Best Alternatives to Genesys Contact Center Software

Contact center software like Genesys helps companies improve customer service operations across communication channels. With both cloud-based and on-premise solutions, Genesys is a popular platform thanks to its AI-powered automations and and conversational analytics.

However,  it may not be the best fit for every organization–leaving businesses in search of the best alternatives to Genesys.

In this article, we will explore some of the top Genesys alternatives, their key features, pricing and plans, customer service options, and integrations.

Why to Look for an Alternative to Genesys

Genesys cloud contact center software is a popular choice for inbound and outbound call centers thanks to its affordable prices, omnichannel support capabilities, high level of security (including HIPAA and SOC 2 compliance) and long list of advanced VoIP features.

It may not be a perfect fit for every business, however. Users have complained that the Genesys platform is complex and difficult to set up–especially since live customer support is only available to Genesys users during set hours. Additionally, while Genesys is a reliable platform, it has a lower uptime than some competitors.

Best Genesys Alternatives

If Genesys is not a perfect fit for you, there is no reason to settle. Here’s a brief look at our favorite alternatives.

1. Five9
2. Talkdesk
3. Twilio Flex
4. Nice CXone
5. Nextiva
6. Freshdesk
7. Aircall
8. 8×8
9. RingCentral

1. Five9

Five9 is a leading cloud-based phone system and contact center provider. Serving customers since 2001, Five9 has a wealth of experience and offers a high level of security and reliability with a 99.999% uptime guarantee. Five9 offers a range of features including multichannel support and advanced analytics. It’s also known for being easy to use compared with competitors.

Pricing & Plans

Five9 offers four different pricing plans, here is a breakdown.

Standout Features

Some of the key features of Five9 include:

• Speech recognition IVR: An add-on product that enables speech recognition functionality in IVR systems for inbound and blended contact centers.
• SMS: Five9’s SMS feature allows users to filter and intelligently route SMS messages to the best possible agent and track progress from the first message through resolution.
• Agent Assist: Five9’s agent assist is an add-on that will transcribe calls in real time and provide a summary
• Workforce management dashboards: These dashboards and wallboards provide insight into contact center performance with reporting from all channels company-wide in real-time.

Support Options

All Five9 customers have access to 24/7 phone and online support including self-service options including a comprehensive knowledge base and product documentation.

Premium Support options are also available at an additional cost. Premium support customers have direct access to Five9’s senior customer support team.

Integrations

Five9 includes pre-built integrations as well as APIs for building custom solutions. Pre-built CRM integrations are with Salesforce, Oracle, Zendesk, ServiceNow and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Pre-built unified communications (UC) integrations are with Zoom Phone and Microsoft Teams.

Why We Picked It

Five9 is more expensive than Genesys, however it offers better customer service.

All Five9 customers have access to 24/7 live customer support, while Genesys does not offer 24/7 phone support in any of its plans. Five9 is also known for its user-friendly interface and easy-to-use features, while some Genesys customers have complained that the software is overly complex and difficult to set up. Five9 also offers better reliability than Genesys, with a 99.999% uptime compared to Genesys’ 99.99% uptime.

On the other hand, Genesys offers some advanced features that Five9 does not, such as speech and text analytics and screen recording, all at a lower price point than Five9.

2. Talkdesk

Talkdesk is an all-in-one call center solution that helps businesses manage customer interactions across multiple channels like voice, email, chat, and social media. Available features include automatic call distribution, interactive voice response (IVR), workforce management, and analytics. Talkdesk has been named a Leader by Gartner Magic Quadrant for CCaaS and offers some of the most affordable prices in the industry.

Pricing & Plans

Talkdesk offers three different pricing plans as well as custom packages that are based on industry such as banking, retail, and healthcare. Here is a quick overview of Talkdesk pricing.

Standout Features

Here are some of the key features of Talkdesk:

• Agent Assist: Talkdesk’s agent assist feature uses AI and machine learning to provide reps with next best action recommendations, answer agent questions, and automate pre-call, on-call and post-call work. The starter version of agent assist is included in all Talkdesk plans while the full version is only available for CX Cloud Elite users. The starter version allows agents to conduct a multilingual search of the company database while on calls with customers.
• Conversations mobile app: The mobile app enables agents to connect to the contact center and handle both inbound and outbound calls from anywhere in the world. The app is for iOS and Android and is included in the CX Cloud Elevate plan and above.
• Screen recording: Talkdesk’s screen recording feature enables supervisors to capture agent desktop activity during calls. The screen recording is synchronized with the voice recording to give a full picture of the call.
• Automated Notifications: This Talkdesk feature allows users to send automatic, event-triggered SMS notifications to customers. Users have control over the configuration of rules and the associated content, resulting in the ability to create highly personalized messages.

Support Options

Talkdesk offers 24/7 self-service options including a knowledge base and customer community. Talkdesk admins can also submit a ticket online at any time. Urgent tickets will receive a response within 15 minutes. Live support via phone is available 12 hours per day (9am-9pm PST). Talkdesk users also have the option to purchase premium support which includes a dedicated engineer, priority phone access, remote training sessions, and monthly reviews.

Integrations

Talkdesk has over 60 out-of-the-box integrations with third-party providers including Zendesk, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and more.

Why We Picked It

Like Genesys, Talkdesk has affordable prices with both providers offering plans from $75 per month. Customer support is also similar for the two providers The main differences between these two contact center solutions are features and integrations.

Talkdesk offers significantly more out-of-the-box integrations than Genesys and is therefore more suitable for contact centers with established systems in place.

Genesys, however, offers more communication channels than Talkdesk, with web chat, messaging apps, and co-browse in addition to the three channels offered by Talkdesk (email, chat and SMS).

3. Twilio Flex

Twilio Flex is a cloud-based contact center platform that allows businesses to create custom contact centers tailored to their specific needs. It is fully programmable, making it flexible, scalable, and able to integrate with any existing tools or workflows already in use by the contact center.

Twilio Flex customers use a set of APIs and developer tools to build customized voice, video and messaging experiences for their customers including custom IVR menus, automated messaging, and routing rules.

Pricing & Plans

Twilio Flex offers two pricing plans. Instead of offering feature-based plans, Twilio Flex users can choose to pay a monthly or hourly rate.

Per hour pricing is $1 per hour per active user and is best for contact centers that need to scale up or down with seasonal changes.

Monthly pricing is $150 per month per named user regardless of volume or activity.

Standout Features

Below are some main features of Twilio Flex:

• Omnichannel support: Twilio Flex provides a web-based agent desktop that enables agents to manage customer interactions across all channels including email, voice, video, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WebChat. Agents can also access customer data and history and collaborate with coworkers.
• Intelligent routing: Twilio Flex enables users to create workflows that define rules for routing communication to queues and agents, assigning priorities, and support escalation when needed. Workflows can implement skills-based routing for experienced workers, prioritized routing, or use other routing models. Out-of-the-box, Flex includes customizable, preset call flows for voice IVR, Messaging, and WebChat.
• Reporting and analytics: Twilio Flex includes built-in analytics tools that enable businesses to track key metrics in real time and make data-driven decisions to improve customer experiences and agent performance.
• Automatic call distribution (ACD): Twilio Flex can automatically route incoming calls to the most appropriate agent based on factors like skills, availability, and customer history.

Support Options

All Twilio Flex users have access to self-service support including documentation resources and community support and are able to submit online tickets. Twilio also offers three premium support plans.

For $250 per month (or 4% of monthly spend, whichever is greater), users have access to guaranteed response time in 3-9 hours and live chat support. For $1500 per month (or 6% of monthly spend, whichever is greater) users have a guaranteed response time of 1-3 hours as well as live phone support. For $5,000 per month (or 8% of monthly spend, whichever is greater) users have access to all of that plus a technical account manager, support escalation line and quarterly status review.

Integrations

Twilio Flex’s platform is based on APIs so it can integrate with nearly any CRM or workforce optimization app. Twilio Flex users can also integrate with Google Contact Center AI to retrieve relevant information for agents and recommend responses.

Why We Picked It

One of the key advantages of Twilio Flex is its programmability. Twilio Flex provides businesses with a set of APIs and developer tools that allow them to build custom workflows and integrations. While Genesys also provides some level of customization through configuration and scripting, it is not nearly as flexible as Twilio Flex.

Twilio Flex is also more flexible when it comes to pricing. Their hourly and monthly flat rate pricing plans allow customers to pay for only what they need, which is particularly helpful for contact centers that go through seasonal changes in volume or those looking to scale.

Alternatively, Genesys is better for contact centers that need something out-of-the box. Genesys’ platform is also slightly more reliable with an uptime of 99.99% compared to Twilio’s uptime guarantee of 99.95%

4. Nice CXone

Nice CXone (formerly Nice incontact) is a cloud-based customer experience platform that provides a suite of tools to help businesses improve customer interactions. It includes features such as omnichannel routing, analytics and reporting, workforce management, quality management, and automation. Nice CXone is an open platform offering both APIs and pre-built integrations, making it best for large, high volume call centers that require customization.

Pricing & Plans

Nice CXone does not publicize its prices. Companies must contact Nice CXone for a customized quote. There are, however, four pricing plans with bundled features: The Customer Engagement plan, the Essentials plan, the Core plan and the Complete plan. The Customer Engagement plan has a voice only (includes ACD voice agent and self-service IVR), digital (includes digital channels and digital ACD but no ACD voice agent, self-service IVR or ports), and an omnichannel version (includes ACD digital and voice agents, digital channels, self-service IVR, and advanced recording). Below is a breakdown:

Standout Features

Below are some main features of NICE CXone:

• Conversational AI bots: CXone offers no-code chat and voice bots that can be built, tested and maintained easily. Bots can free up agents by handling routine self-service requests such as password resets, balances transfers, status updates, and scheduling.
• Multichannel service: Nice CXone offers over 30 communication channels including voice, SMS, MMS, webchat, Twitter, and Youtube. A unified digital inbox provides agents with customer history, CRM data and sentiment analysis for each communication.
• Quality Management: CXone Core and Complete plan users have access to quality management dashboards which track and display key performance indicators (KPIs) such as agent scorecards, average handle time (AHT) and average customer sentiment. Quality management dashboards are customizable and include optimization tools such as agent coaching options.
• Workforce Management: CXone workforce management (WFM) is powered by AI and enables users to automatically set agent schedules based on preset rules. Admins can set multiple criteria for setting schedules including agent skill sets, qualifications, and availability. CXone’s WFM also includes omnichannel forecasting.

Support Options

Nice CXone offers customer self-service via group discussions, user guides, and training materials. Customers can also send messages and submit tickets online. For 24/7 omnichannel technical support, customer support packages are available for purchase.

Integrations

Nice CXone offers a number of pre-built integrations with third party apps such as Salesforce, LogMeIn, SugarCRM, Fuze and Bullhorn. Nice CXone also offers APIs and SDKs to create custom integrations.

Why We Picked It

Nice CXone is similar to Genesys when it comes to reliability and features, but it offers more integrations and a level of customizability that Genesys does not. Due to its quote based pricing model and add-on features, it is likely to be a more expensive solution.

Nice CXone also has a lower ease of use and higher learning than competitors. Nice CXone is therefore best suited for enterprises, while Genesys is a good option for small businesses and SMBs.

5. Nextiva

Nextiva is an established hosted PBX, UCaaS, and CCaaS provider known for affordable pricing and high levels of customer support. Nextiva’s contact center solutions offer a wealth of advanced features including quality management, workforce management and workflow automation.

Pricing & Plans

Nextiva does not provide pricing information for its CCaaS plans and companies must request a quote. There are, however, four bundled plans offered by Nextiva, below is a breakdown:

Standout Features

Below are some main features of Nextiva call center software:

• Workflow automation suite: Nextiva’s workflow automation suite features automated workflows, real-time visualizations and pre-built integrations.
• Intelligent virtual agent (IVA): Nextiva’s IVA uses AI and machine learning to comprehend human speech and respond in a human-like manner. It is particularly useful for simple or recurrent customer requests. Users can choose to purchase an IVA as an add-on.
• Interaction analytics: Nextiva’s interaction analytics enable supervisors to view a range of metrics and activities including agent actions and customer sentiment.
• Screen pops: Nextiva’s screen pop feature displays enhanced caller information to a call center agent during the call. It can show account numbers, purchases, help desk tickets, and more. The platform can pull data from a CRM for rich customer insights.

Support Options

All Nextiva contact center users have access to 24/7 live support as well as self-service customer service. A technical account manager (TAM) can be purchased as an add-on.

Integrations

Nextiva includes 19 integrations with popular CRM, contact center, and productivity apps including Five9, Lotus Notes and Hubspot.

Why We Picked It

Nextiva is a popular CCaaS brand like Genesys and both companies cater to businesses of all sizes. The two solutions are also similar when it comes to features. Nextiva, however, offers a higher uptime and better customer service, with 24/7 live support included in all plans.

Because Nextiva does not publish pricing for its CCaaS plans, it is difficult to tell which solution is more affordable, but Genesys is likely the less expensive option.

6. Freshdesk

Freshdesk is a group of cloud-based customer support software products offered by the umbrella brand, Freshworks. Freshdesk’s contact center platform offers a range of features such as ticket management, automation, multi-channel support, knowledge base management, and reporting and can easily be combined with other Freshdesk solutions such as support desk and omnichannel software.

Pricing & Plans

Freshdesk is one of the few CCaaS providers to offer a pay-per-minute plan (agent licenses are free). In addition to its free plan, Freshdesk has three different bundled plans, below is a breakdown:

Standout Features

Here are some of the main features of Freshdesk contact center software:

• Automatic Call Distribution: Freshdesk’s ACD tool routes incoming calls to appropriate agents based on predefined criteria, such as agent availability, skill level, and customer priority.
• Multi-level IVR: Freshdesk Contact Center also offers an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system that allows customers to interact with the system using their phone keypad to navigate through menus and self-service options. Speech enabled IVR is available for Enterprise plan users only.
• Voicebots: Freshdesk users can create voicebots using Freddy AI to provide instant responses to customers around the clock. Freshdesk voicebots are built to sound just like human agents so that callers can get quick answers if lines are busy or if it’s after hours.
• Call notes: Freshdesk users can take and access notes during a call without a separate app by using the call notes feature. Notes taken during a call are securely captured in context and can be shared or transferred along with the call.

Support Options

Freshdesk offers a number of customer self-service options including a knowledge base, community and FAQs. Customers can also submit support tickets online or contact Freshdesk by phone 24/7.

Integrations

Freshdesk contact center integrates with dozens of third party apps including Zoho, Copper, Pipedrive and AgileCRM. Additionally, Freshdesk is meant to work well with other Freshwork products.

Why We Picked It

Freshdesk offers some of the lowest prices in the CCaaS space–even lower than Genesys. Additionally, Freshdesk is part of a larger suite of digital customer support products, including Freshworks. Freshworks  offers digital sales, marketing and IT management tools. This makes it a great pick for startups and small businesses that are looking to scale in the near or distant future.

On the other hand, Freshdesk is missing many of the advanced features that Genesys offers, such as quality and workforce management

7. Aircall

Aircall is a cloud-based contact center software that enables businesses to manage their phone calls, text messages, and other communication channels through a single platform. It offers a range of features, including call routing, interactive voice response (IVR), call queuing, call recording, and analytics. Starting at $30 per user per month, Aircall has some of the lowest prices in the CCaaS space. The provider also offers live customer support to all users and has an impressive number of essential features and integrations.

Pricing & Plans

Aircall offers a traditional three tiered pricing model with annual discounts. Below is a breakdown:

Standout Features

Below are some key features of Aircall contact center software:

• After call work: Aircall’s after call work feature helps agents tie up loose ends and document key details by providing quick tagging, assigning, and note-taking features. This feature also prevents new calls from being directed to an agent immediately after a call wraps up so that the agent can complete after call work. Supervisors can see which teammates are engaged in after call work in real time.
• Call monitoring: Aircall’s call monitoring features enable managers to correct agent mistakes and improve calls in real time. Users can select calls to monitor from a live feed and choose to listen on the call or whisper direction to the agent.
• Conference Call: Aircall’s conference call feature enables teams to collaborate with up to five participants per call. Users can add team members, dial in new numbers, hold, or remove participants during the call.
• Call Queueing: Aircall’s call queueing feature enables users to personalize the on-hold time for callers by selecting custom music or messages to play and choosing how long callers will stay on hold before being transferred to voicemail. Professional and custom plan users can provide callers with the option to receive a callback instead of waiting on hold.

Support Options

All Aircall users have access to Aircall’s self-service help center as well as email support, live phone phone support and live group onboarding sessions. Professional and higher customers with at least 15 users are assigned a dedicated account manager and personalized onboarding session. Custom plan users additionally get priority customer support.

Integrations

Aircall offers integrations with over 100 third party apps including Zendesk, Pipedrive and Slack. An integration with Salesforce is available for Professional and Custom plan users and APIs are available for custom plan users.

Why We Picked It

Aircall is an affordable option for small businesses and startups. The minimum number of users is only three for the Essentials and Professional plan and the prices are lower than Genesys. Additionally, Aircall offers more integrations than Genesys does, avoiding the potential need for agents to switch between different systems.

While Aircall lacks some of the advanced features that Genesys has such as WFM, QM, and chatbots, Aircall does offer a solid stack of essential features.

8. 8×8

8×8 is a cloud-based unified communications and customer engagement software platform. Instead of having separate UCaaS and CCaaS platforms, 8×8 combines the two services into one product called the “eXperience communications platform”. This X series platform combines voice, video, and chat functionality and has 6 pricing tiers, three of which also include contact center functionality. 8×8 is a highly reliable and secure platform with a 99.999% uptime SLA and SSO for all plans. 8×8 also offers a long list of advanced features including contact center reporting and analytics, cross platform team messaging, and auto dialers.

Pricing & Plans

8×8 has three pricing plans with contact center functionality. Below is a breakdown:

Standout Features

Below are some main features of 8×8 contact center software:

• Video conferencing: 8×8’s HD video platform allows up to 500 participants without limits on the number of meetings or duration. Some of the video features include screen sharing, virtual background, audio/video/desktop recording, audio sharing and live streaming via YouTube. Security features include end-to-end encryption, meeting lock, participant lobby and participant restrictions.
• Team chat: 8×8’s unified team chat space enables users to chat instantly and easily access conversations. Users are automatically added from the company directory and team members can quickly launch audio or video calls from a chat thread.
• Advanced analytics: 8×8 contact center analytics combine customizable reporting with AI-powered intelligence to provide deep insights. Speech analytics are used to spot topic trends and automatic notifications can be set up to alert supervisors of agent activities, customer behavior and other critical KPIs.
• Omnichannel routing: 8×8’s omnichannel routing feature includes an intuitive user interface that handles all interactions with a customer under a single pane of glass. Intelligent IVR leveraging Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), and Natural Language Processing (NLP), makes it possible for users to design customized self-service experiences using Drag-and-drop graphical scripting tools.

Support Options

All 8×8 contact center customers have access to 24/7 live customer support via web case, chat, and phone. 8×8 also offers self service with an AI powered virtual assistant, knowledge base and community forums.

Integrations

8×8 includes dozens of out-of-the-box integrations including Google Chrome, Zendesk, and Zoho. 8×8 is also certified for a Microsoft Teams integration which can be purchased as an add-on to any plan.

Why We Picked It

8×8 is more expensive than Genesys but it offers many things that Genesys does not. 8×8 has a higher level of security and reliability than Genesys. 8×8 also offers more integrations and some advanced features that Genesys does not have such as video conferencing and team messaging.

8×8 is a better option for larger contact centers with high call volumes and global or remote contact centers that require more collaboration tools.

9. RingCentral

RingCentral is an established leader in the digital communication space, offering VoIP, UC, and CCaaS solutions. RingCentral’s omnichannel contact center solution provides inbound and outbound calling, workforce management, AI, and UCaaS capabilities. It offers a high level of security and reliability with E2EE and a 99.999% uptime. RingCentral also includes more than 30 digital channels including live chat, social media, and messaging.

Pricing & Plans

RingCentral does not publicize its prices but it does offer 4 different bundled plans. Customers can also purchase certain advanced features as add-ons to create a customized solution. Below is a breakdown:

Standout Features

Some of the key features of RingCentral include:

• Smart routing: RingCentral’s smart call routing tools enable users to route calls to queues based on agent skill, language, or channel. Admins can also set up automatic callbacks to reduce hold times.
• Artificial Intelligence: RingCentral’s AI features include the ability to deploy virtual agents to provide customer support 24/7, as well as assist agents in the moment with guidance and coaching tools. AI-powered analytics are used to monitor communication, find trends, and track sentiment.
• Pre-built and custom reports: RingCentral customers can choose from over 100 pre-built reports to gain insight into contact center operations. Users can also choose to build custom reports, selecting from over 250 out-of-the-box metrics such as average handle time, first contact resolution, queue time, and more.

Support Options

RingCentral offers 24/7 live phone support for all contact center customers. Customer service can also be reached via live chat, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. RingCentral also has a robust knowledge base and user community.

Integrations

RingCentral integrates with over 200 applications, including Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, NetSuite and SAP.

Why We Picked It

RingCentral is more expensive than Genesys, but it offers a higher level of security and reliability. Additionally, RingCentral has more integrations than most competitors including Genesys. RingCentral also offers some features that Genesys doesn’t including performance management tools such as agent coaching, feedback and gamification.

Overall, RingCentral is a better choice for enterprises that require a high level of security and customization, while Genesys is better suited for SMBs that need affordable pricing and a solid set of essential features.

Which Genesys Alternative Should You Choose?

While Genesys is a popular contact center software solution, there are several excellent alternatives available. Each of the Genesys alternatives we have discussed offer a range of features and benefits to meet the unique needs of different organizations.

When selecting a contact center software solution, it’s important to consider factors such as pricing, scalability, ease of use, and the specific features and integrations you need. It’s also important to look at customer reviews and ratings to get a sense of how each solution performs in real-world scenarios.

Ultimately, the best Genesys alternative for your organization will depend on your specific requirements and priorities.

For example, for companies prioritizing customer service, Nextiva is a great option.

Organizations that need a high level of security would benefit from RingCentral.

Startups and small businesses might do best with an inexpensive solution such as Freshdesk or Aircall.

For large contact centers needing high-level customization, Twilio Flex is a great choice. By carefully evaluating each of the alternatives, you can make an informed decision and select the solution that is the best fit for your business needs.