Running a successful business, but feeling like you’re not harnessing the full potential of your telephone to generate sales? Utilizing a VoIP phone service may be the answer to your problems.
Currently, the global VoIP market is projected to grow toward $55 billion by 2025. That means hundreds of thousands of businesses are going to take advantage of the power that a VoIP phone service can bring.
Want to save time and money while creating a better communication experience for your team and customers? Then don’t put off the process of using a VoIP phone service any longer.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the 4 best VoIP phone services to optimize your business communication.
What are the Best VoIP Phone Services?
- Nextiva: Best for Remote, Multi-Location & Large Businesses
- RingCentral: Best VoIP Provider for Scaling & Growth (SMBs & Entrepreneurs)
- Grasshopper: Best for SMBs & Entrepreneurs
- 8X8: Best Cheap VoIP Phone Services
1. Nextiva (from $18.95/month)
Best for Remote, Multi-Location & Large Businesses
With the honor of being the #1 best business phone service in 2020 by US News, you can already guarantee that you’ll find much to enjoy in terms of cost, reliability, and features.
In terms of cost, a majority of Nextiva customers have experienced nearly 60% worth of savings on their phone bill. What could be better than lower costs for better service? Along with a quick softphone setup, this VoIP system grants you access to a whole host of features that make ideal for your remote, multi-location, or large business.
With an automated attendant, video conferencing, robust business analytics, team messaging, and far more, Nextiva pretty much has it all.
Even the most affordable plans come with unlimited video and audio phone calls, as well as a free phone number for every user in your team. No matter if your team is in one location or far a part, Nextiva is perfect for your remote needs.
Nextiva Key Features
Here’s a list of features Nextiva’s VoIP phone service offers:
- Unlimited video and audio phone calls
- Interactive Voice Response for better caller experience.
- Advanced call management like blocking, routing, and transferring.
- Call analytics for a quick snapshot of your communication performance.
- Auto attendant for easy customer direction.
- Free local and toll-free numbers
- Mobile and desktop app
- Online fax
- Team messaging
- Voicemail to email
- Call queuing
- Call recording
- Microsoft and Salesforce integrations
As the industry leader, you won’t be disappointed with all that Nextiva has to offer for your business at affordable prices.
Nextiva Plans and Pricing
Nextiva has three pricing plans available for you to explore. It begins with the Essential plan and works its way up from Professional to Enterprise.
The Essential plan begins at $18.95/user/month, the Professional at $22.95/user/month, and the Enterprise at $32.95/user/month. If you have specific needs, you can request a quote for all three plans.
Want to see more how Nextiva works without committing to a plan? You can contact their account executives to get a personalized demo of what it can offer your business.
2. RingCentral (from $29.99/month)
Best VoIP Provider for Scaling & Growth (SMBs & Entrepreneurs)
With over 400,000 businesses that have used RingCentral to communicate with their customers, you’re sure to get a service that’s perfect to rapidly scale your small business.
In fact, we recommend RingCentral if your team has 10 employees or less. It’s the most cost-effective and robust plan to elevate your entrepreneurial pursuits to new heights and grows with you as you advance.
For instance, the entry level plan provides a plethora of amazing benefits for one affordable price. You can enjoy unlimited calls in North America and unlimited business messaging. Plus, every single member of your team can equip themselves with a free phone number.
For more insight on the power RingCentral can bring for scaling and growth, take a look at their most prominent features below.
RingCentral Key Features
Here’s a list of features RingCentral’s VoIP phone service offers:
- Unlimited calls within the US and Canada
- Unlimited business SMS text messaging
- Voicemail-to-text
- Team messaging
- Document sharing
- Business phone or toll-free numbers
- Unlimited internet fax
- Unlimited audio conferencing
- Video meetings with up to 200 participants
- Popular integrations with Microsoft, Google, Slack, and more
- 24/7 support
With RingCentral by your side, your small business can expand and reach a far wider client base in no time.
RingCentral Plans and Pricing
For a team of 2-10 members, RingCentral provides four great plans. It starts with Essentials and works its way up from Standard and Premium to Ultimate.
The Essentials plan starts at $29.99/user/month, the Standard at $37.99/user/month, the Premium at $44.99/user/month, and the Ultimate at $59.99/user/month. You can enjoy a 33% discount if you go with an annual plan.
Before you commit, you can also try it free to get a more comprehensive view on how RingCentral can directly elevate your business.
3. Grasshopper (from $29/month)
Best for SMBs & Entrepreneurs
Grasshopper is a professional VoIP system that can equip you with a business phone number to keep your work and personal life separate, but all on one device.
As the multi-faceted entrepreneur or small business owner you are, Grasshopper is the perfect service to quickly get started with ease and quality functionality.
As soon as you receive a business call, Grasshopper further adds to your professionalism with custom greetings, extensions, easy routing, virtual receptionists, and more.
Because all your communication is on the Internet, you’ll never have to worry about missing a call with the service available straight from your desktop or mobile app.
With the ability to get up and running within minutes, Grasshopper makes it incredibly easy to get started and control the flow of your customers.
Having had over 350,000 happy customers itself, Grasshopper stands out as the best and easiest VoIP system to use for your small business and entrepreneurial needs.
Grasshopper Key Features
Here’s a list of features Grasshopper’s VoIP phone service offers:
- Desktop and mobile apps for business management anywhere you go.
- Ruby virtual receptionist to answer calls when you can’t.
- Simultaneous call handling for quick communication.
- Custom greetings to provide a personalized experience.
- Voicemail transcription
- Business texting
- Virtual fax
- Business phone number
- Extensions
- Call transfers
- Incoming call control
- Instant response
Grasshopper doesn’t only provide you with a business phone number, but a complete virtual phone system to reach new heights with your communications.
Grasshopper Plans and Pricing
Grasshopper features 3 plans that have plenty to offer, including the Solo, the Partner, and the Small Business plan.
The Solo plan starts out at $29/month for 1 phone number and 3 extensions. The Partner plan comes in at $49/month and provides 3 phone numbers and 6 extensions. The Small Business plan is the most robust, which is priced at $89/month and offers 5 phone numbers and unlimited extensions. You’ll save over 10% if you go with an annual plan.
Keep in mind that most businesses choose the Partner plan. If you want more flexibility in choosing your perfect plan, do take advantage of the 7-day free trial.
4. 8X8 (from $12/month)
Best Cheap VoIP Phone Service
With over 1 million business users worldwide, 8X8 is a reliable phone system that can provide an integrated UCaaS service at a cheap and affordable price.
That means in addition to the most basic capability of calling, this system also lets you carry out unlimited calls in North America and empowers you with a multitude of business features, such as video conferencing, team messaging, file sharing, integrations with CRM tools, key analytics, and far more.
At just $12/month for the most basic plan, there isn’t a service that can offer a cheaper price for the excellent quality and service that 8X8 can bring. Whether you’re a small business or huge enterprise, there’s much that 8X8 can provide to expand your business communication across the board.
8X8 Key Features
Here’s a list of features 8X8’s VoIP phone service offers:
- Unlimited calling within US and Canada
- Video conferencing
- Team messaging
- File sharing
- Unlimited calling to 47+ international countries
- Integration with CRM and business apps
- Call Records
- Call Analytics
- Call center plan which includes automatic call distribution, customer surveys, and customer experience analytics
By equipping your business with 8X8’s VoIP services, you can expand the power of your communications at a ridiculously cheap price.
8X8 Plans and Pricing
8X8 offers three primary plans for you to choose from, starting with the 8X8 Express and working its way up to the X2 plan and the X4 plan.
The 8X8 Express comes in at an affordable $12/user/month, the X2 at $32/user/month, and the X4 at $57/user/month. If you choose to go with an annual plan for the latter two, you can enjoy a discount of 25% and 23% respectively.
Although the 8X8 Express plan doesn’t offer an annual plan like the other two, it’s the only plan that has a free one-month trial. If you’re looking for an affordable gateway into the world of VoIP, there’s no better plan to start out with than this one.
What are VoIP Phone Services?
VoIP stands for “voice over Internet protocol,” which means that all your phone calls will be transmitted and received over the Internet instead of a cord like a traditional landline phone.
These systems have only been skyrocketing in popularity thanks to their convenience, affordability, and flexibility. Plus, they also come loaded with a bunch of business features that can help elevate your business communication in far more ways than one.
How to Choose the Best VoIP Service Provider
There’s no question about it that choosing a provider can seem like a daunting task. After all, there are hundreds of providers out there. How can you be sure that you’re choosing the right one? Well, have no fear. By thinking through some of the most important factors below, you can safely narrow down your list to the best options for your business.
1. VoIP Capabilities & Features
It can be super easy to gravitate toward a service that has the longest list of features. However, do you really need all the features on there?
Unless you do, taking the time to figure out the capabilities you actually want can help you find a provider that can be cheaper. Don’t forget to take the time to look out for those all-inclusive packages as well to maximize your costs and features together.
2. Pricing
There are lots of things to think about when considering pricing. Call volume is one of them, along with how many users are on your team and whether you want to go on a contract basis or a monthly basis.
Perhaps one of the most important factors is finding a service that fits within your set budget. Once you have an idea of how much you want to spend, try to find a service that allocates that money in the best way.
3. Customer Support
You don’t want a service that abandons you as soon as you make a purchase. Instead, it’s crucial to find a provider that can show you the ropes and not only help you get implemented, but also be there to answer any questions you have throughout your journey.
Set up and ease of use is super important to any service, and customer support plays a key role in that.
4. Integrations
There are plenty of providers out there that offer a whole lot more than just calling services alone. If you want your business to be equipped with the most powerful tools, searching for a VoIP provider with integrations is key, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, and more.
5. Call Quality
Since the main feature of any VoIP phone service is the calling feature, it’s essential to have a great call quality. If it constantly breaks up or isn’t stable over long call sessions, then you and your customers will experience a lot of frustration. Be sure to check some user reviews to see if a provider has a truly good call quality.
Executive Summary
No matter what stage or location your business is at, it stands to benefit with the help of a VoIP phone service.
Have a large business that’s spread out among multiple locations? You’re going to want to pursue Nextiva. Consider yourself more of a small business owner and entrepreneur? Go ahead and jump onto Grasshopper. Are you prioritizing your business strategy on scaling and growth? Try out RingCentral. Just wanting to test the waters of a VoIP phone service and want to go cheap? Use 8X8.
With how fast the VoIP industry is growing today, don’t hesitate to join in on the bandwagon and experience the level of support it can offer your business today.