Looking for a VoIP system for your business, you’ve likely come across Nextiva and Vonage. Not only have they been around for decades, but their seemingly all-inclusive services give the impression of a well-rounded business communications platform.
But upon closer inspection, these solutions may not quite live up to expectations.
Small business owners and startup leaders sometimes struggle to get the outcomes they need from Nextiva or Vonage. Price tiers are increasingly confusing, while limited features on their base plans are difficult to use in practice. Worse, certain reviews cite continuous frustration with customer service teams.
When compared side-by-side, Nextiva vs Vonage may not be quite what you’re looking for. Let’s walk through a detailed comparison of both platforms, including a third option that may provide the tools and support your business needs.
Switch to OpenPhone: The best Nextiva and Vonage alternative
Nextiva vs Vonage: How do these solutions compare?
Both Nextiva and Vonage position themselves as unified communications platforms or UCaaS. They offer everything from VoIP calling to instant messaging to video conferencing features.
But are the features, benefits, and prices the right fit for your business? Let’s find out by looking at how Nextiva vs Vonage stack up on pricing, features, and integrations.
Keep in mind Vonage serves both consumers and small businesses. For this comparison, we’ll focus on its business-oriented phone service: Vonage Business.
1. Pricing: Which VoIP system provides the most value?
Winner: Vonage
You won’t get a straightforward price list from either Nextiva or Vonage. Their pricing structure is complicated and depends on your team’s size.
If you need one to four users, you’ll need to pay $23.95 per user per month with Nextiva on an annual contract. And this pricing holds until you have at least five users on your team. If you have a toll-free number, you’ll pay extra if you go above 1,500 call minutes. And to even be able to use SMS and MMS on your mobile device, you’ll have to sign up for one of Nextiva’s premium tier plans (Nextiva’s second-tier plan starts at $27.95 per month for teams of 1-4 users and $25.95 per month for teams of 5-19 users).
In terms of monthly cost, Vonage is a more affordable service than Nextiva. Even if you pay for a full year of Nextiva upfront, it will still cost significantly more each month than Vonage.
Vonage’s basic plan starts at $17.99 per month for a team of 5-19 users, which is more affordable than Nextiva’s initial pricing for a team of a similar size.
However, Vonage isn’t any cheaper when you factor in what they charge as add-ons. For instance, it costs $14.99 per month to use extra phone numbers with Vonage. Also, Vonage pricing has lots of hidden fees, meaning you could end up paying far more for the service than you had expected.
2. Features: Which platform gives teams the most?
Winner: Nextiva
Nextiva and Vonage share a limitation right off the bat: you don’t get many advanced features until you become a premium customer. And even their higher-tier plans have surprises.
With Nextiva, you have to contact the provider to activate SMS. Activation takes one to two business days. 😮 Call recordings, voicemail transcriptions, and internal team messaging are all only available on its higher-tier plans.
On Nextiva’s base plan, you’re paying for many features you may not even need, like peer-to-peer video calling and internet fax.
Nextiva also doesn’t let you purchase additional numbers unless you pay for a user license. For example, if you need three phone numbers and only have two users on your team, you’ll still need to pay for a third license.
With Vonage, call recordings and voicemail transcriptions are only available with the Advanced plan. Even on the Advanced plan, you still only get up to 15 hours of recording on demand and have no option to auto-record all your calls. Plus, many Vonage features — like click-to-call, business text messaging, and toll-free numbers — are only limited to US-based customers. If you work outside of the States or are looking to expand your business throughout North America, those are huge limitations.
You may also find other gaps by reading the lowest-rated reviews on G2 for each service. For instance, Vonage user reviews on G2 reveal that its customer support experience leaves much to be desired.
One Vonage customer said:
“Their support is absolutely awful. I had a support ticket open for 6+ months that was never followed up on. It turns out the issue wasn’t a bug at all (which I was originally told), but rather the ‘button’ I had been looking for was buried in the interface. No apologies, no follow ups (despite being told repeatedly I’d get one).”
3. Integrations: What software can you connect together?
Winner: Nextiva
Integrations can eliminate the need to manually migrate business data. With a cloud business phone system, you should be able to jump between Slack, email, and CRM and access a single source of truth for every lead.
Nextiva offers several native integrations but (unsurprisingly) charges for most of them. Its basic plan includes integrations with Outlook and Google Contacts. To integrate with HubSpot, Oracle, Zendesk, Salesforce, or Microsoft Teams, you’ll need to upgrade your plan.
With Vonage, integrating any CRM requires a premium or higher plan. And some integrations, like Cilo, Job Diva, Connectwise, Zoho, and Microsoft Dynamics, are currently only available to U.S. customers.
Although both Nextiva vs Vonage offer an impressive library of third-party integrations, it becomes pricey and/or complicated to take advantage of the integrations each provides in practice.
The Best Alternative to Nextiva and Vonage: OpenPhone
Nextiva and Vonage have similar downfalls: They have major texting and support limitations and confusing pricing. Both also charge an arm and a leg for features you’d expect from a business phone system. Unfortunately, lots of alternatives — including RingCentral, Ooma, and Grasshopper — pose similar challenges.
OpenPhone is the most effective alternative to Nextiva and Vonage. Our transparent pricing model doesn’t hinge on hidden expenses or fine print fees. OpenPhone offers an intuitive platform that makes it easy to unlock dozens of ways to streamline your communication. Our dedicated customer support team is also ready to help and wants to hear what additional features you’d like to see.
Here’s more on the key advantages OpenPhone provides to businesses:
1. Enjoy free calling and texting to anyone in the US or Canada
Serving clients across North America is easy with OpenPhone. Make free calls and texts to anyone in the US or Canada. International calling and texting are also a fraction of what you’d pay with most traditional carriers.
Plus, you don’t need to contact us to start sending SMS and MMS messages—the function is active as soon as you activate your account.
Use a US, Canadian, or toll-free number wherever you’re based. All you need is WiFi.
2. Get the most business-friendly phone system
Unlike Nextiva and Vonage, you won’t need to upgrade in order to access must-have features like call recordings and voicemail to text transcriptions. These are available on each plan.
Our pricing plans are flat-out simple and start just at $15 per user per month. You won’t have to worry about hidden fees, and any additional fees are on our pricing page.
3. Stay responsive with texting automations
As your team deals with customers, you can use OpenPhone features like snippets and auto-replies to save time texting. With snippets, your team can store commonly used responses (like answers to FAQs) to be used repeatedly by any team member. With auto-replies r, your team can reply back to customers even when you’re not available. Tell customers what they expect to hear or offer them additional resources to keep them satisfied in the interim. Automated SMS options via Zapier can also help you streamline sending texts to multiple recipients, appointment confirmation texts, and other repeat text messages.
4. Easily collaborate with your team
OpenPhone makes it easy to onboard your team into your business phone system. You can have unique phone numbers that serve as direct lines for employees. You can also share access to numbers with multiple teammates. Then call and text from that same number to share responsibility and work together on responding to your contacts. As a manager, you can easily jump into any inbox and review the communication history, including who on your team has been in touch with a contact. Your team can even add internal threads to collaborate on communication or assign tasks. Put simply, our tools make collaborating with your staff as smooth as butter. 🧈
5. Connect your tech stack
OpenPhone’s Zapier integration and webhooks let you connect your phone system with other apps you already use. The possibilities are endless here as you can automatically add new contacts into your CRM, push call recordings elsewhere, and so much more.
We also have direct integrations with:
- HubSpot
- Slack
- Salesforce
- your email account (automatically forward text messages, voicemail, and missed call notifications to any email inbox)
These integrations help you save time on routine tasks and help team members stay in the loop with client conversations.
Like what you see so far? Check out the full comparison of Nextiva vs Vonage vs OpenPhone here:
| Feature | OpenPhone | Nextiva Basic (1-4 users) | Vonage Basic (1-4 users) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Starts at $15 per month per user | Starts at $23.95 per month per user | Starts at $19.99 per month per user |
| Unlimited calling to US & Canada | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| SMS/MMS to US & Canada | ✓ | Requires upgrade | Local US and Canadian numbers only |
| Voicemail transcriptions | ✓ | Requires upgrade | Requires upgrade |
| Set business hours | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Additional phone numbers | $5 per month per number | X | $14.99 per month per number |
| Call recording | ✓ | Requires upgrade | $49.99 per month |
| Shared phone numbers | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Auto-attendant (virtual receptionist) | ✓ | ✓ | Requires API |
| Auto-replies | ✓ | X | X |
| Slack integration | ✓ | X | ✓ |
| Zapier integration | ✓ | X | ✓ |
| CRM integration | Requires upgrade | Requires upgrade | Requires upgrade |
| iOS and Android apps | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Browser app | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Desktop apps | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Nextiva vs Vonage vs OpenPhone: What’s the best solution for you?
When you compare Nextiva vs Vonage, it becomes clear you have to “pay to play” since their cheapest plans are missing a lot of features that business owners usually require. Each also fails to offer any serious integrations in their basic VoIP phone plans, which could cripple any small business owner’s plans to scale up.
If you’re looking for a VoIP service that offers the key features out of the box, there’s just one option for you: OpenPhone. Our modern virtual phone system comes with all the features you need to efficiently manage your professional communications. You’ll get the right tools for your team at the right price for your business. Plus, enjoy access to integrations that save everyone time. See for yourself — start your OpenPhone free trial today.
