You do not need an account to start. Type your business name, and Beside shows you what your customers see before it asks you for anything.
The whole thing takes about two minutes, and there is no password to choose at any point.
1. Find your business
Start typing your business name and pick yourself from the list. Beside matches you against your Google listing, so what comes back is your real business, with your real reviews.
If you would rather not search, select Enter your website instead.
2. Beside reads what your customers see
This part you just watch. Beside shows you each thing as it looks at it:
Who you show up against, the businesses Google puts next to you in your category, and how close they are
Your Google listing, exactly as a customer sees it before they call you
What your customers are saying, your most recent public reviews
The photos on your listing, the first impression Google hands out
Your website, and how it looks on a phone, which is where most of your traffic actually lands
✅ Nothing is touched: Beside only reads what is already public about your business. Nothing is changed, nothing is posted, and you have not committed to anything at this point.
3. Confirm it is you
Before Beside sets your business up, it confirms who you are. There is no password either way, and which of the two you see depends on how you arrived.
By email, the usual way
Beside asks for your email address and sends you a secure sign-in link. Select Send verification link, then open the link from your inbox. The screen says Check your inbox while it waits.
You can also sign in with Google instead, which skips the inbox entirely.
Some entries send a sign-in code to your inbox rather than a link. Type it in and select Verify and continue. If nothing arrives, use Resend code, or Use another email to start again with a different address.
By text, when you came in through a report
If you opened a saved report or followed an audit link, Beside confirms you by phone instead. You tick I'm not a robot, which opens the form, then give your mobile number and type the 6-digit code it texts you. After that it asks your name, the email to send the report to, and your relationship to the business.
💡 About that last screen: agreeing to marketing texts is optional and does not affect your report. The email you give there is where your report goes, it does not become a way to log in, and saying you are the owner grants no extra access.
4. Beside prepares your workspace
Once you are confirmed, you see Preparing your workspace while Beside sets your business up. There is nothing to do here but wait.
No card is asked for. Your business starts with 2,000 welcome credits that never expire, no checkout, and no plan to choose yet. Beside gets going straight away, and you pick Standard or Pro later, when you want more done.
Finishing signup also starts a free 30-day trial of Beside Phone, still with no card. When the 30 days are up, Beside Phone stops unless you have chosen a plan before then. Your credits are separate from the trial and are not affected by it.
Older signups were offered a 14-day trial instead, which did ask for a card and added one more step. Those accounts got 1,000 credits, and anything left of them expires when that trial ends.
Beside starts as soon as your workspace is ready
You land in Chat, where Beside has already queued its first pass on your business, eight jobs it works through in order:
Reading your website
Reading your public Google reviews
Sizing up local competitors
Mapping local search demand
Scoring your business health
Collecting your photos
Writing your growth plan
Building your website
As each one finishes, it appears under Activity in Beside's profile (select Beside's name at the top of Chat), and what it produced goes into your Library.
Answer what Beside needs from you
While the first pass runs, select Review in the bar above the message box in Chat. Beside will be waiting on two kinds of thing:
A connection. For example, Connect Google Business Profile so Beside can work with the reviews it has already read. Select Connect.
A permission. For example, whether Beside may publish replies to your Google reviews itself. Choose Always allow, or Always ask if you would rather be consulted each time.
Until you answer, anything that depends on that tool waits. 📖 Choose what Beside can do on its own
📌 Your phone line is not one of them: Connecting a Beside line lets your agent read your calls and texts, and it does not ask you for anything more. Whether it may act on the line, for example texting a customer back, is yours to set in Settings → Autonomy whenever you want. 📖 Set up your phone line
FAQ
Do I need an account to see my audit?
Do I need an account to see my audit?
You need a way for Beside to confirm it is you, not a password. Usually that is an email address, and Beside sends a secure link or a code to it. If you came in through a saved report, it confirms you by text instead. Either way, that is the whole sign-up.
Why am I being asked for my phone number?
Why am I being asked for my phone number?
Because you arrived through a report rather than the usual start, and that route confirms you by text. Beside sends a 6-digit code to the mobile number you give. If texts cannot reach your country, Beside offers to confirm you by email instead.
Do I have to agree to marketing texts to get my report?
Do I have to agree to marketing texts to get my report?
No. That box is optional and leaving it unticked changes nothing about your report or your account.
The sign-in link or code never arrived.
The sign-in link or code never arrived.
Check the address you typed, and your spam folder. Then use Resend, or Use another email to start again with a different address. If you asked several times in a row, wait a few minutes before trying again.
Do I have to pay to get started?
Do I have to pay to get started?
No. You are not asked for a card: your business starts with 2,000 welcome credits that never expire, plus a free 30-day trial of Beside Phone, and you choose a plan whenever you want more done. Older signups that were offered a 14-day trial did have to give a card. 📖 Understand your plan and credits
My business does not come up in the search.
My business does not come up in the search.
Try adding your city, since Beside matches against Google listings. If it still does not appear, select Enter your website instead.
Where do I set up my phone line, my calendar and the rest?
Where do I set up my phone line, my calendar and the rest?
In Settings, from the left menu. Your business line is under Phone Number, and if you already have a Beside line your agent can also offer it to you in chat and connect it there. 📖 Set up your phone line
Everything else you have connected, and everything you can connect, lives under Settings → Connectors. Settings also has a search box if you are not sure which section a setting is in. 📖 Connect your tools to Beside
Can I run more than one business from the same account?
Can I run more than one business from the same account?
Yes. Select your business name at the bottom of the left menu, then Create New Business, or use Switch Business to move between the ones you already have. Your 2,000 welcome credits are granted once per billing account: a business that joins a plan you already pay for shares that plan and its balance, and a business that bills on its own starts with its own welcome credits. 📖 Run several businesses from one account