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Switching from Podium to GoHighLevel

A shop owner and a customer waving goodbye

Short answer

Podium's account owner can export contacts from the Contacts page as a CSV with names, phones, emails, addresses and tags, and HighLevel imports it under Contacts > Import Contacts. Your Google reviews stay on Google; connect your own Google Business Profile to HighLevel to see and reply to them. The hard part is the number: if Podium texts or rings on it, ask Podium support how to release it, port it into LC Phone, and get A2P 10DLC approved before texting from it.

What comes across, and how

WhatHow it moves
ContactsSign in as Podium's account owner, open Contacts and export. Podium emails a CSV with Name, Phone, Email, Contact Status, Address, Tags and Date Added. Import it under Contacts > Import Contacts in HighLevel.
TagsMap the Tags column to HighLevel tags. Add a tag for the whole batch, like "from-podium", so you can find it later.
Contact status and date addedCreate custom fields for these first (Settings > Custom Fields), or turn the status into a tag, then map the columns on import.
Your business numberIf the number was ported into Podium Phones, HighLevel files a port-in for it (Phone System > Phone Numbers > Port-in Numbers); you'll need the account number and PIN, so ask Podium support for them. If calls still ring through your own carrier and Podium only texts on the number, ask Podium support what has to happen before texting can move.
Google reviewsThey stay on Google, whatever tool you use. Connect your Google Business Profile under Settings > Integrations; new reviews show in Conversations and you reply from HighLevel.
Review invitesRebuild them with HighLevel's review requests, sent by text or email after a job. Turn off Podium's at cutover so nobody gets asked twice.
WebchatSet up HighLevel's chat widget and put its code on your website in place of Podium's.

What doesn't come across

  • Text conversations and call history: Podium's help center doesn't describe an export. Read back or save the threads you need before your Podium account closes.
  • Review invite history and reporting: keep screenshots or reports of past results; HighLevel starts its own from the start.
  • Podium Payments, invoices and payment history: settle open invoices in Podium and set up payments in HighLevel for new ones.
  • Podium's webchat and its automations: rebuild the chat on HighLevel's widget and the replies as HighLevel workflows.
  • Anything Podium's help center doesn't document exporting: ask Podium support for a full export of your account before you cancel.

Before you switch

Keep Podium running until cutover, and don't cancel it until any port is confirmed complete. HighLevel says cancelling or releasing a number before then can break the transfer.

Start A2P 10DLC registration in HighLevel on the first day (Settings > Phone System > Trust Center > Brand & Campaigns). HighLevel says registration doesn't transfer with a number, and texts from a local number that isn't on an approved campaign get blocked.

Call Podium support early and ask three things: how the number is set up with them (ported in, or texting only), what they need to release it, and whether they can give you a full export of your account.

Export from Podium

  1. Use the account owner login. Podium's release notes give contact export to account owners.
  2. Export contacts. Open the Contacts page and export. The CSV arrives by email with Name, Phone, Email, Contact Status, Address, Tags and Date Added.
  3. Save what won't export. Screenshot or note any conversations, open payments and review results you want to keep.
  4. Get the number details. Ask Podium support for the account number and PIN you'll need to port the number, or the steps to release its texting.

Import into HighLevel

  1. Create custom fields. Settings > Custom Fields > Create field for Contact Status and Date Added if you want to keep them.
  2. Clean the file. Split Name into first and last name columns, and put phone numbers in +1 format with no spaces or dashes.
  3. Import. Contacts > Import Contacts > Contacts, upload, map each column, add a batch tag and confirm consent.
  4. Check the log. Contacts > Bulk Actions shows the import; download the error log for failed rows, fix and re-import them.
  5. Port the number. Phone System > Phone Numbers > Port-in Numbers, with a bill from the last 90 days, the account number, the PIN and a service address that matches exactly.
  6. Connect Google. Settings > Integrations > Google Business Profile, signed in with an owner or manager of the verified profile.

Cutover day

  • Port complete and A2P registration approved, so texts from HighLevel go out on your number
  • Podium's webchat code replaced with HighLevel's chat widget
  • Podium's review invites and automations off, HighLevel's review requests on
  • Google Business Profile connected, with a test reply to one review
  • Test texts and calls both ways from a cell phone

What to check after

  • Customers' replies to old texts arriving in HighLevel's Conversations
  • New Google reviews showing in HighLevel
  • Review requests going out after a job, and only once
  • The chat widget on every page of your website
  • Podium cancelled only after the port shows complete

The Complete GoHighLevel setup package does this whole move for you, from the Podium export to the number.

How long it takes

  1. Days 1 to 3. HighLevel account set up, A2P registration submitted, contacts exported and Podium support asked about the number.
  2. Week 1. Contacts imported, Google connected, chat widget and review requests built.
  3. Weeks 1 to 3. A2P review, typically days to a few weeks at the carriers' pace; a rejection means another review.
  4. Weeks 2 to 5. Releasing the number from Podium, then the port, which typically takes two to four weeks for under 50 numbers. Podium stays on until it completes.

Rather we move you over?

The Complete GoHighLevel setup brings your contacts, tags, notes and open deals over and builds the account around them, in your own HighLevel account.

  • Most complete

    Complete GoHighLevel setup

    Your whole GoHighLevel account built and run for you: phone, texting, email, calendars, pipeline, forms, every lead source, the automations and the reports.

    Done for you · Quoted on the call

If it turns out to be a two-minute setting, we'll tell you on the call, and there's nothing to pay.

Common questions

Will I lose my reviews?
No. Your reviews live on Google, not in Podium. Connect your Google Business Profile to HighLevel and reply to new ones from there.
Can my old texts come over?
Podium's help center doesn't describe exporting conversations, so plan on them staying behind. Ask Podium support before you cancel.
How long does porting take?
HighLevel says two to four weeks for under 50 numbers. Add the time it takes Podium to give you the details or release the number.
Can I keep texting customers during the switch?
Yes, from Podium, until the port completes and your HighLevel registration is approved. That's why Podium stays on until cutover.

Moving from somewhere else

Updated November 4, 2026

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