Best Reputation Management Software 2021

Birdeye vs. Podium

Is Birdeye or Podium the better solution for you? This in-depth, feature-by-feature breakdown will help you select the best reputation management tool to improve your online presence.

Digital marketers and business owners use reputation management software to improve their online presence and engage their customers. There are several reputation management software tools in the market, which can make it tough to determine the best solution for your business.

However, if you're reading this article, then you're on the right path. BirdEye and Podium are the two largest reputation management vendors with over 50,000 customers each. This guide will explain the difference between the two solutions, including a deep dive into their unique features, and make it simpler for you to decide which tool is best for you.

Comparison Summary

BirdEye and Podium are the two most popular reputation management vendors. Both include tools to generate and manage reviews, and engage customers through web chat and two-way text messaging.

When comparing the two, it's important to focus on the specific tools offered by each vendor, and the corresponding subscription price. Here's a quick test to determine which solution is best for you:

You'll prefer BirdEye if:

  • You need a tool to manage your business listings.
  • You don't need a tool to collect customer payments.
  • A web chat tool is more important to you than a customer survey tool.
You'll prefer Podium if:

  • You need a tool to collect payments from your customers.
  • You don't need a tool to manage your business listings.
  • A customer survey tool is more important to you than a web chat tool.

Table of Contents

BirdEye & Podium Price Comparison

BirdEye and Podium are priced at $300-500 per location per month depending on the products you purchase. Podium recently updated its pricing to include a cheap entry-level plan for $99 per month. Overall, Podium is more affordable than Birdeye.

Products PurchasedBirdEye PricingPodium Pricing
Online Reviews Only$299$99
Online Reviews, Two-way Texting, Web Chat$399$449
Online Reviews, Two-Way Texting, Customer Surveys$500+$449

BirdEye Pricing Details

BirdEye's pricing starts at $299 per month for a single location. The total BirdEye cost depends on the products you purchase and your number of locations.

  • Standard Plan: $299 per month for listings, reviews & campaigns.
  • Professional Plan: $399 per month for listings, reviews, campaigns & interactions.
  • Premium Plan: Custom quotes only; includes surveys, ticketing, insights & benchmarking.
  • Free demo.

Podium Pricing Details

Podium's pricing starts at $99 per month for a single location. Total cost depends on your number of locations and the number of reviews you need.

  • Essentials: $99 per month for up to 75 reviews
  • Review Plus: $249 per month for up to 250 reviews
  • Marketing Plus: $349 per month for up to 500 SMS contacts
  • Business in a Box: $449 per month for unlimited reviews and 500 SMS contacts

Podium recently launched a free version of its product, known as Podium Starter. Podium Starter includes most major features found in Podium's paid plan – each is just more limited. For example, Podium Starter only includes 250 review invites.

BirdEye & Podium Feature Comparison

BirdEye and Podium both offer a wide range of solutions to help businesses grow. Both platforms include tools to help businesses generate and manage online reviews, engage customers through web chat & text message, send customer surveys, and execute marketing campaigns.

While there is broad overlap between the two solutions, each does have some unique features. As you can see in the table below, only BirdEye offers business listing management, branded microsites, and social media management. In contrast, only Podium includes a payments tool and internal team chat.

For a full analysis of their features, read our BirdEye and Podium reviews.

ToolBirdEyePodium
Business Listing ManagementYesNo
Online ReviewsYesYes
Email & Text CampaignsYesYes
Two-way TextingYesYes
Customer SurveysYesYes
Competitive BenchmarkingYesYes
PaymentsNoYes
Internal Team ChatNoYes
ReportingYesYes
Branded MicrositeYesNo
Social Media ManagementYesNo

BirdEye's Unique Features

BirdEye has three unique features not found in Podium. It's important to understand the features below to determine if BirdEye is ideal for your business.

Business Listing Management

It's critical that you have accurate, consistent business listing data in all major online directories. This is a top factor in Google's search algorithm, and ensures customers can find your contact information online.

You can use BirdEye to quickly create a business profile for each of your locations. The profile includes your name, address & phone number (NAP data), business category & description, photos, and hours of operation.

BirdEye Business Profile

BirdEye's listings tool scans over 100 websites for each of your locations' information. The tool highlights listings that are incomplete or inaccurate, and allows you to quickly fix any errors.

BirdEye Listings

Branded Microsite

The BirdEye subscription includes a branded microsite that is built and hosted for your business. This website includes your branded imagery, business information, and customer review data.

BirdEye Microsite

These microsites are customizable and optimized for SEO. It creates another high-quality web page that will help potential customers discover and learn about your business.

Social Media Management

BirdEye's platform includes an application that you can use to create, schedule and post social media content. This tool also allows you to set up streams to monitor mentions of your business locations on social media platforms.

The dashboard shares analytics data from your social media profiles and campaigns. In addition, your team can respond to social media comments from directly inside BirdEye. If you've purchased BirdEye's tickets application, you can turn social media comments into customer support tickets.

Podium's Unique Features

Podium has two unique features not found in BirdEye. It's important to understand the features below to determine if Podium is ideal for your business.

Payments

Podium has a payments tool that allows you to collect payments from customers via text message. You use the Podium application to send customers a text message that includes a link to complete their payment.

Podium payments interface

Podium payments is faster and more effective than in-person payments or mail invoices. There is no monthly cost for the tool, but you do pay a per-transaction processing fee. Advanced features included in payments are:

  • Branded invoices
  • Itemized invoices
  • Ability to process refunds
  • Connect multiple bank accounts
  • Accept credit, debit, HSA, Google Pay, Apple Pay and bank transfers
  • Fraud protection

Internal Team Chat

Podium's Teamchat feature allows your internal team to easily communicate about what's happening in Podium without leaving the application. This means they'll spend less time switching between applications, email, and phone calls. This is a valuable advanced feature not found in most other reputation management solutions.

Podium Team Chat

Teamchat supports both 1:1 messaging and group messaging. Common topics of conversation include:

  • Problematic or exciting reviews
  • Customer questions
  • Closing inbound leads

Bottom Line

BirdEye and Podium are both very solid reputation management systems. Both platforms include a wide range of tools that help over 50,000 customers grow their businesses.

Determining which solution is best for your business will likely come down to the specific set of features you desire:

  • If you want tools to manage your online business listings, build a branded microsite, and manage your social media posts, then BirdEye is better for you.
  • If you want a tool to collect payments from customers and the ability to chat with your team, then Podium is better for you.

Both companies offer free product demos. Visit BirdEye or Podium today to get started.

Bruce Hogan

Bruce Hogan is Co-founder & CEO of SoftwarePundit. He leads the team's research and publishes content about software products and trends. Bruce has experience investing at multi-billion dollar private equity firms, leading teams at venture-backed technology companies, and launching new businesses. You can connect with Bruce on LinkedIn.

Bruce is an expert in several software categories including:

  • Dental software
  • Mental health software
  • SEO software
  • Social media software

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