Aircall vs Dialpad: Compare Pricing, Plans and Top Features

Summary: Aircall is a basic, user-friendly business phone system for small in-house teams currently struggling with high daily call volumes, an inefficient sales process, and constant app switching. Dialpad AI Voice is an all-in-one call center and unified communications platform that combines voice calling, SMS, video conferencing, and collaboration tools in one interface.

Aircall and Dialpad offer cloud-based call center software with extensive third-party integrations, scalable pricing, and AI-powered features that empower agents. But which one is the right fit for your agents, customers, and overall business needs?

This Aircall vs Dialpad comparison outlines each provider’s pricing and plans, features, integrations, security, customer support process, and overall user experience.

Aircall vs Dialpad: At A Glance

Aircall is a great fit for small businesses that want to streamline/integrate all their existing business communication and collaboration tools into a beginner-friendly cloud phone platform. Dialpad AI Voice (Dialpad’s business phone solution) benefits growth-oriented call centers that need built-in collaboration tools and real-time AI insights that improve CX.

The comparison table below provides a quick summary of Aircall vs Dialpad.

How We Compared Aircall vs Dialpad

We independently researched and tested both providers, read user reviews and product guides, and used product demos/tutorials when comparing Aircall vs. Dialpad. We then developed the below categories used to evaluate both providers:

• Pricing and Plans: We compared each provider’s available plans and their associated pricing, evaluating overall value, free trial length, add-ons, and included features
• Features: We reviewed and compared each platform’s key features, including voice calling, call recording, analytics, SMS/MMS texting, and team collaboration tools
• Integrations: We researched which third-party platforms each provider integrates with, including popular CRM systems, analytics tools, collaboration apps, and more
• Security and Customer Support: We reviewed each provider’s guaranteed uptime and network reliability, security certifications, customer support channels and availability, and priority support options
• User Experience: We evaluated the top pros and cons of each platform and determined the types of businesses and end users that would benefit the most from each solution

Aircall vs Dialpad: Pricing and Plans

Summary: Both providers offer three paid plans, but Aircall is significantly more expensive than Dialpad with pricing from $30/user/month–plus a three-seat user minimum. With plans from $15/user/month, Dialpad offers better value, but has fewer individual add-ons than Aircall.

Aircall pricing offers 3 paid plans from $30-$50+/license/month, a 7-day free trial, the Aircall AI add-on for $9/license/month, and the Analytics add-on for $15/license/month. Annual and monthly pricing options are available, with yearly pricing providing a 25% discount. Users can purchase additional business phone numbers for $6/number/month.

Aircall Pricing+Plans

• Aircall Essentials Plan ($30/license/month with a 3-license minimum, or $1080/year for 3 licenses): 3 teams maximum, 1 local or toll-free number, unlimited calling in the US/Canada, US/Canada SMS+MMS, call recording+transcription, visual voicemail+voicemail-to-email,  IVR, call routing+queuing, ring groups, conference calling, standard analytics, 100+ third-party integrations, 2FA, phone+email customer support
• Aircall Professional Plan ($50/license/month or $1800/year for 3 licenses): Adds unlimited teams, smart call routing, automated callbacks, PowerDialer, call monitoring, call whisper, mandatory call tagging, live activity feed, advanced analysis, Salesforce integration
• Aircall Custom Plan (Quote-based, 25-license minimum): Adds unlimited outbound international calling, Aircall Analytics+, priority and API developer support, SSO, unlimited call recording+analytics data storage
• Aircall AI Add-On ($9/license/month): Includes AI-generated call summaries, CRM logging, key topic recognition, sentiment analysis, transcript text search, and talk-to-listen ratios
• Aircall Analytics Add-On ($15/license/month): Includes advanced reporting filters, call trends, interactive reports, data drill-downs

Dialpad Pricing+Plans

Dialpad pricing for AI Voice offers three monthly and annual paid plans from $15-$25+/user/month and a 14-day free trial. Dialpad add-ons include additional conference room lines for $15/number/month, online faxing for $10/number/month, additional international or toll-free numbers for $15/number/month, and additional local numbers for $5/number/month.

• Standard Plan ($15/user/month annually, $23/user/month with monthly billing): Unlimited HD Voice calling, 1 local phone number, 3 ring groups, multi-level auto attendant, visual voicemail, custom call routing, real-time call transcriptions, call recording, spam detection, call flip, 5-hour video meetings for 10 participants, screen sharing, whiteboards, team chat messaging, SMS/MMS; team chat messaging, file sharing, 24/7 live chat support
• Pro Plan ($25/user/month annually, $35/user/month with monthly billing, 3-seat minimum): Adds another local/international phone number, up to 25 ring groups, hold queues, international SMS, QoS reports, high-level third-party integrations (Slack, Salesforce Teams, etc.), 24/7 live phone/chat support
• Enterprise Plan (Quote-based, 100-seat minimum): Adds extensions, unlimited ring groups, SSO, priority support, dedicated account manager, 100% uptime SLA

Aircall vs Dialpad Feature Comparison

Below, we directly compare Aircall vs Dialpad voice calling, text messaging, call recording, collaboration, and analytics tools.

Voice Calling Features

Summary: Aircall offers only basic voice calling features like call queues, virtual voicemail, call routing, and customer callback--but its SmartFlow Editor tool provides high-level call flow customization.  Dialpad has more advanced routing strategies and VoIP calling features like screen sharing, call queue customization, unlimited ring groups, call park, call flip, and a Dial by Name directory.

Aircall Voice Calling

Aircall’s best voice calling features are:

• Business Phone Numbers: Aircall offers local and toll-free business phone numbers in 100+ countries, international calling, and vanity phone numbers. All Aircall plans include 1 local or toll-free number
• Smartflow Editor:  Aircall users can build multi-level call flows with ease in the Smartflow dynamic visual editor and use the drag-and-drop interface to add widgets. Users can create and edit IVR call menus by uploading audio files, recording messages, or via text-to-speech in 16 languages with 15 voice options
• Call Routing: Aircall offers time-based, most idle, list-based, random, skills-base (smart) priority, and custom business hour call routing strategies. Users can also create specific routing rules for holidays and peak call rimes, forward calls to internal/external numbers, or enable simultaneous ringing
• Aircall Teams: Admins can create ring groups (Aircall Teams), with an unlimited number of agents per team, based on skill set, language, department, etc. Admins can also assign teams to call queues, create team-based rules, and filter by current agent status
• Customer Callback: Customers can request an automated callback at any time by pressing their * key
• Call Queueing: Aircall admins can set maximum call waiting times and enable the “Respect Queuing Time” feature to keep all callers in queues for the maximum amount of time regardless of current agent availability
• Voicemail: Aircall includes custom voicemail creation via speech-to-text, voicemail transcription in English/French/Spanish, and voicemail-to-email notifications with transcripts and a link to the voicemail audio recording
• Outbound Dialer: Aircall’s power dialer integrates with CRM tools to create lead lists, eliminates manual dialing, and automates post-call work

Dialpad Voice Calling

Dialpad’s best voice calling features are:

• • Business Phone Numbers: Dialpad offers local, toll-free, and international phone numbers, number porting, extensions, and unlimited office locations. All numbers allow users to set custom Caller IDs
  • Call Routing: Dialpad offers unlimited ring groups and a variety of call routing options including simultaneous ringing, intelligent skills-based call routing, longest idle and fixed order routing, round robin routing, and custom business hours
  • Active Call Management: During active calls, Dialpad agents can use the call flip feature to switch between devices without hanging up, initiate warm or direct call transfers, park or hold calls, turn any call into a three-way call, get real-time coaching via call whisper
  • IVR+ACD: Dialpad provides multi-level auto attendants and IVR with NLP to handle more advanced customer support requests without involving a live agent
  • Call Queues: Dialpad lets up to 50 customers wait in a call queue. Admins can set call queue maximum wait times (300 minutes maximum per queue), upload hold music and custom greetings, give callers real-time updates about their place in the queue, enable customer callbacks, and let customers leave the queue and record a voicemail message instead of waiting
  • In-Call Screen Sharing: Agents can share their entire screens, a window, or a specific tab with co-workers and customers during active calls to provide high-level assistance in real-time

Winner: Dialpad

Business Text Messaging

Summary: Aircall provides unlimited 1:1 inbound text messaging in the US and Canada, 13000 outbound SMS segments/month, and limited international texting. Dialpad includes only 250 inbound and outbound SMS/MMS messages per month, but provides better international texting coverage and group texting.

Aircall Text Messaging

Aircall offers unlimited inbound SMS/MMS business text messaging for desktop and mobile devices in the US and Canada but only allows for 13000 outbound text message segments per month. Users can review conversation history, share PDFs/images preview attachments, and enable push and badge notifications.  Aircall does not offer group texting, but users can access advanced business texting and bulk SMS marketing tools via a paid add-on from Aircall partner Heymarket. International texting is available only in the US, Canada, the UK, France, and Australia.

Dialpad Text Messaging

Dialpad includes free unlimited user-to-user SMS/MMS messaging on all plans, but provides only 250 inbound and outbound SMS/MMS messages per month on all plans. After that, all messages are charged on a per-text basis. International texting is available in Users can share images, videos, multiple file formats (PNG, MPEG, AVI, TIFF, JPG), and favorite or forward messages. Admins can enable message delivery receipts, activate shared line messaging, and search message history. Group texting for 25 internal participants and 10 external/internal participants is also included, as is international texting to dozens of countries (international rates apply.)

Winner: Dialpad

Call Recording+Transcription

Summary: While all Dialpad and Aircall plans include call recording and transcription, Dialpad offers real-time recording plus AI call summaries, key moments, sentiment analysis, and suggested action items. While Aircall offers some AI recording tools, including call summaries and talk-listen ratios, they’re only available as a paid add-on.

Aircall Call Recording

All Aircall plans include call recording and transcription with at least 6 months of call recording storage (Custom Plan users enjoy unlimited call recording access.) Users can pause and resume active call recordings, share recordings, and download mp3 audio files of recorded calls. Recordings are accessible directly in the Conversation Center interface, or in integrated CRM systems.

With the Aircall AI add-on, users can also review call summaries, share recording and transcript snippets, increase playback speed, fast-forward and rewind recordings, and configure transcription rules for individual extensions. AI-powered call transcripts also include speaker differentiation, key conversation topics, and talk-listen ratios that show percentage breakdowns of agent and customer talk time. Transcripts are available directly after the end of a call.

Dialpad Call Recording

All Dialpad plans also include call recording and transcription. However, unlike Aircall, Dialpad provides real-time AI call transcription with speaker differentiation, call summaries, key moments, sentiment analysis, suggested action items, and more. Users can search and edit call transcripts, listen to call recording audio, and add time-stamped comments to call transcripts and audio recordings.

Dialpad users can review, download, and share call recordings from the Call History tab and the Agent Inbox.

Winner: Dialpad

Collaboration Tools

Summary: Dialpad easily bests Aircall when it comes to team collaboration tools, as Aircall’s collaboration tools only include conference calls, call tags/assignments, and a shared inbox. In contrast, all Dialpad plans include video conferencing, whiteboarding, file sharing, team chat messaging, and more.

Aircall Team Collaboration

Aircall’s top collaboration tools are:

• Conference Calling: Aircall includes instant and on-demand conference calling for up to 5 total participants, but conference calling is not available on iOS mobile devices. During conference calls, hosts can remove participants, put the call on hold, view call participants, end the call for all, and add call tags/comments
• Call Tagging: Aircall includes custom and mandatory call tagging with color-coded tags, automatic synching across integrated apps, and filtering
• Shared Inbox: Team-wide inboxes let several agents simultaneously view and manage call assignments, tasks, notes, tags, voicemails, recordings, and follow-up calls
• Call Comments+Assignment: Aircall doesn’t include native team chat, but agents can still collaborate by adding call comments, tagging other users, assigning calls, and by using the warm transfer feature

Dialpad Team Collaboration

Dialpad’s top collaboration features are:

• Dialpad Meetings: Dialpad offers on-demand/scheduled 5-hour video meetings for up to 10 participants. Users can access in-meeting chat, desktop/mobile screen sharing, virtual backgrounds, and unlimited meeting recording, always-on huddle rooms
• Team Chat: Dialpad offers persistent and in-meeting chat with audio-only chat rooms, message threading, file sharing, conversation favorites, a message search bar, message forwarding, and more
• File Sharing: In-meeting and in-chat file sharing with Google Drive integration, real-time co-editing
• Whiteboarding: In-meeting and persistent whiteboarding powered by Miro, pin files/images, add sticky notes, access pre-made whiteboard templates, save/edit/share whiteboards

Winner: Dialpad

Analytics+Reporting

Summary: Both Aircall and Dialpad leave much to be desired when it comes to real-time and historical call analytics. However, Aircall at least offers a Live Activity Feed with an overview of current statuses and call queue lengths, while Dialpad doesn’t include any real-time analytics with its AI Voice solution.

Dialpad Analytics

Dialpad offers a variety of analytics ranging from basic call logs to AI-powered sentiment analysis. However, there is conflicting information regarding which analytics tools are included with each plan.  Although Dialpad’s pricing page says all AI Voice plans include basic real-time analytics, we were told that no real-time analytics are included with any Dialpad AI Voice plans.

That said, all Dialpad AI Voice plans do include basic call history data like:

• QoS and device usage reports
• Call date, type, participants, phone numbers, and duration
• Number of missed, transferred, abandoned, and answered calls over a custom date range
• Number of callbacks requested
• Interactive heat map of call volume trends
• Call Journey tool monitors individual call paths, including call transfers, call queues, IVR interactions, etc.

Aircall Analytics

Aircall provides basic, advanced, and add-on analytics for real-time and historical KPI monitoring.

• Activity Feed: Live call center activity monitoring lets admins view current agent statuses and the amount of time agents have spent in that status, real-time call queues, average call wait time in the past hour, and the number of missed calls in the past 30 minutes. Admins can access call monitoring tools and provide in-call coaching via call whisper
• Historical Analytics: In addition to call log (call history) data, review KPIs like average call duration, inbound/outbound call volume, average speed of answer, missed call percentage, average wait time, call abandonment rate, total talk time, after-call work time, and more.  Filter by timezone, department, date range, agent, phone number, call tag, etc.
• Analytics+ Add-On: View interactive data reports with charts/graphs, drill down data, export/share reports, review call trends and most popular call tags, and see KPIs for specific time zones, users, teams, and phone numbers. KPIs are automatically refreshed every hour, and the interactive call evolution view shows how your call center activity has changed over a specific time period. Custom KPIs/reporting are not available.

Winner: Aircall

Aircall vs Dialpad: Integrations and APIs

Summary: Although both Dialpad and Aircall offer extensive third-party integrations, Aircall provides pre-built integrations with 100+ platforms and advanced CTI screen pops

Aircall Integrations

Aircall integrates with over 100 third-party tools, including:

• CRM Tools: Salesforce, HubSpot, SugarCRM, Zoho CRM
• Helpdesk Tools: HappyFox, Freshdesk, Help Scout, Intercom, Zendesk, Microsoft Dynamics
• Productivity Tools: monday.com, Slack, Zapier, Microsoft Teams, Slack

Dialpad Integrations

Dialpad integrates with top platforms like:

• CRM Tools: Salesforce, ServiceNow, Bullhorn, HubSpot, Zoho CRM,
• Helpdesk Tools: Zendesk, Autoreach, HappyFox
• Productivity Tools: Zoom, Google Workspace, Zapier, Microsoft Teams,

Winner: Aircall

Aircall vs Dialpad: Customer Service, Security, and Reliability

Summary: Dialpad offers 100% uptime, 24/7 phone and chat support, a better online knowledge base, and premium add-on support options. Aircall has a 99.95% uptime and does not offer 24/7 support to any users–not even those on the most expensive plan.

Aircall Security+Support

Aircall is powered by AWS, has 7 globally redundant data centers, and is HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2, PCI, and ISO 27000 compliant. Aircall offers end-to-end encryption, a 99.95% uptime, and 24/7 network monitoring with live updates on its status page. All Aircall plans include two-factor authentication, roles-based permissions, and Google Sign-In access (though SSO is only available on the Custom Plan.)

Although all Aircall plans include access to customer support via phone, email, and chat, 24/7 support is not available for any plans (although the Custom Plan does provide priority support.) Additionally, dedicated account managers and personalized onboarding sessions both require 15-user minimums. While Aircall does have an online knowledge base, it is poorly organized and contains limited, generally unhelpful feature tutorials.

Dialpad Security+Support

Thanks to its multi-tenant architecture and geographic redundancy, Dialpad offers a 100% uptime for Enterprise users–but does not include a guaranteed uptime for cheaper plans. All Dialpad Voice AI plans include end-to-end encryption, SSO, automatic spam blocking, HIPAA and GDPR compliance, meeting locks, and user access management. Custom data retention policies are available.

All Dialpad users have access to an extensive online knowledge base, the community forum, and 24/7 live multilingual chat support. Dialpad Enterprise plans include a dedicated support number and account manager, priority routing, and 24/7 support via phone, multilingual web ticketing, or multi-lingual chat support. Unlike Aircall, Dialpad offers several premium (add-on) support options including a technical account manager, end user training, direct access to tier 2 support, and faster resolution times.

Winner: Dialpad

Aircall vs Dialpad: Pros and Cons

Here’s what we like and dislike the most about Dialpad and Aircall:

Aircall vs Dialpad: Which Provider is Right for Your Business?

Below we’ve outlined who should–and should not–use each call center solution.

Interested in Dialpad and Aircall alternatives? Check out our other head-to-head business phone system comparisons, or see our call center software review page to explore even more providers.