TrustRadius
Podio is a freemium 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. Users can also select business apps from an online app store or build their own according to project needs.https://dudodiprj2sv7.cloudfront.net/product-logos/H7/7R/THTUERUPWEX0.PNGUser Friendly App. Customization At Its Best!Podio is used company wide by all employees at all levels, our business partners and even our clients. Podio allows us 24/7 real-time sharing of information and communication. Everyone receives updates at the same time, and tasks are assigned automatically when actions are taken, making the work flow much more efficient. It allows for transparency and monitoring as well.,Incredibly easy customization of applications. Powerful communication platform. Great integration with 3rd party application allowing for additional features in Podio. Strong automated task assignments.,Calendar functionality is very limited to a point that it is a feature we cannot use. Printing format of reports could have a better design. It would be great if we could hide archived workspaces.,10,Helps post purchase reinforcement from our customer point of view when using Podio as a daily tool. Improved processes efficiency Improved tremendously accessibility to all that is work related from any location.,Basecamp,2,Implemented in-house,10Podio - help your team work together!We use Podio across our organization. We are a nonprofit housing agency with offices in different cities in NC. We use Podio to organize events, to track projects, and as an agency-wide intranet for our employees. Podio cuts down on the number of emails employees receive and helps managers keep their eye on the progress of specific projects.,Podio tasks lists are very helpful - employees can keep private task lists or assign their tasks to shared workspaces so their colleagues can pick up on something if they are out sick. Workspaces are very flexible and can be set up to include any number of employees or outside partners. You can design your own apps to help get work done, so everything is 100% customizable. The chat function and the activity feed in workspaces gives people a place to chat without filling up everyone's email inboxes.,The calendar function in Podio is its weakest function. It's hard to sync Podio calendars to Outlook calendars, and the personal calendar is difficult to customize. There is a definite learning curve with Podio, especially for older employees who didn't grow up with social media. You really need a Podio administrator who helps people set up workspaces and apps for the first year. There is a danger in over-using the software, or expecting it to fix other organizational issues.,9,Podio has required a lot of staff time from one or two of our employees, to set up and get the others on board. Once Podio is up and running, it saves a lot of time and helps us communicate better. Podio has some features - i.e. webforms - that have helped us do event registration and applications better.,,Microsoft Office 365, Bloomerang, Citrix ShareFileGood tool for large teams- room for some improvementPodio is used across the whole organization. We use it for all teams currently to coordinate everything from content tasks, SEO tasks, design tasks, support tasks, and all items related to launching a new website. We also use it for social media tasks, and all other realms that our company is involved in.,Documents feedback, keeps tasks organized under a particular entity. Notifying team members when something is needed (assuming you tag them). Support Ticket documentation.,Unless you setup a set email folder for new Podio notifications, it is easy for some notifications to get lost when you need a team member to know about something. Attachment limit size per task- 100MB- a bit too small. Seems to be having a lot of downtime lately,8,It's been mostly positive for the company, but we are always reviewing other options I cannot speak to ROI, but I know the tool is used by everyone, and costs are justified Some people express frustration with missing notifications,Join the Podio Rodeo!I manage a small group of real estate agents for a team within a larger real estate firm. Podio is used to track our leads and incoming business as "projects" between myself and the assigned agent or agents as the project might call for. All agents use the product on their desktops and on their cell phones.,The phone app works great Allows us to communicate inline on a specific project or task Easy search functions Customizable Good product support,Could be easier to learn how to customize the product Offer fee-based support options to help groups like us to customize the software,9,Considering we're able to use the free version for what we need it for the ROI is pretty awesome. If we had a larger group then we might have to analyze and compare it to other software options.,DocuSign, OneDrive, Microsoft Office 365Improving efficiency with PodioWe use Podio to organize projects across departments. One such example is creating webforms that are utilized by interns when they are completing site observations to alert upper management of problems. We also use the calendar frequently to manage deliverable due dates. The ability to create apps or customize current apps within Podio to meet our companies needs is extremely beneficial.,Ability to create customized web forms (think Google Forms) Ability to push calendar notifications to various email platforms Mobile application is extremely helpful for when projects need to be completed on the go,The calendar is helpful, but it's not customizable yet. It'd be great if there could be color coding options to help with the organization.,9,Our interns can automatically update webform surveys and send the results back to the senior management on the spot. This eliminates the time that a meeting would take for the interns to discuss their site observations.,Wrike,Basecamp, Trello
  3. Podio Reviews
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Podio
87 Ratings
Score 7.5 out of 101
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Podio Reviews

Podio
87 Ratings
Score 7.5 out of 101
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July 04, 2018

Podio Review: "User Friendly App. Customization At Its Best!"

Stephanie Simon
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Podio is used company wide by all employees at all levels, our business partners and even our clients. Podio allows us 24/7 real-time sharing of information and communication. Everyone receives updates at the same time, and tasks are assigned automatically when actions are taken, making the work flow much more efficient. It allows for transparency and monitoring as well.
  • Incredibly easy customization of applications.
  • Powerful communication platform.
  • Great integration with 3rd party application allowing for additional features in Podio.
  • Strong automated task assignments.
  • Calendar functionality is very limited to a point that it is a feature we cannot use.
  • Printing format of reports could have a better design.
  • It would be great if we could hide archived workspaces.
Podio is great for project management, but not so great for calendaring.
Read Stephanie Simon's full review
December 12, 2017

User Review: "Podio - help your team work together!"

Kim Westermann
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use Podio across our organization. We are a nonprofit housing agency with offices in different cities in NC. We use Podio to organize events, to track projects, and as an agency-wide intranet for our employees. Podio cuts down on the number of emails employees receive and helps managers keep their eye on the progress of specific projects.
  • Podio tasks lists are very helpful - employees can keep private task lists or assign their tasks to shared workspaces so their colleagues can pick up on something if they are out sick.
  • Workspaces are very flexible and can be set up to include any number of employees or outside partners. You can design your own apps to help get work done, so everything is 100% customizable.
  • The chat function and the activity feed in workspaces gives people a place to chat without filling up everyone's email inboxes.
  • The calendar function in Podio is its weakest function. It's hard to sync Podio calendars to Outlook calendars, and the personal calendar is difficult to customize.
  • There is a definite learning curve with Podio, especially for older employees who didn't grow up with social media.
  • You really need a Podio administrator who helps people set up workspaces and apps for the first year. There is a danger in over-using the software, or expecting it to fix other organizational issues.
We've used Podio for staff recruitment, event planning, and our agency wide intranet. Our property management team has also used it for specific projects, like tracking all of the tasks associated with turning an apartment. Individual employees use it to manage their own task lists. It works less well for calendar-based tasks or for complex and long term project management (i.e. new construction). There are times when a project is just too complicated for Podio automations, so the software should be used to track basic items and remind users where they can find more information.
Read Kim Westermann's full review
October 03, 2017

Podio Review: "Good tool for large teams- room for some improvement"

Bohdan Cole
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Podio is used across the whole organization. We use it for all teams currently to coordinate everything from content tasks, SEO tasks, design tasks, support tasks, and all items related to launching a new website. We also use it for social media tasks, and all other realms that our company is involved in.
  • Documents feedback, keeps tasks organized under a particular entity.
  • Notifying team members when something is needed (assuming you tag them).
  • Support Ticket documentation.
  • Unless you setup a set email folder for new Podio notifications, it is easy for some notifications to get lost when you need a team member to know about something.
  • Attachment limit size per task- 100MB- a bit too small.
  • Seems to be having a lot of downtime lately
It is well suited for full scope project management and task management. It could be better for client facing avenues and tracking tasks/notifying clients when something is done- and separating what the client sees, versus what internal teams see. It is a robust tool that has many uses. It would be great if it could start to import links, project managers and other team member names from the Sales/Companies/Clients entities, into things like Project portals- knowing that they are the same and have the same people involved.
Read Bohdan Cole's full review
March 21, 2017

User Review: "Join the Podio Rodeo!"

Tip Iuliucci
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
I manage a small group of real estate agents for a team within a larger real estate firm. Podio is used to track our leads and incoming business as "projects" between myself and the assigned agent or agents as the project might call for. All agents use the product on their desktops and on their cell phones.
  • The phone app works great
  • Allows us to communicate inline on a specific project or task
  • Easy search functions
  • Customizable
  • Good product support
  • Could be easier to learn how to customize the product
  • Offer fee-based support options to help groups like us to customize the software
As I indicated, we use it to track leads as "projects". This works well and using the email notifications or push notifications allows us to quickly communicate on the status/progress of these projects. We've not figured out yet how to use it to manage our active clients/pipelines. That's something we're going to explore for our needs
Read Tip Iuliucci's full review
February 17, 2017

User Review: "Improving efficiency with Podio"

Verified User
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use Podio to organize projects across departments. One such example is creating webforms that are utilized by interns when they are completing site observations to alert upper management of problems. We also use the calendar frequently to manage deliverable due dates. The ability to create apps or customize current apps within Podio to meet our companies needs is extremely beneficial.
  • Ability to create customized web forms (think Google Forms)
  • Ability to push calendar notifications to various email platforms
  • Mobile application is extremely helpful for when projects need to be completed on the go
  • The calendar is helpful, but it's not customizable yet. It'd be great if there could be color coding options to help with the organization.
It simplifies communication in an organization and with clients. It's well suited for organizations that need help staying organized with their projects or need a single platform that can manage everything in one spot.
Read this authenticated review
February 25, 2016

Review: "Podio makes internal communications and project management easy and fast!"

Amy Smoucha
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use Podio to document our work and facilitate internal communications for our many moving projects. We chose Podio to foster internal communications and manage a diverse array of projects because Podio is incredibly flexible, and creating and relating data sets in "Apps" is very easy. Like a lot of non-profits, the projects and campaigns we advance require us to track varying levels of information. Podio allows us to flexibly change, add or subtract data we need to track and assess. The "relationship" fields available as a building block within Apps also allows us to aggregate data and use Podio in a relational way.

Because Podio's structure and navigation are very intuitive (a lot like social media platforms), adoption to Podio by our staff has been relatively easy and has not required too much training or development.

Lastly, using an online work collaboration or project management platform like Podio significantly increases efficiency and reduces the tendency to keep duplicative information in many places. In general, it allows us to store information, documents and updates in one place that everyone can access, review or query. It's a game changer!
  • Very easy for people without coding or technical skills to set up and maintain information in "Apps".
  • Platform is very easy to learn and adopt--it's intuitive.
  • Project management potential is awesome--instead of having to fit your projects into a structure that is industry specific, you can build an app that tracks what you want, in the order you want it.
  • Has a "relationship" field that allows you to relate an individual item or record to a record in another app. It effectively gives some of the functionality of a relational database.
  • Very useful for information sharing when staff members are in different regions or places.
  • Podio has different types of "contacts," including Workspace contacts, and that is a form of hard-wired data that is hard to figure out how to use. You also can't easily import or export contacts.
  • For longer term record keeping, it takes some strategic thinking to figure out how to archive, or make dormant, old or outdated information. It can be done in a variety of ways (by manipulating "views," using "category" fields or cloning apps and data to an archive workspace, but it takes some real thought.
I think Podio is flexible enough to be useful to almost any non profit or business. We built a suite of apps for event planning that completely streamlined our planning and logistics.
Read Amy Smoucha's full review
June 08, 2016

Podio Review: "Great website"

Morgan Kendrick
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Helps us see who is doing what on a project. We enter what we're doing in the description field and it really helps us to see how far along we are on a project.
  • Descriptive.
  • I like the status feature on the main network, because you can share with everyone.
  • I like the contacts feature, because it let's me see who's available.
  • Providing less e-mails
  • Over-all look and feel
  • I don't like that it doesn't remember me when I log-in.
Podio is well suited for media production. We can add our own fields and apps to the website, which really helps our department, because we do specific things in the media production field that other people may not do, such as filming location, and Service Level Agreement file attachment option.
Read Morgan Kendrick's full review
February 16, 2016

Podio Review: "Neat Interface"

Bargav Kondapu
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Podio was used on our project team. It was used to keep track of bugs and issues. We also used it for collaborating between team members. Since most of our team members are spread across globe Podio acted as a point of collaboration.
  • Neat Interface.
  • Unlike other collaboration software, Podio gives you flexibility to customize workflows with ease.
  • Multiple spaces.
  • Difficult to understand for new users.
  • Too many notifications.
Most of our team members, work in a different timezone, but Podio made our team communication easier. We use Bitbucket for code hosting and integration. Podio did a wonderful job of integrating with Bitbucket
Read Bargav Kondapu's full review
September 30, 2015

Review: "Podio is an excellent choice for small and mid sized companies"

Harold Klaassen
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We are using Podio ourselves as an CRM, as a tool to manage our buyer personas, a tool to collect and structure our content assets. We are implementing Podio for customers, mostly as a CRM, but also as content management tool and content curation tool.

We are a small company and everyone is using Podio and the Podio iPhone app.

As a CRM it is a good alternative for larger tools like SugarCRM and Salesforce because it is very easy to adjust to changing needs and requirements. What takes months to change in the other CRM's takes days in Podio.
  • Can be used for all kinds of business departments (HR, Finance, Development, Sales, etc)
  • A big App Market Place with predesigned apps (free)
  • Low Cost solution - High Flexibilty - Easy to use
  • Podio is an open platform, it isn't difficult to connect with it or to build another interface for it
  • Automated workflows must be improved (now there are third party solutions)
  • Podio workspaces should have the ability to (co) brand
  • Faster data entry possibilities
Podio is best suited for small to mid-sized companies. The workflows shouldn't be too complicated. Podio is very well designed to easily connect with other tools, so it can fit in almost every existing tool set you might (want to) use.

For less than 5 users you can use Podio for free. That is perfect for selecting a right tool for you. Start building the apps you need, or look for them in the app market. Import demo data and tweak the apps and work spaces until it matches your requirements. If you find it too difficult or you are missing key functionality then Podio isn't the platform for you and your business.
Read Harold Klaassen's full review
June 03, 2015

User Review: "Podio – a surprise on the Cheshire Cat"

Jan Florian Maas
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Podio is our magic toolbox for managing any kind of project and communication. Web based collaboration changed our business in the last two years. First, we worked internally with Podio to get more structured with ideas. Then, we dived into customer relation management and agile project management. That was the point, where other solutions felt stiffy, but Podio gave flexibility. Furthermore, Podio streamlined our communication and coordination of planning in many ways. Now, we are working with most of our customers within Podio, together.
  • If anything has to be tweaked or changed – in Podio you can do that in minutes!
  • If you need high security and want the maximum possible transparency of what is shared to whom or who is allowed to see your data – Podio's concept of work spaces is great!
  • Easy communication – get in contact with any team member or Podio user: chat, audio or video conferencing is just one click away!
  • Work the way you want – in Podio it's easy to structure your data in Apps and to configure workflows that meet your personal needs.
  • More filter options for calendars.
  • Customizable views for Relation fields.
  • Full featured Podio mobile App for iPad.
  • A customizable profile status – would love to work with Podio in silent mode (logged in while working, but "not available" for requests when in heavy work mode)
Some people seemed to be confused by too many options. Customizing your work in a digital workspace needs means rethinking your possibilities by knowing your toolset well. In the beginning, I was a little bit frustrated, because I didn't see all these options and there was a lack of best practise. Studying the large Podio App Store solutions helped me to understand. If you do not have the time it's the best moment for getting in contact with one of the Podio partners.
Read Jan Florian Maas's full review
March 17, 2015

Review: "Podio means it when they say “Work The Way You Work”"

Nando Cabán-Méndez
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
Review Source
I customized a collaboration workspace in Podio for a distributed content marketing team. The entire team (8, at one point) used it for everything from CRM and client sign-up, to project and service management.

Allowed to very effectively run a complex business
In its simplest form, Podio is a very advanced web and mobile-based task manager. It allows one to assign tasks to others and be notified when those are complete. Tasks can be referenced to what it calls "apps" (more like modules, easy to modify). Once I learned I could customize and cross-reference these internal apps , I created an app called "Clients", "Deliverables", "Campaigns", and "Content Planner" (A comprehensive content calendar: blog, social, email, etc.). This allowed for project management of all deliverables for clients, from setups to ongoing marketing, bulk upload of deliverables and content calendar, and lots of other good stuff.

Killed email, with its annoying CC's and ReplyAlls
Team communications happen within Podio, ideally within the comments space of the app (much like we do on social media). For instance, to follow up on an article draft for a deliverable due next week, instead of emailing the team member, I'd make a comment and “@ mention” the responsible person within the content unit. When they reply, the comments become a history for all team members to see. We could @ mention the graphic designer regarding an image needed and bring her into the conversation that way.
This way of working reduced our internal email to practically zero.

Lets one have a big picture, and also dive deep into details.
Because of the way if works, if set-up correctly, One can have a calendar view of the work being done, or a task view, or table with progress indicators.

A single point for all business info
Podio can substitute your CRM software, project management, have custom modules suited to specific business needs, and integrate with outside SaaS tools.

Did I mention it has great iPhone and Android mobile apps?


  • Tool is vastly customizable. They're not kidding when their tag line says: “Work the way you do”
  • The mobile apps are top notch. One can even customize how much of the desktop functionality one wants in the mobile app!
  • Eliminates the need for internal email. (This alone should be plenty good)
  • Expedites communication about big ideas or menial tasks. Makes teams more agile.
  • Like a set of old-school Lego, you must know what you want to do with it before digging in. Just creating an account to “give it a try” won't do. This requires planning, and discipline to execute.
  • As of the date of the review, some functions, like CRM fall a little short of dedicated SaaS solutions. A lot can be achieved, however, with API and outside extension.
  • Again, as of date of review: No built-in task dependencies or Gantt chart functionality.
  • Somewhere along the line we lost Google Apps integration, which was a great way to clean the inbox. One used to be able to create a Task from within a message, which in turn would include the body of the email message for reference.
  • Calendar integration is convoluted. Global calendar, Workspace calendars. IT gets a little unwieldy to manage.
  • Sharing with clients is impractical.
Better-suited:
Small companies with a distributed workforce that need structure in their process (as opposed to relying on shared spreadsheets or post-it-notes for process)
Great for any team that has had trouble implementing other, more rigid, project management tools (since they can customize this one)

Less-suited:
For technical reasons, it's not very good if you need or want to include clients in the conversations. One can work around this limitation, but also found out our clients didn't care to see the ghost inside the machine.

Read Nando Cabán-Méndez's full review
February 27, 2015

Review: "Podio offers communication integration with few headaches."

Keller Baum
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We initially tested Podio as a CRM and project management tool. Our choice was driven by the need to integrate these two functions as much of the information and communication retained at the lead/opportunity stage is needed later in the project lifecycle. Currently we are using Podio as an integrated CRM, project management, and knowledge base platform. We are
currently using Podio for operations and marketing and may use it to interface with accounting in the future. Podio addresses the problem of tracking communication within the organization. The platform does a good job of breaking up into functional workspaces and keeping tasks and emails in order.


  • 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.
Podio works well for dynamic teams that need to communicate on the fly and have active users. As a platform it might be more difficult for teams with very specific processes or needs. Important factors to consider are mobile vs desktop access, the need to integrate with other data(custom db, exchange vs gmail, etc), and how structured system data needs to be.
Read Keller Baum's full review
February 04, 2015

Podio Review: "The shortest and easiest path to social business"

Emre Tuncbilek
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
  • 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.
Podio is one of the most cost and effort effective ways for small and medium sized businesses to consolidate spreadsheets, manage calendars, and create a platform for employees, vendors and clients.

There are very large enterprises using Podio, but due to its workspace based user management it may not be ideal for certain applications.

The best way is to start with a small project / product management team and then decide whether it is the optimal solution for you.
Read Emre Tuncbilek's full review
March 05, 2015

Review: "Podio is a must-have tool for any company"

Dimitris Rakopoulos
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Podio is being used at our company for all aspects of day-to-day tasks. It is being used as a project management tool, a time tracking system, a resource management tool and even an inventory management tool. Its open architecture allows us to create any number of applications that are custom managed for our company and addressed specific problems or processes.
For our clients, it's a valuable tool for project management, approval process system, communication portal and resource handling.
  • 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.
Since it is a custom solution it can address a wide range of scenarios ranging from project management to invoice tracking. I think that Podio is a marvelous tool for any company that requires a way to handle internal or external processes with ease without having to spend lots of money to build a complex system.
Read Dimitris Rakopoulos's full review
March 04, 2015

Review: "Podio is the most complete project management solution available."

Stephen Gaschignard
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Podio is used across each department within AIESEC United States. We initially started using Podio for information management purposes and have since then used it for many other purposes - application process management, task management and tracking, CRM, financial tracking, and many other areas. It allows us to operate transparently as an organization and also have a resource where any member of the organization can find whatever information they need.
  • 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.
If you are just looking for a task manager or team tracker, Podio is going to be too much with too many features. However, if you are looking for a comprehensive project management tool with all the features you need in one spot then Podio is just what you need.
Read Stephen Gaschignard's full review
January 30, 2015

Review: "Podio is the best project management tool I've found for my web design / development business"

Derek Allard
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
I use Podio for communicating both with clients and with contractors I work with on any given project. Over time I've also used it to track personal tasks as well because it is very well organized. The problem Podio solves for me is 1) clearly communicating with clients (making sure they are aware of deadlines, etc. and 2) it creates a living, transparent repository for all things related to the project that can even be referred to after the project is completed. I upload all files (design comps, keyword research, have discussions about tricky issues we've worked out on a project) to Podio and the best part is I have had multiple clients (even non technical ones) say they really like using it because it is so simple. It also is customizable in that you can build your own apps for it so I've developed a core of apps that I use on every project which saves me time and keeps project management uniform across all projects.
  • 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).
I think Podio is ideally suited to website design and development work. I looked at Basecamp as well but that was too rigid for me. I needed the ability for my project management tool to be more robust and Podio fit the bill. I've been very pleased with it.
Read Derek Allard's full review
January 08, 2014

User Review: "Podio...Facebook for Business"

Philip Martin Jenck
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
  • 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.
Podio has a place in any company from sole proprietorships to multinationals.
Read Philip Martin Jenck's full review
January 09, 2014

User Review: "Podio - Read before you leap"

Sako Kassabian
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
  • 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
If you want an application that will be able to hold data well, with minimal editing, then this is for you. If you are expecting fully fleshed out excel features, you will be severely disappointed. This application is great for either the start up or the giant corporation, it is not the size of the company that will help you choose, but rather what features you seek to have. I personally would want to be capable to have fully fleshed out excel features so that I can make mass changes and do functions because they would make my job much easier. I have gotten frustrated with the system at times because it is not built for that. As I said before, if it's the right tool that you are looking for then it will work great for you.
Read Sako Kassabian's full review
January 10, 2014

Review: "Podio -The Future of Project Management is Here!"

Chris Castilla (305) 918-2560
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
  • 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.
I've already done so.
I have personally shown/demonstrated and taught Podio to over 30 people in my network.
Read Chris Castilla (305) 918-2560's full review
April 25, 2013

Podio Review: "Flexible enough to replace 3 software products we were using every day."

Andy Keil
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
  • 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.
We switched to Podio from a mixture of Highrise (sales leads), Basecamp (project management for designers), and Asana (project management for developers). Now our entire teams works in a single platform and no one misses tasks or information. Podio is flexible for just about any application and if we come up with a new use case, we can customize the platform to accommodate it.

We highly recommend it.
Read Andy Keil's full review
February 28, 2015

Review: "Falling in and out of love with Podio in a week"

Verified User
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Podio is still under evaluation at Apartments247.com, but we are using it to track Leads, Deals, Sales and Cancellations for the Sales & Marketing Department. The initial hope was that it could also work for Development and Production, bringing 3 departments under a single, streamlined system. That remains to be proved one way or the other, however.
  • 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)
Podio is great for niche businesses needing highly customizable apps. It is also suitable for smaller businesses where one person may wear many hats and operate in multiple departments simultaneously. Do you have a high-volume production dept. with a massive number of projects per month and a dozen or more tasks per project? If so, Podio is probably not a good fit for you. Good reporting alone does not make up for inefficiency and missed deadlines. If you demand high-quality customer support for your team, don't even think about Podio. Your people don't need to be insulted by the person whose job is supposed to be helping them.
Read this authenticated review
March 11, 2015

"Podio Review"

Verified User
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
Podio is used by the entire organization. It keeps our projects on task.
  • It allows your co-workers to get notifications when a change is made.
  • It allows managers to track changes and get updates without meeting in person.
  • It's great for cross-departmental communication and approval processes.
  • It would be great it they could generate emails based off the information entered in specific fields (for example: we book our travel in this app and I would like an email with all of the information rather than going in and looking it up each time).
  • It would be more helpful if there was a better way to connect vendors with contracts ( like the way Salesforce does).
  • It's not super convenient for our accounting department when it comes to overall budgets.
Read this authenticated review
March 11, 2015

Podio Review: "Gave it a try."

Verified User
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We tried Podio for a few weeks among fou of us at the agency. As an organization with remote workers, we were looking for a central web home for operations. We wanted a place for storing documents, quick chats, account updates, personal news, meeting notes, all of the daily water cooler type of stuff.
  • Easy to use.
  • Pricing reasonable - free for us.
  • Easy access.
  • Adding 'one more thing' to check proved the downfall.
  • Interface with google docs wasn't smooth.
If the organization wasn't on Google docs, I would recommend Podio. Key questions? How do you manage your organization's daily interaction now? Obviously good for remote teams where you have multiple locations, timezones. etc. Also will be more valuable to larger organizations. For us, it was just as easy to do without.
Read this authenticated review
December 09, 2014

User Review: "Podio makes life a lot easier!"

Verified User
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
  • 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
Podio is very flexible, have a look at their app market to see all of the various functions people are using it for. It's similar to a spreadsheet in that it's useful for engineering calculations as well as accounting tasks and numerous other applications.
Read this authenticated review
September 18, 2014

Review: "Podio the only work tool needed for your business"

Verified User
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use Podio to manage our real estate agency in Japan; it helps us manage customers, suppliers, and sales (CRM), manage properties, projects and marketing.
  • 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.
Podio is a flexible system that can be used for a variety of businesses. It is extremely affordable and reliable.
Read this authenticated review

Podio Scorecard Summary

Likelihood to Recommend (87)
7.5
Likelihood to Renew (17)
9.1
Usability (2)
6.0
Availability (4)
8.0
Performance (2)
8.0
Support (2)
9.0
Implementation (1)
7.0
Product Scalability (2)
10.0

Feature Scorecard Summary

Task Management (13)
10.0
Resource Management (12)
7.7
Gantt Charts (4)
4.5
Scheduling (12)
5.8
Workflow Automation (13)
9.4
Team Collaboration (14)
10.0
Support for Agile Methodology (8)
9.9
Support for Waterfall Methodology (5)
4.5
Document Management (11)
8.0
Email integration (12)
7.9
Mobile Access (12)
9.0
Timesheet Tracking (6)
5.5
Change request and Case Management (11)
6.1
Budget and Expense Management (10)
7.0
Quotes/estimates (1)
5.5
Invoicing (1)
5.5
Project & financial reporting (3)
6.5

About 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.
Categories:  Collaboration,  Project Management

Podio Integrations

Podio Competitors

Pricing

Does not have featureFree Trial Available?No
Has featureFree or Freemium Version Available?Yes
Does not have featurePremium Consulting/Integration Services Available?No
Entry-level set up fee?No

Podio Technical Details

Operating Systems: Unspecified
Mobile Application:No