Google Hangouts (Classic) vs. Google Voice

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
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
Google Voice
Score 7.8 out of 10
N/A
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
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google Hangouts (Classic)Google Voice
Considered Both Products
Google Hangouts (Classic)
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 …
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.
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.
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 …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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.
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 …
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 …
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.
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 …
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.
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 …
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.
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 …
Google Voice
Chose Google Voice
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 …
Chose Google Voice
I chose Google Voice for their seamless integration. Calls and text bundle and email alerts. While Skype had great quality calls a long time ago, I noticed their support team is horrible with many bugs and crashes. The call logs on Skype were not registering and sometimes it …
Chose Google Voice
Google Voice stands far above products like Vonage, RingCentral, and Jive (GoToConnect). It is more mature as a VOIP product and free to home/personal users. For small usage scenarios like ours, Google Voice cannot be beat on price and ease of use. It is very affordable to keep …
Chose Google Voice
Google Voice is way easier to get going and use. It's cheaper, more robust, and doesn't have any issues with the app not ringing or not transferring calls correctly. Plus, a lot of our employees already have experience using Google Voice with their personal accounts and found …
Chose Google Voice
Zoom and Slack are the closest comparisons I can come up with, but those are pretty different use cases, at least for us.
Chose Google Voice
The integrations of Google Voice with all our devices are flawless, Android, iOS, Windows, Linux and Mac. Also, the call performance is far superior on wifi as well as on mobile data. With Skype, we had several problems with personal accounts, performance issues, and in …
Chose Google Voice
FluentCloud/FluentStream is what we ended up using for our business. It too is easy to use, a little tougher to integrate, but not bad at all, and much cheaper. Does everything I need it to do. I would switch to Google Voice if it was cheaper as I use all the other Google …
Chose Google Voice
Google Voice is easier to use, but in Skype you can have local numbers in different countries (not only in the US).
Skype call rates are lower than Google Voice's rates for non-US numbers, check the rates according to your predicted usage.
Chose Google Voice
I've used in-house systems at other agencies and they went down all the time, were not reliable and were extremely expensive.
Chose Google Voice
Google Voice is great if you are a one-man business. It allows you to have a business phone number for people to call without having to give your personal cell phone number out to strangers. The cost is very affordable. But as your business grows, you need to look for a better …
Chose Google Voice
Google Voice and Dialpad, I believe, are a very equal match, and we chose Google Voice due to only a small amount of interface differences that made a difference in the service's functionality. Also, we had used google voice for a long time before Dialpad, so making the …
Chose Google Voice
Google Voice has the best interface, and is the easiest to use of all the phone services out there. It also is free! We love Google Voice because it gives us a free phone number that many people can use, so my entire team can have one unified number that employees can call and …
Chose Google Voice
I primarily use Google Voice for texting, but I’ve also used EZ Texting for similar purposes. The main difference is that Google Voice excels at individual communications, while EZ Texting is best for mass texts. Google Voice texting does not cost anything, whereas EZ Texting …
Chose Google Voice
Google Voice is much more cost efficient and doesn't have all the bells and whistles that our small company doesn't need. Google Voice never tries to upsell us and just makes an easy-to-use product that has greatly increased the efficiency of our organization. We aren't …
Chose Google Voice
Google Voice performs similar communication activities compared to many other business service tools. However, one often must integrate other Google apps in order to fully experience the benefits that other platforms experience locally. Voice does have the benefit of merging …
Chose Google Voice
Google Voice was a superior product in our opinion to some that we looked at because of its versatility and ease of implementation. Not only were those big determinants in our decision, but the cost-effectiveness of the program played a major role in our decision. Some of the …
Chose Google Voice
Google has a larger ecosystem.
Chose Google Voice
Google Voice is more reliable than CallHippo and has better call quality. Additionally, Google Voice's integration into Google Hangouts expands it functionality for video calls. Google Voice also provides access into Google's contact directory giving quick access to anyone who …
Chose Google Voice
Google Voice is hard to compare because on a cost basis it is so much lower than it's competitors. As a whole, I would say it's definitely lacking features compared to Nextiva, and a few from RingCentral but the service is reliable and it has the most commonly used core …
Chose Google Voice
The price was a huge standout since we have a large number of users and because of this it was important for us. Aside from cost the reliability was also of utmost importance due to the urgent nature of some of the calls. These were the two main reasons we chose this platform.
Chose Google Voice
Google Voice was perfect for the small team setting where we needed to coordinate calls from time to time with urgency and supported call forwarding in a manner consistent with the services we need to provide to our clients.
Chose Google Voice
We have Cisco tools as a primary option for our VoIP needs due to it's more professional approach. However Google Voice has recently became a business level program as well. I'm happy to use it due to it's unique features and the flexibility as we always expect from Google.
Chose Google Voice
Considering that Google Voice integrates well into the other Google services, it has clear benefits when sharing and accessing call information. Skype is always a pain to use for calls b/c, not everyone had it, but Google Voice works with any phone and most people already have …
Chose Google Voice
We used Vonage as part of our initial process but conference call and app features were farther behind compared to Google Voice. Both products have some advantages over others but, in the end, for better app and global use, Google Voice makes things easy for our organization. …
TrustRadius Insights
Google Hangouts (Classic)Google Voice
Highlights

TrustRadius
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.

For more details on how to compare these products, check out our post Google Voice vs Google Hangouts.

Features
Google Hangouts (Classic)Google Voice
Cloud PBX
Comparison of Cloud PBX features of Product A and Product B
Google Hangouts (Classic)
6.3
Ratings
24% below category average
Google Voice
4.4
Ratings
58% below category average
Hosted PBX6.90 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)7.70 Ratings5.20 Ratings
User templates5.00 Ratings1.40 Ratings
Call reports9.00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Directory of employee names3.00 Ratings1.70 Ratings
Call Management
Comparison of Call Management features of Product A and Product B
Google Hangouts (Classic)
8.0
Ratings
5% below category average
Google Voice
8.1
Ratings
4% below category average
Answering rules8.00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Call recording7.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Call park7.00 Ratings6.40 Ratings
Call screening9.00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Message alerts8.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
VoIP system collaboration
Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of Product A and Product B
Google Hangouts (Classic)
8.6
Ratings
7% above category average
Google Voice
7.2
Ratings
11% below category average
Video conferencing9.00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Audio conferencing9.00 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Video screen sharing7.10 Ratings5.60 Ratings
Instant messaging9.00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Mobile apps
Comparison of Mobile apps features of Product A and Product B
Google Hangouts (Classic)
8.0
Ratings
1% above category average
Google Voice
5.0
Ratings
46% below category average
Mobile app for iOS8.10 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Mobile app for Android8.00 Ratings5.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Google Hangouts (Classic)Google Voice
Small Businesses
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 7.2 out of 10
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 7.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 7.2 out of 10
CloudTalk
CloudTalk
Score 7.2 out of 10
Enterprises
Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
Cisco Business Edition 7000 (discontinued)
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Google Hangouts (Classic)Google Voice
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.3
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.0
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Google Hangouts (Classic)Google Voice
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
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[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.
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Pros
  • 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.
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  • Google Voice has been great for setting up additional phone lines and numbers.
  • The voicemail inbox is a great feature and you can see when messages come in online and listen to the messages from your computer.
  • Google Voice allows us to have multiple phone numbers and lines for specific business purposes.
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Cons
  • 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.
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  • 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.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
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
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Usability
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
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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.
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Support Rating
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.
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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.
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
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
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Alternatives Considered
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.
Read full review
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
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Return on Investment
  • 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.
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  • Google Voice has saved us a lot of time in regards to overall productivity.
  • Google Voice allows us to operate at a greater scale than without it.
  • Google voice allows us to track which advertisements are working best.
  • Google Voice allows us to spend less time listening to voicemails.
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ScreenShots