8x8 Express (discontinued) vs. Google Hangouts (Classic)

8x8 Express (discontinued)

Google Hangouts (Classic)

Overview
Product	Rating	Most Used By	Product Summary	Starting Price
8x8 Express (discontinued)	Score 3.9 out of 10	N/A	8x8 Express was a cloud-based phone system that included unlimited calling within the U.S and Canada, HD video conferencing, business SMS and team chat, pre-configured. As of March 2023 8x8 Express is end of sale and no longer available.	N/A
Google Hangouts (Classic)	Score 8.6 out of 10	N/A	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.	N/A

Pricing

8x8 Express (discontinued)

Google Hangouts (Classic)

Editions & Modules

No answers on this topic

Offerings

Pricing Offerings
8x8 Express (discontinued)	Google Hangouts (Classic)
Free Trial
Yes	No
Free/Freemium Version
No	No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No	No

Entry-level Setup Fee

No setup fee

Additional Details

—

More Pricing Information

Community Pulse
	8x8 Express (discontinued)	Google Hangouts (Classic)
Considered Both Products	8x8 Express (discontinued) Verified User Anonymous Chose 8x8 Express (discontinued) 8x8 had a similar feature set but was less expensive. Incentivized Helpful? JU Julia Urbanski Licensing Chose 8x8 Express (discontinued) I don't get to choose who we use. We used Vonage and now we use 8x8 Express. I like 8x8 Express because it is easier to use and more user friendly. The app saves so much time when you need to get a hold of someone because the contacts are integrated in the app. Incentivized Helpful? Arpit Jain Business Operations Manager Chose 8x8 Express (discontinued) Our team told us that rules were not easy to set up as well as the number of call drops was very high. both are resolved with 8x8 Express. Incentivized Helpful? Tim McCafferty, MBA, MSL General Manager/Training Manager Chose 8x8 Express (discontinued) Call quality is a little better with Comcast Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose 8x8 Express (discontinued) 8x8 has a much lower cost that avaya for the same features. 8x8 is a bit more user friendly than some other larger well established brands. It still uses industry standards in terminology and call flows to for anyone with voip experience its a pain free switch to make over. Incentivized Helpful? LS Luke Sullivan Owner Chose 8x8 Express (discontinued) I love 8x8. Having not used Polycom phones before, the hardest part was learning how to set up and use the actual phones. 8x8 makes it a seamless transition from using other service providers. Their customer service is excellent although if you get their cheapest plan you … Incentivized Helpful?	Google Hangouts (Classic) Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Google Hangouts integrates into our current workflows well (we use g-suite) and is quite user friendly. It is great for small to mid-size internal team meetings. It is also good for informal client meeting. There are other cases where other tools are needed/superior for the … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Best part of Google Hangouts is its simplicity, and performance. We never had connection problems, or quality interruptions, something that is more frequent with the other tools listed above. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Google Hangouts is by far the most practical and easy communication tool I have used. Skype sees lots of drop rate but never faced any such issue with Google Hangouts. Mobile accessibility is also easier with Google Hangouts. Incentivized Helpful? Ejaz Hussain Senior Analyst Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) well, google hangouts classic doesn't stack up that well when compared to either Skype or Teams, as it lacks advanced features. But the fact that it nearly costs anything to get it set up & running in no time is a positive point for the platform. I'm pretty sure that Hangouts … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) In terms of simplicity and ease of use, Google Hangouts is wonderful compared to some of the competitive products listed above. I do think that each have their own benefits: some companies do not allow for Google's suite of products (like Hangouts) to be utilized some … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) 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, … Incentivized Helpful? Chris Carpenter Danaher Business System Leader (DBSL), Awesomizer, Fixer, Maker, Collaboration Enabler Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Google is the white cotton socks of the conferencing world. It’s a great ad-hoc tool, but not too much more. If you are not looking to spend money or operate completely on WiFi (without data charges), it’s a great free option as well. The benefit of being free and open is also … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Google Hangouts (Classic) is better than those two competitors if you want [the] ease of use within Gmail. One does not need to go to a separate site to set up a meeting. You just select the link to add the Google meeting link within the scheduler. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Google hangouts (Classic), is a instant message solution with not much more to add, it lacks the screen sharing features, the broad app integration, and the video and audio conferencing of this software. As a basic instant messaging communication tool it does what it promises … Incentivized Helpful? Tony Phan Tactical Procurement Specialist (Vietnam & APAC Support) - Source To Procure Team Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) An obvious advatange of Google Hangouts is that it does not require any installation which allows me to use it in any laptop, any device. Unlike other software that requires installation and forcing an IT guy to physically install it on my device. The software is also VPN … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Again, Google Hangouts would primarily be used if you're already in the Google system. Corporate chat systems are far superior in functionality and usability and are also more reliable for larger organizations. For any company that is working with clients, I'd recommend a more … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Google Hangouts app is already integrated with many apps users already are familiar with. The program is accessible on many platforms which makes it easy for users to conduct business without having specific devices on hand. It really helped that many people were already … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) I prefer Google Hangouts (Classic) to Microsoft Teams and Zoom, in terms of ease of use. It is quicker to use than setting up a Zoom room, for example. I always have the tab open in my browser and get pinged when colleagues chat me. Same with the phone app - I have it on during … Incentivized Helpful? Andre Yeu Founder / Head Trainer Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) We reserve Zoom for client-facing meetings as it is the "market standard" and many are familiar with it, however for most internal meetings, we use Google Hangouts due to how light and simple it is, plus the integration with Google Calendar. Incentivized Helpful? Atilla Vekony Agency Owner Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Google Hangouts is more readily available based on the fact that it is part of the Google family, however, ease of use and convenience would make me want to prefer Whatsapp Business or Teams. Incentivized Helpful? Marcus Manderson Supervisor of Audiovisual Operations Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Google Hangouts is more for informal, care-free meetings. Zoom is more for professional, webinar, and live event-type meetings. Also, Google integrates with our full G Suite/Workspace products. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Google Hangouts [(Classic)] is better than jabber, but way behind all other business chat clients. I would much rather use any of the alternatives I have listed in place of Hangouts. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Since our staff and students already used Google products it was easy to add on this feature. We deployed it district wide at the start of the pandemic. Students and staff were easily able to learn the interface and we could mass deploy it on our Chromebooks. We really liked … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Since we use Google Suite, Google Hangouts (Classic) was the obvious choice. The ease of use and access to employees makes Google Hangouts (Classic) simple to use and access. Additionally, adding users to an existing Hangout is easy. Google Hangouts (Classic) also doesn't … Incentivized Helpful? BS Brett Schenker Email Deliverability Specialist Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Zoom is solid but it's a whole other thing to log in to and limited in what its focus is. Slack has the chat functionality but Google Hangouts is integrated into my every day use and I don't feel like it's yet another thing to manage and keep track of. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Google Hangouts (Classic) is just as good as any of its competitors. Google Hangouts (Classic) has everything that is needed for an internal communication tool, besides the software makes work really fun with the cool and funny stickers. I have personally liked using Google … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) It was integrated into our Google Business Suite and free to use. We selected it because it was easy to create hangouts wth the Google Calendar. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Zoom allows us to connect to a large number of people but personally I face problems while using Zoom on the mobile phone, it needs a high-speed network and lags too much. While on the other hand Google Hangouts is lite and easy to use on mobile phones, it's easy to connect and … Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) Apart from Google Hangouts, we were using Skype and GoToMeeting for the same business process. Over time we experienced that the quality of the call was reduced day by day with those products, so we moved to Google Hangouts. Incentivized Helpful? Verified User Anonymous Chose Google Hangouts (Classic) We use the Google emails for business hence, the Google Hangout application was available for free. There was no setup cost or training that was required. Advanced systems have advanced features which are good but the downside is that they require training. A separate account … Incentivized Helpful?

Features

8x8 Express (discontinued)

Google Hangouts (Classic)

Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software

Comparison of Performance & Compatibility of Online Events Software features of Product A and Product B
	8x8 Express (discontinued) 8.0 Ratings 3% below category average	Google Hangouts (Classic) - Ratings
High quality audio	8.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
High quality video	8.00 Ratings	00 Ratings

Screen Sharing

Comparison of Screen Sharing features of Product A and Product B
	8x8 Express (discontinued) 8.5 Ratings 5% above category average	Google Hangouts (Classic) - Ratings
Desktop sharing	8.50 Ratings	00 Ratings

Online Meetings / Events

Comparison of Online Meetings / Events features of Product A and Product B
	8x8 Express (discontinued) 8.7 Ratings 6% above category average	Google Hangouts (Classic) - Ratings
Calendar integration	9.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
Meeting initiation	8.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
Record meetings / events	9.00 Ratings	00 Ratings

Online Events Collaboration

Comparison of Online Events Collaboration features of Product A and Product B
	8x8 Express (discontinued) 8.5 Ratings 6% above category average	Google Hangouts (Classic) - Ratings
Live chat	8.50 Ratings	00 Ratings

Online Events Security

Comparison of Online Events Security features of Product A and Product B
	8x8 Express (discontinued) 9.3 Ratings 19% above category average	Google Hangouts (Classic) - Ratings
User authentication	9.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
Participant roles & permissions	9.50 Ratings	00 Ratings

Cloud PBX

Comparison of Cloud PBX features of Product A and Product B
	8x8 Express (discontinued) 8.0 Ratings 5% below category average	Google Hangouts (Classic) 6.3 Ratings 24% below category average
Hosted PBX	7.50 Ratings	6.90 Ratings
Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)	8.00 Ratings	7.70 Ratings
Directory of employee names	8.60 Ratings	3.00 Ratings
User templates	00 Ratings	5.00 Ratings
Call reports	00 Ratings	9.00 Ratings

Call Management

Comparison of Call Management features of Product A and Product B
	8x8 Express (discontinued) 8.9 Ratings 5% above category average	Google Hangouts (Classic) 8.0 Ratings 5% below category average
Answering rules	9.00 Ratings	8.00 Ratings
Call recording	9.00 Ratings	7.90 Ratings
Call park	9.00 Ratings	7.00 Ratings
Call screening	9.30 Ratings	9.00 Ratings
Message alerts	9.20 Ratings	8.00 Ratings
Business SMS/External Messaging	8.50 Ratings	00 Ratings
Online Fax	8.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
Voicemail Transcription	9.00 Ratings	00 Ratings

Mobile apps

Comparison of Mobile apps features of Product A and Product B
	8x8 Express (discontinued) 9.6 Ratings 13% above category average	Google Hangouts (Classic) 8.0 Ratings 1% above category average
Mobile app for iOS	9.70 Ratings	8.10 Ratings
Mobile app for Android	9.60 Ratings	8.00 Ratings

Unified Communications Platform and Collaboration

Comparison of Unified Communications Platform and Collaboration features of Product A and Product B
	8x8 Express (discontinued) 7.1 Ratings 12% below category average	Google Hangouts (Classic) - Ratings
Centralized communications management	8.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
Team messaging	8.30 Ratings	00 Ratings
Team document sharing	6.00 Ratings	00 Ratings
Call and meeting analytics	6.00 Ratings	00 Ratings

VoIP system collaboration

Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of Product A and Product B
	8x8 Express (discontinued) - Ratings	Google Hangouts (Classic) 8.6 Ratings 7% above category average
Video conferencing	00 Ratings	9.00 Ratings
Audio conferencing	00 Ratings	9.00 Ratings
Video screen sharing	00 Ratings	7.10 Ratings
Instant messaging	00 Ratings	9.00 Ratings

Best Alternatives
	8x8 Express (discontinued)	Google Hangouts (Classic)
Small Businesses	Broadvoice \| GoContact Score 9.2 out of 10	CloudTalk Score 7.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies	Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) Score 8.7 out of 10	CloudTalk Score 7.2 out of 10
Enterprises	Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) Score 8.7 out of 10	Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued) Score 9.0 out of 10
All Alternatives	View all alternatives	View all alternatives

User Ratings
	8x8 Express (discontinued)	Google Hangouts (Classic)
Likelihood to Recommend	7.6 (0 ratings)	8.0 (0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew	- (0 ratings)	10.0 (0 ratings)
Usability	- (0 ratings)	8.0 (0 ratings)
Support Rating	9.1 (0 ratings)	8.0 (0 ratings)

User Testimonials
	8x8 Express (discontinued)	Google Hangouts (Classic)
Likelihood to Recommend	The 8x8 app is great and very user friendly and straightforward. Team Members can adjust their own setting as needed. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	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. Incentivized Chris Carpenter Danaher Business System Leader (DBSL), Awesomizer, Fixer, Maker, Collaboration Enabler Read full review
Pros	Being able to forward calls to my cell phone when I am out of office. So much functionality. So many options. One set price instead of a bunch of add-on fees. Incentivized LS Luke Sullivan Owner Read full review	Google Hangouts (Classic) is embedded within Gmail's scheduler, so setting up the link is as quick as a click of the button. It's a one-step process. Google Hangouts (Classic) is user-friendly and [has] features to share screens easily. Google Hangouts (Classic) is much easier to use than its competitors. Google Hangouts (Classic) have [a] good connection time and there are few glitches. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Cons	We are just starting to use the platform and using limited features at the moment and 8x8 is doing everything we need it to do. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	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. Incentivized MD Mark DiNallo Service Director Read full review
Usability	No answers on this topic	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 Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Support Rating	If you get less than 4 phones you fall into the online only customer service. There were a couple of times that I could have used more assistance but figuring it out online was a bit of a hassle. Incentivized LS Luke Sullivan Owner Read full review	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. Incentivized Kaleb-John Loo Senior Firmware Engineer Read full review
Alternatives Considered	8x8 has a much lower cost that avaya for the same features. 8x8 is a bit more user friendly than some other larger well established brands. It still uses industry standards in terminology and call flows to for anyone with voip experience its a pain free switch to make over. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review	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. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
Return on Investment	Positive impact - pricing is right, service is easy to use. Especially during the pandemic, clients who would normally just pop by the office had to call in. 8x8 Express made that so easy as we could transfer calls to our cell phones, but also received emails when a voicemail was left with an audio recording of the message. We didn't miss a beat! We use some contractors that are not even in the same state as us, but our clients wouldn't know it as autoforwarding calls is super simple and seamless Incentivized DP Diana Padgett Director of Finance Read full review	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. Incentivized Verified User Anonymous Read full review
ScreenShots	8x8 Express (discontinued) Screenshots