As great as Phone.com might look on paper, it might not offer everything your business needs.
If your business requires MMS access and fast customer support for your virtual phone system, you might want to think twice before making the switch to this VoIP provider.
Let’s take a closer look at Phone.com in detail and evaluate its features, pricing, and limitations. If you aren’t satisfied with what you learn, we’ll compare another six VoIP services that might have what you’re looking for. We’ve got a comprehensive chart of all features at the end, so stay tuned! 📻
6 Phone.com alternatives
Not so happy with what you’re seeing from Phone.com? Check out these six Phone.com alternatives that might be just what you’re looking for.
1. OpenPhone
We might be a little biased, but we honestly believe that OpenPhone offers the best small business phone system on the market. Our software works across any daily device that connects to WiFi, from cell phones and laptops to tablets and desktops.
We proudly offer the features small businesses need to grow, including US and Canadian numbers, MMS, international calling, and multiple users with shared numbers and inboxes. Easily collaborate with your team on communication in the office or remotely using threads.
You can also stay in the loop by jumping into any inbox’s conversations and see all the calls and messages associated with each contact.
Best of all, compared to other Phone.com alternatives we don’t expect you to upgrade to the top tier just to get multiple numbers or a toll-free number.
Want a more detailed list of features? Strap in!
- Unlimited callings, texts, and MMS all over the US and Canada
- IVR/auto-attendants
- Voicemail transcriptions and call recordings
- Email, Slack, HubSpot, and Zapier integrations
- Text scheduling, auto-replies, and snippets
OpenPhone is known all over G2 for having one of the most responsive support teams ever. Our support is available to help any questions you have.
OpenPhone pricing
We like to keep things simple around here, which is why OpenPhone’s three-tier price plan with no hidden fees. 🙌
Starter
- $15 per user per month
- Customer support via email and SMS
Business
- $23 per user per month
- Advanced features like call forwarding, analytics, HubSpot integration, and priority support
Enterprise
- Custom pricing depending on your needs
- Dedicated account managers help with anything and everything
How to port your existing number from OpenPhone
This might be the easiest thing you do all day. Porting your number (or numbers) to OpenPhone takes just a single form and is 100% free.
- Get your OpenPhone account.
- Submit your porting request in the OpenPhone app.
- We’ll take it from here! Give us about two weeks to get everything sorted.
The bottom line for OpenPhone
For thousands of small businesses around the world, OpenPhone is the obvious choice for growth and sustainability. Upgrade your workflow, integrate your teams, and rely on automations for real-time results. Try out OpenPhone for free with a 7-day trial. ✔️
How to get a virtual number with OpenPhone
Getting a new phone number from almost anywhere in the world is a simple process when you choose OpenPhone as your virtual phone number provider. Follow these three steps:
- Create an account with OpenPhone (when you sign up, you get a free, seven-day trial).
- During signup, choose your city or area code in the US to select your preferred phone number.
- Once the signup process is complete, you’re all set to use your new virtual phone number!
2. Grasshopper
This well-known VoIP provider has been in business since 2003. Armed with the power of word of mouth, Grasshopper offers caller ID, automated greetings, and unlimited call and text capabilities from a number of your choice.
Other major features include:
- Access to local area codes
- Call transcriptions
- Auto-replies
- Business SMS
Feeling underwhelmed? So are hundreds of other people. The app isn’t just outdated compared to other Grasshopper alternatives; it lacks any integrations with Slack, Zapier, and several other automations.
Grasshopper pricing
Pricing plans offered by Grasshopper are — to be nice about it — really confusing. There are three tiers provided: Solo, Partner, and Small Business.
Solo
- $28 a month gives you access to one number and three extensions (note: your business can’t be larger than one person at this tier).
Partner
- $46 a month gets you three numbers and six extensions — but only if you have less than four employees!
Small Business
- $80 a month is Grasshopper’s top of the line and comes with five phone numbers with unlimited extensions.
The bottom line for Grasshopper
Although Grasshopper is an okay virtual phone system, you can get more for your money elsewhere. This platform doesn’t offer any major integrations or number sharing features at all, which could leave startups wishing they had a platform that enables more productivity. If your SMB is considering scaling up in the future, this is definitely not the right platform for you.
For more information on these two providers compare, check out our Grasshopper vs Phone.com guide.
3. Dialpad
Virtual phone numbers from Dialpad combine the smarts of AI with the convenience of softphones. Their unique approach to inbound call management makes it easy to see the data behind your phone calls.
Their BI-focused tools include:
- IVR
- Data analytics
- Speed coaching programs
- Google Workspace and Office 365 integrations
Despite their shiny business features, Dialpad lacks a lot of, well, functional features for real businesses. Worse still, the inability to add multiple local numbers can be shockingly inefficient for scaling enterprises.
Dialpad pricing
As you might have guessed, Dialpad has three big options:
- Standard Plans ($20 per user per month) offer bare-bones customer support — and only during weekdays. Note: you can’t text internally or get additional numbers on this plan.
- Pro Plans ($30 per user per month) provide access to 24/7 support, as well as some integrations and side features (just as long as you buy at least 3 licenses).
- Enterprise Plan pricing isn’t publically listed and requires a minimum of 100 licenses to unlock integrations with Azure, Okta, and OneLogin.
The bottom line for Dialpad
Dialpad has a lot of great ideas, but when it comes to the features businesses you actually need — not so much compared to other Phone.com alternatives.
Coupled with its expensive licensing requirements and rigid plan tiers, this VoIP platform is probably not the best option for a growing small business.
4. Google Voice for Google Workspace
If you’re looking into VoIP solutions, you’ve come across Google Voice. Their paid plans, Google Voice for Google Workspace, provides local numbers and international reach, along with a few features such as:
- Unlimited calls to the US
- SMS support
- Business hours
- Web-based and cell phone apps
But don’t get too excited. This (paid) platform lacks a lot of flexibility, including no integrations beyond other Google apps, no toll-free numbers, and lots of porting limitations.
Google Voice for Google Workspace pricing
Were you thinking about getting Google Voice for business just because it’s free? Bad news: their free plan doesn’t offer most features businesses need such as shared numbers and business hours.
Their business plan offers additional functionality, but also requires you to pay for a Google Workspace subscription, which is $6 per month per user on top of Google Voice’s $10 minimum entry fee. Stack all that up, and you might be looking at a pretty hefty price tag for pretty standard service compared to other Phone.com alternatives.
The bottom line for Google Voice
Simply said, Google Voice was not designed to be a business VoIP solution. Its features are limited, its integrations are minimal, and its price point is definitely not free. Add all these things together, and you’ve got yourself a not-so-compatible Phone.com alternative.
5. Vonage
This legacy VoIP service got its start in the early 2000s, providing WiFi-based telephony for users all over the world. Vonage touts its mobility and reliability above all else and provides business phones and communication APIs to a variety of industries.
Vonage’s most popular features include:
- Softphone desktop calls
- Team messaging services
- Virtual receptionists
- App centers
- Administrative portals
Like many legacy services, Vonage’s dated interface and confusing software is far from intuitive.
Vonage pricing
Vonage’s price point is also a point of contention. Smaller teams have to pay more per user on the same plans compared to large organizations.
Just for context, the prices we show below are based on a team size of one (AKA just you).
Vonage’s three pricing plans leave a lot to be desired, both for your business and for your wallet. You might want to sit down:
- The Mobile Plan starts at $19.99 per month per line, providing unlimited calls, texts, and team messaging.
- The Premium Plan is considered to be the most popular, coming in at a whopping $29.99 per month per line for CRM integrations, auto attendants, and unlimited meetings.
- The Advanced Plan offers all the bells and whistles and unlocks access to call recordings (15 hours max), call groups, and visual voicemail for $39.99 per month per line.
Keep in mind that none of these numbers include taxes and other fees.
The bottom line for Vonage
Vonage is one of the most fee-heavy platforms on this list, requiring a lot of money for a lot of limited features.
Is this a VoIP alternative to Phone.com? Yes. Is it a cost-effective alternative? Depending on which features you need, no.
6. Nextiva
With more than 8,000 customers worldwide, Nextiva is a large player in the VoIP space. The company is primarily used to build large contact centers, offering equipment, phones, and other tools alongside their VoIP services.
Their current list of features include:
- Virtual voicemail
- Auto-attendants
- Toll-free numbers
- 24/7 customer support
- Unified communications
Despite Nextiva’s impressive customer support options, its user reviews aren’t particularly impressed by their quality or speed. Not being able to text from your business number using Nextiva unless you upgrade is also a key thing to keep in mind.
And for smaller businesses just sticking their toes in the water, Nextiva’s bevy of options could be positively overwhelming.
Nextiva pricing
There are two separate services offered by Nextiva: Business Communications and Contact Centers. For the purposes of our VoIP comparison, we’ll only be focusing on Business Communications.
Their pricing is more complicated than most other Phone.com alternatives. The price you pay depends on your team’s size.
Teams of four users or less can expect to pay more per user on any of their plans:
- Essential ($11.95 per user per month): Enjoy unlimited calls with integrations, auto attendants, and full access to customer support.
- Professional ($20.95 per user per month): Extended integrations (including Salesforce, Hubspot, and Zendesk) come with a professional setup and unlimited conference calls with 40 or fewer people. This plan also lets you text from your computer or their mobile app.
- Enterprise ($26.95 per user per month): Single sign-on security provides access to more extended integrations (Microsoft Teams, Oracle Sales Cloud, and ServiceNow) with voice analytics and voicemail transcriptions.
- Ultimate ($57.95 per user per month): Get all the features of previous plans plus ticket management, automatic surveys, and customer journey data.
The bottom line for Nextiva
Because Nextiva was designed with larger companies in mind, this alternative might not work with every business model.
Confusing prices and challenging account setups may create more unnecessary headaches, keeping your customer reps on the phone all day long — and not with your customers.
What you should know about Phone.com
There’s a good reason why Phone.com is such as popular choice for VoIP phone calls. This platform allows users to transfer or purchase local numbers at a glance, supporting video calling and text messaging with a handy mobile app.
The program is compatible across lots of other devices, making it pretty accessible for distributed contact centers.
Phone.com offers a few basic features that come with every plan (more about plans later). For the most part, these include:
- Voicemail to email
- Call routing functions
- Video conferencing
- Conference calling
With no expensive hardware needed, Phone.com could be a great and cost-effective option for your business.
But not all that glitters is gold. Phone.com is extremely limited in its texting features, especially with your options to automate specific touchpoints over text.
Plus, all phone calls and text messages are routed to separate inboxes, which can make contact management even more complicated for your team.
Do you use call recordings in your workflow? That’ll cost extra. Like, $7.99 a month extra, and only for users on the Pro plan (read: the most expensive tier).
And while we’re talking about extras, it’s important to note that shared phone numbers have a going rate of $5 per month. Unless you’re on the most expensive plan, you’ll be limited to just one VoIP number.
Beyond its high price tag, Phone.com has a number of complaints from actual users. Many of them are frustrated by the confusingly unintuitive iPhone app and even more aggravated by slow replies from their support.
These G2 reviews are scathing, to say the least.
“The customer experience is horrendous. We deal with several software vendors and this one takes the top prize for the most impersonal and dismal customer experience. Their support is lackluster, dismissive, and unresponsive. I have been transferred to tech support chat only to sit on the chat for 45 minutes as the next in queue for the feature to then close and say “agents not available.”
“I dislike how ancient and clunky the site is. Not very user friendly. The site may take some getting used to as well as learning how to navigate it. I have used it for about a year now and still forget how to get to certain options.”
“The phone app they provide communicator is terrible. Lot’s of issues where visitors cannot hear us or we can’t hear them. I have worked with their support team on and off for months and they ‘fix’ something on their backend and everything works for about 1 week and then it breaks again. Very frustrating.”
Phone.com pricing
The pricing plans at Phone.com are relatively straightforward. Users have three options:
- $11.99 per user per month for Basic
- $15.99 per user per month for Plus
- $23.99 per user per month for Pro,
In terms of features, here’s what you’re paying for:
Basic User
- 500 minutes and 1,000 text segments (pooled)
- One VoIP phone number
- 10-person video conferencing
- Mobile and web access
Plus User
- Unlimited minutes
- Conversational text messaging
- One VoIP phone number
- Voicemail transcriptions
- 25-person video conferencing and recording
- IP phone connections
Pro User
- Call recording and analytics
- Integrations with CRMs
- 100-person video conferencing with HiFi transcriptions
- Voicemail transcriptions
The verdict on Phone.com
Phone.com may be a good starting place for small businesses, but its paywalled features and single number limitations can be stifling for growing brands. With expensive premium features and a clunky user interface, it’s safe to say that Phone.com may keep your business from making the most out of their phone communication.
OpenPhone: The best alternative for Phone.com
Judging by these comparisons, it’s clear that OpenPhone is the best phone system for businesses. Not only are our advanced features positively drool-worthy, but the functional integrations we offer are second to none.
We’re not just saying that either — see how we stack up to other Phone.com alternatives side by side.
| OpenPhone | Phone.com | Vonage | Dialpad | Google Voice | Grasshopper | Nextiva | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Starts at $15 per month per user | Starts at $10.39 per user per month | Starts at $19.99 per month per line | Starts at $20 per month per user | Starts at $10 per month per user | Starts at $28 per month | Starts at $30.95 per month per user |
| Unlimited calling to US & Canada | ✓ | Requires upgrade | ✓ | ✓ | Unlimited calls to Canada from US only | ✓ | ✓ |
| SMS/MMS to US & Canada | ✓ | ✓ | Local US and Canadian numbers only | For US & Canadian customers only | US customers only | Local numbers only | Requires upgrade |
| Voicemail transcriptions | ✓ | Requires upgrade | Requires upgrade | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Requires upgrade |
| Set business hours | ✓ | ✓ | x | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Additional phone numbers | $5 per month per number | $4.99 per month per number | $14.99 per month per extension | $7 per month per number | x | $10 per month per number | $4.95 per month |
| Call recording | ✓ | Requires upgrade | Requires upgrade; 15 hours max | ✓ | x | x | Requires upgrade |
| Shared phone numbers | ✓ | $5 per month | x | ✓ | Requires upgrade | x | ✓ |
| Auto-attendant (virtual receptionist) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Requires upgrade | x | ✓ |
| Auto-replies | ✓ | x | x | Requires upgrade | x | ✓ | x |
| Slack integration | ✓ | x | ✓ | Requires upgrade | x | x | x |
| Zapier integration | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Requires upgrade | x | x | x |
| CRM integration | Requires upgrade | Requires upgrade | ✓ | Requires upgrade | x | x | Requires upgrade |
| iOS and Android apps | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Browser app | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Google Chrome only | ✓ | x | x |
| Desktop apps | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | x | ✓ | ✓ |
With strong integrations, adaptable features, and totally flexible prices, OpenPhone’s got what it takes to handle all of your business communications.
Give us a spin for yourself with a seven-day free trial.
