6 Best Google Voice Alternatives for 2020

Google Voice is a virtual phone system that provides a free local phone number on your personal device. As useful as the service is, its feature set is very limited compared to more powerful systems. If your business needs more than what Google Voice offers, we’ve assembled the best alternatives on the market.

Top 6 Google Voice Alternatives 2020

Which Google Voice Alternative is Right for You?

How We Evaluated Google Voice Alternatives

Google Voice is an extraordinarily popular small business phone system. This is due in part to the fact that it is completely free to use and offers users a free local phone number from nearly any area code in the United States. However, the service is missing many features found in paid systems, such as a toll-free number, faxing, and more. Google Voice is a good service for new startups, but we recommend switching to a more robust system for established companies.

To determine the best alternatives, we considered the following criteria:

• Price: We examined the pricing of each Google Voice competitor
• Ease of use: All services should be easy to set up and use
• Phone numbers: We examined the different kinds of phone numbers offered by each service
• Software integrations: Many services offer the ability to connect call data with outside business software
• Calling handling and management: We looked at all of the call management options offered by Google Voice competitors, such as call forward, block, and screen
• Extensions and call routing: We looked at each system’s support for multiple extensions
• Auto attendant: Most Google Voice alternatives offer an automated attendant module that can greet and route incoming callers
• Mobile app: While some providers offer a low-cost solution for businesses relying on desk phones, we strongly considered alternatives that also offered some kind of mobile application for smartphones
• Call quality: Audio quality during calls should be clear and reliable for any recommended alternative
• Customer support: We looked at each service’s customer support channels

Based on the above criteria, we find that Grasshopper is likely the best choice for any small business users looking for an alternative to Google Voice. The system is affordable yet comes with functionality such as an auto attendant, a mobile app, and toll-free phone numbers. It is also extraordinarily easy to use, even for workers that are not technically savvy.

Grasshopper: Best Overall Alternative to Google Voice

Grasshopper is a virtual phone system that provides all customers with the choice of either a toll-free or local telephone number. It starts at $26 per month, which makes it more expensive than Google Voice, but it is still one of the more affordable paid services available. It is the best overall Google Voice alternative because it offers a powerful feature set that most small businesses can afford.

Grasshopper Pricing

Grasshopper provides three different pricing plans, and features are not locked behind tiers like they are with other services. Pricing ranges from $26 per month on an annual basis to $80 per month. The fact that the entry-level plan supports three extensions makes this one of the more affordable options we looked at.

Grasshopper pricing plans include the following:

• Solo: $26 per month for one number and three extensions
• Partner: $44 per month for three numbers and six extensions
• Small Business: $80 per month for five numbers and unlimited extensions.

Grasshopper Features

Grasshopper offers a respectable set of features that can either be used on a desktop or mobile device. It has unlimited domestic calling, inbound fax, and more. When compared to Google Voice, it beats out that service because it also comes with the ability to adopt a toll-free number and multiple extensions.

Grasshopper features include:

Call Handling & Routing

Grasshopper allows you to control how calls are routed. The service lets you configure your forwarding numbers and business hours where calls are routed to voicemail automatically. This is especially helpful for off-hours and weekends when your office is closed. Google Voice offers no such functionality.

Automated Attendant

Grasshopper allows all users to create and deploy automated attendants that greet and route callers without human intervention. The voice menu greets callers with a prerecorded message. Google Voice can ask callers for their name before you accept the call, but it does not have an auto attendant like Grasshopper does.

Mobile App

Grasshopper’s mobile app, which is available for both iOS and Android devices, is where the service truly sets itself apart. The app lets you make and receive calls from your business line, review faxes, and send text messages. You can even sign documents by writing with your finger. In comparison, Google Voice’s app is very minimal and only allows for calling and texting.

Additional Features

Grasshopper comes with internet faxing functionality. You can receive a fax from any number, and that document into converted into a PDF file. Another standout feature is the ring-blasting module that can ring multiple numbers at once. That, along with app integrations via Zapier, make it a remarkably advanced service for its price point.

What Grasshopper Is Missing

Grasshopper offers three different pricing plans. While we appreciate that the company offers packages for a variety of business needs and budgets, it can also be confusing for small business customers. If you are looking for a scalable business service with a streamlined pricing structure, we recommend looking at Ooma instead. That system costs just $19.95 per user, per month.

What Users Think About Grasshopper

Grasshopper is popular with solo workers and freelancers because of its affordability, feature set, and general usability. The free toll-free number is especially popular with teams that want to appear as established, nationwide presences. However, there are some complaints that the company’s customer service can be unhelpful at times. For more reviews, go to our Grasshopper user reviews page.

Ooma: Best Google Voice Alternative With Streamlined Pricing

Ooma is a voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) phone service that provides unlimited domestic calling, a virtual receptionist, call management functionality, and more. This VoIP system costs $19.95 per month. The fact that Ooma does not have a complex pricing structure with different packages makes it great for business users that are looking for a service with a streamlined pricing structure.

Ooma Pricing

Unlike competing systems, Ooma does not have pricing packages with different feature sets. Instead, Ooma just charges $19.95 per user, per month. While you may be able to save money going with another service, we appreciate the simplicity of Ooma’s pricing.

Ooma Features

Like competing services, Ooma offers unlimited domestic calling, call management, and voicemail. It also comes with a virtual receptionist that can greet and route callers automatically. When compared to Google Voice, Ooma’s virtual receptionist module makes it a worthwhile upgrade. It is not as feature-rich as RingCentral or Nextiva, but it comes at a good value.

Call Handling & Routing

Ooma offers you total control over your call traffic. The service comes standard with features, such as voicemail, call transfer, and call forwarding. On top of that, it has a ring group feature that can ring multiple devices at the same time when a specific number or extension is dialed, making it a close match to Google Voice when it comes to call handling.

Automated Attendant

Ooma offers an automated attendant, which puts it ahead of Google Voice. The company’s auto attendant, which it refers to as its virtual receptionist, can answer calls and route callers to their desired extension without any human intervention. It works similar to other Google Voice alternatives that we examined.

Mobile App

You can download the Ooma app for iOS and Android devices. The app allows you to make calls and send texts with your Ooma number, effectively letting you take your work phone wherever you go. It works in a similar fashion to Google Voice and its competitors.

Additional Features

Ooma Office has all of the features you’d need to make and receive calls. However, it doesn’t have as many advanced features as other alternatives to Google Voice. It does not have video chat like RingCentral, and it does not have unlimited international calling like 8×8.

What Ooma Is Missing

Ooma is a capable business phone service with a strong core set of telephony features for a fair price. With that in mind, the system does not come with team instant messaging functionality like other solutions we looked at. It also lacks software integrations with outside solutions. If you are looking for a more powerful service, we suggest looking at Nextiva.

What Users Think About Ooma

Our readers generally like Ooma because it provides a reasonable feature set and is easy to use. They also note that the company’s customer service team is helpful in the event of a problem. Common complaints include the fact that porting numbers into the service can be difficult. For more reviews, check out our Ooma user reviews page.

Nextiva: Best Full-featured Google Voice Alternative

Nextiva is a business VoIP service provider offering a complete communication system for organizations. On top of unlimited calling, it includes a detailed automated attendant, on-hold music, and conference calling. The service, starting at $30 per user, per month, is great for teams that want a complete feature set for a price they can afford.

Nextiva Pricing

Nextiva’s service is offered in three distinct pricing packages that range between $30 to $45 per user, per month, for one to four users, and volume discounts are available. All plans come with voicemail transcription, call forwarding, and short message service (SMS) capabilities. This is one of the more moderately priced VoIP options available.

Nextiva Tiered Features

Basic

Nextiva Basic comes with the choice of a local or toll-free number like Grasshopper and other Google Voice alternatives. You also get unlimited domestic calling and an automated attendant to greet callers. This package starts at $30 per user, per month for one to four users, but pricing can go down to as little as $20 per user, per month if you have more than 100 people signed on. Nextiva is one of our top picks for small business VoIP systems.

This package lacks texting, which is unfortunate, as Google Voice offers SMS free of charge. It’s also missing access to the Nextiva mobile app, unlike less expensive alternatives we looked at. As such, Nextiva is best for companies looking for a basic yet serviceable system that employees can use their desk phones.

Pro

For $33 per user, per month, Nextiva pro includes SMS messaging, letting you send and receive text messages with your work number. It also comes with the ability to link your Nextiva account to the company’s mobile app available for iOS and Android devices. On top of that, the Pro plan comes with one professionally recorded voice greeting for your phone service. This can help your organization project a more established identity. Google Voice offers no such functionality.

If you want call recording, you’ll have to upgrade to the Enterprise version. This is odd, as Google Voice comes standard with the ability to save calls for later reference. This tier is also missing voicemail-to-text and analytic dashboards. Nextiva pro is best for teams that want a voice greeting, but do not need to record calls.

Enterprise

Nextiva Enterprise adds call recording functionality to your account. On top of that, it comes with voicemail-to-text so that you can read inbox contents without having to hear messages. This is similar to Google Voice and other services. The Enterprise version also comes with an analytics dashboard that gives you reports on data such as total calls, average call time, and more.

While we appreciate that Nextiva Enterprise has call recording and voicemail-to-text, it’s worth noting that Google Voice offers these things for free. The overall price of this package could also be simply too much for most businesses to afford. This is best for companies that want a no-compromise feature set that is still highly intuitive.

What Nextiva Is Missing

Nextiva locks advanced functionality like call recording and even text messaging to premium tiers. This does not serve as a good value for many small businesses. If you have a large team and are looking for more standard features, as well as more robust conferencing modules, then we recommend looking at RingCentral.

What Users Think About Nextiva

Nextiva’s customers are highly satisfied with the system’s features and the overall usability of the service. However, some of our readers have expressed frustration at repeated dropped calls while using the service. For more opinions, go to our Nextiva user reviews page.

RingCentral: Best Google Voice Alternative for Large Teams

RingCentral is a business VoIP service that is distinguished by its powerful conference calling capabilities. In addition to calling and texting capabilities, RingCentral offers video chatting for up to 100 people depending on what package you choose. The service, which starts at $19.99 per user, per month, on an annual basis, is ideal for teams that are looking for a Google Voice alternative with robust conferencing capabilities.

RingCentral Pricing

RingCentral is offered in three different packages: Essentials, Standard, and Premium. Costs range from $19.99 to $34.99 per user, per month, on an annual basis. All plans include calling, conferencing, and the RingCentral mobile app. RingCentral is one of the more expensive options we looked at.

RingCentral Tiered Features

Essentials

The Essentials plan is RingCentral’s entry-level tier of service, with a starting price of $19.99 per user, per month. It comes with a softphone app for unlimited calling within the United States and Canada. Unlike other plans, it does not support video conferencing of any kind.

RingCentral Essentials lacks the call recording and voicemail transcription options found in the more expensive versions. Google Voice offers call recording as a standard option, so we are a bit disappointed that RingCentral doesn’t include it in this package. With that in mind, this is still an ideal package for teams that want to stay connected through a capable, basic phone service.

Standard

RingCentral Standard, which costs $24.99 per user, per month, has all of the features of the Essentials version and also adds an automated attendant and internet faxing features. This is especially helpful for companies that still use such technology. Google Voice has no such faxing capabilities. It also supports video conferencing for up to four people at one time, which puts it ahead of other Google Voice alternatives such as GoDaddy Smartline.

While we appreciate that RingCentral Standard offers video calling, we wish it supported more than four people in a meeting at once. If you want to communicate with your whole team, you will have to upgrade to the Premium package. Still, this option is very good for remote workgroups that want to stay in touch via video conferencing.

Premium

According to the company, Premium is RingCentral’s most popular plan. It costs $34.99 per user, per month, and can accommodate video meetings of up to 100 users. It also comes with automatic call recording, so you can save all of your most important business conversations for reference. You can also use recordings for training and evaluation purposes.

RingCentral Premium is a powerful product, but it could be well out of the price range for most small business customers. This is especially true for anyone looking for an alternative to a free virtual phone service. Still, it’s a fantastic system for those who can afford it and are looking for a true no-compromise solution.

What RingCentral Is Missing

RingCentral is one of the most powerful business VoIP solutions around. However, it charges a per-minute rate to call most countries, which could quickly get expensive for teams with an international business presence. On the other hand, 8×8 offers unlimited calling to up to 47 countries.

What Users Think About RingCentral

Customers are mostly pleased with RingCentral and its features. With that in mind, several of our readers were disappointed with the long customer support queues when they contacted the company. They also said that the support team has been slow to respond to tickets. For more detailed information, go to our RingCentral user reviews page.

8×8: Best Google Voice Alternative for International Calling

8×8 is a business VoIP service that comes with unlimited domestic calls, call recording, and an automated attendant. The service starts at $25 per month. What helps 8×8 stand apart is that it offers unlimited calls to anywhere from 14 to 47 countries, depending on what plan you choose. The system is the best Google Voice alternative for organizations with an overseas business presence that need to keep in touch with important contacts.

8×8 Pricing

8×8 comes in three different pricing plans ranging from $25 to $55 per user, per month. Each plan comes standard with auto attendant, unlimited faxing, and unlimited calling to a certain number of countries. It is one of the more moderately priced solutions available today.

8×8 Tiered Features

X2

8×8’ entry-level package costs $25 per user, per month. It comes with a range of call management features as well as an auto attendant, voicemail, and unlimited calling for 14 countries around the world. It also includes 1GB of online media storage for all of your important documents.

This plan lacks call recording functionality, which is included for free with Google Voice. Still, this is one of the few entry-level packages on the market that offers unlimited calling to countries outside of North America. It is especially ideal for teams with international calling needs to places like Australia, Ireland, and Spain.

X5

8×8’s X5 tier costs $35 per month. It comes with an additional 4GB of media storage over the X2 plan, and it also accommodates conference calling for up to 25 people. Perhaps most notably, it includes unlimited calling to 32 countries. This includes locales such as Israel, Hong Kong, and more.

Unfortunately, 8×8 does not let you choose which countries are included in your plan. For example, if you want to make calls to Chile, Poland, and other places, you will have to upgrade to the X8 version. This system is best suited for companies that only need to make calls to places offered by the X5’s pre-packaged list.

X8

8×8’s top-tier package costs $55 per user, per month, making it one of the more expensive offerings on the market. It supports up to 50 participants in an audio or video conference as well as calling to 47 countries. It also comes with access to the company’s contact center features, which is helpful if you have a high incoming call volume. Google Voice offers no such features.

8×8 X8 is a powerful system. Like other top-shelf packages, this is best suited for established organizations that have outgrown free and moderately priced services and are ready for something with more features. It is also great for teams that can make use of the system’s contact center functionality.

What 8×8 Is Missing

8×8 offers three different plans of unlimited minutes, which makes it a good choice for teams with high monthly call volumes. However, it could be a waste of money for companies with lower call volumes, as they are effectively paying for minutes they don’t need. For those customers, we’d suggest Phone.com, which allows users to subscribe to monthly bundles of minutes.

What Users Think About 8×8

Business users have found 8×8 to be an effective and intuitive solution. They like making international calls, and they also appreciate the company’s 24/7 customer support. With that in mind, some of our readers have reported that they have experienced service outages. Go to our 8×8 user reviews page for more reviews.

Phone.com: Best Google Voice Alternative for Vanity Numbers

Phone.com, which starts at $9.99 per month on an annual basis, is a business phone system that offers local or toll-free phone numbers, texting, and an automated attendant that greets and routes callers. Phone.com offers the ability to adopt plans of monthly minutes at a low cost, which makes it good for teams with low call volumes that want to save money.

Phone.com Pricing

Phone.com comes in three distinct pricing packages. Limited minute plans range from $7.99 to $22.99 per month on a yearly basis. Unlimited plans are also available ranging from $19.99 to $49.99 per month. This is one of the most affordable paid services we looked at.

Phone.com’s annual pricing includes:

• Base: $7.99 per month for 300 calling minutes and $19.99 for unlimited
• Plus: $14.99 per month for 500 calling minutes and $32.99 for unlimited
• Pro: $22.99 per month for 1,000 calling minutes and $49.99 for unlimited

Phone.com Tiered Features

Base

Phone.com’s Base plan comes with one local or toll-free number, 300 monthly minutes, and 5,000 monthly text messages for $9.99 per month. It is basic compared to other Google Voice alternatives we examined, and even other alternatives like Sideline, but it is also much more affordable than the likes of Nextiva or RingCentral.

This plan lacks the call recording and premium hold music found in the more expensive packages. It is also missing the international calling capabilities of 8×8. Still, this is a good low-cost plan that could serve as a good entry point for teams that want a toll-free number but aren’t ready for advanced VoIP functionality.

Plus

The Plus version of Phone.com costs $14.99 and offers two local or toll-free numbers. It also comes with 10,000 SMS messages and 500 toll-free numbers. On top of that, the system offers premium hold music that your callers can listen to while they wait to be routed to their desired extension. Google Voice lacks this feature.

The Plus plan is missing most of the features found in other intermediate packages. It does not have call recording or video conferencing, nor does it have integration with other business software. The fact that this offers so many text messages makes it a good fit for companies that prefer text messaging over audio calling.

Pro

Phone.com’s top-tier Pro plan offers 1,000 toll-free minutes and 20,000 text messages for $29.99 per month. This is more affordable than other top-level phone plans on the market. In addition to that, Phone.com Plus offers call analytics and call recording.

This solution does not offer international calling like 8×8. It also lacks a professionally-recorded voice greeting like Nextiva. This plan is best suited for companies with low call volumes that want reporting modules to analyze call data.

What Phone.com Is Missing

Phone.com is a step up from Google Voice if you want extras like a toll-free number or hold music for your callers. Other than that, it is still a very basic phone system. If you are looking for a more robust feature set with unlimited calling, we suggest looking at a competing solution like Grasshopper or RingCentral instead.

What Users Think About Phone.com

Our readers give Phone.com mixed reviews. While customers appreciate the affordability of the service, they find that the solution suffers from frequent downtimes. Go to our Phone.com user reviews page for more impressions.

Bottom Line: Google Voice Alternatives

If you are a solo worker looking for a basic phone system, Google Voice is an effective solution, especially as it is free. However, you will probably want to upgrade to a paid system when your team grows to more than a few people. Fortunately, there are many VoIP and Virtual Phone systems to serve as powerful alternatives to Google Voice.

Grasshopper is a powerful, affordable, and intuitive virtual phone system that offers unlimited calling, text, and more. The company offers a seven-day free trial so that you can try it out for yourself. Get started with Grasshopper today.

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