Gong user reviews indicate generally positive experiences with the platform, receiving ratings of 4.8 out of 5 from both Gartner (202 reviews) and G2 (6,204 reviews). Users appreciate Gong's versatility, ease of use, and AI integration that helps analyze calls for coaching sales representatives and improving messaging strategies. However, some users report technical issues, particularly delays of up to 60 minutes for recorded calls to become available after completion.

Read.ai user reviews present a contrasting picture with a significantly lower rating of 1.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot based on 61 reviews. Users have reported persistent security concerns regarding the platform's behavior during video calls. Multiple reviewers indicate that Read.ai continues to join calls without proper authorization, even after users have attempted to delete their accounts or revoke permissions.

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Gong excels as a conversation intelligence platform specifically designed for sales teams, offering comprehensive analytics and coaching capabilities. Its strength lies in detailed call analysis, performance tracking, and deal intelligence that helps sales organizations improve their processes. However, the platform comes with a significant cost barrier, requiring substantial annual commitments and setup fees that may exclude smaller teams.

Read.ai positions itself as a versatile meeting copilot that goes beyond basic transcription to provide engagement analytics and sentiment analysis. The platform offers more accessible pricing with a free tier and supports real-time collaboration features that appeal to diverse team types. Unfortunately, users often find the interface cluttered and the learning curve steeper than expected, while the free plan's limitations may frustrate individual users.

Gong is best suited for established sales organizations with dedicated budgets who need deep conversation analytics and can justify the investment through improved deal closure rates. Read.ai serves better as a general-purpose meeting tool for smaller teams, remote workers, and organizations that need multilingual support and engagement insights across various meeting types. Both platforms, while offering numerous integrations, still require users to manually bridge gaps between meeting insights and actual task completion, limiting their effectiveness as true productivity enhancers.

Neither tool fully delivers on the promise of seamless workflow integration, often leaving users with rich data but limited pathways to convert insights into actionable outcomes. The abundance of integrations in both platforms masks the reality that meaningful automation and task management capabilities remain underdeveloped. Users typically find themselves managing multiple tools to complete the full cycle from meeting analysis to task execution.

Why users switch away from Gong or Read.ai

Users switch away from Gong primarily due to cost concerns. The platform requires expensive enterprise pricing with annual platform fees around $5,000 for small teams plus $1,400-$1,600 per user per year, with additional onboarding services costing approximately $7,500. No monthly payment options are available, and the platform only offers custom quotes rather than transparent pricing, making it inaccessible for budget-conscious organizations.

Technical performance issues drive user dissatisfaction and churn. Users report lags and delays in call processing that disrupt workflow efficiency. The platform also experiences transcription inaccuracies that affect the reliability of call analysis and coaching insights, reducing the value of the AI-powered conversation intelligence features.

Platform limitations create friction for users seeking comprehensive functionality. Gong lacks a dedicated desktop application, requiring users to work exclusively through web browsers. The privacy features, including phone number redaction capabilities, sometimes hide information that users consider essential for their sales processes, limiting the platform's utility for comprehensive call analysis.

Users switch away from Read.ai primarily due to the restrictive free tier, which limits users to only 5 meetings per month with full notes. This limitation is considered too restrictive compared to competitors, forcing users to upgrade to paid plans or seek alternatives that offer more generous free usage.

The complex and cluttered user interface creates a barrier for users seeking straightforward meeting transcription. With numerous features including notes, analytics, and search functionality, users report a higher learning curve, with some finding the platform "confusing" and not as time-saving as expected, leading them to seek simpler alternatives.

Privacy concerns drive users away when Read.ai joins meetings without proper consent from all participants. Users have raised boundary issues about the tool automatically joining others' meetings, creating uncomfortable situations that prompt teams to discontinue use in favor of solutions with more transparent meeting participation protocols.

FAQs

Would these tools work for in-person meetings?

Yes, both Gong and Read.ai work for in-person meetings. Gong supports capturing face-to-face meetings via its mobile app, which is useful for live meetings or field sales. Read.ai also handles in-person meetings through its iOS app, which can capture offline meetings with one tap.

What do users say about the quality of transcriptions?

For Gong, some users report occasional transcription inaccuracies, though it provides rich call analytics with transcripts. Read.ai users appreciate that summaries are considered "smart," capturing questions asked and topics discussed, and it supports 16+ languages with real-time translation capabilities.

Do these tools help with action items from meetings?

Yes, both tools help with follow-ups. Gong includes an automation engine that can generate follow-up tasks automatically and trigger deal alerts. Read.ai generates post-meeting reports with key points and action items, and its AI "Copilot" provides summaries and auto-syncs notes to CRM systems.

Do these tools integrate with software like HubSpot, Salesforce, or Linear?

Yes, both have extensive integrations. Gong offers 250+ integrations including Salesforce, HubSpot CRM, Slack, Zoom, Google Meet, and others. Read.ai also has robust integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Confluence, Jira, Notion, and Slack.

Another alternative: Circleback

Circleback provides best-in-class AI-powered meeting notes and automations. We support over 100 languages and automatic participant identification in both in-person and online meetings.

• Automatically-identified and assigned action items

• AI-enabled search across all meetings

• Automations with 100+ app integrations

• Industry-leading security with SOC 2 Type II, EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, and HIPAA compliance

• Ability to capture both online and in-person meetings with desktop and mobile apps