Summary: Five9 and Genesys are both scalable cloud-based CCaaS platforms ideal for enterprises needing omnichannel agent-less and agent-led communications enhanced with AI workforce management and workflow automation. That being said, they have key differences and cater to distinct business needs.
Five9’s predictive dialer, seamless CRM integrations, and real-time analytics make it a great choice for outbound sales teams that need to increase agent productivity without sacrificing personalization.
Genesys has a better suite of digital engagement tools than Five9, including advanced AI chatbots, email, social media, live website chat, and messaging integrations. Unlike Five9, Genesys includes built-in unified communications tools like video calling and team chat–making it a better fit for digital-first businesses with mostly remote agents..
While Five9 is more intuitive and has a shorter onboarding time than Genesys, Genesys offers better pricing flexibility and customization options. When it comes to their workforce management and agent coaching tools, Five9 focuses more on AI-driven automation and ease of integration, while Genesys provides deeper analytics and omnichannel optimization for more advanced coaching and forecasting.
- How We Compared
- At A Glance
- Pricing Structure
- Incoming Calling Features
- Outbound Dialers & Calling Features
- Call Center Software Comparison
- Customer Self-Service
- Workforce Optimization
- Analytics, Reporting, and Integrations
- Integrations
- User Experience
- Which to Choose?
How We Compared Five9 and Genesys
We used the following criteria to compare Five9 vs Genesys:
- Pricing and Plans: We reviewed each provider’s available pricing, plans, and add-ons to evaluate overall affordability, scalability, and value
- Incoming Calling: We evaluated each of the platforms' inbound call management features, including call routing, IVR, and queue management
- Outgoing Calling: We analyzed outbound calling capabilities like auto dialing modes, click-to-call, and campaign management
- Customer Self-Service: We compared AI-driven self-service options like chatbots, interactive voice response (IVR) systems, and knowledge bases
- Omnichannel Communication: We assessed the support channels available for each platform like email, chat, social media, SMS, and voice in a unified interface
- Workflow Optimization: We looked over the automation tools designed to keep agent workflows simple and improve overall efficiency, including AI Agent Assist, interaction summaries,, and agent scheduling/forecasting tools
- Workforce Management: We reviewed included workforce management tools like real-time agent coaching, agent performance evaluations, gamification, live sentiment analysis, and more
- Analytics and Reporting: We examined how rich and usable each platform’s usage real-time and historical data was for decision-making and performance tracking
- Integrations: We compared how many integrations with CRMs, helpdesk tools, and other applications each platform had and how easy it was to set up
Five9 vs Genesys: At A Glance
Five9 | Genesys CX | |
Best For | Outbound or blended contact centers needing advanced auto dialers, AI-powered automated workforce and performance management, and omnichannel customer self-service | Remote or hybrid digital-first contact centers with high inbound contact volumes across multiple digital channels and a need for built-in unified communications tools |
Pricing and Plans | 5 plans from $119 per user/month including digital-only, voice-only, and omnichannel solutions | 3 Cloud CX plans from $75-$155 per user/month, concurrent user and hourly pricing also available
2 Cloud CX Digital plans from $95-$135 per user/month |
Incoming Calling | - Advanced IVR with speech recognition and AI call routing
- Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) - AI-powered voice assistants - Call queuing, hold music, and estimated wait time notifications |
- IVA voicebots with Natural Language Processing (NLP)
- AI-based routing using predictive engagement and customer history - Skill-based routing - Callback options |
Outgoing Calling | - Automated TCPA compliance
- Local presence dialing -Voicemail detection and call suppression |
- Predictive, Power, and Preview dialers.
- Outbound IVAs and automated reminders via voice and SMS - Lead list segmentation and campaign management |
Omnichannel Communication | - Supports voice, email, chat, SMS, and social media in a unified agent desktop
- AI-powered chatbots and online self-service portals for digital self-service |
- Omnichannel support for voice, chat, SMS, email, and social messaging apps in a unified agent interface
- AI-driven omnichannel routing for personalized customer journeys - Predictive engagement across digital channels |
Workflow Optimization | - Workforce management tools for scheduling and forecasting
- AI-driven automation for call routing and agent assistance - Real-time agent coaching using AI-powered insights - Automated post-call work and call summaries |
- AI-powered workforce engagement for scheduling and performance tracking
- Predictive analytics for optimizing staffing and workflows - Real-time agent assistance with AI-powered coaching - Automates repetitive tasks to improve efficiency |
Analytics and Reporting | - Real-time and historical reporting dashboards with call metrics and agent performance tracking
- AI-driven speech and text analytics to optimize customer interactions - Sentiment analysis for customer feedback |
- AI analytics suite with real-time and historical reporting
- Predictive analytics for customer behavior forecasting - Speech and text analytics for sentiment tracking |
Integrations | - 50+ integrations including Salesforce, Zendesk, ServiceNow, and more
- API access included with all plans |
- 40+ integrations including Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, HubSpot, and more
- Open API framework for custom integrations |
Five9 vs Genesys: Pricing Structure
Summary: Genesys Cloud CX offers a better value than Five9 due to its better omnichannel scalability and feature-rich plans. Five9 provides stronger scalability thanks to individual add-ons. Genesys Cloud CX starts from $75/user/month for voice-only solutions, you will need to pay for a higher tier to get omnichannel features. Five9 offers a more modular pricing structure that starts much higher at $149/user/month for their Digital-only and Voice-only plans. Through add-ons, Five9 includes AI-powered workforce engagement management. Genesys already includes AI features like self-service automation and agent assist tools at the base tier, but analytics and forecasting is only on their highest tier.
Five9 Pricing
Five9 pricing starts at $149/user/month for their Digital and Voice plans, with quote-based pricing for AI-powered automation, workforce engagement management (WEM), and analytics.
To get both digital and voice, you must jump up to the Premium plan (from $169/user/month.) The higher tiers, Optimum ($199/user/month) (which adds WEM) and Ultimate ($229/user/month which adds WEM and analytics), offer quote-based pricing only.
Five9 has more à la carte features than Genesys, allowing businesses to purchase what they need (quality management, performance dashboards, predictive analytics/dialing) through higher tiers and add-ons. Five9 is a highly customizable choice but might cost businesses more in the long run, especially for businesses.
Genesys Pricing
Genesys pricing offers three tiers, with the Cloud CX 1 plan starting at $75/user/month for voice channels only. This tier comes with speech-enabled IVR, outbound campaigns, analytics and reporting, unified communications, and interaction recording. It also comes with AI features like Knowledge, native bots, predictive engagement and routing, and Agent Copilot.
However, you will need to jump up to the $115/user/month CX2 plan for omnichannel features like SMS, social media, and chat messaging. The highest tier, CX3, at $155/user/month comes with AI-powered forecasting and scheduling as well as Speech and text analytics.
Five9 vs Genesys: Incoming Calling Features
Genesys Inbound Voice is designed to increase first call resolution rates through the use of ACD routing based on live customer data and interaction history, set calling rules, and agent availability.
Its intelligent call routing system is designed to replace PBX phone systems, unify a geographically diverse workforce, and harness the power of artificial intelligence to enhance customer calls.
Screen Pops provide agents with all recent and relevant customer data as soon as they accept an incoming call, eliminating the need for callers to repeat themselves to multiple agents.
It supports customer segmentation for increased personalization, and allows for call prioritization according to customer value, the level of service needed, or current call center traffic and estimated wait times.
Inbound Voice uses call forwarding and priority routing to ensure that, no matter where an agent is located or the device they’re using, they connect with their VIP clients.
Additional Genesys Incoming call features include:
- BYOC or VoIP Cloud Voice calling
- Built-in speech recognition
- Live agent and call flow monitoring
- Relationship-based routing
- Skills-based routing
- Automated call notifications
- Workforce routing
- Network Voice routing strategy to lower SIP trunking costs
- Agent scripting
- CRM integration
Five9’s incoming calling center uses its Engagement Workflow to route calls to the best available agent, and also uses CTI Screen Pops to display recent previous customer journey touchpoints.
Routing options include:
- Skills-based routing
- Time-of-day routing
- Voicemail routing
- Priority routing
- Round robin routing
Like Genesys, Five9’s incoming calling software is designed to promote personalized interactions. Segmented agent scripts for incoming callers make it easy for representatives to provide quick assistance to customers, increasing their first call resolution rate.
Additional Five9 incoming calling features include:
- Incoming call whisper
- Call monitoring
- Text-to-speech
- Voicemail to email
- Call notifications
- Contact management
- CRM integration
Five9 vs Genesys: Outbound Dialers & Calling Features
The Genesys outgoing call tool includes features that make it easier to anticipate customer needs and lower incoming calling rates.
The auto dialer uses call pacing, voicemail filters, and busy signal/unanswered call filters to increase agent talk time. Genesys’ blended call system ensures that agents can easily switch from incoming to outgoing calls, or vice versa, to accommodate increased call queues.
Much like incoming Screen Pops, outgoing preview dialing tools provide agents with customer information before call initiation, allowing them to be better prepared for the conversation.
Additional Genesys outgoing call features include:
- Progressive dialer
- Call Screening
- Automated callbacks and reminders
- Predictive dialer
- Integrated Do Not Call lists
- Drag-and-drop call flow
- Landline and mobile call strategies
- Automated suppression lists
- Customer opt-ins
- Telemarketing tools and scripts (upselling, customer data collection, etc.)
- Escalation matrix and dialing rules
- Outgoing call analytics and customer reports
- Outgoing Intelligent Voice Recognition
- Customer and list segmentation
- Call progress detection
- CRM integration
Five9 Outbound Calling offers several custom dialing modes designed to maximize agent productivity and connect representatives to as many leads as possible.
The automatic Power Dialer mode, unlike predictive or progressive dialing, follows a set calls-to-agent ratio. As soon as an agent activates the Power Dialer, the calling system begins calling potential leads at a speed consistent with the current calls-to-agent ratio.
This way, agents no longer lose time on unanswered calls, busy signals, or numbers that are out of service.
Users can also transition to predictive, preview, or progressive dialing modes at any time.
With live Do Not Call list management, answering machine detection, and automated voicemail, Five9 can help to increase agent talk time by over 300% per hour.
Five9 auto-dialing rules are in full compliance with TCPA and other VoIP regulations.
Additional Five9 outgoing calling center features include:
- Campaign and list management
- Outgoing call priority
- Disposition redials and timers
- Timezone rules calling
- FTP data importing
- United States Local caller ID
- Voice recordings
- Vertical dialing mode
- List penetration dialing
- Agent scripting
Five9 vs Genesys: Call Center Software Comparison
Both Genesys and Five9 offer rock solid call center solutions with a feature set that hits every checkbox needed for a modern operation seeking to build strong customer relationships. Core capabilities like support for inbound, outbound, and blended calls, speech-enabled IVR, caller ID, ACD routing, toll-free phone numbers, number porting, call scripting, “screen pops”, softphone compatibility, call recording, video calling, call monitoring, auto-dialing, automated call scheduling, intelligent virtual agents (IVAs), US-based customer support, chatbots, and UCaaS integrations are included with both.
However, there are clear differences where each platform excels. Five9 is a standout thanks to its Power Dialing mode, which makes it a better option for outbound call centers going for sales and outreach. This feature is key to optimizing agent productivity by automating the dial process to ensure minimal disruption between calls.
Genesys shines in regards to incoming call management and intelligent virtual agent (IVA) offerings. Customers can opt-in for interactions which leads to a more personalized customer experience, while its IVA features are richer in how they use AI to tackle complex inquiries and give users better self-service options.
Five9 vs Genesys: Customer Self-Service
Genesys CX offers multi-channel customer self-service through the use of AI-powered digital assistants, chatbots, and voice bots.
In addition to the standard call center IVR features, Genesys Voice Callback allows incoming callers to request a callback as soon as an agent is available or at a time that’s the most convenient for them, eliminating the need for long wait times.
It also uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) from Nuance to allow customers to speak to Voicebots naturally.
Genesys Call Center self-service makes it easy to schedule more personalized menu options and implement customized microapps that allow for customers to resolve their own issues even faster.
Automated chatbots make providing instant customer service over your website, social media messenger tools, WhatsApp, and more much easier. They integrate with chatbots from Amazon, Google, and IBM to allow users to keep their preferred interface.
Chatbot analytics allow users to identify common problem areas within the customer journey, and then automate bots to communicate with customers once they get there.
Additional customer self-service Genesys features include:
- Visual Intelligent Voice Recognition
- Multi-lingual self-service
- Touch-tone to enter personal information
- Customer verification
- Self-service payments
- Transition to live agent
Five9’s customer self-service tool provides many of the same features as Genesys, including both visual Intelligent virtual assistants and speech recognition with Natural Language Processing.
It also offers prompts for self-service, callback scheduling, estimated wait times, and the ability to opt to transition to a live agent or leave a voicemail. Its customer tone analysis better prepares agents for a prickly caller.
AI-powered virtual assistants allow for chat messaging via an iPhone or Android mobile app or desktop computer and let customers select the specific topic they need assistance with.
Additional features of the Virtual Assistant include:
- Self-service capabilities in 17 languages
- Ability to update customer information
- Appointment scheduling
- Automated social distancing policy
- Customer verification
Five9 vs Genesys: Workforce Optimization
Genesys Workforce Optimization for call centers allows users to evenly distribute workloads, monitor agent activity, schedule calls, and meetings, and decrease average handle times.
Speech analytics and text-based analytics provide deeper insight into employee workflow and common customer concerns, making it easier to understand processes to automate or improve.
Team collaboration via video, email, and chat prevents miscommunication, while multichannel recording allows team leaders to better analyze employee performance.
Additional optimization features include:
- Forecasting
- Genesys Performance DNA (employee evaluation and optimization)
- Drag-and-drop scheduling
- Customized training and assessment tools
- Graphical script editor tool
Five9 Workforce Optimization (WFO) tools are designed based on partnerships with vendors like Authority Software, Verint, and Calabrio to offer insights into workflow management.
In addition to identifying current contact trends and forecasting future ones, Five9 also creates potential schedules related to current employee headcount and call volumes.
Five9 also takes a more hands-on approach to quality management. Like Genesys, it records phone calls, chat transcripts, email interactions and more -- but Five9 has searchable transcripts and scoring methodologies that make it easier to analyze employee performance.
Other Five9 workforce management features include:
- 6 different forecasting methods
- Live multi-screen agent monitoring
- Evaluation form creation and employee evaluation response
- Scalable recording storage
- Multi-skill forecasting
- Agent shift bidding and shift preference setting
- Agent coaching packages
- Vacation management tools
- Cost of schedule analytics
Five9 vs Genesys: Analytics and Reporting
Summary: Genesys and Five9 reporting and analytics tools both assist businesses optimizing agent performance and the customer journey. Both offer customer survey/feedback tools, real-time analytics,agent presence monitoring, and conversational reporting. Unlike Genesys, Five9 offers live visual IVR monitoring. Still, Genesys has an advantage with its NLP speech analytics, which use AI to analyze customer interactions to generate actionable insights. Five9’s NLP features are slightly less sophisticated, making Genesys a more attractive option for businesses who need deep customer sentiment analysis.
Genesys reporting and analytics tools make data-driven call center optimization possible through 360-degree customer interaction reviews.
Data exporting, real-time analytics, and predictive analytics allow managers to know exactly what is going on in their call centers at all times.
Users can track a variety of call center metrics and KPIs in Genesys, including:
- Average call length
- Average number of calls per agent
- Call resolution time
- Agent productivity and closure rates
- Current agent status
- Speech and text analytics
- Customer feedback
- Customer journey tracking
Five9 provides more than 120 highly customizable KPI reports, delivering actionable insights regarding both real-time and historical data.
Features like multichannel campaign statistics, multi-channel agent performance indicators, call logs, and ACD queue monitoring give a more in-depth look at agent productivity. Admins can filter by the employee, department, call list, and more. They can also monitor Intelligent Voice Recognition interactions, update lists according to live interactions, and export data to CSV, PDF, HTML, and RTF files.
Plus, unlike Genesys, Five9 has gamification capabilities that allow call center managers to reward positive work habits and create a greater sense of accountability among employees.
Five9 vs Genesys: Integrations
Summary: Five9 and Genesys support seamless integration with many of the popular CRM systems, helpdesk tools, and marketing apps.Both platforms include API access ad integrate with tools like Zoho CRM, Oracle, Salesforce, GSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Teams, Zoom, Okta, and Zendesk.
Genesys offers more integrations than Five9, particularly with data and analytics-oriented apps.
Genesys integrates with PureSocial, Trello, and Bright Metrics, all of which are not currently available on Five9. These integrations make Genesys a stronger choice for those who want deeper insights into customer interactions and social media engagement.
Genesys interactions are less glitchy than Five9’s (which some users say has issues running multiple integrations at the same time). However, only Five9 integrates with Zapier, making it a better choice for businesses looking for highly customizable integrations.
Five9 vs Genesys: User Experience
Both Five9 and Genesys have their strengths and weaknesses, we looked to current and past user reviews to see both platforms’ strong suits and shortcomings:
What Users Like About Genesys:
- Ease of Use: Genesys is praised for its intuitive user interface, making it easy for agents and administrators to navigate the platform.
- Reliability: Users appreciate the platform’s stability, with rare outages or dropped calls, ensuring consistent performance.
- Frequent Updates: Genesys is known for its regular product updates and responsiveness to user feedback, ensuring the platform evolves with user needs.
- High-Level Integrations: The platform supports a wide range of integrations, particularly for advanced analytics and collaboration tools.
- Cloud-Based Flexibility: Genesys is compatible with numerous browsers and offers a seamless cloud-based experience.
What Users Dislike About Genesys:
- Customizable Reports: Users find the reporting features lacking in customization, which can limit deeper insights.
- Customer Support: Some users report that customer support can be slow or unresponsive, impacting issue resolution.
- Outgoing Calling Rules: The platform could benefit from more robust rules for outgoing calls to enhance outbound operations.
- Email and Webchat Features: Users feel that Genesys needs to improve its email and webchat functionalities to match its voice capabilities.
- Recording Retention: The platform’s call recording retention period of just one year is considered too short by some users.
What Users Like About Five9:
- Customizable Reports and Dashboards: Five9 is highly praised for its customizable reporting and dashboard features, allowing businesses to tailor insights to their needs.
- Agent Training and Customer Support: Users commend Five9 for its excellent onboarding, training resources, and responsive customer support.
- User-Friendly Interface: The platform is designed with remote teams in mind, offering a clean and intuitive interface.
- Voice Call Quality: Five9 delivers high-quality audio for voice calls, ensuring clear communication.
- Admin Settings and Controls: Administrators appreciate the granular control and flexibility offered by Five9’s settings.
What Users Dislike About Five9:
- Dropped Calls: Some users report that dropped calls occur more frequently than expected, which can disrupt operations.
- Java-Based Application: The reliance on Java can cause performance issues and compatibility challenges.
- Message History Tracking: Users find the message history tracking feature lacking, making it difficult to review past interactions.
- Inbound Voicemails: Locating and managing inbound voicemails can be cumbersome, requiring extra effort.
- Lack of Integrations: While Five9 supports key integrations, users feel it falls short compared to Genesys in terms of breadth and depth.
Genesys vs Five9: Is There a Clear Winner?
In the Genesys vs Five9 showdown, specific call center software use cases or industries will tip the scales in favor of one platform over another. Both tools are ideal for any company size, including large enterprises and local businesses.
Five9 is best for:
- Digital-first communication
- Companies with a need for more in-depth analytics
- Entirely remote teams
Genesys is best for:
- Companies that depend heavily on customer self-service
- Collections agencies/financial industries that rarely meet clients in person
- Companies that use multiple business communication software options