Top 8 Podium Alternatives &
5 Reasons Podium is Bad for
Local Businesses & Agencies

 

Are you a local business owner or an agency having local business clients? If so, this article would be worth your time!

 

We're diving into the top 8 Podium alternatives and breaking down their pros, cons, pricing, and trial period. By the end of this article, you'll know exactly which alternative is the perfect fit for your business.

 

Buckle up and get ready for the ultimate showdown of Podium alternatives.

 

In this article we will go over the following topics; don't miss the big reveal at the end!

 

 

Before we look at Podium competitors, let's start with what's wrong with Podium.

 

👉 One of biggest problems is that Podium only works with Facebook and Google. Some customers like to leave reviews on Yelp or other social media platforms.

 

👉 Podium software costs an arm and a leg, the lowest Podium plan starts at $300/month. This plan offers 100s of integrations you're probably not going to use in your life. Btw, I've recently decoded the mysteries of Podium plans! Check out my blog on Podium pricing if you have 7 minutes.

 

👉 Horrible customer support, one of their reviews mentions this

 

I don't think I need to explain this further but here's one more review

 

 

👉 Does Podium have a contract? Yep, and they bind you for an entire year. This means that you are bound to Podium's terms, which can be difficult for some businesses to handle.

 

👉 Tough to use: Podium offers a lot of features that can be confusing to small business owners. Corporate reporting, lead development, and many other features are unnecessary for smaller companies.

 

Btw if you wanna get the lowdown on Podium, check out my Podium Review. I go over the good stuff (top 3) and the not-so-great stuff (worst 5).

 

When deciding whether Podium is the right fit for you, ask yourself this:

 

Do you really need an enterprise-level product for your needs or do you need something simple and affordable that does what you want?

 

Do you want to sort through a mess of features and integrations on your own or would you prefer to have someone who knows what they are doing guiding you through the process?

 

Along with these, an annual contract worth $3,000 can be a deal breaker for the majority of small-medium businesses.

 

If you would like to now look at Podium competitors, you can jump directly to here.

We will judge each Podium alternative based on the following criteria:

 

 

The most important thing a reputation management tool can do for you is generate 5-star reviews from your customers on autopilot. It should offer a review campaign feature that sends review requests to your customers on multiple channels (SMS/Email) and basically act as a 5-star review generator.

 

Btw, if you're the kind of person that handles their own reviews, you might be interested in my 5-step guide to manage google reputation.

You can't improve without knowing your customer's sentiments. The tool should provide some kind of feedback analysis that helps you gain a clearer picture of how your customers feel about you.

 

 

Your reviews are important, so you need to keep watch. The tool should monitor your online reviews closely so that you don't ignore any bad ones, and alert you as soon as you get a review.

 

 

Money can't buy love, but it can buy you a good reputation. The tool should help you protect your reputation by allowing you to respond to reviews quickly and send negative reviews to customer service rather than public review platforms.

 

Getting reviews isn't enough; the tool should help you make more money by helping you in sharing your fantastic reviews with your network and customers.

 

I'm a firm believer in the importance of customer service. Nothing speaks to me more than a company that doesn't just have a product, but also a stellar onboarding process and quick resolution to any issues that might arise.

 

Affordable pricing is usually a priority for a local business, that don't have the luxury of spending thousands on marketing.

 

Now that you know our judging criteria, let's take a look at some of the top podium competitors.

 

Let me make it clear that this blog is hosted on ReviewGain.io, so of course, I think it's great. I promise you'll agree with me by the end of this. Now let's see why ReviewGain is great.

 

ReviewGain offers a free 14-day trial with access to all features, no credit card required. You just need your email to sign up and start your 14-day trial.

 

 

ReviewGain is the only one on this list of Podium alternatives that's built for small-medium businesses and marketing agencies. Here's a quick summary of ReviewGain features:

 

 

The starter plan for businesses having less than 10 locations is $49/month.

The pro plan for businesses having even more locations (up to 20) is $79/month.

You're always billed monthly, with no yearly contracts.

 

 

ReviewGain's whitelabel pricing starts at just $49/month for 1 client. You get volume discounts as you scale to more clients. The whitelabel setup fee is $0 for all plans.

 

 

 

Absolutely YES! 

ReviewGain will never upsell you on a feature you don't need and has all of the features a small-medium business needs to succeed with its review management and review marketing strategy.

It also offers one of the best customer service, helping you through each step of the process. To find out more about ReviewGain, you can head over to our website.

 

Birdeye is one of the oldest players in this space and one of the biggest Podium competitor. Btw, if you're looking for an in-depth comparison, I recently wrote an article on Birdeye vs Podium.

• Supports Email and text review campaigns to get more reviews for your business.
• It has a centralized dashboard that allows you to respond to all your reviews.
• It allows you to manage 100s of business listings from one central location.
• Birdeye also monitors 100s of review listings, sending you a review alert.
• Provides other features like ticketing, team chat, and insights.

• Tracks 100s of sites for reviews and listings.
• Lets you ask for reviews on both SMS and Email.
• A centralized dashboard for responding to reviews and viewing customer feedback reports.

• Way too expensive, with its starter plan costing $300/month.
• The corporate features are useless for small business review management.
• All the negative reviews for Birdeye complain about their customer support.
• You pay for monitoring 100s of review sites you have never heard of.
• Customer sentiment and feedback reporting are hard to understand.
• Too many features in one platform make it difficult to learn and use.

Is it a good Podium alternative for local businesses?

Podium Competitor #3 - ReviewPush

• Allows you to monitor 50+ review platforms.
• Centralized reporting of review activity.
• Lets you respond to all your reviews from one location.
• Supports Email review campaigns to get more reviews for your business.
• email alert to let you know when a new review is posted on any review site.

• The features are simple and easy to use.
• Review and profile alerts let you know when you get a new review.

• Doesn't support text campaigns, SMS has much higher response rates than Email.
• It gets you reviews, not money; they have no local reputation marketing features.
• No auto-suggested responses which help you respond to your reviews quickly.
• Doesn't provide in-depth customer sentiment analysis, they only report reviews separated by their rating.
• Compared to alternatives like ReviewGain, which supports up to five locations for just 59$ per month compared to 450$ per month plan by ReviewPush, the pricing here is slightly on the higher side.

Is it a good Podium alternative for local businesses?

Podium Competitor #4 - NiceJob

• Automatically sharing reviews on social media and website.
• Automated review request on SMS & Email.
• Referral invite requests.

• Multichannel review campaign on both text & Email.
• You can use their reputation marketing features to increase your sales.

• No customer sentiment or feedback analysis to help you make decisions.
• Reviewers have the option to leave a review on NiceJob instead of public review sites, which can lead to the loss of great reviews. Here's an example:
 

“We have lost a number of great reviews, from customers who have gmail accounts but instead left a great review on NiceJob which no one will ever see.” ― G2 Review

 
• NiceJob doesn't monitor review to help you protect your online reputation.
• The cost of using any of our website redesign features starts at a hefty $500.

Is it a good Podium alternative for local businesses?

Podium Competitor #5 - BrightLocal

• Monitor reviews on various review listings and get notified about new reviews.
• Respond to Google and Facebook reviews from one dashboard.
• Review generator campaign on Email & SMS.
• Showcase reviews on your website.

• Automated review campaign on both text & Email.
• Reviews monitoring and review alerts.

• All of their plans have strict limits on the number of review reports and widgets.
• No auto-suggested responses for you to address your negative reviews quickly.
• Tough to use, the interface is cluttered with a lot of features.
• You cannot post your reviews on social media automatically.

Is it a good Podium alternative for local businesses?

Podium Competitor #6 - GatherUp

• Automated review request via text or email.
• Email notifications for new feedback and reviews.
• Centralized reports to track reviews and ratings.
• Review widget to display reviews on your website.

• Automate the process of soliciting reviews through both SMS and Email.
• Online review tracking and instant notifications for new reviews.

• Too expensive; the starting plan is $100 per location per month.
• If you have 2-3 locations, you need to pay $100 for each location.
• You can only send 3000 emails per month, even if you sign up for one of the upgrade packages. Other platforms like ReviewGain offer unlimited emailing for nearly half the money.
• No in-depth reputational or customer feedback analysis features.
• While the interface is clean, a few features are missing and others are too confusing, see this review:
 

"Unfortunately you cannot pause campaigns for reviews once you send out a list. Also, there are a lot of options (which is great) but the downside is that there isn't always enough explanation of the options in the actual tool itself." ― G2 Review

Is it a good Podium alternative for local businesses?

Podium Competitor #7 - Synup

• You can only signup with your company email.
• Once you sign up for the trial, you won't be able to play around with the platform on your own time. They'll set up a compulsory demo with a representative who will show you how to use it.
• They are unclear on the length of their trial period.

• Sentiment Analysis on the reviews.
• Automated review requests through text and e-mail.
• Automations on reviews to delegate it to the proper person on your team.
• Monitors reviews on various review sites with a centralized dashboard to reply to reviews.

• Automated review requests through multiple channels.
• Review monitoring and automations on reviews.

• The process of starting a trial is too cumbersome, and it requires meeting with someone from the Synup team.
• Customers also complain about constant glitches and a lack of proactive customer service.
• The pricing is hidden, and it's difficult to compare with other platforms.
• No reputation marketing features to convert your reviews into actual sales.

Is it a good Podium alternative for local businesses?

Podium Competitor #8 - Yext

• Upgrading to a paid plan is necessary to build more listings.
• You get a complimentary training session when you upgrade.

• Extensive Directory Network helps you get listed on top platforms like Google, Facebook, Bing, and Yelp.
• Listings Management lets you publish accurate data to all your listings with Yext Powerlistings.
• Review monitoring & response features.

• Yext offers four different plans: Emerging ($199/year), Essential ($449/year), Complete ($499/year), and Premium ($999/year).
• Emerging is a no-go, as it's limited and doesn't list you on Google.
• Essential seems tempting, but it only allows one-off updates, charging you every year. Save money and DIY or get an intern/VA to help.
• Complete is better, including all Essential sites, plus Yext Powerlistings for accurate data publishing.
• Premium, at $999/year, adds review monitoring and website widgets.

• Extensive Directory Network ensures broad online visibility.
• Listings management ensures consistent and accurate information across all sites.
• Review Monitoring helps you keep an eye on what customers are saying.

• Difficult to use, which can be frustrating for businesses without much tech expertise.
• Customer support is atrocious, leaving you hanging when you need help.
• Yext's pricing structure involves annual contracts, making it expensive and potentially inflexible for some businesses.
• They lack review campaign features, which means you'll have to find other ways to actively encourage customer reviews.
• Shady cancellation and sales tactics make for an unpleasant experience.

Is it a good Podium alternative for local businesses?

Podium competitors that didn't make the cut

Which is the best Podium alternative for a local business & marketing agency owners?