What is Gong Software ? Features, Benefits, Pricing [2026]

So what is Gong software? Lots of buzzwords get thrown around in the sales space but this powerful tool made roughly $332.3 million and 4000 customers in 2024.

But there's a bit of a learning curve, and it's not immediately clear how easy it is to get up to speed. So, what is Gong software? We'll explore this question in this article, breaking down what revenue intelligence actually is and how Gong fits into this emerging field.

Revenue intelligence is transforming the sales landscape, leveraging AI and machine learning to turn data into actionable insights. 

Key players like Gong are at the forefront of this revolution. Gong is an enterprise-level tool though and by no means a plug-and-play solution. 

‍

What is Gong Software?

Gong is a revenue intelligence platform designed to enhance sales operations by capturing and analyzing sales interactions across various platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. 

Gong was founded in 2015 by Amit Bendov and Eilon Reshef to solve a problem every sales leader faces: making decisions based on gut feel instead of reality. The name "Gong" represents the moment of clarity, when you finally understand what's actually happening in your deals.

It joins your calls as a bot, listens, transcribes, and analyzes your conversations to provide advanced metrics. This helps your sales team understand how they can close more deals more effectively. The platform aims to improve sales efficiency and foster better customer relationships through detailed insights.

‍

Is Gong a CRM?

No, Gong is not a CRM. It's a conversation intelligence platform that works alongside your existing CRM, not as a replacement.

Here's the key difference:

Your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics) is your system of record. It manages your pipeline, contacts, accounts, and opportunities. It stores what your reps say is happening in deals.

Gong captures what's actually happening. It records and analyzes customer conversations (calls, meetings, emails), then feeds those insights back into your CRM. Think of it as a reality check for your pipeline.

Together, they eliminate the gap between what sales reps report and what customers actually say. Your CRM holds the structure, Gong provides the truth.
‍

How Gong's AI Actually Works?

To understand why Gong is different from basic call recording tools, you need to know how its AI engine operates.

Gong calls its technology the Reality Platform, powered by something called the Reality Cloud—their AI engine that has analyzed millions of sales conversations to understand what works and what doesn't.

Here's how it works in practice with a 4-step process:

Step 1: Capture

Gong automatically joins your scheduled meetings (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet) as a silent participant. It records audio, video, and screen shares without anyone needing to press a button. For emails, it scans all correspondence linked to your CRM to capture written communication.

Step 2: Transcribe

The AI transcribes everything using natural language processing trained specifically on sales conversations. It supports over 70 languages and understands context that standard transcription tools miss—like when a prospect says "let me think about it" versus "I need to loop in my CFO" (one is a brush-off, the other is forward momentum).

Step 3: Analyze

This is where it gets powerful. Gong analyzes each conversation for over 300 unique signals, including:

• Talk-to-listen ratios (who's dominating the conversation)
• Buyer engagement signals (questions asked, objections raised)
• Competitor mentions
• Sentiment and emotion (enthusiasm vs. hesitation)
• Key topics (pricing, ROI, implementation timelines)
• Deal progression indicators

Step 4: Insight

Finally, Gong surfaces what matters. It flags at-risk deals, suggests coaching opportunities, predicts which deals will close, and shows you exactly which behaviors correlate with wins. Instead of listening to hours of calls, you get the highlights and action items automatically.

The difference between Gong and basic call recording? Basic tools give you a transcript. Gong tells you what the transcript means for your revenue.

‍

What is Revenue Intelligence?

Revenue intelligence refers to the process of using data analysis to boost sales performance. 

By collecting and analyzing data from sales interactions, businesses can gain insights into customer behavior, sales effectiveness, and market trends. 

Venture capital funding for revenue intelligence and AI-powered sales technologies surged to record highs in 2024, with AI-related ventures representing over 37% of total global VC funding and more than $100 billion invested in AI startups alone, an 80% increase from the previous year.

This surge indicates the growing importance and adoption of revenue intelligence solutions in the sales industry.

‍

What are the main features of Gong Software?

Gong provides actionable insights that can be used to train and onboard sales reps more effectively, streamline sales processes, and ultimately, enhance sales performance.

Deal Boards: Your Pipeline, Visualized

Deal Boards give you a real-time view of every opportunity in your pipeline, sorted by risk level. Instead of trusting a rep's gut feeling that a deal is "90% likely to close," Gong shows you the actual conversation patterns that predict success or failure. If a deal hasn't had contact in 10 days and the champion hasn't responded to three emails, it gets flagged automatically.

Gong Forecast: Stop Guessing at Your Numbers

‍

Most sales forecasts are fiction. Reps over-commit, managers sandbag, and everyone's surprised when the quarter closes 20% below target. Gong Forecast analyzes historical conversation data to predict which deals will actually close this quarter. It looks at engagement patterns, buying signals, and deal velocity to give you a forecast you can trust—usually within 95% accuracy.

Gong Engage: Outreach Automation That Learns

This is Gong's sales engagement tool, similar to Outreach or SalesLoft. It automates email sequences, tracks opens and replies, and suggests the best time to follow up based on your prospect's behavior. The difference? Gong Engage learns from your actual conversations. If your team's discovery calls that mention "ROI" in the first 5 minutes close 40% more often, Engage will prioritize that messaging in your sequences.

Conversation Intelligence: The Core Feature

This is what made Gong famous. Every call gets recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for patterns. You can search for specific topics ("pricing objections"), see how your top performers handle discovery calls, and coach reps using actual examples instead of generic advice.

This feature automatically records, transcribes, and analyzes sales calls and meetings. It helps identify successful sales tactics, understand customer concerns, and improve sales strategies based on actual conversation data.

Coaching Tools: Scale What Works

Gong lets managers create scorecards based on your sales methodology (MEDDIC, SPIN, BANT—whatever you use). After each call, reps get an instant score showing how well they followed the framework. Did they qualify budget? Did they identify the decision-maker? Did they ask about timeline? Gong tracks it all and makes coaching scalable.

Gong offers tools for sales coaching and development, including tracking rep performance over time, identifying coaching opportunities, and providing feedback directly related to sales calls and interactions.

Additional Key Features

• Revenue Intelligence: Gong is a revenue intelligence platform that combines data from various sources to give a comprehensive view of the sales pipeline and performance. It helps sales leaders make informed decisions based on trends, patterns, and forecasts.
• Call and Meeting Analysis: This feature dives deep into the content of sales calls and meetings, analyzing speech patterns, topics discussed, and customer sentiment. It provides actionable insights to help sales reps optimize their communication strategies.
• Email and Communication Tracking: Gong tracks and analyzes email communications with prospects and customers. It provides insights into email effectiveness, helping sales teams refine their messaging and follow-up strategies.
  ‍

Who is Gong Software Made For?

Sales Leaders

For sales leaders, Gong provides a comprehensive overview of sales activities, offering insights into what works and what doesn't. This allows for better strategy formulation and resource allocation.

Sales Reps

Sales reps benefit from real-time feedback and guidance on their sales calls, helping them to refine their pitches and strategies to close more deals.

Frontline Sales Managers

Frontline sales managers can use Gong to monitor their team's performance, identify areas for improvement, and provide targeted coaching to enhance sales outcomes.
‍

What Problems Does Gong Solve?

Inconsistent Sales Calls

Gong addresses the issue of variability in sales call quality by providing standardized data and insights that can be used to improve consistency across all interactions.

Slow Sales Onboarding

By analyzing successful sales interactions, Gong helps new sales reps get up to speed faster, reducing the time it takes for them to become productive members of the team.

Low Sales Conversion

Gong's analytics help identify why deals are won or lost, enabling teams to adjust their strategies to increase conversion rates.

Guesswork in Sales Calls

With Gong, sales teams no longer have to rely on guesswork. The platform provides data-driven insights that guide sales reps on how to approach each call for the best chance of success.
‍

What You Need to Actually Use Gong

Gong doesn't work in isolation. Here's what needs to be in place before you can use it effectively.

Integrations That Matter

Gong plugs into your existing tech stack:

• CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics (required—Gong needs a CRM to function)
• Video Conferencing: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet (automatic recording)
• Email: Gmail, Outlook (tracks correspondence)
• Calendar: Google Calendar, Outlook (knows when meetings happen)
• Sales Engagement: Outreach, SalesLoft (bidirectional sync)

Integration with sales tools ensures that all sales interactions are captured and analyzed, regardless of where they occur.

Mobile App & Chrome Extension

Gong has an iOS and Android app that lets reps record in-person meetings or phone calls on the go. The Chrome extension makes it easy to access Gong insights directly from your CRM without switching tabs. Both are included in your license.

What You Don't Get Out of the Box

Gong requires setup. You need to map your sales process, define your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), build scorecards, and train your team on how to use it. Most companies take 2–4 months to see real value because adoption is a change management challenge, not a technical one. If you're expecting plug-and-play, this isn't it.
‍

How Much Does Gong Software Cost?

Gong's pricing remains one of the most opaque in the sales tech space. There's no public pricing page, no self-serve option, and every quote is custom. But after analyzing user reports, deal data, and real customer experiences, here's what you can expect.

The Three-Part Pricing Model

Gong doesn't just charge per user. The cost breaks down into three components:

Component 1: The Annual Platform Fee

This is your entry ticket—a mandatory annual charge that every customer pays regardless of team size.

The platform fee covers:

• Platform access and admin console
• Unlimited data storage
• Native integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.)
• Standard support

Estimated Range: $5,000–$50,000 per year

This fee hits small teams hardest because it doesn't scale with user count. A 5-person team pays nearly the same platform fee as a 20-person team.

Component 2: Per-User License Costs

Each seat you add to Gong costs extra. Pricing is tiered by volume:

• 1-25 users: $1,200–$1,600 per user per year
• 26-50 users: $1,050–$1,400 per user per year
• 51-100 users: $900–$1,200 per user per year
• 100+ users: Negotiable (often $800–$1,000)

Even with bulk discounts, the per-seat cost remains high. Many buyers report that pricing discussions feel inconsistent or opaque across different deals.

Component 3: Mandatory Professional Services

Gong isn't plug-and-play. Most teams are required to purchase onboarding services, which include:

• Implementation support
• Admin training
• Technical setup (CRM integration, data mapping)

Estimated Range: $7,500–$28,500+

For enterprise teams with custom integrations or multiple Gong products (like Engage and Forecast), onboarding fees have exceeded $30,000.

Real-World Cost Examples

Small Team (10 users, first year):

• Platform fee: $5,000
• User licenses: $16,000 ($1,600 × 10)
• Onboarding: $7,500
• Total: ~$28,500

Mid-Size Team (50 users, first year):

• Platform fee: $15,000
• User licenses: $60,000 ($1,200 × 50)
• Onboarding: $15,000
• Total: ~$90,000

Enterprise Team (130 users, Enterprise plan with 10% discount):

• Platform fee: $50,000
• User licenses: $119,000 ((130-30) × $1,190)
• 10% discount applied
• Total: ~$152,100
  ‍

‍Gong Pricing Calculator: Estimate Your First-Year Cost

Trying to budget for Gong before entering a sales call? This calculator gives you a rough estimate based on your team size and expected usage.

👉 Check out our complete breakdown on Gong's pricing here.

‍

Gong vs. The Competition: How It Stacks Up

Before you commit to Gong's price tag, you should know how it compares to other options.

Gong vs. Claap: Modern Alternative Built for Sales Productivity

While Gong pioneered the revenue intelligence category, Claap represents a new generation of sales productivity tools, designed for modern teams that need speed, flexibility, and collaborative workflows without enterprise bloat.

The Biggest Difference: Who It's Built For

Gong was built to record sales calls, gain insights, and provide feedback—primarily for managers and revenue leaders. The platform excels at analytics, forecasting, and deal intelligence.

Claap was designed with the entire sales team in mind—especially reps who need to move fast and spend less time on admin work. It saves reps up to 30 minutes after each meeting by automating notes, CRM enrichment, email follow-ups, and next-step recommendations.

Key Differences:

1. Setup Speed & Cost

• Gong: 3+ months implementation, $5,000-$50,000 platform fee, mandatory professional services
• Claap: 5-minute setup, no platform fees, no implementation costs, immediate value

2. Pricing Model

• Gong: $150+/month per seat + platform fee (effective cost: $200-$400/user/month for small teams)
• Claap: Starting at 24€/month per seat, transparent pricing, no hidden fees
• Claap advantage: Basic licenses allow your entire company to access and engage with sales calls for free

3. Rep Adoption

• Gong: Often feels like surveillance to reps; adoption drops after onboarding
• Claap: Built as a productivity tool reps actually want to use; automates their post-meeting busywork

4. Content Management & Collaboration

• Gong: Call data lives in a walled garden; hard to extract or repurpose content
• Claap: Automatically creates clips, stores recordings and insights in one workspace; seamless sharing across teams

Claap makes it easy to keep training materials updated, share call insights with product teams, and collaborate across departments—without the friction of yet another tool.

5. Cross-Team Flexibility

• Gong: Built primarily for sales and revenue operations
• Claap: Designed for collaboration across product, marketing, customer success, and sales teams

Whether it's sharing a recorded sales call for product feedback, commenting on a marketing campaign, or collaborating on support tickets, Claap integrates seamlessly into tools you already use—Slack, Notion, CRMs, Linear, and more.

6. Data Access & Portability

• Gong: Limited export options, gated API access, difficult to activate historical data
• Claap: Full data access, flexible exports, easy content repurposing

Real User Feedback:

"We managed to cut 20% of our meetings with Claap. It's been instrumental to balance efficient meetings with recorded videos for overall efficiency and async working across time zones."

"I think it was really a game changer. Everything is easier and you waste less time. The workload after a call where you need to prepare things and think through what you have to do was divided in two."

"I've managed to shorten my sales cycle because I replace 30-minute meetings with prospects with three five-minute videos. I've literally seen ten days just fall off of that process."

‍👉 Book a demo now to see how Claap compares to Gong

Gong vs. Chorus.ai (Now ZoomInfo)

Both are conversation intelligence platforms, but they approach the problem differently. Gong excels at forecasting and deal intelligence, it's better at predicting which deals will close. Chorus (owned by ZoomInfo) shines if you need deep contact data and prospect intelligence built into the same platform. If your sales motion requires constant prospecting and net-new lead generation, ZoomInfo's ecosystem gives you more upfront. If you need accurate forecasts and deal visibility, Gong wins.

Gong vs. Clari

Clari is a pure forecasting and revenue operations platform. Gong starts with conversations and works backward to forecasting; Clari starts with CRM data and works forward. If your CRM is well-maintained and you trust the data in it, Clari can be more affordable and faster to implement. If your CRM is a mess (most are), Gong's conversation-first approach gives you ground truth that doesn't rely on reps updating Salesforce.

Gong vs. Outreach & SalesLoft

Outreach and SalesLoft are sales engagement platforms focused on outbound sequences, email automation, and cadence management. Gong Engage competes in this space now, but Outreach and SalesLoft are more mature products if your primary need is high-volume prospecting. Gong's strength is what happens after the prospect responds—the conversation analysis, deal coaching, and forecasting. Many teams use both: Outreach for top-of-funnel, Gong for mid-to-late stage.

Gong vs. Fireflies, Otter.ai, tl;dv (Budget Options)

These are lightweight conversation intelligence tools that cost $10–$30 per user per month. They'll transcribe your calls, give you summaries, and extract action items. What they won't do is forecast revenue, analyze deal risk, or integrate deeply into your sales process. If you're a 5-person startup that just needs transcription and basic insights, start here. If you're a 50-person sales team trying to hit $20M ARR, you need something more robust.

Related read: Here’s our breakdown of the 5 best Gong alternatives, along with a detailed comparison of Claap vs Gong.

Still have questions? Here are the most common ones we hear from buyers evaluating Gong.
‍

FAQs

What is Gong software used for?

Gong is a revenue intelligence platform that records, transcribes, and analyzes your sales conversations to help teams close more deals. It captures calls, meetings, and emails, then uses AI to surface insights like:

• Which deals are at risk
• What messaging works best
• Where reps need coaching
• How accurate your forecast really is

Think of it as a black box recorder for your revenue team—capturing what actually happens in customer conversations so you can coach better, forecast accurately, and understand what separates your top performers from everyone else.

Is Gong a CRM or does it replace Salesforce?

No, and no. Gong is not a CRM and doesn't replace Salesforce, HubSpot, or any other CRM system.

Your CRM manages your pipeline, stores contact records, and tracks opportunities. It's your system of record based on what reps manually enter.

Gong captures and analyzes what's actually said in customer conversations, then feeds those insights back into your CRM. It's a layer on top of your CRM that populates it with reality, not just rep opinions.

You need both. Your CRM holds the structure; Gong provides the truth about what's happening in your deals.

How much does Gong cost per user?

Gong's per-user cost ranges from $1,200 to $1,600 per year depending on your team size and contract terms:

• Small teams (1-25 users): $1,200-$1,600 per user/year
• Mid-size teams (26-50 users): $1,050-$1,400 per user/year
• Larger teams (51-100 users): $900-$1,200 per user/year
• Enterprise (100+ users): Often negotiated to $800-$1,000 per user/year

But that's not the full picture. You also pay:

• Platform fee: $5,000-$50,000 per year
• Onboarding services: $7,500-$28,500+

For a small team of 10 users, the effective cost is around $285/user/month when you factor in all fees. For larger teams (50+), economies of scale kick in and the effective cost drops to $150-$200/user/month.

See our complete pricing breakdown above for real-world examples.

What does Gong AI mean and how does it work?

Gong AI refers to the company's Reality Platform—an AI engine trained on millions of actual sales conversations to understand what drives revenue outcomes.

Here's what makes it different from basic transcription:

Context Understanding: Gong's AI knows that "let me think about it" means something different than "I need to loop in my CFO." One is a brush-off, the other is forward momentum.

Pattern Recognition: The AI analyzes over 300 signals in each conversation—talk ratios, sentiment shifts, objection patterns, competitor mentions, buying signals—to predict which deals will close.

Predictive Intelligence: Based on historical patterns, Gong can tell you which deals are at risk, which behaviors correlate with wins, and where your forecast is likely off.

The "AI" isn't just a buzzword—it's what turns raw conversation data into actionable insights about pipeline health, rep performance, and deal velocity.

Does Gong record video or just audio?

Both. Gong captures audio, video, and screen shares from Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. You can review the full video recording or just read the transcript.

The video recording is especially useful for coaching—showing not just what was said, but how it was delivered, including body language and presentation materials shared on screen.

Is Gong legal and GDPR compliant?

Yes, but with important caveats—you're responsible for using it legally in your jurisdiction.

In the US: Most states allow one-party consent, meaning the rep can record without asking the prospect. However, some states (California, Connecticut, Florida, and others) require two-party consent—meaning you must notify the prospect before recording.

Gong displays a notification when it joins meetings, and you can configure consent banners. Many companies also include recording disclaimers in their meeting invites.

In Europe: GDPR requires explicit consent and proper data processing agreements. Gong provides compliance tools including:

• Data processing agreements (DPAs)
• EU data residency options
• Consent management workflows
• Right to deletion capabilities

Best practices:

• Check your local laws on recording consent
• Include recording notices in calendar invites
• Configure Gong's consent banner appropriately
• Have clear data retention policies
• Train reps on compliance requirements

Gong provides the technical infrastructure for compliance, but you own the legal responsibility for how you use it.

Can I use Gong with a small team (under 10 people)?

Technically yes, but it's expensive and often not worth it.

The platform fee plus per-seat costs make the effective price $300-$500 per user per month for small teams. For a 5-person team, you're looking at $18,000-$30,000 in Year 1 for features you might not fully utilize.

Most startups under 15 people choose lighter alternatives like Fireflies, Claap, or tl;dv until they scale. These tools offer core conversation intelligence features at $10-$40 per user per month with no platform fees.

Gong makes economic sense once you hit 25-30+ reps and have complex deal cycles where forecasting accuracy and coaching at scale deliver measurable ROI.

What are the main Gong competitors?

The revenue intelligence landscape is crowded. Here are Gong's primary competitors:

Modern Alternatives:

• Claap: Faster setup (5 minutes vs 3 months), lower cost (24€/user/month), better rep adoption. Built for modern sales teams who need speed and collaboration.
• Avoma: Mid-market conversation intelligence with strong meeting management features.

Enterprise Alternatives:

• Chorus.ai (now ZoomInfo): Similar conversation intelligence with deep prospect data integration. Better for teams prioritizing prospecting.
• Clari: Focused more on forecasting and revenue operations. Starts with CRM data rather than conversations.
• SalesLoft & Outreach: Sales engagement platforms that added conversation intelligence. Better for high-volume outbound teams.

Budget Options:

• Fireflies.ai: Lightweight transcription and basic analytics at $10-$30/user/month.
• Otter.ai: Simple transcription tool, limited sales-specific features.
• tl;dv: Free tier available, good for small teams testing conversation intelligence.

The best choice depends on your team size, budget, sales motion, and whether you prioritize forecasting (Gong/Clari), prospecting (Chorus), or rep productivity (Claap).

How long does it take to see ROI?

Most companies see measurable results in 3-6 months. Here's the typical timeline:

Month 1-2 (Quick Wins):

• Better coaching with real call examples
• Automated note-taking saves rep time
• More accurate pipeline visibility

Month 3-6 (Adoption Phase):

• Faster onboarding for new reps
• More accurate forecasts (within 95%)
• Early improvements in talk-to-listen ratios

Quarter 3+ (Full ROI):

• Higher win rates (teams report 10-20% improvements)
• Shorter sales cycles (by identifying stalled deals faster)
• Scalable coaching across the entire team

The catch: ROI depends entirely on adoption. If managers don't use Gong for coaching and reps see it as surveillance, you won't see returns. The most successful implementations have executive sponsorship, clear use cases, and dedicated change management.

Bottom Line

Gong pioneered revenue intelligence for enterprise sales leaders. Claap modernized it for fast-moving teams who need the same insights without the enterprise overhead, implementation timeline, or platform tax.

Want to see the difference? Compare Claap vs Gong side-by-side or start a free trial.