11 best Podium alternatives
Podium publishes its prices, which we respect, and they are $399 and $599 a month. On top of that their own page lists a $500 network fee per location and a $5 monthly carrier fee per location. If you bought it to get more reviews, that is a very expensive text message.
Written by the team at FiveStariz. We make 1 of the 11 products below, so read our entry with that in mind. Every price was read on that company's own website on 18 October 2026.
Podium alternatives compared
Podium itself is $399 a month, plus $500 a location to set up.
| Tool | Cheapest price | Best for | Review filtering |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. FiveStariz (ours) | $19 a month, 1 location | Review requests by text and email, a review page, QR codes, and your public reviews read back into 1 list. | None found |
| 2. NiceJob | $75 a month | Review requests, referral campaigns and an optional website. | None found |
| 3. HiFiveStar | $39 a month | Review requests with drafted replies and video testimonials. | Gating in the product |
| 4. GatherUp | $99 a month, then $60 a location | Requests, monitoring across 100 or more sites, surveys and widgets. | Publicly against it |
| 5. Birdeye | No published price | A full reputation platform for brands with many locations. | None found |
| 6. Weave | From $199 a month | A practice phone system with texting, payments and reviews. | Gating in the product |
| 7. Broadly | $399 a month, plus $350 to onboard | A local marketing suite with an AI receptionist and a website. | None found |
| 8. Reviewgrower | $37 a month, free plan available | Requests, widgets, a map rank tracker and an agency white label. | None found |
| 9. TrueReview | $29 a month, paid yearly | Review and feedback requests by text and email. | None found |
| 10. Chekkit | Free then $149 a month | Webchat, texting and review requests, free for 1 user. | None found |
| 11. Thryv | $228 a month, plus $250 to onboard | All in one small business software with reviews in the marketing side. | None found |
"Review filtering" means asking a customer how it went before showing the review buttons. Google's policy forbids it. "Not explained" means the vendor hints at a filter and never describes it.
What sends people looking past Podium
Each of these came from their own pages, not from our opinion.
$399 a month before the extras
Core is $399 and Pro is $599. Their page also lists a $500 per location setup fee for phones and $5 a month per location for US texting.
You are buying a phone system
Webchat, 2 way texting, calls and payments. Reviews are 1 feature inside it, not the product.
No trial and no free plan
Nothing on the pricing page offers either. Every button is a demo or a phone number.
Message limits need a phone call to raise
Bulk sending is metered, and their own page says the way to increase it is to contact your customer success manager.
11 alternatives, in order
1. FiveStariz (our product)
$19 a month, 1 location. A free plan that sends email requests, plus a trial of everything.
Ours. It does the review asking and nothing else, for $19 a month with no setup fee. To be clear about the trade: no webchat, no phone calls, no payments. If your team lives in Podium's inbox all day, this will not replace it.
2. NiceJob
$75 a month. 14 day trial.
A proper review tool at $75 a month, with referral campaigns on the higher plan. A fifth of Podium's price for the review part.
3. HiFiveStar
$39 a month. A free plan that cannot send requests.
$39 a month, with drafted replies and reply posting that Podium also does. Check their review page setting first, because it can ask for a star rating before showing the buttons.
4. GatherUp
$99 a month, then $60 a location. 14 day trial.
$99 for 1 location, monitoring across 100 or more sites, and surveys. The closest thing to the review half of Podium at a quarter of the price.
5. Birdeye
No published price. None mentioned.
The other big suite. Worth a look only if you want the whole platform, and be ready for a sales call because they publish no price at all.
6. Weave
From $199 a month. None mentioned.
If the real reason you bought Podium was the phone system, Weave does that for practices from $199 a month. Their reviews feature advertises intercepting negative reviews, which we would not use.
7. Broadly
$399 a month, plus $350 to onboard. No terms published.
A suite with an AI receptionist and a website, at $399 a month plus $350 to onboard. Same price band as Podium, different mix.
8. Reviewgrower
$37 a month, free plan available. A real free plan, no texts on it.
$37 a month with a free tier, plus a map rank tracker. The cheapest serious swap if you only want reviews.
9. TrueReview
$29 a month, paid yearly. 14 day trial with 250 free sends.
$29 a month paid yearly, and the trial includes 250 real sends. Simple and cheap.
10. Chekkit
Free then $149 a month. Free forever for 1 user.
Free for 1 user and it includes webchat and texting, which is the Podium shape at the small end. $149 a month once you need more seats.
11. Thryv
$228 a month, plus $250 to onboard. None published.
An all in one at $228 a month plus $250 onboarding. On the list because it genuinely replaces several tools, not because it is cheap.
How we picked these
- We read the price on each company's own website on 18 October 2026 and wrote down the date. Nothing came from a blog or a comparison article.
- Where a company publishes no price, the list says so instead of repeating a figure from somewhere else.
- We checked each one for review filtering, and we quote the vendor's own words rather than guessing.
- We left in the tools that beat us, and said what they do better.
- We put our own product first and labelled it, because hiding that would make this an advert.
Prices change. Check the vendor's own page before you decide anything.
Podium alternatives, answered
How much does Podium really cost?
Core is $399 a month and Pro is $599, read on their own pricing page on 18 October 2026. The same page lists a $5 monthly carrier fee per US location and a $500 network fee per location for phones. Extra numbers are $5 a month, and phone seats are $30 a user a month.
What is the cheapest Podium alternative for reviews?
If reviews are all you need, the list runs from about $10 a month upward. Reply Champion at $10, ours at $19, TrueReview at $29 and Reviewgrower at $37. All 4 publish their prices.
Does Podium do review gating?
We found no gating wording on their review pages. Their review product names Google and Facebook and describes automating textable invites. On this one point Podium is clean.
Is Podium worth $399 a month?
If your staff answer webchat, texts and phone calls all day in 1 inbox, it can pay for itself. If you bought it because nobody was asking customers for reviews, you are paying about 20 times what that job costs.
See what we charge
$19 a month for 1 location, $5 a location from 10, and the price is on the page.