Future-forward business VoIP tools are being embraced by organizations for their internal and external business text messaging and telephony needs in today’s work from home economy. For any company, business communication is paramount in defining customer experience that the brand cultivates, which can be a determining factor for survival.
Voice over Internet Protocol providers now offer a myriad of useful business phone system features, but it’s crucial to truly consider which capabilities would best serve your industry and phone service needs.
In this article, we’re going to cover the following phone providers for any size company:
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- Ooma Office – Contract-Free Affordable Efficiency
- Grasshopper- Great for Basic VoIP Features
- Dialpad – Innovative Cloud Phone & Video
- Intermedia Unite – One-Stop Unified Communications
- Mitel MiCloud – Ideal for Remote Teams/Collaboration
- GoToConnect – Enterprise-Class PBX Features for SMBs
- Nextiva Office – Cutting-Edge Customer-centric Unified Solution
- Vonage Business Cloud – Great Features, Highly Customizable
- RingCentral Office – Best Overall Plan for Voice, Video, Messaging, Customization
- 8×8 Virtual Office – Most Affordable & Feature-Rich
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Essential Features for Business Needs:
Businesses need features that are just as robust as large enterprises but might not have the budget for them. Most reputable business VoIP providers understand that business owners want to try phone features before upgrading or committing to a full package. As you shop around, you’re bound to find commonalities between business phone services promoting advanced add-on features. These can usually be purchased individually without a plan and provide unique insights valuable to businesses across all industries.
- Custom Greetings & Premium Hold Music – no one enjoys being left on hold for long stretches, but many callers also appreciate not suffering call wait times in silence or being forced to listen to sterile elevator music. Hearing a custom greeting and royalty-free hold music can leave callers with a better impression of the interaction as a whole. It also makes your firm seem far more professional.
- HD Video Conferencing – Many VoIP providers offer HD videoconferencing capabilities, enabling high-quality web conferencing straight from the platform. This eliminates the need for third-party video platforms like Skype or GoToMeeting. Having reliable HD visuals and sound promises clear communication to simplify internal operations for remote teams.
- Integrations – Integrations are valuable for keeping connected to your other tools, existing customer base and helping the customer service team streamline process with crucial data. Many phone providers offer an array of commonly used apps that sync seamlessly with your phone system. These pair productivity tools like call tracking, CRM, live chat and other features to the phone system.
- Call Analytics – Just like web analytics and social media reports, call center analytics can provide a wealth of knowledge and help you optimize performance. This is a worthwhile investment for any company looking to optimize campaign impact, track leads, and evaluate the success of call center reps.
- Vanity & Local Phone numbers – be on the lookout for VoIP phone service providers that offer free local numbers, virtual numbers, extensions, as well as access to toll free vanity numbers.
The 10 Best Business VoIP Phone Solutions to Consider
Cloud based VoIP solutions allow startups to get off the ground without appearing any less competitive or professional than larger operations. Here are the most robust systems built by leaders in the industry that can serve companies of all sizes, without disrupting the budgetary balance of a growing company.
Ooma Office
Ooma Office is a basic service provider for small businesses and startups with up to ten employees. For many SMBs that want to experiment with a no-frills option, Ooma is a cost-effective solution to cover basic needs by supporting a team’s existing analog phones. Ooma Office’s bare-bones plan offers SIP phone support, toll-free options, group calling features, emergency (911) services, and voicemail-to-email conversions.
Unlike competitors of its size, it offers no voicemail transcription, SMS messaging, or video conferencing.
Ooma also offers simple plans for both new and existing businesses to access a robust communication system at a flat monthly rate without committing to a contract. If you’re still exploring the market and plan to test out more than one VoIP service, Ooma is worth considering.
To improve the shopping process, their site conveniently features a rate calculator tool that estimates your taxes and fees based on location. You’ll quickly know whether or not a plan like this can handle your business as it grows, or if you need to consider a plan with more comprehensive features.
Ooma Office Plans & Pricing
| Plan | Monthly Price (Per Line) |
Key Features |
| New and Existing Business Package | $19.95 |
|
» Complete Breakdown of Ooma Office Pricing & Plans
Grasshopper
Grasshopper is an excellent choice for very small businesses that don’t require advanced features and want to avoid being tied to a contract. While Grasshopper plans offer many of the basics, such as softphone, speed dial, and a toll-free option, it lacks the more nuanced features like call analytics and reporting.
Since Grasshopper and its mobile app support WiFi/LTE calling on smartphones, to switch between cell networks and WiFi ones, users can enjoy the simplicity of using smartphones to make and receive calls, call forwarding, transferring calls, and accessing most administrative settings. To a caller, these features look like a sophisticated hosted PBX system.
Grasshopper plans start at $26.00 per month. They include IVR and ring group features but omit key features like call parking and recording, contact management, voice quality enhancement, and international calling.
Overview Grasshopper Pricing and Plans:
| Plans | Solo | Partner | Small Business | Grasshopper Connect
(Individual) |
| Price billed per month | $29 per month | $49 per month | $89 per month | $39 per month |
| Price billed per year | $26 per month | $44 per month | $80 per month | $35 per month |
| Numbers and Extensions | One number/Three Extensions | Three numbers/Six Extensions | Five numbers/Unlimited Extensions | One number/Email, text, and phone integration |
» The Complete Breakdown of All Grasshopper Pricing and Plans
Dialpad
Dialpad is a moderately-priced provider for small to mid sized businesses. Dialpad plans come equipped with most, if not all, VoIP capabilities a business would be looking for. Many find it an ideal office phone software system because in addition to features like voicemail transcription, SIP phone support, and video conferencing, Dialpad focuses on integrations and innovation.
Users pay $20 per month and, in turn, receive software with an emphasis on convenience, seamless third-party app integration, and support for both iOS and Android devices.
It’s also one of the less-expensive service providers for its advanced business phone line offering, including video conferencing and SMS/MMS messaging services. By forgoing a focus on hardware options and installation/training, teams are left with more time to customize default settings. That way, they can quickly enjoy the benefits of contact management, encryption, and IVR/voice recognition.
If you’re unopposed to using your team’s existing devices or don’t want to buy more equipment, Dialpad is a comprehensive and competitively-priced solution. The site offers visitors the option to try it risk-free for 30 days, so there’s no pressure to sign up immediately.
Dialpad Talk Pricing & Plans:
| Compare Plans | Standard | Pro | Enterprise |
| Quick Overview | |||
| Pricing (billed annually) | $15/mo/user | $25/mo/user | Not listed, contact sales |
| Pricing (month-to-month) | $20/mo/user | $30/mo/user | Not listed, contact sales |
| User Limits | 1 user minimum | 3 users minimum | 100 users minimum |
| Unlimited Calling in US & Canada | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile/Desktop Softphone & App | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Call Recording | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-Level Auto Attendant | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Additional Numbers | No | Yes | Yes |
| Custom Routing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Extensions | No | No | 24/7 |
| Toll-free Numbers | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic Spam Detection | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Number Porting | Local & Toll-Free, Fees Apply | Local & Toll-Free, Fees Apply | Local & Toll-Free, Fees Apply |
| Switch Calls Between Devices | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Three-Way Calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Voicemail Transcription | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Click-to-Call | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Speech Coaching | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Collaboration Features | |||
| Contact Syncing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Analytics & Reporting | Basic | Advanced | Fully Customizable |
| Ring Groups | 3 max | 25 max | Unlimited |
| Call Queues | No | Yes | Yes |
| Online Meetings (UberConference) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Unlimited SMS, MMS (domestic only) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| International SMS | No | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | |||
| Salesforce | No | Yes | Yes |
| Zendesk | No | Yes | Yes |
| Slack | No | Yes | Yes |
| Hubspot | No | Yes | Yes |
| Zapier | No | Yes | Yes |
| G Suite | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Office 365 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Azure | No | No | Yes |
| Okta | No | No | Yes |
| OneLogin | No | No | Yes |
| ServiceNow | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| APIs & Webhooks | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Outreach | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support & Customer Service | |||
| Knowledge Base | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Community Forum | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multilingual Web | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multilingual Chat | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support Coverage | 24/5 | 24/7 | 24/7 |
| Phone Support | No | Yes | Yes |
| Service Level Agreement | No | No | Yes |
» The Complete Breakdown of All Dialpad Pricing and Plans
Intermedia
For businesses in need of a reliable cloud PBX and a generous array of features, Intermedia and its new Unite platform provide a cutting-edge solution. Like most other mid-sized telephony providers, Intermedia covers all of a business’s basic need for outgoing and incoming calls and then some.
The Intermedia Unite plan starts at $28.99 per month per user, which is about double Dialpad’s starting price and higher than RingCentral Office for Business and 8×8 Virtual Office Pro. Upon closer inspection, the differences are negligible.
Overview of Intermedia Unite Pricing & Plans
| Plan | Price Per User | Key Features |
| Unite | $28.99 |
|
| Unite Pro | $38.99 |
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» The Complete Breakdown of All Intermedia Unite Pricing and Plans
Mitel MiCloud
Ottowa-based Mitel offers features great for organizations of all sizes, with a portfolio of Google Cloud and on-site phone solutions and an award-winning global presence. The MiCloud Connect plan boasts collaborative hosted VoIP features such as individual and group chatting, SMS messaging, compatibility across all major platforms (PC, Mac, iOS, and Android).
These features support creative teams, even remotely. If users can overlook the monthly $24.99 or $29.99 charge, they gain access to important collaborative tools.
Mitel currently lacks features like call logging and recording, campaign management, call scripting, and analytics reports. It does, however, offer capabilities like queue management, escalation management, and interactive voice response, and uses Microsoft Exchange and CRM integration, which are valuable tools for any team.
The Essentials plan, while only $19.99 per month, covers call of the fundamental business VoIP and call control capabilities, but lacks the MiTeam Collaboration that unlocks access to those valuable tools. Also, take a moment to read our coverage of Mitel customer support before committing to them.
Overview MiCloud Connect Pricing & Plans
| Plan | Price Per User | Key Features |
| Essentials | $20.99 |
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| Premier | $26.59 |
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| Elite | $38.49 |
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GoToConnet
GoToConnect is another cloud-based virtual phone service that replaces your older equipment with a PBX to improve interactions. GoTo’s impressive portfolio contains over 80 enterprise-class hosted PBX features to give clients an edge. Its plans include campaign and escalation management, analytics reporting, call scripting, conference calling numbers, and virtual fax services.
Short of contact management, GoToConnect utilizes a set of important features crucial to ensuring teams a secure line of communication. SIP trunking, voice quality enhancement, unified communications, and encryption come standard with this plan. What’s more, Jive offers extensive live online training and webinars to train users on features.
Overview GoToConnect Pricing & Plans
| Plan | Price Per User | Key Features |
| 1-99 Users | $19.95-$29.95 |
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| 100+ Users | Custom Pricing Available |
» The Complete Breakdown of All GoToConnect Pricing and Plans
Nextiva
Nextiva is one of the leading providers of business VoIP and cloud-based communications and a great choice for ensuring nothing but the best for your organization and clients.
Their best-in-class customer service has earned multiple awards and outspoken customer loyalty. Thanks to its polished and easy-to-use online platform, managers of multiple office locations can thrive with streamlined communications across teams and time zones.
Once connected, users are granted company directories, call routing, CRM integration, online faxing, extension dialing, SIP trunking capabilities, and far more advantageous features that deliver remote teams a competitive edge. Scalable business phone systems mean that you can get what you need when you need it, without paying extra for it.
Overview of Nextiva Pricing & Plans
| Plan | Price Per User | Key Features |
| Essential | $19.95 |
|
| Professional | $20.94 |
|
| Enterprise | $27.95 |
|
» The Complete Breakdown of Nextiva Plans and Pricing
Vonage
All of Vonage’s small business solution plans include the major features you’d expect from a household name.
Designed with a wide range of features, Vonage Business Cloud features Mobile, Premium, and Advanced options to best cater to organizations of varying sizes and structures.
Their basic option, the Mobile plan, starts at $19.99 and provides users with unlimited calling and SMS messaging, seamless integration for mobile and desktop apps, and a team messaging service. This kind of plan is perfect for supporting remote teams and those that don’t rely on desk phones for day-to-day operations.
For teams that operate in a more traditional office setting and those who tend to rely on cross-platform collaboration, Vonage’s Premium tier is ideal. Under this plan, business phone service users pay $29.99 per month to communicate or collaborate across all device types, including desk phones. Premium users also gain access to Amazon Chime-supported video conferencing, chat, and file sharing for up to 100 people.
Organizations at the enterprise level benefit most from the plan’s top tier, the Advanced plan. In addition to the other features provided with the two lower tiers, Advanced members can enjoy the benefits of on-demand call recording (15 hours per month), visual voicemail services, and dedicated representative-assisted setup and onboarding for your team.
Regardless of what you choose, try to take advantage of Vonage’s 14-day trial for new users. This provides an opportunity to test the features and modify them as needed.
Vonage Business Cloud VoIP Plan Pricing & Features
Vonage Cloud pricing comes in three tiers, with scalable plans that are based on the number of phone lines. Here, we’re covering pricing for 1-4 lines but do keep in mind that you can get up to $5 off per month if you opt for 20 or more lines.
Vonage users will, however, pay a monthly subscription fee atop fees for add-ons and usage upgrades, whereas RingCentral customers have the choice between a monthly or annual fee.
| Plans (high-speed internet required) | Mobile | Premium | Advanced |
| Rates | $19.99/month/line plus taxes & fees | $29.99/month/line plus taxes & fees | $39.99/month/line plus taxes & fees |
| Why this plan? | Communicate through your mobile device and desktop. Great for remote teams—and any business that doesn’t need desk phones. | Communicate and collaborate on any device, including your desk phones. Best for traditional office environments. | Unify your business communications with our most popular add-on features, and get a dedicated team for setup and onboarding. |
| Unlimited Calling and SMS Messages* | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile App
(iPhone, iPad, Android) |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop App | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| VonageFlow | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-level Auto Attendant | No | Yes | Yes |
| Video Conferencing, Chat & File Sharing (by Amazon Chime) | No | Up to 100 people | Up to 100 people |
| CRM Integrations | No | Yes | Yes |
| Call Recording: On-Demand | No | No | 15 hours/month |
| Call Group | No | No | Yes |
| Vonage Visual Voicemail | No | No | Yes |
| Orange-Glove Setup | No | No | Yes |
» The Complete Breakdown of Vonage Business Cloud Pricing & Plans
RingCentral Office
Built for use by organizations of all sizes, RingCentral Office features a range of plans and utilizes powerful customization options using APIs.
RingCentral prides itself on assisting collaborative teams regardless of location, making it another excellent option for remote teams. Since the services are cloud-based, RingCentral’s dedicated app enables seamless voice calls, text messages, and audio/video conferencing all in one unified desktop or app.
The Essentials is a sufficient mid-tier plan and includes automatic call recording and an auto-attendant, which ensures users never miss calls and provides virtual receptionist capabilities. Plus, RingCentral claims a 99.999% uptime.
RingCentral does not require contractual commitment for cloud-based business phone service deployment.
Overview RingCentral Plans & Pricing
| Plan | Price Per User | Key Features |
| Essentials | $19.99 |
|
| Standard | $24.99 |
|
| Premium | $34.99 |
|
| Ultimate | $49.99 |
|
» Complete breakdown of RingCentral Pricing and Plans
8x8 One Cloud
Thanks to a plethora of features and lower starting price at just $12 per month per user, the 8×8 Express plan by 8×8 is ideal for smaller and larger operations alike. Firms across industries like tech, retail, FinTech, recruitment, and transportation can all benefit from flexible plans like this.
With the 8×8 Express plan, users will gain access to business SMS and texting, one-on-one group chat, and unlimited calling in the US and Canada, which is perfect for streamlined unified communications. The only downside is the system’s reliance on a good internet connection. If you’re located in an area with weak or spotty internet coverage, call quality will subsequently be poor.
The 8×8 Express plan is ideal for quickly setting up meetings as there is no software requirement – guests can call meetings using a browser-based UI. Features like instant screen sharing and HD voice and video meetings are also standard. However, for those that need a level of encryption for their calls, it may be a better idea to select a higher-level plan.
Overview 8×8 Virtual Office Plans & Pricing
| Plan | Price Per User | Key Features |
| 8×8 Express | $12 |
|
| X1 Edition | By customer |
|
| X2 Edition | $25 |
|
| X3 Edition | By customer |
|
| X4 Edition | $45 per line, per month |
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Look Beyond Price
Reliable and affordable phone plans are necessary for any business, regardless of its size. Traditional phone service providers might be household names, but their small business phone plans are typically lackluster compared to business VoIP. They come with hidden fees and a general disconnect when it comes to managing entrepreneurial needs.
With higher plan base prices and extra charges, digital service providers and VoIP companies present excellent alternative solutions. They deliver cutting-edge business phone service with powerful VoIP Phone options that brands need to survive in a landscape dictated by convenience and accessibility.
