A Once Powerful Platform that Has Withered on the Vine
We use Podio extensively. We also use the Workflow Automations to help where Podio has shortfalls. Podio is the backbone of our sales, …
Starting at $9 per month
View PricingOverview
What is Podio?
Podio is a cloud-based platform for organizing team communication, business processes, and reporting in project management workspaces; also it may be used as a light CRM platform. It enables workflow automation and integrations. It includes a free version and paid…
Recent Reviews
Popular Features
- Task Management (24)3.131%
- Team Collaboration (26)3.131%
- Workflow Automation (25)1.111%
- Document Management (22)1.111%
Pricing
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.podio.com/site/pricing
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Starting price (does not include set up fee)
- $9 per month
Features
Return to navigation
Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Podio?
Podio is a cloud-based collaboration service that was founded in 2009 and acquired by Citrix in 2012. Podio supplies a web-based platform for organizing team communication, business processes, data and content in project management workspaces; also it may be used as a social intranet or as a light CRM platform. Its reporting features allow a user to observe sales pipelines and manage budgets and time. Its task management interface is meant to be lively and dynamic as a social networking site's to facilitate sharing and task delegations, and supports document uploading. Workflows can be improved via automation of various triggered tasks. It integrates email and many familiar programs and applications (e.g. Dropbox, Gmail and Google Apps, Gotomeeting, Excel) to expand functionality, and it is mobile accessible.
Podio began as a free service and a free option still remains, though three tiers of paid plans (Basic, Plus, and Premium) are now offered which expand support options from implementation only to a priority lifetime user able to gain support at any time (Premium), and limited access to shared projects for subordinate team members. However core features are supported across the tiers.
Podio Integrations
Podio Competitors
Podio Technical Details
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
|---|---|
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Podio is a cloud-based platform for organizing team communication, business processes, and reporting in project management workspaces; also it may be used as a light CRM platform. It enables workflow automation and integrations. It includes a free version and paid packages with additional features.
Podio starts at $9.
Reviewers rate Support for Waterfall Methodology highest, with a score of 9.4.
The most common users of Podio are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
Comparisons
Compare with
Reviews and Ratings
(131)Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(26-42 of 42)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
March 05, 2015
Podio is a must-have tool for any company
- Project management. A series of applications that work together in order to address any issues related to project management are available and can be customized to specific needs.
- Resources management. A custom application can be created to handle all resource in a company with any number of parameters.
- The sky is the limit! Since all applications are custom made, they can be altered to handle any company need.
- A more advanced workflow system would be appreciated. Since workflows are new to the system I presume that it is something that will be improved over time.
- More advanced field validation when creating applications would be appreciated.
- Podio makes it extremely simple to collaborate as an organization. It is a breeze to have multiple people working on the same project.
- I love Podio web forms - they are great for distributing surveys, collecting applications, doing internal employee certifications... anything else you could think of.
- Podio is great for managing resources. We keep all of our marketing materials and resources for any team across the US to use.
- Notifications can get a little out of hand at times. It is a challenge to filter through which notifications are actually important.
March 01, 2015
Falling in and out of love with Podio in a week
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Podio's apps are the most customizable tools I have seen anywhere, and I have tested and evaluated a large number of work management solutions. The abstract nature of their apps makes them ideal for very specific, niche cases as well as common, general purpose uses. The solution is elegant: an app is simply a collection of app items, with characteristics and perhaps links to other apps & their app items, all of which can be defined by your needs. Anyone who enjoys making "lists" of "things" should love this.
- Custom reporting is a dream in Podio. I can take any characteristics or fields in any of my app items, compare or filter them with other apps' items, run calculations on them and figure totals by month, team member or almost anything else you can imagine. The possibilities really seem limited only by your imagination.
- Podio has a lot of features, but another strength to factor in is third-party support. There are a lot of outside companies that offer additional features like detailed workflows, synchronizations between other cloud-based apps, and possibly even graphs in the near future.
- Task management is an afterthought, unfortunately. For complex production operations that need detailed tasks, recurring tasks, prerequisite tasks and staggered due dates for a large number of projects, Podio simply does not cut the mustard. In this area, Asana reigns supreme. It's unfortunate that simple things like due dates are missing from the app item task list view. You have to click on the task to see its due date; there is no project view of due dates. You can see due dates on the global task view, but then you can't see the app item or project that task is part of. In a production dept. with a lot of duplicate named tasks, the global task view is all but useless. Unfortunately, there is no project-based, big picture view of tasks, assignees and due dates in a single view. If you have a large team doing a lot of Production work, go with Asana or AskCow. We use Asana.
- Don't even bother telling Podio about their shortcomings. The absurdly negative answers I got from my assigned client services representative were (and I quote) "Tasks are a simple function. They cannot be customized" and when I asked if I could make tasks more prominent, "tasks will always be on the bottom of the item." When I suggested app items could benefit from color coding (common in all major text editors, spreadsheets and traffic intersections), I was hit with the insulting, "A color-coded rainbow of an item list won't happen" and most frustratingly, "You are one customer among very, very many." Thanks for nothing, Podio support. They simply do not care about you or your company's needs, and clearly only want to do business in aggregate. Terrible, deplorable customer service. Bad enough on its own to not want to do business with them on principle alone.
- Automated Workflows, while exciting initially, turned out to be rudimentary at best. You have two triggers and two effects, giving you a total multiplier of four whole options. Nothing to write home about there.
- While the text-based reporting is great, a total lack of charts or graphs means I still need to resort to using spreadsheets to visualize sales performance. (or another software solution)
February 27, 2015
Podio offers communication integration with few headaches.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Podio is great for organizing and storing communication. The ability to break project into logical chunks and organize events vs deliverables vs contacts works well. The email in to app (bcc the app item) is absolutely key and makes the platform more valuable.
- Mobile access works well and makes it easy to find needed information on the fly.
- The ability to integrate external users into just the needed portions of the platform works well and is a great time saver. It reduces a great deal of duplication in setting up events and sending invites.
- Podio also manages notification well. Users can set the amount and form of notification they get on an individual basis and the daily summary works well.
- The biggest issue with Podio is the confusion with contacts. Podio has multiple forms of contacts which can be confusing and impact functionality. For CRM external contacts can be used but they can't be customized as needed (grouped by organization, link to social profiles, etc). To address this creating a contacts app works but limits other functionality (seeing contacts as contacts from mobile, callouts in comments). Currently I am using the contacts as an app method but hope the developers will integrate this better in the future.
- The double edged sword of functionality vs simplicity falls a little against Podio as a platform. While many of the key functions are well thought out the inability to customize as needed can be frustrating. Coming from a traditional database (access, salesforce, etc) mentality the lack of data types and ability to customize is limiting.
- Mobile access can also be frustrating depending on the use. Podio has stated that they want the system to be live and interactive so having an offline version doesn't make sense. While that makes sense it can be a deal breaker for mobile users with spotty connections.
February 04, 2015
The shortest and easiest path to social business
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Podio is the shortest path to consolidating your spreadsheets, task and calendar management, cloud storage and project management all together within days. Cheaper and way simpler than Salesforce and way more capable than Basecamp and the like.
- Podio adapts you, not the other way around. It is not a pre-written software for collaboration (Yammer), but a platform where users create their own modules without having to code or understand databases.
- Podio allows you to bring 3rd party vendors, clients and employees collaborate on their own domain (Workspaces) without having to worry about confidentiality
- There is an App Store where you can simply install workspace templates created by others and start getting things done instead of spending weeks on design, you can always customize your apps as you move on.
- Podio app on iOS is very capable, but on Android it is lagging behind.
- Advanced, multistep, field calculations are harder to implement compared to the rest of the setup.
- User management is handled via Workspaces, which is different than Salesforce.com or similar platforms, it can be both an advantage or a disadvantage based on your workflow.
January 30, 2015
Podio is the best project management tool I've found for my web design / development business
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- The ability to customize apps to your own needs (particularly useful for me with bug tracking)
- Sends email notifications to the RIGHT people when they have a task assigned to them
- Very nice granular permission control and the ability to mark tasks private (for things a client doesn't need to see).
- It has the ability to chat with people online but would love a more robust google hangouts kind of interface ... would love to be able to present via video to clients
- The pricing structure is a bit confusing to me ... it's based on users, but only certain kinds of users. It could be clarified.
- Sometimes there's a lag (it's web based) which can be briefly annoying (admittedly, this could be my connection here in the office).
December 09, 2014
Podio makes life a lot easier!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Great for use as a CRM
- Great for managing projects
- Very easy to learn and very flexible
- Great customer service
- Continual development of features
- Podio is somewhat limited when it comes to complex functionality, however they are beginning to address that with their "Workflows" feature. Still, it's crucial that each user know what is expected of them, such as which fields or apps are their responsibility to maintain
- The iPhone app needs to be easier to navigate
September 18, 2014
Podio the only work tool needed for your business
- It is extremely flexible in the way you use it, you can set it up to suit your needs
- It is quick and easy to use
- It works with smartphones, tablets, email, dropbox and evernote
- Support for non latin languages needs some improvement, particularly when searching. But this is not a major issue, we use it in Japanese.
May 20, 2014
Podio is great for remote teams
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Flexible - Podio is built on customizing the apps to fit your needs and expectations
- Adaptable - we've been able to pivot how we use it as we learn more with minimal loss of actual data
- Good at everything - so far everything we've thrown at it has worked out pretty well
- Steep learning curve - not a particularly intuitive design, likely because it IS so adaptable
- No roadmap - there's a lot of suggestions for product features, but no roadmap of where they are going with this
- Recently updated - didn't really know it was coming or what would be on it, but they are invested in their product and made some good updates
- Good at everything, great at nothing - again, because it IS so adaptable, it doesn't excel at any one feature
April 27, 2014
The no.1 tool for Small Medium Enterprises
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Provides clients the ability to take a workflow in email, excel or paper and make it easy to use and modify
- Makes it easy to delegate tasks and track progress
- Reduces the need to have WIP meetings and action and communication is immediate
- Allows for collaborating in multiple locations and supports flexible work practises
- Ease of working with clients and suppliers on a common platform
- Greater sales visibility and facts to follow up on outstanding leads. You can track actual compared to target sales
- Cross functional application. Some CRM's have a narrow focus on one or two functions. Other project management tools are very IT or technically focused. Podio can apply across multiple functions and roles
- Podio is customised for the way you work as opposed to changing your behaviours to fit a system
- Integration with Citrix GotToMeeting, video, audio and chat makes it easy to work in one place
- Use of web forms for collecting information pre and post meetings
- Lack of automation of workflows. There is a 3rd party solution called Globiflow and Podio have launched a basic workflow tool.
- GoToMeeting integration is good however expensive compared to other solutions
- Podio can be complex to learn and requires training
- Podio architecture is best to be set-up before you build too many apps as it can become confusing
- The search features could be improved
- Not able to clone workspaces, only apps
- Keeping on top of notifications and learning how to unfollow notifications
February 11, 2014
Three Cheers for Podio
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Flexibility of apps
- Required fields of apps
- Linkability of apps to each other and between worskpaces
- Not sure if this has been implemented but having drop-down menus that change depending on your previous selection - AND/OR functionality would be great.
- Some ability to reskin Podio.
- Archiving of old projects / content of apps without manually moving contents.
January 22, 2014
Why Podio can be right for you.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Makes interfacing with colleagues & departments a more human experience (profiles & pictures)
- Digitizes task and makes more users accountable
- Reduces, if not eliminates, the need for email.
- Alerts are still sent via email which makes the transition 100% to podio, from email, a bit more difficult on late aadopters
- The app store and app-building functionality (albeit powerful) I found difficult to understand and take full advantage of.
January 10, 2014
Podio -The Future of Project Management is Here!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- It enables users to interact in ways that are unique to Podio.
- It's friendly User Interface makes it extremely easy to manage projects
- It has become our #1 tool for Project/Event management.
- I've been using Podio for a little over a year and I still haven't found a single flaw.
- They are constantly upgrading and coming out with new tools and updates to improve their software.
January 09, 2014
Podio - Read before you leap
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Very easy to organize data, especially if you are in the sales industry. If you are 5 or less employees, they system is free.
- The ability to use web forms where someone on the outside can fill in information and it will automatically be populated in a spread sheet is very helpful.
- The ability to delegate tasks and to eventually get rid of company wide email keeps everything up to date.
- ability to quickly chat with other employees instead of waiting for email.
- It is not a system designed well to be used for mass data entry or excel type use.
- The importing from excel feature seems to be broken as it typically causes other issues elsewhere and is not very user friendly
- Some design decisions that are made when it comes to editing data, customization, etc are down right shocking
January 08, 2014
Podio Helps us Work Together.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Podio is a great way to organize/track information in a team environment.
- Podio's flexibility allows it to be tailored to the precise needs of the organization or team.
- Podio can create an interconnected web of data that makes finding information easier.
- Podio's flexibility can make it daunting to setup. You need to have an understanding of where you want to end up before you start.
- Podio's flexibility also makes it less able to deal with highly specialized use cases that might be better served by dedicated solutions.
- Podio apps lack some data manipulation abilities. For example, you cannot calculate the number of days between two dates.
January 08, 2014
Podio...Facebook for Business
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- As a seasoned IT professional responsible for developing business critical applications for a wide variety of industries I have a keen interest in new and innovative solutions for legacy and "new economy" companies. Like many other "grey beard" IT professionals, I have embraced the web based migration of all things IT. Just as we experienced in the 1980's and 90's as we transitioned from Main-Frames to PCs the pace of change in my field continues to accelerate. It takes real-world experience to recognize the "gems" in software applications and web services.
- Podio is a real gem. It builds on the strength of social media web design and marries it with business email applications to create an in-house communication system that has the granularity to manage projects and the extensibility to encompass Customer Relationship Management. Now add a simple programming paradigm for creating dashboard widgets and you see the power of Podio.
- Podio is unlike other web tools that just moved time proven technologies from the desktop to the browser. Not that Salesforce isn't a great database tool, but compared to Podio it is a hammer that sees everything as a nail while Podio is a box of legos.
- I downloaded, installed and tested many similar products before selecting Podio as the best of the bunch. Just check out their demos, forum, and support before you commit to an alternative product. Great solutions aren't just about bullet point features but require a ground swell of users to succeed. I believe Podio "has what it takes" to be the leader in their "solution sphere".
- They offer a generous community edition. Try it out in HR or MarCom. Easy enough for your Executive wing and cool enough for your interns. I say "You won't be sorry".
- More excellent video tutorials for building widgets and reports.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
- Switching between workspaces is seamless.
- Intuitive interface that makes it easy to get in and start using the product.
- To-dos are managed well, much better than Basecamp.
- Project Management, CRM, Sales Leads, etc.
- Extremely customizable for just about any application.
- Searching across all workspaces is very intuitive.
- Too flexible. Can be daunting for inexperienced users.
- Having Milestones, Deliverables, Tasks can be confusing on when to use each for some users.