Vox Group owns a category. Walk into a museum group tour space, and someone's likely wearing a Vox whisper system—those wireless receivers that let visitors follow a guide without shouting. Their position in group guiding is almost unchallengeable.
But here's the catch: Vox Group's portfolio is built around group experiences. The company excels when a licensed guide is directing 20 people through galleries in synchronized fashion. Their audio tour software exists, yes, but it's an accessory to that hardware-driven group model. If your museum is chasing individual, self-guided experiences where visitors control their own pace and path—which most museums actually want—Vox becomes a square peg.
That gap is where the alternative conversation starts. And it's gotten bigger.
Let's be clear about what Vox does, because the confusion is real. Vox Group provides:
Group guiding hardware. Wireless microphone and receiver systems (Vox whisper systems, infrared systems) that let guides speak to groups without ambient noise drowning them out. This is genuinely useful for coach tours, large galleries, and crowded spaces.
Audio tour software. A platform for creating and distributing pre-recorded or text-to-speech audio tours—think museum-branded apps or web players that visitors use independently.
Limited integration. The two don't talk to each other much. Your group guiding setup is separate from your self-guided tour experience.
The hardware business is where Vox makes its margin and where its expertise lies. The software is competent but generic: record content, publish, play. It's not spatial, it's not conversational, and it doesn't know where a visitor is in the building or what they're looking at.
Most museums pursuing Vox explore it because:
But when the conversation shifts to self-guided audio—which is where visitor behavior has moved—Vox's advantage disappears.
The real reasons museums move away from Vox for self-guided experiences:
Hardware bundling. You don't need a whisper system to power self-guided tours. Vox's software pricing sometimes feels like you're subsidizing the hardware business. Unbundled alternatives let you pick your tech stack without gear you won't use.
No spatial awareness. Vox's audio player doesn't know where visitors are. It's a list of stops they tap through. Museums want location-based experiences—"When you stand in front of this painting, we automatically know you're there." Vox has explored this; execution hasn't matched the need.
Visitor control. Pre-recorded content works, but it's rigid. Museums increasingly want AI audio guide experiences where visitors ask questions about what they're seeing. Vox's model is broadcast, not dialogue.
Rental costs. If you need receiver hardware for visitors, the per-person-per-visit cost adds up. Self-guided alternatives often use BYOD (bring your own device) models—visitors use phones via QR codes—which is cheaper and logistically simpler.
Content creation friction. Building a Vox tour requires their software and training. Alternatives with API-first architectures and modern content workflows reduce time-to-launch.
Analytics gaps. Museums need to understand how visitors actually move through spaces, which stops they skip, where they linger. Vox's analytics are basic. Alternatives with spatial data and visitor heatmaps are more actionable.
Five years ago, the museum audio guide space was split between established vendors (Vox, Acoustiguide) and a long tail of underfunded startups. Today, the gap has closed.
Visitor behavior changed post-pandemic. Group tours declined. Self-guided visits increased. Multilingual support became non-negotiable. Museums wanted analytics that actually informed operations, not just content metrics.
AI changed the economics. Quality audio synthesis means you're no longer betting on hiring voice actors for a dozen languages. Spatial AI means you can build location-aware experiences without massive infrastructure investment.
The result: a crop of vendors built from the ground up for self-guided, spatially aware, AI-powered tours. They're not bolt-ons to hardware businesses. They're purpose-built.
Purpose-built self-guided platforms. Companies like Musa, Stravito, and others have built systems where the audio experience is location-based and conversational. Visitors scan a QR code, and the app knows their position in the building (via GPS or Bluetooth beacons). Ask a question about a painting? The AI hears you in spatial context and responds. This is the opposite of Vox's model.
Hybrid group + self-guided. Some vendors split the difference—group systems that also serve self-guided visitors. But this usually means compromises. You get features no one needs and miss features everyone wants.
Established museum tech. Platforms like Cuseum, Acoustiguide (itself undergoing transformation), and boutique consultancies offer tours with varying levels of AI and spatial smarts. Some are better than Vox for self-guided; some aren't.
In-house builds. Larger museums (especially those with dev teams) increasingly build their own using headless CMS platforms, mobile SDKs, and third-party spatial APIs. The barrier to entry is lower than it was.
None of this is to say Vox is irrelevant. Large group-heavy museums still buy their systems. Tour operator networks still value the hardware reliability. But the conversation has moved on.
Here's where alternatives actually diverge from Vox: spatial awareness changes the entire visitor experience.
A traditional audio tour is passive. You walk past a painting, tap a button, listen. The system doesn't care where you are or what you're looking at. You might miss the painting entirely and still hear the full narration.
Spatial audio works differently. The system knows your location (via GPS, Bluetooth beacons, or Wi-Fi positioning). When you stand in front of a painting, the app recognizes it. Instead of a generic narration, you get context-aware content. Ask the AI a question? It understands you're looking at a Monet, not a Rembrandt.
This requires:
Vox doesn't have this architecture. Building it would mean reimagining their platform from the database up.
Alternatives like Musa do. The platform is built around the idea that visitors move through space, and experiences should adapt to that movement. It's a different category of product.
Pricing comparisons matter, but they're opaque across vendors. Roughly:
Vox Group. Hardware costs (receiver units, microphones) + annual software licensing. The per-visitor cost depends on hardware rental models. For group tours, this is competitive. For self-guided, the hardware cost is often wasted.
Self-guided alternatives. Usually SaaS-based. Pricing tied to visitors, stops, or languages. BYOD model (QR code) means no hardware rental costs. No need to manage devices. Lower per-visit cost for high-traffic venues.
Analytics and operations. Some vendors include payments, timed access, and visitor analytics. Others are content distribution only. Vox's integration is limited. Alternatives often bundle these because they're web-native.
The math changes depending on your venue's size, traffic pattern, and the number of languages you support. But for museums moving away from group tours, alternatives are usually cheaper.
Vox can deliver multilingual tours (text-to-speech or pre-recorded). But the content management friction is real. Each language is another recording session or TTS generation. Updates mean re-recording or re-generating across all variants.
Alternatives with AI TTS built in (like Musa, which supports 40+ languages) let you write once in a source language and generate audio across all variants in hours, not weeks. This matters for visitor-facing AI, because you can update the knowledge base and immediately serve all languages.
For international museums or those with changing collections, this is a material difference.
To be fair, Vox is still the right choice if:
These are real use cases. Vox serves them well. But they're not where the museum industry is heading.
If you're evaluating alternatives to Vox for self-guided tours:
Where will visitors get the experience? BYOD via QR code (cheapest, simplest) or dedicated hardware? If BYOD, most modern platforms win. If hardware, Vox's infrastructure advantage shrinks but doesn't disappear.
How multilingual do you need to be? If you serve 2-3 languages, Vox works fine. If you need 10+, AI-driven platforms save money and time.
Do you want conversational AI? If yes, Vox's architecture doesn't support it. You need a platform built for dialogue, not playback.
What data do you actually need? Visitor paths, dwell times, stop popularity, engagement? Vox's analytics are thin. Alternatives with spatial data and heatmaps give you operational insight.
How often does your collection change? Fast-moving exhibits or seasonal content? Alternatives with API-first content workflows are faster to update.
Do you need payments or access control? Timed tickets, paid tours, group bookings? Some alternatives bundle this; Vox doesn't.
Can I keep my Vox hardware and use different software? Technically, possibly—but Vox systems are designed as proprietary end-to-end solutions. Their hardware and software are optimized to work together. Swapping out one layer usually means loss of functionality. Most venues choose to replace both.
What about integration with my ticketing system? This depends on the alternative vendor. Most web-native platforms (like Musa) expose APIs for ticketing, CRM, and operational integrations. Vox's integrations are limited. If this is critical, ask vendors about their API and third-party partnerships.
How do I migrate my existing content? Content migration from Vox to a new platform depends on what format it's in and how structured. Vox exports (usually XML or audio files) can usually be transformed, but the metadata and spatial context may need rework. Budget 4-8 weeks for a substantial collection. Vendors can help; add it to your evaluation.
Do I need beacons or other hardware for spatial audio? Not always. GPS works outdoors; Wi-Fi triangulation works indoors without additional hardware. Bluetooth beacons improve precision but add cost and maintenance. Ask vendors about their positioning strategy and what works in your venue's layout.
The Vox Group alternative conversation isn't about Vox being bad—it's about category shift. Whisper systems owned group guiding. Self-guided, AI-powered, spatially aware audio tours are a different market, with different vendors solving different problems.
If you're building a modern visitor experience around individual agency and AI dialogue rather than broadcast content and group coordination, alternatives built for that category will serve you better. The question isn't whether to stay loyal to an incumbent. It's whether the incumbent is solving the problem you actually have.
For museums exploring this, the shift is worth evaluating. Most discover that a platform purpose-built for self-guided, spatially aware experiences—with conversational AI, strong analytics, and multilingual support—changes what's possible in visitor engagement.
If you're in the early stages of rethinking your audio guide strategy, get in touch. We can walk through what a spatial, conversational approach looks like for your venue.