6 Best Conference Call Services for 2022
Corey McCraw is a staff writer covering VoIP and Unified Communications. Corey has over a decade of experience in marketing, tech writing, and corporate communications and has even penned content for the former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative.
Rain is a staff writer at Fit Small Business focusing on sales, such as VoIP and video conferencing.
This article is part of a larger series on VoIP.
The best conference call services provide businesses with a secure and reliable platform for virtual meeting needs. To make conferencing more efficient for both the host and the participant, they offer recording, transcripts, and collaboration features, like breakout rooms, screen sharing, and whiteboarding. We reviewed several options based on pricing and features and determined the six best conference call services for small businesses.
- RingCentral: Best overall scalable and robust audio and video conferencing solution
- GoTo Meeting: Best affordable platform with advanced conferencing tools, like automatic meeting transcription
- Cisco Webex: Great for remote teams looking for a free option with excellent engagement tools, including breakout rooms
- FreeConferenceCall.com: Best for businesses with tight budgets hosting conferences for a large audience
- ClickMeeting: Excellent conferencing solution with a focus on training and product demonstration features
- Vast Conference: Best for global businesses wanting to host international audio or video conferences
Best Conference Call Services at a Glance
GoTo Connect Alternative | Starting Price* | Key Features | Max Conference Participants | FSB Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Free for unlimited video conferences with 100 participants Paid plans start at $11.99 per user, per month |
| 1,000 for calls, 200 for video meetings | 4.84 out of 5 |
 | $12 per organizer, per month |
| 3,000 | 4.71 out of 5 |
 | Free for 50-minute meetings with up to 100 participants Paid plans start at $15 per user, per month |
| 200+ | 4.54 out of 5 |
 | Free for unlimited conference calls with up to 1,000 participants, “pay what you can” pricing |
| 5,000+ | 4.3 out of 5 |
 | $25 per host, per month |
| 10,000 | 4.13 out of 5 |
 | $11.99 per user, per month |
| 25,000 | 4.05 out of 5 |
*Pricing is applicable for annual subscriptions. Some providers offer monthly contracts, such as ClickMeeting and Vast Conference.
RingCentral: Best Overall Conference Call Service With a Feature-rich & Scalable Platform
RingCentral
Overall Score: 4.84 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Reliable 99.999% uptime
- Scalable platform with many subscription options for various needs
- Comprehensive unified communications as a service (UCaaS) and contact center as a service (CCaaS) features and extensive integrations
What's Missing
- Advanced features may be overkill for small businesses with basic needs
- Limited maximum number of participants for free plan (100) compared to other providers like FreeConferenceCall.com (1,000)
- Developer APIs are only available in higher tiers
RingCentral Pricing
- RingCentral Video Pro: Free for unlimited video meetings and team messaging for 100 participants and 7 days of cloud recording storage
- RingCentral Video Pro+*: $11.99 per user, per month for Video Pro features, up to 200 participants, and 1 year of cloud recording storage
- RingCentral MVP**: Starts at $19.99 per user, per month for a UCaaS platform with messaging, video, phone, and open APIs for custom integrations
- RingCentral Contact Center: Pricing is available upon request for a CCaaS platform with AI, omnichannel support, and workforce optimization tools
*Rates shown are applicable for one to 99 users with yearly contracts.
**Fees displayed are based on two to 20 users with annual subscriptions.
RingCentral grabs the top spot in our list of the best conference call services and best business phone systems for providing a scalable and reliable service with 99.999% uptime. It is a cloud-based communications platform with all of the top voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) features, including audio and video conferencing capabilities. Users can join conferences across devices through an internet browser or app, and hosts can accept up to 200 video participants or 1,000 audio attendees.
RingCentral offers annual and volume discounts, along with its reasonable pricing range. While users can sign up for a free Video Pro plan, it scales with the user’s growing needs by providing a variety of plans for more advanced communication needs. It offers four MVP plans for UCaaS-focused solutions and another four Contact Center plans for CCaaS needs. Read our RIngCentral review for more info.
Although RingCentral is an impressive choice with its advanced tools and its platform’s scalability, its fees and features might be overkill for freelancers, solopreneurs, and small businesses with tight budgets. Those looking for a more affordable all-in-one communications solution may look into cheaper alternatives instead, like Cisco Webex.
RingCentral Features
Aside from instant video call conferences, RingCentral lets you schedule meetings in advance.
(Source: RingCentral)
- Audio conferencing: Each user can host an unlimited number of audio conference calls with up to 1,000 attendees. Local and international participants in over 80 countries can join by dialing your number. Discreet call controls include mute, record, flip, and end.
- Video conferencing: Users can schedule or instantly host video meetings with up to 200 attendees. They can share their screens, apps, and files during video conferences, and utilize collaboration tools like a whiteboard, breakout room, or chat.
- AI-powered features for virtual meetings: RingCentral adjusts your camera’s view by auto-following where you are to automatically keep you at the center. Additionally, it comes with low-light detection and filters to make your view look the best. There are also real-time transcriptions and a presentation mode that makes it look like your team is sitting together in a room.
GoTo Meeting: Best Conference Call Service for Budget-friendly Platform With Meeting Transcription Tools
GoTo Meeting
Overall Score: 4.71 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Advanced conferencing tools, like AI-powered smart assistant
- Cheaper paid plans than most alternatives, such as ClickMeeting
- Unlimited meetings with no time limits in all plans
What's Missing
- Volume discounts are only available under the Enterprise plan
- Not a lot of third-party software integrations, unlike RingCentral
- 99.95% uptime is lower than other providers like Cisco Webex and RingCentral
GoTo Meeting Pricing*
- Professional: $12 per organizer, per month for unlimited meetings with up to 150 attendees and unmetered duration
- Business: $16 per organizer, per month for unlimited meetings with up to 250 participants and unmetered cloud recording storage
- Enterprise: Quotes are available upon request for custom packages with up to 3,000 participants, volume discounts, and connection to your existing conference room system
*Fees are applicable for annual subscriptions and are paid at the beginning of the billing cycle.
GoTo Meeting is a virtual meeting platform that allows users to host video conferences for up to 3,000 participants. It works best for small businesses looking for a video conferencing platform with advanced tools, like transcription and a digital assistant. While it doesn’t have a free plan, its tiers provide a great value given that its monthly fees start at only $12 per organizer. You can also extend its capabilities through integrations and utilizing other GoTo products alongside it.
The platform offers an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart assistant on its Business plan for only $16 per organizer, per month. It automates note-taking by transcribing the meeting and monitoring action items and highlights. And for its price range, it lets users request a custom quote for Enterprise packages that allow up to 3,000 participants. This number is still better than other providers, like RingCentral.
Though GoTo Meeting provides great value for its price, note that it still has some downsides. For example, it has a lower uptime than alternatives like RingCentral. Additionally, if you are taking advantage of your team size, note that its volume discounts are only available in its highest tier. Still, it presents a very competitive option for those seeking conference calling. Check out our GoTo Meeting review to have a more in-depth look at the provider.
GoTo Meeting Features
Teams can collaborate with a wide range of features, like screen sharing and drawing tools.
(Source: GoTo Meeting)
- Multiplatform support: Let your participants join your meetings across devices through the GoTo Meeting app or from their internet browser. Toll-free numbers in over 50 countries are also available, letting your attendees dial in from their phones.
- Security capabilities: GoTo Meeting ensures secure meetings through a variety of technologies, including Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and AES-256 bit encryption, meeting locks, the use of SOC2 certified data centers, and risk-based authentication.
- Smart Meeting Assistant: Eliminate the need to take notes by letting this AI-powered tool transcribe your meetings and track action items and highlights. You can search for keywords and also share these along with the recording for those who missed your session.
Cisco Webex: Best Conference Call Service With Free Engagement-rich Platform
Cisco Webex
Overall Score: 4.54 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Automatic meeting transcription and an AI-powered assistant like GoTo Meeting
- Higher maximum number of breakout rooms (100) than most providers like RingCentral (50)
- Accessible across devices, including computers, smartphones, tablets, and wearables
What's Missing
- Limited cloud recording storage for most plans
- Free plan lacks many features, like transcriptions, recording, storage, and call-in support
- Not a lot of third-party app integrations, unlike RingCentral
Cisco Webex Pricing*
- Webex Suite Basic: Free for 50-minute meetings with up to 100 attendees, screen sharing, and scheduling with third-party calendars, like Outlook and Google Calendar
- Webex Meet: $15 per user, per month for 24-hour meetings with up to 100 attendees, Facebook livestreaming, 10GB cloud storage, and breakout rooms
- Webex Call: $17 per user, per month for 50-minute sessions with 100 participants, phone menus, extensions, and unlimited VoIP calling
- Webex Suite Business: $25 per user, per month for 24-hour meetings with 200 attendees, closed captions, breakout rooms, and unlimited VoIP calling
- Webex Suite Enterprise: Call for a quote for a custom plan
*Rates are based on annual contracts and are paid in full at the beginning of the billing cycle.
Cisco Webex provides a cloud-based communications platform for VoIP calling, video conferencing, and team messaging. It works best for businesses with remote teams looking for a free and budget-friendly conferencing solution with excellent engagement and interactive tools. All users get access to collaboration features, including breakout rooms, polls, chat, hand raising, interactive whiteboarding, and screen sharing.
While many of the alternatives in this list also provide these capabilities, Cisco Webex still boasts its strengths for small teams, such as pricing and larger limits, and 100 breakout rooms compared to RingCentral’s 50. If your business doesn’t prioritize breakout sessions and finds transcriptions more important, you can look into GoTo Meeting instead. We also have a more detailed Webex review if you’re wondering if it would be a good fit.
Cisco Webex Features
Simulate face-to-face presentations by adding your camera view—without a background—on top of your shared screen.
(Source: Cisco Webex)
- Breakout rooms: Create up to 100 breakout rooms, depending on the capacity of your plans, to divide your session into smaller groups for collaboration. Hosts and co-hosts can assign participants to their breakout rooms manually or automatically.
- Interactive whiteboarding: This tool—available in all plans—lets meeting participants create drawings, write down ideas, and annotate the shared content. They can utilize the provided stylus or fingertip to draw or zoom in on the screen. Whiteboards can be saved and sent for future reference.
- Webex Assistant: This AI-powered digital assistant takes notes and provides meeting highlights, closed captions, and action items to enable participants to focus on their session. You can also set up voice-activated commands to determine room availability, call a colleague, or join a meeting.
Looking for other free options? Check out our list of the best free conference call services to determine which provider is best for your needs.
FreeConferenceCall.com: Best Conference Call Service for Free Virtual Meetings With Large Audiences
FreeConferenceCall.com
Overall Score: 4.3 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- Supports up to 1,000 participants for free
- Unlimited audio and video meeting durations
- Free conference transcriptions and recordings, unlike Cisco Webex
What's Missing
- Has limited breakout rooms, supporting only four, unlike Cisco Webex’s 100
- Displays only 5 participants, apart from the active viewer, unlike providers that present more, such as RingCentral
- Not as scalable and robust as competitors like RingCentral
FreeConferenceCall.com Pricing
- Pay What You Can: Free for audio and video meetings for up to 1,000 participants, detailed call reports, third-party app integrations, and recordings
- Add-ons: Extend capabilities by purchasing add-ons, such as support for more than 1,000 participants, phone number ($3.95 per month), virtual phone ($9 per month), and extra storage up to 40GB ($3 per month)
FreeConferenceCall.com is an excellent choice for those looking for a free platform that supports large audiences. Its platform allows hosts to organize and manage a conference—without time limitations—with up to 1,000 participants. Most alternatives, like RingCentral, provide limited meeting sizes and durations for its free plans.
While it has affordable add-ons for extra functionalities and APIs, it isn’t as scalable as competitors, such as RingCentral. Moreover, if dividing your conference into many groups is a priority, you might want to look at other providers like Cisco Webex, as FreeConferenceCall.com only offers four breakout rooms.
FreeConferenceCall.com Features
Apart from seeing the screen, users can request access to control a participant’s mouse and keyboard—great for training or troubleshooting.
(Source: FreeConferenceCall.com)
- Collaboration tools: Encourage teamwork with features like screen sharing, breakout rooms, chat, drawing tools, studio presentation, and remote desktop control.
- Meeting wall: Create a specific meeting room with customized details to organize resources and communications in one place. You can broadcast a session in the virtual room, share files and previously recorded conferences, and send instant messages.
- Call back: Call your participants back—without billing them for charges—when they’re disconnected from the conference. They can request a backup number, text “Call Me” to the dial-in, or input their phone number in the “Call Me” option in the meeting lobby to enable the feature.
ClickMeeting: Best Conference Call Service for Training & Demos
ClickMeeting
Overall Score: 4.13 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- 30-day free trial for unlimited webinars and meetings with up to 25 participants
- Real-time chat translation available in all plans
- Facebook and YouTube streaming
What's Missing
- Limited recording and file storage
- Breakout room is only available for sessions with at least 50 participants
- Simultaneous events not included in the plans, but offered as an add-on
ClickMeeting Pricing*
- Live: $25 per month with Edu mode, screen sharing, 6 hours of recording storage, and collaboration tools, like a whiteboard
- Automated: $40 per month with 10 hours of recording storage, HD recording quality, and automated webinars
- Enterprise: Customized packages that can support virtual events with up to 10,000 attendees
*Fees are based on annual subscriptions with 10 attendees and are paid in full at the beginning of the billing cycle.
ClickMeeting is a cloud-based conference call service provider with webinar and presentation tools. It is best for training sessions because it comes with many education-focused tools, like Edu Mode (see all participants and monitor their work), interactive capabilities, and support for paid courses. It is also best for large virtual events and product demonstrations due to its high participant count limit of up to 10,000 and support for social media sharing and streaming. However, there are more powerful webinar tools on the market if you need more robust audience engagement features.
Unlike most competitors, such as RingCentral, its pricing is based on a company’s expected number of attendees, not the number of users or hosts. However, note that it has less recording and file storage than GoTo Meeting, which offers unmetered storage. Additionally, its breakout rooms are only available for those with at least 50 participants. Other providers, such as Cisco Webex, have a higher maximum number of breakout rooms than ClickMeeting, which only offers a maximum of 20.
ClickMeeting Features
ClickMeeting’s Edu Mode comes with a teacher’s view that displays a gallery of their students while they can only watch and hear their instructor.
(Source: ClickMeeting)
- Automated webinar: This tool lets you interact with your attendees by allowing you to upload your event recording, survey, and customized call-to-action button. You can easily drag and drop these elements to set your webinar flow.
- Collaboration features: Encourage engagement through a wide range of tools, like a whiteboard, Q&A, polls, surveys, screen sharing and control, chat, and breakout rooms.
- Real-time chat translation: ClickMeeting supports 52 languages and provides simultaneous chat translations of your event conversations.
Vast Conference: Best Conference Call Service for Hosting International Sessions
Vast Conference
Overall Score: 4.05 OUT OF 5 iOur score is based on a weighted evaluation of dozens of similar products and services conducted by our experts.
What We Like
- 14-day free trial available
- Most plans include unlimited cloud recording
- International toll-free dial-in is available in 80 countries
What's Missing
- Entry-level plan only comes with 1GB of cloud recording storage
- Very few third-party app integrations and collaboration features
- Event operators only support two languages: Spanish and English
Vast Conference Pricing*
- Essentials: $11.99 per user, per month with 1GB cloud recording per user, unlimited calls and meetings for 10 participants, detailed recording, and 24/7 customer support
- Standard: $15.99 per user, per month with unlimited sessions for 100 participants, international toll-free dial-in in 80 countries, personalized meeting URL, single sign-on, and unlimited cloud recording
- Professional: $31.99 per user, per month with unlimited meetings and calls for 250 attendees, branded welcome message, and custom hold music
- Enterprise: Custom pricing and package available upon request
*Prices are based on yearly contracts and are paid in full at the beginning of the billing cycle.
Vast Conference is a conferencing solution that allows attendees to join audio and video meetings through phone, a mobile app, or a web browser. It is great for companies looking for an affordable conferencing platform that lets audiences in 80 countries join through toll-free dial-in. Other providers with a similar price range, such as GoTo Meeting, only support international toll-free dial-in in over 50 countries.
While Vast Conference provides great value in its packages with low-cost fees, note that it has fewer features and third-party app integrations than competitors, like RingCentral. Moreover, its entry-level plan has a low participant limit of 10. If you are expecting over 10 attendees and the price is a limiting factor, you can look into FreeConferenceCall.com instead.
Vast Conference Features
Vast Conference’s interface displays essential details, such as the active speaker, muted attendees, those with questions, and a real-time list of callers joining in or leaving.
(Source: Vast Conference)
- Operator-assisted conference call: Businesses handling formal conferences and webcasts can host professionally trained, operator-led events through Vast Conference. It lets hosts call up to 6,000 participants, whom the operators will welcome and assist throughout the call.
- Video conferencing: Vast Conference lets you organize and manage virtual meetings with up to 250 participants. It provides scrollable pages with 25 video feeds each, enables attendees to set virtual backgrounds, and integrates with scheduling tools like Outlook.
- Webinar and webcasting: This tool allows users to stream webinars or webcasts for up to 25,000 attendees. Businesses can utilize it for a variety of purposes, such as company communications, marketing and product demonstrations, and training.
How We Evaluated the Best Conference Call Service
We analyzed audio and video conferencing services and considered essential factors like pricing and features. We looked into which offers free plans and annual and volume discounts. We also examined limitations with the number of sessions and participants, security tools, and collaboration functionalities.
Learn how we evaluated the best conference call service by clicking on the tabs below:
15%
Pricing
35%
General Features
30%
Advanced Features
20%
Expert Score
15% of Overall Score
We reviewed solutions that offer free plans for one-to-one and group audio and video conferences. We also evaluated the paid plans’ value for their price and the availability of annual and volume discounts.
35% of Overall Score
We looked at the limits for the number of conference call participants in the base plan. We also reviewed providers with video calling capabilities, a mobile app, and security features, like meeting encryption, passwords, and conference control.
30% of Overall Score
We analyzed software integrations and call recording options available for each provider. We also gave points to those offering international dial-in numbers and confirmed the types of customer service provided to users.
20% of Overall Score
We examined the overall value included in each provider’s packages—considering their standout features, such as international capabilities and automation tools. Additionally, we reviewed their popularity and ease of use for both hosts and participants.
*Percentages of overall score
Bottom Line
The best conference call services adapt to the changes in how people work, including the emerging hybrid work environment trend. It must provide businesses with a flexible and feature-rich platform at low-cost fees, enabling them to host internal and external video and audio conferences easily.
RingCentral garnered 4.84 out of 5 stars, landing in the top spot in our list of the best conference call services. It provides a free plan and a lot more packages you can subscribe to as your business needs grow. Moreover, it is a feature-rich platform with the most extensive list of third-party app integrations—perfect for those looking for a scalable solution they can stick to in the long run. Sign up for a free RingCentral Video account to find out if it suits your business.
