The best Podium alternatives (+ prices, features, & reviews)

When Podium launched its add-on phone service in 2023, it claimed to offer review management and ongoing business communication services. But between its calling and texting limitations, plus its steep monthly cost, most business owners realize it’s not a great fit.

We took the liberty of rounding up the best Podium alternatives — including a side-by-side comparison of their features, pricing, and customer reviews — so you can choose the best platform for your business needs. We also explain why users move on from Podium and opt for more scalable solutions like Quo.

Comparing the best Podium alternatives

Here’s how the best Podium alternatives compare based on their features, pricing, and user reviews:

1. Quo (formerly OpenPhone): Best Podium alternative for small and growing businesses

Pros

• User-friendly interface works on any device (laptop, smartphone, tablet, desktop)
• Unlimited calling and messaging to US and Canadian numbers
• Texting automations on every plan
• AI voice agent
• Visual call flow builder
• Transparent pricing plans

Cons

• Can’t verify accounts through two-factor authentication*

*Nearly all virtual phone numbers share this problem. For safety reasons, companies like Facebook, Uber, and Google rarely let you authenticate accounts through a virtual phone number.

Quo is a flexible business phone system that can help you build better experiences for customers. Every user on your account gets one local or toll-free number, plus unlimited calls and texts to US and Canadian phone numbers.

With Quo’s shared phone numbers, multiple team members can call and text from a single number. Plus, you’ll be able to see all customer communication in one inbox. This includes calls, texts, voicemails, call recordings, and transcripts, making it easy to answer your customers in context and build deeper relationships.

You can also tap into Quo’s AI agent, Sona. It can greet callers, collect messages, and respond to FAQs — all while talking to your customer on the phone.

And speaking of phone calls, you can use Quo’s visual call flow builder to create custom call flows in minutes. This gives you more granular control over how you manage call volume and how customers will interact with your business. You can route calls based on your team’s schedule, send certain calls straight to voicemail, or place Sona anywhere in your flow to automatically answer calls.

Podium doesn’t offer a visual call flow builder at all. Instead, you have to set up each step, like business hours, phone menu, and call forwarding,  one by one, with no way to see how they connect. That makes it harder to understand what your callers will experience or catch gaps in your flow before they cause issues.

You get AI and automations on every Quo plan, with plenty of customization options depending on how you run your business. Here’s a closer look at Quo (formerly OpenPhone) vs Podium:

• Use AI to automatically tag calls so your team can identify trends and follow up on high-priority conversations (like “positive call” or “billing issue”). In contrast, Podium doesn’t label calls with AI, so you have to review recordings or call summaries to get context.
• Save time by streamlining your workflow with 7,000+ tools (including HubSpot and Salesforce). Podium does offer a few of these native integrations, but others (like Slack and Google Contacts) require you to build your own connections.

Quo gives you all this for just $15 per user per month — a fraction of the price you’d pay with Podium, which requires a base plan ($399 per month) plus $30 per user for Podium Phones.

Podium also doesn’t offer a free trial so you can try the platform before you buy.

Instead, you’re welcome to try Quo free for seven days to confirm it’s the best Podium alternative for your team.

Key features of Quo

• One new local or toll-free number per user
• Business text messaging (SMS and MMS)
• Access to the Quo API
• 7,000+ third-party integrations
• Visual call flow builder
• Sona AI (add-on)
• Auto-replies, scheduled texts, and snippets

Quo pricing 

There are three tiers of Quo pricing:

• Starter: $15 per user per month for calling and messaging to US and Canadian numbers, voicemail transcriptions, shared phone numbers, Zapier and Make integrations, and on-demand call recording
• Business: $23 per user per month for automatic call recording, AI call transcripts and summaries, advanced call forwarding, phone menus, HubSpot and Salesforce integrations, and custom ring orders
• Scale: $35 per user per month for priority live chat, AI call tags, and dedicated onboarding support

What users say about Quo

Quo is the #1 business phone solution as rated by G2 — but there’s no need to take our word for it.

Check out these real user reviews that say Quo is the best Podium alternative:

“I’ve used Podium, Quo, and RingCentral. Quo is 10x better than the other two. Podium is the worst.” — X (Twitter)

“What really sets Quo apart is how simple yet powerful it is. We were able to get our whole team up and running in minutes. No hardware, no headaches. Texting, calling, and managing contacts all happen in one place, and the ability to share numbers with teammates keeps everyone on the same page. The mobile app is especially convenient when you’re on the go.” — G2

2. Birdeye: Best for multi-location management

Pros

• Mix and match products
• Support for customer messaging and mass texting

Cons

• No built-in calling features
• Texting comes with additional regulations
• Email is required for pricing information

Birdeye is a reputation management and customer experience platform designed for local businesses. Its biggest claim to fame is tools like webchat and review management, which can help manage your online presence and customer feedback in one place.

You can also use Birdeye to integrate with over 3,000 software tools, including CRM platforms like HubSpot. For example, Birdeye’s HubSpot integration syncs your contacts from HubSpot into Birdeye, so you can automatically send review request texts and emails to every customer. 

Just keep in mind Birdeye comes with its own texting regulations that could make communication difficult. For example, you can only schedule texts between 8 AM and 8 PM in the recipient’s local time zone to ensure compliance with the TCPA.

Worse, Birdeye doesn’t include any built-in calling features. If you want to pick up the phone, you’ll still have a separate phone service and number to forward calls to. The only workaround is using Birdeye’s virtual receptionist service, but this comes at an extra cost.

How much extra? There’s no way to know from the website. Birdeye requires you to enter your email to compare plans. Even then, it requires you to call for a custom quote, which is frustrating if you’re looking to move quickly.

Key features of Birdeye

• Transfer to human reps
• Train your chatbot by uploading documents
• Monitor reviews from over 200 sites
• Integrations with over 3,000 third-party apps
• Reply to reviews with AI

Birdeye pricing

Birdeye’s pricing isn’t listed publicly. Instead, you’ll need to enter your email and let support contact you for a custom quote.

You’ll notice its three plans aren’t based on per-user pricing — it depends on the tools you choose, how many locations your business has, and your preferred payment terms.

Many other Birdeye’s features are locked behind pricey add-ons:

• Referrals: $100 per month
• Mass Texting: $100 per month
• Google Seller Ratings: $150 per month
• Surveys AI: $100 per month
• Insights AI: $100 per month
• Competitors AI: $100 per month

This suggests Birdeye can get expensive quickly, and not to mention more time-consuming to get a quote and compare it to Podium alternatives.

What are users saying about Birdeye?

Reviews say Birdeye makes sense for established enterprises but not necessarily for growing small businesses.

Let’s look at some Birdeye testimonials below:

“Sometimes the dashboard where reviews pull in is glitchy. While you’re responding, certain reviews will duplicate and display 2-10 times in a row.” — G2

“I have to pay for many services I don’t need. I only require the online reviews, nothing else.” — G2

3. MessageDesk: Best for sending texts from landlines

Pros

• Text-enabled landlines (available in the US and Canada only)
• Shared SMS inbox

Cons

• No calling features (SMS only)
• Pricing requires an email address
• 1,000 outbound message credits max

MessageDesk is a texting platform that helps teams text-enable their existing phone numbers (including landlines). Every account includes a shared SMS inbox, which lets teammates manage customer conversations in one place.

You can also use MessageDesk to set up automations, like out-of-office texts that go out automatically when you’re unavailable or it’s after business hours. That way, customers know when to expect a reply and are more likely to wait instead of reaching out to a competitor.

Just keep in mind MessageDesk doesn’t include calling features. Even if you buy a number through MessageDesk, it only works for texting. You’ll still need to purchase a second phone number from another provider,  then forward calls to it just to talk to customers.

Unfortunately, MessageDesk is only available in the United States and Canada, which limits its use for international teams.

Even if you’re in North America, keep in mind it only offers one plan. You only get 1,000 outbound message credits per number per month and have to pay $0.05 per additional message. Plus, unused message credits don’t roll over unless you’re on an annual plan, so you can’t save extra for your busy seasons (like Black Friday or holiday shopping).

Key features of MessageDesk

• Text-enabled landlines
• Shared team SMS inbox
• Broadcast texting
• A2P 10DLC registration support

MessageDesk pricing

MessageDesk only offers one pricing plan at $79 per month for 1,000 outbound message credits. Each additional message costs $0.05. 

Compared to VoIP systems like Quo, it’s expensive for growing businesses.

What are users saying about MessageDesk?

Here’s what past MessageDesk users have to say:

“Updating and handling “duplicates” is tedious until you get used to it. The contact list isn’t organized by alphabet or group, so you have to search by name. It isn’t a big deal, just takes more time.” — G2

4. Weave: Best for patient analytics 

Pros

• Patient engagement tools on every plan
• Text-to-pay solutions

Cons

• Limit of 1,500 messages per month on the base plan
• Online scheduling requires an upgraded plan
• Pricing requires a custom quote

Weave is a customer engagement platform built specifically for healthcare practices. It combines calling, texting, and patient engagement tools for businesses like dental offices, emergency rooms, and veterinary clinics.

You can use Weave to access all sorts of industry-specific tools like:

• Appointment reminders
• HIPAA-compliant team chat for patient-sensitive information 
• Digital patient forms
• Online scheduling (requires upgrade)
• Dental practice analytics (requires upgrade)
• Text-to-pay with the payment methods your patients prefer

But Weave doesn’t offer all these features on the base plan — and your bandwidth is limited unless you upgrade to a more expensive tier. Case in point: the Pro plan only includes 1,500 messages per month, and the Elite plan includes 3,000 (which may not be enough for busy practices with large patient lists).

What happens after you reach your limit? The cost per message isn’t listed publicly. Actually, none of Weave’s pricing is listed online, so you’ll need to contact their sales team for a quote. This makes it difficult to estimate your total cost upfront and compare Weave against other Podium alternatives.

Key features of Weave

• Vaccine reminders (veterinarian only)
• Call analytics
• Fax
• Text to pay
• Eyewear ready notifications (opto only)

Weave pricing

Like many other platforms on this list, Weave doesn’t list its pricing online. You can’t get exact numbers without contacting the sales team. But you can still compare features on the following plans:

• Pro: 1,500 messages per month, missed call texting, call queues, team chat, and phone trees
• Elite: 3,000 messages per month, online scheduling, and digital forms
• Ultimate: 15,000 messages per month, call intelligence, practice analytics (dental only), and quarterly one-on-one training (limited to 15 VoIP phones)

What are users saying about Weave?

Weave reviewers say it’s an easy-to-use system that accompanies an above-average price point. Its customer service team may also be slow to respond, which can lead to frustrating situations.

“ IF you need physical hardware desk phones, the price is OK (I’m in Canada tho). If you don’t, then they are a fair bit more expensive than other solutions and lack some common integration with Teams (for example).” — Reddit

“Weave’s platform itself has a clean, user-friendly interface and is built with good functionality in mind. From a software perspective, it seemed like a solid solution for our needs, and we were hopeful when we first signed up. Unfortunately, the experience since then has been overwhelmingly negative.” — Trustpilot

5. Swell: Best for patient and employee feedback

Pros

• Unlimited users on every plan
• HIPAA compliance

Cons

• No voice calling or forwarding features
• Products instead of plans
• No clear pricing is available

Swell is a feedback platform for healthcare practices. It lets you automate the collection and responses to online reviews. It offers some features that are similar to Weave (think tools for patient satisfaction and employee insights), but comes with double the number of messages per month (1,500 vs 3,000).

Unlike Weave, Swell lets you set up customizable surveys to track Net Promoter Scores^® (NPS) and Employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS). These allow you to collect data on customers and patients, which you can use to improve your business.

Also unlike Weave, Swell doesn’t support voice calling or call forwarding. If you want to take calls, you’ll need a separate phone service and phone number since there’s no way to manage or redirect calls through the platform.

Swell’s pricing also requires you to purchase different products instead of different plans. This means you’ll likely have to purchase more than one to access the features you need. For example, you won’t get access to personalized review invites if you only sign up for the Employee product, and you can’t access “rich reporting” without the Patient plan.

There’s also no way to know how much Swell costs without scheduling a demo or speaking with sales. But considering practices have to pay per location and per product, costs will likely go up fast.

Key features of Swell

• Automated review campaigns
• Electronic Health Record (EHR) integrations
• Customizable surveys
• Net Promoter Score surveys
• Swell API access (requires enterprise option)

Swell pricing

As mentioned, Swell doesn’t offer public pricing — just a list of products with custom pricing per location. Options include:

• Online Reputation Management: Personalized review invites, automated review campaigns, online webchat, text message patients directly, and respond to interviews in Swell
• Patient Experience Insights: Net Promoter Score surveys, automated patient feedback workflows, rich reporting, detailed response data
• Employee Experience Insights: Employee Net Promoter Score surveys, customizable surveys, email and text message survey sends, detailed response data, and public employee review monitoring

What are users saying about Swell?

Here’s what users on review sites have to say about Swell:

“We had an issue with posting reviews to our website using a widget they provided – it worked on the desktop but not on the mobile – and it was impossible to get help. Each time I reached out, I got an email reply that said they’re working on it.” — Capterra

“Switched from Podium because Podium was raising the price. You get what you pay for (enter “shrugs” emoji).” — Capterra

6. Broadly: Best for a multi-channel team inbox

Pros

• Multi-channel team inbox
• SEO reporting on keywords

Cons

• No direct calling or texting
• Web chat requires an upgrade
• Add-ons required for social media features

Broadly is a customer experience platform built to help local service businesses improve their online reputation. Each plan comes with a multi-channel team inbox that lets you manage messages from Facebook, Instagram, and website contact forms in one place. Then, you can respond to those leads via email or SMS to keep conversations organized.

Plus, you can use Broadly to create and send branded invoices to customers so they can pay you via Apple Pay, Google Pay, or credit card. Your team can also use Broadly’s automatic review requests to gather and respond to customer feedback in less time.

But you should know Broadly doesn’t offer calling (or a direct way to forward calls) from the number you use to send texts. If you want to receive calls, you’ll need to purchase an existing phone service, then go through a multi-step forwarding process. This isn’t ideal for fast-growing brands.

Broadly prices start at $249 per month, plus a one-time “build out fee” of $350. Even if you try to look past the price of its plans, you might find yourself missing key features that require expensive upgrades or add-ons. 

For example:

• Web chat requires the Pro plan ($349 per month)
• Email and text campaigns require the Elite plan ($449 per month)
• The social media Pro bundle isn’t included in any plan and must be purchased separately for $199 per month

TL;DR: Broadly works as a Podium alternative, but be prepared to pay just as much (if not more) to unlock its best features.

Key features of Broadly

• Social media management
• Web chat (requires upgrade)
• Shared team inbox
• Local SEO tracking
• Multi-step text and email campaigns (requires upgrade)

Broadly pricing

Broadly offers four different plans:

• Standard: $249 per month for unlimited contacts, automated review requests, SEO reporting on three keywords, multi-channel team inboxes, and access to the support team via email and phone
• Pro: $349 per month for SEO reporting on 15 keywords, listings sync, Google and Facebook ads, local search grids, and citation builders
• Elite: $449 per month for email and text campaigns, social media manager with AI, and access to the review stream widget pro
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for a custom plan

And remember, each plan requires a one-time $350 build out fee, which means your first month will cost $599 at the lowest.

Don’t forget add-ons for additional features, such as scheduling weekly posts to social media platforms ($199 per month), creating a basic website ($99 per month), or upgrading said website with AudioEye ADA Compliance ($44 per month).

What are users saying about Broadly?

“We made the decision to part ways with Broadly and contacted the support team. The Broadly support team quoted a 12-month contract, cancellation fees, etc.. I explained that we have paid $2,520 for 20 reviews. This is not what we were promised. And the decision to be put on a month-to-month plan apparently got “lost” in their records.” — G2

7. Intercom: Best for helpdesks

Pros

• No-code visual workflow builder
• AI agent for email, live chat, SMS, and social media

Cons

• Calls cost per-minute rates
• AI agent, Fin, costs $0.99 per resolution on top of the base plan
• HIPAA compliance requires an upgrade

Intercom is a customer service suite that was founded in 2011. It provides a helpdesk that works across multiple communication channels, including email, live chat, phone, and text messages, so customers can reach you however they prefer.

Intercom also offers an AI agent, Fin, that can help answer complex questions in over 45 languages. Unfortunately, Fin is more expensive compared to other AI agents — it costs $0.99 per customer resolution, which is charged on top of your Intercom plan at $29 per user per month.

Speaking of fees, Intercom charges per minute for customer voice calls (around $0.0120 per minute for incoming calls and $0.0220 per minute for outgoing calls). This isn’t ideal for businesses with high call volumes or longer calls for sales or troubleshooting.

You may also need to upgrade or pay for add-ons to access Intercom’s best features. For example, HIPAA support requires the Expert plan ($132 per month), and if you want surveys and product tours, prepare to pay for add-ons starting at $99 per month.

It’s true, Intercom is more cost-effective than Podium. But as your business grows, so will your monthly bills. If you’re looking for an option that can truly scale alongside your business, keep reading for additional Podium alternatives.

Key features of Intercom

• Shared team inboxes
• Real-time reporting tools
• AI agent for customer communications
• HIPAA compliance (requires upgrade)
• Support features (requires add-on)

Intercom pricing

There are three plans to choose from:

• Essential: $29 per user per month for a shared inbox and ticketing system, Messenger, pre-built reports, and access to the public help center
• Advanced: $85 per user per month for multiple team inboxes, workflow automation builder, round robin assignments, access to a private help center, and up to 20 free Lite seats
• Expert: $132 per user per month for HIPAA support, SSO, SLA agreements, and access to a multibrand messenger / help center

You can add Fin AI agent to any plan for $0.99 per customer resolution.

What are users saying about Intercom?

Users say Intercom works well for large or growing businesses. But for startups, scaleups, and smaller operations, it might be difficult to scale without a fairly significant budget.

Here are a couple of newer Intercom reviews:

“Very versatile platform, with a lot of customization possible. We use it for more than 10k users, and it is pretty solid. Obviously, it is not perfect, as any business has its own constraints, but using both [the] Intercom platform and API enables [us] to solve most issues. Quite pricey though.” — Trustpilot

“Intercom is great for mid-sized and larger businesses, but its approach and pricing structure aren’t as well-suited to startups or small businesses that don’t have a dedicated support or sales team. It’s also too complex for businesses with simpler needs. It’s priced per user or per interaction, so as your customer base grows, so do the costs very significantly.” — Capterra

8. Chekkit: Best for video calls

Pros

• Payment processing tools
• Video chat for sales calls

Cons

• No direct support for calling
• Payment processing requires the Business Pro plan
• No fraud protection without upgrading

Chekkit is a business texting platform for teams that want to manage customer communication directly from their phones. For example, you can send and receive SMS and MMS from your landline so customers can text the same number they call. You can also start a quick video chat from a text, helping you handle complex conversations or capture live customer testimonials quickly.

Another major benefit: Chekkit can help you automate customer interactions. You can set up scheduled texts, create group chats, and use AI-suggested replies to save time. You can also set up text-to-pay links that go out in automated text messages. Just keep in mind this isn’t available on the base plan; it’s the only “additional” feature you get when upgrading to the Business Pro plan (which is nearly $80 more than the base plan).

You should know Chekkit isn’t the most cost-effective plan since it starts at $127 per month. And it’s missing the bare-bones features you might expect for the price, like fraud protection and business phone calling.

Speaking of calling: Chekkit doesn’t support calling directly on the platform. When someone calls your Chekkit texting number, it’s automatically forwarded to the primary phone number you’ve linked. This means you’ll still need a separate phone service to‌ answer and manage calls, which adds even more expenses to an already expensive platform.

Key features of Chekkit

• Payment processing
• Video chat
• Text chat for website visitors
• Review collection 
• Internal messaging (groupchat)

Chekkit pricing

There are just two plans to choose from:

• Business: $149 per month for unlimited contacts and team members, all-in-one inbox, textable landlines, group chats, scheduling tool, and access to integrations
• Business Pro: $229 per month for everything in the Business plan plus Chekkit Pay

What are users saying about Chekkit?

Take a look:

“It can be frustrating at times to understand how to use the platform because we are still in the learning process. Automation would be much better off if they had pre-assigned name tags rather than being left blank. After receiving an automated text, we need to do some more research to locate the consumer!” — G2

9. ReviewTrackers: Best for tracking customer reviews

Pros

• Online review collection in one place
• Competitor insights for benchmarking

Cons

• No ability to make, receive, or forward customer calls
• Local listings management requires a paid add-on
• Pricing depends on the number of locations (plans are not transparent)

ReviewTrackers lets you respond to all your customer feedback in one place — including Google reviews and LinkedIn posts — so your team doesn’t need to log in to multiple platforms. You’ll need to connect your business listings to the platform, and then you’ll be able to track performance from a single dashboard. You can also access competitor insights to see how you match up against them in your industry.

But like many other platforms on this list, ReviewTrackers isn’t a true business phone system. You can’t make or receive customer calls. You also can’t forward calls to an AI answering program to take pressure off your team.

ReviewTrackers also requires multiple upgrades to unlock the best possible features for your team. For example, if you want access to the mobile app, you’ll need to upgrade to the Starter plan. If you want to manage your local listings, you’ll need to purchase a separate add-on (even if you choose one of the higher-tier plans).

It doesn’t help that pricing is confusing — there’s a general “starting point,” but no distinct pricing per tier. You have to request a demo for an accurate quote, which is anything but convenient for teams that just want transparent self-service pricing.

Key features of ReviewTrackers

• Reputation management
• Local SEO
• Competitor analysis
• Dashboard analytics (requires upgrade)
• White-label (paid add-on)

ReviewTrackers pricing

ReviewTrackers’ pricing depends on the number of locations you track per month. The fewer you have, the more you’ll have to pay, and the more you have, the less you’ll pay.

Prices start at $89 per location per month for businesses with one to nine locations. They’ll cost more or less depending on the plan you choose: Data-Only, Starter, or Essentials.

Just keep in mind there’s no way to check exact pricing online. If you want to know what each plan costs, you’ll need to contact the sales team. Here are the features you can expect to get with each plan:

• Data-Only: Access to review data from 100+ sources with additional signals and customer support
• Starter: Dashboards and analytics, review solicitation, and keywords and alerts
• Essential: Experience analysis, amplify widget, and competitor insights

What are users saying about ReviewTrackers?

Here’s what past users have to say about ReviewTrackers:

“ReviewTrackers did what the name implies: tracked and reported on review volume, so that we could see what our customers were saying about us. The out-of-the-box product was very easy to implement, simple to learn, and easy to use. Unfortunately, the reporting and monitoring interfaces were somewhat bleak at the time, and were not as visual or supportive as we would have expected. In addition, the product was not as dynamic as we’d hoped. It simply curated and shared reviews as we received them, with little opportunity for customized or segmented reporting. Also, there was a very low level of customer service intervention. Our hospitals want to be able to respond to reviews with a local voice, with local perspectives. We were basically told this wasn’t supported.” — Software Advice

“I use [ReviewTrackers] daily for reputation management for all of our clients to respond to their Google, Yelp, Facebook, and other source reviews. It helps all of our clients improve their reputation in the light of the customers. I also use the software for LLO (Local Listing Optimization), which enables our clients to have accurate Google listings to make them easier to find. If you have a lot of accounts/clients, it is harder to navigate. LLO services are slightly confusing.” — TrustRadius

Why businesses move to Podium alternatives

When Eric Rea’s father struggled to get positive reviews for his tire shop, he decided to build something that would encourage happy customers to leave feedback. He ended up with Podium: an online reputation management platform that makes it easier to build trust with customers.

Podium now includes communication features like one-to-one texting, voicemail transcriptions, call recording, phone calls, and call transcripts. It also includes over 200 integrations and texting automations, plus built-in auto-replies that help teams save time.

But while Podium has expanded beyond just collecting reviews, it still may not be a fit for small growing businesses. Its business phone system leaves much to be desired, and if you’re working with limited resources, it might blow your budget out of the water.

Let’s take a closer look.

Limited calling and texting

Podium doesn’t make it easy to keep in touch with customers, even with its phone system add-on. For example:

• Podium can only cold transfer calls
• There’s no option to send texts or call internationally
• You can’t send texts at all if you have a toll-free number

No easy-to-use visual call flow builder

Podium doesn’t offer a drag-and-drop call flow builder, even after you purchase its phone system add-on. This means there’s no visual way to see how your call flow is set up or catch mistakes before they cause customer issues. Instead, you have to build each step separately within the Podium app, like forwarding calls or setting up phone menus. In other words: it can be difficult to get your call flow up and running quickly without hiccups.

Keep in mind, when someone calls your team, everyone’s phone rings at the same time with Podium — and that’s the only option. You can’t choose who gets the call first, rotate calls between teammates, or split the group into smaller batches to manage calls more efficiently. Each phone only rings four times before the call moves on, and there’s no way to change that. 

High starting price

As mentioned, Podium no longer lists its pricing online. This means you’re required to contact sales for a custom quote.

But Podium’s last publicly available pricing started at $399 per month before extra add-ons. This can be hard to justify for a small team working with a limited budget.

Add-ons can get expensive

Podium’s pricing doesn’t include features like calling or bulk texting. This means you’ll need to pay extra for mission-critical features like:

• Its phone system: $30 per user per month for up to four users
• Bulk texting: $15 per month
• Network optimization fees: $500 per new location

What are users saying about Podium?

Past Podium users say it’s a solid platform for review monitoring, but potentially unreliable with business phone services. You might also need to watch for software bugs. And if you need to cancel your service, be sure to read the fine print.

See for yourself:

“Podium is great to use for reviews and some automations, but there are a lot of flaws with the platform. It almost feels like they are constantly in beta testing (which I’m pretty sure they are) so a lot of automations can be a huge pain to set up.” — Reddit

“Podium advertised a VoIP Phone system used as an online Software as a Service (SaaS), along with SMS, MMS capabilities. The VoIP access was the only feature our company needed, and according to the company’s Terms of Service (ToS), it would be available for our use 99.0% of the time. My wife and I have had repeated failed calls, dropped calls, interrupted calls, and service interruptions that have been significantly less than 99.0% of the time. This has significantly harmed us financially, and our reputation.” — Trustpilot

Podium pricing

As mentioned, Podium doesn’t list any pricing online. But it does provide a list of plans and features.

These include:

• Core: Basic automations, basic reporting, 200+ integrations, access to the Podium mobile app, and a basic phone system (requires an add-on)
• Pro: AI instant answers, AI review responses, AI phone call summaries, hosted surveys, lead capture forms, and high-volume carrier-verified messaging
• Signature: Advanced multi-location management, quarterly business reviews, personalized account plans, discount on phone plans, and a discount on high-volume bulk messaging

Keep in mind Podium’s last public pricing was substantially higher than its competitors. Case in point: the base plan started at $399 per month, while the signature plan cost nearly $600 per month. 

This is quite a bit higher than other Podium alternatives offering similar features at a fraction of the price.

Quo: The best Podium alternative

Sure, Podium can help you get reviews, but it isn’t designed for true business communications. The pricing can be restrictive, the learning curve can be steep, and its calling and texting limits don’t offer much room to grow.

That’s one of the reasons why 60,000+ growing businesses proudly trust Quo with their customer communication needs. From shared numbers and scheduled texts to AI-powered call summaries, we’re designed to help you build better relationships with your customers.

Sign up today for a seven-day free trial and see why Quo is the best Podium alternative for fast-growing businesses.