We use Google Hangouts as our major mode of communication. I'm a senior executive and we're a user of the solution.
Senior Executive at Divine IT Limited
Excellent voice and video clarity without time lag issues
Pros and Cons
- "Very good voice and video calling options."
- "Sending documents and other things is not an option."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
I like the voice and video calling options because I feel that Google Hangouts has more voice clarity and video clarity than Skype most of the time. It may even be better than Zoom which sometimes lags and tends to crash quite often.
What needs improvement?
I'm not completely happy with the message options in Hangouts because for now it's only possible to send pictures, which is unfortunate because I would also like to be able to send documents and other things. I also think that because we've all become very used to using WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, I think they could also include a reply option.
I sometimes find that the topic that I want to speak to a particular person about, or the topic that we spoke about gets lost among all the words. A reply button would enable me to physically save certain information.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Google Hangouts for a couple of years.
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Google Hangouts
May 2025

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution. I'm enjoying using it. It's all part of Google, so I'm seldom disappointed.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I believe scalability is excellent. They should continue the way they have been and maybe developing some of the features mentioned earlier but scalability is good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Like most people, we also use WhatsApp. We've become used to using it for personal and professional purposes. We have lots of groups in our company and among our colleagues where we use WhatsApp for a specific department or specific project. We use both, but I believe Google Hangouts is the perfect place for professionals to come together and work. It's a perfect collaboration space.
What other advice do I have?
I would give this solution a perfect score if they could tweak some of the issues they have such as the messaging. Other than that, I think it's a great product.
For now, I would rate this solution an eight out of 10.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Technical Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Quick and easy to use, and the quality of audio is superior to other products
Pros and Cons
- "Google Hangouts is very quick and easy to use, and the quality is very good."
- "I would like to have a whiteboard feature, where I can draw a sketch or diagram and show it to the people in the meeting."
What is our primary use case?
We have been using Google Hangouts for video conferencing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
What is most valuable?
Google Hangouts is very quick and easy to use, and the quality is very good.
What needs improvement?
I would like to have a whiteboard feature, where I can draw a sketch or diagram and show it to the people in the meeting.
Support for recording meetings would be helpful.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Google Hangouts for about three months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have been using this solution approximately twice a week and it has been very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Google Hangouts is a scalable system. We have had meetings that include at least ten members and it has been fine.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have not been in contact with Google's technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Prior to Google Hangouts, I have used Cisco Webex for web conferencing and meetings. I found that the voice and image are much more clear in Hangouts, compared to Webex. In fact, I think that the biggest difference between them is that the voice in Google Hangouts is better.
How was the initial setup?
This solution is quite easy to set up. You can create a meeting using the calendar and it starts working. It can be started in a matter of seconds.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are users of Google G-Suite, so we did not consider other options.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Buyer's Guide
Google Hangouts
May 2025

Learn what your peers think about Google Hangouts. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
853,868 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Technical Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Reliable group meetings with automatic focus on the speaker
Pros and Cons
- "The group chat is a very good feature, where you can see all of the participants on cameras."
- "I would like to see more focus on features for interacting with the participants in a group chat, such as screen sharing."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Google Hangouts for video meetings and group chat sessions.
How has it helped my organization?
All of our employees are using this solution and it allows them to easily catch up and keep in touch with each other.
What is most valuable?
What I like best is that once a person starts speaking, you will see immediately who it is.
The group chat is a very good feature, where you can see all of the participants on cameras.
Online sessions are reliable and there are almost no glitches.
What needs improvement?
I would like to see more focus on features for interacting with the participants in a group chat, such as screen sharing. This would be great.
Having an option for participants to ask questions, like a "raise hand" feature, would be helpful because as it is now, they have to send a message and I have to watch for it. The message might be private for me or sent to the entire group but either way, I have to watch the list of participants all of the time for these messages.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Google Hangouts for more than six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The reliability is very good because there are almost no glitches.
It is more stable than other products.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have 130 employees in the company and all of us use Google Hangouts. However, I have only used it for sessions with 12 participants. With this number of people, it was fine.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have not been in contact with Google's technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have been working extensively with products like Google Hangouts, Zoom, and Webex to finish various projects. I find that Google Hangouts is more reliable than Zoom. On the other hand, Webex has more features available for interacting with the participants.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are using the free version of Google Hangouts.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Google
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Manager at a transportation company with 501-1,000 employees
Screen sharing feature ties in with Google Docs and Google Sheets so that we can work on a single document as a whole group of us at once
Pros and Cons
- "The screen sharing is the most valuable feature. It ties in with Google docs and Google sheets so that we can work on a single document as a whole group of us at once. That's the biggest feature we rely on."
- "The way it works with anonymous users should be improved. That could be strengthened to let anonymous users do more."
What is our primary use case?
We're a very distributed environment. We are a group of trucking companies and we're spread out across Western Canada. We've got about 20 offices with about 250 people right across 20 offices and communicating with each other is very important and so we use Google Hangouts. It provides inter-company communication, primarily for meetings and things like that. It has reduced cell phone bills and all those sorts of things.
What is most valuable?
The screen sharing is the most valuable feature. It ties in with Google docs and Google sheets so that we can work on a single document as a whole group at once. That's the biggest feature we rely on. Other than that, it's quick communication. You can send a quick chat message if you need or you can have a long video call conference if you need as well. It is flexible. It's a very good all-around solution.
What needs improvement?
The way it works with anonymous users should be improved. That could be strengthened to let anonymous users do more.
If we could get the person that we call that doesn't have a Gmail account and to screen share would be helpful. There have been times when I actually wanted to do remote control through Google and that would be really helpful too. That would help support a lot too.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using it for around five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is very good. We have around 150 users who use it every day.
It's at least half of our company that uses it pretty regularly. Our users range from data entry clerks who use the chat function to ask quick questions of their counterparts, dispatchers who communicate with other dispatchers inside that company. Managers use it for their weekly calls. It's really every level of our organization uses it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before Hangouts we were using a regular teleconferencing solution where we would dial the number of a code and we would pay a bill every month for the number of minutes we used. We've never used a solution like Hangouts.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is complex. There are many settings buried in the Google Admin that are hard to find. It can be a pain.
It took about a year to get people into it and to set it to the way we wanted it. It required constant tweaking.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on our investment and we're all very satisfied with it. I just prefer to pay what I used to.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This time last year I would've said the pricing is fantastic but Google increased their pricing recently and so our costs doubled. I don't think it's as cost-effective as it used to be. I would say it's sort of in the middle as far as cost-effectiveness now. It's the other things that come with Hangout that make it valuable. Part of its value is that it's got a whole suite of tools. I do in fact recommend it to people because of that.
What other advice do I have?
The one piece of advice I would is to be prepared regarding who else is going to use Hangouts outside of your organization. If you want people to be able to use a phone number, you have to pay for a whole different license with Google, your whole Google license has to be upgraded. Granted it has lots of other features. The dial-in feature to Hangouts is only accessible in the business class of G suite.
If it's only your company that is going to use it, then you're great at the regular license level. But if you think you're going to have people who are required to dial in, then you need to be prepared to pay more.
I would rate it an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Director Of Engineering at Smarg Technologies
Has good screen-sharing features and good stability
Pros and Cons
- "Not a ten because there's room for improvement. Sometimes there is disconnectivity."
What is most valuable?
The screen-sharing feature is the most valuable feature.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Google Hangouts for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven't had any problems with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is definitely scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven't needed to contact customer support because there haven't been any problems.
What other advice do I have?
Google Hangouts is wonderful in order to communicate with the rest of the world.
I would rate Google Hangouts an eight out of ten. Not a ten because there's room for improvement. Sometimes there is disconnectivity.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
IT Assistant at Hotel 2 Fevrier
Has the ability to connect through your phone and computer
Pros and Cons
- "The ability to share a screen during a meeting is one of the most valuable features. You can also be directly connected on the computer and on the phone with the same account. It is flexible."
- "We purchased a videoconference system called Zoom. We want to see if Google Hangouts has the ability to integrate our Zoom device to use it with Hangouts and meet directly."
What is our primary use case?
We have a group of people that uses Google Hangouts. We chose Google Hangouts because most of the users are on Google and we don't want to use WhatsApp. We publish things like documents for all the members who are on it. I can use WhatsApp, but I prefer Google Hangouts because with Google Hangouts we can directly share our screen. If you have two or three on Google Hangouts directly, someone can share their screen, and you can see what he's doing.
What is most valuable?
The ability to share a screen during a meeting is one of the most valuable features. You can also be directly connected to the computer and on the phone with the same account. It is flexible.
What needs improvement?
We purchased a videoconference system called Zoom. We want to see if Google Hangouts has the ability to integrate our Zoom device to use it with Hangouts and meet directly. I would like for Hangouts to have a professional cloud service in which people will be able to connect the device up to and need not to go through another competitor. I'd rather just use one single service.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Google Hangouts for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
If someone is using Zoom and is using Skype, the two devices can be connected directly, there is no need for a license. If someone is using Skype and issues a Google Hangouts conference code or a Meet conference code, you are not able to dial with the two devices. Skype and BlueJeans, also work together but Google and Skype directly do not.
We have around 100 users using Hangouts in our company.
How are customer service and technical support?
Our support is based out of Kenya. They're good. If you have any issues, it will take them around two days to resolve it.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Per user, we are paying $50 a month.
What other advice do I have?
Most of the companies are going to Microsoft products but Google is easier to use.
Google is a good product but it'll be better if they fix some videoconference issues. With Microsoft, you can integrate all of your devices. With Logitech and other companies, you can connect it directly through the cloud and you can use it directly, no need to go for another supplier. But with Google, you need to go with another supplier.
I would rate it an eight out of ten.
In the next release, I would like the ability to videoconference with a connectivity plugin.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Legal Associate at a legal firm with 11-50 employees
User-friendly and reliable with an easy initial setup
Pros and Cons
- "The solution scales well."
- "Maybe they should offer more security features."
What is our primary use case?
I primarily use the solution for meetings. I can meet with people virtually with it.
What is most valuable?
It's very user-friendly.
The solution scales well.
I have found the product to be stable.
The initial setup is simple.
What needs improvement?
The security should be improved. They could be better at it. Maybe they should offer more security features.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for five or six years. It's been a while at this point.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is stable and reliable. I haven't had issues with bugs or glitches. the performance is good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product can scale well. If a company needs to expand it, it can do so.
I'm not sure exactly how many people use it in the organization, however, it is available to everybody.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not previously use a different solution previously.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very simple and very straightforward. It was not overly complex or difficult.
To deploy the product, you just have the Gmail account, and then it is in there. It's another functionality on the Gmail G-Suite.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend the solution to others.
I'd rate the product a nine out of ten. I've been pretty satisfied with its capabilities overall.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Network & Security Administrator at a logistics company with 501-1,000 employees
Has good integration with Google
Pros and Cons
- "It's integration with Google is the valuable feature."
- "The improvement needs to be done as per customer requirements."
What is our primary use case?
The solution is being used for video calls.
What is most valuable?
Its integration with Google is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
The improvement needs to be done as per customer requirements.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Google Hangouts for six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is good. I rate the stability a nine out of ten.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I moved from Zoom to Google because I have a Google account.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

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