9.4
    (6 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (7 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (3 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google ChatFreehand by InVision
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    It is a easy and quick way to chat and send instant message using the Google account, even send files, emojis, create groups. I have used it to communicate even with external people with a personal gmail account and is great to stay in touch with all around. I recommend it for anyone who wants to stay communicated using a google account.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    InVisionApp Inc.
    InVision Freehand has quickly evolved to be a very robust solution for our pre-design process and collaboration with stakeholders and other product teams. It has brought a lot more hands-on workshopping opportunities and created engaging spaces for cross functional teams. Internally to our design org we are able to prototype ideas faster and generate insights or changes BEFORE going into more hi-fidelity design tools or processes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • When discussing about a specific project, I can quickly share google docs or sheets within the chat which helps my team to view the document in real time and they do not have to leave the conversation.
    • Scheduling a meeting with someone is very easy on Google Chat.
    • We have remote team members in different time zones and instead of waiting for emails we use Google Chat to quickly discuss anything.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    InVisionApp Inc.
    • Bring in and embed external files and view them on the board without having to move out of freehand. eg. pdf's, power point, youtube etc.
    • Creating wireframes, flow maps, all and any kinds of created art boards to share with team members.
    • Ability to create text and link to external sites
    • Can format and create pages with text and bullet points right in freehand, rather than having to go to another software to do the same.
    • Collaborate with Team members all on the same board and project at the same time and get feedback live in a meeting and/or even later.
    • Love the different templates that have been provided for me to use as a starting point.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • Google Hangouts Chat has a room for improvement in customizing the themes background.The themes are outdated and hard to change if you don't know the right key to change it.
    • It could be more user friendly if there will be no hidden features. Formatting messages is very likely to use and fun.
    • With conversations going on about everything all the time, it's easy to get pulled into far too many discussions but sometimes its hard to mention names because it shows many result even the users are not included on the chat room.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    InVisionApp Inc.
    • The resolution: Our webpage designs always pass the resolution threshold to where freehand starts to work its compression. During presentations, it can be a little embarrassing when we can't read the copy because it looks like potatoes.
    • Embedding videos: GIFs are only good to a certain point, and creating Vimeo embeds is tedious. I wish I could embed MP4s or web assets a lot quicker.
    • Touchpad panning: I can't tell you how many times I've "gone back" in my browser when I'm just trying to pan across the freehand. Has honestly made me wanna force quit on many occasions.
    • Sticky notes and text in shapes: Overall, it's really hard to use the sticky notes and text inside rectangles without the text just getting all over the place. It's different sizes, it gets too tiny, it gets way too big, and overall, it just doesn't look professional, even with a lot of fussing.
    • No ability to crop/mask an image. Nice to have, but sometimes we just need to delete a chunk off a screenshot, and it requires opening PS or taking a screenshot to edit anything.
    • Wish there was a way to have "internal comments" that are not visible to our clients.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    The updates, support, general reviews on Google Chat are great everywhere. The development of the features is ongoing and this adds a great value to Google as a big company in the market. Other applications are limiting communication while Google Chat is allowing communication to grow. It is very easy to use it and teach others how to use Google Chat.
    Read full review
    InVisionApp Inc.
    Honestly as in any organization it's up to budget. I feel like every organization I go to I'm constantly striving to keep InVision as part of the main funded tools used by the team especially in a remote environment. I feel there is a push to move to Figma and Zooms new white boarding tool but I'm still not a fan of Zoom's tool. Microsoft also created a white boarding tool which has been buggy.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Google
    As stated from the starting we found this application is well suited for a small audience and a group of people across the organization can be communicated easily with no additional hectic of doing any setup. When you have a Gmail account ready then you can easily access google chat and continue the communication. This tool is simple,secure and robust helping the global leading partner for their internal precise communication and handling the tasks in a great way
    Incentivized
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    InVisionApp Inc.
    Color Selection can be tricky when changing colors for shapes and text I've seen other users struggle with creating sticky notes and getting text to fit in the box properly and had to abandon the tool for a workshop for this reason After having a demo, I learned of new features I wasn't using. I don't know it would have been intuitive to find on my own.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    InVisionApp Inc.
    For availability, we never have to even think about whether inVision Freehand is going to be available for us to work with. There has never been a time when we have opened up the application and had any issues of any kind. I can't imagine why anyone would work with a platform that is unreliable. inVision Freehand is realibel, stable, and getting better all the time. Whether it's their built-in tools or the expanding of Templates to work with Freehand has been a reliable go-to platform for us.
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    InVisionApp Inc.
    It is a little slow when bringing artboards from Sketch to Freehand using Craft. I have had some issues loading and redrawing pages when I have a lot of images on my freehand board. It gives me an error message while I am in the file and starts to reload and redraw all the photos again. Not sure if it has a limit on how many images it can handle on a board at a time.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Google
    I have not needed to contact the support folks for Google Hangouts Chat, so I can't speak to this with any accuracy. The online instructions are fairly clearly written, so it is fairly intuitive to start with. I did not feel the need to use the support people anyway.
    Incentivized
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    InVisionApp Inc.
    I haven't had to use the support team for anything, which is great news because that means the product usually works as expected! In terms of online support, I've been able to find videos that show how new features work. Also, many of the people I work with have experience with the tools so they are a great resource for me.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    InVisionApp Inc.
    The implementation is pretty much easy-peasy and plug-n-play. We simply download the applications and install, signed in and were good to go. I really cannot imagine that there would be anyone who would have any difficulty whatsoever in getting started in more than just a few minutes. It's really how implementing these officewide improvements should always go.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    Slack has a few more features than Google Chat. Slack, for a long time, had thread chats that grouped a thread of thoughts together, making the main chat group space a lot less cluttered. A while back, Google Chat implemented a similar thing in a different but similar way, making the group less crowded. They are catching up.
    Incentivized
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    InVisionApp Inc.
    Miro (formerly Realtime Board) is the original product concept for this tool and I used it for 3-4 years for product development. Invision is aesthetically a carbon copy of the tool but lacks in fine usability controls. We actually didn't choose Freehand, it just came as an added tool under our Invision subscription. It's helpful but knowing the previous tool, it's been a hard sell because it's just not as good. Again, it's really fine tuned usability things like navigation, zoom, switching from tool to tool, selecting and deselecting, etc
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    InVisionApp Inc.
    Getting set up with inVision Freehand was super simple. We figured how many of our team members were going to be using it and we set up our account knowing that. There were no negotiations, contract hassles or anything that would have been a waste of our time, efforts or resources.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    InVisionApp Inc.
    Not everyone in the company has access to Invision, and they can't view the links I provide to them. I also wish everyone could view a file without logging in to the enterprise account. It comes in handy when I am doing focus-group studies or other studies with our customers that don't have Freehand. Unfortunately, if that is possible, I don't know how to do that.
    Incentivized
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    Professional Services
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    InVisionApp Inc.
    We didn't use an outside vendor - that's why I gave this option a 10.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Google
    • In my work it allows us to report troubles that may cost loss of investment thru Google Hangouts Chat we were able to communicate on how to fix it.
    • I hope we can make it on our own choice of colors to heightened workers vibe
    • It is connected to your email
    Incentivized
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    InVisionApp Inc.
    • Positives all around. Everyone is able to see and collaborate.
    • Granting access is sometimes a pain. Sending the link does not always work, and I get emails as people try to access boards.
    • No negatives really, I love learning all of the different ways it can be used.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots