The classic version of Google Hangouts included messaging, voice, VoIP, and video call capabilities. It was replaced by the Hangouts Chat collaboration tool, and Google continues to support conferencing via the new Hangouts Meet.
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Google Voice
Score 7.8 out of 10
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Google Voice is a free IP telephony service that provides users with one phone number that can be forwarded to multiple phones or devices. It includes features such as call forwarding, voicemail translation, text messaging, and voice calls. Fees may apply for international calling.
$10
per user/per month
Pricing
Google Hangouts (Classic)
Google Voice
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Starter
$10
per user/per month
Standard
$20
per user/per month
Premier
$30
per user/per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google Hangouts (Classic)
Google Voice
Free Trial
No
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google Hangouts (Classic)
Google Voice
TrustRadius Insights
Google Hangouts (Classic)
Google Voice
Highlights
Research Team Insight
Published
On the surface, Google Hangouts and Google Voice are quite similar as both applications allow users to make calls using wi-fi and without owning a phone. However, the major difference between the two products lie in Google Hangouts having support for chat and online video conferences, whereas Google Voice does not. However, instead of online chat, Google Voice supports text messaging.
When comparing these two products, consider whether you are looking for a web conferencing tool or a VoIP tool. While Google Hangouts can make outgoing calls, it does not provide users with a phone number to give out to others for incoming calls. Google Voice allows users to not only make calls, but receive them, and provides users with a free phone number to use.
Features
Google Hangouts is a great business tool if used on an individual basis by employees for casual online meetings and chat, as it does not have a business-focused offering. Google’s web conferencing and collaboration tools for business are now under the Google Hangouts Meet and Google Hangouts Chat tools. In addition to hosting online meetings, Google Hangouts is useful for making ad-hoc outgoing calls, so employees can protect their personal numbers.
Google Voice is best if you are solely looking for a VoIP solution as it is strictly an online telephone service. Its key features are providing users with a contact phone number, free call forwarding, and voicemail. Google Voice is best for small business owners and small teams that need a simple and very cost-effective mobile voice solution. It is well-suited for use as a personal business line for travel as it provides a secure way to contact clients and customers without using a personal number.
Limitations
Unlike Google Voice, Google Hangouts does not provide users with phone number for others to contact. This is in part because it supports web conferences in addition to calls, unlike Google Voice. Compared to similar tools that can be used for online meetings, Google Hangouts doesn’t allow for a lot of customization or “host” controls.
While Google Voice supports voice-to-text transcription, users report that it is not always accurate and may not be useful if transcription is a key component of your business operations. Google Voice does not allow for transferring of phone numbers across accounts, so users should be mindful of numbers used across their teams.
Both of these tools are best for individuals or small businesses who don’t need to consistently host online meetings or make phone calls.
Pricing
Both tools are available fully functional for free, which is a huge selling point. You can make unlimited calls with each and as a part of the Google suite, automatically syncs with your Gmail account and contacts.
Google Hangouts users looking to expand its features and capabilities, should look towards Google Hangouts Meet, which has paid plans with broader support.
Google Voice does have paid plans as well which adds support for more users per account. These plans start at $10 and go up to $30. Its paid plans provide users to operate internationally and integrate with telephone equipment and data management tools.
As previously mentioned, Google Hangouts (Classic) is best suited for ad-hoc, informal communications with external collaborators that would benefit from face-to-face interactions, but don’t require a record of the conversation and don’t necessarily require a high degree of corporate security. For communications of consequence, our corporate toolset is more appropriate, but Google Hangouts (Classic) serves a similar function to FaceTime or Zoom.
[Google Voice is] great if you have a workforce that needs to make calls for business purposes from their personal mobile device, while keeping their personal phone number private. If you have a large company with its own telecom system, it probably won't be necessary if employees already have their own landlines or separate work phones.
I would like to see improved video support, so that saved videos can be sent back and forth via Hangouts more easily, without having to start a separate meet chat
More pronounced notifications of messages would be helpful; pop up notifications are good, but once there is one, additional messages do not pop up
Custom muting times would be great, so that if I am in a 90 minute Zoom meeting, I can set it for that time; right now, it is 1 hour or 2 hours. Easy to forget.
It can be tricky to configure exactly how you want it. If you are particular about which voicemail greeting goes to which number, and how it appears when it rings through to the phone - it can take a good amount of work to set it up properly.
It's user friendly, how to use it is self explanatory, they support all their own options while someone like Phone Booth uses a third party. I can cancel Google Voice anytime and I choose how much I spend with Google Voice
The tool is almost self-implemented. It is likely to be available in every pc or mobile device a user or potential user might have, and all you need to do is adding the company's account and you are done. Once you are setted up, you have almost all actual communication methods available in one tool
I haven't had problems with dropped calls, bad reception, lost recordings - everything works the way it should. The iOS app is easy to use, and the process is easy to explain to other people. It's also the cheapest way I've found to call internationally - I've used it to interview people from London and Austraila.
Google Hangouts works great and does not require a lot of work to troubleshoot. Everything is simple and easy to use. Google provides all of the tools that one requires to utilize Google Hangouts and any information can be found in the built-in help tools. There is also a forum for users to report issues and typically, Google responds well and will try to work out any issues.
They do not offer support unless you have the Business account for Google Voice under G Suite. This is tough, because Google doesn't really have a customer support team for this service, so when it gets shut down for a few hours, we have no choice but to wait it out. But this doesn't happen that often, which is great.
It is a pretty seamless program to transfer to, even for people who either have little experience with these programs or people who were stuck on Skype
For its time, Google Hangouts (Classic) was a fantastic product and matched up well with all of its successors. Now however, with it having been phased on within Workspace for Education, I would not advise any new users use the product. Google Chat, combined with Google Meet, have superseded Hangouts (Classic) and should be used by default due to their close knit integration with Gmail.
Google Voice at the peak of its adoption did serve as a very real and effective solution. However bugs persisted, and innovation lacked, and support for the product soon declined. However, there are several other solutions provided that focus on making one product as best as it could be. Google made it clear to me as a customer, that this was a backup for a backup. When you look at the simplicity on its own, it appears to be fantastic, however as you dive deeper, and experience its lack of smooth edges, you find that it's been built by engineers who were given a scope, rather than solving for a use case and listening to customer feedback. Many of the other solutions available on the market, see this opportunity. This is why voice communication is a growing SaaS vertical, albeit competitive. Understanding the customer here is key, and Google understands what drives value to the larger organization. As a business owner, I understand, that when a business has to allocate resources, another department, or service suffers. Unfortunately this product feels to be the one that has met that fate
I believe it was part of the google suite that was purchased. It was worth the cost as it was cheaper. I believe it is now free, but also becoming deprecated. It is much better to use Teams, Discord, Telegram, etc. Google does not provide enough support or features to make using hangouts worth it these days.
