Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is a popular alternative to landlines, especially in the business world. VoIP providers deliver digital telephone services that rely on the internet for voice and video calls. The main advantages of VoIP are that you can make long-distance calls at a very affordable price and benefit from a faster connection compared to a traditional landline.
A VoIP service is worth considering if you run a small business or make a lot of international phone calls, but comparing different VoIP providers can be challenging if you’re not familiar with the technology. We’ve compared different VoIP services to help you find the best provider to fit your needs.
RingCentral
- Cloud or Integrated Phone: Both
- Clients Supported: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
- Cost: From $20/month per user
- Users: 20 on Essentials tier, unlimited for higher tiers
- Third-party integrations: Yes (some only available with upgraded plans)
- Free trial: Yes, plus free video messaging plan
RingCentral is a California-based VoIP company with offices located around the world. Its network backbone also resides in the U.S., but you shouldn’t experience any increased lag due to the company’s primary location. It’s one of the most well-reviewed VoIP services available, offering prices that make it hotly competitive with contemporaries.
RingCentral is particularly well-suited for the average business, with all the helpful features that a business needs. This includes unlimited calling and audio conferencing, toll-free numbers, and support for up to 20 users on its lowest-priced Essential plan. Higher priced plans add internet fax, unlimited users, video conferencing, automatic call recording, and many other useful features.
RingCentral claims that customers can have their office set up with the service in “minutes, not days.” Even if that’s a particularly hopeful estimate, there’s no denying that the company has a lot of practice connecting companies with the VoIP services they need, making it an easy recommendation.
As for the RingCentral price, subscriptions start at $20 per user per month for the “Essentials” package and go up to $60 per user per month for the “Ultimate” package, if you sign up for the annual plan (it costs more if you want to pay month-to-month). There’s also a free trial as well as a free RingCentral Video Pro plan for video conferences.
Ooma Office
Why sign up
- Cloud or Integrated Phone: Both
- Clients Supported: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
- Cost: From $20/month per user
- Users: Unlimited
- Third-party integrations: Yes, with Enterprise plans
- Free trial: No
Ooma is a competitor to RingCentral that prides itself on flexibility as well as crystal-clear, encrypted calls thanks to its proprietary platform. For a low-volume call environment, you can start with just an IP phone that works like conventional landline phones. For as little as $60 per phone, users can make calls to U.S. numbers — even without a monthly VoIP service plan — and per-minute international calls, with support for voicemail and other standard telephone features.
For small business users who want a more traditional VoIP service, the Ooma Office service is available for $20 a month per user. The $25/month Office Pro service offers more features like video conferencing, a dedicated desktop app, call recording, and voicemail transcription. There are also even more advanced Enterprise plans for larger companies and high-volume business environments such as call centers.
Ooma even offers internet services, allowing you to bundle VoIP phone plans with Ooma Connect. You get a dedicated high-speed router that you can integrate into business solutions such as point-of-sale tools. Ooma’s flexibility and impressive number of service options make it a great VoIP choice not only for online enterprises but also for businesses that have physical locations such as brick-and-mortar stores or kiosks.
Nextiva
- Cloud or Integrated Phone: Both
- Clients Supported: Mac, Windows, browsers, iOS, Android
- Cost: From $12/month
- Users: Unlimited
- Third-party integrations: Yes (some only available with upgraded plans)
- Free trial: Yes, for Essentials plan
If your business continues to grow and you want a larger service that caters more specifically to your professional needs, Nextiva is here to help. Rated the number one business VoIP solution for 2022, Nextiva provides a full-featured VoIP platform tailored for growing and larger companies. There are plenty of standard features like holding, forward, waiting, call transfers, and inbound caller ID. It also includes advanced features like multiple monitoring options, voicemail to email services, and online portals that administrators, IT specialists, and agents can use to control the service.
Additionally, a suite of mobile features allows you to operate mostly everything from mobile devices, enabling you to switch from the desktop client as needed. If your office requires more down-to-earth hardware, then Nextiva also offers direct sales of VoIP phones that are all compatible with its services. The software also integrates with many third-party workflow and business apps, but some of these are only available with upgraded plans.
Packages start at $12 per month per user for the standard Essentials package, which includes unlimited voice and video calling, voicemail-to-email transcription, and other basic features. Upgraded plans add extras like video conferencing, mobile SMS, extended third-party software integrations, and call analytics. Whichever plan you choose, the monthly price decreases as the number of lines goes up.
GoTo Connect
- Cloud or Integrated Phone: Both
- Clients Supported: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
- Cost: From $26/month per user
- Users: 20 on Basic tier, unlimited for higher tiers
- Third-party integrations: Yes
- Free trial: Yes, for Standard plan
GoTo Connect’s approach is especially friendly to small businesses, providing voice services that are of unlimited use, which means no surprise fees for exceeding your normal monthly usage. It’s also available in three price tiers that you can customize for the number of users, so businesses can scale the service as needed.
GoTo Connect, formerly Jive Voice, has all the features you want from a VoIP service, including call routing, phone number extensions, virtual voicemail, virtual faxing, screen sharing, and more. There are even more specific features for unique modern business situations such as Call Monitoring, which allows a supervisor to eavesdrop on a conversation and talk to the agent — ideal for call centers. Hot-desking switches to different desks or devices in a flatter, on-the-move organization.
Finally, the pricing is quite reasonable. The Standard tier (which offers the best features for the price) costs $21 per user per month when businesses have 50 or more on the plan. The price rises per user as the number of users drops, costing $35 per user per month for one to four users. If all you need is simple VoIP calling without a bunch of bells and whistles such as voicemail transcription, the Basic package starts at $26 per month per user, or as little as $19 if you have between 11 and 20 people on the plan.
8×8
- Cloud or Integrated Phone: Both
- Clients Supported: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
- Cost: From $15/month per user
- Users: 10 on Express tier, unlimited on higher tiers
- Third-party integrations: Yes (some only available with upgraded plans)
- Free trial: Yes, for Express plan
8×8 offers plans that are a great fit for small and mid-sized companies. Packages offer many VoIP features that we’ve already discussed, such as unlimited calling, auto attendants, call handling, intelligent call routing, and mobile compatibility that includes options for business texting. The basic Express plan allows for up to 10 users and is a great no-frills VoIP package for smaller businesses.
With the upgraded plans, 8×8 also adds integration with third-party sales and workflow apps including Slack, Microsoft Office, Salesforce, and Zendesk. This is a huge boon to businesses that are actively using CRM platforms to gather and organize their data. If CRM is particularly important to this phase of your business, 8×8 could be the best option for you. One downside to note is that some useful features, such as call recording and advanced analytics, are locked behind more expensive packages.
However, that’s generally par for the course with these VoIP services. The X2 plan is arguably the best value, giving you a nice balance of advanced features for what you pay. You’ll have to contact the company directly to get the best quote for your business, but costs tend to range between $15 and $44 per user per month for the VoIP packages. Enterprise plans for high-volume call environments, such as call centers, are also available starting at $95 per user per month.
