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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Voice

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AGoogle Voice is a free IP telephony service that provides users with one phone number that can be forwarded to multiple phones or devices. It includes features such as call forwarding, voicemail translation, text messaging, and voice calls. Fees may apply for international calling.

    $10

    per month

    Podium

    Score7 out of 10
    N/APodium, formerly Repdrive, is a ratings and review management platform from the company of the same name in Provo, Utah.N/A
    Pricing
    Google VoicePodium
    Editions & Modules
    Starter
    $10
    per user/per month
    Standard
    $20
    per user/per month
    Premier
    $30
    per user/per month
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google VoicePodium
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    Google VoicePodium
    Cloud PBX
    Comparison of Cloud PBX features of Google Voice and Podium
    Feature
    Google Voice
    5.3
    53 Ratings
    40% below category average
    Podium
    -
    Ratings
    Hosted PBX6.025 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)3.027 Ratings00 Ratings
    User templates1.419 Ratings00 Ratings
    Call reports7.046 Ratings00 Ratings
    Directory of employee names9.027 Ratings00 Ratings
    Call Management
    Comparison of Call Management features of Google Voice and Podium
    Feature
    Google Voice
    8.4
    67 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Podium
    -
    Ratings
    Answering rules8.546 Ratings00 Ratings
    Call recording8.152 Ratings00 Ratings
    Call park6.422 Ratings00 Ratings
    Call screening10.060 Ratings00 Ratings
    Message alerts9.065 Ratings00 Ratings
    VoIP system collaboration
    Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of Google Voice and Podium
    Feature
    Google Voice
    7.5
    44 Ratings
    6% below category average
    Podium
    -
    Ratings
    Video conferencing6.022 Ratings00 Ratings
    Audio conferencing8.039 Ratings00 Ratings
    Video screen sharing8.014 Ratings00 Ratings
    Instant messaging8.027 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile apps
    Comparison of Mobile apps features of Google Voice and Podium
    Feature
    Google Voice
    7.2
    63 Ratings
    9% below category average
    Podium
    -
    Ratings
    Mobile app for iOS6.945 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile app for Android7.451 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google VoicePodium
    Small Businesses
    CallFire
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Affinity CRM
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Fuze
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Hunter
    Score7.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
    Score8.3 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google VoicePodium
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.5
    (73 ratings)
    6.9
    (43 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.3
    (7 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (11 ratings)
    7.0
    (5 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (35 ratings)
    9.0
    (13 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Professional Services
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google VoicePodium
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    I do think Google Voice works well for organizations that do not have a support team meant to provide regular telephone support, and instead do so on an ad hoc basis. I would not recommend it for high-volume call activities, such as SDR motions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Podium
    Podium is well suited for several types of businesses. If you are an entrepreneur or small business owner, Podium would be a great way for you to ask that customers leave you a review online sharing their awesome experience. For medium to large businesses, Podium review invites can be automated through the company's customer management system, allowing the use of Podium to be simple and not timely, even with a large customer base. It may not be appropriate for a large company to manually send out individual review invites
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • Google Voice has been great for setting up additional phone lines and numbers.
    • The voicemail inbox is a great feature and you can see when messages come in online and listen to the messages from your computer.
    • Google Voice allows us to have multiple phone numbers and lines for specific business purposes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Podium
    • Maintains conversations indefinitely, so we are able to go back to confirm details from conversations.
    • Provides the ability for our company to have a 'team' messaging platform where we can communicate with one another via single person to a single person, groups where we can add/subtract members of the group... this is invaluable to our organization.
    • Until today(!), we could 'share' or forward a message to one another; oddly, that feature disappeared just today, so I'm hoping it's a glitch!
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • There has not been much innovation since the initial release.
    • It doesn't handle SMS well.
    • It does not natively integrate with CRM without legacy complication
    • It is not supported by Google as it once was
    • Call Recording is non-existent
    • Call-Tree or Virtual Auto-Attendant needs are not available
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Podium
    • Account manager communications: I had been asking my Podium account manager for integration with our CRM tool for over 8 months before my account manager fell silent. After another 6 months, I proactively reached out only to find out that the integration had been in Beta for months and 8 other companies had already integrated. It was frustrating that my account manager did not remember a key request and make the Beta available to me the minute that it was open.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    Google Voice has been invaluable for us in our effort to provide exceptional customer service. With Google Voice, we have been able to increase our customer interactions while reducing the wait time to reach a live person on our team. We couldn't be more pleased with the way things have worked out since implementing Google Voice.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Podium
    Again, Podium has been so wonderful in the year and a half we have been using it, we are able to integrate it with our CRM and use alot of the available features. The most helpful has been getting TONS of reviews on MULTIPLE sites through Podium!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Google
    I think it works really well in the arena it operates in, but not so well in areas where an enterprise system would be more appropriate. It's great for quick solutions that just work, but not so much for more complex call management tasks.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Podium
    While giving our clients the ability to leave a review was there, we had much worse results and got fewer reviews through the Podium portal than we did by sending our clients simple email requests, or simply having our service staff ask for a review while still on the clients' job sites.
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Podium
    We haven't had any outages or issues whenever we need it over the last few years of use
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Podium
    It moves quickly and has no issues with delays. Performance is good as it is a web-based tool
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Google
    They do not offer support unless you have the Business account for Google Voice under G Suite. This is tough, because Google doesn't really have a customer support team for this service, so when it gets shut down for a few hours, we have no choice but to wait it out. But this doesn't happen that often, which is great.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Podium
    I have to send an email to get information. They have a chat system but I end up having to go through my rep for account questions. It was a little frustrating to not have a direct phone number to call with questions. I would like to see a helpline added.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Google
    It is a pretty seamless program to transfer to, even for people who either have little experience with these programs or people who were stuck on Skype
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Podium
    We only had a hard time getting our technicians to remember to send the review invites.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    The integrations of Google Voice with all our devices are flawless, Android, iOS, Windows, Linux and Mac. Also, the call performance is far superior on wifi as well as on mobile data. With Skype, we had several problems with personal accounts, performance issues, and in general, it felt awkward to use it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Podium
    We use Digital Air Strike at our two GM dealerships because it is one of a small list of reputation management companies authorized by GM as part of their SFE program. Digital Air Strike surveys our customers and invites them to write a review about our dealership. It is not as effective or flexible as Podium so we have been using Podium at those dealerships alongside Digital Air Strike. We also recently started a trial use of ReplyPro which is a service that monitors review sites and writes customized responses to positive reviews and suggested responses to negative reviews. I'd like to see Podium add this as part of their service so we can consolidate 3rd party vendors and manage every aspect of online reputation management from one place.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Google
    Google Voice should be also be use to those who have difficulty in speaking English. So the contract term will need to be a little strict as Google Voice is used in navigations as the part of GPRS navigation is personal. The private data need to be in control much more securely and safely.
    Read full review
    Podium
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Google
    No answers on this topic
    Podium
    Its easy to scale to different departments as needed. We initially began using it to solve one problem and as new features became available it was easy to scale this and include other departments who could benefit from its tools
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Professional Services
    Google
    It help to connect with the products that we use as a part. We need to get in touch with our professional world. It is like a tool that helps us to get in touch with everything from A to Z in our professional careers. So we need to be in touch with everything as linearly as the jpb can be done.
    Read full review
    Podium
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • Cost for Google Voice is stellar, starting at $10/mo per user.
    • While it doesn't offer a new Audio/Video conferencing solution it does integrate with GSuite so it makes use of Google Calendar and Hangouts/ Google Meet.
    • Gets the employee's to use their company phone numbers more as texting is easy and deployment is simple.
    • The cell phone app is reliable and easy to deploy.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Podium
    • I am glad there are card readers now, sales team members too often try to just send a request instead of taking payment onsite.
    • It's made capturing messaging leads much easier.
    • It's worth the cost but if it did a few more things it would be worth a lot more to us. Document signatures, surveying after jobs, even geotagging of photos/reviews for SEO
    Read full review
    ScreenShots