Wall Check
Podium
Aggressive local-business CRM; high entry price and 12-month lock-in.
Gates 5/5 5 of the five walls fired — the score is a count, not a verdict.
Checked 2026-09-27 · re-check due 2026-11-26.
The five walls
! Price wall
The free tier ends. The limit you hit while everything still looks free.
Starts at $399/mo.
source · checked 2026-09-27
! Permission wall
You can see the setting but not touch it. Licenses and admin roles decide what you control.
Advanced automations require higher tiers.
source · checked 2026-09-27
! Gate wall
A human at the vendor decides your timeline — approvals, reviews, onboarding queues.
Often pushes annual contracts.
source · checked 2026-09-27
! Meter wall
Cost scales with your success. Per-unit, per-seat, per-message pricing that grows as you do.
Contact limits apply to pricing tiers.
source · checked 2026-09-27
! Exit wall
Getting out costs more than getting in. Your data, your domain, your number — who keeps them.
Reviews stay on Google/Facebook, but SMS flows do not export.
source · checked 2026-09-27
The twelve questions
- What is the hard number where the free tier ends?
- High starting price ($399/mo).
Documents read for this check: pricing page, changelog, community forum, API docs.
Where Podium shows up in our fixes
We are not paid by this vendor or any vendor listed here. These are the gates we found — which ones you accept is your call, not ours.
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