The Best VoIP Providers

RingCentral is mostly a go-to service for both small business and even major enterprise communication. Its Office plan is specially designed for businesses, and it is pretty much a leader in the VoIP industry.

RingCentral is popular not only because it is useful and filled with all kinds of features, but also because it regularly adds new ones through updates. The most recent update even brought AI capabilities to the service. Despite all of that, the service still remains remarkably low-priced, which is yet another reason why many tend to use it.

Even setting it up is quite straightforward, with a user-friendly interface that allows for the creation and maintenance of all kinds of extensions. Finally, it can integrate with Microsoft Outlook, but also with Google Apps, DropBox, Box, and others, which makes it a universal solution.

Another very low-priced VoIP for businesses comes from Nextiva, an Arizona-based company that offers quite good prices, considering the number of features that come with their Office Pro and Office Pro Plus plans. In addition to that, the company’s online management platform is very easy to use and understand, and it can easily work with multiple lines, as well as employees in different locales.

When it comes to prices, this can be a bit misleading. For example, the Office Pro plan costs $19.95 per month, IF a business has over 100 users and goes for the 36-months-long contract. Otherwise, it is $34.95 per month, but that is the price that you might discover a bit too late if you are in a hurry.

But, as mentioned previously, the company offers quite a lot of features, and what you get in return might even be worth $30+ per month, or more. In addition, it has excellent customer support, but it is not the best choice for international calls.

The third on our list is Microsoft’s own Skype for Business, which has grown to become the de facto method for online communication. It is extremely easy to video chat with other users, but despite all of its advantages, Skype has also grown to become a consumer VoIP and video conferencing service. In other words, it is not exactly meant for businesses. This is why Skype for Business was developed, and it is extremely cost-efficient, with its starting price being only $2 per user per month. Of course, it may come with additional fees.

It comes as a combination of Lync and Skype UI, which led to the creation of a user-friendly software with numerous features needed for businesses. However, it is still not a full-fledged business VoIP platform, which is something to keep in mind. It will work well with some businesses while others may prefer Nextiva or RingCentral. But, if you are satisfied with your existing service, you may want to check it out, just in case.

It allows up to 10 participants per free Skype Meetings, but it also offers several remote desktop features. It can be used from a mobile device or a PC, and it offers screen sharing, conference calls, and more.

In the fourth spot, we have Vonage, which was one of the biggest VoIP leaders for the home. However, the company also wanted to start offering a service for businesses, which is why they came up with Vonage Business Cloud offering. The service is not particularly expensive, starting at around $20 per month. It introduces all the necessary VoIP features, as well as some additional capabilities, including video conferencing, online collaboration, and alike.

The service also supports the Multiprotocol Label Switching, also known as MPLS. In addition, it has an SD-WAN option, and it invests in Nexmo API platform. Not only that, but it created a large network of developers, meaning that there is no lack of partner and 3rd party integrations. As such, the company is among the best-known cloud private branch exchange providers, which makes it quite a serious competitor.

Finally, we have 8×8 Virtual Office Pro, which is quite a solid solution for small to midsize businesses. Its price is slightly larger than some other solutions on this list, starting at $25 per user per month. This is also considerably larger than what Skype solution offers, but as mentioned, Skype is not exactly a full-fledged VoIP solution. Still, the price is not too bad, especially when compared to some other providers.

Additionally, 8×8 Virtual Office Pro goes beyond just VoIP, and it now serves a larger audience, offering new features which also attract call centers and even enterprises. Some of the features include collaboration, video conferencing, as well as faxing. It is definitely among better providers, while it still remains simple when it comes to configuring.

Its Account Management portal allows an easy way to manage different features. It offers the ability to assign specific phone numbers and extensions to each of multiple handsets, and more. During tests, it had no major issues.