8 best Google Voice alternatives for 2024

Looking for an alternative to Google Voice? Maybe you’re sick of text messages living in separate inboxes and not having a toll-free business number, and you need an affordable option for both. The problem is: Google Voice doesn’t always deliver everything a modern business needs. These days, more customers are switching to affordable paid options to manage their business phone systems. 

If you find yourself in need of a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service and realize Google Voice isn’t ideal for your situation, we’ve outlined eight quality alternatives to consider in 2024.

We also dive into some key reasons businesses move onto Google Voice alternatives.

The 8 best Google Voice alternatives

While there are some advantages to using Google Voice for your business, there are better business phone solutions that:

• Save time
• Integrate with tools you already use
• Let your team collaborate more effectively on any phone communication

Here’s a quick breakdown of the top Google Voice alternatives:

Provider	Price	Unlimited calling to US & Canada	SMS/MMS to US & Canada	Shared phone numbers	Additional phone numbers
Google Voice	Starts at $16 per user per month(must have Google Workspace)	Unlimited calls to Canada from the US only	US customers only	Requires upgrade (ring groups only)	X
OpenPhone	Starts at $15 per user per month	✓	✓	✓	$5 per number per month
RingCentral	Starts at $20 per user per month	✓	25 texts per user per month	✓	$4.99 per number per month
Nextiva	Starts at $30 per user per month	✓	✓	✓	✓
Ooma	Starts at $19.95 per user per month	✓	Requires upgrade	✓	$9.95 per number per month
Ringblaze	Starts at $15 per user per month	✓	✓	X	$4-5 per month
Grasshopper	Starts at $14 per month	✓	Local numbers only	X	Requires upgrade
Dialpad	Starts at $15 per user per month	✓	US & Canadian customers only	✓	Requires upgrade
Vonage	Starts at $19.99 per user per month (1-year contract)	✓	Local US and Canadian numbers only	Requires upgrade or $4.99 add-on for each call group	$14.99 per number per month

1. OpenPhone: The best Google Voice alternative for small businesses and growing teams
2. RingCentral: The best alternative for desk phone rental options
3. Nextiva: The best alternative for teams that use Microsoft products
4. Ooma: The best alternative for teams that need overhead paging
5. Ringblaze: The best alternative with basic business phone features
6. Grasshopper: The best alternative with multi-digit extensions
7. Dialpad: The best alternative for contact centers
8. Vonage: The best alternative with an API

Keep reading below to get a detailed summary of each one.

1. OpenPhone: The best Google Voice alternative for small businesses and growing teams

Pros

• Unlimited calls and texts to the US & Canada
• Local, toll-free, and vanity numbers available
• Shared numbers to split responsibility for incoming calls and texts
• Integrations with 7,000+ third-party apps, including HubSpot and Salesforce
• AI features for call transcriptions, summaries, and action items

Cons

• No verification through two-factor authentication*

*Nearly all virtual phone numbers share this problem. Companies like Facebook, Uber, and Google rarely let you authenticate accounts through a virtual phone number.

OpenPhone is the ideal solution for small to mid-sized service businesses and entrepreneurs in need of a reliable, collaborative, and easy-to-manage business communication system. And it’s even one of the most cost-effective options on this list!

OpenPhone is a phone solution your sales, operations, and customer support teams — among others — can easily use to manage calls and SMS messages together. 

With OpenPhone, multiple team members can handle calls and texts on a shared business phone number and collaborate on conversations with internal threads. If teammates use different numbers, calls can be routed to the right person in just a few seconds with warm transfers. 

Here are a few other key benefits of using OpenPhone over Google Voice:

• Offer a nationwide presence to customers with toll-free numbers
• Sync calls, texts, voicemails, and call recordings to your CRM with OpenPhone’s integrations
• Save time texting and set clear expectations with your customers using scheduled texts, auto-replies, and automated texts via Zapier
• Review calls faster with AI summaries

Switch to OpenPhone: The best Google Voice alternative

Getting a new VoIP 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:

1. Create an account with OpenPhone (when you sign up, you get a free, seven-day trial).
2. During signup, choose your city or area code in the US to select your preferred phone number.
3. Once the signup process is complete, you’re all set to use your new number!

OpenPhone pricing

OpenPhone offers transparent pricing and some of the best rates in the industry for must-have business phone features.

• Starter: $15 per user per month for shared phone numbers, voicemail transcriptions, free calls and texts in the US and Canada, and dozens of ways to streamline your business’s phone communication
• Business: $23 per user per month for auto-attendant (IVR), call transferring, CRM integrations, analytics, and more advanced features
• Enterprise: Custom-fit solutions with custom-fit pricing

What customers are saying about OpenPhone

“I have been a user of OpenPhone for the past three years, and I have always been impressed with its affordability and functionality. Their pricing plans are incredibly reasonable and provide excellent value for their services. What sets OpenPhone apart is its modern app user interface – it is intuitive, user-friendly, and seamlessly integrates with my daily operations. The unlimited calls and SMS within the US and Canada make it an unbeatable choice for businesses like mine operating within these regions.” — Review from G2

“The technicians only text and call on the OpenPhone line. This is huge. Both myself and my co-worker work in this department. We are able to copy and paste from our SRM straight from the computer, and the techs receive it on their tablets as a text message. We don’t need to explain who we are or see different text line messages come through our phones — it is just one. No confusion, super clean, and the history stays and is great to look back on. It’s an easy, single line for service calls with two people using it. We love it and are so excited we implemented this. Thank you for a great product.” — Review from G2

G2 ratings indicate that OpenPhone ranks better than Google Voice for ease of use, setup, quality of support, and more:

Learn more about OpenPhone vs Google Voice and how they compare.

2. RingCentral: The best alternative for desk phone rental options

Pros

• Unlimited calling to US & Canada
• Desk phone rentals available

Cons

• Texting limits on base plan
• Call recordings deleted after 90 days

RingCentral is one of the older business phone solutions for unified communications. It’s also accessible online and with compatible desk phones (if your company still uses them).

This platform has dozens of features, from basic call management and SMS options to a contact center add-on for your customer support team. However, getting what you need without paying for other bells and whistles can be difficult with RingCentral.  

All RingCentral plans include essential features like toll-free numbers, unlimited calls within the US and Canada, SMS, voicemail-to-text, team messaging, and document sharing. But you should read the fine print carefully to avoid hidden fees. Their base plan, for example, only lets you send 25 text messages per user per month to anyone in the US or Canada. Anything more than that and you’re paying extra. 

RingCentral also has limitations around storing conversations (unless you pay for their most expensive plan). For example:

• Call recordings are deleted after 90 days
• Only 200 on-demand call recordings can be stored per user
• Users are limited to storing up to 5,000 messages

Even if you do upgrade to Ultra, you’ll still be limited by RingCentral’s time-based data retention policies.

If you’re a small business or a startup, prepare yourself for sticker shock.

RingCentral pricing plans

RingCentral updated its pricing in 2023.  Their previous four tiers were simplified into three — each with cutbacks from their earlier counterparts.

• Core: $20 per user per month for unlimited domestic calling and 25 texts per user per month
• Advanced: $25 per user per month includes auto call recording, app integrations like Salesforce and Zendesk, and 100 texts per user per month
• Ultra: $35 per user per month includes unlimited file sharing for recordings, HD video whiteboards and messaging, and 200 texts per user per month

What customers are saying about RingCentral

“Clunky and outdated user interface. Lack of support both while as a customer and when trying to transition to a better provider. They refuse to help port our numbers.” – Review from G2

“The support is little to none when something goes wrong. Salespeople give you much attention but account managers pay you no attention once signed up.” – Review from Capterra 

“I wouldn’t say I like the Ring Central’s price. The price is enormous when used in a smaller company, and it is not much change in a large company. There should be some discounts for more licenses.” – Review from G2

3. Nextiva: The best alternative for teams that use Microsoft products

Pros

• Unlimited calling within the US and Canada
• Video calling features available

Cons

• SMS and MMS are offered only on higher pricing tiers with a capped message limit
• Call recording is only available with Enterprise plan
• Limited toll-free minutes on each plan

Nextiva is a VoIP phone service that supports calls in the US and Canada. It’s a good fit for businesses that run on Oracle Sales Cloud or Microsoft Dynamics since Nextiva offers integrations with both.

Though it does offer business communication features that Google Voice doesn’t (such as auto-attendant and customer support), Nextiva’s lack of other features can be problematic for small businesses and startups.

Its SMS features are limited at best — and only available if you upgrade to a higher-tier plan. Even after you upgrade, teams are limited to 2000 messages sent and received per user before they are charged for their messages.

If you’re selling your products across the US, you’ll benefit from having a toll-free number. Nextiva offers toll-free numbers, but limits your toll-free minutes in each plan, which further drives up your costs.

You’ll also have to pay more to access key features your business likely needs, including voicemail transcriptions, and call recordings.

Nextiva pricing plans

Nextiva pricing offer four different plans (besides their enterprise products):

• Digital: $20 per user per month for website live chat, messaging apps, social media channels, review management, Digital Service Helpdesk, and more
• Core: $30 per user per month for inbound and outbound voice calls, business SMS, video conference calls, screenshare, call routing, and more
• Engage: $40 per user per month for call center queueing, toll-free number and minutes, advanced reporting, website chatbots, a Microsoft Teams integration, and more
• Power Suite: $60 per user per month for advanced IVR, intelligent routing, unified team interface, supervisor dashboards, transcriptions and summaries, and more

What customers are saying about Nextiva

“Their pricing and contracts all but force you to stick with them long term or pay an arm and a leg to leave.” – Review from Capterra

“Unreliable phone service (calls not going through), and poor customer service when reporting issues.” – Review from G2

“Auto attendant was not set up as planned. Text messages were not working. CRM not working. I spent days asking to fix things but each time more problems and more things did not work. We were running in circles with the problems. The waiting time for support was up to 50 minutes. They usually were not able to fix the issue but forwarded the case to the next level. I talked to the manager and he forwarded me to the technician. The technician forwarded my case again. I wrote an email to the manager but I did get a reply.” – Review from G2

4. Ooma:  The best alternative for teams that need overhead paging

Pros

• Unlimited calling in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico

Cons

• Texting is only available on higher tiers
• Voicemail transcriptions are only available on higher tiers
• Call recording is only available on higher tiers
• Unnecessary features like intercom calling and analog fax machine support

Ooma is a Google Voice alternative with virtual receptionists, overhead paging support, and unlimited voice calls to the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. You can access their mobile app and desk phone service directly from the base plan.

Although it’s a Google Voice alternative with video conferencing capabilities, Ooma lacks advanced features (unless you can afford to upgrade). It only offers phone numbers local to the US, for one. You also need to upgrade to access texting, voicemail transcriptions, and access to the Ooma desktop app.

Even after you upgrade, you’re still limited in what you can do. You get 1,000 free messages per user per month on the Pro Plus plan. Every additional message comes with an undisclosed upcharge, which means you’ll have to contact sales for a quote. 

Unless you’re already using desk phones and think overhead paging would be useful to your business, Ooma probably won’t make much sense for your business communication stack.

Ooma pricing plans

Ooma offers three different pricing plans.

• Essentials: $19.95 per user per month for auto-attendants, call forwarding, and SMS messages

• Pro: $24.95 per user per month for call recording, voicemail transcriptions, video conferencing, analytics, and access to Ooma’s desktop app

• Pro Plus: $29.95 per user per month for call queuing, CRM integrations, hot desking, and advanced call flows

What customers are saying about Ooma

“When it works, it does the job. But when it doesn’t, there is a major disruption to business and the perception of our clients is hurt. Wouldn’t really recommend this product unless you have a full-time IT person to manage it.” – Review from Capterra

“The calls would always drop or the person on the other end wouldn’t be able to hear us. … The connectivity was a big issue.” – Review from Capterra

5. Ringblaze: The best alternative with basic business phone features

Pros

• Unlimited local calling to the US & Canada

Cons

• Stored call history for only 90 days
• No third-party integrations
• No advanced texting features
• Inconsistent monthly fees

If you need a basic business phone system to replace Google Voice, Ringblaze is a solid choice. Some of the features it includes are a shared dashboard, call recording, call assignments, and a click-to-call website widget for customers.

Unlike Google Voice, Ringblaze offers a desktop app, shared inboxes, and toll-free numbers, which is why you should consider it a viable alternative.

But Ringblaze is just too limited to function as a permanent replacement. Here’s why:

• Ringblaze has no advanced texting features — you won’t have auto-replies, snippets, or scheduled texts to communicate with customers.
• Just like RingCentral, your call recordings are only stored for 90 days, which is frustrating if you have long sales cycles. 
• Just like Google Voice, it doesn’t have any third-party integrations, which means you can’t sync your calls and texts to your CRM.

Ringblaze pricing plans

Ringblaze only offers one plan, which costs $15 per user per month. You can share phone numbers, record calls, and get unlimited minutes to the US and Canada.

Keep in mind you may run into inconsistent monthly fees — calls on toll-free numbers and internal calls (between team members) require per-minute payments.

What customers are saying about Ringblaze

“I was thinking of switching away from a VoIP provider I have now but will not be doing so due to the dropped calls.” – Review from Capterra

6. Grasshopper: The best alternative with multi-digit extensions

Pros

• Unlimited calling to the US & Canada

Cons

• No call recording
• No shared phone numbers
• No Slack, Zapier, or CRM integrations

Grasshopper is a popular VoIP service offering an easy-to-use interface and local and toll-free numbers. You can also put unlimited users on each plan, which makes it more cost-effective than Google Voice.

But while Grasshopper may be well-known and have enough business features to replace Google Voice, it’s not built for collaboration. There are no integrations, shared phone numbers, or call recording capabilities. Plus, pricing can be confusing, too.

Grasshopper pricing plans

Grasshopper offers three plans to its customers:

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

*Additional numbers cost $9 per month.

What customers are saying about Grasshopper

“Over the few years I used it, they never made any upgrades. The iOS app functioned well enough for basic things, but seemed to be forever just a beta product. The website’s settings were hard to navigate, and setting up the incoming call workflow was too cumbersome.” – Review from Capterra

“The problem with this software is that it is full of glitches. There were several times when Grasshopper sent the voice messages to the wrong phone numbers, the extensions got changed or were wrong, or the app just stopped working all together. It seemed like every week or two, we had to waste time calling in to customer service to get them to fix the problems. Also, you could not send mass texts or multiple texts to more than one person without them seeing each other’s phone numbers and all responses going to all people in the group text.” – Review from Capterra

“The connection is really weak. Whenever I follow instructions to access a feature, it still doesn’t work. Calling in for help takes hours to resolve or isn’t resolved at all.” – Review from Capterra

7. Dialpad: The best alternative for contact centers

Pros

• Unlimited calling to the US & Canada

Cons

• Additional numbers require upgrade to higher tiers
• Slack, Zapier, and CRM integrations only available on higher tiers
• No international texting on base plan

Dialpad is a cloud communications platform primarily geared toward call centers. They tout their use of technology to provide live speech coaching and AI-powered call and voicemail transcriptions.

But like other alternatives, Dialpad’s standard plan lacks some essential business phone features. To access additional phone numbers and separate your teams (like customer support and sales), you’ll have to upgrade to a Pro plan. The same is true if you require integrations beyond Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace (or want to text internationally).

Dialpad pricing plans

There are three pricing tiers with Dialpad, each providing one local number with unlimited US and Canada calling, SMS and MMS, and video meetings.

Here are the options based on monthly billing:

• Standard: $15 per user per month for AI-powered call and voicemail transcriptions, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365 integrations 

• Pro: $25 per user per month for the option to have additional numbers, international texting, auto-replies, and CRM integrations (minimum of three users)

• Enterprise: Call for a quote and get 100% uptime, unlimited locations and ring groups, SSO integrations, and live agent support

What customers are saying about Dialpad

“The fact that when you get phone calls through Dialpad to your cell phone you can’t tell if it is a personal call or a call to your work number. If Dialpad was able to give a notification that it is a “Dialpad” call it would make answering the calls easier. I have answered personal calls with my work phone intro. So that is my biggest and honestly only real complaint with Dialpad.” – Review from G2

“The support ended after the contract was signed. Company needs to bridge sales and support to continue to grow with mid-enterprise clients. Hard time reaching my guy after we signed, prior to that we talked a few times a day. That said, I reached customer service for a request and they solved my issue immediately.” – Review from Capterra

8. Vonage: The best alternative with an API

Pros

• Unlimited calling to the US & Canada

Cons

• Toll-free numbers cost $39.99 per month
• Call recording unavailable on base plan
• Voicemail transcription and ring groups only available on most expensive plan

Vonage was one of the early pioneers of residential telecommunications over VoIP. With over 50 features across all plans (including toll-free numbers and an API), it’s a viable alternative to Google Voice.

The problem? It’s expensive to get access to all the features you need. For starters, toll-free numbers cost $39.99 per month on top of your Vonage plan, which can be a non-starter for many small businesses with a tight budget.

If you want access to essential features like call recording, voicemail transcription, and ring groups, you have to be prepared to upgrade to Vonage’s most expensive plan at $27.99 per user per month. 

One alternative is to pay for the base plan and add a paid add-on. For example, call recording is available as a paid add-on for $4.99 per month. But do you really want to jump through the mental gymnastics to figure out how you can access essential features in your business phone platform? A better alternative is to choose a cost-effective option that includes all these features at a clear price.

Vonage pricing plans

Vonage has three pricing plans to choose from. Unfortunately, small businesses (1-4 users) will pay a premium. Discounts are offered, starting with the 5th user.  

• Mobile: $13.99 per number per month; free calls and texts in the US, 20+ integrations
• Premium: $20.99 per number per month; unlimited meetings, multi-level auto attendant, CRM integration
• Advanced: $27.99 per number per month; on-demand call recording (15 hours), call group, visual voicemail

But here’s where Vonage gets you. They consider many features add-ons, so be sure to factor that into your monthly per-number plan fee. Here are some examples: 

• Toll-free numbers: $39.99 per number per month
• Call queue: $14.99 per month

What customers are saying about Vonage

“Porting my old number from Verizon was horrible, Verizon was good on their end, Vonage dropped the ball multiple times, took many calls and chat to resolve. Billing errors took 4 months to resolve. Totally unable to speak to anyone by phone with a company that “specializes” in phone communications.” – Review from G2

“The biggest con was the price — it kept growing and growing to a point where we had to switch over to a new provider. They were also missing a lot of integration with third-party applications.” – Review from Capterra

How to select the right Google Voice alternative for your team

Not sure how to choose the right Google Voice alternative? Here’s what you should look for:

1. Features: Modern businesses need modern features to build better relationships with customers. This means that VoIPs offering little more than calling and voicemail aren’t enough to make the cut. Keep an eye out for alternatives that offer automated texting features like auto-replies, snippets, and AI-generated message responses, as those tend to be overlooked by plenty of business phone providers.
2. Budget: If you’re an early-stage entrepreneur or a leader of a growing business, you’re probably working with a leaner budget. The best providers are cost effective and don’t require you to upgrade to a higher-tier plan based on the number of users you have. For example, RingCentral only lets you have up to 20 users on their base plan. 
3. Integrations: The average tech stack for a small business has 172 apps, so you need to invest in integrations to avoid siloing your conversation data. The best Google Voice alternatives offer multiple ways to connect with the tools you’re already using (like Slack). They can also integrate with platforms like Zapier so you can build custom workflows between different apps and automate repetitive tasks.
4. Reliability: You can’t afford for your business phone to go down — and neither can your customers. Prioritize business phone providers that have a history of reliable uptime. 
5. Ease of use: Making the switch to a new VoIP can be stressful or off-putting for your team. Choose a Google Voice alternative that offers apps on every device so team members can use what’s most convenient for them.
6. Setup: Some Google Voice alternatives take hours to set up and sometimes days to customize to your liking. Unless you want to put your business conversations on hold, choose your alternative wisely.
7. Support: The customer service of your VoIP solution can make or break the efficiency of your business phone. Providers with a history of below-average support should be crossed off your list (or at least subject to scrutiny).

What you should know about Google Voice

When you’re just launching a small business or a startup, it might make sense to use Google Voice because it’s free and your expenses are likely tight. But as your business grows, you might notice some limitations to the free and even some paid tiers of Voice:

• Missing key features: Google Voice doesn’t have essential business phone features like toll-free numbers, auto-attendant or IVR, shared numbers, third-party integrations, auto-replies, and more.
• Barriers for non-US users: Texting is only available for US users and you can’t sign up for the free version of Google Voice outside the US. 
• Difficult to use: Google doesn’t offer customer support for Google Voice and many users report poor call quality on Voice, making it difficult to use. 

Ideally, you need a phone system that can grow as your business grows. Plus, business owners need a business phone service to separate their personal phone numbers from work-related phone calls or text messages. Unfortunately, Google Voice can’t help with this.

Google Voice for Google Workspace limitations

Let’s say you’ve determined the free version of Google Voice won’t meet your needs. Unfortunately, you won’t have access to essential business features (call recording, phone menus, ring groups, etc.) without setting up a Google Workspace account first. 

You’ll be paying a minimum $6 per user per month for Google Workspace. 

After purchasing a Google Workspace account, you need to add one of the following Google Voice pricing plans.

Each plan includes free calls to the US from anywhere, VoIP call forwarding, voicemail transcription, and other basic calling features. 

But as mentioned earlier, key features are missing — texting is only available to US customers. And if you need a toll-free or vanity number, shared numbers, or integrations with non-Google apps, Google Voice can’t help.

These are just some of the many reasons businesses choose Google Voice alternatives.

OpenPhone: The best Google Voice alternative

If you’re looking for a Google Voice alternative, look no further than OpenPhone.

OpenPhone is a business phone built specifically for startups and scaling businesses. Unlike Google Voice and most of its competitors, OpenPhone offers all of the key features a business phone needs — with no hidden fees and starting at just $15 per user per month. OpenPhone also has a sleek user interface and dedicated customer support to make your experience 10 times better.

Ready to make the switch? You can start calling and texting with OpenPhone today.

Sign up for a free trial in under a minute.

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