When evaluating contact center solutions for your business, it’s important to do your research and match available product features to your specific needs — current and future. 

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all contact center provider, but some options are more flexible than others.  

Perhaps you’ve heard good things about Aircall and RingCentral but aren’t sure which one is the best fit. Here, we’ll break down the features each service provider offers to help you make an informed decision that best suits your business needs. 

Let’s dive in and explore their pros and cons and see how they stack up against an alternative contact center platform like Nextiva.

Aircall vs. RingCentral: The Pros

Both Aircall and RingCentral bring a compelling feature set to the table, catering to diverse business needs. Let’s examine their standout advantages.

Pros of Aircall

Aircall has gained popularity as a business communications and call center software solution thanks to its user-friendly design and versatile feature set.

Its key advantages include:

• Simplicity and flexibility: Aircall is widely praised for its ease of use and adaptability to various business requirements. Its intuitive interface streamlines navigation and enhances usability for agents and administrators.
• Over 100 integrations: Aircall boasts extensive collaboration features with popular business tools, from CRMs to helpdesks, ensuring seamless workflows and data synchronization across platforms.
• Advanced analytics: Aircall provides detailed insights into call handling and agent performance metrics, empowering businesses to optimize operations and drive productivity improvements.
• Comprehensive call center tools: Aircall offers a robust feature set, including customizable interactive voice response (IVR) menus, call queuing, tagging, call whispering, and real-time call center analytics to enhance team efficiency and customer satisfaction.
• Minimal setup and dedicated support: Aircall’s strengths include an easy onboarding process with minimal setup requirements complemented by dedicated account managers who provide personalized support.

Pros of RingCentral

While Aircall focuses on core contact center capabilities, RingCentral distinguishes itself as a comprehensive unified communications platform.

Its strengths include:

• Comprehensive UCaaS features: RingCentral offers excellent unified communications as a service (UCaaS) offerings and provides a comprehensive suite of tools for document sharing, team messaging, and high-definition voice calls.
• Extensive integrations: With support for over 200 platforms and API access for custom integrations, RingCentral seamlessly blends into a company’s existing technology stack.
• Seamless video conferencing: RingCentral supports enterprise-level virtual meetings with a wide range of video conferencing capabilities, ensuring high-quality audio and video experiences.

Both Aircall and RingCentral offer compelling solutions tailored to the diverse needs of modern businesses. However, it’s essential to consider potential drawbacks.

Aircall vs. RingCentral: The Cons

While each phone system has some compelling advantages, they each have some drawbacks.

Cons of Aircall

Despite the strengths we just discussed, some users look for alternatives to Aircall because of its drawbacks.

Common Aircall complaints include the following:

• Aircall has a slight learning curve, as new users may initially find the call log system confusing.
• Aircall’s customization options are limited, report some users, particularly when it comes to tailoring features to their business processes.
• Numerous Aircall users have reported inconsistent call quality, including dropped calls and poor clarity. In fact, many contact center platforms have this problem, which can negatively affect your customer communications. Using an analytics tool, such as Nextiva Voice Analytics, can give you an instant overview of your call quality.
• As businesses grow or their needs evolve, they may find Aircall lacks some of the advanced features found in more comprehensive UCaaS platforms, such as those offered by Nextiva.

Cons of RingCentral

Similarly, RingCentral users have also reported a number of issues with the platform.

Common RingCentral complaints include the following:

• While RingCentral offers a robust set of features, smaller businesses or those with strict budgetary constraints may need to consider its higher pricing. These businesses might benefit from a scalable price structure, such as that offered by Nextiva.
• Some user reviews have reported user experience issues, such as delays between dialing and the information being displayed on their computers, which impacts call handling efficiency. 
• Frequent software update notifications have also been mentioned as a minor inconvenience, potentially disrupting workflows.

Aircall & Ringcentral vs. Nextiva

Having discussed the strengths and limitations of Aircall and RingCentral, we should consider how these two popular choices compare to a third option, one with all the strengths but none of the limitations — Nextiva.

Nextiva is a comprehensive UCaaS solution that offers scalable pricing, an outstanding user experience, and one of the best, if not the best, customer support service from any contact center platform on the market.

Comparison Table

Here’s a comparison chart for all three solutions to make it easy to review features and see which is best: 

Feature	Nextiva	RingCentral	Aircall
Monthly price (20–99 users)	Starts at $18.95 per user	Starts at $20.00 per user	Starts at $30.00 per user
Ease of use (G2)	8.7 out of 10	8.3 out of 10	9.0 out of 10
Ease of setup (G2)	8.3 out of 10	7.5 out of 10	–
Quality of support (G2)	9.0 out of 10	7.7 out of 10	9.0 out of 10
Video conferencing	Up to 250 participants per meeting	Up to 100 participants per meeting	5 participants per conversation
Communication channels	Voice, SMS, video conferencing, team messaging, internet fax, social media, voicemail	Voice, SMS, video conferencing, team messaging, internet fax, voicemail	Voice, email, web chat, MMS, SMS, team messaging, voicemail
Annual discount	Yes, approximately 27%.	Yes, approximately 33%.	Yes, approximately 25%.
Reliability	99.999% uptime	99.999% uptime	99.95% uptime
Unlimited online fax	Included on all plans	Available on Advanced and Ultra plans	N/A
Included monthly toll-free minutes	1,500+	100	Unlimited within the US and Canada*
Screen pops	Advanced: caller ID and multiple fields	Basic: caller ID	Customer details and relevant call context
Customer support	24/7 email, chat, and phone support	Phone and live chat support	Email, phone, and non-personalized onboarding sessions

Features

Aircall offers many call center tools and easy integrations, but it falls short of being a comprehensive solution for large businesses with mature needs. While RingCentral is an extensive UCaaS platform, its higher cost — with potential call quality and user experience issues — makes it a tough choice.

Nextiva, on the other hand, delivers comprehensive features for businesses of all sizes, maintaining high quality and an exceptional user experience. From advanced call routing and IVR systems to seamless CRM integrations and video conferencing capabilities, Nextiva provides a one-stop shop for all your business phone system needs.

Reliability

Aircall users have reported occasional call quality issues and challenges with integrations. Similarly, RingCentral users have expressed concerns about software updates and delays between dialing and information display.

In contrast, Nextiva excels in reliability and user satisfaction, consistently earning high praise for call quality and ease of use. Its robust infrastructure ensures minimal downtime and seamless communication even during high call volume periods.

Support

Where Aircall’s support receives mixed reviews, and RingCentral users experience challenges receiving timely support, Nextiva stands out for exceptional customer service. With a dedicated team of experts available 24/7, Nextiva ensures quick issue resolution and maintains high customer satisfaction rates.

Scalability

Aircall and RingCentral are scalable solutions, but as businesses grow, these platforms may present challenges, or customers may incur additional costs to accommodate evolving requirements.

Nextiva shines in its scalability. It is designed from the ground up to effortlessly grow with businesses of all sizes. Its robust infrastructure and flexible pricing plans ensure a seamless transition as your communication needs expand, backed by reliable service and unwavering support.

You Get It all With Nextiva

While Aircall and RingCentral are solid solutions with their own strengths, Nextiva builds upon their weak spots by offering its customers a complete UCaaS and VoIP solution with exceptional functionality, key features, and excellent customer support when needed.

With Nextiva, you get a feature-rich contact center platform that includes powerful tools like:

• Advanced call routing: Ensures optimal call management and directs calls to the right agent or department, thus reducing wait times, improving customer satisfaction, and ultimately leading to loyal, profitable customers.
• IVR: Customize your phone menus and greetings to provide callers a professional, automated experience.
• Call recording, call monitoring, and whisper coaching: Enhance agent training and quality assurance by allowing supervisors to listen in on calls and provide real-time coaching.
• CRM integrations: Seamlessly connect your contact center with popular CRM platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zendesk to ensure customer data is always at your agents’ fingertips.
• Video conferencing and screen sharing: Facilitate remote collaboration and virtual meetings with high-quality video and screen-sharing capabilities.

Nextiva’s reliable infrastructure and dedicated customer support teams ensure your communication needs are always met no matter how rapidly your business grows.

Whether you’re a startup, a small business, or an enterprise-level organization, Nextiva provides a scalable, feature-rich, user-friendly solution that streamlines your communications and enhances customer experiences.

While Aircall and RingCentral offer compelling features, Nextiva’s comprehensive approach, exceptional reliability, and outstanding customer support make it the best choice for businesses seeking a truly unified communications platform.

Genesys and NICE are two of the most popular contact center solutions on the market. But how do they stack up against each other? 

Depending on the size of your business and your budget, one might be a better option than the other: Do you need advanced integrations? Do you need a cloud-based service?

Let’s compare their features, pricing plans, and capabilities to see which contact center software comes out on top. As a third option, we’ll also discuss how Nextiva measures up to these platforms.

NICE CXone vs. Genesys Cloud CX: The Pros

Let’s take a quick look at the key benefits of each platform.

Pros of NICE

NICE is a leader in AI-powered self-service and human agent–assisted contact center platforms.

1. Omnichannel customer engagement

NICE serves as an all-in-one contact center software to deliver omnichannel customer experiences. It integrates over 30 digital channels, including email, live chat, social media, and mobile apps. 

This allows you to coordinate customer interactions from one central platform. Things are less likely to slip through the cracks this way, and you’ll get 360-degree data to personalize inbound and outbound interactions throughout the customer journey.

2. Extensive features 

NICE offers robust features, such as advanced call routing, interactive voice response (IVR), and advanced analytics, to boost your contact center’s efficiency. 

For example, you can set up NICE to route customer calls to the best-fit agent using skills-based criteria. This reduces wait times and eliminates the hassle of manually assigning calls to agents.

3. AI integrations

Keeping up with the latest technological advancements, NICE integrates AI into different contact center functions for a more efficient workflow. Specifically, it offers AI-powered virtual assistants and employee virtual attendants to automate customer service and improve agent performance.

Pros of Genesys

Genesys offers a robust customer experience platform, combining several digital channels in one app.

1. Intuitive user interface

Several customer reviews suggest that Genesys Cloud CX has a sleek interface that’s easy to understand and navigate. This makes agent onboarding a breeze on the platform.

You can also deploy the cloud contact center software independently without any technical oversight from the support team. This is very useful for customers, as it might take some time to receive a response from the support team.

2. AI integration

The platform offers extensive AI tools for automation, including predictive engagement, routing, scheduling, workforce management, and outbound campaigns. It also has advanced features for self-service through IVR, voicebots, and chatbots​.

3. Open cloud-based contact center 

Rather than relying on traditional on-premises infrastructure, Genesys uses cloud computing to handle customer interactions across various channels, such as phone calls, emails, chats, social media, and more.

This has several benefits. First, your agents can access the contact center from anywhere with an internet connection, allowing them to work from different locations. Cloud contact centers also offer built-in redundancy and data backups, reducing the risk of downtime due to hardware failures or natural disasters.

NICE vs. Genesys Cloud CX: The Cons

Here’s why users might start looking for an alternative to NICE and Genesys.

Cons of NICE CXone

Some of the challenges users face with NICE include:

• Cost: User reviews suggest that pricing can be an issue for NICE customers. The platform’s cheapest plan costs $71 per user per month. So, if you have a mid-sized call center with 200 agents, you’ll spend $14,200 per month, not including ad-hoc costs like set-up fees and annual recurring charges. This makes the annual cost of running your contact center very high.
• Poor user experience: NICE’s user experience isn’t the best on the market. Some users find it difficult to navigate through the platform due to its complex user interface. It also has limited integration capabilities. Although it is compatible with multiple CRM tools, it doesn’t integrate with third-party systems like customer data platforms.

Cons of Genesys Cloud Cx

Some of the drawbacks users face with Genesys include:

• Poor user interface: While the agent interface is generally well-liked, some aspects of the platform are less intuitive. Take, for example, the email client. It sometimes blocks valuable information, which can be frustrating for agents who need to refer to hidden information while speaking to a customer. 
• Limited capabilities: While Genesys offers many features, some of them aren’t fully developed, limiting users’ actual capabilities on the platform. For example, its reporting feature is missing key functionalities like the longest wait time, unlimited rows for historical data, and customization options.

Comparing NICE and Genesys vs. Nextiva

Now that you have a good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of NICE and Genesys, let’s look at how Nextiva compares.

Feature	NICE	Genesys	Nextiva
Plan	Core	Digital + Voice	Professional
Monthly price	$169+	$115+	$119+
Restrictions	Dated user interface	Long implementation times	Doesn’t support every type of social media
Key feature s	AI-powered self-service Forecasting and scheduling simulation	Complex deployment specialists In-house professional services	UCaaS integration Simple implementation Built-in AI
Customer rating (G2)	4.3 out of 5 (1,617 reviews)	4.3 out of 5 (1,311 reviews)	4.5 out of 5  (3,100 reviews)
Best for	AI-ready organizations	Large businesses with complex requirements	Sales, service, and support teams of all sizes

1. Pricing

NICE and Genesys target larger enterprises with higher prices per feature, so costs quickly rack up for smaller businesses. 

Nextiva, on the other hand, offers competitive, transparent pricing that scales with features and users, making it more accessible to a range of businesses. 

Say you’re a small business with 20 agents. If you opt for Nextiva’s Essential plan, you’ll only pay $18.95 per user per month (billed annually) to access core contact center capabilities like toll-free numbers and voicemail. This is a steal compared to NICE’s cheapest plan, which costs $71 per agent per month.

2. Ease of use and integrations

You don’t need advanced technical skills to deploy and work with Nextiva because it’s easy to use. 

As one customer explains:

“I love that Nextiva’s administrator portal is so easy to use. You can make changes on your own with ease if you feel comfortable. The system we used before Nextiva required a lot of calling in, and we couldn’t make many changes ourselves.”

Genesys, on the other hand, can be complex and has a significant learning curve. Users often require lengthy training sessions to grasp the tool’s core features and use it independently.

Nextiva also has a robust third-party ecosystem comprising numerous apps you already use for your business. For example, it integrates with CRM software like Salesforce, allowing you to deliver real-time customer data to contact center agents for personalized communication.

3. Scalability

Nextiva scales quickly to match your changing business needs. Let’s say you started with the Essential plan for 20 agents, but your contact center has now grown to 50 agents. 

In that case, you can pay for more seats on your plan and enjoy a discount per agent (the more seats you purchase, the less you pay). You can also upgrade to the Professional or Enterprise plans to access advanced contact center features like a multi-level auto attendant and voicemail transcriptions.

4. Customer support

Nextiva is known for its excellent customer support and extensive resources, effectively catering to businesses of all sizes. Its support team is available via phone, email, and an in-app chat. The company also provides a comprehensive knowledge base with self-service resources to troubleshoot issues independently. 

But don’t just take their word for it. See what one of users have to say: 

“It is very quick and easy to get in touch with the customer support team at Nextiva. I had an issue with one of the new desktop phones I set up in my office, so I called Nextiva, and they fixed the issue within 15 minutes. The service rep I spoke with, Dillon, was very friendly, courteous, and knowledgeable about how to address our problem.”

5. Product offerings

Nextiva provides a comprehensive suite of straightforward and adaptable communication solutions, making it a well-rounded choice. From VoIP and SIP trunking to intelligent cloud contact center capabilities, you get everything you need for omnichannel engagement to deliver top-notch customer experiences.

Make the Switch: Get It all With Nextiva 

NICE and Genesys are both solid contact center solutions. But when you weigh their features, usability, and pricing against Nextiva’s offerings, the winner is clear. 

What makes Nextiva stand out is its affordable plans, which cater to businesses of all sizes, ease of integration, and stellar customer support.

Choosing a contact center solution for a business requires a ton of research, especially in the late stages of narrowing down your choices. Amped-up marketing makes solutions appear almost similar until you dive a little deeper.

When you’re comparing RingCentral vs. Five9, you can focus on a few areas to make your decision easier. Here, we will highlight these areas and compare the platforms in detail to uncover the pros and cons of each.

We’ll also take a look at how Nextiva stacks up against these two popular contact center solutions.

RingCentral vs. Five9: Comparing the Benefits

Let’s explore RingCentral and Five9 and their respective strengths according to our research and the customer feedback we found online.

RingCentral: The pros

Established in 1999, RingCentral allows teams and businesses to connect anytime, anywhere, and from any device. Its benefits for users are listed below:

Outbound calling

RingCentral’s outbound calling features include progressive, predictive, and preview dialers to boost agent productivity and reduce manual dialing. Intelligent call suppression makes real-time adjustments to the dialing list when a customer takes action, which could be completing their payment or submitting a do-not-call request.

RingCentral allows admins to reserve customers for a specific agent using agent filtering. Simply ensure that you have an updated lead list to compile, upload, and assign to different outbound calling campaigns. You can enable this at a dial group level.

Omnichannel features

RingCentral routes customer queries across various channels, including emails, SMSs, social media, voicemail, and live chats. Incoming calls are sent to interactive voice response (IVR) to determine customers’ concerns. For example, when you hear, “press 1 for account details,” that’s an IVR in action.

The automatic call distributor then queues inbound calls based on the IVR response and the agents’ expertise and experience. You can configure omnichannel routing based on an agent’s availability, capacity, and custom routing strategies.

Analytics and reporting

RingCentral offers detailed analytics, including speech, text, and predictive analytics to show what’s happening in real time. These reports allow businesses to identify and troubleshoot urgent issues, reducing overall ticket volume and time-to-resolution through alerting and quality scoring.

RingCentral’s reports highlight historical patterns and workflows, making it easier for businesses to recognize bottlenecks and gain insights into customer journeys. The reports cover a global system’s health, network, endpoints, rooms, and devices.

Integration across platforms

RingCentral integrates with over 300 business applications, including Google WorkSpace, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and popular CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce. It adds communication workflows to the tools businesses use daily through APIs to increase productivity.

The automation speeds up the sales cycle and ensures you get insights into every call. Integrations bring admin and operational processes together on the customer support front to improve your company’s support delivery.

Five9: The pros

Two years after RingCentral’s inception in 1999, Five9 arrived, offering a competitive cloud-based contact center solution. Here’s what customers like about the platform.

Outbound calling

The platform’s predictive dialer automates outbound dialing, saving agents time. It calculates how many calls to dial, considering the connection rates, real-time data, and historical agent statistics. It allows a progressive dialer to place calls based on agent availability so you can see the order in which your agents will work on calls.

This is done in compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which prevents any automated dialing that is not compliant with the regulations.

Omnichannel features

Five9 allows organizations to engage with customers across multiple channels, including voice, email, SMS, web chat, video, social messaging apps, and more, from a single desktop. This helps increase customer satisfaction while simultaneously reducing agent effort.

It also offers self-service and gathers customer intent over a call with speech-enabled IVA or on a mobile device with visual IVR.

Analytics and reporting

Five9 offers comprehensive, real-time call center analytics and reporting tools. It provides over 120 pre-made reporting templates and custom analytic parameters. You can use data visualization and drill-down capabilities to gain insights and make data-driven decisions.

The interaction analytics feature uses natural language processing to process conversation insights. This feature works with 28 different languages, helping you analyze sentiments in your customer’s language.

Integrations

Five9 seamlessly integrates with leading CRM software such as Salesforce, ServiceNow, Oracle, and Zendesk. These integrations help companies deliver a remarkable customer experience while increasing agent productivity.

Such integrations help agents work seamlessly across apps without endlessly switching platforms.

Check out: Nextiva’s Five9 integration that enables seamless VoIP connectivity between the two systems

Five9 vs RingCentral: Comparing the Drawbacks

While both platforms have some of the best features and benefits available, they also have shortcomings.

RingCentral: The cons

Although the RingCentral contact center solution offers a range of features, there are some cons that you should look out for, including: 

• Complexity: While RingCentral’s interface may look relatively easy to use, it’s easy to get lost between several submenus and widgets. This makes it tricky to find the page you’re looking for. The wide range of features can also overwhelm smaller teams with limited IT support.
• Pricing: The basic RingCentral plan is reasonably priced, but it excludes many essential features, such as 24/7 support, unlimited audio conferencing, and integrations. With its comprehensive features, the premium plan comes with a hefty price tag, making it unaffordable for many small and medium businesses.
• Integration: Despite its 300+ integrations, some users have reported difficulties setting up and customizing these integrations for their existing workflows. Some have also experienced below-par customer service while dealing with the RingCentral team.

Five9: The cons

Below are some of Five9’s notable cons. Consider these when choosing a contact center solution for your business.

• Steep learning curve: Five9’s user interface is comparatively easy and intuitive, unlike RingCentral’s. However, the more advanced features often require more detailed and in-depth training to get agents up to speed. This makes it more challenging to train new users or teams with limited contact center software experience.
• Cost: Like RingCentral, Five9’s premium features, such as analytics capabilities, come with a hefty price tag. Their Core and Digital plans require businesses to choose between voice and digital, and companies must pay more for the omnichannel solution.
• Technical issues: Businesses using Five9 occasionally report technical glitches and reliability issues that affect their call quality and system performance. Also, due to its complexity, setting up Five9 for businesses can require a significant time investment.

Exploring a Third Option: RingCentral vs. Five9 vs. Nextiva

Nextiva entered the market in 2006, offering a more competitive contact center solution than RingCentral and Five9. Below are some features and capabilities that make Nextiva a preferred solution for users:

Feature	Nextiva	RingCentral	Five9
Monthly price (20–99 users)	Starts at $18.95 per user	Starts at $20.00 per user	Starts at $175 per month
Ease of use (G2)	8.7 out of 10	8.4 out of 10	8.4 out of 10
Ease of setup (G2)	8.3 out of 10	7.7 out of 10	7.8 out of 10
Quality of support (G2)	9.0 out of 10	7.8 out of 10	8.4 out of 10
Communication channels	Voice, text messaging (SMS), video conferencing, team messaging, internet fax, social media, voicemail	Voice, text messaging (SMS), video conferencing, team messaging, internet fax, voicemail	Chat, voice, email, SMS/MMS, social messaging
Reliability	99.999% uptime	99.999% uptime	99.994% uptime
Unlimited online fax	Included on all plans	Available on Advanced and Ultra plans	Includes fax as one of the channels
Mobile app	iOS and Android apps with full-featured calling, messaging, and video conferencing capabilities	iOS and Android apps with calling, messaging, and video conferencing. Some advanced features may be limited on mobile compared to the desktop app	iOS and Android apps with visual IVR and visual customer surveys
Integrations	Outlook and Google Contacts; additional integrations based on tier	Available based on tier	CRM and UCaaS integrations available
Customer support	24/7 email, chat, phone support	Phone support and live chat	24/7 via phone or email

Comprehensive suite

Nextiva offers businesses a one-stop shop for managing customer communication. It streamlines your VoIP phone system, CRM, and customer experience management to deliver a complete solution to customer-facing teams. This way, teams avoid the complexities of navigating fragmented and siloed applications.

User-friendly interface

RingCentral and Five9 make it challenging for businesses with comparatively less extensive IT support to adopt and use the solution.

However, Nextiva provides a user-friendly and intuitive interface, making it easier for the customer-facing team to ramp up quickly and focus more on delivering a better customer experience. It’s also easy to set up and implement, making it less hassle for admins.

Exceptional customer support

Nextiva’s support teams are available 24/7 to offer decent customer support. Whether you have an issue setting up your system or a feature-related query, you can ping Nextiva’s support anytime for quick resolution.

Nextiva stands for exceptional customer service, empowering businesses to support their customers promptly and efficiently.

Competitive pricing

Unlike other options, Nextiva’s pricing is cost-conscious. It offers advanced features like auto dialer, call recording, call routing, and analytics, and when paired with its affordability, it supports businesses of all sizes. The solution eliminates expensive hardware or heavy maintenance and provides a cloud contact center solution. It can be highly cost-effective for diverse business needs.

Reliability and scalability

Nextiva offers a reliable service that you can scale as your business grows and its communication needs evolve.

The solution promises a 99.999% uptime to help enterprises always be approachable to their customers. The platform updates real-time network status, so if there are any system performance issues, you’ll instantly receive notifications.

Nextiva also delivers a broad knowledge base and FAQs to support self-service users facing difficulties or confusion.

Verdict: Add Nextiva to Your Contact Center Shortlist

RingCX and Five9 offer competitive call center software and have their strengths. However, if you’re looking for more functionality, ease of use, and support at a lower cost, Nextiva is the best choice.

We’ll bottom line it for you:

• Fact: Nextiva has higher customer satisfaction than RingCentral and Five9 (G2)
• Fact: Nextiva is the best-rated contact center infrastructure solution (G2)
• Fact: More users recommend Nextiva over RingCentral or Five9 (Gartner Peer Insights)

That’s why we consistently receive an overall higher rating than RingCentral or Five9:

Nextiva offers a holistic and integrated communication solution for businesses of all sizes. It is easier for admins to set up and customer-facing teams to use, making it a go-to contact center solution for top brands.

Dialpad offers a sleek interface, AI voice smarts, and a range of calling and conferencing features — all designed to streamline omnichannel communication.

It’s a popular choice for businesses seeking a unified phone system and AI contact center solutions. But is it really the best deal for what it provides?

We’ll dissect Dialpad’s pricing plans, uncover its strengths and weaknesses, and see how it stacks up against a competitor like Nextiva. This way, you can decide if Dialpad offers the best value for your communication needs.

What Is Dialpad?

Dialpad is an AI-powered cloud communication platform offering a unified communications hub and features like VoIP calls, text messaging, video conferencing, team chat, voicemail transcription, and more.

One of the key aspects of Dialpad is its focus on artificial intelligence for an enhanced customer experience.

Dialpad AI offers features like call transcription, AI summaries of customer interactions, sentiment analysis, real-time coaching for calls, and AI sales tools. These features automate tasks and equip businesses with intelligent insights.

Dialpad Pricing & Plans

Dialpad offers a range of communication solutions to meet the needs of any business size. Here’s a breakdown of its three main business communication plans:

1. Standard plan (for small teams)

Dialpad’s Standard plan costs $15 per user per month and provides a basic assortment of business phone system features. Each user gets one local business phone number and can be licensed with a minimum of one seat and a maximum of one office. 

Among the Standard plan’s features are:

• Unlimited calling within the US and Canada
• Visual voicemail
• Real-time analytics and reporting
• Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 integrations
• SMS, MMS, and team messaging
• Meetings with up to 10 participants
• Business phone numbers (per user): 1 local number
• Maximum meeting duration of 5 hours per meeting
• Up to 3 office locations

Limitations: Support is limited to web and chat channels; phone support is not available. Users can only have one local business phone number. This plan lacks advanced call routing features and CRM integrations.

2. Pro plan (for growing businesses)

For businesses looking for more advanced features, Dialpad’s Pro plan is available at $25 per user per month. This includes all the features from the Standard plan while adding new features and increasing certain limits.

For example, departments and ring groups are increased to a maximum of 25 users, and the office maximum is increased from one to 10 (although the seat minimum is also increased to three). 

Pro plan features include all features of the standard plan, plus:

• CRM integrations
• Microsoft Teams integration
• 10 office locations
• Additional local or international numbers
• Open APIs & webhooks
• Global SMS capabilities
• 25 ring groups (departments)
• Call recording

Limitations: While offering more features, the Pro plan still has limitations on the number of users per department/ring group (capped at 25) and maximum office locations (up to 10). A dedicated support number is also missing.

3. Enterprise plan (for large organizations)

Finally, there’s Dialpad’s Enterprise plan. As the name suggests, it’s designed for large enterprises that need a communications solution for many employees. While it requires a minimum of 100 seats, it can be used across an unlimited number of office locations.

Notably, the pricing plan for Enterprise is not disclosed, so interested businesses must reach out directly to see what it will cost their organization.

The Enterprise plan includes all the features in the Standard and Pro plans while adding:

• Unlimited ring groups (departments)
• Dial-by-extension
• Integrations with more apps and tools, including Microsoft Teams, Hubspot, and ServiceNow
• Advanced messaging and meeting features
• Premium support with a dedicated account manager, direct access to tier 2 support, and faster support response times than lower tiers

Limitations: The meeting limit is capped at 10 participants. Due to the custom nature of the plan, pricing details, and specific feature availability require contacting Dialpad directly.

Common features across plans

Some elements of Dialpad’s offerings are accessible on all plans, including certain calling and messaging features, security compliance, and chat support.

For users interested in messaging, these features include:

• SMS, MMS, and team messaging
• Audio chat rooms
• Topic-based team messaging and message threads
• File sharing for Slack integration

For users who host or join many meetings, participants can join meetings from their desktop or via a mobile browser, while users in the US and Canada can also dial in. Other common meeting features include:

• Unlimited meetings, with a maximum of 10 participants and a five-hour limit per meeting
• Desktop and mobile screen sharing
• Unlimited audio recordings
• In-meeting chat
• Meeting scheduling from Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 calendar 

Additionally, Dialpad has certain security features and compliance levels that are universal across plans. These include:

• User management and an admin portal
• Single sign-on with Okta
• HIPAA/BAA compliance
• Locked meeting rooms

Finally, all Dialpad users can expect support via an online knowledge base and community forum, multilingual web- and chat-based support, and live support options. Keep in mind that live support is available 24/7 for Pro and Enterprise users only and is not available to Standard users on weekends.

Internet fax (eFax) is only available as an add-on, regardless of your plan. After the first 1,000 faxes each month, each additional fax will cost $0.10, so organizations that send virtual faxes will need to factor this into their budget.

Additional costs and savings on Dialpad plans:

• Billing cycle: Annual billing offers a discount compared to the monthly rate.
• Per-minute charges: International calls outside included minutes and premium services like toll-free numbers incur additional charges.
• Toll-free numbers: Acquiring and maintaining toll-free numbers comes with extra costs on top of the base plan.
• Free trial: Dialpad offers a free trial with limitations on features and user access.

Dialpad Pricing & Plans Compared To Competitors

While Dialpad is a strong communication solution, it’s worth considering competitor options to ensure the best fit for your business needs. Dialpad offers a variety of features, but its limitations in certain areas might lead you to explore alternatives.

For instance, some users report occasional call drops and connectivity issues. Additionally, features like 24/7 support and advanced integrations may require upgrading to a higher-tier plan.

Nextiva stands out as a compelling alternative to Dialpad with several advantages:

💰Pricing structure

Nextiva offers a tiered pricing structure with three main plans: Essential, Professional, and Enterprise. These plans are comparable to Dialpad’s plans and include features like unlimited calling within the US and Canada, free toll-free numbers, and SMS/MMS messaging, even in the basic plan.

Nextiva excels in offering a bundled UCaaS experience, meaning many features like video conferencing and voicemail-to-email are included under a single plan, unlike Dialpad where separate plans might be needed for some features.

A well-structured tier system with each plan progressively adding valuable features like video conferencing capabilities, advanced integrations, and call recording simplifies the value for you. You can choose the plan that best suits your needs without overpaying.

Essential	Pro	Enterprise
$18.95 per user per month	$22.95 per user per month	$32.95 per user per month
Unlimited calling in the US and Canada Free local and toll-free numbers (up to 1,500 toll-free minutes) Mobile SMS/MMS (up to 1,000 messages per user per month) Unlimited internet fax Voicemail-to-email notifications Integrations with Microsoft Outlook and Google Contacts Video calling (up to 45 minutes per meeting) 24/7 customer support	Everything in the Essential plan Unlimited conference calls (up to 40 participants) Unlimited video conferencing Screen sharing Multi-level auto attendant Mobile and desktop SMS/MMS Advanced integrations with popular CRM and customer-facing apps (including Salesforce and HubSpot) Up to 3,000 toll-free minutes	Everything in the Essential and Professional plans Unlimited participants in voice and video conferences Call recording Unlimited video conference recording Voicemail transcriptions Up to 12,500 toll-free minutes Single sign-on Integrations with Microsoft Teams More advanced integrations for CRM and customer-facing apps, and custom integration capability

☎️ Focus on customer service

All Nextiva plans include 24/7 customer support, ensuring you have assistance whenever needed. Dialpad’s basic plan only offers chat and web support, with 24/7 support reserved for higher tiers.

🖇 Strong integrations

Nextiva boasts a robust integration library, including popular CRM and customer-facing apps like Salesforce and HubSpot. This seamless integration streamlines workflow and enhances team collaboration.

🔐 Security and compliance

Nextiva prioritizes security with world-class network security practices and compliance with various standards like HIPAA. This is crucial for businesses handling sensitive information.

📈 Call quality and reliability

Nextiva leverages VoIP technology for exceptional call quality and reliability. This ensures clear communication and a positive experience for your customers and team members.

Business Phone System Feature Highlights

Both Dialpad and Nextiva offer helpful business communications features, but which are deserving of special attention? Let’s highlight some of the key features for each and see what stands out.

Dialpad

Key features of Dialpad’s plans include:

• Unlimited calling for as many phone calls as needed within the service area
• HD voice quality for clear communications
• Call recording to help with maintaining records, training, and quality assurance
• AI-powered analytics for real-time, data-driven insights
• Multi-level auto attendant to direct calls through multiple levels of menu options
• Salesforce integrations to streamline workflows between the phone system and CRM
• 24/7 customer support (or 24/5 customer support for the Standard plan)
• Security compliance for standards such as HIPAA

Nextiva

Nextiva’s plans also provide important communications tools and features, including:

• Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) phone service for remarkable reliability and clear call quality
• Video conferencing for virtual meetings
• Team collaboration tools, including team messaging and file sharing
• Advanced IVR for pre-recording messages, text-to-speech technology, and a DTMF interface to efficiently assist callers
• Call pop to display customer data before you answer a call, helping to make every user more effective
• Advanced call routing to direct callers to the right department or team member every time
• Auto attendant/virtual receptionist to greet callers and help them reach the right extension
• Call analytics to monitor call quality, volume, and service-level performance
• Call recording to assist with training and quality assurance (QA)
• Mobile app to manage business communications on the go
• 24/7 customer support for all plans
• World-class network security, including ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 2, PCI, and HIPAA compliance

Expanded Comparison Table

How do Dialpad and Nextiva compare when they go head-to-head? See how their features compare in this handy chart:

Feature or Functionality	Nextiva Essential	Nextiva Enterprise	Dialpad Standard	Dialpad Enterprise
Monthly price (billed annually)	$18.95	$32.95	$15	Not disclosed
Unlimited voice and video calling (US and Canada)	✅	✅	✅	✅
Mobile apps (iOS and Android)	✅	✅	✅	✅
Video conference duration limit	45 min	45 min	5 hours	5 hours
Video conferencing participants		Unlimited	10	10
Video meeting recording	✅	✅	✅	✅
Meeting scheduling and calendar integrations	✅	✅	✅	✅
Team messaging	✅	✅	✅	✅
Voicemail to email	✅	✅	✅	✅
Toll-free numbers	✅	✅	✅	✅
Unlimited internet fax	✅	✅	Add-on	Add-on
Auto attendant	✅	✅	✅	✅
SMS/MMS		✅	✅	✅
Call recording		✅	✅	✅
Multi-level auto attendant		✅	✅	✅
Salesforce and HubSpot integrations		✅		✅
Call queues		✅		✅
Voicemail transcription		✅	✅	✅
Advanced analytics and reporting		✅		✅
Microsoft Teams integration		✅		✅
Single sign-on		✅	✅	✅

Nextiva prioritizes affordability, a bundled UCaaS experience, and a high volume of toll-free calls while Dialpad values cutting-edge AI features, mobile-centricity, and the possibility of advanced integrations tailored to your specific software.

Which Provider Is Right for Your Business?

Now that you understand what each provider offers, you can determine which is better for certain businesses based on their needs, size, and workforce.

Dialpad

Dialpad’s AI analytics and voice intelligence appeal to businesses looking for innovative tech solutions. Dialpad is designed with a mobile-centric workforce in mind, so it can accommodate salespeople, support agents, and consultants who predominantly work out of the office or in hybrid environments.

Global businesses, however, may find its lack of international calling a problem. Organizations with complex call center operations may find that Dialpad is not robust enough for their needs, and its limited scalability can be an issue for growing businesses.

Nextiva

Nextiva’s flexibility and scalability make it a fit for companies of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises. Customer-centric businesses can benefit from Nextiva’s strong CRM integration and customer service tools, which are exceptionally helpful for improving customer relationships and support.

Additionally, Nextiva’s suite of communication tools — including voice, video, and team messaging — provides a great solution for organizations looking to invest in unified communications.

Its robust mobile app and team collaboration tools also effectively support a distributed workforce, and it has a reputation for high reliability and uptime, which is great for businesses in which phone services are critical.

Plus, Nextiva’s own customer service is highly acclaimed and available at all times.

Overall

When you compare Dialpad and Nextiva, the latter has the edge for businesses looking for a robust, all-in-one communications platform with an emphasis on enhancing customer relationships and providing a seamless experience across channels.

Its features improve customer interactions and employee collaborations while providing valuable insights into your communications.

Nextiva caters to the needs of larger businesses with extensive customer service teams, sales teams, and contact centers. Growing businesses of all sizes will find that Nextiva is reliable and scalable.

The Verdict on Dialpad Pricing

Dialpad offers a feature-rich cloud communications platform with a variety of plans to suit different business needs. Let’s weigh its pros and cons.

Pros:

• Transparent tiers: Dialpad has three well-defined plans (Standard, Pro, and Enterprise) with clear pricing structures.
• Scalability: You can easily upgrade or downgrade plans as your business grows.
• Competitive base price: The Standard plan at $15 per user per month is competitive with other VoIP providers.

Cons:

• Limited features in base plan: The Standard plan lacks some advanced features like international calling and AI functionalities, which require upgrading to higher tiers.
• Potential hidden fees: Be aware of add-on costs for features like conference room lines and additional phone numbers.
• Enterprise-focused pricing: Higher tiers with advanced features can become expensive for small businesses.

Dialpad’s pricing can be a good fit for businesses that need a feature-rich cloud phone system with strong AI capabilities. However, it’s important to carefully consider your needs and factor in potential add-on costs before making a decision. It may not be ideal for small businesses that don’t need all the bells and whistles of AI capabilities and looking for a simplified solution.

When choosing Dialpad, ask yourself:

• Do you need international calling or SMS capabilities?
• How important are AI features like call coaching and transcriptions?
• How many users and office locations do you have?

You can then determine if Dialpad’s pricing aligns with your budget and requirements. Don’t forget to compare Dialpad’s pricing with other VoIP providers like Nextiva to find the best fit for your business.

Considering Dialpad alternatives? Check these out.👇

If you’ve just started a new business or plan to expand yours, one of the first steps you’ll take is to get a business phone number. 

Those 10 digits help you close sales, talk to customers, and chat with your team. You’ll soon discover everything about getting a business phone number, its types, and the top features for your small business. 

But first, why even get a business phone number? 

Business Phone Number Benefits 

A dedicated business phone number offers several advantages for small business owners. 

• Build a professional image – Maintain your brand’s trusted, professional appearance. You can provide a big business look without the complexity of one.
• Increase privacy – Using a business phone number keeps your personal phone number private and separate from work-related phone calls.
• Anticipate who’s calling – Answer the phone professionally instead of sending callers to your voicemail for incoming business calls. (“Hey, it’s Bob. You know what to do at the beep … [beep]”)
• Enhance work-life balance – Keep your personal and business communications separate. This ultimately helps you prevent burnout in your personal and professional lives.
• Improve brand recall – Some phone numbers are just easier to recognize. Look for repeating digits or numbers. A simple number is best if you advertise on TV, radio, or outdoor advertising. 
• Customize your caller ID – Project a consistent brand when you place calls. Instead of just your name that appears (or Unknown Caller), you can have your business name appear instead.

Claim your business phone number. And it's free.

Get your business phone, messages, video meetings, contact management and notes–integrated in ONE powerful app. FREE.

Get started

Types of Business Phone Numbers 

There are a handful of business phone numbers for different needs. Popular numbers include local, toll-free, vanity, and international numbers.

Local Phone Numbers 

Local phone numbers are specific to a particular geographic location, making it easy for customers in the area to recognize and trust the number. These numbers help establish a local presence and may be more affordable than other options.

However, the drawback is that local numbers may not suit businesses targeting a nationwide audience. Also, people reject calls from unfamiliar locations, so choosing popular metropolitan areas for your business is wise. 

Does the area code of my phone number have to match my business address?

No, the area code of your phone number does not have to match your business address. It is entirely up to you to choose the area code for your business phone number.

Toll-Free Phone Numbers 

Toll-free phone numbers allow customers to call your business without being charged. These numbers are an excellent option for companies aiming to build a trustworthy national brand.

Fact: Toll-free phone numbers start with 800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877, and 888, per the FCC. 

The downside is that they can be more expensive than local numbers and may be harder to secure due to their popularity. While the number could be free, you are charged a reverse toll per minute. Nextiva includes 1,500+ toll-free minutes per month with its business phone plans. 

Vanity Phone Numbers 

Vanity phone numbers might be the perfect solution for those looking to make a lasting impression on their customers. These personalized and easy-to-remember numbers allow businesses to stand out and strengthen their brand identity.

Examples:

• 1-877-KARS4KIDS
• 1-877-CASH-NOW
• 1-800-GOT-JUNK
• 1-800-LAWYERS

A study by NumberBarn discovered that 85% of people remember a vanity number when mentioned in an ad. I bet you heard the jingle for these numbers playback in your head.

Virtual Phone Numbers 

Virtual phone numbers operate entirely online, making them a flexible and cost-effective option for businesses of all sizes. They can be set up to forward calls to any device, providing increased mobility and accessibility for employees.

On the downside, virtual numbers will likely be reassigned to someone else if you don’t pay for them (like from a VoIP provider). 

International Phone Numbers 

International phone numbers allow your business to establish a presence in global markets by providing customers with a local number to call. This builds trust and credibility with international customers while saving them money on international long-distance calls.

The main drawback is the potential for higher costs associated with additional resources to manage international calls.

Signs You’re Ready for a Business Phone Number

Not sure if you need a business line? As a small business owner, here are nine signs you’re ready for a dedicated telephone number for your company:

1. Send business calls to your mobile phone’s voicemail
2. Worry about the purpose of an incoming call
3. Missed calls when your free business phone number was reassigned
4. Answer incoming customer calls unexpectedly
5. Need more integrations than what Google Voice offers
6. Unable to exchange text messages over your business landline
7. Want to route calls to your business line to other team members
8. No longer a solopreneur and now operate a small business
9. Don’t want customers to know your personal cell phone

The good news is you don’t need to change your phone number.

Our guide to transferring your business number explains everything you should know about porting your number to a new provider. 

To get a new phone number, follow the steps below.

How to Get a Business Phone Number (3 Steps) 

Let’s break down how to get a phone number for your business in three simple steps: 

1. Choose a business phone number provider
2. Purchase your telephone number for your company
3. Assign your phone extension and set up optional features

1) Choose a Business Phone Provider 

First and foremost, it’s crucial to find a phone service provider that understands the unique needs of small businesses. Look no further than Nextiva, the top business VoIP provider since 2006, trusted by over 100,000 companies. 

With Nextiva, you’ll receive a dedicated business phone number and reliable service powered by Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). In simpler terms, you can make calls using your internet connection! 

Tip: When you sign up for a line of service with Nextiva, you’ll get a free local phone number. Plus, each account comes with a complimentary toll-free phone number as well.

2) Pick Your Phone Number 

After choosing a provider, you can select a local area code, toll-free number, or a vanity phone number for your business. (We’ll describe these in detail below!)

A good place to start is to obtain a local phone number where your company operates. You can port your existing numbers to the new provider without interruption if you already have business phone numbers. If your small business is growing, purchasing multiple phone numbers with the same prefix is helpful. 

What are some popular area codes that I can choose from for my business phone number?

Some popular area codes that you can choose from for your business phone number include 202, 213, 267, 281, 302, 310, 330, 347, 404, 425, 510, 512, 630, 646, 703, 732, 805, 817, 818, 916, 925, and 949. These are just a few examples of the many area codes available for selection. You can also have multiple team members using a shared phone number.

Tip: If you’re already using a free business phone number from the likes of Google Voice or another service provider, you’re entitled to transfer the number to your new business phone system. 

3) Assign Phone Extensions 

With phone extensions, you can direct where incoming phone calls go. In most cases, phone extensions are for other users, such as employees — but not always.

For instance, a solopreneur could set up different departments like sales or support in their virtual phone system. This way, they’ll know the intent behind incoming calls and can serve them better.

Add or change extensions for different team members or departments when your business scales. This helps route incoming calls efficiently and ensures customers can quickly reach the right person or department.

Tip: Did you know that an individual phone number that can be dialed is known as a Direct Inward Dialing (DID) number? These DIDs are how people can call employees on their office phone lines. 

Top Phone Features for Your Business

The best part of using a business phone service is the impressive number of features that come with it. Here are the top phone features Nextiva customers use for their businesses.

Call forwarding

Not in the office? No problem. Nextiva’s call forwarding makes it possible to receive your calls from the comfort of your home or cell phone. 

Forward calls based on your business needs. Direct calls to any destination, including an extension, group, answering service, or simply a voicemail box. And do so automatically based on team availability, business hours, or holidays. 

Custom greetings

Create your personalized greeting or ask Nextiva to set you up with a pre-recorded message. No need to hire additional voiceover talent — Nextiva has it.

A custom greeting on a VoIP phone system can enhance your business’s professional image, allowing you to establish a brand identity and provide essential information to callers before directing them to the appropriate department or individual.

Auto attendants

Let your customers choose an auto attendant who they want to speak to. This business phone system feature provides incoming callers with a menu of departments or instructions. 

Businesses use auto attendants to level up their customer experience from when they call. And you can even connect them together, known as a multi-level auto attendant. 

Desktop and mobile apps

One major feature is the free softphone to use your business phone number. Your team can place calls from any location, offering unparalleled flexibility and mobility for your business. 

NextivaONE provides a wealth of advanced business features, such as team messaging, text messages, and video calls, that can significantly improve your company’s efficiency and productivity. It’s free on iOS and Android — and you can also download its desktop app! 

Business text messaging

Connect with customers and partners with the convenience of SMS text messaging. Send and receive messages and pictures to communicate what words can’t. Send a quick reminder to appointments, order updates, and answer customer questions in mere seconds. 

Yes, you can exchange text messages using your VoIP number with Nextiva.

Unlike traditional phone service, you can do more than phone calls with Nextiva. Communicate with customers on your terms rather than your technology’s. And you won’t need a separate third-party texting app to do it. 

Video conferencing

In addition to your business phone number, you get access to a robust video meeting platform. Your team can collaborate with HD video quality along with seamless screen sharing.

Not feeling video ready? No problem. Hop on a quick audio conference call with your team, partners, and customers. 

Call recording

Did you know you can record phone calls with your business phone number? Call recording lets you track conversations, monitor customer interactions, and ensure compliance with industry regulations.

With Nextiva, you can trigger automatic call recording or let your team start and stop a recorded call based on demand, depending on the nature of your business and customer conversations. There’s no extra equipment to worry about since it’s included with your cloud phone system.

Free online faxing 

Online faxing eliminates the need for a physical fax machine, reducing costs and saving space. Many industries still rely on faxing — but you don’t need a costly analog phone line to send and receive faxes.

Nextiva provides a free online faxing service, allowing businesses to send and receive faxes without hardware or special equipment. This perk saves local businesses at least $20 monthly.

Voicemail transcription 

Voicemail transcription lets you receive voicemail messages in your email or SMS text message. This way, you can check messages without having to listen to them.

This feature saves time, improves efficiency, and better manages messages. In addition, Nextiva attaches the audio message so you can listen to them without dialing into a voicemail box.

Virtual business phone numbers 

A virtual business number allows businesses to establish a local or toll-free presence without a physical phone line. These VoIP numbers can be routed to any existing phone line, providing flexibility and cost savings.

Virtual business phone numbers can be easily changed or reassigned, making them a practical solution for growing businesses or those with a remote workforce. Expanding your local business in a new area? Setting up local phone numbers takes just minutes with Nextiva. 

Anonymous call rejection 

Anonymous call rejection allows businesses to block incoming calls from unknown or hidden numbers. This reduces unwanted phone calls and potential scams, increasing productivity and providing a more secure communication environment.

Screening anonymous calls also ensures you can focus on legitimate customers and uphold your brand. Plus, you won’t get annoying telemarketers ringing your desk phone or mobile phone.

Business call routing 

Call routing streamlines the handling of incoming calls by directing them to the appropriate department or individual based on predefined criteria. This ensures that calls are answered promptly and efficiently, improving customer satisfaction.

Advanced call routing options can also be set up depending on your VoIP provider to handle after-hours or high-call volume situations, ensuring no call goes unanswered. You can also ring multiple team members at once.

International dialing 

International dialing functionality is essential to serve a global audience. You can place outbound calls to anyone worldwide, and you’ll just pay for nominal usage.

Business VoIP service provider Nextiva offers exceptionally low pricing for international calls, reducing calling costs to a fraction of traditional phone providers. You get unlimited calling between the United States and Canada included. But you can limit international calling if it doesn’t fit your business needs. 

How to Choose the Right Type of Phone Number for Your Business

Selecting the right type of phone number is crucial for setting the tone of your business communications and can impact your brand’s perception. 

Here are detailed considerations and steps to ensure you make the best choice for your business needs. 

1. Assess Your Business Needs

Business Scale and Scope:

• Small Businesses and Local Shops. For this type of business, it’s preferable to get a local number. This reflects the community you serve and can enhance trust and relatability. 

• Expanding Businesses. Consider if you’re expanding beyond local borders. A toll-free number might better serve a growing national presence.

• International Businesses. An international number or country-specific numbers can help establish a local presence in foreign markets, making your business more accessible to global customers. 

Industry and Customer Interaction:

• Customer Support Heavy Industries. Industries such as retail, services, or technology, where high volumes of customer interactions occur, may benefit from toll-free numbers to encourage customer calls without cost to them.

• Professional Services. Law firms, consultancy services, and other professional service providers might prefer local numbers to emphasize their community presence and availability. 

2. Understand Your Customer Base Location

• Local Customers. If the majority of your customers are local, having a local number reduces their cost to contact you and can increase their likelihood of reaching out. 

• National Presence. If your marketing and service provision target a national audience, a toll-free number facilitates easier access for customers across the country, potentially increasing engagement and customer satisfaction.

• Global Reach. For businesses targeting international markets, consider the implications of using international numbers, including the legal and operational requirements of different countries. 

3. Analyze Your Marketing Needs

• Vanity Numbers. These are ideal for businesses looking to enhance brand recall (e.g., 1-800-APPLES). Vanity numbers should be memorable and align with your brand message.

• Campaign Tracking. Utilize different phone numbers for tracking the effectiveness of various marketing campaigns. For instance, use specific numbers on different advertising channels to track which ones generate more calls.

4. Considering Long-Term Flexibility

• Scalability. Assess if the phone number will scale with your business. For example, starting with a local number but having the option to add a toll-free or international number as the business grows. 

• Portability. Check if you can retain your number when changing service providers or relocating. VoIP numbers often offer excellent portability compared to traditional landline numbers. 

5. Cost Implications

When choosing the right type of business phone number, it’s essential to understand both the initial setup costs and the ongoing expenses involved. This will help you budget effectively and avoid any unexpected charges that could impact your business finances. 

Initial Costs:

• Setup Fees. Many providers charge a one-time setup fee for registering a new number. This fee can vary widely based on the type of number and the provider. For example, toll-free numbers often have higher setup fees due to their national presence and increased demand.

• Purchasing Specific Numbers. If you’re considering a vanity number, the costs can increase significantly, especially if the desired number sequence is in high demand.

• Equipment Costs. Depending on whether your system is VoIP-based or requires traditional landline setup, you may need to purchase additional hardware, such as VoIP adapters, routers, or traditional telephone systems. 

Ongoing Costs:

• Monthly Fees. Most phone services charge a monthly fee based on the type of number and the features included in your plan. Local numbers generally have lower monthly fees compared to toll-free numbers, which may also include per-minute charges for incoming calls.

• Per-Minute Charges. Particularly relevant for toll-free numbers, where the business bears the cost of incoming calls. This can vary from provider to provider and usually depends on the call volume and the origin of the calls.

• International Numbers. If you’re operating with international numbers, be prepared for potentially higher monthly fees and call charges, which will vary greatly depending on the country. 

• Additional Features. Features like call forwarding, voicemail, automated answering services, and advanced call management features may incur additional costs. Some providers bundle these features into their basic plans, while others charge a la carte. 

6. Legal and Compliance Considerations

Regulatory Requirements:

• Local Regulations. Each country, and often regions within countries, have specific telecommunications regulations that businesses must adhere to. These regulations can dictate the types of numbers you can use, how you can use them, and what obligations you must fulfill.
  
  • For example, in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates area codes and number portability.

• International Compliance. If your business operates across borders, you must comply with the telecommunications regulations of each country you operate in. This can include restrictions on number ownership, usage, and data handling practices.
  
  • For instance, some countries require businesses to have a physical presence within the country to own and operate a certain type of phone number.

• Special Licenses or Permissions. Depending on your business type and location, you may need to obtain special licenses or permissions to use specific kinds of numbers, such as toll-free numbers or those that provide premium services. 

Privacy Laws:

• Data Protection. Different numbers have different implications for data protection. For example, calls involving toll-free numbers might traverse international borders, potentially exposing call data to jurisdictions with varying privacy laws.
  
  • You must ensure that all call data is handled in compliance with relevant laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the U.S.

• Customer Consent. It is often necessary to obtain consent from customers before collecting or using their data in certain ways. This includes recording calls or tracking call origins for marketing purposes. Clear, explicit consent is required in many jurisdictions, and how you obtain and record this consent is subject to regulatory scrutiny. 

• Security Requirements. Maintaining the security of the communication data you collect, such as call logs, recordings, and customer information, is not just a best practice but a legal requirement in many areas. Implement robust security measures to protect this data from unauthorized access or breaches.

Industry-Specific Regulations:

• Healthcare. In sectors like healthcare, where sensitive personal data is frequently exchanged over the phone, additional compliance standards such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) in the U.S. may dictate how you handle and protect patient information. 

• Financial Services. Similarly, the financial sector is governed by regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which may impact how call data is managed and audited.

Audit and Compliance Documentation:

• Record-Keeping. Maintaining accurate records of how you use and manage business phone numbers is vital for compliance. This includes logs of customer interactions, consents, data handling practices, and any compliance audits or checks.

• Regular Reviews. Regular reviews of your compliance status, particularly when changing providers or expanding into new markets, help ensure ongoing adherence to all applicable laws and regulations.

Get the Phone System That Works As Hard As You Do

Choosing the right phone service is as important as getting a business phone number. A reliable and feature-rich phone system can make all the difference in your workflow, keeping employees and customers happy.

We recommend you get both a local and a toll-free business phone number. Why? Use your local one for everyday sales and customer calls. And the toll-free phone number is what to add to your website and business cards. And when you scale, add phone extensions that share the same prefix. 

Nextiva is the perfect VoIP phone system for startups, entrepreneurs, and businesses of all sizes, offering various benefits and features that cater to their unique needs.

Business Phone Number FAQs

Considering a cloud-based business phone system? 8×8 offers a feature-rich solution for managing communication and team collaboration.

8×8 goes beyond traditional desk phones, providing voice, video, and messaging accessible from desktops, mobiles, and even on-premises handsets. This flexibility 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 explore potential alternatives to ensure you find the communication and collaboration solution that best scales with your needs.

What Is 8×8?

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.

8×8 Pricing and Plans

8×8 offers a variety of Unified Communications (called XCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) solutions. It offers tiered plans with varying features catering to different business sizes and needs.

To get a specific quote tailored to your requirements, contacting their sales team is recommended as plan details and pricing might not be readily available online.

8×8 pricing considerations

Let’s look at some pricing considerations before we get a breakdown:

• While core features are listed for each plan, in-depth details about specific functionalities within a plan might be limited.
• Integrating 8×8 with your existing business applications may incur additional fees.
• For larger businesses, getting a final quote for enterprise plans might involve negotiation after contacting sales. 8×8 does provide information on features offered in their higher tiers (X6-X8) for contact centers.

Here’s a closer look at 8×8’s plans, highlighting key features and target audiences:

UC plans (X Series For Seamless Collaboration)

Ideal for hybrid and remote teams, 8×8’s UC plans provide a central hub for streamlined communication and collaboration.

X2 Plan: Core UC Features

Best for: Small and growing businesses

• Standout features: Unlimited voice calling to 14 countries regions (US, Canada, Mexico, and more), HD video and audio conferencing for up to 500 participants, Microsoft Teams integration, voicemail, SMS/MMS, and team chat.
• What’s missing: Advanced call analytics, supervisor or call monitoring tools (barge, whisper), and international calling to more countries.

X4 Plan: Advanced Collaboration

Best for: Mid-sized businesses with complex communication needs

• Standout features: Everything in X2, plus unlimited calling to 48 countries, secure in-meeting payments, a front desk for receptionists and operators, supervisor analytics for call management, and call recording.
• What’s missing: Omnichannel support (social media, chat), advanced meeting features like co-browsing, and speech analytics.

Contact Center Solutions (For Customer Support Teams)

8×8 offers a range of contact center plans catering to mid-sized and enterprise businesses. These plans go beyond basic call handling, focusing on improving customer experience and agent productivity.

X6 Plan: Voice-Centric Contact Center

Best for: Mid-sized businesses building a customer support foundation

• Standout features: Everything in X4, plus call routing, queuing, recording, post-call surveys, CRM integrations, and HD voice.
• What’s missing: Omnichannel support, co-browsing, advanced analytics, and quality management tools.

X7 Plan: Omnichannel Engagement

Best for: Businesses needing multi-channel customer engagement (voice, chat, social media)

• Standout features: Everything in X6, plus co-browsing, social media, chat support, and advanced meeting capabilities.
• What’s missing: Advanced analytics, quality management tools, and auto-dialer (present in X8).

X8 Plan: Enterprise-Grade Contact Center

Best for: Large organizations with complex contact center needs

• Standout features: Everything in X7, plus speech and text analytics, real-time monitoring, quality management tools, robust app integrations, and auto dialer.
• What’s missing: This is the most comprehensive plan.

Choosing the Right 8×8 Plan for Your Business

Finding the ideal 8×8 plan for your business goes beyond picking a price point. Here are some potential roadblocks to navigate:

• Limited plan details: While the core features are listed, detailed information on specific features within each plan can be limited. This can make it challenging to compare plans and understand exactly what you’re getting for your money.
• Integration costs: The listed price might not include the cost of integrating 8×8 with your existing business applications. Factor in potential additional fees when considering the overall cost.
• Enterprise plan pricing opacity: The lack of clear pricing for the Enterprise plan can make it difficult to determine the true cost for larger businesses. Be prepared to request quotes and negotiate to get a clear picture of the total investment.

How to choose a plan:

• Business needs assessment: Start by outlining your communication needs. How many users? International calls? Video conferencing frequency?
• Plan feature breakdown: Do a side-by-side comparison of features offered in each plan to see which best aligns with your needs.
• Scalability: Consider if you might need to add users or features in the future. Choose a plan that allows for easy scaling.
• Demo: Consider a demo to test features and user experience before committing.

8×8 Pricing & Features Compared To Competitors

Nextiva is a popular alternative to 8×8. While both 8×8 and Nextiva 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.

Why choose Nextiva over 8×8

1. Transparent and flexible pricing

Unlike 8×8, Nextiva clearly displays the pricing for its various plans on its website, allowing you to easily evaluate the costs based on your number of users.

Its pricing is also more scalable, with lower per-user rates for larger teams.

• Essential Plan: Starts at $18.95/user per month (billed annually) for 20-99 users. Core features include unlimited internet fax, voicemail, calling within the U.S. and Canada, app integrations, toll-free numbers, and 24/7 customer support.
• Professional Plan: Starts at $22.95/user per month (billed annually) for 20-99 users. Includes all Essential features plus unlimited conference calls, video meetings, screen sharing, auto-attendant, and integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot.
• Enterprise Plan: Starts at $32.95/user per month (billed annually) for 20-99 users. Includes all Professional features plus unlimited voice/video conferencing participants, call recording, voicemail transcription, Microsoft Teams integration, and single sign-on.

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 (X4 and above).

Here’s a detailed feature comparison of the two solutions.

Functionality or Feature	Nextiva	8×8	Comparison
Pricing	Starts at $23.95 per user monthly (1-4 users; billed annually)	Plans start at various prices	Nextiva presents its pricing structure more transparently with a wider range of plans compared to 8×8.
Contact sales	Not required	Required	Nextiva offers a self-service setup, which can be helpful for businesses with limited IT resources or those transitioning from a legacy system. 8×8 requires contacting sales, which can add to the implementation time.
Plans	Up to seven plans	Up to five plans	Nextiva offers a wider range of plans to choose from, which can be helpful for businesses of all sizes.
Meeting participants	Up to 25 active video + 250 audio participants	Up to 500 participants	Nextiva’s meeting capabilities are sufficient for most businesses. 8×8 offers a higher participant limit, but this may not be necessary for all businesses.
First-party hardware	✅	❌	Nextiva offers the option to purchase first-party hardware, whereas 8×8 requires compatible devices from other vendors.
Call quality	Excellent (99.999% uptime per year)	Some users report frequent dropped calls	Call quality can vary depending on user experience and network conditions. While Nextiva boasts excellent uptime, user reviews for 8×8 call quality report disruptions and downtime issues.
Seamless setup	✅	Complex: geared toward enterprise users	Nextiva is easy to set up, even for businesses with limited IT resources. 8×8 is a little complex to set up and is geared toward enterprise users.
Toll-free minutes	Up to 12,500 minutes	Up to 100 minutes	Nextiva offers a significantly higher allotment of toll-free minutes compared to 8×8.
Outlook and Google Calendar integration	✅	✅	Both Nextiva and 8×8 offer integration with Outlook and Google Calendar.
Comparable features	Single sign-on Call queuing Advanced IVR Omnichannel support Mobile app	Single sign-on Call queuing Advanced IVR Omnichannel support Mobile app	Both Nextiva and 8×8 offer these advanced features for managing your business phone system on the go.
Live chat	✅	❌	Nextiva offers live chat while 8×8 doesn’t.

Choosing the Right Provider

The ideal communications provider depends on your specific needs, budget, and team size. Consider factors like the number of users, international 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 seem 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.

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 competitive pricing plans, scalability, generous toll-free minutes, solid CRM integrations, and 24/7 customer support, making it a great choice for small and medium-sized businesses. 

Watch the video below to see how Two Hands Four Paws animal rehab center works smarter with Nextiva.

Final Verdict: Is 8×8 Pricing Worth It?

8×8 is a strong contender for businesses requiring global calling functionalities. Its feature-rich plans can offer good value depending on your usage patterns.

However, the lack of readily available pricing information and potentially higher starting costs can be drawbacks, especially for smaller businesses.

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.

Choosing a competitor like Nextiva helps you overcome a lot of 8×8 limitations.

8×8 Pricing FAQs

When considering virtual phone systems, many SMBs find themselves comparing Nextiva and OpenPhone. At first glance, the OpenPhone pricing plans seem lower, but it’s important to consider what features you’re getting at each price point. 

So, does OpenPhone have all the features your business needs at a price point you’re happy with? Let’s take a closer look. 

OpenPhone Plans & Pricing

OpenPhone is a cloud-based communications platform that offers voice and messaging capabilities for businesses of all sizes. It’s a reliable service with basic functionalities that may be perfect for a small or medium-sized business (SMB).

Let’s dive into their pricing plans.

Starter plan: $15/month per user (billed annually)

The Starter plan is ideal for small businesses that have relatively simple communication needs and don’t conduct significant business communications outside the U.S. or Canada. 

Features of the Starter plan include: 

• One new local or toll-free phone number per user
• Port phone numbers from other carriers
• Voicemail-to-text transcripts 
• Unlimited calling and messaging to U.S. and Canadian numbers (subject to additional rates)
• International calling and messaging
• Shared phone numbers with a limit of 10 users
• Snippets and AI message responses
• Manual call recording, auto-replies, and scheduled messages
• Integration with email, Slack, Zapier, Google Contacts, and webhooks (beta)
• Standard support

Business plan: $23/month per user (billed annually)

This plan can benefit SMBs that plan to grow or those that need slightly more advanced and collaboration-focused features. 

The Business plan includes everything in the Starter plan, plus the following: 

• Unlimited shared phone numbers
• Automatic call recording
• Phone menus
• AI call summaries and transcripts
• Group calling, call transfers, and custom ring orders
• Integration with HubSpot, Salesforce, and Gong
• Analytics and reporting
• Standard support

Enterprise plan: Custom pricing — contact sales for more information

The Enterprise plan can benefit scaling SMBs or large businesses that may need additional support or customization options. However, it doesn’t offer many more benefits than the Business plan.

The Enterprise plan includes everything in the Business plan, plus the following: 

• Custom contract and pricing
• Dedicated Account Manager
• Audit log
• Priority support — pushes your support needs ahead of accounts with standard support 

Add-ons (across all plans)

OpenPhone customers can choose from any of the following add-ons to include in the monthly plan of their choice:

• Additional phone numbers: $5 per number, per month
• International calls and messages: Billed per minute or message (rates vary by country)
• Automated messages via Zapier: $0.01 per outgoing text message 

Nextiva Plans & Pricing

Nextiva’s pricing model offers more flexible plans, which vary slightly depending on the number of users. This makes Nextiva a strong choice for businesses that want to scale, as its pricing remains affordable alongside growth. 

For the best rate, we recommend choosing an annual billing option, which is reflected below. Remember, you can change your service anytime, so if you find that your current plan no longer suits your growing needs, reach out to your Client Success Manager.

Nextiva also offers contact center solutions for businesses with growing support or sales teams.

Essential plan: $18.95/month per user (billed annually)

Nextiva’s Essential plan is ideal for consultants, startups, or small businesses with mature communication needs. 

Key features of the Essential plan include: 

• Unlimited voice and video calling within the U.S. and Canada
• Easy setup for VoIP desk phones and access to mobile apps for those working remotely
• Free number porting to transfer your existing phone number to Nextiva
• Toll-free numbers and 1,000 toll-free minutes per month
• Auto attendant for basic call routing
• Advanced call management, which controls how incoming calls are handled
• Voicemail-to-email notification
• Integration with Outlook and Google Contacts
• Unlimited internet fax
• 24/7 customer support for any troubleshooting or questions

Professional plan: $22.95/month per user (billed annually)

The Professional plan is well-suited to growing businesses with increased communication and collaboration needs. Agencies, scaling e-commerce stores, and businesses with large customer support teams can benefit from this plan. 

The Professional plan includes all features in the Essential plan, plus the following: 

• Unlimited conference calls for up to 40 participants
• Unlimited video conferencing for up to 250 participants
• Auto attendant (multi-level)
• Mobile and desktop SMS/MMS for inbound and outbound text messages
• Team collaboration chat messaging
• Screen sharing
• Free voicemail to text message or email
• Integration with Salesforce and HubSpot
• Professional assistance with onboarding and setup 

Enterprise plan: $32.95/month per user (billed annually)

The Enterprise plan is a strong virtual phone system and communication solution for large and enterprise businesses with high-volume calls and messages, including large contact centers, financial institutions, educational organizations, and healthcare providers. 

The Enterprise plan includes all of the features in the Professional plan, plus the following:

• Unlimited voice and video conferencing, unlimited video conference recording, and unlimited participants 
• Call recording functionality, including automatic call recording
• 10,000 toll-free minutes per month
• Voicemail transcription
• Voice analytics to provide deeper insight into agent/rep performance
• Advanced call flows with more customization options
• Additional integrations, including Zendesk and HubSpot
• Single sign-on to make accessing everything simple and convenient
• Priority support from your dedicated account manager

Common features across all of Nextiva’s plans

While each tier adds and improves upon the last, some features are universal. Whether you only want the essentials or are looking for enterprise communications, you’ll find these in every plan:

• Call pop with customer information, providing key context about the caller at a glance
• Customizable call routes to direct inbound calls to the right place or person
• Advanced call management features, including call forwarding, call transfers, call waiting, and call hold
• Voicemail-to-text service, turning voice messages into easily accessible text messages
• Unlimited virtual faxing
• 24/7 customer support via chat or phone

Which Nextiva plan is best?

Our most popular plan is Nextiva Enterprise, which offers the most features and functionality for small and mid-size companies. In addition to extensive business communication features, it provides advanced integrations with apps like Microsoft Teams, HubSpot, and Zendesk.

If you have a smaller budget, check out the Nextiva Essential plan for the core business communication features like unlimited calling nationwide, auto attendants, online fax, and more. You also get a mobile and desktop app at no extra cost for the freedom to work from anywhere.

And suppose you want to connect your on-premises PBX to Nextiva. In that case, we offer flexible SIP trunking as low as $14.95 per month.

Top Features of OpenPhone & Nextiva

When considering two VoIP service providers, it can be helpful to compare each platform’s key features. 

OpenPhone

OpenPhone’s key features include the following: 

1. Local or toll-free numbers: OpenPhone allows each user to have a new local or toll-free phone number, which can be very attractive for small businesses or startups looking to establish a presence.
2. Voicemail transcripts: For busy professionals who may not always have the time to listen to voicemails, transcripts can be a quick way to stay on top of messages.
3. Shared phone numbers: Small teams can manage the same phone number, which is useful for collaborative customer service.
4. AI message responses: For businesses that want to ensure quick initial replies to customer inquiries, AI responses can provide immediate engagement.
5. Cost-effective plan: With a lower entry cost for the Starter plan (three dollars per month less than Nextiva), OpenPhone can be more accessible for startups and small businesses.

Nextiva

Nextiva’s key features include the following: 

1. Unlimited video conferencing: With higher plans offering unlimited participants, Nextiva is suitable for larger businesses that require extensive video conferencing capabilities.
2. Advanced call management: Features in the Enterprise plan, such as call recording and voice analytics, are key for businesses that need to monitor and improve their customer service.
3. CRM integrations: Nextiva offers integrations with major CRM software, such as Salesforce, on two of its plans, which is essential for businesses that rely on CRM for sales and customer service.
4. Team messaging and SMS: These features support a mobile and flexible workforce, enabling employees to communicate effectively from any location.
5. Scalability: Nextiva plans are designed to scale with business growth, making it a good choice for rapidly growing companies.

Expanded Comparison Table

Feature or Functionality	OpenPhone Starter	OpenPhone Enterprise	Nextiva Essential
Monthly price per user when billed annually	$15	Price not listed online	$18.95
Hardware phone compatibility (VoIP phones)	❌	❌	✅
Unlimited voice calling (U.S. and Canada)	✅	✅	✅
Unlimited video calling	❌	❌	✅
Mobile apps (iOS and Android)	✅	✅	✅
Toll-free phone numbers	✅	✅	✅
Video calling functionality	❌	❌	✅
Video conference functionality	❌	❌	✅
Meeting scheduling	❌	❌	✅
Team messaging	✅	✅	✅
Voicemail to email or text	✅	✅	✅
Call recording	✅	✅	❌
Free number porting	✅	✅	✅
SMS/MMS	✅	✅	❌
Voicemail transcription	✅	✅	❌
Integrations	Email, Slack, Zapier, Google Contacts, webhooks (beta)	Starter plan integrations plus HubSpot, Salesforce, Gong	Outlook, Google Contacts
Analytics and reporting	❌	✅	✔️(Available with Enterprise plan.)

Which Provider Is Right for Your Business?

Choosing between Nextiva and OpenPhone will depend on your current and future estimated communication needs, plans for growth, budget, and required features. 

OpenPhone

Startups and small businesses that need basic VoIP features, calling, messaging, and shared numbers may be best suited to OpenPhone. 

Businesses that are primarily focused on phone calls and SMS messages can benefit from OpenPhone, especially if they’re open to using an alternative video calling and conferencing solution. 

The platform’s biggest strengths include:

• Affordable pricing: OpenPhone’s pricing is slightly lower than Nextiva’s, which can be cost-effective for small businesses with restrictive budgets. 
• Easy-to-use design: The platform’s relatively simple features make it incredibly easy to adopt and use. 
• Great collaboration features: There are plenty of great workspace collaboration features, such as in-thread team messaging, shared phone numbers, shared contact lists, and group messaging.
• AI features: OpenPhone has some unique AI features, including AI auto-replies. 

Nextiva

Nextiva is a more well-rounded communications platform, offering SMBs and large businesses basic functionalities, advanced tools, and extensive support. All plans support Google Contacts and Outlook integration, and the higher-tier plans include integration with Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Teams, and more. 

It’s also worth noting that while OpenPhone beats Nextiva on pricing alone, it only does so slightly (it’s $3.95 less for the cheapest plan, but $0.05 higher for the mid-level plan, and unknown for the Enterprise plan since you have to call for pricing). It’s always important to consider the value of what you’re getting at each price point. 

Nextiva’s most significant strengths include:

• Robust business phone features: Nextiva’s virtual phone features are extraordinarily robust, including options such as auto-attendants, call routing, call logging, and call recording. 
• Video and voice conferencing: Nextiva offers both voice and video conferencing, with features such as meeting scheduling, video call recording, and video calls up to 45 minutes long. 
• 24/7 support: Nextiva’s dedicated customer support team is available 24/7/365 on all plans. 
• Professional setup: Nextiva’s Professional and Enterprise plans come with the option for professional setup, ensuring that you and your team know how to get the most out of your new communication platform. 

The Final Verdict on Nextiva

Nextiva is consistently the preferred choice for growing businesses for the following reasons: 

• Clear pricing: There are no hidden fees, our pricing is reasonable, and our plans are transparent. 
• Scalability: Nextiva’s expansive communications features scale alongside your business. 
• Professional-grade communication: With VoIP office phone compatibility and discounted pricing available, Nextiva is ready for the workplace. 
• Mobile-ready: Nextiva’s remote and mobile-ready features are essential for hybrid and remote workforces. 
• 24/7 customer support: You can always get support when needed because your business phone system is never something you should gamble on. 
• Reliability: Nextiva boasts high reliability and uptime, which are critical for businesses with always-on communication needs.

OpenPhone FAQs