VoIP 
Considering a cloud-based business phone system? 8×8 offers a feature-rich solution for managing communication and team collaboration, which works for remote or hybrid teams.
But is 8×8 the right fit for your growth trajectory?
This article dives into 8×8’s features and pricing plans to help you choose the right phone system for your use case. We’ll also compare it against the best alternative to ensure that you find the communication and collaboration solution that best scales with your needs.
The Drawbacks of 8×8 (Why You Might Seek an Alternative)
8×8 is a cloud-based communication platform that provides unified communications, voice calls, video calls, messaging, and contact center solutions.
While 8×8 provides a robust set of communication tools suitable for various business needs, potential users should consider these reported drawbacks before making a decision:
- Inconsistent call quality: Some users report dropped calls, echo, or lag — especially when relying on Wi-Fi.
- Glitchy mobile apps: The 8×8 Work app can be slow or crash unexpectedly, isn’t particularly user-friendly, and can have poor call quality.
- Customer support issues: Numerous users report poor customer service, including long wait times, unresponsive or unhelpful support staff, and even a lack of empathy.
- Learning curve: Can be difficult to set up and configure without IT help. The interface and settings are sometimes not intuitive, requiring time and effort to make full use of the system’s features.
- Difficulty with configuration changes: Making configuration changes can be complicated and non-intuitive.
- Unlimited calling area limitations: While 8×8 does support a large unlimited calling area, it lacks toll-free minutes.
- Expensive plans likely: Although 8×8 no longer lists their prices, their last published plans cost between $24-185 per user/per month, and we have to assume the prices are roughly the same, if not higher.
- Lack of transparency: No pricing plans are listed on their website, so it’s difficult to decide without having to contact their sales department.
- Hidden or extra fees: Expect additional charges for E911, regulatory fees, international calls, hardware, and some features.
- Fewer integrations: Compared to competitors, 8×8 supports fewer native integrations with third-party software.
8×8 Pricing Plans and Features
8×8 is a cloud-based business phone system that integrates features like voice calls, SMS, chat, video conferencing, and mobility into a single platform. It allows businesses of all sizes to operate with a scalable and easy-to-manage communication system, where employees can use any device to stay connected from anywhere.
They offer four pricing plans. We’ll take a look at these plans, highlighting features and target audiences. But to get a custom quote tailored to your requirements, contacting their sales team is mandatory as plan details and pricing are not available online.
Contact Center (8×8 Contact Center™)
Overview: A comprehensive, AI-powered contact center solution designed to enhance agent productivity and customer service operations.
Key Features:
- Omnichannel routing (voice, chat, email, SMS, social media)
- Agent Workspace, Supervisor Workspace
- Advanced analytics and reporting
- High-volume messaging
- AI-enabled self-service
- Workforce Engagement Management
- Secure payment processing
Best For: Contact centers focused on improving customer service efficiency with AI-enabled routing, analytics, and multi-channel engagement.
Pricing: For current pricing, you’ll need to contact 8×8 directly.
CX Beyond the Contact Center (8×8 Engage™)
Overview: A broader solution that extends beyond traditional contact center capabilities, it is aimed at empowering all customer-facing teams, not just contact center agents, to deliver consistent and seamless customer experiences across various touchpoints.
Key Features:
- Advanced queue management
- Conversational intelligence
- Integrated calling, meeting, and messaging capabilities
- Team lead analytics
- Global coverage with robust integrations
Best For: Customer-facing employees outside traditional contact centers across various industries.
Pricing: For current pricing, you’ll need to contact 8×8 directly.
Communications APIs (8×8 no-code CPaaS)
Overview: A Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) plan that allows businesses to integrate communication features like SMS, voice, and video into their applications without extensive coding.
Key Features:
- High-volume SMS (including SMS alerts and two-way SMS) and messaging capabilities
- Voice services, including number masking and voice messaging
- Video services through Jitsi as a Service
- Authentication and fraud prevention tools
Best For: Enterprises and organizations across marketing, customer support, and operations teams that want to build programmable communication workflows without coding expertise.
Pricing: For current pricing, you’ll need to contact 8×8 directly.
Unified Communications (8×8 Work®)
Overview: An AI-powered unified communications system that combines voice, video, chat, and team messaging to facilitate seamless collaboration within organizations.
Key Features:
- Integrated calling, meeting, and messaging capabilities
- High-volume messaging for promos
- Receptionist console
- Analytics with real-time data
- Global coverage
- Integrations (can embed leading tools for unified workflows)
- AI insights and summaries
Best For: Small to large businesses that need an integrated cloud telephony and collaboration platform.
Pricing: For current pricing, you’ll need to contact 8×8 directly.
8×8’s hidden fees
As well as not listing their prices, several additional fees may not be immediately apparent in their standard plans (once you are privy to them). Here’s a breakdown of potential hidden costs to consider:
- Regulatory Recovery Fee (RRF): This fee is charged per line of service, covering the costs of regulatory compliance and government mandates. One source states that 8×8 charges $3.49 per extension for the RRF.
- E911 Service Fee: This fee is added to cover the costs of providing 911 services, which is a mandated service by governments. One source indicates that 8×8 charges $1.99 per extension for its E911 service fee.
- International Calls: While some plans offer unlimited calling to certain countries, international calls outside of that list will incur additional charges.
- Advanced Features: Features like call routing, CRM integration, and certain analytics may require higher-tiered plans or add-ons, which can increase the overall cost.
- Early Termination Fee: There could be some hidden fees if you cancel your contract before the term ends.
- Calling Limits: Their ‘unlimited calling’ excludes mobile, special, and premium numbers, meaning you could still rack up costs since most customers typically use mobile phones.
Why Choose Nextiva Over 8×8
Nextiva is a popular alternative to 8×8. While both offer robust business communication and contact center solutions, Nextiva’s transparent pricing, CRM integration, self-service options, and advanced features make it a compelling choice for businesses seeking a more streamlined and cost-effective solution.
1. Transparent and flexible pricing
Unlike 8×8, Nextiva displays pricing for its various plans on its website. Pricing is tiered and more scalable, with a competitively low entry-level voice calling plan and lower per-user rates for larger teams.
- Core at $15: For small teams, this plan includes essential communication features like inbound and outbound calling, business SMS, video conferencing, and team chat. It also offers call forwarding with a virtual receptionist and integrations with Outlook and Google contacts.
- Engage at $25: For growing teams, the Engage plan extends Core features with SMS messaging between customers and their team, a toll-free number, advanced reporting, and speech analytics. It also offers web chat with live and bot options, as well as voice call recording and video conferencing.
- Power Suite CX at $75: Tailored for sales and service teams, this plan offers comprehensive features for up to 100 agents. This includes omnichannel engagement via voice and web chat, process automation, real-time dashboards, and AI-powered transcription and summarization. It also offers advanced routing features, a full call history, and convenient customer options like web and ACD callback.
2. Unified Communications with CRM integration
While both platforms offer omnichannel support, Nextiva takes it a step further by bridging the gap between your CRM and phone system. Unified communications allow agents to leverage customer journey insights from your CRM to personalize interactions and provide a more seamless experience.
3. Advanced IVR and self-service options
Nextiva’s advanced IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system provides multiple self-service options, including cloud-based agents, voice command call flows, intelligent call routing, and skills-based routing. This can lead to faster issue resolution and improved customer satisfaction compared to 8×8’s more basic IVR capabilities.
4. Mobile-ready and remote workforce support
With the NextivaONE app, your team members can stay connected and productive from anywhere, on both iOS and Android devices. This is particularly beneficial for businesses with remote or mobile workforces, ensuring seamless communication and collaboration on the go.
5. Comprehensive support and setup assistance
Nextiva offers 24/7 customer support and amazing service across all plans, along with dedicated assistance from its support team to help you set up your business phone system quickly and smoothly. This can be a significant advantage over 8×8, especially for businesses with limited IT resources or those transitioning from a legacy system.
Note: 8×8 offers integrations and some of these other advanced features, but in its higher tiers.
Here’s a quick feature comparison of the two solutions.
| Top Features | Nextiva | 8×8 |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $15/user/month | Plan pricing not available on site |
| Meeting participants | Up to 25 active video + 250 audio participants | Up to 500 participants |
| Call quality | Excellent (99.999% uptime per year) | Some users report frequent dropped calls |
| Initial setup | Easy, self-service | Complex, must contact sales |
| Toll-free minutes | Up to 2000 minutes | Up to 100 minutes |
| Integrations | 15 CRM integrations and 20 total integrations | 10 CRM integrations and 75 total integrations |
| Comparable features | Single sign-on Call queuing Advanced Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Omnichannel support Mobile app Real-time call monitoring | Unlimited in the U.S. and Canada |
| Live chat | Via their top two pricing plans | Via their Contact Center plan |
| Unlimited calling | Unlimited in the U.S. and Canada | Unlimited in the U.S. and Canada, plus other countries on the higher tier |
| International calling | Competitive rates; not unlimited | Unlimited to 14–48 countries with 8×8 Work plan |
| Customer support | 24/7 live support on all plans | Limited live support on lower-tier plans |
| Mobile App | Available for iOS and Android | Available for iOS and Android |
Final Verdict: Is 8×8 Pricing Worth It?
The ideal communications provider depends on your specific needs, budget, and team size. Consider factors like the number of users, out-of-country calling requirements, video conferencing frequency, and desired level of scalability.
Consider not just the base price but also the features included in each plan. Nextiva’s plans are transparent and offer a range of features based on your needs. 8×8 might require more research to understand the exact features at their price points.
Quick 8×8 summary
Pros:
- Feature-rich: 8×8 offers a good range of features, including unlimited US/Canada calling, HD video conferencing, and unlimited SMS (US/Canada), starting from basic plans.
- Scalable: 8×8 offers tiered plans that grow with your business. As you add more users, the price per user goes down.
- Potentially good value: If your business makes frequent video calls and uses a lot of team messaging, 8×8 can be a good value compared to plans with limited minutes or messaging.
Cons:
- Higher starting price: The base price per user is slightly higher than some competitors.
- No public pricing: 8×8 doesn’t publish their prices directly on their website, so you need to contact them for a quote.
- May be overkill for small businesses: If your business doesn’t need all the features offered by 8×8, there might be more cost-effective small business options available.
Go with 8×8 if…
Your business is large with substantial global calling needs, you have a generous budget, and you are looking for an advanced business communication platform to support your complex workflows.
With 8×8’s international calling, omnichannel support, advanced analytics, and AI-powered features, it’s a worthwhile investment for enterprises with plenty of monetary resources that are looking to boost call center efficiency at scale.
Go with Nextiva if…
If you’re a high-growth business seeking affordability, ease of use, and features like robust CRM integration.
Also, if you want to make the most of your budget by investing in a business phone service with the core UC and contact center capabilities, and you’re looking for something easy to set up and use.
Nextiva offers transparent, flexible, and low entry-level pricing plans, scalability, generous toll-free minutes, solid CRM (and other) integrations, and 24/7 customer support, making it a great choice for small and medium-sized businesses.
Nextiva: The Best Alternative to 8×8
Nextiva is often considered the best alternative to 8×8 because it offers a more intuitive, all-in-one platform combining voice, video, messaging, and CRM tools without the complexity of multiple add-ons. It’s praised for its superior customer service — with 24/7 phone support that is highly responsive — and simpler, more transparent pricing. Additionally, Nextiva’s platform is exceptionally reliable and easy to scale, making it a strong fit for growing businesses that prioritize both ease of use and excellent support.
Choosing a competitor like Nextiva helps you overcome a lot of 8×8 limitations.
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8×8 Pricing FAQs
When it comes to technical issues, having prompt and effective customer support is crucial. Unfortunately, many users report that 8×8’s support often falls short in this area.
One user shared their experience of ongoing phone system issues that disrupted business operations. Despite opening a support ticket weeks ago, they’ve had limited communication and no resolution from the 8×8 team.
Another customer described a prolonged response time, noting that cases frequently remain unresolved for days. They expressed frustration over being told that issues were being escalated, only to wait weeks without a fix.
When evaluating the user-friendliness of 8×8’s interface, the feedback from users paints a clear picture. Launched as a VoIP service in 2000, 8×8 has struggled with creating an intuitive experience for its users.
Many users describe the interface as cumbersome and perplexing. They often encounter a daunting learning curve when trying to set up features or locate important reports. Despite attempts at modernization, recent updates—like those involving AI—have paradoxically complicated navigation.
8×8’s pricing isn’t listed on their website; you need to reach out to their sales team to get a custom quote.
To read real user reviews, you can check out trusted review sites like GetVoIP, G2, and Trustpilot.
