The service is accessed through Gmail, Google+, and through a Google mobile app. Chat histories can be saved online, letting the user sync them between their devices. There are a lot of features in the Google Hangout paradigm that also make it a perfect business tool. While a proprietary platform may be better for large businesses, easily integrated into Google Cloud, Google Hangouts makes it perfect for the small business to have a teleconference, share files, and save videos for later reference. Google Hangouts was originally developed as a social tool. However, many companies are starting to purchase Google Cloud and Google accounts for each individual user, letting them utilize the infrastructure that powers your basic Google Drive, Google+, and Gmail account. Here are the things that we think may make Google Hangouts a great fit for small businesses:

The overall Google interface, streamlining the user experience.
The sleek live editing options found in Google Drive, and the ability to share documents within Google Hangouts.
The affordable prices for users that want vast storage as part of their Google Account experience.
The ability to use Gmail as the nexus for Google Voice and Google Hangouts.

With Google, the overall interface can easily be used to streamline your business and conferencing needs. With your Google account, you have access to Gmail, the Google+ social media tool, Google Hangouts, and Google Drive. All of these tools can be used in the Hangout experience, letting you conference with up to 15 people if you have purchased a user account for members in your business. With Google's robust user experience, you can plan your meetings on Google Calendar, invite people to a meeting, and provide them with a link to get into the conference. This makes it easy to collaborate over great distances in real time. Some of the conferencing platforms out there lack or have limited sharing and editing capabilities when it comes to editing documents. Google Drive makes it easy to share documents over Hangouts. If you'd like, you can log into your account and see where the other user is making edits in the document. With Google Drive open, a person can be taking notes while other members participate in the conversation. What does Google Hangouts offer over other platforms? The biggest benefit is the cost. For an entire year, you can pay only $50 and give a user access to all the tools in Google. Hangouts is merely an extension of Google and it offers your business a way of communicating across Google's apps and tools. For larger business enterprises, we recommend using Google Hangouts within the larger Google Cloud paradigm. This way, your company can enjoy using Hangouts while enjoying the fast cloud solutions offered by Google. We also thought that the HD solutions offered by Google Hangouts were perfect. Google lets users access HD video streaming if their network and Internet connection can handle it. There is up to 720 p available for users who can enjoy the best HD experience.

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The Bad

Concerns
Recording
Integrations

We had some concerns about using Google with users that were not part of an organization. This created some concerns for us for businesses that might be working with independent contractors. Shared documents and recorded conferences might be a security risk if shared with users outside of a company. You are not able to record your web conferences using Google Hangouts however there are recording softwares you can download which enable you to record. If you end up using Hangouts on Air for your web conferencing needs (limits the number of participants but not the number of viewers) then your video will automatically be recorded and saved to your YouTube channel. There are a few concerns we have about using Google Hangouts as a proprietary-level conferencing system:

Is the Google Hangouts experience private across all platforms?
Google Hangouts only lets 15 people conference in real time on the business end.
Lack of specialized leadership tools that are found in other proprietary conferencing solutions.
Some other conferencing products had easily integrable APIs with other platforms, such as ZenDesk and Facebook.

Also, Google Hangouts only lets up to 15 people participate actively in a conference. More people can view a Hangout and participate if it is being streamed. We found that with other companies, other conferencing tools let up to 30 or more people participate. If Google only lets 15 people participate in a Hangout, it might be more beneficial to do a good old-fashioned conference call. We weren't impressed with the overall leadership tools found with Google Hangouts. Right now, admins can make basic use changes to Google Hangouts for users within an organization, but the robust control for leaders found within other platforms is lacking in Hangouts. We're not sure how easily Google Hangouts integrates with other platforms, such as Zen Desk and Facebook. We found that TeamView lets users build some Facebook chat capabilities, but this feature is lacking with Google Hangouts.

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The Bottom Line

Overall, we felt like Google Hangouts was probably a better fit for small businesses that wanted a robust platform within the larger robustness of the Google account paradigm. Google Hangouts offers some really neat features, but limits the number of participants in a conference. Other companies have developed powerful infrastructure solutions for companies that combine live chat, video conferencing, document editing, file sharing, and other cloud solutions. Proprietary-level enterprises might want to consider investing in Google Cloud, integrating the Google Hangout paradigm into a customized solution that is part of their overall business infrastructure.

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User Reviews

Star Rating

4.3

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129 Reviews

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49%

4 grade

31%

3 grade

16%

2 grade

1 grade

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MD. MUKUL. SHARKER Dhaka, 13

Having a simple quick messenger is really improving my work progress and letting me and my team connect quickly to collaborate on tasks quickly. A wonderful experience is all that I can say.

5 years ago

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courtney tennant Salem, VA

Google Hangouts has many options such as chats and video calls, which makes it convenient for everyone. If you want to see someones face you can, but if not you can turn the camera off.

5 years ago

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anna blaser CA

I love Google Hangouts! It’s super easy to use, and I love the amount of features with it. It’s different in the way that you don’t expect it to be as good as it actually is. I love that you can use it in both a business matter and just a way to contact friends.

4 years ago

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Saylor D Herriman, UT

Google Hangouts is a great way to chat with your coworkers, friends, and classmates without having to leave your home. With COVID-19 going on, I needed a way to communicate with my team, and Google Hangouts fit the need very well.

4 years ago Edited January 13, 2022

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TTeep Smithfield, UT

We used Google Hangouts to call our son on his mission. It was nice being able to see everyone on the call at the same time. It's not too different from other conference apps, but it works well and we never had any issues using it.

5 years ago

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Paige Ellis Slade Gilbert, AZ

This is the main way that I get to video chat with my parents. I don’t live close to them and we have different phone formats… iOS versus android. Google hangouts helps me stay close to my family and I am super grateful for that!

5 years ago

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Nicole Johnson Portland, OR

Excellent way to talk as a larger group. Most people have a gmail account that they can go through. Family chats are easy to set up and invite people to, as well as join from the invitations others send. The messaging interface is clear as well.

5 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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Cindy H Gilbert, AZ

We had to use Goggle hangouts to talk to my daughter when she was in Ecuador over Christmas while she was serving a mission. It was a pretty good connection and i was so thrilled to be able to see her and hear her voice. Very grateful to Google for this service.

5 years ago

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Tara Bindrup Smithfield, UT

I used Google Hangouts to communicate with my son who was on a mission in Africa. You can communicate through both video or text. You can also have more than just one other person on the video call or text feed. I also like how you can take a picture right in the app and send or choose one from your photos.

5 years ago

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Mackenize Jorgensen Los Angeles, CA

I used Google Hangout over the pandemic to be able to talk to my coaches and teammates. It was super easy to get on. Its so great that there was a chat on the side so you could ask questions and talk to others without disturbing the main speaker or what else was going on.

5 years ago

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Natalie Drewery ,

Due to Covid-19 my friends and I were trying to find creative ways to stay in touch. Since the gyms were closed we started a Google Hangout workout group and it has been so needed and so fun. Love being able to share screens depending upon who is presenting the workout for that day.

6 years ago

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Mary Gunn

Great video conferencing app. A lot of features makes it a perfect meeting tool for small entrepreneurs like me. The most important fact is it’s easy to use interface.

5 years ago

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Sarah Osguthorpe Lehi, UT

Google Hangouts made it possible for me to reach my sister across the world. She could only use that app, and it made it easier to contact her! I love this app and website, super reliable.

4 years ago

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Korinne C Riverton, UT

I've used Google Hangouts for online meetings a few times, and I prefer them over Zoom. The user interface is cleaner and more simple. Sharing the info is very easy and not overwhelming, and it is easy to start and stop.

4 years ago

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Cali Peterson Salt Lake City, UT

It was a perfect way for me to connect with my friends when I didn’t have a phone but had an email and a computer. I wish I wasn’t slowly dying out like it is. It’s honestly nostalgic going back to it.

4 years ago

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Elena Pack West Jordan, UT

Google Hangouts is a great plug to be able to talk and have conversations with others. It is through Google so you can log in on any device Google and still see your conversations. You can also video call which is nice.

4 years ago

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Shopman Herriman, UT

Google Hangouts keeps my family connected. We are able to chat and videoconference easily on many different devices. The quality of the video is usually high. Google lets you report on the quality and works to improve it.

4 years ago

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Jec Canby, OR

My favorite use of Google Hangouts is communication with my children when they are out of the country. And it's free! I've also used it for meetings and contacting others. It's a nice option to have.

4 years ago

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Sydney Charleston South Jordan, UT

I have been using it since a long time and I think it's easy and comfortable way of chatting and having calls with dear ones and for work as well! Easy to use and free with an email account!

5 years ago

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Anne Sainsbury South Jordan, UT

I use Google Hangouts on a regular basis with friends and family. I love being able to have everyone on the same screen and see who is speaking. This is a great tool to get a group of people together to connect!

5 years ago

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Conrad Ma American Fork, UT

Google hangouts is great and easy to use! It is great when you’re trying to Jaír hangout and meet with friends or family, especially in the COVID socially distanced climate that we have today.

5 years ago

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Karli American Fork, UT

I used Google Hangouts at my previous job and loved it. It makes collaboration with coworkers easy and I love how flawlessly it interfaces with Google Mail and Google Calendar to make a seemless experience for the user.

5 years ago

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Paige Dahle Providence, UT

Google Hangouts is really easy to figure out and it's a really nice way to be able to connect with friends. It's really convenient too. I would totally recommend this to a friend. I've never had problems with it.

5 years ago

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Elizabeth Orlando, FL

Google Hangouts was the go to calling system to connect with my family that lives all over the country. It was an easy system to set up and very customizable.

4 years ago Edited March 2, 2022

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Brian Cowley Riverton, UT

I use google hangouts/chat the most of all. I like the interface, it is really easy to use, share screens and ties in with my calendar and email really good.

4 years ago

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Jacks Friend Riverton, UT

So grateful for Google Hangouts. We used then to communicate with our foster son's bio mom. It was a place we could chat but still keep our personal info private.

4 years ago

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Carolina camacho

Google hangouts is great! I am able to talk with friends or classmates face to face and it is very helpful with school. The site is really easy to use too!

4 years ago

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hminfo Olney, MD

Google Hangouts is a great way to catch up with friends and family online. It is easy to use--our parents and grandparents are all able to use it without any problems.

5 years ago

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Jacob Curtis Guyton, GA

I've used hangouts to connect with my friends and family across the US. Nice function to go from chat to video, but I don't always get notifications when I'm getting called

5 years ago

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Brian Salt Lake City, UT

Great product that brings anyone, no matter what phone platform (Android, Apple) or computer platform (Windows, Apple), together to be able to talk via video.

5 years ago

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Anoushka Ahuja Orlando, FL

I used Google hangouts to connect and meet my friends online! We used it during Covid when we couldn’t go out.

4 years ago

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Bergen Billings Smithfield, UT

This is a good way to stay safe and connected with family so easy to use, even grandma could use it.

5 years ago

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Lindsey American Fork, UT

Google Hangouts are great! It's pretty much the same as Skype though - just depends on which one you prefer.

8 years ago

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Emily Hamilton Salt Lake City, UT

It is a very nice app with fun ways to contact friends and good alternative to texting without having to give out my number.

4 years ago

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Adelynn Fisher Lehi, UT

This is really fun and great app to use to connect with friends and family online! I like the emojis and stickers it has, they're so fun!

4 years ago

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Luke M Herriman, UT

Google Hangouts is a great way to conference with my coworkers and associates when I can't see them in person. They make it easy and convenient.

4 years ago

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Jeff Thurgood Draper, UT

I loved Google Hangouts! I wish they weren't phasing it out. It was simple to use and allowed our family to connect over multiple platforms.

4 years ago

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Cael Thurgood Herriman, UT

Great way to communicate with your friends it is super user friendly with super simple and easy way to get around and chat with your friends

4 years ago

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Emily D Herriman, UT

Google hangouts made meeting remotely for work very easy. Inviting others was simple and i appreciates that it added my meetings to my calendar.

4 years ago

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Clay Thurgood Salt Lake City, UT

My school useless for a while to keep in contact with each other, and it was extremely useful to talk to all my teachers and classmates.

4 years ago

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Alaina B Provo, UT

I love google hangouts because I can video call with family that doesn’t have iPhones! Often has a better connection than FaceTime.

4 years ago

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Whitney Wilkins West Valley City, UT

Google hangouts makes it so easy to start and join a conference from anywhere. It is very accessible to everyone and is such great quality.

5 years ago

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Rose Nuffer Orem, UT

Google Hangouts is great because anyone with a Google account can easily communicate with other users. There's no limits or paywalls.

5 years ago

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Thomas Nuffer Orem, UT

It is good because it syncs up with your Google account, and you can talk to your friends very easily. And also it has unlimited time for each call.

5 years ago

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Valerie Beus Richland, WA

I don’t use google hangouts very often, but when my family has, it worked well for us. Very user friendly and accessible.

5 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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Jennifer Ashby Lehi, UT

Google Hangouts is a great way to communicate as long as everyone has a google account. It has worked for me and my loved ones!

5 years ago

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Ashlee Bair Los Angeles, CA

Love how secure and easy google hangout works. We have used this quite often with the recent pandemic. School teachers lifesaver for sure!!

5 years ago

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Cassandra Collett South Jordan, UT

I love using hangouts to talk to friends on my computer. It’s really easy to use. You can host meets on it and it’s very cool.

6 years ago

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Heather Riverton, UT

I use this service at work. I work from home and it is a very effective way to meet remotely with coworkers.

4 years ago

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J B Sandy, UT

I've been using Google Hangouts from the beginning. Still love it! Very easy way to connect with friends.

4 years ago Edited January 21, 2022