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Google Chat

Score8.3 out of 10

158 Reviews and Ratings

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What is Google Chat?

Google Chat, formerly Hangouts Chat, is a collaboration tool competing with Slack, designed to make it easy for teams to be able to get their work done in one place. From direct messages to group conversations, Chat helps teams collaborate, and with dedicated, virtual rooms to house projects over time — plus threaded conversations — Chat helps users track progress and follow up tasks. Chat currently supports 28 languages and each room can support up to 8,000 members.

Categories & Use Cases

Key Features

Learn about the best (and worst!) features Google Chat has to offer, as determined by TrustRadius' reviewers.
Based on 158 ratings of Google Chat's features
View all features

Top Performing Features

  • Chat

    Instant messaging tool allows users to communicate with select other users in real-time threads.

    Category average: 8.7

  • Notifications

    Users can follow other users and/or join specific projects, electing to receive notifications when there are changes and updates.

    Category average: 8.2

  • Document collaboration

    Users can edit files and attach comments to files.

    Category average: 7.7

Areas for Improvement

  • Video files

    Supports video file types

    Category average: 7.4

  • Workflow Automation

    Workflow automation is the ability to route work requests along an approval process automatically.

    Category average: 6.8

  • Visual planning tools

    Includes visual tools such as pinboards, mind-maps, or charts for collaborative brainstorming and/or workflow planning.

    Category average: 6.4

Most Frequent Users

Top 3 industries using Google Chat
Based on HG Insights installation data
View all Reviews
#1 most frequent

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

18.9%

223 installations of 1,178

#2 most frequent

Information

11.1%

131 installations of 1,178

#3 most frequent

Health Care and Social Assistance

7.0%

82 installations of 1,178

Reviews

What users are saying about Google Chat.
View all reviews

Google Chat is great for Organizations.

Incentivized
Scott Weatbrook
Sr Cloud Engineer in Information Technology at Motorola Solutions (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Google Chat provides a comprehensive solution for communicating with co-workers within the organization. The comprehensive solution includes being able to direct message, group message, direct message within a group, and programmatic messaging via an API. The platform also allows for private groups where not everyone in the organization needs visibility to the chat. The business needs to have a complete and stable communication platform that is consistent throughout the organization.

Pros

  • Direct Messaging.
  • Group Messaging.
  • Message History.
  • API Messaging.

Cons

  • Ability to disable chat on my email page when using the desktop app.
  • The ability to send a video message instead of text message.
  • Simplified tools to manage chat message history and archiving history.

Return on Investment

  • The ROI is based on time saved which has been significant.
  • Fast communication between team members.
  • Integrates with other Google tools.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Slack

Other Software Used

Google Meet, Google Drive, Google Sheets

Easy chat for small companies

Incentivized
Wolfred Montilla Di GiulioView profile
Full Stack Developer in Engineering at CITRIOM (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have a team of developers and we discuss topics about the projects we have. We attend meetings using the integration add call, and also have channels for every team, it's easy to load in comparison with other chats. Also we can use it directly with Gmail without any application if we want it. I have the app in my phone as well and works perfectly. Has different notification icon when the conversation is with you and other one when is a grupal conversation

Pros

  • Videocalls
  • Fast
  • Not app installation required
  • Easy to handle

Cons

  • Calendar task
  • Integration with third parties

Return on Investment

  • Good communication
  • Easy to understand and use
  • Create easy meetings

Usability

Other Software Used

Microsoft Teams, Slack

Google Chat is a reliable simple but efficient communication tool that shines within the Google Workspace ecosystem

Incentivized
Verified User
Employee in Engineering (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I used to use Google Chat for friends/colleagues communication, not within the organization but for using it with outside people. It is really easy to use, you only need a google account, can use gifs, send a good amount of text and we can use it from the phone also.

Pros

  • Communication
  • Easy to use
  • Up to date status

Cons

  • Time response of messages sent
  • Large files attachment

Return on Investment

  • Great communication tool
  • Clean and Intuitive Interface
  • Accessibility
  • External Collaboration Limitations
  • Integration with Third-Party Apps (Limited but Growing)

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Slack and Cloud Whatsapp

Other Software Used

Atlassian Jira, SoapUI Open Source, supported by SmartBear, Postman, Chatbox

Google Chat for office

Incentivized
Verified User
Manager in Engineering (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am using Google Chat since last 13 years. It works smoothly. I haven't seen any glitch in that. Even my most of friends are using Google Chat for official as well personal uses. It is totally safe tool to use.

Pros

  • Easy connect
  • Working in poor network also
  • Easy Media access
  • Group chat working fine

Cons

  • Add some images editing options in chat
  • Change background images option
  • Remaining things looks good to me

Return on Investment

  • Reduce cost of paid version

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Skype and Microsoft Teams

Other Software Used

Google Meet, Google Drive, Google Sheets

Google Chat is your secret weapon for remote productivity!

Incentivized
Rezwan KarimView profile
Business Analyst in Information Technology at SaynBeauty (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Google Chat is an innovative messaging tool that allows users to connect both directly and in groups.

At [...], Google Chat fosters seamless communication and collaboration across teams. As a Business Analyst working in a fast-paced enivornment, I have to rely on Google Chat for instant messaging and group conversations to effectively collaborate with cross-functional teams. We use it everyday to maintain a steady flow of updates, so that all departments stay aligned without the need for meetings.

Since our team member includes remote employees, Google Chat helps ensure that everyone remains connected, regardless of location.

Pros

  • When discussing about a specific project, I can quickly share google docs or sheets within the chat which helps my team to view the document in real time and they do not have to leave the conversation.
  • Scheduling a meeting with someone is very easy on Google Chat.
  • We have remote team members in different time zones and instead of waiting for emails we use Google Chat to quickly discuss anything.

Cons

  • Google Chat should bring more AI options.
  • Even with good internet speed sometimes Google Chat is really slow.
  • When sharing large videos with the team, we often run into the 200MB file limit. We then have to upload the file to Google Drive and then share a link.I wish the file size limit could be increased from 200MB to 1GB.

Return on Investment

  • Through seamless communication across remote workers, Google Chat has significantly reduced the time spent on back and forth emails.
  • Undoubtedly Google Chat is great for communication but because of a lack of task management tools, we have to rely on other platforms for organizing and tracking tasks.
  • 200MB file size limit in Google Chat often forces us to use other services like Google Drive for sending large files.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Slack and Discord

Other Software Used

Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams

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