8 Alternatives to Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts is a messaging tool developed by Google that was launched as a part of Google+(No longer available) but it became a standalone project in 2013. Moreover, hangouts is integrated into many of Google products which is one of the reasons it is pretty much popular. For example, when you log in to Gmail on PC, Hangouts is integrated there. Moreover, Hangouts has its own web URL – hangouts.google.com. You can do audio/video calls as well through Hangouts.

Hangouts is now a part of G suit, and it consists of the features of Google Meet and Google Chat. There is a lot Google is doing with Hangouts to make it even better.

Although Google Hangouts is great, users always look for alternatives to use, and that is what we are going to talk about in this blog post. So, without any further ado, let’s have a look at the 8 best alternatives to Google Hangouts. 

Moreover, if you are concerned more about calling, then you can Check out here the best VoIP providers in 2022.

8 Best Alternatives to Google Hangouts

1. Discord

Discord was started as a community for gamers where they can chat, and discuss anything but with the time, it has become a great chat community for general people as well which means it is not what gamers can use only but anyone can use it, make friends, chat with them either via text, voice, or even videos.

You can create servers that are like forums, add members, and discuss a particular topic. It can be used both PC and Phone. In short, I see Discord as one of the Best Alternatives to Google Hangouts. We have so many blog posts related to Discord, and even we created a few of the videos that are very useful. You can check the articles related to Discord below:

2. Viber

Viber is VoIP communication platform as well as an internet messenger that you can use to talk to your friends and family. You can do text chat, voice calls, and even video calls. It is a true alternative to Google Hangouts. But, if you are using Google products more often, then Hangouts is what you should prefer. But, yes, Viber is a great alternative when it comes to chatting and calling.

Group chats are there, stickers are there which you can use in text chat, and apart from audio/video calls, there is the availability of sending audio/video voice messages as well.

3. WhatsApp

WhatsApp! The name itself is enough as we all know this most popular messaging app which was created by a team but later acquired by Facebook. It is one of the best apps for text chat, voice calls, video calls, voice messages, and video messages. It is a very popular, and true alternative to Google Hangouts since you can use WhatsApp on PC as well by connecting it to web.whatsapp.com. Chats are end-to-end encrypted as well which means this is quite safe.

4. Skype

Skype is one of the best alternatives to Google Hangouts as Skype offers a lot when it comes to chatting, audio/video calling, even screen sharing. It is a great tool for business people as well. You can even call a phone number if you have credits on Skype. “Meet Now” feature is there in skype now as well which can help you host a meeting and share the links to anyone to join. Skype is one of my favorite tools, and I use it every day.

5. Telegram

Telegram is quite like WhatsApp, and also a great alternative to Google Hangouts as you can chat, voice calls, video calls, and also you can send voice/video messages. Telegram is basically a cloud-based chatting app. There is a Secret Chat option out there which is great as well for those who don’t want to keep their chats saved. After the chat, the messages are deleted automatically from both user’s phone. Since the secret chats are not cloud-specific, it is a good feature.

6. Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger is a feature-rich messaging tool and one of the best alternatives to Google Hangouts. Messenger as all the features that will make you its fan as you can chat via text, audio/video. Most importantly it is integrated on Facebook.com site as well. So, when you are using Facebook, you can make use of it there as well. Moreover, it has a separate site messenger.com which is better. One of the new additions to its feature is you are able to create rooms, and then ask others to join. It is like conferencing kind of feature which generally offered by Zoom, Webex, etc.

7. Kik

Kik can be regarded as one of the great alternatives to Google Hangouts as it offers almost all the features you get in Google Hangouts. You can send text messages, make audio/video calls. The best thing about this is without sharing your phone number you can connect with people which makes it different from many chat apps.

8. Line

Line is quite like hangouts and WhatsApp and offers almost everything they offer as well. This came into the market but due to the monopoly of WhatsApp, it didn’t work out so well even it is a great app. It has a timeline that resembles to Facebook which you can use to share messages, photos, videos, and locations with your friends and family.

The app has few social media features that you will hardly see in other such apps so that is what makes it a bit distinguished from others on this list. So, Line is probabbly one of the good alternatives to Google Hangouts.

Wrapping up

Messaging is one of the things that we cannot live without, and in this Covid-19 pandemic going on, it is even good to have such apps to stay connected with our friends and family. We can even use these for business communications.

I have just shared 8 alternatives to Google Hangouts, but there are many others as well which you might find great, and love to check them out. I have shared the list as per my experience, and usages.

Few more alternatives to Google Hangouts can be: 

• Signal
• Wire
• WeChat

There might be many more.

Hope you like this list of alternatives to Google Hangouts. If you like any other from the list, please share that in the comments.