Best VoIP Phone Services of 2024

Edited by Amy Smith

Updated


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VoIP is today’s standard for phone service, saving businesses money on traditional phone fees—particularly international and long-distance calls.

The Top Pick

Best overall: NextivaWe chose Nextiva as the best VoIP phone service for its cloud-based system, videoconferencing, and productivity features.

Our Top Picks

Nextiva

Best VoIP phone service

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RingCentral

Best for small businesses

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Ooma

Best for remote work

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8×8

Best budget VoIP

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DialPad

Best for effective communication

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Digital.com tests providers to offer trusted and reliable recommendations for the best business tools. See how we rate VoIP phone services.

Tips From an Expert

Choosing the best VoIP phone service comes down to your budget, features, and needs.

“Look out for the features VoIP providers offer, making sure that these align with the needs and requirements of your business. Check out the countries and rates the VoIP providers offer in the package. Ask the provider questions regarding the flexibility of the VoIP system with remote work.” — Tobias Edwards, VoIP Experts

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The Top 5 VoIP Phone Services

Nextiva Logo

Nextiva

Best VoIP Phone Service

Features

  • Unlimited nationwide calling (U.S. and Canada)
  • Internet fax
  • Complimentary toll-free number

#1 Top Pick

Nextiva is the best VoIP phone service for its cloud-based system, videoconferencing, and productivity features.

Starting Price
$18.95 per user per month

Integrations
Outlook, Google Contacts, Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Teams, and custom integrations

Customer Support
Phone support and live chat

Free Trial or Demo
Yes, but after signing up for a premium plan

Read More

Reasons to choose Nextiva

  • Crystal-clear phone quality
  • Cospace app for easier collaboration
  • Toll-free minutes available

Reasons to avoid

  • Integrations limited based on tiers
  • Outsourced tech support centers

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 analytics dashboard image

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.

Recent updates 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.

RingCentral logo

RingCentral

Best for Small Businesses

Features

  • Phone system
  • Videoconferencing
  • Messaging tool

Starting Price
$19.99 per user per month (max 20 users)

Integrations
200+ apps, including Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce

Customer Support
Phone support and live chat

Free Trial or Demo
14 days, limited to five numbers, with 50 free outbound minutes per line

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Reasons to choose RingCentral

  • Easy to use and navigate
  • Unlimited video meetings and messaging
  • Customizable to your business needs

Reasons to avoid

  • Limited free trial for premium plans
  • Difficulty searching for messages
  • Support can be patchy

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 team chats image

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.

Recent updates 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.

Ooma logo

Ooma

Best for Remote Work

Features

  • Virtual receptionist
  • Ring groups
  • Automatic call encryption

Starting Price
Free

Integrations
50+ and an open API

Customer Support
Phone support, email, self-training resources, and live chat

Free Trial or Demo
60-day trial of Ooma Premier

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Reasons to choose Ooma

  • Affordable plans
  • Free 60-day trial on premium plan
  • Hot desking feature

Reasons to avoid

  • Only works with Ooma hardware
  • Unresponsive/unhelpful customer support
  • Subscription cancellation is difficult

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.

ooma pricing image

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.

Recent updates 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 update 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 in 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.

8x8 logo

8×8

Best Budget VoIP

Features

  • Unlimited chat, video, and domestic calling
  • Call recording
  • Automated attendant

Starting Price
$15 per user per month

Integrations
About 200 apps

Customer Support
Phone contact form, sales chat

Free Trial or Demo
One month trial for five users (credit card required)

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Reasons to choose 8×8

  • 30-day free trial available
  • Affordable basic plan
  • Responsive tech support

Reasons to avoid

  • Challenges upgrading
  • Low-priced plan limited to five users
  • Analytics only on high-tier plans

8×8 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 call monitoring dashboard image

8×8 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 8×8 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 8×8 best for?

From my research and testing of 8×8’s platform, I’d recommend the service for small- and mid-sized businesses — though it can still cater to other types of businesses.

Recent updates to 8×8

To provide a better, more modern experience for your business, 8×8 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.

8×8 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.

8×8 pricing

8×8’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.

Dialpad logo

Dialpad

Best for Effective Communication

Features

  • Call flip
  • Live transcription
  • Built-in security and encryption

Starting Price
$15 per user per month

Integrations
With CRM system, calendar, email, and other popular apps

Customer Support
Phone support and live chat

Free Trial or Demo
14-day free trial, demo videos and webinar available

Read More

Reasons to choose Dialpad

  • Real-time analytics and reporting
  • Call flip
  • Built-in encryption and security

Reasons to avoid

  • Limited support for Standard plan
  • Can’t differentiate personal from work calls
  • Incompatibility with older devices and firmware

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.

dialpad live call view image

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.

Recent updates 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.

Compare VoIP Phone Services

VoIP Service Provide

Best Features

Pricing

Nextiva Logo

Nextiva

Best VoIP Phone Service

  • Unlimited nationwide calling (U.S. and Canada)
  • Internet fax
  • Complimentary toll-free number

$18.95/per user/per month

RingCentral logo

RingCentral

Best for Small Businesses

  • Phone system
  • Videoconferencing
  • Messaging tool

$19.99/per user/per month

Ooma logo

Ooma

Best for Remote Work

  • Virtual receptionist
  • Ring groups
  • Automatic call encryption

Free

8x8 logo

8×8

Best Budget VoIP

  • Unlimited chat, videoconferencing, and domestic calling
  • Call recording
  • Automated attendant

$15/per user/per month

Dialpad logo

Dialpad

Best for Effective Communication

  • Call flip
  • Live transcription
  • Built-in security and encryption

$15/per user/per month

What You Need to Know about VoIP Phone Service

What does VoIP stand for?

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a type of phone system that uses an internet connection to make and receive calls, rather than traditional landlines.

Does VoIP require a special phone or equipment?

The key thing about VoIP is that it doesn’t require a special telephone or device to use it and to get the most from the benefits it brings.

What are the benefits of using VoIP phone service?

Some benefits of using a VoIP service include:

  • Cheaper than a traditional landline phone
  • Easier to install and update
  • Can be used with any internet connection anywhere
  • Includes additional features that aren’t available with a landline
  • Continued updates and advances

What are the drawbacks of using VoIP phone service?

Some disadvantages of using a VoIP phone service might include:

  • Requires strong and consistent internet connection
  • Needs a continuous power supply
  • Lag and jitter, when data packets arrive out of order
  • Does not support emergency calls

How I Rated the VoIP Phone Services

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 video conferencing, international calling, voicemail transcription, automated attendants, toll-free numbers, a desktop and/or mobile app, and software integrations.

I signed up for each VoIP service and tested for the following seven key factors:

  • Standard and advanced features: videoconferencing, voicemail, business text messaging or SMS (short message service), virtual receptionists, seamless call transfer between devices, call forwarding, automatic call forwarding, as well as a desktop and/or mobile app.
  • Customer support: provider’s communication channels, business contact hours, and helpfulness, and noted any positive reviews about their customer support
  • Third-party integrations: third-party integrations sync with tools that you use frequently, like a CRM, ERP, SMS and fax, cloud storage, and more.
  • Security and privacy: redundancy architecture, high-level encryption, advanced account management, multiple servers and data centers in different locations, data center audits, and multi-factor authentication
  • Uptime percentage: unplanned outages, technical or infrastructural issues, and other challenges may interrupt the service, leading to delays and differences in uptime.
  • Demo or free trial: free trials or demos allow a company to test run a service before committing to it.
  • Overall cost: various fees, the availability of free trials or plans, discounts, and monthly versus annual pricing differences, price per installation, or cost per user.

Learn more about our review methodology.

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