While there are many factors to consider when choosing a phone solution for your company, the ultimate question is: what’s best for business?
Let’s take a look at two of the oldest business VoIP services on the market today – Ooma and Nextiva. We’ll compare them in terms of pricing and features and then see if either of them would work well for your business. Then we will consider a third alternative that might fit your needs even better than either of these VoIP services.
Switch to OpenPhone: The best Ooma and Nextiva alternative
Ooma vs. Nextiva: Which business phone system does your business need?
As your team grows, you likely want to find a business phone system that can grow with you. If you’re weighing Ooma vs Nextiva as your provider, here’s what you need to know about each.
1. Pricing for Ooma vs Nextiva: What can you expect to pay?
Winner: It’s a draw!
Nextiva is definitely not one of the cheapest VoIP service providers out there. The pricing structure can be a bit daunting. They have multiple plans with an arbitrary amount per user based on different team sizes.
The most basic plan starts at $17.95 per user per month, but only for businesses with teams of over 100 or more members. For teams of four or less, you pay $23.95 per user per month (on their annual plans). However, their base plan doesn’t include call recording, Mobile SMS, MMS, or voicemail transcriptions.
A plan with those features costs $27.95 per user per month for a team of four or less.
Nextiva’s prices may be more of a burden than an aid for a small business. A more cost-effective alternative like OpenPhone might be better for companies with a small staff.
Ooma’s pricing is relatively straightforward and there aren’t any complicated bundles to sort through.
There are only two plans:
- Ooma Office: $19.95 per month per user
- Ooma Office Pro: $24.95 per month per user
- Ooma Pro Plus: $29.95 per month per user
Though there are no hidden charges, the VoIP system lacks key features on their base plan, including call recordings and voicemail transcriptions. And you’d even have to upgrade to the Pro plan for access to must-have features like access to their desktop app.
2. Features of Ooma vs Nextiva: How effective is each platform?
Winner: Nextiva
Nextiva is a heady mix of call center service and features, providing the features of a standard VoIP service along with CRM, co-space, and call pop. Nextiva also offers call forwarding, real-time analytics, instant messaging for team members, platforms for sales and remote workforce management, and more.
An intuitive CRM platform keeps your team up to speed on customers as they progress through the buying process. Customers also get desktop and cellphone apps that help everyone stay connected no matter where they’relocated.
Before you get dazzled with what sounds good on paper, there are some downsides here. For one, you have to contact them to get their SMS service activated. And as mentioned above, you have to pay extra to text from their mobile app.
While Nextiva’s base plan doesn’t offer essential features like call recordings and voicemail transcriptions, it provides a lot of extras like peer-to-peer video conferencing and internet faxes — which are something of a relic in this day and age. So, you end up paying for those bells and whistles that you may not even require.
Online user reviews suggest that Nextiva usually has 99.9 percent of uptime and reliable 24/7 customer support. However, some aspects are too complicated to solve, and many customers complain about a steep learning curve and complex implementation.
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Ooma is not quite as difficult to implement as a business phone solution. Both versions of Ooma office are easy to install, and all you need is a high-speed internet connection and a regular home phone to get your system up and running.
Some of the many features include:
- free number transfers
- unlimited calls in both the US and Canada
- overhead paging,
- and automatic call attendant/IVR
3. Ooma vs Nextiva integrations: What tools can you connect?
Winner: Nextiva
Nextiva offers an array of integration to make your office communications and efficiency better.
You can integrate Outlook and Google contacts with their basic plan.
You can also integrate Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Oracle, or Microsoft Teams, but, again, you’ll have to upgrade for access to those integrations
With Ooma also, you need to upgrade to their Enterprise plan to access their integrations. And even then, it only allows integration with Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Zendesk, Office 365, G-Suite, and ServiceNow.
Introducing a better alternative to Ooma vs Nextiva
Good old-fashioned phone service and VoIP systems that force you to pay for all the bells and whistles aren’t the only options anymore. OpenPhone is the new, innovative VoIP software that offers lower rates than most VoIP providers, including Ooma and Nextiva.
Here are a few key reasons thousands of businesses use OpenPhone.
1. Easily respond faster
Unlike other VoIP service providers, where you might have to upgrade to get call recordings and voicemail to text transcription features, OpenPhone offers these features with all their plans. That way, you can catch up on your business communication faster and respond more quickly.
2. Streamline your team’s texting
OpenPhone allows you to avoid the trap of silos with your team’s phone communication. You can integrate systems like Slack into OpenPhone and anyone on your team can view voicemail messages, missed call notifications, and SMS in Slack
OpenPhone’s built-in features like snippets, auto-replies, and Zapier integration also allows you to automate repeat text messages. And unlike Nextiva, you don’t need to contact us to start texting. Just sign up for a free seven-day trial to test out texting and calling from OpenPhone.
3. Enjoy transparent pricing
Avoid hidden fees with OpenPhone. Any additional charges you can see right on our pricing page.
Plans start at $15 per user per month. You’ll get features like voicemail to text transcription, one new local or toll-free number per user, call recording, and unlimited calling and messaging to US and Canadian numbers with each plan.
4. Work together with your team
OpenPhone makes it easy to work with your team to collaborate on ideas, contacts, and conversations. Every text you send or call you make leaves a record that your team members can view.
When another teammate is typing you can even see that — so no one accidentally also replies.
It’s also easy to share the workload with teammates with the help of shared numbers. Your team can even use mentions and threads to assign out tasks and get help from teammates
With OpenPhone, you also get multiple phone numbers that serve as direct lines for employees, but still, let you have oversight of how productive they are.
5. Bring together your tech stack
Along with OpenPhone’s HubSpot, Salesforce, and Slack integrations, you can also connect OpenPhone to thousands of other apps through Zapier and our webhooks. With this in mind, the possibilities to streamline your team’s workflows are endless.
OpenPhone also provides native integration with your email account, allowing you to forward text messages and voicemail notifications straight to your email inbox.
Want to see how OpenPhone Orange stacks up against Ooma vs Nextiva?
Here’s a quick comparison:
| OpenPhone | Ooma | Nextiva | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Starts at $15 per month per user | Starts at $19.95 per month per user | Starts at $23.95 per month per user for teams of 1-4 |
| Unlimited calling to US & Canada | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| SMS/MMS to US & Canada | ✓ | Requires upgrade | Requires upgrade |
| Voicemail transcriptions | ✓ | Requires upgrade | ✓ |
| Set business hours | ✓ | X | ✓ |
| Additional phone numbers | $5 per month per number | $9.95 per number | $4.95 per month |
| Call recording | ✓ | Requires upgrade | Requires upgrade |
| Shared phone numbers | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| IVR/Auto-attendant (virtual receptionist) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Auto-replies | ✓ | X | X |
| CRM integration | Requires upgrade | Requires upgrade | Requires upgrade |
| Slack integration | ✓ | X | X |
| Zapier integration | ✓ | X | X |
| iOS and Android apps | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Browser app | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Desktop apps | ✓ | Requires upgrade | ✓ |
Switch to OpenPhone
Ooma and Nextiva are both well-known VoIP companies with many features to offer. However, they do come with clear downsides. Both providers have limited services at higher price points, and there may be hidden charges associated with them.
OpenPhone starts at just $15 per user per month, offering advanced features like shared numbers, auto-replies, CRM functionality, Zapier and Slack integration, a mobile app, and more. Try out OpenPhone free now for seven days with a free trial.
