7 Best Softphone for Business Providers for 2023
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.
Silvana is a staff writer at Fit Small Business who covers business technology, audio and video conferencing tools, and phone services.
This article is part of a larger series on VoIP.
The best softphone for business offers call management solutions that lower operational costs, improve portability, and increase internal collaboration. Small businesses use softphone solutions to make internet-based calls and access phone functionalities like video conferencing, productivity tools, and omnichannel capabilities. These features contribute to enhancing customer service and overall efficiency.
Based on our research of dozens of providers, here are the seven best voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) softphones for small businesses:
- Nextiva: Overall best softphone for remote teams needing collaboration and productivity tools
- RingCentral: Ideal for call centers needing robust app integrations for optimal productivity
- Vonage: Best for businesses needing a reliable phone system during emergencies
- Grasshopper: Best low-cost phone system with professional voicemail recordings
- Google Voice: Solid choice for Google Workspace users needing a virtual phone number
- GoTo Connect: Excellent for growing organizations needing unmetered international calling
- 3CX: Great for teams expanding customer communications through social media
Best Softphone for Business Providers at a Glance
Best Softphone Providers | Monthly Starting Price (per User) | Key Features | Mobile Application | FSB Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | $30.95 |
| ✓ | 4.56 out of 5 |
 | $30 |
| ✓ | 4.51 out of 5 |
 | $19.99 |
| ✓ | 4.31 out of 5 |
 | $31 (flat rate) |
| ✓ | 3.89 out of 5 |
 | $10* |
| ✓ | 3.87 out of 5 |
 | $27 |
| ✓ | 3.83 out of 5 |
 | $145 annually* |
| ✓ | 3.72 out of 5 |
*Google Voice and 3CX offer free plans with limited features.
Did you know softphones are applications installed on internet-connected devices and used to make phone calls? Read our comprehensive softphone guide to learn more about this technology.
Nextiva: Best Overall Softphone Provider
Overall Score:
4.56 / 5
What We Liked
- Advanced call routing
- Modern user interface
- 99.999% uptime service level agreement (SLA)
Where It Falls Behind
- No unlimited international calling option
- Limited third-party integrations and lacks popular CRM tools in the base plan
- Limited meeting duration, up to 45 minutes per meeting only
Nextiva Monthly Pricing (per User)*
- Essential: $30.95 for unlimited voice and video calling, voicemail, unlimited internet fax, and up to 1,500 minutes
- Professional: $35.95 for unlimited conference calls for up to 40 participants, multi-level auto-attendant, unmetered video conferencing, and up to 3,000 minutes
- Enterprise: $45.95 for unlimited participants on voice and video conferencing and video recording, voicemail transcriptions, call recording, and up to 12,500 minutes
*Pricing is based on one to four users with monthly payments. Per-user fees decrease as more users register and annual billing discounts are available.
Nextiva is the best softphone for business when it comes to collaboration thanks to its Cospace app that allows remote and hybrid employees to communicate seamlessly regardless of location. It is a robust unified communication (UC) and collaboration tool with features like file and screen sharing, team task tracking, and group chat. This simple-to-use and setup solution enhances the productivity of remote teams by facilitating constant communication.
Nextiva is on our list of best VoIP services for home offices because it offers multi-platform support for softphones, smartphones, and internet telephony (IP) phones. The Nextiva application is available in tablet, desktop, and mobile versions. However, there is a 45-minute cap for meetings. For those needing more hosting minutes, consider RingCentral. There are no time limits with RingCentral video meetings. Learn more in our Nextiva vs RingCentral article.
Nextiva Features
Work from anywhere using Cospace (Source: Nextiva)
- Call flow builder: Manage call flows easily using Nextiva’s menus and route calls based on set days and times. Create an effective inbound call flow and design your phone system’s routing protocols based on your operational requirements.
- Conversational artificial intelligence (AI): An advanced IVR system with conversational AI capabilities that allow users to talk about their purpose for calling rather than touch tone responses based on menu prompts. This advanced IVR is used for queue callback, appointment scheduling, and reservations.
- Team chat: This group messaging functionality is a UC tool used in collaboration. Teams can share files, thread conversations, and create rooms that work as private workspaces for multiple people.
Explore this softphone app’s capabilities before getting a subscription. Use our comprehensive Nextiva review to decide if this is the right option for your business.
RingCentral: Best for Its Powerful Integrations for Call Center Productivity
Overall Score:
4.51 / 5
What We Liked
- Real-time analytics
- Multi-level auto-attendant
- Large meeting participant capacity
Where It Falls Behind
- Only offers long-term desk phone rentals
- Extensive features may be too much for solopreneurs and small teams
- No customer relationship management (CRM) integrations in the base plan
RingCentral Monthly Pricing (per User)*
- Core: $30 for core phone solutions with unlimited domestic calling, messaging, and HD conferencing
- Advanced: $35 for advanced phone systems with auto-call recording, call management and handling, and internet fax
- Ultra: $45 for or unlimited video, whiteboards, messaging, file sharing, and file and recording storage
*Save up to 33% with annual billing
RingCentral is one of the best business phone systems and our top choice for call centers wanting integrations to access productivity tools, such as professional recordings, CRM systems, and transcription services. It has over 200 third-party integrations that help businesses drive productivity and maximize time and human resources. RingCentral has an App Gallery and an open API (application programming interface) platform for customizing your system.
Third-party integrations are crucial for growing businesses wanting to streamline operational processes and expand functionalities. However, for small businesses that want a simple, all-inclusive ecosystem, consider Google Voice. Google Voice is great for solopreneurs and budget-conscious businesses needing a virtual number, text messaging, and voicemail. It also has a free version for personal use.
RingCentral Features
RingCentral’s voicemail setup (Source: RingCentral)
- Visual voicemail: Manage voicemails using RingCentral’s desktop or mobile apps. Users can listen, preview, delete, or forward voicemail messages.
- Breakout rooms: Besides video conferencing and webinar capabilities, RingCentral lets users divide meeting participants into smaller groups. This is ideal for subworking groups, huddles, or workshop groupings. You decide on the number of breakout rooms and can choose random or manual participant distribution.
- Team coordination: RingCentral offers a centralized workspace for file sharing, project management, video conferencing, and instant messaging. You can jump from chat messages to an instant meeting with a button click.
Learn more about this softphone platform by checking out our comprehensive RingCentral review. We detail the provider’s general and niche features, pricing points, and best use cases.
Vonage: Best for Call Continuity During Emergencies
Overall Score:
4.31 / 5
What We Liked
- All plans include over 50 business phone features
- 99.999% guaranteed uptime
- User-friendly, intuitive desktop and mobile interface
Where It Falls Behind
- Requires a minimum one-year contract
- Taxes and fees are not included in the per-user rates
- Only offers 20 third-party integrations
Vonage Monthly Pricing (per Line)*
- Mobile: $19.99 for unlimited calls and SMS, unlimited team messaging, and mobile and desktop apps access
- Premium: $29.99 for a multi-level auto-attendant, unlimited meetings for up to 100 participants, CRM integrations, and internet protocol (IP) desk phone compatibility
- Advanced: $39.99 for up to 15 hours of on-demand call recording, call groups, and visual voicemail
*Pricing is based on one user, subject to taxes and fees. A minimum one-year contract is required.
Vonage is a phone system offering call continuity for teams in disaster-prone or low-connectivity areas—ensuring your call management system remains intact and running. During a power outage where Vonage cannot route calls to your business phones, call continuity routes calls to a predetermined backup phone number, enabling your customers to reach you.
It offers small businesses customizable phone plans that allow users to add features to plans as needed. Vonage provides over 50 UC and voice features, such as call recording, voicemail, and unlimited meetings for up to 100 participants. However, if you need larger virtual meeting capacities, choose RingCentral. It hosts up to 200 video conference participants, twice the participant capacity offered by Vonage.
Vonage Features
Vonage’s mobile software (Source: Vonage)
- Shared line appearance: This feature allows you to monitor the status of line extensions from your desk phone screen. Using a desk phone, users answer, park, and place calls from another extension.
- Admin dashboard: Easily manage your phone system and monitor account activity from Vonage’s intuitive admin portal. Administrators track overall system performance, audit account changes, and add or upgrade features.
- Business inbox: Track and resolve customer queries and concerns efficiently with Vonage’s unified inbox. This integrates multiple communication channels for easy tracking and action, including voice, SMS, MMS, and Facebook Messenger.
Read our Vonage review to determine if it is the best choice for your small business.
Grasshopper: Best Softphone Provider With Low-cost Services
Overall Score:
3.89 / 5
What We Liked
- Unlimited extensions available
- Instant response text messages
- Voicemail transcription
Where It Falls Behind
- No IVR capabilities
- Language options limited to English, Spanish, and French
- Limited third-party integrations
Grasshopper Monthly Pricing*
- Solo: $31 for one phone number and three extensions
- Partner: $51 for three phone numbers and six extensions
- Small Business: $89 for five phone numbers and unlimited extensions
Add-ons
- Voice Studio: $75 for each order
- Phone numbers: $10 monthly for each additional number
*Grasshopper offers a flat-rate pricing model, not per-user billing. Annual billing saves users up to 10%.
Grasshopper is the best softphone for businesses needing a budget-friendly cloud system because of its flat-rate pricing. Fixed pricing is an excellent option for small teams looking to maximize their subscription, accommodating multiple users without increasing the monthly cost. It also offers essential call management solutions, professional voicemail recordings, and a live receptionist option.
All Grasshopper plans have the same features, including business phone numbers, instant response, and call forwarding. However, all these services are basic solutions. For a more robust unified communication as a service (UCaaS) provider that includes business calling, texting, and team collaboration, choose Nextiva. It offers volume-based discounts that lower the per-user cost as you increase the number of registered users.
Grasshopper Features
Record voicemails and greetings using Grasshopper (Source: YouTube)
- Ruby Receptionist: Grasshopper offers live receptionist services as an optional service. It works with Ruby Receptionist and provides subscribers with a team of professional phone operators to handle all incoming calls in your business.
- Unlimited extensions: Maximize your monthly plan by using a single number that an entire team can use, such as sales or marketing units. Users can assign a specific extension to each person.
- Instant response: If you cannot answer an incoming call, Grasshopper sends an SMS informing the caller that you cannot answer. This feature reduces the risk of missing potential customers.
Is Grasshopper on your list of possible VoIP softphone options? Check out our in-depth Grasshopper review for more on its features, pricing, and customer service.
Google Voice: Best for Google Workspace Users Needing a Virtual Phone Number
Overall Score:
3.87 / 5
What We Liked
- Intuitive, user-friendly interface
- Seamless Google product integration
- Multi-level auto-attendant
Where It Falls Behind
- Only available in the U.S.
- Lacks toll-free numbers
- Advanced reporting is locked behind the most expensive package
Google Voice Monthly Pricing (per User)
- Personal: Free for one user, unlimited calling and texting within the U.S., and voicemail
- Starter: $10 for up to 10 users, voicemail transcription, web and mobile apps, and SLA
- Standard: $16 for unlimited users, multi-level auto-attendant, ring groups, and e-discovery
- Premier: $24 for advanced reporting and automatic call recording
Google Voice is the best softphone for businesses using Google and wanting virtual numbers and a simple phone system. It offers a free version, ideal for professionals or small teams with limited calling needs. Google Voice provides a phone number for domestic and international calls, texts, and voicemails. The Starter Plan has up to 10 users with unlimited local text and calls, making it one of the best business phone number providers.
Google Voice’s call management features include multi-level auto-attendant, call forwarding, and ring groups. While it provides basic call features for freelancers and solopreneurs, its virtual phone number options are limited to local numbers. If you’re looking for softphone options that provide multiple types of phone numbers, go with Grasshopper. It offers various phone number options, including local, toll-free, and vanity numbers.
Google Voice Features
Upload recorded audio files to Google Voice auto-attendant (Source: Google)
- Google Meet integration: Google Voice users can access Google Workspace applications, including Google Meet. This allows you to host video conferencing sessions for remote colleagues and clients. It has features that include screen share and hand-raising tools.
- Voicemail transcription: Easily receive and get your voicemail messages with Google’s transcription features. Google Voice converts voicemails into text format so users don’t have to play message recordings repeatedly.
- Ring groups: When receiving an incoming call, Google Voice alerts multiple team members simultaneously. You configure the ring group by determining the ring order and business hours and who in the ring group makes the outbound calls.
Discover more about pricing and features in our Google Voice review. This guide will help you determine whether this platform is right for you.
GoTo Connect: Best for Growing Organizations Needing Unmetered International Calling
Overall Score:
3.83 / 5
What We Liked
- Offers 1,000 free toll-free minutes shared across the account
- Up to 250 video participants
- Includes team messaging
Where It Falls Behind
- No international phone numbers
- Lacks international text messaging
- Only one auto-attendant recorded greeting in the base plan
GoTo Connect Monthly Pricing (per User)
- Basic: Starts at $27 for number porting, phone numbers, smart call routing, unlimited extensions, up to four video conferencing participants, and one recorded greeting
- Standard: Starts at $32 for unlimited auto-attendant recorded greetings, dial plans, and ring groups, up to 150 video conferencing participants, and international calling in over 50 countries
GoTo Connect is one of the best softphones for business needing international calling as it offers unlimited calling to 52 countries. All its subscriptions include toll-free minutes, and GoTo Connect offers cloud phone services in six countries, including Germany, Ireland, and the U.K. Users on the Basic plan are charged low per-minute rates. In contrast, Standard plan subscribers get free international calling to select countries.
While GoTo Connect offers international calling, it lacks global text messaging. For businesses that need international business texting, try RingCentral. This VoIP softphone provider lets users send and receive SMS messages to and from international numbers outside their country. It improves communication systems by integrating phone, SMS, online faxing, video conferencing, and messaging into a single platform.
GoTo Connect Features
GoTo Connect’s mobile screen sharing (Source: GoTo Connect)
- Screen sharing: GoTo Connect offers robust video conferencing functionality on mobile devices. Meeting participants can share screens from both desktop and mobile devices. Users can edit, modify, highlight, and mark up documents in real time.
- Custom call flows: This administrative tool has a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to edit, update, and change call flows easily. Set up multiple auto-attendants and determine and monitor how calls are routed to extensions or departments.
- Reporting and analytics: Get valuable business insights and data on your customer interactions. This includes interactions across multiple channels, such as calls, chat, SMS, and social media.
Check out our GoTo Connect review for more information on how this UC software can improve your business communications.
3CX: Best Softphone Provider for Social Media Communications
Overall Score:
3.72 / 5
What We Liked
- Free for businesses with less than 10 users
- Video conferencing for up to 250 participants
- Unlimited meeting duration
Where It Falls Behind
- No monthly billing option
- No SMS feature in the base plan
- Customer support tickets have additional costs of $75 each
3CX Annual Pricing*
Hosted Services
- StartUP Free: $0 for ring group, auto-attendant, up to 25 participants in video conferencing, and team messaging
- StartUP Pro: $175 for multi-level IVR, call queues, and call monitoring (listen, whisper, and barge)
- Dedicated Pro: $295 for four sim calls, CRM integration, video conferencing for up to 100 participants, and call recording
- Dedicated Enterprise: $330 for skills-based routing, custom IP phone logo, and video conferencing for up to 250 participants
Self-managed
- Dedicated Pro: $145 for hosting in private cloud, hotdesking, hotel PBX (private branch exchange), and call flow designer
- Dedicated Enterprise: $180 for skills-based routing, 250 video conference participants, and start/stop call recording rights
*Pricing is based on 10 users.
3CX is part of our list of best VoIP softphone providers, enabling customers to communicate with businesses via VoIP calling and business messaging and Facebook Messenger, live website chat, and WhatsApp. While it isn’t an omnichannel solution, all 3CX plans come with select social media integration, like WhatsApp. Paid subscriptions feature messaging and chat reports.
As a business VoIP system with voice, video, voicemail, and messaging capabilities, 3CX’s softphone app lets users manage all messages and provide customer support across several channels from a single platform. However, it lacks open APIs and integrations. For small businesses that want access to third-party productivity and collaboration tools, check out RingCentral. This provider has over 300 out-of-the-box integrations, including popular apps.
3CX Features
3CX’s offline form mode (Source: 3CX)
- Live chat: This fully customizable live chat solution has voice and video capabilities. Agents can elevate a chat to a call, allowing clients to receive real-time advice as they browse your products or services.
- Video conferencing: Subscribers can host meetings between 25 and 250 participants, depending on your plan. 3CX’s virtual meeting is simple and secure. Invited participants can hop into the meeting directly from their browsers without downloading apps or signing up.
- Business messaging: Consolidate your various messaging services—SMS, WhatsApp, and live chat—using 3CX. It allows you to save customer information and access insights and reports regarding text messaging performance.
For more information, check out our full 3CX review.
How We Evaluated the Best VoIP Softphone Provider
We looked at several platforms offering VoIP softphone solutions. From there, we choose the top seven providers based on different criteria, including pricing, general features, ease of use, and customer support.
Learn how we evaluated the best VoIP softphone provider by clicking on the tabs below:
15%
Pricing
25%
General Features
20%
Advanced Features
10%
Ease of Use
10%
Customer Support
20%
Expert Score
15% of Overall Score
Costs vary greatly, especially if free versions and discounts are available. We ranked subscription plans according to the prices of their subscription plans and looked at whether the providers offered annual or volume-based discounts
25% of Overall Score
When considering softphones for business, we looked at essential features, including unlimited domestic calling in the U.S. and Canada. Higher points were given to those with video and audio conferencing and an uptime SLA. We also reviewed providers based on the availability of mobile applications and whether it’s compatible with popular operating systems.
20% of Overall Score
Some VoIP softphone phone services for businesses offer advanced features on different plans; some are available on base plans while others unlock them on higher tiers. We identified crucial capabilities, such as international calling and the availability of global numbers. Higher scores were given to platforms with IVR systems and robust integrations.
10% of Overall Score
Our team evaluated ease of use by determining the expertise required to set up and operate the phone system. We assisted if the platforms were simple, intuitive, and would be easy to use by non-technical users.
10% of Overall Score
To determine the best VoIP softphone provider, we evaluated the range of support channels available to users. We identified phone, live chat, and an email ticketing system as crucial support options. More points are awarded if all support channels are available 24/7.
20% of Overall Score
The expert score is based on our overall evaluation of each platform’s value for money. Each software provider received a rating according to its standout features, popularity, and overall ease of use.
*Percentages of overall score
Unsure how to transition to a VoIP phone system? Check out our step-by-step guide on how to set up a VoIP system.
Bottom Line
The best softphones for business equip remote and hybrid teams with calling and texting services that facilitate connectivity regardless of location. It helps small companies minimize hardware, maintenance, and phone service expenses by enabling teams to communicate using their computers and mobile devices. By combining basic calling functions with advanced tools like artificial intelligence (AI) and transcription, businesses perform better and improve client service.
Nextiva earned a 4.56 out of 5, making it our top VoIP softphone provider for small businesses. It offers extensive UC, such as video and audio capabilities, and a robust collaboration app, Cospace. Request a demo on Nextiva’s website to maximize team productivity and improve remote coordination today.
