Published entry prices
August 2026, single location, before messaging costs. Where a vendor publishes only a starting figure, that is what appears here.
| Vendor | Published entry | Contract norm | What the price includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Podium | From $399/mo | Annual common | Messaging platform; reviews are one workflow |
| Birdeye | ~$299–499/mo | Annual common | Broad reputation suite |
| NiceJob | From ~$75/mo | None | Reviews, referrals, site widget |
| GatherUp | Mid-tier, agency-oriented | Varies | Multi-client management |
| Review Requests (this) | $29/mo | None | Review requests only, messaging at cost |
| Doing it by hand | $0 | None | Your discipline, which is the scarce input |
Source: Vendor pricing pages as published in August 2026. Enterprise quotes in this category are negotiated and individual figures vary.
The costs that are not on the pricing page
Business messaging registration. Sending commercial text messages to US numbers requires registering your brand and your campaign with the carriers. There is a one-off cost and a recurring one, and they apply regardless of which software you use. It is the single most common source of a bill that is larger than the quote.
Phone numbers. Each sending number carries a monthly charge. One is usually enough for a single location; anything more is a multiplier.
Message volume. Plans include an allowance and charge beyond it. This is the line that grows exactly when the product is working, which is an unfortunate design and an entirely standard one.
Implementation. Sometimes a fee, more often a cost in your own time. A platform takes days to configure properly and the businesses that skip that step are the ones who conclude a year later that it did nothing.
Whether any of it pays for itself
Reviews are worth something only through the customers they bring. Four numbers put a floor under the question.
Include messaging and number fees, not just the platform line.
First visit, or lifetime value if you are confident in the figure.
Contribution margin, not net profit.
Be sceptical. This is the number every vendor's ROI page inflates.
- Monthly margin gained
- $162
- Net per month
- $87
- Customers a month needed to break even
- 1.4
The honest way to read this calculator — it is a threshold, not a forecast.
At $75 a month, a $120 customer and a 45% margin, three extra customers a month is $162 of margin, so $87 net. Break-even is 1.4 extra customers a month — which is the number worth arguing about, because it is far lower than most people assume.
Assumptions behind these numbers
- Attribution is the weak point and this calculator does not solve it. Nobody can tell you which customers came because of a review, and any vendor claiming to is selling a model rather than a measurement.
- The break-even output is the trustworthy one. It requires no attribution at all — it just tells you how small the effect has to be before the spend stops making sense.
- Margin is contribution margin. Using revenue instead makes every option look good, which is why vendor calculators tend to use revenue.
- It ignores the time you spend configuring and maintaining whatever you buy, which for a platform is substantial and for a single-purpose tool is not.
Runs locally. Nothing is submitted.
Questions to ask before signing anything
Five, in the order that saves the most money.
- What is the total first-year cost, including registration and numbers?Ask for it in writing as a single figure. The gap between that number and the monthly quote times twelve is the thing you are trying to discover.
- What happens at the end of the term?Automatic renewal at a different rate is common. So is a notice period measured in months rather than days.
- What is the message allowance and the overage rate?Model it at three times your current volume. The cost of success is a real number and it should not be a surprise.
- Does the product enable review gating, in any form?If the demo shows a star widget that branches, that is the prohibited practice with a nicer interface. The risk sits with your profile, not with the vendor.
- Can I leave with my data, and what data is there?Reviews live on Google and are not portable in either direction. What you lose is message history and templates, so ask specifically about those.
Questions
Why is this category so expensive?
Is a cheaper tool worse?
Do the messaging fees apply outside the US?
Should I just do it by hand?
The incumbent, named and compared
What Podium costs once registration and numbers are added, and who genuinely needs it.