Oct 23, 2024

What are the best business phone services in 2024? And why do you need to know? Efficient communication is a cornerstone of business success. Whether it’s team calls to discuss your Q4 strategy, in-depth client support, or queries from undecided customers – providing the right communication channels is crucial to building trust and enhancing satisfaction. A cost-effective, versatile business phone service is a powerful asset for your business communications. Going far beyond traditional voice calls, most modern VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services offer a whole variety of channels, from video conferencing and live chat to messaging and email. But which are the best business phone services out there? We’ve done the research for you and rounded up a list of the top 8 contenders. Here’s everything you need to know. Heading our list is Nextiva, the best all-round business phone service in 2024. The Arizona-based provider shines not only thanks to its overall value proposition, but also with fantastic customer support. Nextiva’s business phone platform includes voice and video calls, team chat, messaging, routing, and caller ID, as well as a contact list management feature and inbuilt calendar. Plus, users benefit from additional features like file-sharing, an auto-attendant, and threaded conversations. The latter centralize all interactions with individual colleagues or customers – from whichever channel they may come. This drastically reduces the likelihood of missing an important message. Nextiva’s strongest suit, though, is its outstanding customer support. Available 24/7 on all common channels, it has won numerous awards, including the Gold Stevie Award for Customer Service Department of the year. In terms of pricing, Nextiva offers a multitude of nuanced plans depending on your business’ unique needs. Its most popular plans include the Core plan, at $30 per month, which gives you in- and outbound calls, messaging, live chat, and call routing with interactive voice response (IVR) menus. The Engage plan, at $40 per month, unlocks additional features like call queues and advanced reporting. The Power Suite plan, finally, adds a range of high-end functionalities like intelligent routing at $60 per month. Next up on our list of the best business phone services in 2024, we have 8×8 – a solid choice if you’re working internationally. This provider offers unlimited calls across 48 countries, as well as video conferencing (for up to 500 participants! ), SMS messaging, and internal chat channels. More advanced features include call queues, voicemail transcription, and interactive voice response menus. Another strong feature that makes 8×8 stand out is its extensive supervisor support, which is very useful for companies with dedicated call-centers. These manager features notably include an analytics dashboard that can help your team leads keep track of any team member who might need extra guidance in achieving 100% customer satisfaction. If a company rep needs such help, supervisors can leverage whisper and barge features to step in. As for pricing, 8×8’s X2 plan starts at $24 per user and month, but is fairly limited in terms of call reach. Its more advanced X4 plan comes at $44 per user and month. Another contender on our list of the best business phone services is Ooma. With prices starting as low as $19.95, it’s a great budget option that still offers a solid set of functionalities. Especially if you work on mobile a lot, Ooma Office is an easy-to-deploy platform. Its intuitive call controls include call forwarding, holding, and parking. It also offers video calls and SMS texting. While it doesn’t offer as many communication channels as other options, it does provide multichannel analytics. However, there are several limitations. Unlike most other providers on our list, Ooma Office does not offer AI tools or advanced functionalities like call monitoring. In fourth place among the best business phone services out there is RingCentral, one of the oldest providers of VoIP services out there. It has been around since 1999! It offers voice and video calling, SMS and team messaging, and visual voicemail. Plus, you can leverage call waiting and forwarding, caller ID, and advanced features like video whiteboards, auto call recording and transcription, and internet fax. Plus, RingCentral comes with a large number of integrations to other platforms. This includes standard business suites like Google Workspace and Dropbox, as well as Trello, Mailchimp, Zendesk, Asana and many more. Like Nextiva, RingCentral offers a great variety of plans depending on your business’ needs. Its most popular Advanced Plan comes at $35 per month and user. Our next contender among the best business phone services in 2024 is Dialpad, a cloud communications platform with extensive AI functionalities to boost your productivity . It guarantees an easy set up and offers voice and video calling, messaging, and an extensive array of advanced features. These range from voicemail transcription, real-time call analytics and live speech-to-text, to AI live coaching, virtual faxes, and international toll-free numbers. Going further, Dialpad also offers integrations with over 70 tools, including Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Workspace. However, despite its versatility, Dialpad comes with some restrictions. There is, for example, a 10-participant limit on virtual meetings. This makes it mostly appropriate for smaller businesses. Pricing starts at a very reasonable $15 for its Standard plan. However, this plan only comes with a minimum of features. To take full advantage of enhanced AI productivity features, you’ll want to opt for the $25 per user and month Pro plan. In sixth place among the best business phone services we’ve rounded up is Aircall, a solid call center and CRM solution. It provides voice and video calls as well as various messaging options and integrations. What makes Aircall stand out are its helpdesk and customer relationship management (CRM) functionalities, second only to Nextiva’s, including extensive analytics, call whispering, ring groups, and IVR. Another plus for Aircall are its extensive integration options, which include Salesforce, Zoho, Freshdesk, Slack, and HubSpot. However, the major downside with Aircall is its pricing, which is fairly expensive. Plans start at $40 per month and if you want to access its full range of functionalities, you’ll have to shell out $70 per month. Next up, we have Vonage, a popular all-rounder in the realm of business phone services. It offers the standard communication channels for online business phone services, as well as advanced functionalities. These include a virtual receptionist and an AI virtual assistant, and call screening. If you want to go further and scale your business’ communications, you can also leverage an integrated CRM, AI rooting, and auto-log calls. Pricing for the limited mobile basic plan starts at $19.99 per month. To access more advanced functionalities, you will need to opt for the Premium or Advanced plans, which come at $29.99 and $39.99 per month respectively. Rounding out our list of the best business phone services is Grasshopper, a great low-budget option for solopreneurs or freelancers. For $14 per month, you get a local number plus an extension, as well as standard features like call routing, waiting, and forwarding, voicemail transcripts, and hold music. You can use it either via mobile or desktop apps. If you can do without advanced routing options like IVR or complex analytics, Grasshopper is a solid choice for you. Conclusion: These Are the Best Business Phone Services in 2024 Choosing a business phone service can be a tricky business, given the massive number of options on the market and the intricate nuances of their functionalities and pricing plans. But it’s well worth the time and effort. By using the list above as a starting point, you’ll be able to pinpoint which service best suits the needs of your business – whether it’s an all-rounder like Nextiva or a narrower, AI-based provider like Dialpad.