Top Rated Call Center Software for Any Industry

What is Call Center Software?

Call center software is a cloud-based business communication platform designed to manage and optimize the operations of a call center. It enables businesses to handle large volumes of inbound and outbound calls, manage customer interactions, improve customer service, and automate business processes.

There are two main types of call center software: Inbound and Outbound.

• Inbound call center software receive incoming calls from current or potential customers. They most often provide customer service and support, make product recommendations, take orders or make appointments, collect account payments, or assist with account management.
• Outbound call center software make outgoing calls to current or potential customers, most often in the form of sales, surveys, fundraising, or even raising awareness about a political campaign.

 

Call Center Software vs Contact Center Software

Call center software focuses on voice communication only, while contact center software provides omnichannel services that include a variety of communication channels like voice calling, website chat, SMS, email, or social media.

Though many cloud-based call center solutions today offer multichannel communication, like voice and SMS, they may still use the term “call center software” to describe their products as the majority of the focus is on the business telephone system.

 

Call Center Software Essential Features

The below features are essential to quality call center solutions.

 

1. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) 

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a self-service feature consisting of pre-recorded call menu options that customers interact with via touch-tone or speech. These customers provide information about the reason for their call and help them connect with the right agent/department.

 

2. Automatic Call Distribution and Call Routing

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) automatically routes callers according to pre-set call routing strategies.

Call routing strategies are the ways in which calls are routed to agents in order to maximize productivity:

• List-Based Routing: Progresses linearly through a list of agents one-by-one, restarting at the beginning with each new call
• Round-Robin Routing: Each call goes to the next agent in the list, only restarting when the list is complete
• Skills-Based Routing: Calls are directed to agents according to how well an agent’s skill set matches with the needs of the caller
• Simultaneous Ringing: An inbound call is sent to a group of agents with a matching skillset, until one answers

 

3. Call Scripting

Call scripting provides on-call agents with a written script or flowchart that guides them through customer interaction. Many providers offer live call transcription with keyword detection, using this data to determine the conversation’s topic and sentiment. With this information, the system provides agents with suggested responses, relevant links, and knowledge-base articles.

 

4. Automated Queue Callbacks

Automated queue callbacks eliminate the need for callers to wait on hold for extended periods of time, instead receiving a callback from an available agent based on their preferred time and date.

 

5. Auto Dialers 

Automated dialing modes streamline outbound calling efforts, using campaign lists often provided by your CRM system.

Most call center solutions will offer multiple dialing modes, including:

• Power Dialer: Queues and dials the next outbound call on the lead list as the agent is finishing up the previous call
• Progressive Dialer: Waits until an agent is free to speak to dial the number
• Predictive Dialer: Anticipates when the next agent will be available, predictively dialing while detecting busy signals and voicemail
• Preview Dialer: Provides agent with the recipient’s contact information before connecting the call

 

6. Call Queueing 

Call queuing allows multiple callers to wait on hold until an available agent is free to assist them. Companies can create multiple queues and assign agents to each queue.

 

7. Call Recording

Call recording records agent and customer calls either automatically or on-demand, storing these recordings for later review or download.

 

8. Reporting and Analytics

Real-time and historical analytics provide insight into call center activity and efficiency through tracking KPIs. Reports can be completely customized, or admins can choose from a variety of pre-made report templates.

Key call center metrics include:

• First call resolution rates
• Call and messaging volume
• Customer sentiment
• Queue wait time
• Average talk time and average handle time
• Average hold time

 

9. Call Monitoring 

Call monitoring allows a supervisor to listen in on a live call, whisper private guidance, barge into the call, or take it over entirely. It’s often used to evaluate new agents to provide better training, monitor individual agent performance, or better understand customer needs.

 

10. Omnichannel Routing 

Omnichannel routing receives inbound contact from all communication channels and automatically routes them to the best-suited agent.

 

Benefits of Call Center Software

Here are the top benefits of implementing call center software:

 

More Features and Capabilities

Compared to a traditional phone system, call center software provides hundreds more dynamic features–all bundled in one app.

CCaaS platforms include routing, queueing, collaboration, integrations with other platforms, sales tools, workforce management, AI support, and analytics–each category with a handful of features that help agents and supervisors meet customer needs.

 

Increased Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

Call center software allows your business to provide personalized customer support and decrease common sources of customer frustration.

• Decreasing hold times via optimized call queueing and automated callbacks
• Using CTI screen pops, asynchronous shared agent inboxes, and call notes to prevent callers from having to repeat information
• Using IVR data collection, warm transfers, and native/integrated CRM tools to properly prepare agents for each customer interaction

 

Decreased Agent Turnover

Call center software services not only improve the customer’s experience but the agent’s as well.

• Skills-based routing and IVR systems match agents with the callers they’re best-suited to help, so agents have fewer frustrating interactions
• Queue callbacks enable agents to take their time with calls, without having to rush in order to keep queue wait times low
• Outbound dialers save agents from repetitive tasks like having to manually dial customers and wade through voicemail machines
• Workforce management tools automatically optimize agent schedules

 

Improved Team Communication

Call center software includes a variety of features that facilitate smoother communication between team members.

• Workflow automations notify team members of relevant activity across the company
• Task-assignment tools keep agents on top of their to-do lists, without requiring direct messaging
• Call controls like parking and transfer enable agents to support each other during live calls
• Customer journey information, CRM integrations, and shared contact notes provide agents with full customer context–even when it’s their first time servicing that customer

 

Lower Operating Costs

Cloud call center platforms lower your operating costs in a variety of ways:

• Real-time analytics drive strategic business decisions that make staffing, channel usage, and feature selection more efficient
• Flexible pricing structures allow companies to pay for only the features and channels they plan to use
• Supervisor monitoring tools help supervisor manage large teams, while improving each agent’s performance and reducing staffing needs

 

Easy Setup and Management

Compared to a legacy PBX phone system, call center software is incredibly easy to set up and manage. The provider manages the phone system, and all the communication channels are housed online. Most users don’t need any hardware besides their computer or phone.

 

Scalable

Call center providers offer their plans on a subscription basis, and sign up takes just a few minutes. Adding new users simply requires the administrator to add a new subscription, assign the user a phone number, pay the monthly subscription, and send the new employee login credentials.

This makes call center software systems easily scalable, for companies who plan to increase or downsize their workforce.

 

How to Choose the Best Call Center Software

When comparing call center software providers, it’s important to consider features, communication channels, and pricing–all related to your business needs. Use the following guidelines to choose the best call center for your company:

 

Routing and Queueing Features

If your company receives a large number of inbound calls, especially for a variety of reasons–like technical support, customer service, billing information, product questions, sales–you should choose a call center provider with advanced routing and queueing capabilities.

In particular, look for a provider with these features:

• Advanced queueing with callbacks: Helps you organize inbound calls without making customers wait
• Omnichannel routing: Routes inbound contacts across a variety of channels–including SMS, chat, and email–while making it easy for agents to track these multichannel interactions
• Skills-based routing: matches inbound callers with the best-suited agent
• IVR and IVA: IVR is voice-based and IVA is text-based, but both provide customers with self-service options to indicate their needs, helping you match them to the right agent

 

Communication Channels

Most call center providers offer multiple communication channels: voice, SMS, live chat and chatbots, video, email, and social media. However, some call centers only offer a smaller selection of these channels, and some offer certain channels on select pricing tiers.

Consider the channels that your customers would use and the size of your call center staff, then determine which channels are most important to you. Choose a provider and pricing tier that offers only those channels, and avoid paying for channels you won’t use.

 

Collaboration Tools

While some call centers don’t offer internal collaboration tools, like video meetings and internal team chat with file sharing, some of the CCaaS providers on our list double as collaboration platforms.

Video meetings include capabilities like whiteboards and polls, while internal team chat allows for quick communication and document co-editing. If your hybrid or remote company wants to add collaborative tools, choose a provider with some UCaaS features built-in.

 

Analytics and AI

Analytics and AI tools make it easier for administrators and agents to do their jobs.

Reports and dashboards help administrators determine call volumes, review agent performance, see which channels are most popular with customers, and more. AI tools, like speech suggestions and customer sentiment analysis, train agents to provide better service. These insights help drive business decisions that save costs, improve agent efficiency, and boost customer satisfaction.

 

Pricing and Plans

Considering the features and channels listed above, you want to select the provider and pricing plan that offers the most value for your company. Compare all the providers who offer the features you want, then take a closer look at the plans they offer. Choose the pricing tier that includes your prioritized features without too many extra features you won’t use.

In general, choose the pricing tier that includes your prioritized features without too extra features you won’t use. This way, you can select a provider and pricing tier that meets your budget.

 

The Best Call Center Software Providers

Through our hands-on testing and in-depth product research, we’ve compiled a list of the best call center software.

We evaluated each provider according to key factors like:

• Pricing, Plans, and Overall Value
• Ease of Use
• Available Features
• Customer Service and Support

Here are our picks for the best call center software on the market now:

1. Five9
2. Talkdesk CX Cloud
3. Twilio Flex
4. NICE CXone
5. Dialpad
6. Nextiva
7. Genesys Cloud CX
8. RingCentral
9. Zendesk Talk
10. Freshdesk
11. Aircall
12. 8×8
13. DialedIn
14. Convoso
15. Vonage
16. CloudTalk

 

1. Five9

Five9 is an omnichannel contact center software offering voice and digital channels, high-level WFO solutions, AI-powered analytics and automation, and user-friendly workflows.

Five9 is known for leveraging machine learning to optimize employee engagement and workforce management. WFM features like employee forecasting methods, live agent shift bidding, and real-time adherence monitoring eliminate workflow bottlenecks and optimize available agents.

Five9 features include:

• Five9 Dialer: Outbound auto dialer with Power, Progressive, Preview, and Predictive dialing modes alongside real-time DNC list management, disposition times, and CRM integration
• Five9 Intelligent Virtual Agent (IVA): Omnichannel customer self-service bots with conversational AI, sentiment analysis, Natural Language Understanding, speech recognition, intelligent interaction routing, a no-code interaction flow design tool, and 25 natural-sounding voice options
• Five9 Digital Engagement: Agents can receive real-time, in-conversation AI Agent Assistance, access WFO tools, move between channels, and manage simultaneous interactions within the Agent Desktop interface

Five9 Pricing

Five9 offers five paid plans from $149/month to $229+/month:

• Digital Plan ($149/user/month): Digital-only contact center (chat, email, SMS/MMS, social media messaging)
• Core Plan ($149/user/month): Voice-only contact center (no digital channels included), outbound auto dialer included
• Premium Plan ($169/user/month): Chat, voice calling, and email (no included SMS/social media messaging) plus Workforce Engagement Essentials
• Optimum Plan ($199/user/month): Chat, voice, email (no included SMS/social media) plus Enterprise WFM and Quality Management
• Ultimate Plan ($299/user/month): Chat, voice, email (no included SMS/social media), Enterprise QM+WFM, plus Interaction Analytics

Five9 Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Offers digital-only contact center
• Advanced real-time analytics
• Automated interaction scoring
• Schedule forecasting
• Multilingual call transcription in 28 languages

Cons:

• Expensive plans
• Most plans don’t include texting
• Interaction analytics only on the highest-tier plan

Best For

Five9 is best for enterprise-level contact centers with either digital-focused or voice-focused interactions–rather than an even mix.

 

2. Talkdesk

Talkdesk is a CX-focused omnichannel cloud contact center software known for its advanced analytics suite, intuitive workspace interface, AI-powered self-service tools, and over 60 ready-made integrations.

It makes an ideal platform for companies heavily reliant on customer self-service and proactive outbound engagement powered by conversational AI. The Guardian Security Suite, which includes threat detection, compliance management, and 30+ third-party security certifications, uses AI to identify suspicious activity and alert managers in real time. This makes Talkdesk a popular choice within heavily-regulated industries like finance and healthcare.

Talkdesk features include: 

• Customer Experience Analytics Suite: Five-prong analytics suite with 900+ KPIs, real-time reporting, 17 pre-made dashboards, agent leaderboards, and AI-powered omnichannel analytics
• Talkdesk Workspace: Custom desktop and mobile app with one-click access to all communication channels, key functionalities, and integrations alongside real-time notifications, role-based workspace templates, assignments and tasks, scheduling info, and performance evaluations
• Conversation Designer: Drag-and-drop configuration tool for omnichannel IVR and IVA allows admins to pre-program questions, comments, split flows, and triggers such as when to escalate customers to a live agent

Talkdesk Pricing

Talkdesk offers three plans $75-$125+/user/month and quote-based, industry-specific plans:

• Cloud CX Essentials ($75/user/month): Voice-only call center with routing, IVA, and Basic versions of key Talkdesk features like Agent Assist and Guardian
• Cloud CX Elevate: ($95/user/month): Essentials+Digital Engagement, screen recording, and customer feedback
• Cloud CX Elite ($125/user/month): Elevate+custom real-time and historical AI analytics, performance management, full Guardian capabilities, and lets users choose from 1 of 4 add-ons to include in their package (Workforce Management, Customer Experience Analytics, Agent Assist, Proactive Outbound Engagement)
• Experience Clouds (Quote-based pricing):Custom-built, industry-specific solutions for healthcare, retail, banking, insurance, and more

Talkdesk Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Affordable voice-only plan option
• Industry-specific plans
• Powerful supervisor monitoring tools
• Guardian protects sensitive customer data
• Custom analytics and reports

Cons

• Some useful features are reserved as add-ons
• No digital-only plan
• Many plans do not include an auto dialer

Best For

Talkdesk is best for remote or blended call centers taking an automation-first approach to customer service, as well as businesses looking for a scalable contact center with advanced workforce optimization.

 

3. Twilio Flex

Twilio Flex is a programmable contact center solution built on the Twilio cloud communications platform. Unlike other providers on this list, Twilio Flex can be completely customized from the ground up via Twilio APIs, integrations with pre-existing software, SDKs, and workflow-building tools.

Users can add on APIs for mass marketing and 1:1 email, voice calling, SMS and live chat messaging, video calling, and more.

While this level of customization is perfect for businesses with existing applications, smaller businesses without an in-house IT department or development team may struggle to leverage Flex due to the level of coding knowledge and experience it requires.

Twilio Flex features include: 

• Flex Insights: Interactive omnichannel analytics portal with role-based, conversation-based, and relationship-based data sets for call center KPIs
• Multichannel Task Handling: Omnichannel to-do lists for all Twilio communication APIs–voice, real-time chat messaging and chatbots, SMS, social media messaging, and more
• Customer UI: Customizable agent interface with task lists, omnichannel customer interactions, CRM data and customer information, agent assistance, past order details, routing rules, automated workflows, etc.

Twilio Flex Pricing 

Twilio offers per-hour pricing at $1 per active user hour or traditional per-user pricing for a flat rate of $150 monthly per user. All Twilio plans include the full suite of features, and Twilio also offers a 5000-hour free trial.

Twilio Flex Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Unique per-minute pricing option
• Highly flexible call center interface
• Comprehensive agent dashboard
• Advanced omnichannel analytics

Cons:

• No pricing tiers for feature flexibility
• API-based structure requires some coding or IT knowledge

Best For

Twilio Flex is best for contact centers needing a completely customizable CCaaS solution. Because of its high-level SDK and API integrations, it’s best for teams with an in-house development team.

 

4. NICE CXOne

NICE CXOne is a contact center software with over 40 communication channels, data-driven automated self-service, omnichannel quality management and employee engagement tools, and features for customer journey optimization.

The Enlighten AI tool measures 100% of omnichannel customer interactions in real-time, generating self-service scripts and menu options based on these insights and proactively engages customers at key touch points.

The downside is CXone’s lack of native UCaaS team collaboration and communication features.

NICE CXOne features include:

• Interaction Channels: Integrated and native channels include social media messaging, SMS/MMS, voice calling in 130 countries, email, website chat (live and chatbots)
• My Agent Assist (MAX): Agent interface containing CRM data, customer sentiment analysis, smart interaction routing, and agent inbox allowing for multichannel, single channel, and omnichannel queues
• Enlighten AI: Omnichannel conversational AI tool providing automated in-conversation assistance, omnichannel routing, prescriptive and predictive insights, complaint management, soft skill scoring, proactive engagement

NICE CXOne Pricing

NICE CXOne offers customized pricing quotations for four bundled plans:

• Customer Engagement Plan: Users can choose from voice-only, digital-only, or omnichannel versions of the Customer Engagement plan with varying features according to channel
• Essentials Plan: Voice and Digital omnichannel communication, plus, audio and screen recording, and quality management
• Core Plan: All Essentials omnichannel features, plus Workforce Management and Performance Management
• Complete Plan: All Core omnichannel features, plus customer feedback and interaction analytics

NICE CXone Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Intelligent omnichannel routing
• AI-powered live-agent assistance
• Conversational customer self-service
• Self-service analytics

Cons:

• Lacks internal collaboration tools
• Agent dashboard can feel crowded
• Application has a steep learning curve

Best For

NICE CXOne is best for high-volume omnichannel contact centers that connect with customers across at least 10 voice or digital channels on a daily basis, or teams needing advanced AI-powered WFO and analytics tools.

 

5. Dialpad

Dialpad is an omnichannel contact center software known for having some of the most advanced and cutting-edge AI features on the market today, including built-in real-time sentiment analysis, live agent coaching, and real-time CSAT analysis.

It also offers a full UCaaS suite with team chat, SMS, video calling via Dialpad AI Meetings, and file co-editing.

While Dialpad’s native team communication and collaboration features make it stand out in the CCaaS space, its lack of pricing transparency makes it difficult to estimate its overall value.

Dialpad features include: 

• Dialpad AI: Conversational AI for digital deflection, intelligent omnichannel routing, post-call summaries with real-time call transcripts, automated note-taking, action item creation, and knowledge base
• AI Sales: Add-on providing outbound auto dialing with CRM integration, custom reports, voicemail drop, automated post-call notes, online video meetings via Dialpad Meetings, local presence dialing, and real-time agent speech recommendations
• AI CSAT: Automatically collects and analyzes conversations in real-time to provide AI-powered CSAT scores and updates, predictive analytics, agent assist, performance reports, and post-interaction SMS surveys

Dialpad Pricing

Dialpad AI Contact Center and the AI Sales add-on, are both available in Pro and Enterprise versions, via quote-based pricing only.

All Contact Center plans include Dialpad’s Business Communications Suite, a UCaaS software with voice calling, SMS, video meetings, and collaboration features like file sharing and team chat messaging.

The differences in the Pro and Enterprise pricing plans are:

• Pro Contact Center Plan (3 License Minimum): Voice and Digital omnichannel contact center software with multi-level IVA/IVR, live agent coaching, Dialpad Video Meetings, 24/7 support, AI automations and analytics
• Enterprise Contact Center Plan (50 License Minimum): Pro+plus 100% uptime SLA, advanced reporting, unlimited call queues
• AI Sales Pro Plan (3 License Minimum): Automated outbound dialer, leaderboards, automatic call recording, outbound SMS/MMS, agent coaching, real-time agent recommendations, speed coaching
• AI Sales Enterprise Plan (100 License Minimum): AI Sales Pro+APIs, custom reporting, Enterprise SLA

Dialpad Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Live AI agent support
• Collaboration and UCaaS tools like video meetings
• Easy-to-use agent interface
• Intelligent customer sentiment detection

Cons:

• Key sales features are reserved as an add-on
• Lacks some WFO features that competitors have
• No options for voice-only or digital-only contact center

Best For 

Dialpad is best for call centers that also want AI agent support and internal collaboration tools like video meetings, team chat, and file sharing.

 

6. Nextiva

Nextiva Contact Center is an omnichannel call center solution known for its native CRM tools, robust VoIP features, and superior team collaboration suite. Customers and reps can connect via social media messaging, website chat, voice calling, SMS, and email.

The biggest downside to Nextiva Contact Center is that it still requires an initial purchase of the Nextiva Business Communication software–so contact center capabilities are seen more as an “add-on” than a unique product.

Nextiva Contact Center features include: 

• Customer Service and Sales CRM: Customer experience score, business analytics, SmartTopics, CRM call pops, sentiment analysis, and more
• Cospace: Internal team collaboration tools with video meetings, team chat, a central file sharing repository, omnichannel dashboard for internal email, and more
• Automated Intelligence: Customized or template-based Conversational AI for automated customer surveys and onboarding, marketing campaigns, agent assist, follow-ups, escalation, lead generation, appointment scheduling, task reminders, etc.

Nextiva Pricing 

Nextiva Contact Center offers four custom-quote plans as add-ons to their Business Communication software, which ranges from $18.95 to $32.95 monthly per user.

• Core Plan: Voice-only contact center with 24/7 customer support
• Premium Plan: Voice and digital (SMS, email, chat) contact center with Essential Quality Management features
• Optimum Plan: Voice+Digital contact center plus proactive notifications, Enterprise Workforce Management, and Enterprise QM
• Ultimate Plan:Optimum Plan+interaction analytics and complete automation suite

Nextiva Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Includes multichannel collaborative features
• Customer sentiment identification
• Customer journey tracking and outbound engagement
• Intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs) for repetitive tasks

Cons:

• Contact center requires purchasing UCaaS platform
• No transparent pricing on website
• No digital-only contact center option

Best For

Nextiva Contact Center is best for omnichannel call centers that also want UCaaS features like internal meetings, whiteboards, and calendaring.

 

7. Genesys

Genesys Cloud CX is an omnichannel customer self-service and call center platform with 350+ pre-built integrations, voice and digital IVAs, and predictive engagement analytics.

Genesys has omnichannel communication features like customer-agent co-browsing, email routing, concurrent chat messaging, and typing indicators to improve the customer experience.

That said, its contact center lacks video conferencing, has a challenging agent and manager interface, and has limited recording retention policies.

Genesys features include: 

• Voice and Digital IVAs: SMS, voice, chat, social media messaging, and email self-service tools that access customer histories and automate outbound customer engagement
• Workforce Optimization (WFO): Trend forecasting, customizable training modules, employee monitoring, personal bests, post-call agent evaluations, and real-time status monitoring
• Outbound Dialers: Power, Agentless, Progressive, Predictive, and Preview dialing modes included, alongside outbound IVR and adjustable call pacing

Genesys Pricing

Genesys offers five paid plans payable by concurrent user, by the hour, or named user options:

• Cloud CX1 ($75/month): Inbound/outbound voice-only contact center
• Cloud CX2 Digital ($90/month): Digital-only contact center (social media messaging, email, web chat, SMS, etc.)
• Cloud CX2 Digital+Voice ($110/month): Digital and voice omnichannel contact center
• Cloud CX3 Digital+WFM ($130/month): Digital contact center+Workforce Management (UCaaS, Basic QM, Speech and text analytics)
• Cloud CX3 Digital+Voice+WFM ($150/month): Digital+Voice contact Center+Workforce Management, leaderboards and gamification, forecasting, sentiment analysis

Genesys Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Drag-and-drop flow builder for IVAs
• Live agent scripts and behavior recommendations
• Drag-and-drop or automated agent forecasting, with visual tools
• Digital- or voice-only options

Cons:

• Call routing and IVR can feel complicated to set up
• Interface can be confusing for new users

Best For

Genesys is best for high-volume call centers that need to automate outbound dialing and provide omnichannel customer self-service via voice and digital IVAs.

 

8. RingCentral

RingCentral Contact Center is an omnichannel customer experience platform combining Workforce Engagement, UCaaS, AI-powered automation and analytics, inbound/outbound calling, and over 30 digital channels into a single easy-to-use interface.

The Contact Center includes access to RingCentral MVP, a popular UCaaS platform and VoIP phone system unifying video meetings, team chat, voice calling, and 24/7 customer support. The biggest drawback to RingCentral Contact Center is that AI capabilities–like interaction analytics, agent feedback, and outbound dialers–are available only via paid add-ons.

RingCentral features include:

• Workforce Engagement Management: Feedback and in-call coaching, interaction analytics, performance gamification, automatic scheduling, call and screen recording, customer feedback, and performance reviews
• Outbound Dialing Tool: Includes preview, manual, progressive, and predictive dialing with agent scripting, list management features, call blending, call disposition, and DNC list compliance
• SmartAssist: Conversational AI tool for voice and chat channels with sentiment analysis, machine learning, 50 pre-built integrations, natural language understanding, escalate to live agent, context switching, and multi-threaded responses

RingCentral Pricing

RingCentral offers four quote-based Contact Center Plans, all of which include RingCentral MVP:

• Essentials Plan: Voice-only contact center with basic analytics, basic voice recording,  300+ APIs/integrations
• Standard Plan: Voice and 30+ digital channels plus advanced recording
• Premium Plan: Voice+digital contact center plus Quality Management and screen recording
• Ultimate Plan: All Premium features plus WFM and Performance Management

Outbound auto dialers, interaction analytics, feedback management, and CRM integrations require paid add-ons

RingCentral Pros and Cons

Pros:

• AI-driven routing
• Intelligent customer insights across communication channels
• Live AI-based agent assistance
• Built-in collaboration tools

Cons:

• Key features like auto dialers are reserved as add-ons
• Analytics are more limited than some competitors

Best For

RingCentral is best for omnichannel contact centers prioritizing asynchronous communication, team collaboration, and conversational AI-powered customer self-service.

 

9. Zendesk

Zendesk is a customer service and sales CRM platform that boosts collaboration between team members, offers knowledge base access, and optimizes omnichannel routing strategies.

Because Zendesk is first and foremost a ticketing, CRM, and knowledge management software–not exclusively a contact center software–its capabilities are more focused on creating and optimizing internal and customer knowledge bases, community forums, help centers, and ticketing assignment strategies alongside analyzing and engaging with website visitors.

Zendesk features include:

• Agent Workspace: Lets agents manage interactions across up to 8 channels at once, access canned response templates and in-conversation automated Agent Suggestions, tag other agents, collaborate with team members, access customer history, etc.
• Ticketing Systems: If-then automated triggers, omnichannel workflow routing, automated ticket macro responses, side conversations, file sharing, and ticket linking across third-party platforms
• Omnichannel Support: Connect with customers across email, live chat, VoIP voice calling, SMS, automated chatbots, IVR and IVA bots, and social media

Zendesk Pricing

Zendesk offers 5 plans from $49.00-$99.00/agent/month, all of which include a 30-day free trial:

• Suite Team ($49/agent/month): Voice and digital messaging and live chat support, ticketing system, 50 AI automated answers, prebuilt analytics, basic routing, 1000+APIs/integrations, help center
• Suite Growth ($79/agent/month): Suite Team+multiple help centers, up to 100 automations, customer self-service portal, custom ticketing, SLA management, AI knowledge management
• Suite Professional ($99/agent/month): Suite Growth+Sunshine Conversation Designer, private conversations, community forums, advanced voice capabilities, HIPAA compliance, live agent activity dashboard
• Suite Enterprise ($150/agent/month): Suite Professional+AI-powered triage and conversion insights, data and dashboard sharing, customizable live agent monitoring and analytics, custom branding, custom agent workspaces, advanced knowledge management 
• Custom Plans from $215/agent/month

Zendesk Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Enables you to build your own knowledge base
• Easy-to-use interface for live agents
• In-depth chatbot designer
• Can build a ticketing system that gathers caller data
• Integrates with contact centers

Cons:

• Lacks some contact-center features, like IVR and advanced queueing
• Lacks internal collaboration tools
• No outbound auto dialer

Best For

Zendesk is best for contact centers that communicate with customers across a high number of different channels and therefore need to streamline the ticket resolution process in an omnichannel interface.

 

10. Freshdesk

Freshdesk (formerly Freshcaller) is an AI-powered, service desk and omnichannel contact center tool designed for telephony-first customer interactions.

Though Freshdesk is best known for its Support Desk product, it also offers Freshdesk Contact Center with a scalable Omnichannel Suite upgrade supporting voice and digital communications.

Freshdesk features include:

• Freddy AI: AI-powered in-conversation agent assist, automatic ticket field suggestions, article suggester, canned response suggester, thank you detector for ticket resolution confirmation, social media monitoring
• Smart Escalations: Nested call flow routing paths and call queues, set and update fallback rules, offer automated callbacks, direct to IVR menus, send calls to voicemail or additional agents/ring group, etc.
• Call Lifecycles: Provides a granular, step-by-step view of the overall customer journey by showing up to 50 related call events (call handle time, agent who managed the call, call duration/transfers, queue hold time, follow-up calls, etc.)

Freshdesk Pricing

Freshdesk Contact Center has two pricing plans: the Contact Center product (which is really a call center), and the Omnichannel Contact Center.

Contact Center pricing options (plus pay-per-minute):

• Free Plan (not truly free): Unlimited agents with pay-per-minute calling billed annually or monthly, users can purchase toll-free, local, or vanity numbers and access basic call center features
• Growth Plan ($15 monthly): Adds 2,000 monthly inbound minutes, call masking, call hold with music, call forwarding, voicemail drop, click-to-call, parallel calling, basic call queues and wait queues, and more
• Pro Plan ($39 monthly): BYOC capability, 3,000 free incoming minutes/month, power dialer, conference calling, callbacks, IVR and advanced routing, and more

Omnichannel add-on options (plus pay-per-minute):

• Growth Plan ($29 monthly): Email, SMS, social media messaging, website chat, voice calling with 2000 Freddy AI chatbot sessions/month, knowledge base integration, and more
• Pro Plan ($59 monthly): Growth+custom analytics, Omniroute, multilingual customer support, 3000 Freddy chatbot and voice sessions per month, omnichannel customer knowledge base and customer timeline, co-browsing, and more
• Enterprise Plan ($99 monthly): Custom ticket objects, 5000 monthly chatbot and voicebot sessions, auto-triage, skills-based ticket assignment, and more

Freshdesk Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Field service management features
• Intricate ticket management system
• Intelligent routing
• Custom metrics
• Affordable plans

Cons:

• Omnichannel features require an add-on
• Pay-per-minute pricing structure can rack up sneaky costs

Best For

Freshdesk is best for mostly inbound call centers with a complicated task- and ticketing-management process.

 

11. Aircall

Aircall is a basic VoIP inbound/outbound call center software that only offers native voice and SMS, with the option to integrate other channels.

This makes Aircall an ideal solution for small or new call centers that don’t want to replace existing third-party CRM, video calling, chat, UCaaS, or contact center solutions.

Aircall does offer a few team collaboration features like call tagging, shared contact lists, and business texting, but is primarily focused on call management and handling features.

Aircall features include:

• Live Activity Feed: Real-time call center activity overview with interactive and visual data regarding KPIs like call queues, number of missed and active calls, average call wait time, average service level, current agent status, etc.
• Power Dialer: Stores up to 1,000 numbers per list and integrates with CRM tools
• Shared Call Inbox: Company-wide or team-wide voicemail box for multiple agents to share inbound call responsibility

Aircall Pricing

Aircall offers three plans from $30/user/month:

• Essentials Plan ($30/user/month): Unlimited calling in US/Canada, custom greetings, business hour settings, call queues, IVR, ring groups, call forwarding, call recording, after-call work, call assignment and commenting
• Professional Plan ($50/user/month): Mandatory call tags, Salesforce integration, auto dialer, live activity feed, automated callbacks

Aircall Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Affordable plans
• Avoids multichannel features for those who don’t want them
• Outbound auto dialer
• Routing and queueing

Cons:

• No team chat or video meetings
• Lacks many integrations that competitors offer

Best For

Aircall is best for in-house small teams of no more than 20 that don’t need omnichannel communication features, focusing on voice calling.

 

12. 8×8

8×8 XCaaS is a highly customizable CCaaS and UCaaS cloud platform with inbound/outbound calling, email, chat, SMS, social media messaging, messaging applications, and video conferencing with agent-customer co-browsing.

The UCaaS offerings include a massive 50-country unlimited calling area, interactive video meetings, call monitoring, AI-based live conversation support, and call analytics. The contact center plans add skills-based routing, queue callbacks, an auto dialer, and email communications.

8×8 features include:

• Advanced Call Routing Strategies:  Skills-based, most idle, simultaneous ring, time-based, schedule-based, list-based, relationship-based, and intelligent routing
• Quality and Workforce Management Tools: Advanced agent evaluation, agent onboarding and ongoing training, customer surveys, agent scorecards, time spent per task, filter agent interactions, agent skill progression
• Conversational IQ: Speech Analytics tool that transcribes all agent-customer interactions, allowing managers to search by keyword/phrase, topic, and more

8×8 Pricing

8×8 offers 2 UCaaS plans, at $24 and $44 monthly per user. The three contact center plans–X6, X7, and X8–build on the UCaaS plans and start at $85 monthly per user.

• X6 Plan ($85 monthly): Voice Calling only, 8×8 Agent Workspace, skills-based call routing, CRM integrations, unlimited call recording and media storage, call monitor/barge/whisper, basic call and supervisor analytics, call queues and automated callbacks, post-call survey, 8×8 UCaaS Work app with universal messaging, 24/7 support
• X7 Plan ($110 monthly): Digital omnichannel communication (Voice, Chat, Email, Social Media, Messaging Apps, SMS), co-browsing, advanced video meeting host controls, higher security and compliance standards
• X8 Plan ($140 monthly): Preview, Progressive, Predictive auto dialer, Quality Management, Speech Analytics

8×8 Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Includes UCaaS collaboration features
• Skills-based omnichannel routing
• 3 types of auto dialer
• 500 participants supported on video meetings

Cons:

• Auto dialer reserved for highest-tier plan
• Quality management and speech analytics reserved for highest-tier plan

Best For

8×8 is best for customer service-focused call centers that usually handle inbound customer interactions via a live, 1:1 phone call as opposed to complete automation.

 

13. DialedIn

DialedIn is a call center software platform offering basic inbound and outbound voice calling, SMS, and email features.

DialedIn is primarily an outbound dialing platform, with standard inbound call center features. All plans include preview, progressive, and injection dialing alongside a visual drag-and-drop script builder.

DialedIn features include:

• Outbound Dialer: DialedIn offers numerous auto dialing modes, including Predictive, Power, Progressive, Preview, Agentless, Injection, and Agent Availability-based dialing alongside DNC list compliance
• Inbound Call Management: ACD, IVR, Skills-based and source-based routing, call transfer, call handling
• Training Mode: Designed to help train new agents and managers with screen sharing, monitoring, in-call coaching, call recording and playback, and more

DialedIn Pricing

DialedIn offers three paid plans from $89 to $169 monthly per user:

• Small Business Plan ($89 monthly): Preview and injection dialing, basic reporting, personal voicemails, visual script builder, mobile data portal
• Professional Plan ($139 monthly): Enhanced Caller ID, advanced Predictive Dialer strategies, Power Dialing, Progressive Dialing, spam detection, agent screen monitoring, trainee mode for new agents
• Enterprise Plan ($169 monthly): Inbound and outbound calling with agent skill prioritization, skills-based inbound routing, DNC list integration, Salesforce and native API integration, agentless dialing, voicemail drop

DialedIn Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Outbound and inbound call automation tools
• Variety of coaching tools
• Offers a free trial

Cons:

• Limited number of integrations
• Lacks several important communication channels
• No collaboration features

Best For

DialedIn is best for outbound call centers with 100+agents that need to automate outbound calling, efficiently train agents, and access more standard inbound call features without the AI-powered bells and whistles.

 

14. Convoso

Convoso is an automated outbound dialer tool with preview, predictive, progressive, and power dialing modes alongside outbound SMS and email marketing.

While not a call center software, it is an ideal tool for campaign management, lead list penetration, and mass SMS or email-based marketing strategies. Skills-based routing and dynamic scripting increase the chances of closing a sale, while IVAs with machine learning and advanced speech recognition automate lead qualification.

Convoso features include: 

• Click-to-Comply Dialer: TCPA compliance feature requiring agents to manually initiate all calls with one click
• Speed To Lead: Helps beat out competitors when dialing shared/public lead lists by automatically prioritizing quality leads to the front of queue, and by setting rules-based calling triggers
• Automated Email Marketing: Trigger-based outbound mass/drip email campaigns, email templates, custom dynamic fields, personalization, custom monetary data calculations

Convoso Pricing

Convoso pricing is entirely quote-based and requires interested businesses to contact them directly to set up a demo and develop customized plans and pricing.

Convoso Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Multiple auto dialer styles
• Skills-based routing for outbound calls
• Advanced outbound reports

Cons:

• Lacks internal collaboration features
• No video or team chat
• No routing tools for inbound calls

Best For

Convoso is best for outbound contact centers with 20+ agents seeking to automate the dialing process.

 

15. Vonage

Vonage Contact Center (VCC) is a cloud solution known for its advanced integrations, AI-powered virtual assistants, and Agent UX suite.

The biggest issue is that online chat messaging is not natively available without the purchase of the Web and Mobile Chat add-ons. The digital channels required for true omnichannel communication are only available for Salesforce Omni-Channel users who choose to integrate their existing software into the Vonage interface.

Vonage Contact Center features include:

• Conversation Analyzer: Standalone or CRM-integrated AI speech analytics tool for inbound/outbound calling, showing agent and customer talk time comparisons, complete call recordings and transcripts, automated categorizations for agent effectiveness, and more
• Dynamic Routing: Automated routing tool that integrates with your CRM data to create optimized IVR relationship-based, skills-based, priority-based, and other routing strategies
• Agent UX Suite: Omnichannel agent interface with CRM screen pops, click-to-call, case assignment/update notifications, voicemail drop, whisper coaching, agent status updates, etc.

Vonage Contact Center Pricing

Vonage Contact Center offers two quote-based bundled plans as well as several add-on options like CRM integrations, APIs, gamification, and workforce management tools.

Vonage Contact Center Pricing options are: 

• Priority Plan: Inbound/outbound voice calling with call queue announcements, screen pop, call recording, IVR, skills-based routing, priority call handling, SSO, basic analytics
• Premium Plans: Dynamic call routed with queued callbacks, whisper coaching, post-call surveys, multilingual announcements, and more

Vonage Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Workforce engagement tools
• Outbound auto dialer
• Call center monitoring
• AI tools like post-call quality ratings

Cons:

• The omnichannel contact center is an API that requires Salesforce
• Most communication channels besides voice require APIs

Best For

Vonage Contact Center is best for medium-sized teams that need to connect with customers primarily via voice calling–but would like the option to add-on communication channels via individual APIs or upgrade via add-ons later.

 

16. CloudTalk

CloudTalk is a call center software for sales and support teams that need to boost agent productivity and shorten the resolution process. It offers voice and SMS only, without any other communication channels.

While CloudTalk offers basic automation features, like resolved smart call detection and CTI screen pops, it’s not for teams that need to completely automate customer interactions.

CloudTalk features include:

• Smart Dialer: Outbound power and predictive dialer and lead list generator that collects lead contact information from relevant websites to create call lists
• Real-Time Customer Card: In-call customer information card including access to native or integrated call recordings, past orders, prior and current support tickets, omnichannel conversation history, agent comments/notes, etc.
• VoIP Call Management: After-call work, call tagging, warm transfer, outbound campaigns, call queueing, personal and shared voicemail boxes, ring groups, call forwarding

CloudTalk Pricing

CloudTalk offers three plans from $25 to $50 per user, plus a quote-based custom plan:

• Starter Plan ($25/user/month): Unlimited users, unlimited callers in queue, free inbound calling (outbound calls pay-per-minute), call recording with 1 month of storage, voicemail, month storage recording, ACD, and international numbers in 160+ countries
• Essential Plan ($30/user/month: SMS (pay-per-message), skills-based routing, conference calls, advanced analytics with unlimited history, standard third-party integrations and open API, smart queuing, basic workflow automations  
• Expert Plan ($50/user/month): Salesforce integration, power and smart outbound dialer, wallboards, text-to-speech, unlimited concurrent calling, call monitoring with call barge

CloudTalk Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Outbound auto dialer
• Smart queueing and skills-based routing
• Workflow automations
• All plans support unlimited users

Cons:

• Lacks video and team messaging
• No live-agent support tools or call transcription

Best For

CloudTalk is best for smaller or newer businesses focused on optimizing inbound and outbound voice calling for customer service and sales.

 

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