The 10 best 8×8 alternatives in 2025

Looking for the best 8×8 alternative for your business? Or at least weighing your options? You’ve come to the right place.

We’re diving into 10 of the best 8×8 competitors ranked by their prices, features, and integrations. If you’re looking to compare all 10 alternatives at a glance, you can use our handy comparison chart below. The 10 best 8×8 alternatives are:.

1. OpenPhone: The best alternative to 8×8 for growing teams
2. Zoom Phone: The best choice for seamless internal communication
3. Aircall: The best alternative with webhooks
4. Ooma: The best option with legacy phone features
5. Vonage: The best choice for domestic communication
6. Nextiva: The best option for teams using Microsoft products
7. GoTo Connect: The best alternative with CRM integrations
8. Dialpad: The ideal choice for managing call centers
9. RingCentral: The best choice for desk phone rental options
10. Grasshopper: The best option for multi-digit extensions

Let’s dive in.

Why most businesses go with 8×8 alternatives and where 8×8 falls short

8×8 provides virtual phone software to call centers, customer support teams, and similarly-sized enterprise businesses. The service’s biggest claim to fame: Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), which means it combines voice dialing, video conferencing, and messaging features on the same platform.

On the basic plan, you can access tools like:

• Auto-attendants
• Music on hold
• Unlimited calling in the US and Canada

But 8×8’s communication platform isn’t without limitations — pricing, for instance, is far from transparent. The company recently introduced several new plans:

• Contact Center
• CX Beyond the Contact Center (8×8 Engage)
• Communications APIs
• Unified Communications (8×8 Work)

But you’ll need to contact them directly to request a quote.

To get an idea of 8×8’s pricing structure before this change, check out our full guide to 8×8 pricing.

Now, let’s dive into its drawbacks:

Clunky user interface

For starters, 8×8 was founded in 1987 — and as a legacy provider, still hangs onto an outdated interface. Users report the UI is clunky and confusing, which makes it difficult to intuitively navigate from one page to the next. This may be problematic as you migrate new team members or look for key analytics like call trends or handle times.

There’s also a steep learning curve required to set up certain features. Once you purchase a number and pay for your plan, you’ll have to navigate to a separate online portal to customize individual phone numbers. 

Settings like call recordings need to be manually enabled

Then comes the time-consuming tasks. To set up call recordings, admins need to manually adjust the settings for every single user on your team to one of three options: on-demand, automatic, or never. If you own a larger business with 100+ team members, your admins might spend hours configuring numbers and setting up access. 

Unfortunately, that’s not the end of 8×8’s call recording limitations. Even after you’ve spent a few hours setting up call recordings for each user, you won’t be able to store these recordings for future reference. However, your call recordings are no longer available after 90 days unless you pay an add-on fee. If you ever cancel that add-on fee, 8×8 deletes those recordings.

Features like texting come with limitations

You should know many of 8×8’s ‘unified communications’ features are quite limited for growing teams. For example, 8×8 only lets you text on a direct line, and if you wish to set expectations with your customers on when they can expect to hear back from you, there aren’t auto-replies. And if you want to queue up messages, 8×8 doesn’t offer scheduled texts.

Limited functionality with integrations

You can try to use third-party integrations to access more features without upgrading further. However, 8×8’s integrations probably won’t work the way you might assume. For example, their Salesforce and HubSpot integrations don’t log texts, meaning you can’t push business messages to your current CRM. Plus, some of 8×8’s integrations require an additional purchase to unlock. The Microsoft Teams integration, for example, is only available as an add-on.

Poor customer service

The final nail in the coffin? Poor customer service. Thanks to 8×8’s older interface and clunky system, many clients need customer support to smooth out the kinks. Here’s the catch, though: getting in touch with an agent could take hours or even days.

Former customers have shared these reviews of 8×8:

“8×8 has been a very poor customer experience for my small business. It took over four weeks to port over two numbers, and the after-sale support has been non-existent. 8×8 is great when they are looking to get a signed contract. Then, they assign you to an account manager that doesn’t reply to questions or concerns. My phone is a critical tool for my small business, and I made a big mistake choosing 8×8.” – Consumer Affairs

“Called customer services which was located in the Philippines. The line was very crackly and I had to end the call as I could not hear what the agent was saying. Once I finally logged the issue, I received six phone calls back from them — each of these phone calls happened in the middle of the night!” – Trustpilot

“Tried to set up a trial on Express to see features of the service. It said 1-2 working days to get started, finally get an email 8 days later with a broken link. I called customer service, and had a ‘customer service’ agent laugh and say they can’t help me as I am not a paying customer yet.” – Trustpilot

The 10 best 8×8 alternatives compared

Let’s take a closer look at how the best 8×8 alternatives stack up against each other.

Provider	Price	Unlimited calling to US & Canada	Unlimited SMS, MMS to US & Canada	Shared phone numbers	Additional phone numbers
8x8	Must contact for pricing	✓	X	✓	Contact sales for pricing
OpenPhone	Starts at $15 per user per month	✓	✓	✓	$5 per number per month
Zoom Phone	Starts at $10 per user per month	X	X	X	$5 per number per month
Aircall	Starts at $30 per user per month	Unlimited inbound only	US & Canadian customers only	✓	$6 per number per month
Ooma	Starts at $19.95 per user per month	✓	✓	✓	$9.95 per number per month
Vonage	Starts at $13.99 per user per month (1-year contract)	✓	✓	Requires upgrade or $4.99 add-on for each call group	$14.99 per number per month
Nextiva	Starts at $23.95 per user per month	✓	Requires upgrade	✓	Requires the purchase of an additional user seat
GoTo Connect	Must contact for pricing	✓	Only available in US & Canada	✓ (up to 8 phones)	Contact sales for pricing
Dialpad	Starts at $15 per user per month	✓	For US & Canadian customers only	✓	Requires upgrade
RingCentral	Starts at $20 per user per month	✓	X ($25 per user per month)	✓	$4.99 per number per month
Grasshopper	Starts at $14 per month	✓	Only available in US & Canada	X	$9 per number per month

8×8 is an older business communication solution that struggles to compete with modern alternatives. Many of the basic calling features businesses have come to expect are locked behind expensive paywalls. 

If you’re looking for a cloud communications provider with better features, flexible prices, and an updated interface, check out the 8×8 competitors below — starting with the highest rated.

1. OpenPhone: The best alternative to 8x8 for growing teams

OpenPhone is an intuitive business phone solution serving growing teams of all sizes. 

Getting up and running using OpenPhone is simple. With OpenPhone, you can customize all your phone settings in a matter of minutes. Our interface was designed to make it easy for your team to start making calls and texts just like they would on their cell phones. It’s easy to enable and disable specific functions on your business number(s), including automatic call recording. If you’re unsure about something or want a helping hand, read our comprehensive support docs or reach out to our support team.

Unlike 8×8, OpenPhone lets you access essential business features right from our Starter plan. These include:

• Unlimited call recording storage. You never need to upgrade for the space your team needs. Plus, you can save time reviewing and following up on any recorded call with AI-generated transcripts and summaries. 
• Texting tools. You can easily provide a better customer experience by automating specific touchpoints and answering messages quickly. For example, you can use auto-replies to respond to customers if you miss their call or voice message (i.e., “Sorry we missed you! How can we help?”). If you need to text clients outside your time zone, you can set up scheduled texts that automatically send messages at appropriate hours. Want to respond to common questions without manually typing the same message? Templated snippets enable your team to answer FAQs quickly and consistently.
• Integrations with the tools you’re already using. You can connect your system with Salesforce or HubSpot to automatically log all calls, texts, and call recordings. Plus, we make it easy to integrate and automate specific tasks with third-party connections like Slack, Google Contacts, and Zapier.

OpenPhone also provides more scalability for growing teams and enterprises. Unlike 8×8, you’re never forced to upgrade to a higher tier plan once your team reaches a larger size, so you can keep growing and using the same features until you’re ready to upgrade. Plus, each new member of your OpenPhone plan comes with one free local (US or Canadian) or toll-free phone number. 

Key features of OpenPhone

• One local or toll-free number is included with each user on your plan
• Free calls and texts in the US and Canada
• Voicemail to text
• Integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Google Contacts, Zapier, and more
• SMS and MMS support
• Phone menus
• Call recordings
• Texting automations (snippets, auto-replies, and scheduled texts)
• Shared phone numbers with internal threads and mentions
• Desktop, browser, and mobile apps

OpenPhone pricing

• Starter: $15 per user per month for unlimited calling and texting, auto-replies, call recording, and more
• Business: $23 per user per month to unlock phone menus, AI call summaries and transcripts, group calling, call transfer, and more
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for a dedicated account manager to tailor a plan to your team’s needs

2. Zoom Phone: The best choice for seamless internal communication

Zoom Phone is a cloud phone service that works alongside the Zoom video platform. You can purchase the service by itself or group it with your pre-existing Zoom business plan.

Every Zoom Phone plan comes with unlimited internal calls. However, you pay per minute for outbound calls with Zoom Phone unless you upgrade. 

Like 8×8, Zoom Phone only supports SMS or MMS on direct numbers, not shared lines. Another kicker: no amount of upgrading lets you text outside the US or Canada. If you want to message international customers and avoid expensive upgrades and add-ons, you may want to look for a Zoom Phone alternative.

Key features of Zoom Phone

• Unlimited inbound calls
• A US or Canadian phone number
• Mobile and desktop apps
• Voicemail transcriptions
• Auto-attendants

3.  Aircall: The best alternative with webhooks

Aircall is an 8×8 alternative for customer support and sales teams. Teams can work together to provide a good experience with features like ring groups, call recording, and advanced call routing. Aircall also lets you push your phone data to other apps using webhooks. However, one drawback of Aircall is that there are no unified communication threads to collaborate on conversations.

While Aircall does allow you to text customers on its base plan, there are limitations to where you can send text messages internationally (currently only the US, Canada, the UK, France, and Australia). Like 8×8, Aircall doesn’t offer auto-replies or scheduled messages.

Key features of Aircall

• Advanced call routing
• CRM integrations
• Basic SMS capabilities
• Toll-free numbers
• Power dialer via browser extension

Aircall pricing

Keep in mind Aircall plans include set user minimums where you’ll pay at least $90 per month.

• Essentials: $30 per user per month for call routing, 100+ integrations, call recording, and click-to-dial (three-user minimum)
• Professional: $50 per user per month to unlock mandatory call tagging, a Salesforce integration, and advanced analytics and call monitoring tools (three-user minimum)
• Custom: Get a custom quote for custom analytics, unlimited worldwide calls, and API developer support (25-user minimum)

4. Ooma: The best option with legacy phone features

Ooma is a virtual phone service provider that supports both home and business owners. You can access 50+ standard features on every Ooma business plan, including virtual receptionists, digital fax, and hold music.

With Ooma, you can purchase landlines directly from the company or install the app on your Android or iOS device. If you want to use Ooma from your computer, you have to upgrade to the Office Pro plan ($24.95 per user per month). There’s no browser app provided at all.

Unfortunately, Ooma doesn’t offer business texting on the basic plan. You need to upgrade to Ooma Office Pro, which costs $24.95 per user per month. If you want access to more advanced features, including Ooma’s Salesforce integration, you’ll have to upgrade again to Ooma Office Pro Plus ($29.95 per user per month).

Ooma’s prices are slightly less expensive than 8×8’s. However, you get fewer features and integrations on every plan — and no text support on the basic plan.

Key features of Ooma

• Unlimited calls in Mexico, Canada, and the US
• Set business hours
• Customizable ring groups
• Local or toll-free numbers

Ooma pricing

• Ooma Office: $19.95 per user per month for ring groups, call forwarding, and extensions
• Ooma Office Pro: $24.95 per user per month to access texting, voicemail transcriptions, call recording, and Ooma’s desktop app
• Ooma Office Pro Plus: $29.95 per user per month to get Ooma’s Salesforce integration, call queues, and meeting recordings

5. Vonage: The best choice for domestic communication

Vonage is an older business communications platform operating through VoIP technology. All members of your plan can make unlimited calls in the US, Canada, and Mexico. If you’d rather use on-premises devices, you can tap into landline hardware like Vonage’s IP desk phones.

But Vonage is an expensive 8×8 alternative with hidden costs and fees. With Vonage, you won’t have access to a business number unless you sign up for a one-year contract. Plus, you can’t integrate with any CRMs (like Zoho, Zendesk, or Salesforce) unless you pay for a Premium plan ($20.99 per line per month).

And unless you’re ready to pay $27.99 per line per month, you don’t get access to call recordings at all.

Key features of Vonage

• Desktop and mobile apps
• The Vonage App Center (20 integrations)
• Unlimited calls and texts in Canada, the US, and Mexico (unlimited SMS not available in Mexico)

Vonage pricing

• Mobile: $13.99 per line per month for SMS, unlimited domestic calls, and desktop and mobile apps
• Premium: $20.99 per line per month to access CRM integrations and multi-level auto-attendants
• Advanced: $27.99 per line per month to get call groups and visual voicemail

Keep in mind these prices require a one-year contract and don’t include Vonage’s taxes and fees, which aren’t directly listed on the company’s website.

6. Nextiva: The best option for teams using Microsoft products

Nextiva’s unified communications platform serves enterprise brands and larger corporations that have dealbreakers most small to medium sized businesses don’t have — for example, direct integrations with Microsoft products. The basic plan only provides call and video functionality — with significant limitations on both. You can’t make unlimited conference calls unless you pay for the Professional plan. 

Nextiva is another 8×8 alternative that locks call recordings and texting behind higher price tags. The company even limits the amount of toll-free minutes you can use per month. The basic plan comes with just 1,500 minutes, which translates to 25 hours of call time. You can upgrade to the Professional plan to get up to 3,000 minutes or pay for the Enterprise plan to max out with 12,500 minutes. Unlimited toll-free minutes aren’t available at all.

If your business relies on call recordings and toll-free numbers to address and delight its customers, Nextiva may be an expensive option that limits your ability to scale.

Key features of Nextiva

• Audio voicemail
• Local or toll-free numbers
• Unlimited digital fax
• Integrations with Outlook and Google Contacts
• Video conference calls (up to 45 minutes)

Nextiva pricing

Nextiva’s prices scale to the size of your team. Businesses with one to four users pay:

• Essential: $23.95 per user per month for unlimited voice and video calling, email integrations, and toll-free numbers
• Professional: $27.95 per user per month to unlock texting, CRM integrations, and unlimited conference calls
• Enterprise: $37.95 per user per month to access call recordings, voicemail transcriptions, and unlimited video conference recordings

7. GoTo Connect: The best alternative with CRM integrations

GoTo Connect’s cloud phone system and virtual meeting platform rebranded from Jive in 2019. Apart from its basic calling and texting features, it provides video meetings, screen-sharing tools, and integrations with current CRMs (including Salesforce).

Unfortunately, GoTo Connect is far less competitive than other 8×8 alternatives. The platform doesn’t offer unlimited calling at all, and its texting services are only available to businesses in the US and Canada. Shared phone numbers are available — but only for eight devices at a time. With limited credits for texting and toll-free number calling, GoTo Connect may not be a cost-effective option for your growing business.

Key features of GoTo Connect

• Local, vanity, and toll-free numbers
• Call forwarding
• Call routing
• Call management queues
• Instant responses

GoTo Connect pricing

GoTo Connect doesn’t list pricing on its website. Although a product page shows different plans (Phone System, Customer Engagement, Complete CX, and Contact Center), there’s no mention of prices anywhere online. You’ll have to contact the company directly for an accurate quote.

8. Dialpad: The ideal choice for managing call centers

Dialpad is a virtual phone service powered by AI. Many of the AI solutions Dialpad provides are tailored to contact centers. For example, you can use their live coaching to find out if you’re talking too fast or too slow.  

Although you can purchase additional phone numbers, you must upgrade to Dialpad’s second tier to add them to your plan. You can try porting an existing number to save on costs, but beware — only the first ported number is free.

The biggest limitation for Dialpad users? No guaranteed uptime unless you pay for the Enterprise plan. Since even a 1% dip in uptime can cost thousands of dollars in lost sales, you have to make a hard decision if you use Dialpad: pay up now or pay for it later.

Key features of Dialpad

• Business SMS and MMS support
• AI-powered call transcriptions
• Integrations with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365
• Unlimited video meetings
• Customer support (web chat and phone)

Dialpad pricing

• Standard: $15 per user per month for unlimited voice and video calling, SMS and MMS, and AI call and voicemail transcriptions
• Pro: $25 per user per month (three user minimum) to access international texting, multiple numbers, auto-replies, and CRM integrations
• Enterprise: Custom price (100 user minimum) to get unlimited ring groups, dial by extensions, priority support, and 100% uptime

9. RingCentral: The best choice for desk phone rental options

RingCentral is a cloud-based communication platform established in 1999 geared largely toward call centers. Their platform bundles several communication tools (SMS, phone, team chats, project management, desk phone rentals, and video meetings). Still, if you’re looking for a one-stop shop, RingCentral may fall short in a few different aspects. 

RingCentral requires you to pay extra for the basic features small business owners need. If you want third-party integrations, automatic call recording, or analytics, you’ll have to upgrade to the second-tier plan — $25 per user per month.

You’ll also have to pay taxes and fees like:

• Federal Universal Service Recovery Fee
• E911 Service Fee
• Compliance and Administrative Cost Recovery Fee
• 911 Fee
• State and Local Taxes

There’s also a lot of red tape surrounding RingCentral’s products and features. For example:

• Free trials are limited to just 20 lines and two desktop phones. Plus, all users are limited to 50 minutes of call time each
• You can only rent RingCentral’s IP phones with a multi-year contract. Month-to-month contracts don’t provide access
• You can only send up to 25 texts per user per month on their base plan and store 5,000 texts per user
• Unlimited storage is only available on the highest tier ($35 per user per month)

RingCentral is one of the most expensive phone providers on this list. And between the red tape and confusing add-ons, an alternative to RingCentral may be a better fit.

Key features of RingCentral

• Voicemail to text
• ‘Enhanced’ business SMS
• Team messaging
• File sharing
• Unlimited calling in the US and Canada

RingCentral pricing

RingCentral’s pricing works with economies of scale. The more users you have, the less you’ll pay. The fewer users you have, the more you’ll pay.

Here’s what you can expect if you have 1-5 users:

• Core: $20 per user per month for unlimited domestic calling, SMS and MMS, and IVR
• Advanced: $25 per user per month to unlock automatic call recording, integrations (including Salesforce), and call monitoring
• Ultra: $35 per user per month to access unlimited video conferencing, business analytics, and unlimited storage

10. Grasshopper: The best option for multi-digit extensions

Grasshopper is a legacy VoIP service specifically built for small business owners. Unlike other 8×8 alternatives, you don’t pay for the number of users on your plan. Instead, you pay to access a certain amount of phone numbers and extensions. Additional phone numbers cost $9 per number per month.

All Grasshopper plans include the same basic features, like call forwarding and WiFi calling. However, none of the plans offer automation (beyond auto-reply texts to first-time callers only) or integrations — no matter how much you pay. This could be problematic as your business starts to grow and make daily tasks more time-consuming in the long run.

Plus, Grasshopper’s price per additional number is nearly twice as expensive as other options on the market. You’re essentially paying double for a less functional phone number, and it won’t have access to call recordings or international texting at all.

Key features of Grasshopper

• Mobile and desktop apps
• Call forwarding
• Virtual fax
• Call reporting
• Call transfers
• Instant responses
• Custom greetings
• Virtual receptionists

Grasshopper pricing

• True Solo: $14 per month for one phone number and one extension
• Solo Plus: $25 per month for one phone number and three extensions
• Small Business: $55 per month for four phone numbers and unlimited extensions

OpenPhone: the best 8×8 phone service alternative

Is your current business phone system an anchor weighing down your team? If you’re looking for a phone solution your team can use to work together and provide a better customer experience effortlessly, OpenPhone is a no-brainer.

Thousands of companies trust our platform to build better relationships with their customers. You can collaborate on calls and texts using shared numbers, communicate internally with threads and mentions, and even tap into our automation features with auto-replies, snippets, and Zapier integrations. And with competitive pricing built to grow alongside your brand, you’ll have plenty of freedom to easily scale your phone communications.

OpenPhone is the business phone service alternative to 8×8 and beyond. Start a seven-day free trial today to see for yourself.

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