The Best VoIP Service Providers for Small Businesses

Tired of being stuck to your desk by your outdated landline system? Feeling bogged down by insanely high phone bills? 

Upgrading your phone strategy and switching to VoIP is the solution. 

If you’re planning to switch to VoIP, you’re probably looking for a cost-effective solution that fits your budget, has a good reputation for reliability and customer service, ensures the security of your data, and offers additional features like call recording and forwarding. 

We’ve got you covered. To help you find the right fit, we’ve put together a list of the best VoIP providers, along with their respective pros and cons. By the end of this post, you’ll have everything you need to make a well-informed decision.  

The Best VoIP Service Providers for Small Businesses  

While choosing a VoIP provider, you must consider different options and choose one that aligns with your specific needs. There are a lot of options out there, and they all offer something unique. Some offer stronger security features than others, including better encryption. Some offer better customer support. Furthermore, it’s extremely important to take the reliability of the VoIP providers into consideration. So, which one is the right fit for you? 

Grab your favorite drink, we’re about to dive into the top VoIP providers one by one.

1. Zoom Phone

Ahh, Zoom. It seems like Zoom video calls have become a part of normal daily life for so many of us—and for good reason: It solves a problem, and it works well.

But video calling isn’t all Zoom offers. Zoom launched its cloud-based system called Zoom Phone in January 2019. They saw a massive opportunity to provide a cloud-based business phone solution as reliable, simple, and easy-to-use as our video platform, and they answered the call. 

The Pros

What makes Zoom Phone so special is its low pricing. Zoom Phone offers the following three pricing plans:

• US & Canada Metered: $120 per year per user.
• US & Canada Unlimited: $180 per year per user.
• Pro Global Select: $240 per year per user.

Zoom Phone also offers a wide range of features as well as countless useful integrations. Some of the VoIP provider’s most-exciting features include voicemail with transcription, call forwarding, call barge, spam prevention, call conferencing, and many more. 

Zoom Phone also offers a variety of integrations, including Zendesk Helpdesk CRM, Salesforce CRM, Google Workspace, Zoom video conferencing service, and more. So there’s a good chance you can pair it with your existing software solutions. 

Zoom Phone is easy to set up and the call quality is top-notch (so long as you have an excellent internet connection). 

The Cons

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. While you’ll find countless useful articles in their online knowledge base, some say Zoom’s customer support isn’t up to the mark. 

From a security standpoint, Zoom Phone doesn’t currently offer enforceable password rules or multi-factor authentication. 

The Verdict 

Zoom Phone is an affordable, user-friendly VoIP provider, but if you’re looking for superior customer support and take security seriously, this VoIP solution may not be the right fit for you.

2. 8×8

8×8 is another popular cloud-based VoIP business communications provider. 

The Pros

With affordable plans and top-notch features like call recordings, caller ID, call forwarding and transfer, 3-way calling, and call queues, there’s a lot to like about 8×8. 

Let’s start with the pricing. You can choose from the following plans:

• Express Plan (suitable for small businesses): $15 per user per month.
• X2 Plan (suitable for lager teams): $28 per user per month.
• X4 Plan (suitable for larger teams that need advanced features): $57 per user per month.

Apart from this, 8×8 also offers a Contact Center pricing category. These plans have more premium pricing and include functions like real-time multiscreen monitoring, customer experience journey mapping, and more. 

Some of popular 8×8 integrations include Salesforce CRM, Zendesk, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, and HubSpot. 

8×8 is also dedicated to offering excellent customer support, which is a big selling point. 

Not convinced? 8×8 puts their money where their mouth is and offers a 30 day free trial before you commit.

The Cons

While 8×8 wins in almost every major area and we ourselves haven’t heard anything negative about 8×8, some common challenges reported by 8×8 customers on G2 include:

• 8×8 finds it hard to automatically detect when a user is on their system and ends up ringing the phone.
• Dropped calls on the application.
• Occasional technical bugs and glitches.

The Verdict

8×8 is an affordable and cloud-based VoIP business communications provider that offers top-notch features. One of the key highlights of 8×8 is that it offers a 30-days free trial and has different categories of plans for different business types. The platform integrates excellently with popular platforms like Salesforce CRM and Zendesk. And their customer support is just excellent.

That being said, some customers have reported technical bugs and glitches like dropped calls on the application as well as difficulty in automatically detecting user status.

3. Ooma Office

Ooma Office is a popular choice among many small and midsize businesses, and they even offer residential services. They take pride in helping small businesses act like big businesses.   

The Pros

Ooma Office offers three service plans to suit the needs of different businesses:

• Essentials Plan: $19.95 per user per month
• Pro Plan: $24.95 per user per month
• Pro Plus Plan: $29.95 per user per month

Ooma’s call quality is generally excellent; however, some users on G2 have reported occasional call drops and disconnect. 

Ooma Office has an easy-to-use interface and makes cybersecurity a priority. The platform says that you can get your toll-free number for free. However, it’s important to not that it comes with a 500-minute-per-month limit. If you go above that, you’ll have to pay extra.

The Cons

There are, of course, a few downsides to this phone provider. With Ooma Office, it’s not possible to trace calls to specific employees or ring groups. The VoIP service provider also falls short when it comes to reporting and integration. In fact, they only offer Salesforce integration to Pro Plus users. So, if countless integrations are what you’re looking for, we recommend staying away from Ooma Office. 

Some other problems reported by Ooma Office business users include:

• Inability to delete multiple messages simultaneously.
• Occasional lags
• Admin interface can be improved.
• Phone gets randomly disconnected and takes time to reconnect.

The Verdict 

Ooma is a solid choice for SMBs. The VoIP solution provider offers affordable plans, an easy-to-use interface, dedicated customer support, and a wide range of features. The call quality is excellent, though some users have reported occasional drops as well as disconnections. Furthermore, Ooma Office takes data security seriously. That being said, if you’re looking for a wide variety of integrations and reporting options, this one may not be the right fit for you.

4. Aircall

Aircall is another one of our favorite VoIP phone service providers. Aircall has positioned itself as a VoIP service provider that is built for not only small businesses but medium and large enterprises as well. 

The Pros

Aircall is way more than just a phone system–it allows businesses to deliver top-notch customer support, all thanks to advanced features like call routing, call queuing, call recording, and more.

Some of Aircall’s popular phone system features include: 

• Toll-Free Numbers
• International Numbers
• Call Conference Solution
• Call Routing
• Voicemail
• SMS Business Text Messaging

Some of their popular call center features include:

• Call Queuing
• Ring Groups
• Time-Based Routing
• Advanced analytics
• Pause-Resume Recording

Whether you’re using it as an internal phone system or as a call center, you don’t need any technical consultants or gadgets. All you need is a reliable connection.

The Cons

Some users on G2 have reported that you need to have an excellent internet connection otherwise the audio quality gets majorly affected. Some also reported that Aircall’s customer support isn’t up to the mark.

Additionally, Aircall is pricey when compared with other VoIP providers. They offer the following three plans:

• Essentials Plan: $30 per user per month
• Professional Plan: $50 per user per month
• Custom: You need to get a personalized quote

It’s also important to note that that they don’t have a monthly option in place, so you’ll be billed annually. You can, however, opt for a 7-day free trial to try before you commit. 

The Verdict  

Aircall offers a variety of integration options and it’s easy to use and set up. It is a great solution for SMBs and enterprises. That being said, if you’re looking for something that comes with top-notch support or you have a smaller budget, you may want to keep looking. 

Centralize Data from Every Message and Call with Podium Voice

We saved our favorite phone solution for last: Podium Voice.

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Podium Voice is easy to set up and helps businesses as well as customer support agents get relevant information about the callers, including past reviews, previous conversations, and transaction history. 

Ready to see what all the hype is about? Join the Podium Voice waitlist today.