In today’s business environment, the chance that whole teams will work together in the same building are slim to none. The transition toward hybrid work as a permanent shift for many businesses means workforces are increasingly distributed. Long-distance communications, even between coworkers, are now the norm. That shift means voice over IP (VoIP) phone systems, long the mainstay of business communications, must also evolve.
If your organization is in its early stages, or if you’re looking to up your communications game, a modern, cloud-based VoIP system is a no-brainer option. But choosing the right one system can be a daunting task. The market for VoIP services is a crowded field, including a mix of general-purpose and specialized vendors. We sought out the most prominent players and tested them to see how each compared in terms of features, ease of use, value, and other metrics. Read on for our findings, and to learn more about how to select the system that’s right for your business.
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More About Our Picks
Best Overall Business VoIP
Bottom Line:
An excellent cloud PBX choice that combines great reliability with a full menu of feature options, including UCaaS features and custom integration options.
Pros
- Full-fledged PBX system available via the cloud
- Deep feature set suitable for SMBs and enterprises
- Good integration with third-party software and services
Cons
- Mobile app required for importing and initial syncing of contacts
- Limited call monitoring features
- Sometimes difficult switching between user and administrator roles
Why We Picked It
With Unite, Intermedia offers an excellent VoIP communications system that scales from small to midsize businesses, up to enterprises. The company bundles free phones or related devices (cameras, headsets) with each subscribed seat, and its focus on integrating with third-party software makes it attractive for businesses that want to further support help desks and customer relationship management (CRM).
Who It’s For
If your organization’s looking for a general-purpose VoIP phone system, check out Intermedia Unite. Although it’s not the cheapest business VoIP service in our roundup, it has enough flexibility and features to grow along with your business—enough for it to earn our Editors’ Choice nod. It’s also a good choice if you’re looking for a VoIP system that has tight integrations with Microsoft Teams.
Best for Enterprise-Class Call Volumes
Bottom Line:
RingCentral MVP sets the standard for midsized businesses on up to enterprises. As a full-service cloud PBX, this solution ticks all the boxes, including advanced capabilities like UCaaS and custom app integration. It’s well worth our Editors’ Choice designation.
Pros
- Much-improved video conferencing
- AI-backed transcription and call analysis
- Enhanced collaboration capabilities
- Numerous add-on apps
Cons
- Limited report customization
- Tedious, wizard-based configuration
Why We Picked It
RingCentral has long impressed us with its business VoIP offerings. The latest iteration, dubbed RingCentral MVP, stands for “messaging, video, and phone,” which is indicative of its move away from basic voice services toward a UCaaS approach. RingCentral has also proven itself reliable at high call volumes, something that many rival services struggle with when put under pressure. Its AI-backed transcription and call analysis features are particularly impressive. We’re also appreciative of RingCentral’s administration capabilities that give admins many options in an easy-to-navigate UI.
Who It’s For
Much like Intermedia Unite, RingCentral MVP is a well-rounded platform that includes virtually every capability you’d want in a small to midsize business, which is why it also earns our Editors’ Choice badge. For the price, though, we think RingCentral might be more attractive if you’re expecting a relatively high call volume—even its mid-level pricing tiers place no caps on the number of users you can add to your plan.
8×8 eXperience Communications as a Service
Best for SMB Unified Messaging
Bottom Line:
The X Series is 8×8’s replacement for its Virtual Office platform. The new product has a revised back end and many new features that bring 8×8 squarely into UCaaS territory.
Pros
- Lots of features in the base offering, including video conferencing
- Improved mobile video from earlier versions
- Easy setup for mobile and desktop clients
- New Frontdesk feature for receptionists
Cons
- Missing productivity features found in other products
- Some user settings only configurable using bulk edit
- Analytics reports aren’t configurable
Why We Picked It
8×8 has gone all-in on UCaaS, as reflected in its new (and somewhat cumbersome) branding. You’ll get a unified experience for all your business calls and conferencing, and 8×8 rolls out new features and updates with a steady cadence. One example is the new Frontdesk feature, which debuted with the latest release. The tool makes it easier for small businesses to emulate the traditional receptionist’s desk.
Who It’s For
Although 8×8 lacks some of its competitors’ more advanced features, we think it’s still a plucky and fast-moving competitor in the small to midsize business VoIP space. Its focus on UCaaS demonstrates its forward-thinking approach, and should make it attractive to any organization that wants to make the most of what software-based calling and conferencing solutions offer. Its pricing might be more attractive to organizations with tight purse-strings that don’t need all of the features found in our Editors’ Choice winners.
Best for a Unified Communications Hub
Bottom Line:
Vonage is a large company, but its Business Cloud squarely targets the small business sector. The robust platform has new features and management tools, though it makes some compromises when it comes to security.
Pros
- Long list of features for admins and users
- Solid mobile and desktop apps
- Good API integration
Cons
- Importing contacts requires multiple steps
- Additional features cost extra and can add up quickly
- Soft phone won’t start without a microphone attached to your desktop
Why We Picked It
Vonage is a VoIP pioneer in both the business and residential markets. Because of its deep roots in the industry, it’s had a chance to build and refine many features that younger players are still trying to iron out. Vonage offers a good selection of third-party software integrations, notably including Salesforce, and it even offers support for companies that want to build bespoke applications that integrate with the platform.
Who It’s For
If your organization absolutely must choose a mature and established provider for your VoIP service, look no further than Vonage. In that sense, Vonage might be the veritable IBM of SMB VoIP. That being said, if your requirements are not so strict, and you’re looking for a VoIP option that might offer a better UI and be easier to self-manage, you might want to look closely at competing services.
Best for Softphone Users
Bottom Line:
Dialpad supports dedicated VoIP hardware, but the service is geared towards its softphone. That makes it a dependable solution if you need custom integration or mobility.
Pros
- Desktop client acts as a communications hub
- AI-based call transcription highlights actionable call content
- New geographic call routing feature
Cons
- Video conferencing still a $15 add-on for more than 10 meeting participants
- No call quality information in the analytics report
Why We Picked It
We like Dialpad’s dedication to its role as a software-based communications service. Although Dialpad supports hardware handsets, its real focus is its softphone, which the company regularly update. In fact, Dialpad says it ships new software updates every two weeks. Frequent updates aren’t always a good thing, but we appreciate the company’s insistence on constantly refining its offering. In particular, it’s another entry in our roundup that’s using artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance its automatic call transcription capabilities.
Who It’s For
Dialpad may not be able to go head-for-head with the largest competitors in the business VoIP field, but it still has many features. If you’re interested in a technology-first vendor that strives to regularly innovate, particularly if you’re planning to deploy softphones as your main clients, this low-cost solution might be right up your alley.
Best for Microsoft 365 Customers
Bottom Line:
Deep integration with Microsoft 365, and an expanding range of local calling plans, make Teams Phone an excellent VoIP service for Microsoft shops.
Pros
- Deep integration with Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365
- Detailed call quality metrics with deep insight into the system
- Expanded range of local calling plans
Cons
- Calling plan still limited to 3,000 minutes (50 hours) per month
- Some administration tasks still require PowerShell scripting
Why We Picked It
Teams is Microsoft’s widely used, all-in-one team collaboration platform, and Teams Phone is the official VoIP add-on for it. As you’d expect, then, it has excellent integrations not just with the other Teams components, but also Microsoft 365. It doesn’t quite measure up to our Editors’ Choice picks, especially in regards to call center functionality. Still, it’s hard to ignore the market leader in office productivity software when it comes to business communications.
Who It’s For
Dedicated Microsoft shops might not even look further than Teams Phone when choosing a VoIP provider. Its UI is familiar, and it certainly doesn’t hurt that Teams Phone customers receive support from Redmond, as they’re used to. However, if you haven’t already bought into the broader Teams platform for business collaboration, we have a hard time recommending that route if all you’re looking for is a standalone VoIP system.
Best for Legacy Handset Hardware
Bottom Line:
Ooma chases the small business market, but it sets itself apart from the competition by offering a contract-free service with a strong feature set. That said, quickly expanding businesses may soon outgrow it.
Pros
- Flexible service that lacks a fixed contract
- Full-featured meetings with no client installation required
- Easy to use
Cons
- Call-quality reporting is based only on user feedback
- Lacks integrated productivity features
- Username and password the only authentication option
Why We Picked It
Ooma Office isn’t as impressive overall as our Editors’ Choice heavy-hitters, but it’s still a solid choice for small to midsize businesses looking to quickly get a VoIP phone system up and running. It lacks fancy features, such as AI-based transcription and deep integrations with other software, but it’s easy to use and manage. Its latest version adds welcome features—including video conferencing, SMS messaging, and contact syncing—that keep it in the running with competitors.
Who It’s For
If you’re looking for a modestly priced business VoIP system that won’t overwhelm you with a huge catalog of features, Ooma Office might be a good choice. It uses a wizard-based approach to setup and management, which small IT departments will appreciate. If, on the other hand, you’re looking for a feature-packed VoIP system, Ooma may disappoint. Still, if cost is a concern, Ooma is affordable and doesn’t require a contract.
Best for Traditional PBX Capabilities
Bottom Line:
Focused mainly on replicating traditional PBX capabilities in the cloud, Mitel MiCloud Connect features strong mobile support and innovative call-routing features.
Pros
- Handy Bluetooth handset
- Contact import from CSV plus Google and some Microsoft 365 syncing
- Long list of available CRM integrations
Cons
- Fixed number of reports and modifying or adding new ones costs extra
- Overall costs are incremental and can therefore rise quickly
Why We Picked It
Mitel is a longtime player in business voice communications. As a result, its guiding principle for its MiCloud Connect VoIP system has been to replicate the features of traditional, on-premises PBX systems, such as making it easy to interconnect remote offices. Even when it’s acting as a cloud service, it prefers to have a designated central office so that it can take advantage of a robust LAN. That means it can be harder to set up than some other business VoIP services, but it can offer real advantages in call quality.
Who It’s For
Tiny shops might want to skip this one. Mitel’s PBX-focused approach suggests it’s better geared for midsize to large businesses. Similarly, highly distributed workforces might not gain as much benefit from MiCloud Connect as they could from other competitors. If, on the other hand, you’re in the process of bringing employees back into a central office, and like the idea of leveraging a well-managed LAN for optimal call quality, Mitel’s offering deserves a look.
Best for Customer Support, Call Centers
Bottom Line:
While it works as a general VoIP service for small business, Freshcaller is intended as a call center phone package that’s primarily used with a softphone.
Pros
- Easy to configure
- Great feature set for a low-cost call center solution
- Call transcription support
Cons
- Limited support for desktop phone equipment
- Lacks external syncing, so contacts must be imported using a CSV file
- Transcription only available at the Enterprise pricing tier
Why We Picked It
Freshdesk’s VoIP offering is a little different than most of the others we’ve tested. Rather than targeting general business communications, it leans heavily toward supporting call centers, such as customer help desks. It integrates with various e-commerce, help desk, and CRM systems, including those provided by Freshdesk itself. It also offers admins an impressive collection of call metrics to help tune and manage a large-scale calling operation.
Who It’s For
If you can’t picture banks of constantly-ringing phones in your offices, and you don’t do direct phone marketing, then Freshdesk Contact Center probably isn’t for you. On the other hand, organizations with high call volumes and that are organized around functions like customer phone support will appreciate Freshdesk’s focus on this area. You’ll especially appreciate its call monitoring and management options that surpass the competitons’ offerings to ensure a high-quality customer experience.
Best for Very Small Businesses
Bottom Line:
If you’re looking for a reliable, basic VoIP service that’s easy to configure for both desktop and mobile users, Line2 is a solid choice for small teams.
Pros
- Simple setup
- Intuitive softphone client
- Includes incoming fax
Cons
- Limited reporting; analytics cost extra
- Lacks third-party integrations
- No video conferencing or collaboration features
Why We Picked It
Compared to some of its competitors—and especially our heavy-hitting Editors’ Choice picks—Line2’s cloud business VoIP offering is so stripped down that it almost resembles a residential VoIP service. That said, Line2 is incredibly easy to get up and running, and you don’t need to be a VoIP expert to use it. It lacks the features found in more integrated VoIP systems, such as video conferencing, but it provides well-designed softphone apps that provide basic telephony functions on desktop and mobile devices.
Who It’s For
If all you want to do is provide business phone numbers to your employees, and don’t want the hassle of a full-fledged VoIP system, check out Line2. Just about anyone can set it up, and you won’t need to take time away from more important business tasks to manage it. Just be aware that once your organization starts to grow beyond its earliest stages, you’ll probably find yourself looking for something that offers more features.
(Editors’ Note: Line2 is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag’s parent company.)
What Is a VoIP Phone System?
Traditional landline phones are a form of analog telephony. VoIP, on the other hand, brings voice calling to the digital age. VoIP systems convert voice calls into network packets and transmit them over the internet or other IP-based networks. Most also include a bridge to traditional phone systems, so the people you call don’t need to use VoIP themselves (nor do the people who call you). In addition, they typically emulate the functions of traditional PBX (private branch exchange) business phone systems, such as conference calling, call routing, and call monitoring.
How Much Does a Small Business Telephone System Cost?
Today’s business VoIP systems are billed on a subscription basis. You’ll be charged based on the number of users (phone extensions) you need, on either a monthly or yearly basis. Some vendors require you to commit to a specific term, while others don’t. That said, you’ll usually receive a discount by paying for a full year of service in advance.
How much a given service costs per month can range widely. Most offer multiple pricing tiers, based on factors like the feature package, the number of users you need to support, and how much you expect to use the service. Among the products we tested, pricing ranged from $15 per user per month at the low end, all the way up to $65 per user per month for an advanced, enterprise-grade product. Most small businesses can expect to pay about $20 per user per month.
What’s the Advantage of a VoIP Phone System?
VoIP supplanted traditional PBX phone systems because it is less expensive, but far more versatile. Even today’s residential VoIP offerings include features far beyond those of conventional telephone systems. In addition to voice calling, most modern VoIP systems integrate other channels and features, including conference calls, call recording, mobile communications, video conferencing, team collaboration, and even social media, earning them the classification of unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS)—we’ll discuss these in depth, below.
These days, most VoIP solutions have evolved into managed, cloud-based services—and with good reason. Moving to the cloud helps to reduce costs, increase reliability, and lift the burden of management off of your organization’s staff, making cloud VoIP systems a clear winner.
How to Choose a Business VoIP System
Whether this is your first time switching to business VoIP or you’re upgrading an existing system, the sheer number of options can be dizzying. It’s important to bear in mind that while we’ve evaluated the VoIP systems in this roundup based on factors like features, ease of use, and cost, the solution that’s right for your business might not necessarily be the one that looks best on paper.
Your first order of business should be to consider just how your company plans—or needs—to use its phones. If your goal is to upgrade an existing PBX, replacing it entirely might not be a viable option, if only because some parts of the system can’t be easily changed over to softphones or even desktop VoIP handsets.
(Credit: d3sign/Getty Images)
For example, suppose you’re operating a heavy manufacturing environment with outdoor activities, such as a steel fabrication yard or a landscaping company. In that case, your rugged old outdoor phones may be just what you need there, and VoIP should only be deployed for office and remote workers.
Even for less extreme environments, you should take time to think about the features you’ll need—now and for the future—as well as the ones you don’t. Without careful planning, it’s easy to find yourself paying for capabilities you’ll never use, not to mention unnecessary complexity that makes your phone system hard to manage.
One important step in this process is to sit down with all of the stakeholders who will be affected by your eventual decision. Naturally, this includes the IT staff and the data security folks, since your voice calls will now be data communications. However, department heads and employees who use the system to get work done should have their say, too, especially those whose work directly drives revenue and engages customers.
You don’t want to hamstring anyone’s activities by skimping on features, but you also don’t want to overwhelm them with options they don’t understand. The very best VoIP system for your business will always be one that doesn’t just meet your employees’ needs; your workers should feel comfortable using it, too.
Softphones vs. Desk Phones
Traditional VoIP systems use dedicated VoIP phone equipment that sits on your desk and establishes calls via the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). But VoIP has come a long way since these humble beginnings.
One of the most important innovations that modern VoIP systems bring to business communications is softphones. In a nutshell, a softphone is an app that replicates all of the features of a traditional, desktop business phone, and often much more. What you lose in plastic hardware, you gain in functionality, including video conferencing and text chat.
At their most basic, softphones let you use the speakers and microphone on your PC, laptop, or other devices to mimic the capabilities of a desktop phone. They also help convey many additional VoIP advantages. Their screen-based interfaces make it easier to switch between communications channels, even mid-call, and they also help the system integrate with other software, such as help desk and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
Mobility adds an additional wrinkle. These days, most workers are accustomed to taking calls on the go. However, using a mobile phone’s built-in calling features means you sacrifice VoIP’s productivity-enhancing features, such as call monitoring, logging, transferring, and integrations with other apps. Many VoIP systems offer softphone apps that run on Android and iOS devices, and in some cases, these apps have full feature parity with their desktop versions. You’ll want to investigate these options thoroughly if your staff includes a significant number of road warriors.
Networking Concerns and VoIP
Networking issues have always been a primary concern for any VoIP implementation. VoIP traffic is much more sensitive to network bumps and potholes than most general office traffic, such as web browsing. When a VoIP system is starved for bandwidth, that translates to garbled conversations, difficulty connecting, or dropped and lost calls.
Further complicating matters is the ad hoc design of many modern small-business networks. Chances are your small office network might consist of a few wireless routers, rather than dedicated Ethernet jacks at workers’ desks, which can make it more difficult to monitor and maintain traffic quality.
5 Things to Think About When Choosing a Business Phone SystemIn the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, at least some of your staff are almost certainly working from home, and there’s a good chance that remote work will become a permanent part of modern employment, particularly for small to midsize businesses. Your internal IT staff will have little to no control over these staffers’ home networks.
Finally, the business VoIP systems in this roundup are all managed cloud services, rather than on-premises products that mimic a traditional PBX. We think that’s a good thing: Cloud VoIP services can potentially offer greater reliability, easier management, and more features, all at a lower cost than first-generation VoIP systems. But they also increase your reliance on the public internet for the most basic distance communication needs.
The upshot of all this is that, unlike your local LAN, there’s little your company can do to control networking conditions on the public internet. Managing your connectivity is almost entirely the province of your network provider—or multiple providers, if your workforce is geographically dispersed. Often, the best you can do is to hope for the best. Check out our roundup of the fastest internet service providers (ISP) to see which might be able to offer you the most bandwidth, and consider subsidizing high-speed connections for your remote workers.
Does VoIP Work With Alarm Systems?
Another issue worth considering is whether your business currently relies on alarm systems, such as perimeter alarms or motion detectors. Many of these connect to alarm monitoring services via traditional analog phone lines. You may be able to switch these lines to VoIP, but use caution.
VoIP typically offers call quality that’s better than ordinary telephone service, because the codecs used to translate calls into digital packets and back again are optimized for the human voice. Those same optimizations can interfere with electronic signaling devices that have different requirements, such as analog modems, fax machines, and alarm monitoring systems. Similarly, such devices are usually much less tolerant of network packet loss, interruptions, and delays than voice calls.
Electricity is another factor. Analog phone lines operate on power provided by the telephone company, which is separate from the main energy grid. VoIP lines, on the other hand, need AC power, just like any other digital device. You’ll want to make sure you have backup power available for your network routers, VoIP servers, and any other hardware your VoIP system requires, or you risk having your alarm monitoring service fail in the event of a power outage.
Recommended by Our Editors
Ultimately, however, it is your alarm service, and not your VoIP provider, who will be best positioned to tell you whether your VoIP system will be suitable for alarm monitoring. Many alarm companies keep lists of VoIP providers they have pre-vetted for this purpose. Then again, you could always maintain a few analog lines for alarms.
Going All-In with UCaaS
So far, we’ve talked about replacing traditional PBX systems with VoIP, but simply switching from analog voice to digital offers only marginal cost savings. The real value of modern VoIP comes from flexibility and integration features that only software-based communications can bring, which takes us to the fast-evolving field of unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS).
The features offered in any particular UCaaS solution vary widely from vendor to vendor. Still, most include options for video conferencing, shared meeting and online collaboration tools, integrated faxing, and mobile VoIP integration.
UCaaS Projected Market Growth in US Through 2024
(Credit: Statista)
However, where UCaaS really starts to become a game-changer is when it lets your VoIP system integrate with other systems used within your business. For example, it might integrate with your CRM system, letting it recognize a customer’s phone number or some other identifier, and automatically pull up the customer’s record for the technician or salesperson answering the call. It could even alert a manager to monitor the call if it’s a critical client.
Other popular UCaaS integrations include help desk software and marketing automation tools. Some vendors even offer industry-specific features for certain verticals, such as healthcare. These backend software integrations explain the significant growth in the UCaaS market over the last several years. The concept is constantly evolving to include more communication and collaboration technologies.
What’s Next for Business VoIP?
VoIP makes the most sense for the vast majority of SMBs, and not just because the costs are lower; VoIP is the only way to keep up with evolving communication trends. Software integration lies at the heart of VoIP and UCaaS, so you can’t make a purchasing decision without thinking about the future.
On one hand, consider each vendor carefully to see what they’ve done over the last half-decade in product development, and keeping up with VoIP and UCaaS trends. On the other hand, think about what you’ll need in the next five years.
(Credit: Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock)
At PCMag, we’ve noticed three trends that almost all vendors mentioned as being essential to their customers over the last year. That means they’ll be crucial capabilities those vendors will want to add to their platforms in 2022:
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Network Mobility. Although some VoIP services still offer mobile handsets, these devices seem to be on the downslope. After all, if talking while walking is your goal, why carry a clunky handset when you could speak on your smartphone? Seamless voice switchover based on geofencing is one approach. With it, your smartphone detects that it’s inside your company’s wireless network, and seamlessly engages your VoIP client over Wi-Fi, not your cell service. You’ll make and receive calls from your calling plan, as well as your business’ VoIP service. This generally goes beyond simple calls and includes texts, voicemail-to-email, and collaborative online meetings.
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5G Integration. However, a little further down the road is ubiquitous 5G. When that happens, several VoIP vendors will connect their services to 5G. Workers will then be able to access their business VoIP service wherever they are, and across any device as long as it’s 5G compatible. Although some vendors do this with current mobile technology, 4G’s latency limits often deliver a sub-optimal experience. This applies to simple voice traffic, as well as video and collaboration. 5G is the first mobile service that promises the bandwidth necessary to make true, mobile UC a reality.
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Artificial intelligence (AI). If your current phone system uses an automated menu to help route customer calls, or even if it extends its tendrils to your website’s e-commerce features, then expect UCaaS vendors to pitch you on artificial intelligence. In addition to the chatbot features we discussed earlier, your vendor can also use AI to detect security issues (see below). It can also work on the reporting and analysis side, so you’ll have a much more granular understanding of call and network quality, call volume, and the apps most affected by your VoIP service.
These trends are likely to become important selling points in most VoIP vendor-customer pitches over the next several years. Although that’s great, be sure to fully understand what’s being offered and how the vendor will go about delivering it. Is a 5G implementation truly standards-based, or are there some proprietary hardware or software components? How will any new security measures affect overall voice performance, and does the vendor fully support the changing security requirements for industry regulations like HIPAA and Sox?
If all this seems like a lot to ponder, remember that it’s well worth the effort. Just about anything you can picture a business needing from a phone or collaboration system can be delivered by a hosted VoIP solution at a more affordable price than purchasing and maintaining your own on-premises PBX. It’s just a matter of selecting the right solution for your business.
Want to learn more about how to supercharge your business communications? Learn how to Future-Proof Your Business VoIP for Hybrid Work, and check out the Best Video Conferencing Software based on PCMag’s independent tests.
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