We tested leading phone service providers for cost, reliability, and features. See our top five picks for the best VoIP (voice over internet protocol) phone services.
By: Elsier Otachi E-commerce and business strategy consultant
I’m a professional B2B writer covering business strategy, marketing, and tech. I have over eight years of experience in corporate communications and new media, and have built my expertise in writing for global clients and industries, particularly business and technology, including SaaS (software as a service), phone systems, videoconferencing tools, and VoIP.
How I Rated the Best VoIP Phone Service Providers
We rated our top five VoIP phone service picks based on several factors, including features for communication, administration, collaboration, cost, and customer service. We gave points to providers that offer videoconferencing, international calling, voicemail transcription, automated attendants, toll-free numbers, a desktop and/or mobile app, and software integrations.
Here are seven key decision-making factors to help you determine the best VoIP phone provider to add to your small business toolbox.
Costs involved
I examined the cost of VoIP services based on the various fees they charge, the availability of free trials or plans, discounts, and monthly versus annual pricing differences. I gave higher points to VoIP providers based on reliability and affordability over costlier alternatives.
For each VoIP provider, I also looked at the following:
Price per installation: VoIP services should either be free or charge a small one-time installation or account activation fee.
Cost per user: VoIP lines can run between $15 to $30 per user per month, providing basic features like toll-free minutes, an automated attendant, unlimited calls, call recording, and more.
Additional fees: Installation and per-user costs are usually the biggest VoIP service fees. But you may also run into extra costs such as toll-free minutes, additional hardware (adapter, phone, etc.) costs, plan upgrades with higher price tags, and more.
Standard and advanced features
Each VoIP phone provider offers standard or basic features that help you manage your calls.
For each service, I looked at the overall VoIP features, including videoconferencing, voicemail, business text messaging or SMS (short message service), virtual receptionists, seamless call transfer between devices, call forwarding, automatic call forwarding, and more. I also checked each platform for a desktop and/or mobile app.
Customer support
I reviewed each provider’s communication channels, business contact hours, and helpfulness, and noted any positive reviews about their customer support. I found that not all providers offer 24/7/365 support — some are only available on weekdays during normal business hours.
Other factors you should look for include on-hold time, a live representative option, self-service options (online portal, FAQ [frequently asked questions], resource hub, video tutorials, and more).
Third-party integrations
VoIP tools often come with native third-party integrations, which sync with tools that you use frequently, like a CRM, ERP, SMS and fax, cloud storage, and more.
Most of the services I reviewed integrate with multiple apps. I recommend double-checking whether the provider you’re considering has other integrations you both use and need in your business and API (application programming interface) for custom connections.
Security and privacy
In my research on VoIP phone service security, I found that a proven system that’s been tried and tested should provide redundancy architecture, high-level encryption, advanced account management, multiple servers and data centers in different locations, data center audits, and multi-factor authentication. Sometimes you might have to get a mobile VPN (virtual private network) for added security and privacy over tablets, smartphones, and laptops.
Uptime percentage
While you’ll find some VoIP phone services in our list offering 100% uptime, none of them can truly guarantee it — at least not consistently. Unplanned outages, technical or infrastructural issues, and other challenges may interrupt the service, leading to delays and differences in uptime.
I found that many providers typically promise 99.9% uptime, which is equivalent to one minute and 26 seconds of unscheduled downtime per day, but the majority of those I reviewed claim to provide 99.99% (less than nine seconds per day) or 99.999% (less than a second per day).
Demo or free trial
Most businesses would like to test run a service before committing to it. During my research, I looked for VoIP phone services that offer a free trial or demo so I could test the system in and out before subscribing to a paid plan.
Outlook,Google Contacts, Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Teams, and custom integrations
Uptime percentage
99.999%
Free trial or demo
Yes, but after signing up for a premium plan
Ease of cancellation
Via email, or call Nextiva’s Customer Care department
Nextiva is a full-service VoIP platform that’s easy to use, offers superb features, exceptional customer support, and seamless integration with popular third-party tools. The company has been providing excellent VoIP communications since 2006, and constantly updates its product to help you keep up with the future of connected communications.
Nextiva is our best overall VoIP phone provider service for several reasons. It offers a wide range of features, including unlimited voice, video, and SMS, voicemail, third-party integrations, internet fax, and more functionality at an affordable price.
I discovered a native intelligence tool that delivers hidden insights, which you’ll need for your business, as it helps you make smart decisions and boosts employee performance. I also liked the voice analytics tool, which displays real-time synopsis of all your contact center activity and data through interactive graphs and maps.
Another unique feature I found in Nextiva that I didn’t see with its competitors is the call pop feature, which displays important data about your callers on the screen — account value, customer experience score, last interaction sentiment, and more — before your team answers the phone and during the call.
Support is available via email, online ticketing or chat, and phone, Monday through Friday, between 5 a.m. and 6 p.m. MST (Mountain Standard Time), and Saturdays between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. MST. I particularly found the online chat option with a human sales representative swift and helpful. However, its resource section could do better with more video tutorials or more detailed descriptions and instructions on how to do things for oneself.
Nextiva offers value for your money thanks to its affordability, volume, native functionality above third-party compatibility, and long-term contract discounts — all of which add to its uniqueness over competing VoIP phone services.
Who is Nextiva best for?
From my testing, I found that Nextiva appeals to small and large businesses looking for a complete UCaaS (unified communications as a service) solution.
Nextiva’s visual, interactive, and analytical tools help you easily recognize your business trends and make better decisions.
Recent upgrades to Nextiva
Nextiva recently added a productivity plugin, which eliminates all the apps you use to collaborate with your team, uniting conversations in one app — NextivaONE. This way, you can cut back on your monthly subscription costs and your team can collaborate, automate busywork, organize content, and deal with fewer hassles.
NextivaONE also comes with threaded conversations so you can have a single conversation with each customer contact — whether they call or send you a text, email, or voicemail — across any channel. No more shuffling between apps to get work done.
Their new analytics add-on — Nextiva Voice Analytics — offers actionable insights so you’ll have your finger on the pulse of business and be prepared for what’s coming next.
Nextiva pricing
Nextiva is affordable at most price points, offering significantly more features than its competitors in its Essential, Professional, and Enterprise plans. If you want an economical VoIP subscription, its base package—the Essential bundle—costing $18.95 per user per month (if you pay annually) may be the optimal choice, as it includes unlimited voice and video calls, voicemail, unlimited internet fax, toll-free numbers, and integrations.
Pros and cons of Nextiva
Pros
Excellent phone service with crystal-clear quality
200+ apps, including Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce
Uptime percentage
99.999%
Free trial or demo
14 days, limited to five numbers, with 50 free outbound minutes per line
Ease of cancellation
Call or chat RingCentral support to cancel
RingCentral is a top-rated VoIP phone service that goes beyond the basic virtual phone service by offering a UCaaS solution that meets most communication needs for small- and medium-sized businesses and enterprises. Besides its reliable call management and telephony system, RingCentral offers other useful collaboration and communication tools, all accessible from a single unified platform, eliminating the need to switch between apps for different modes of communication.
RingCentral works best when you have the RingCentral app on your smartphone or computer. As long as you have an internet connection, you can make and receive calls anytime and anywhere using RingCentral.
I gave RingCentral more points because of its reliability, which is marked by strong security controls and 99.999% uptime, telephony capabilities beyond calling, including SMS, fax, industry-leading analytics, richer capabilities for Microsoft Teams, and more.
I compared RingCentral to its competitors — whose features are rigid, incomplete, or can only be accessed by paying additional fees. From my comparison, I found that if you purchase any of RingCentral’s most popular packages, you get meaningful analytics, which come in handy when making business decisions.
RingCentral uses industry-leading predictive AI (artificial intelligence) or machine learning algorithms to detect and protect against robocalls and unwanted spam. Some users have noted that the system blocks their clients from contacting them owing to a RingCentral limitation that designates their businesses as a robo-dialer service.
Who is RingCentral best for?
I recommend RingCentral for small businesses with limited resources as it offers the benefits of ease of use, low cost, and flexibility to take all your calls on any device and from anywhere.
RingCentral’s UI (user interface) is simple to set up, organize, understand, and use.
Recent upgrades to RingCentral
RingCentral is always innovating its phone system to help you work smarter. Among them include the introduction of AI-powered software that automatically reduces unwanted background noise from business calls or meetings.
Also new are the richer call and video analytics for better decision-making, along with video meeting data to help you see all your insights — meeting summaries, video highlight reels, transcripts — in one place.
The company also upgraded its meeting rooms with the power of touch. This allows you to add annotations on-screen, bring ideas to life with the digital whiteboard, and join or end meetings at the touch of your finger.
RingCentral pricing
RingCentral’s pricing starts at $19.99 per user per month for its Essentials package, which offers toll-free numbers and minutes, voicemail-to-text, unlimited calls (U.S. and Canada), mobile apps, team messaging, and document sharing. If you pay annually, you can save up to 33% on your subscription and access advanced features.
Phone support, email, self-training resources, and live chat
Integrations
50+ and an open API
Uptime percentage
100% (not guaranteed)
Free trial or demo
60-day trial of Ooma Premier
Ease of cancellation
Call Ooma Customer Care to cancel
Like other VoIP phone service providers, Ooma is popular for its feature-rich platform whose functionality appeals to both small and big business owners alike. However, the service outperforms its competitors in helping small businesses or solopreneurs get ahead and save on their monthly bill while working remotely.
Some Ooma features that I think are especially useful for startups and small businesses include the free toll-free numbers, an automated attendant, low international calling rates to HD (high definition) audio, and phone system that helps you keep things running while staying in touch with your team and clients.
I found Ooma easy to set up and get started, as it works right out of the box. The hot desking feature helps you increase productivity by letting you use any phone as your work phone and make or receive calls from anywhere. And with the Call Queuing tool, you can handle high call volumes with or without a large team of employees by your side.
Who is Ooma best for?
From my testing, I found that Ooma is great for solopreneurs and small business owners, preferably those working remotely.
Ooma offers a simple, clean, and easy-to-read interface.
Recent upgrades to Ooma
Ooma is committed to improving its VoIP service to make yours and other customers’ lives easier. The company recently announced the debut of its mobile app updates, which comes with eight productivity-focused features, such as an iOS widget for one-tap access to your call logs, caller ID to recognize unknown numbers not on your contacts list, shared contacts, and a dark mode theme.
Other recent upgrades include the dynamic caller ID, voicemail bulk delete, bulk CSV (comma-separated values) upload for IP phones that updates your contact details in seconds, and a Chrome extension allowing you to call from your browser.
The company also added simultaneous calling on the desktop app, and contact and calendar syncing with Google and Microsoft for the Pro plans.
Ooma pricing
Ooma is known for its free home VoIP system, which comes handy for solopreneurs or freelancers working from home, but you pay taxes and other fees. For small businesses, the Essentials plan costing $19.95 can get features like unlimited calling, voicemail, virtual fax, voicemail-to-email audio file, free toll-free number, virtual receptionist, ring groups, and mobile app, among others.
Pros and cons of Ooma
Pros
Affordable plans
Free 60-day trial on premium plan
Hot desking feature
Cons
Only works with Ooma hardware
Unresponsive/unhelpful customer support
Subscription cancellation is difficult
Read More
8x8
Best budget VoIP
4.4
Unlimited chat, videoconferencing, and domestic calling
One month trial for five users (credit card required)
Ease of cancellation
Call 8x8 support (give 30 days' notice)
8x8 prides itself as a VoIP platform that’s transforming the future of business communications through its unified, reliable, and secure cloud platform. The service integrates its voice, chat, video, contact center, and API solutions into a global platform connecting people and making them more productive no matter their geographic location.
8x8 is a leading VoIP phone service provider in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for UCaaS segment for 10 years straight.
The company offers an array of features that suit all sizes of businesses, such as inbound and outbound calling services, call recording, voicemail transcription, call forwarding, automated attendant, video meetings, and more.
I also liked the 8x8 Work app because it lets you collaborate with your customers or employees on any device across the company — no matter where they are in the world. Plus, the system comes with high-level security and compliance measures, which meet FISMA, HIPAA, PCI, and FIPS (federal information processing standard) requirements.
Who is 8x8 best for?
From my research and testing of 8x8’s platform, I’d recommend the service for small- and mid-sized businesses — though it can still cater to other types of businesses.
8x8’s Work app makes it easier to connect with your customers or team from any device.
Recent upgrades to 8x8
To provide a better, more modern experience for your business, 8x8 regularly updates its service with new and/or upgraded features. The most recent fall release came with key upgrades to its unified communications, including a phone app for Microsoft Teams that offers cost-effective PSTN (public switched telephone network) calling.
Also included with the new release are features like call card enhancements for optimized multitasking, troubleshooting tips from the in-app banner, private chat room interface enhancement for easier communication, and member management.
8x8 also supports subtitles and real-time translations in meetings, GIF-sharing (graphics interchange format-sharing), Siri voice assistant integration, Sales Workspace for a tailored experience, and much more.
8x8 pricing
8x8’s VoIP phone services deliver the voice quality and rich capabilities your business needs from as low as $15 per user per month for its Express tier. This gives the platform more points over our other picks, whose plans start from $18.95 per user per month and up.
14-day free trial, demo videos and webinar available
Ease of cancellation
Contact Dialpad Support team
Dialpad is a user-friendly UCaaS platform that offers voice calls, SMS messaging, and video meetings, among other business communication features. You can find all the advanced telephony features and third-party integrations to streamline your workflows and improve employee productivity.
Whether you’re starting or want to scale your business, you need a VoIP phone service that can grow with you and meet your needs. I found Dialpad does all that and more across all its plans, providing basic features like call, SMS, video, and online meetings, plus analytics to help you measure your performance and productivity levels.
The platform has fewer integrations than the other tools we’ve tested, but it shines in its user-friendliness, simplicity, and affordable price points.
Support is available on all plans, but I’d have preferred 24/7 coverage for all plans — not just for Pro and Enterprise users. You can get more answers from Dialpad’s comprehensive help center database if you need further information.
Who is Dialpad best for?
I recommend Dialpad for small businesses and enterprises looking for an effective unified communication platform at a budget-friendly price. Its comprehensive suite of features will help you boost your team’s productivity, streamline your business communications, and delight customers.
Dialpad’s dashboard provides the perfect balance of aesthetic appeal, ease of use and navigation, and simplicity.
Recent upgrades to Dialpad
Dialpad constantly rolls out updates containing new features and capabilities to help you get the most out of the platform. You’ll need to visit the web portal or update your desktop app to take advantage of the latest additions, including editing previously sent individual and group messages, adding emoji reactions to conversations, and changing or updating email addresses.
Dialpad pricing
As a UCaaS platform, Dialpad offers you cost savings through the month-to-month or annual payment plan. The cheapest plan — Standard — costs $15 per user per month; though it’s limited to 10 users, it has basic VoIP services along with real-time analytics, Google and Microsoft integrations, toll-free numbers, and powerful security options, which are lacking in some of its competitors' basic plans. That’s a plus for Dialpad.
Pros and cons of Dialpad
Pros
Real-time analytics and reporting on all plans
Call flip for uninterrupted communication
Built-in encryption and security
Cons
Support for Standard plan limited to five business days
Can’t differentiate personal from work calls
Incompatibility with older devices or firmware makes for setup frustrating
I test each VoIP phone service by signing up and purchasing a plan to check out what each provider offers new users and how easy it is to navigate around each brand's platform or system. I also pay a great deal of attention to the support provided.
I weigh the details and rank each VoIP phone service provider based on the quality of its features and how transparent the company is regarding its product.
It's crucial to pick a VoIP phone service provider you can trust, so I focus on whether each provider presents its products honestly, clearly, and transparently. In my tests, this is easy to pick up on as I compare the list of features each company claims it offers to what I have access to once I begin using their service.
Lastly, I base my VoIP phone service tests on a provider's cheapest phone plan.
I then look for services with free plans or free trials on their premium plans. I then test for ease of use, user-friendliness, clarity of the calls and videoconferencing (if available), key features, integrations, and uptime. Each VoIP phone service provider has been selected based on its position at the top of its game for one aspect of VoIP service or another.
