CloudTalk is a cloud-based call center solution for sales and support teams that facilitates personalized, data-driven customer interactions. It offers local, mobile, or toll-free numbers in over 140 countries and integrates with popular CRM, help desk, and e-commerce platforms.
CloudTalk comes with some valuable features for contact centers, which is why it’s a popular option for remote teams and call centers. That said, it’s far from the only solution on the market, and many customers could benefit from choosing CloudTalk alternatives instead.
What Are Some of CloudTalk’s Strengths?
CloudTalk is a well-known virtual phone system, and it’s a commonly chosen service provider for its call center software functionality as well as its small business phone system.
Customization potential
CloudTalk has plenty of customization options, so call centers can ensure their phone systems are working for them. Customization options include:
- Call flows
- Call routing options
- Interactive voice response (IVR)
- Workflow automation
The ability to customize your call flows, call routing, and workflow automations can streamline your processes, allowing you to get callers to the right place faster and improving your team’s productivity.
Essential features included
CloudTalk comes with the essential contact center features you’d expect from a VoIP service provider, including:
- Call recording
- Voicemail
- Real-time customer information
- Power dialing and smart dialing features
- Analytics to monitor agent performance
These straightforward features are crucial for contact centers that want to provide strong support to customers and streamlined workflows for their teams.
Integration capabilities
CloudTalk integrates with popular CRM and helpdesk software, facilitating customer data management. These integrations mean that agents can access customer data (including call history) before answering the phone.
Popular integrations include Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and Freshdesk.
Omnichannel support
Cloudtalk is an omnichannel communication platform offering voice calls through its VoIP service, SMS/text, and mobile app support. You can answer phone calls and respond to messages, giving customers the option to contact you via multiple platforms and improving the overall customer experience.
Remote work capabilities
Businesses, including contact centers, have been increasing their remote work options since COVID-19.
CloudTalk’s VoIP system supports remote work environments thanks to its cloud-based setup. Teams can work from anywhere with a reliable internet connection.
Why Customers Look for an Alternative to CloudTalk
CloudTalk is a reliable VoIP tool with all the essential features you’d expect to see, but it isn’t the right fit for many businesses. Here are some reasons businesses consider CloudTalk alternatives.
Inflexible pricing
Some find CloudTalk’s pricing structure complex, while others may find it too expensive — this is particularly true for small companies and call centers. CloudTalk’s starter plan costs $25 per month per user, which is costly compared to comparable services from other providers.
Customer support limitations
All CloudTalk plans provide access to its help center and email support, but phone support is only available on the Expert and Custom plans. An onboarding coach and a dedicated account manager come with those higher-level plans, but customers on lower-cost plans are out of luck.
Here’s what one customer said about CloudTalk in a critical review:
Slow communication processes
Some users have found CloudTalk’s email-based communication time-consuming and delayed. Others have noted challenges with closing their accounts or dealing with the support team in general. This slow communication can prevent customers from getting the support they need on critical issues, which can be disastrous for call centers that need reliability.
Below is a Trustpilot review from a small business owner who gave CloudTalk a shot:
Top 6 Alternatives to CloudTalk
If you’re exploring a new contact center solution and aren’t sure that CloudTalk is the right fit, the good news is that there are plenty of alternatives on the market.
Let’s discuss CloudTalk’s top 6 competitors for call centers looking for virtual business phone systems and communication platforms.
1. Nextiva
Nextiva is a full unified communications (UCaaS) platform offering extensive communication features through its VoIP system in addition to voice and video calling. Nextiva’s communication features are well-suited for inbound and outbound call centers and include business texting, team collaboration features, and more.
The company recently acquired a leading contact center platform, Thrio, to bring AI-powered contact center functionality to its offering. You’ve got to check it out!
Some key standout features of Nextiva include:
- Advanced call routing
- User-friendly IVR
- SMS and MMS text messaging
- Video calling and conferencing
- Internal team communications
- Advanced analytics on interactions
- A streamlined and efficient user interface
- Messaging, email, and chat functionality
Nextiva’s most significant strengths include:
- Exceptional ease of use: This includes simple setup and ongoing use.
- Incredible reliability: It offers excellent call quality and up to 99.999% uptime.
- Outstanding customer service: Nextiva has thousands of excellent customer reviews noting that the support team is both easy to reach and helpful.
Nextiva is ideal for businesses and cloud-based call centers of all sizes looking for comprehensive communications solutions with advanced features.
2. Five9
Five9 is a communication platform with features designed to improve the customer experience across their entire journey.
Some of its top features include:
- AI summaries
- Workflow automation, including customer journey optimization
- Employee engagement
- Analytics
- Quality assurance
- Omnichannel communications
- Omnichannel support
Businesses who choose Five9 can benefit from the following strengths:
- Sophisticated IVR
- Machine-learning-powered predictive dialing
- AI functionality, including AI call summaries and AI agent assist to suggest the next course of action
- Real-time analytics
While Five9 has plenty of positive customer reviews, it also has multiple reviews complaining about significant downtime issues, with some citing regular missed calls as an ongoing issue.
“The outages were unbearable. It felt like the software was always down and not functioning. Also, it was difficult to set up new users; they ALWAYS had to call Five9 directly for passwords, etc.”
~ Verified User, Enterprise Organization
Five9 is well-suited for businesses or call centers that need access to extensive third-party integrations and comprehensive contact center capabilities.
Related: The 7 Best Five9 Alternatives That Are Easy to Use
3. Talkdesk
Talkdesk is a global contact center solution known for extensive AI functionality.
Some of Talkdesk’s standout features include:
- Advanced call routing
- Call monitoring
- In-depth analytics
- Self-service solutions powered by generative AI
- No-code AI tools, including those for workflows and recommendations
Talkdesk’s most significant strengths include:
- High-quality customer experience
- Real-time agent support
- Extensive data analytics
While there are debates about the efficacy or use cases of contact center AI, Talkdesk is a good tool to consider if this is something your business is prioritizing. It’s also ideal for call centers that want to empower agents with more guidance to enhance customer interactions.
Related: Top 8 Talkdesk Alternatives for Contact Centers on a Budget
4. Dialpad
Dialpad is another AI-focused contact center solution offering omnichannel functionality. The platform offers live coaching and call sentiment analysis through AI features.
Some of Dialpad’s standout features include:
- Expansive AI tools, including AI call transcriptions and real-time coaching suggestions for agents
- Call routing and forwarding
- IVR
- Detailed call center analytics and reporting
- Integrations with platforms like Salesforce
It’s worth noting that while Dialpad has some strong integrations with third-party tools, some of the platform’s advanced features require third-party integrations. For example, you can schedule meetings on the Pro plan, but you need to use the integration for your Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 calendar.
Dialpad’s contact center solution is a strong option for businesses wanting to lean into AI-based VoIP systems, particularly if Dialpad’s integrations are already in their tech stack. If Dialpad is your top contender, check out these Dialpad competitors.
5. Aircall
Aircall is another CloudTalk competitor worth considering, particularly if you’re looking for a relatively straightforward VoIP system. It was designed with sales and customer support teams in mind.
Some of its standout features include:
- IVR
- Skill-based routing
- Call recording
- Desktop notifications
- Power dialing
- Integrations with popular CRM tools
- Analytics to monitor individual and team performance
The platform’s strengths include:
- Ease of use, with a straightforward interface
- Reliable CRM integrations
- Advanced call monitoring, including listening live in real-time
- Scalability potential with add-ons for AI or advanced analytics
A significant consideration is that Aircall requires a minimum of three users for its lowest-cost Essentials plan. It includes limited customization and doesn’t include video conferencing functionality.
If you’re considering this platform as your frontrunner, check out these Aircall alternatives.
6. Genesys
Genesys offers omnichannel CS solutions, cloud and AI technology, and flexibility to customers looking for a VoIP platform. Its contact center software offers cloud telephony for voice and digital services.
Some of the platform’s highlight features include:
- Predictive web engagement
- Conversational AI
- Agent assist
- Speech analytics
- UC tools
- Workforce management
- Quality assurance
- User journey data and analytics
Several customer reviews have noted that there were reliability and performance issues, including dropped or lagging calls.
Overall, Genesys is a solid VoIP and communication platform for call centers looking for comprehensive and AI-driven solutions with plenty of functionality and integration options.
Related: 7 Genesys Alternatives to Make Scaling Your Contact Center Easier
The Verdict: Why Nextiva Wins
There are plenty of solid options when you’re considering CloudTalk or any of its competitors. Ultimately, every call center should review the options and choose the tool that best meets its immediate and future needs.
That said, Nextiva is the best CloudTalk alternative as a call center solution, offering a strong balance of core essential functionality, advanced features, and scalability all at an affordable price point.
Call centers often choose Nextiva’s UCaaS system for the following reasons:
- Easy to use and manage: Its intuitive, user-friendly interface eases adoption, and it is ideal for smaller teams.
- Top-notch support: Reliable assistance ensures smooth operation regardless of the cost of your plan or your number of users.
- Strong uptime: Its 99.999% uptime and consistent high call quality ensure an excellent customer experience.
- All-in-one features: It offers VoIP, CRM integration, automation, and more all in one convenient platform.
- Good scalability (SMB-friendly): It offers tailored features and pricing for manageable growth regardless of your contact center headcount.
- Cost-effective alternative: It is affordable compared to complex enterprise solutions.
- Unlimited calling: There’s no need to track minutes, inbound vs. outbound call capacity, or utilization rates; just focus on providing the best service possible.
- World-class streamlining and integrations: It simplifies communication workflows to improve contact center agent efficiency.
When choosing a contact center solution, make sure you consider the features you need — not just the ones that sound impressive. Many call centers benefit from a well-rounded UCaaS system that has the essential features they need and reliable performance.
Related: Top 6 NICE CXOne Alternatives for Your Contact Center
