When Zoom conquered video conferencing in the early 2020s, their next move was to expand into VoIP services. Zoom Phone was launched right before the pandemic so customers could add VoIP phone capabilities to Zoom’s existing video conferencing platform.
But fast forward to life post-COVID, and you’ll notice Zoom Phone’s features haven’t kept up with the competition. And many of its best features require upgrades — you can’t even make outbound calls on the base plan.
If you’re trying to figure out how much Zoom Phone costs, you can use this guide to get a general idea. We cover everything you should know about Zoom’s five plans, plus the hidden fees and limitations not listed on the pricing page.
What is Zoom Phone?
Zoom Phone is a cloud-based phone system that offers unified communications as a service — in other words, voice, text, and video calls. It was originally designed to support PBX systems so physical businesses didn’t have to upgrade from their desk phones. Today, you can purchase desk phone hardware directly from Zoom Phone or bring your own devices (although that’s not available on every plan).
Zoom Phone pricing and plans at a glance
There are five ways to pay for a Zoom Phone plan:
US & Canada Metered
The Metered plan costs $10 per user per month billed monthly. While there is an annual plan available, you’ll have to contact sales for pricing.
Every metered plan comes with Zoom Phone’s standard features, including voicemail transcriptions, dial-by-name directories, call recording, and more. However, there’s no unlimited domestic calling — you’ll have to pay extra (at least $0.03 per minute or more) for every outbound call in the US and Canada.
| Key features | What's missing |
|---|---|
| Metered domestic calling | Unlimited outbound calls |
| Domestic SMS and MMS texting | Packaged international calling |
| Metered international calling | Zoom workplace features |
| AI companion for Zoom Phone | |
| Desktop app (Windows and Apple) | |
| Mobile device app (iOS and Android) | |
| Auto-attendants/IVR | |
| Zoom meetings | |
| Integrations (Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc.) |
US & Canada Unlimited
$15 per user per month unlocks the US and Canada Unlimited plan. As you might imagine, this provides unlimited outbound calling in the domestic US and Canada, plus unlimited calling to 19 countries as an optional add-on.
Keep in mind you won’t have access to other key Zoom features, including cloud storage, appointment booking, and internal document sharing. The only way to unlock these is to upgrade your plan and bundle Zoom Phone with a Zoom Workplace add-on.
| Key features | What's missing |
|---|---|
| Everything in US & Canada Metered | Packaged international calling plans (requires optional add-on) |
| Unlimited outbound calls | Zoom Workplace features (requires upgrade) |
Pro Plus
The Pro plan costs $18.32 per user per month billed annually ($21.99 per user per month billed monthly). For up to 99 users, you get all the features of the US & Canada Unlimited plan, plus access to the features on Zoom Workplace Pro (including cloud storage and document sharing).
Keep in mind you’ll be limited on your devices or infrastructure. You can’t bring your own carrier (BYOC), tap into third-party PBX systems, or use Zoom’s virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) unless you upgrade to the next plan.
Another strange limitation: there’s no access to live phone support. While the previous tiers offer chat and phone support, you can’t set up voice calls with a live agent on this plan unless you upgrade or downgrade.
The cherry on top is the lack of dashboard analytics. These are only available if you upgrade to the Business Plus plan (starting at $22.49 per user per month).
| Key features | What's missing |
|---|---|
| Everything in US & Canada Unlimited | BYOC, third-party PBX, & VDI features |
| Access to Zoom Workplace Pro | No 24/7 phone support (chat only) |
| Real-time reporting dashboards |
Global Select
The Global Select plan costs $20 per user per month billed monthly with an opportunity to contact sales for a discounted annual plan. With it, you can make unlimited calls in 19 countries and get a direct dial number to quickly reach specific departments or team members.
Just keep in mind SMS and MMS support is no longer available on this plan — which could be a dealbreaker for your growing business. And you’ll still have to pay extra for the Zoom Phone Power Pack add-on to unlock team SMS summary threads (among other things).
| Key features | What's missing |
|---|---|
| Everything in US & Canada Unlimited | SMS and MMS functionality |
| Unlimited calling in 19 countries | Team SMS summary thread |
| Direct-dial number |
Business Plus
The Business Plus plan costs $22.49 per user per month billed annually ($26.99 billed monthly) for 10 to 250 users. It unlocks all features from the US & Canada Unlimited plan, Zoom Workplace Business, visitor management tools, and real-time reporting dashboards.
Unfortunately, the Business Plus plan isn’t a one-stop shop for all your telephony needs. Advanced features such as AI contact suggestions and basic integrations with CRMs, such as Pipedrive and Zoho, aren’t available.
| Key features | What's missing |
|---|---|
| Everything in US & Canada Unlimited | International calling add-on |
| Zoom Workplace Business | Zoom Phone Power Pack add-on |
| Visitor management tools | |
| Real-time reporting dashboards |
You’ll also have to pay extra for add-ons and upgrades, including:
- International calling: $10 per month (or $120 per year) for unlimited international calling to more than 15 countries and regions
- Zoom Phone Power Pack: $25 per month (or $300 per year) for enhanced call queue analytics and historical insights
- Additional phone numbers: Local, toll-free, or international numbers starting at $5 per line per month (or $60 per line per year)
If you thought paying for outbound minutes was expensive, keep in mind Zoom Phone charges the following hidden fees:
- Porting fees: Porting a number to Zoom is usually free, but numbers from certain regions or international locations may come with additional costs. Be sure to confirm the details with Zoom support before porting.
- Toll-free calling: Zoom Phone does offer toll-free numbers, but you still need to purchase toll-free minutes, which aren’t included in the base plan. Zoom offers pay-as-you-go or monthly rates, which can get expensive fast, depending on how often you call overseas. Assuming you’re calling landline and mobile numbers in the US, your costs could range from $0.02 per minute to $0.04 per minute or more.
- Premier support: You’ll only have access to basic support features on a standalone Zoom Phone plan. If you want faster response times and dedicated account managers, you’ll need to purchase a support plan upgrade. Unfortunately, the prices for these services are ‘customized to your needs,’ which means they’re not publicly available online.
- Cloud storage: If you want to store copies of your documents and call recordings, you need to purchase a Zoom Workplace plan and bundle it with your Zoom Phone plan. Billed annually, the Pro and Business plans offer 5 GB for $13.32 to $18.32 per user per month, respectively. You could also purchase more cloud storage with a separate add-on for Zoom Workplace ($10 per user per month). If you bundle your Phone with Business Plus, you can get 10 GB of storage for $22.49 per user per month. The Enterprise plan offers unlimited cloud storage for an undisclosed price per month — although you need 250 users or more to qualify.
4 things to keep in mind before committing to Zoom Phone
Here are a few more reasons to consider Zoom Phone alternatives:
1. Outbound calls billed by the minute
With Zoom Phone’s base plan, internal calls between teammates are unlimited, while outbound calls are metered pay-as-you-go unless you upgrade.
This is a major limitation for growing brands, especially since most VoIP platforms, like OpenPhone, offer unlimited inbound and outbound calls on their base plan.
2. International calling can add up quickly
If you want unlimited calling to international countries, you need to pay for a separate add-on ($10 per license per month) to unlock unlimited calling to a few select countries and regions. Unfortunately, this can only be added to an unlimited calling plan, which means you’re forced to pay-per-minute pricing if you’re using Zoom’s Phone’s base plan.
You should also know the add-on package only includes the following countries:
- US
- Canada
- UK
- Ireland
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Austria
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Portugal
- Spain
- Sweden
- Belgium
- Netherlands
- Switzerland
- Puerto Rico
- Japan
Any country outside this list comes with per-minute rates — which means even with the add-on, there’s a chance you’ll still pay extra fees.
💡Related: Zoom Phone vs Google Voice
3. Reporting and analytics aren’t included in any plan
Want call queue analytics and historical insights? You guessed it: you’ll have to pay extra. The Zoom Phone Power Pack costs $25 per license per month to access the desktop user experience, reporting tools, analytics, and a few other features.
What about answering text messages together as a team? Unfortunately, you’ll need to have the Power Pack active for every user who wants to share responsibility. Plus, this feature is limited to customers in the US and Canada and only works for up to 10 team members.
Considering the best VoIP providers include this feature on their base plans, you may be paying steep fees to access basic features.
4. Gated access to customer support
Reliable customer support isn’t a given with Zoom Phone. Most plans come with access to online chat support, and only upgraded plans offer live phone troubleshooting.
Unfortunately, it can be hard to get in touch with support on lower-tier plans. Chat support is reportedly slow, and it can take hours to reach an available agent.
Even if you do upgrade to speak with a support rep over the phone, keep in mind you still won’t have priority support unless you pay for Premier Support.
This Zoom Phone review sums it up well:
“I signed up and realized that they were not going to give me any support. I have now spent 2-3 hours on the phone trying to get it working. … After trying to get support for 2 hours, they told me I would have to submit a ticket and someone would respond within 24-48 hours. I asked if this was the same level of support I could expect to receive in the future, and they said “yes.” … I am very disappointed because I wanted to use them, but really, I need better support and help — and they apparently don’t offer that at all for small businesses.” — Reddit
OpenPhone: A more effective alternative to Zoom Phone
So, is Zoom Phone expensive? That depends on who you ask. If you’re an enterprise brand with money to spare, it might not be the priciest option. But if you’re a growing small business on a limited budget, the monthly costs plus hidden fees could outweigh the benefits.
This isn’t a shortcoming of only Zoom Phone: many VoIP phone systems (including RingCentral and Dialpad) require high costs for limited features. That’s one of the reasons OpenPhone is trusted by over 50,000 businesses to build better relationships with their customers at an affordable monthly cost.
OpenPhone brings your calls, texts, and contacts into an intuitive app that works across all your devices so you never miss a customer. We’re also rated #1 in customer satisfaction on G2 — our customer service speaks for itself.
Here’s how we compare to Zoom Phone:
| Features | OpenPhone | Zoom Phone |
|---|---|---|
| Price per month | $15 per user per month | $10 per user per month |
| Unlimited calling | ✓ | Requires upgrade |
| Unlimited SMS, MMS to US & Canada | ✓ | ✓ |
| Voicemail to text | ✓ | ✓ |
| Toll-free numbers | ✓ | Additional cost |
| Additional phone numbers | $5 per number | $5 per number |
| Number porting | ✓ | Certain numbers may cost extra |
| Call recording | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shared phone numbers | ✓ | Shared texting requires upgrade |
| Group text messaging | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shared contacts | ✓ | ✓ |
| Auto-replies | ✓ | Requires upgrade |
| Text message templates | ✓ | Requires upgrade |
| Slack integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI features | ✓ | ✓ |
| Gmail integration | ✓ | ✓ |
| Zapier integration | ✓ | X |
| iOS and Android apps | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web-based apps | ✓ | X |
1. Affordable upfront pricing
OpenPhone starts at $15 per user per month for unlimited calling and messaging in the US and Canada. There’s no need to upgrade for outbound calling — and no need to stress about losing features like SMS that depend on your plan.
Our base plan offers everything you need to start and grow your business, including toll-free numbers, SMS/MMS support, shared phone numbers, and more. Whenever you’re ready, you can upgrade to our Business plan at $23 per user per month for CRM integrations, OpenPhone AI, and team analytics and reporting tools.
Speaking of analytics. . .
2. Clear insights into your team’s performance
Unlike Zoom Phone, you can tap into OpenPhone analytics starting on our Business plan (no add-ons required). You’ll have everything you need to keep an eye on your team, from the number of incoming calls, messages, and missed calls to unique conversations and time on calls.
For example, you can use OpenPhone analytics to monitor individual user activities, like the number of messages sent per week or the user’s percentage of answered calls. You could also tap into your number’s personalized heat map to identify the busiest dates and times of the week.
These tools help you keep a finger on the pulse of your team so you can offer personalized feedback and suggestions.
3. Affordable AI tools
With Zoom Phone, you need to pay for a monthly add-on to unlock the best AI tools for your business. With OpenPhone, AI is available right on our Business plan. There are no surprises or add-on costs — and no learning curve, either.
You can use OpenPhone AI for:
- Transcribing and summarizing calls
- Providing next steps and action items
- Suggesting and adding new contacts (if they’re not already in your system)
We also offer AI tools for AI-suggested message responses so you can easily respond to incoming conversations.
4. Team up on communications with shared numbers
With Zoom Phone, you can technically share a business phone number with your team, but as you can probably guess, it comes with serious limitations. You can only be a member of one shared number at a time, and texting from a shared number requires the Zoom Power Pack add-on.
OpenPhone makes it much easier (and cheaper) to split incoming conversations with your coworkers. On our Business plan, you can add unlimited members to any number or numbers, share texts, voicemails, and call recordings with your team, and then tap into productivity tools such as auto-replies to keep customers informed even while you’re off the clock.
We also offer team chat tools so everyone on your team can share information without leaving the app. All you have to do is mention a team member in an internal thread, then leave context regarding recent calls, texts, or voicemails.
5. Easy to scale as your team grows
OpenPhone was designed to scale alongside your team, which means you won’t need to upgrade until you’re ready. As your team grows, you can easily add new numbers and customize them to ensure callers get routed to the right place. Additional numbers cost just $5 per month, whether you get a US phone number, a Canadian number, or a North American toll-free number.
Need to add new members to your OpenPhone account? Each user gets a free North American local or toll-free number. Plus, since our setup is intuitive, it only takes 15 minutes to get started.
If you run into any issues, our email and chat support teams are standing by to help.
Pros and cons of Zoom Phone pricing plans
Zoom Phone works well for traditional inbound call centers, but growing businesses making hundreds of outbound calls per month may find it limiting, confusing, and expensive.
Pros:
- UCaaS support: You can use Zoom Phone to make and receive calls, texts, and video meetings (may require some upgrades and add-ons).
- Integrates with other Zoom Services: This includes Zoom Workplace, Scheduler, Rooms, and Events & Webinars.
- All-in-one hardware available: You can purchase Zoom-enabled hardware, such as desk phones and headsets.
Cons:
- Outbound calling costs extra: You have to pay for outbound calls unless you upgrade to a more expensive plan.
- Limited integrations: Zoom Phone only integrates with 10 third-party apps (compared to 7,000+ from providers like OpenPhone).
- Team SMS summaries require add-on: There’s no easy way to review texting conversation histories with your team.
- Support is slow and frustrating: You’re required to upgrade to get faster human support.
See why OpenPhone is the best virtual phone service provider
Your business phone system should help you build better relationships with your customers, not nickel and dime you for every outbound call. That’s why many small businesses find that Zoom Phone is too expensive — and why they switch to providers such as OpenPhone instead.
With OpenPhone, you can split responsibility for incoming conversations with every member of your team. You can connect with thousands of integrations, tap into built-in AI tools, and set up automated workflows to get more work done in less time.
Ready to get a business phone number with OpenPhone?
Take us for a spin with our seven-day free trial.
