Top 10 Cisco Call Center Alternatives in 2025

Looking for the top Cisco Contact Center alternatives? Built for large-scale enterprises, Cisco is an advanced contact center solution with omnichannel communication, AI-driven analytics, and cloud integrations. 

It also has Webex, a more affordable contact center for growing businesses, but Cisco keeps its core pricing hidden behind a “Contact Sales” wall. While some mandatory add-ons are public (like $8/user/mo for PBX integration and $40/user/mo for workforce optimization), the true all-in cost is opaque and includes significant one-time installation and support fees, reinforcing its enterprise-first model.

Cisco remains a trusted brand for networking and call centers, but businesses need a more agile and cost-effective vendor. This guide covers the top 10 recommendations if you’re looking for a cost-effective alternative to Cisco Contact Center software or Cisco VoIP solutions. We’ll discuss pricing and features to help you make an informed decision.

Why Customers Consider an Alternative to Cisco Call Center

While Cisco is highly customizable and integrates deeply with a broader suite of products, users often seek an alternative for the following reasons:

1. High price point

Cisco’s plans and packages are tailored to large-scale enterprise organizations, making them too expensive for smaller organizations with limited budgets. While the WebEx contact center is supposedly more affordable, you’ll need to pay extra for necessary add-ons such as workforce optimization (WFO) tools and cloud PBX integration, increasing already incurred costs.

2. Complexity

Cisco can be pretty complex due to its numerous features and integrations, especially for non-technical users. The nonintuitive interface can make it difficult for users to make changes or discover new features.

One user noted:

“The system is incredibly complex. UIs are almost intentionally hard to understand and are almost never updated. Everything looks like it was built in the ’90s because it probably was.”

3. Poor customer support

Some user reviews suggest that Cisco’s support team can be unnecessarily bureaucratic, making it harder to resolve issues on time. This can be a challenge for growing businesses that require on-time support to troubleshoot and solve problems as quickly as possible.

“They make you jump through hoop after hoop regarding service agreements, licensing, user assignments, and access. You’d think you were trying to break into Fort Knox whenever you need help with something.”

Top 10 Alternatives to Cisco Call Center

Want a Cisco alternative? Here are the top contact center platforms to consider:

Alternative	Best for	Top features	Pricing
Nextiva	Growing businesses or call centers that handle high call volumes across multiple channels	AI-driven insights, voice analytics, call recording, and real-time dashboards, omnichannel support, CRM integrations, auto-responders	From $75 per agent per month
Five9	Large enterprises or call centers with high call volumes	WFO tools, predictive dialer for outbound campaigns, omnichannel routing	From $119 per month
8×8	Small businesses seeking an all-in-one communications platform with integrated call center functionality	AI-driven predictive dialing, advanced security features, encryption, compliance certifications, real-time analytics dashboard	Custom pricing
Talkdesk	Mid-sized to large enterprises looking for a customizable and scalable call center solution	AI automation, real-time call analytics, omnichannel support for voice, chat, email, SMS	From $85 per user/month
Dialpad	Small to mid-sized businesses looking for an easy-to-use, AI-powered platform	AI-powered voice intelligence, omnichannel support, third-party integrations	From $80/user/month
RingCentral Contact Center	Large businesses that need a unified communications platform	Communication and collaboration tools, team messaging, video conferencing, outbound call management	Starts at $65/month
Genesys Cloud CX	Advanced features and customization options	Omnichannel engagement, AI-powered automation, advanced reporting, analytics	From $75 per user/month
NiCE CXone	Businesses looking to improve customer experience and agent productivity	AI routing, interaction Analytics, and  workforce Management	From $94 per month
Avaya	Blending traditional VoIP features with contact center technology	Unified communication features, automation capabilities, workforce management tools	Custom (Enterprise) or from $25/user/mo (Cloud Office)
Zoom Contact Center	Zoom’s entry into the contact center space, offering a modern, video-first approach	AI Companion for Contact Center, Flow Editor + IVR, Real-time transcription, inbound voice video, chat, SMS	Starting at $69/month/agent

1. Nextiva

Best unified communications and contact center platform (UCaaS + CCaaS)

Nextiva’s main advantage is its unified communication platform. Unlike Cisco, which requires a separate (and extra-cost) integration for its cloud PBX, Nextiva’s call center software is fully integrated with its business phone system. This means your sales team, support agents, and internal staff all work from a single application, eliminating complexity and data silos in their daily workflows.

Why choose Nextiva over Cisco Contact Center?

Nextiva directly addresses the three main issues with Cisco:

• Instead of an opaque, enterprise-only price, Nextiva offers clear, scalable entry-level pricing plans suitable for growing businesses.
• Instead of a “90s-era” complex UI, Nextiva provides a modern, user-friendly call center dashboard that administrators can manage without a team of IT specialists.
• Instead of bureaucratic support, Nextiva is recognized for its customer service and was named a Strong Performer for its sales, deployment, and support experiences in the Gartner® Peer Insights™ report.

Top features

• AI-driven insights, voice analytics, and real-time dashboards
• Seamless CRM integration and auto-responders
• 24/7 support and built-in compliance features for regulatory requirements
• Cloud-based call center with omnichannel support (voice, email, and chat)

Pricing

Nextiva has three monthly pricing plans (and more flexible pricing options exist when talking to sales):

• Essential: From $75/agent/month
• Professional: Contact sales
• Premium: Contact sales

2. Five9

Best for large enterprises with multiple customer communication channels

Five9 is a well-established cloud-based contact center built for large-scale operations. While it serves a similar enterprise market to Cisco, its key strength lies in its powerful, specialized tools for outbound campaigns and workforce optimization (WFO).

Instead of Cisco’s “all-in-one” (but complex) approach, Five9 offers a focused platform that excels at sales and telemarketing. Its predictive dialer is a core feature, not a costly add-on. 

While Five9’s reporting can be rigid for some users, it provides a few clear pricing tiers, offering more transparency than Cisco’s opaque, quote-only model.

Top features

• Cloud-based call center with advanced AI capabilities, omnichannel routing, and real-time performance monitoring
• Integrated WFO tools and predictive dialer for outbound campaigns
• Strong analytics and AI-driven automation for customer interactions

Pricing

Five9 has five pricing packages. Unlike Cisco, it provides public starting points for its plans, giving you a clearer budget estimate, starting at $119 per month.

3. 8×8

Best for businesses needing a single, secure, and compliant UCaaS/CCaaS platform

8×8 blends unified communications (UCaaS) and contact center (CCaaS) from the ground up. This approach directly solves one of Cisco’s biggest frustrations: the complexity and extra cost of integrating separate PBX and call center products.

It also emphasizes advanced security and compliance certifications, making it a strong choice for regulated industries. However, potential buyers should be aware that 8×8 also uses a “contact sales” custom pricing model, similar to Cisco. Furthermore, while the platform is unified, some users echo Cisco’s support problems, stating that resolving issues can be a significant challenge.

Top features

• AI-driven predictive dialing, CRM integration, and analytics dashboards
• Advanced security features, including encryption and numerous compliance certifications (HIPAA, PCI, etc.)
• A single, unified platform for both internal (UCaaS) and external (CCaaS) communications

Pricing

8×8 offers custom pricing for all its contact center plans. You must contact the sales team for a quote, and the company charges extra for add-on features like third-party integrations.

4. Talkdesk

Best for enterprises prioritizing ease of use and rapid deployment

Talkdesk is an AI-powered customer experience platform that directly addresses Cisco’s “complexity” problem. While both target mid-sized to large enterprises, Talkdesk’s primary selling point is its ease of use and flexibility.

This is a night-and-day contrast to Cisco users who feel the UI is “intentionally hard to understand.” 

As one Talkdesk user states, “Talkdesk is easy to navigate. The Live screen is easy to customize to keep track in real time of the metrics you want to monitor.” 

This simplicity allows for faster deployment and customization without a team of certified engineers. While some users report concerns with downtime, Talkdesk’s transparent, public pricing is an advantage for budgeting.

Top features

• Low-code/no-code interface for easy setup and customization
• Cloud-native call center with AI automation, real-time analytics, and WFM tools
• Omnichannel support with seamless CRM integrations

Pricing

Talkdesk has four monthly pricing plans, offering the transparency Cisco lacks:

• CX Cloud Digital Essentials: $85/user/month
• CX Cloud Voice Essentials: $105/user/month
• CX Cloud Elite: $165/user/month

5. Dialpad

Best for SMBs who want AI-driven insights without enterprise complexity

Dialpad’s Support offering is built around real-time AI and voice intelligence (Vi). This is its key differentiator from Cisco. While Cisco has AI, it’s often a complex, enterprise-grade feature. Dialpad puts AI front and center in a simple, user-friendly package for small to mid-sized businesses.

The platform provides real-time transcription, sentiment analysis, and keyword tracking on every call, empowering managers and agents with immediate insights. This approach, combined with its simple interface and transparent pricing, makes it a powerful and accessible alternative for businesses that find Cisco too complex and expensive.

However, one downside of Dialpad AI Contact Center is that the AI features, like transcription and sentiment analysis, can sometimes be inaccurate, which might lead to misunderstandings during calls.

Top features

• AI-powered voice intelligence offering real-time transcription, sentiment analysis, and keyword tracking
• Omnichannel support with seamless integration into tools like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365
• Simple, user-friendly interface and robust analytics capabilities

Pricing

Dialpad Support has three monthly pricing plans:

• Essentials: $80/user/month
• Advanced: $115/user/month
• Premium: $150/user/month

6. RingCentral

Best for comprehensive communication and collaboration

RingCentral offers a scalable cloud communications solution more straightforward and cost-effective alternative to a sprawling Cisco ecosystem. It’s ideal for businesses that need an all-in-one solution with integrated contact center features and unified communications, including team messaging, video conferencing, and phone services.

While Cisco requires complex licensing and separate products, RingCentral provides a unified platform that’s reliable and secure for businesses of all sizes. This unified nature simplifies administration compared to managing multiple Cisco services, though some users note a learning curve due to the sheer number of features.

Top features

• Unified communications as a service (UCaaS) and contact center as a service (CCaaS) integration
• Advanced call management, including IVR, call routing, and queueing
• Team messaging, video conferencing, and file sharing
• CRM integrations with popular platforms like Salesforce and Zendesk
• Robust analytics and reporting capabilities

Pricing

RingCentral’s contact center offering RingCX offers quote-based plans, starting at $65/agent/month paid annually.

7. Genesys Cloud CX

Best for AI-powered customer experience and advanced routing

Genesys Cloud is a highly scalable, cloud-native contact center platform and a strong alternative to the Cisco Cloud Contact Center. It’s built for enterprises that want to replace legacy hardware with a flexible, AI-driven solution. It offers sophisticated tools for managing complex customer journeys across multiple channels. 

Unlike Cisco’s solution, which can feel dated, Genesys is praised for its powerful automation and intelligent call routing. However, this power comes with its own complexity. Some users find the initial setup can be difficult without expert help, and documentation can be out of date.

Top features

• AI-powered routing and agent assistance
• Omnichannel engagement (voice, email, chat, social, messaging)
• Workforce engagement management (WEM) tools
• Extensive open APIs for seamless integrations
• Real-time reporting and historical analytics

Pricing

Genesys offers the following four main pricing plans:

• Genesys Cloud CX 1: $75/user/month
• Genesys Cloud CX 2: $115/user/month
• Genesys Cloud CX 3: $155/user/month
• Genesys Cloud CX 4: $240/user/month

8. NiCE CXone 

Best for customer experience optimization

Nice CXone is a unified cloud platform focused on optimizing the entire customer journey and agent performance. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools, from omnichannel routing and workforce management to advanced analytics and AI-driven insights.

NiCE is a strong Cisco alternative for businesses that find Cisco’s analytics and workforce tools to be costly add-ons. Nice CXone bundles these capabilities into one platform. While powerful, some users have noted that the platform’s interface can be overwhelming for new users, and data migration can be time-consuming.

Top features

• Omnichannel routing and interaction management
• Workforce engagement management (WEM), including forecasting, scheduling, and quality management
• Advanced analytics and reporting with speech and text analytics
• AI-powered agent assistance and self-service options
• Robust security and compliance features

Pricing

NiCE CXone offers a wide range of pricing tiers, starting at $94/month for voice-only agents and scaling up to $249/month for the “Ultimate Suite”.

9. Avaya

Blending on-premise VoIP with modern cloud features

Avaya’s position as a Cisco alternative is complex, as it offers two distinct paths: a cloud solution and a traditional enterprise platform.

• Avaya Cloud Office: This is the agile alternative to Cisco. It’s a unified (UCaaS) platform that’s flexible and easy to manage, directly competing with other cloud-native vendors.
• Avaya Infinity Platform: This is Avaya’s legacy enterprise-grade solution. Like Cisco, it’s highly customizable, powerful, and built for large-scale deployments. Also, like Cisco, its pricing is entirely custom-quoted, and it can suffer from legacy system complexities.

For businesses frustrated by Cisco’s high costs and complexity, Avaya Cloud Office is the relevant alternative, offering a clear upgrade path without the enterprise-level baggage.

Top features

• Unified Communications (UC) and Contact Center (CC) integration
• Omnichannel customer engagement
• Workforce optimization and analytics
• Scalable architecture for enterprise deployments
• Robust traditional telephony capabilities

Pricing

Public pricing isn’t available for either Avaya Cloud Office or Avaya Infinity Platform. Both are custom-quoted.

10. Zoom Contact Center

Best for a video-first, unified communications approach

Zoom Contact Center is a newer entry that leverages its dominance in video to offer a unique, video-first approach to customer service. It integrates voice, chat, and video into the familiar Zoom platform, making it an easy transition for businesses already using Zoom for internal collaboration.

This unified approach is its key advantage over Cisco, which treats its Webex calling, meetings, and contact center as distinct products. Zoom is best for businesses that want to easily escalate a chat or phone call to a video “face-to-face” interaction. As a newer platform, however, it may lack some of the deep, specialized features of more established service providers.

Top features

• Video-first contact center experience
• Seamless integration with Zoom Meetings and Phone
• Omnichannel support (voice, chat, video, SMS)
• Intelligent call routing and queue management
• AI Companion for agent assistance and summarization

Pricing

Zoom Contact Center has clear, public pricing, which is a major advantage over Cisco.

• Essentials: $69/user/month
• Premium: $99/user/month
• Elite: $149/user/month

Why Nextiva Is the Best Cisco Contact Center Alternative

While Cisco is a powerful legacy brand, its platform was built for a different era. For most growing businesses, its model introduces unnecessary cost and complexity. Nextiva offers a more agile, transparent, and unified solution that directly solves Cisco’s primary weaknesses.

Cisco pain point	Cisco’s approach	The Nextiva alternative
High & opaque price	Enterprise-only contracts, hidden fees, and costly mandatory add-ons (like $40/mo for WFO).	Public, scalable pricing. Plans are all-in-one with no hidden installation fees.
High complexity	Requires IT experts to manage. Users describe the UI as “intentionally hard to understand.”	A modern, intuitive interface designed for business users, not just IT specialists.
Siloed systems	Sells its PBX (Calling) and Contact Center as separate products that require complex integration.	A unified platform. Business phone (UCaaS) and contact center (CCaaS) are one seamless solution.
Bureaucratic support	Users report “jumping through hoops” for help, with support tied to complex service agreements.	24/7 customer support. Nextiva is recognized by Gartner for its superior support and deployment experience.

With powerful AI, easy CRM integration, and a focus on customer experience, Nextiva provides a robust, scalable solution without the complexity or high cost of Cisco Contact Center software.

Learn more about Nextiva’s unified communication features to see how we help businesses like yours efficiently scale their contact center operations. 👇