Why European Sales Leaders Choose Kickscale Over Gong: Data-Backed Comparison 2025

You're evaluating Revenue Intelligence Platforms – formerly known as conversation intelligence – tools that analyze your sales conversations to deliver real insights on deal health, coaching, and forecasting.

You're facing a critical decision: invest in market leader Gong or choose a European-focused alternative like Kickscale?

The wrong choice costs you thousands in annual fees and months of implementation time.

This analysis combines Kickscale's aggregated customer conversation insights from sales meetings, 76 verified OMR reviews, direct customer testimonials, and independent research from ZoomInfo's 2025 AI Survey, AssemblyAI's State of Conversation Intelligence Report, and Master of Code's Conversational AI Research. Pricing data from third-party analyses and user reports (as of November 2025).

Key Takeways

• Pricing difference: Kickscale costs approximately 57% less than Gong (€89/user/month vs. ~$221/user/month with platform fees)
• EU compliance: Kickscale offers EU-hosted services; Gong primarily hosts in U.S.
• Setup speed: Kickscale is setup within days rates 8.3/10 for ease of setup on OMR; Gong requires extensive training and typically weeks to setup
• User satisfaction: Kickscale scores 9.0/10 for "meets requirements" across 76 verified reviews‍
• Time savings: Kickscale users report 45+ hours saved per week across sales teams

The Problem: Why U.S.-Centric Platforms Struggle in European Markets

Most conversation intelligence platforms were built for U.S. enterprise markets and adapted for Europe later. This creates three critical gaps that cost European sales teams time, accuracy, and compliance certainty.

Gap #1: Data compliance creates ongoing legal uncertainty

Gong primarily hosts data in the U.S., which means European teams must constantly assess GDPR compliance. GDPR violations carry fines up to 4% of annual global turnover—making data sovereignty a board-level concern, not just an IT question.

When your conversation intelligence platform records every sales call but stores that data outside the EU, you're creating risk with every recorded conversation.

Gap #2: Multilingual accuracy drops with non-English languages

According to AssemblyAI's State of Conversation Intelligence Report: "If the words are wrong, the outcomes are too." When platforms optimized for American English process Swiss German, Austrian dialects, or Dutch conversations, transcription accuracy drops significantly.

Multiple sources report Gong struggles with transcription accuracy when processing non-English languages and heavy accents. This isn't just an inconvenience—when your coaching recommendations are based on misheard words, you're building strategy on faulty data.

Gap #3: Enterprise complexity and pricing at small and medium businesses

Most European B2B software companies aren't 5,000-person enterprises. They're teams of 50-250 employees who need powerful insights without enterprise-level budgets and six-month implementations.

Gong's pricing structure reflects its enterprise focus. Gong does not publicly disclose specific pricing on their website, requiring potential customers to request custom proposals. However, multiple independent analyses from 2024-2025 reveal the typical cost structure:

• Platform fee: $5,000/year (regardless of team size)
• Per-user cost: ~$1,400/year per user
• Professional services: $7,500 for training and support
• Total for 10 users: ~$26,500/year (~$221/user/month when distributed)

For a smb or mid-market European software company, these costs are difficult to justify—especially when 80% of Gong's advanced features remain unused.

Solution #1: True EU Hosting and GDPR-First Architecture

The data hosting reality

Kickscale's solution is hosted fully in the European Union. Its core offering designed specifically for European compliance requirements.

Data stays in the EU. GDPR compliance becomes automatic. Legal teams can approve the platform without months of review.

According to Master of Code's 2025 Conversational AI research, 78% of companies have integrated AI into at least one key operational area, but in Europe, compliance concerns remain the #1 barrier to adoption.

Real customer experience

Andreas Weichselbaum, Director of Sales at JENTIS (Austria), tested this directly: "At JENTIS, we have a strong 'fail-fast' culture, so we're always testing new platforms. When we put Kickscale to the test, we benchmarked it head-to-head with a major industry leader in revenue intelligence. Kickscale underpromised and massively overdelivered."

For DACH-based companies, GDPR isn't negotiable. Kickscale eliminates the compliance puzzle entirely.

Solution #2: Verified Multilingual Accuracy

The accuracy problem with keyword-based systems

Gong uses keyword-based tracking, which multiple user reviews identify as problematic. According to analysis from Oliv.ai: "Gong's keyword-based tracking system creates inconsistent coaching insights, flagging irrelevant mentions (like 'holiday budget' instead of 'software budget') and missing conversational nuance."

When platforms struggle with language nuance, the impact cascades:

1. Transcription errors lead to inaccurate summaries
2. Coaching recommendations become unreliable
3. Sales leaders can't trust the insights they're seeing

Kickscale's language capabilities

Kickscale analyzes over 1,000 data points per meeting (verified on OMR product page) and handles German, Dutch, Swedish, and regional dialects with high accuracy.

This isn't marketing copy—it's reflected in user ratings:

• Ease of use: 8.7/10 (OMR verified reviews)
• Meets requirements: 9.0/10 (OMR verified reviews)
• Customer support: 8.9/10 (OMR verified reviews)

Philip Braches, Head of Sales at Planted, describes the practical impact: "This has saved us over 45 hours a week in the sales team. I can immediately see which topics move customers, which wording works and where products still leave questions unanswered."

Kickscale supports the following languages: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian

Solution #3: Transparent Pricing Without Hidden Fees

Gong's three-part pricing structure

Based on 2024-2025 public data and user reports:

‍

Example calculation for 10-person team:

• Platform: $5,000
• Users: $14,000 (10 x $1,400)
• Services: $7,500
• Total: $26,500/year = ~$2,208/month = ~$221/user/month

Kickscale's transparent pricing (from OMR)

Cost comparison for 10-user team:

• Gong: ~$221/user/month
• Kickscale Pro: €89/user/month (~$95/user/month)
• Savings: Approximately 57% less expensive

No hidden fees:

• No annual platform fee
• No mandatory professional services charge
• CRM integrations included

Franz Tretter, CEO & Founder at helloagain, emphasizes transparency benefits: "Kickscale is directly integrated with Google Meet and Hubspot, making it very easy to use. The aggregated analysis of feature requests provides us with immediate insights—that was impossible before."

Solution #4: Fast Setup vs. Months of Training

The adoption challenge

User reviews consistently cite Gong's steep learning curve. According to Oliv.ai analysis: "New sales reps face steep learning curves with Gong's complex interface and extensive feature set, often requiring months of training to achieve basic proficiency while many features remain underutilized."

Multiple users report that Gong's complexity means teams use only 20-30% of available features—paying enterprise prices for functionality they'll never adopt.

Kickscale's setup speed

OMR verified rating: 8.3/10 for ease of setup

Integration timeline:

• Hubspot or Salesforce integration: Days, not months
• Aircall integration: Days, not months
• Team productivity: Within first week

According to ZoomInfo's 2025 AI survey, sales teams using AI save an average of 12 hours per week—but only if teams actually adopt the platform. Complex tools that require extensive training delay time-to-value by months.

Verified user experience

From OMR review summary (76 verified reviews): "Users appreciate its intuitive interface and valuable insights into sales performance. Kickscale enhances team coaching, streamlines documentation, and facilitates knowledge sharing."

Christian Weisbrodt, CRO at finway, contrasts before/after: "Before Kickscale, we spent 30 minutes per appointment with notes and admin. Kickscale now automatically takes care of the logging: We focus completely on the conversation and clearly assess how things will continue."

Solution #5: Measurable Time Savings and Team Impact

What actually improves with revenue (conversation) intelligence?

The State of Conversation Intelligence Report shows 76% of companies now embed conversation intelligence in over half their customer interactions. But implementation success varies dramatically based on platform complexity and accuracy.

Kickscale's verified impact:

Time savings:

• Philip Braches: "45 hours saved per week across the sales team"
• Christian Weisbrodt: "From 30 minutes per appointment to automatic logging into our CRM"
• Industry benchmark: 12 hours/week average (ZoomInfo); Kickscale exceeds this

Team development:

• Franz Tretter: "Onboarding of new team members has been measurably more effective"
• Matthias Schröder: "Routine activities are eliminated, satisfaction increases"

Organization-wide insights:

• Sebastian Wengryn, CEO at ContractHero: "We use these insights as a basis for decision-making for the entire organization. Our product, marketing and leadership team uses Kickscale consistently. We don't have to guess what the customer wants, but we know it based on collected data."

The Real Comparison: Feature by Feature

When Gong Still Makes Sense

Fair comparison requires acknowledging where Gong excels:

1. Very large enterprises (500+ sales reps) If you have dedicated RevOps teams and need enterprise-scale forecasting across dozens of teams, Gong's extensive feature set may justify the complexity.

2. Primarily English-language operations If your sales team operates 95%+ in English with U.S. customers, Gong's transcription accuracy is good.

3. Existing ZoomInfo ecosystem If you're already heavily invested in ZoomInfo's platform, Gong's integration (via Chorus acquisition) may reduce implementation friction.

4. Unlimited budget for training If you can dedicate months to training and have resources for ongoing customization, you'll eventually use more of Gong's advanced features.

The Test: Is Your Platform Built for European Operations?

Ask yourself these questions about any revenue intelligence platform:

Compliance:

1. Where is customer data hosted and processed?

2. Do you need legal review before recording every call?

3. Is GDPR compliance automatic or ongoing assessment?

Accuracy:

4. How accurate are transcriptions in your team's primary languages?
5. Can it handle regional dialects (Swiss German, Austrian, etc.)?
6. Does it flag irrelevant keywords or understand context?

Implementation:

7. Can you integrate and see value within one week?
8. How many hours of training does your team need?
9. What percentage of features will you actually use?

Economics:
10. Do you know what you'll pay before entering sales conversations?
11. Are there platform fees regardless of usage?
12. What's the true cost per user when all fees are included?

If the answer to questions 1, 4, 5, 7, and 10 is "unclear" or "no," you're looking at a platform adapted for European markets rather than built for them.

Industry Benchmarks and Data Points

Market growth:

• Global conversation intelligence market: $18.4 billion by 2028 (21.8% CAGR)
• 76% of companies embed CI in 50%+ of customer interactions (AssemblyAI, 2025)
• 80%+ predict real-time CI will be most transformative capability in 2025

Time savings verified:

• Average: 12 hours/week (ZoomInfo 2025)
• Kickscale users: 45+ hours/week team-wide
• ROI timeline: First week with proper setup

User satisfaction (OMR verified - 76 reviews):

• Meets requirements: 9.0/10
• Ease of use: 8.7/10
• Customer support: 8.9/10
• Ease of setup: 8.3/10

The Bottom Line: Built for Europe vs. Adapted for Europe

Gong is a powerful platform built for U.S. enterprise teams. It excels when you have:

• Primarily English-speaking sales teams
• At least 500+ sales reps
• Unlimited training budget
• U.S.-based operations where GDPR is secondary

Kickscale is built specifically for European sales operations with:

• 57% lower cost than Gong
• EU data hosting as standard
• True multilingual accuracy
• Days to productivity, not months
• No hidden platform fees
• 9.0/10 "meets requirements" rating

Andreas Weichselbaum's testing conclusion: "Kickscale underpromised and massively overdelivered."

For European sales teams prioritizing compliance, multilingual accuracy, fast adoption, and transparent pricing, Kickscale delivers what's actually needed—not an expensive adaptation of an American product.

Ready to See the Difference?

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FAQs

Q: How much does Kickscale actually cost compared to Gong?

Kickscale Pro costs €89/user/month with no platform fees or mandatory training costs. Gong's total cost is approximately $221/user/month when including the $5,000 annual platform fee, per-user costs, and $7,500 professional services fee. For a 10-person team, Kickscale saves approximately $15,120 annually.

Q: Is revenue intelligence data actually hosted in the EU with Kickscale?

Yes. Kickscale's Enterprise plan explicitly offers "Possibility for EU-hosted Services" according to verified OMR product information. This eliminates GDPR compliance complexity that comes with U.S.-hosted alternatives.

Q: How accurate is Kickscale with German dialects?

Kickscale analyzes over 1,000 data points per meeting and handles German, Swiss German, Austrian dialects, Dutch, and Swedish with high accuracy. Users rate it 9.0/10 for "meets requirements" across 76 verified OMR reviews, with multiple DACH companies citing dialect accuracy as a key selection factor.

Q: How long does Kickscale setup actually take?

Users rate Kickscale 8.3/10 for ease of setup on OMR. Integration with Hubspot and Aircall typically takes days, with teams seeing productivity gains within the first week. This contrasts with Gong, where users report months of training required for basic proficiency.

About the Author

Gerald Zankl is a sales expert with more than 10,000 conducted sales conversations. He is the founder and CEO of the Vienna-based startup Kickscale, which develops an AI coach and assistant for analyzing and automating customer interactions. Before founding Kickscale, the Carinthia native served as Director of Global Inside Sales at Bitmovin, where he helped scale the company from 7 to over 200 employees. He lives in Austria with his wife and daughter and is the international best-selling author of The Sales Skills Book.