GoDaddy Smartline vs Sideline: The ultimate comparison guide

Virtual phone numbers are just about everywhere these days, offering high-quality phone services through the wonderful world of the internet. If you’ve been looking for VoIP solutions over the past few weeks, chances are you’ve considered comparing GoDaddy Smartline vs Sideline, two major providers that seem to have plenty of industry clout. But do these VoIPs actually have the functionality you need?

Let’s compare Sideline vs Smartline in greater detail, and throw in a potential third option (in case you don’t like what you see).

Sideline vs Smartline: How do these providers compare?

Your VoIP provider should help — not hurt — your communications workflow. In this article, Sideline vs Smartline are compared side by side according to their pricing scales, features, and integrations.

1. Pricing: which one makes your wallet the happiest?

Winner: Toss Up

Smartline has the most complicated VoIP pricing on the list, offering a starting price of $9.99 per user per month. The upgraded Toll-Free Number plan starts at $19.99, which offers the same basic features with added support for toll-free phone numbers. Be aware both plans are very basic. If you want a local area code number and a toll-free number, you’ll need to pay for the Unlimited plan ($9.99) and the Toll-Free Number plan ($19.99) together, coming out to a total of $29.98 per month.

Sideline’s pricing also starts at $9.99 a month, although hunting down this information can be difficult. Their actual price chart is hidden inside a help center article. There are three plans offered: Standard, Team Number, and Enterprise. Each one offers access to different features; no plan offers all features at once. You won’t be able to access all of their features no matter how much you pay, which makes things even more confusing. For example, you’ll have the option to share a number with teammates or own a personal second number, but you’re unable to do both. That’s a deal-breaker for most startups and small businesses looking to scale. ⚖️

2. Features: which one struts the best stuff?

Winner: Sideline

Sideline bumps into the lead with a list of features that marginally outperform its competitor. Most of what’s offered are fairly standard for a business phone number, including text messages, auto-reply systems, call forwarding, and international call support. Keep in mind that unlimited calling and texting is reserved for US numbers only (sorry, Canada). Calling and texting in Sideline uses your carrier minutes by default, and international calling is only available on the Enterprise plan. 

 If you want to enjoy other must-have business phone features, Sideline isn’t the right fit. Getting auto-attendants and shared number access requires buying the Team Plan. While the option to set business hours is only available on Sideline’s Pro plan, shared numbers and auto-attendants aren’t available on their Pro plan. And if you want to use a toll-free number or use call recording software, you’ll need to look elsewhere. Neither is supported by the platform. 🚫

On Smartline, your basic features are limited to adding business hours, custom voicemail greetings, and caller ID. It’s important to note that calling, texting, and all other features are only available using the Smartline mobile app. Desktop use is not supported. Unlike Sideline, Smartline doesn’t support group texting options. 

GoDaddy Smartline relies entirely on cell phone service rather than WiFi. In other words, it’s not a true VoIP provider. And it gets worse: Smartline only lets you call other US numbers, excluding all other countries.

3. Integrations: Which one offers the best add-ons?

Winner: Toss up

Welcome to the shortest section of the lineup! Let’s not beat around the bush. 🌳

Smartline and Sideline don’t offer integrations. And no, you didn’t read that wrong. Neither platform offers any integrations. All features are located directly on-site (or app, in the case of Smartline).

If you’re a small business with big dreams of scaling up, both Smartline and Sideline fail to offer any significant features for growth

To summarize: zero, zip, nada.

Enter contender number three to Sideline vs Smartline: OpenPhone

At this point, the Sideline vs Smartline debate seems pretty cut and dry. Both providers hover around the same price points, offer similarly basic features, and fail to provide any exterior integrations. The biggest difference between them? Sideline maintains full VoIP status, while Smartline is completely reliant on active cell phone carriers. In either case, one thing is clear: these providers definitely don’t have anything special going on. 🤷

If you’re going to invest in a VoIP system, you’ll want something with scalable business phone features, impressive integrations, and flexible pricing that can actually meet your needs. And for thousands of customers around the world, OpenPhone perfectly fits the bill. 

1. Get all the business phone features you need

Gain access to all the features you need to provide a professional presence while saving oodles of precious time. Enjoy immediate access to OpenPhone’s auto attendants, away voicemail greetings, auto-replies, snippets, and voicemail transcriptions (just to name a few). Plus, you don’t need to purchase a separate plan to sign up for a toll-free number. Any numbers that exceed your team user’s count are just $5 per month. 

2. Call and text from any device 

Unlike Smartline’s counterintuitive design, OpenPhone makes it easy to call and text from our browser app, desktop app, or mobile app — whichever you prefer! Group chat with MMS support can be implemented at the touch of a button, bringing your teams closer together. 📲 All you need to use OpenPhone is a device and an internet connection; never a carrier plan.

3. Integrate with the tools you use

Bring the apps you already use into your business phone system with OpenPhone. We currently integrate with some of the industry’s biggest players, including Slack, Zapier, HubSpot’s CRM, and Gmail. With more than 5,000+ integrations available from Zapier alone, the possibilities are endless.

4. Collaborate with others at the touch of a button

If there’s one thing OpenPhone does like no one else, it’s collaboration. Internal threads and mentions allow you to tag in team members to get their feedback on a conversation or assign out specific tasks.

Shared numbers let you connect multiple team members to the same line, routing calls to the right rep at the right time. Our intuitive platform design is similar to a standard mobile phone, reducing the learning curve for users and their team members.

According to our G2 reviews, we’re one of the most popular VoIP providers thanks to our many collaboration features. But don’t just take our word for it; take theirs!

“Something I like the most is that multiple users can operate the same number. It even logs who has responded to text messages so a coworker can pick up where you left off in texting customers or clients.” – G2

“Great user interface and very intuitive – and most importantly, they’ve built the product with collaboration in mind, which makes so much sense when it comes to business phone calls.” – G2

“Love that I can separate my personal cell phone from my work phone. My whole team has the app and can manage the main line, call out, and accept incoming calls.” – G2

Let’s take a step back. Instead of telling you about ourselves, why don’t we just show you? Check out this handy chart detailing the biggest differences between Sideline vs Smartline vs OpenPhone. ⬇️

Smartline vs Sideline pales in comparison to OpenPhone

Let’s face it: not all VoIP providers are created equal. In the case of Sideline, their bare-bones features leave a lot to be desired. Neither one of these options offers any features that surpass basic landline phones, and both of them don’t provide any kind of integration service. 

While you might find some value in these plans for your business needs, chances are they simply won’t measure up to your standards. And if you’re like us, ‘kinda-sorta okay’ is never good enough.

OpenPhone’s commitment to call quality, affordable pricing scales, and outstanding integrations is evident from the get-go. We don’t play games, we don’t cut corners, and we definitely don’t require you to have a pre-existing cell phone plan. If you’re interested to see what we’ve got (and we know you are), try out a free trial.

Words by Meagan Shelley

Meagan is a professional writer in VA that has covered business phone communication since 2021. If she's not helping companies navigate VoIP technology, she's helping companies craft their own stories.