Top Cloud Hosted PBX Providers of 2021

Overview

• What is Cloud Hosted PBX?
• What Makes Hosted PBX Services Different?
• How Does a Hosted PBX Work?
• Why Use a Hosted PBX Over On-Premise Solutions?
• 6 Best Hosted PBX Providers
• What to Look for in a Hosted PBX Provider
• Benefits of Hosted PBX Solutions
• Setting Up Your Hosted PBX System

 

What is Cloud Hosted PBX?

A hosted PBX is a cloud-based virtual PBX telephony network that delivers calling platform features within a company. Since the solution is cloud-based, the private branch exchange functionality is hosted and managed by the cloud phone system service provider rather than through an analog connection.

Hosted PBX solutions provide small, medium and even enterprise organizations with an advanced cloud telephone system while minimizing cost.

A Hosted PBX platform is housed in a remote data center, which offers geographical flexibility. This allows your employees to work from any location while still accessing the virtual PBX service. Given that it’s a hosted solution, you have scalability to grow or shrink if your business needs to reconsider hosted PBX pricing.

Businesses save on expensive equipment and hosting charges with a hosted solution. The hosted PBX provider does all of the heavy lifting so you do not have to, without compromising the quality of your service. PBX on the cloud rivals both standard telephone service as well as on-premise VoIP solutions.

Hosted PBX providers deliver the same standard of service, features, and functionality through the cloud. Cloud-based PBX providers maintain their own data centers to offer services to a massive number of businesses. Providers typically have multiple data centers in different locations to ensure service all around the world.

Remote data centers also offer redundancy in case of any outages.

 

What Makes Hosted PBX Services Different?

Hosted PBX service provides businesses with the same level of service one would expect from a Fortune 500 enterprise phone system. What’s missing is the hassle and high capital investment required by enterprise phone service. Powerful features provided by these solutions include:

• Auto-attendants and IVR
• Automated greetings
• Advanced call forwarding
• Call queuing
• Call recording
• Paperless faxing
• Unlimited extensions
• Conference calling

Overall, PBX on the cloud provides your business with an impressive list of features. These solutions are also more cost-effective than their on-premise counterparts, enabling any size organization to take advantage of these powerful platforms.

 

How Does a Hosted PBX Work?

Hosted PBX provider systems function the same way on-premise PBX solutions do. Rather than having to handle the routing and management on-site, it’s done behind the scenes within the provider’s data centers.

The entire phone system and its backup redundancy are operated and maintained by the provider. If one center goes down, your calls will simply be routed out of another data center so you never miss a beat.

These providers have a team of IT professionals and engineers working around the clock to ensure your system is up and running. Hosted PBX providers are tasked with providing efficiency, call quality and security.

As a subscriber of the service, users don’t have to configure or deal with hardware installations on their end. They simply log in to an online account management portal with their provided information. Once logged in, they can hook up desk phones and make calls directly from the web.

 

Why Use a Hosted PBX Over On-Premise Solutions?

Without the need for on-location phone infrastructure and hardware, hosted PBX frees up your business to deal with much more important matters. The main advantage of setting up a hosted PBX is that setup, hardware, security, and reliability are handled by the provider. There’s no need to spend extra money on the infrastructure, IT, or switches to power your system.

Adding additional phone lines can be done quickly through the online portal. You’re not limited by the number of available phone jacks in your building’s server or telephony room. Utilizing a Hosted PBX even provides flexibility and mobility unrivaled by other systems.

Most Hosted PBX providers allow users to make calls on their desk phones, desktop softphone apps, and mobile phones. With the ability to make calls from anywhere with an internet connection, your workers can truly stay connected away from the office.

If anything goes wrong, it won’t be up to your team of Tech Support to handle the situation, but rather your service provider will be on the case. Most of the time, they’ll solve issues before you’re even aware of a problem. Between cost savings, flexibility and ease of use, choosing a hosted PBX provider is an easy step to ensure your business will maintain a high level of quality.

 

6 Best Hosted PBX Providers

1. Nextiva

 

 

Nextiva offers a myriad of PBX features often found with more expensive providers. These include porting existing numbers, online faxing, and a team chat — all of which help you unify your communications onto a single platform.

It also has a ton of calling-related features like an auto-attendant, analytics, and advanced call management to ensure every inbound customer is routed to the right agent. Beyond its native features, you can also use third-party integrations.

Popular tools like Salesforce, Zendesk, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, ServiceNow, HubSpot, and more can all be integrated into your Nextiva account to provide seamless compatibility with your entire stack.

Top Features

• Advanced call management
• Conference bridge
• Business SMS
• Auto-attendant
• Call analytics
• Hot desking
• IVR

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Top-notch customer service
• Priced lower than competitors
• Detailed analytics

Cons:

• Audio quality issues
• Slow processing for number porting

Pricing

Nextiva pricing starts at $31/month for the essential plan. The professional, enterprise, and ultimate plans cost $36/month, $46/month, and $76/month respectively. Billing annually can save you up to 27% and teams with five or more people get $1-2/month/user off.

 

2. RingCentral

 

 

RingCentral has often been cited as one of the most well-rounded providers in the VoIP space and for good reason. Its two million users reap the benefits of native video conferencing, third-party integrations, and team collaboration features.

Out of all the providers currently on the market, RingCentral is one of the best at unifying all your needs onto a single platform. For instance, you can index your files on a cloud storage solution like Google Drive to make it easier to search through on RingCentral.

Its video conferencing capabilities also rival standalone solutions with whiteboards, screen sharing, breakout rooms, and one-click scheduling from top calendar tools. Alternatively, you can use one of its many conferencing integrations to connect Zoom, Slack, and more.

Top Features

• Video conferencing
• Team collaboration
• Real-time analytics with 30+ metrics
• Predictive analytics based on KPI trends
• Cloud storage indexing
• Business SMS

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Seamless call switching between devices
• Automatic voicemail transcription
• Chrome extension
• Native versatility + wide integration support

Cons:

• Customers have said their email support is far slower than their live chat support
• Team chat lacks a few features like read receipts

Pricing

RingCentral pricing starts at $40/month for the essentials plan. The standard, premium, and ultimate plans cost $50/month, $55/month, and $70/month respectively. Billing annually can save you up to 33% and all plans are also $10/month cheaper if two or more users subscribe.

 

3. Dialpad

 

 

Dialpad is a popular PBX option for small businesses since it’s very affordable and offers free video conferencing on all its plans. Though, much like Zoom, the free video conferences have a time limit of 45 minutes.

In addition to integrations with tools like Google Workspace, Office 365, Salesforce, Slack, Zendesk, HubSpot, and more, the platform also has analytics that becomes more advanced as you upgrade to higher plans. 

One particularly valuable feature is Dialpad’s real-time customer call sentiment analysis that can alert supervisors when a call needs their attention. Finally, the Dialpad Chrome extension lets you call or text any number without leaving your browser.

Top Features

• Quick-switching between devices
• Business SMS
• Call summaries
• Chrome extension
• Real-time sentiment analysis

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Very affordable for small businesses
• Tiered analytics capabilities
• Real-time customer call sentiment analysis
• Chrome extension

Cons:

• 45-minute time limit
• Integrations are limited to Google Workspace, Office 365, and ServiceNow unless you upgrade

Pricing

Dialpad pricing starts at $20/month for the standard plan. The pro plan costs $30/month while the enterprise plan provides a custom quote based on your needs. You can get $5/month off both plans if you bill annually.

 

4. Vonage

 

 

Vonage supports multiple mediums in its plans including business SMS, online faxing, video conferencing, and team chats in addition to standard VoIP audio calling. It also has helpful features like live co-annotation for uploaded files.

On the video conferencing front, up to 100 participants can join via the Vonage mobile app. One-click scheduling is also supported for Microsoft Outlook or Google Calendar which makes meeting planning a breeze.

While the Vonage App Center doesn’t have as many integrations as some of its competitors, you’ll still find support for popular tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, Google Workspace, Office 365, and a few others.

Top Features

• Call monitoring
• Video conferences with up to 100 participants
• On-demand call recording
• Visual voicemail
• Business SMS

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Unifies all means of communication
• 100-participant conferencing via mobile app
• Unlimited history on team chat

Cons:

• Less extensive integration support compared to competitors
• Frequent updates

Pricing

Vonage pricing starts at $20/month for the mobile plan. The premium plan costs $30/month while the advanced plan costs $40/month. All plans get cheaper by $2/month/line for teams of five members and $5/month/line for teams of 20 or more.

 

5. Zoom

 

 

Zoom offer you features like live transcription while offering integrations for Salesforce, Slack, Google Drive, Dropbox, HubSpot, and more. The free plan limits meeting duration to 40 minutes when there are from three to 100 people in it. Two participants can be in a meeting for up to 24 hours.

One unique feature to note is Zoom’s driving mode that lets you hop on conference calls while on the road without risking your safety. When it comes to participant caps, Zoom Video Webinar takes the cake allowing up to 10,000 view-only attendees simultaneously. 

There are also plenty of features created specifically for educators or those in the healthcare industry which makes Zoom appealing to a wider target audience. Lastly, Zoom’s ubiquitous presence also increases the odds that your clients will already be familiar with the platform.

Top Features

• Quick invite (Alt+I)
• Virtual backgrounds
• Audio transcript
• Breakout rooms for up to 500 people
• Mobile meeting reminders
• Business SMS

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Wide adoption means most people are already familiar with it
• Over 1,000 integrations on the Zoom App Marketplace
• Industry-specific functionality for educators and healthcare workers
• Up to 10,000 participants through Zoom Video Webinar

Cons:

• 40-minute time limit when hosting meetings on the free plan
• Free users are limited to local recording

Pricing

Zoom pricing starts at $15/month for the pro plan but a free option is also provided. The business plan and enterprise plan both cost $20/month but you’ll need to contact their sales team to avail the latter. All plans get 17% cheaper if you bill annually.

 

6. GoToConnect

 

 

GoToConnect is colloquially known as the king of hardware compatibility since it supports over 180 desk phone models. This makes it the perfect choice for companies who prefer hard phones to softphones.

Most of the popular tools that may be a part of your stack likely have an integration for GoToConnect. This includes Google Workspace, Office 365, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Zapier, Slack, ServiceNow, and more.

Another feature that stands out in the GoToConnect suite is its real-time analytics that serves as a customer satisfaction compass during calls. Finally, GoToConnect’s multi-site compatibility and hot-desking capabilities let team members join calls regardless of where they are.

Top Features

• Visual call flow editor
• Day-to-day analytics dashboard
• Hot desking
• Video conferences with up to 250 participants
• Call routing scheduling

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Industry-leading hardware compatibility
• Real-time customer satisfaction analytics during calls
• Hot-desking capabilities that save your employees time

Cons:

• No push-to-talk function
• Room for improvement on desktop and mobile app interfaces

Pricing

GoToConnect pricing starts at $24/month for the basic plan. The standard plan costs $29/month while the premium plan costs $39month. No discounts were offered for large teams or annual billing.