6 Best Call Center Phone Systems for 2020

Call center phone services help teams answer, route, and effectively manage the high call volumes that contact centers often face. Other common features include unlimited domestic calling and interactive voice response (IVR) modules. We looked at the best call center systems on the market and compared them based on pricing, features, and usability.

Top 6 Best Call Center Phone Systems for 2020

How We Evaluated Call Center Software

Today’s leading call center solutions offer voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) calling, call management tools, integrations with customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, and more. Other tools include detailed analytic reports and workforce management tools. Services should be affordable for small businesses, and all providers should offer reliable customer support in the event of a problem.

We evaluated call center software based on the following criteria:

• Price: Systems should be affordable enough for small business budgets.
• Ease of use: We looked at how easy each system is to set up and use.
• Call quality: Audio quality during calls should be clear and consistent on both desktop and PBX systems.
• CRM integration: Many leading call center solutions offer the ability to connect call data with CRMs such as Salesforce.
• Analytics and reporting: We compared each provider’s ability to provide performance insights and critical call center metrics.
• Interactive voice response: IVR modules can greet and route callers to their desired extension without human intervention.
• Training and coaching: Most providers offer coaching modules such as call monitoring and reporting that can help gauge employee performance.
• Hardware and equipment: We looked at whether each service requires any hardware, such as a call center desk phone.
• Customer support: Services should offer helpful customer service options in the event of a problem.

Based on the above criteria, we find that Freshcaller is the best call center solution for most small businesses. It comes with a complete set of features while still being affordable for most small organization budgets. It is also excessively easy to use and backed by a strong customer support team.

Freshcaller: Best Overall Call Center Phone System

Freshcaller is a VoIP-based call center phone system with features that include call queues, call recording, and advanced call metrics. Service plans range from free to a competitively priced $40 per user, per month, making it right for businesses and teams wanting a call center phone system with advanced metrics, reporting tools, and excellent customer service.

Freshcaller Pricing

Freshcaller offers three small business plans. The Sprout is free, the Blossom tier costs $19 per user, per month, and the Garden plan is $49 per user, per month. All plans include per-minute call rates that start at 16 cents. Local phone numbers are $1 per month and toll-free numbers are $2 per month.

Freshcaller Tiered Features

Sprout

The free Sprout version of Freshcaller supports unlimited users and comes with modules for basic call queues and number porting. You can also buy a local or toll-free phone number for your business for a starting price of $1 per month. While Sprout offers a minimal feature set, it can be a good first step for small teams that want to experience a call center solution before investing in a paid plan at a later time.

This plan is missing features found in more advanced packages, such as the blind transfer module and the call masking feature that makes the agent’s phone number private. It is also missing functionality found in competing solutions such as the voicemail and inbound caller ID found in Zendesk Talk’s free plan.

Blossom

Freshcaller’s Blossom plan, which costs $19 per month, adds call routing during business hours, voicemail, and call masking to the solution. It also comes with session initiated protocol connections (otherwise known as SIP connections) for forwarding calls to the Freshcaller softphone app. This plan is a great fit for teams that want to have granular controls over their call queues. It is also ideal for those who want to record calls for training and reference purposes.

Freshcaller Blossom does not come with conference calling. It is also missing the advanced call metrics found in the Garden tier. We would have also liked to see Freshcaller support screen recording, which is a standard feature found on RingCentral Contact Center. With that said, the price of $19 per user, per month provides exceptional value to small business users.

Garden

The top tier version of Freshcaller costs $40 per user, per month on an annual basis. It adds call routing options for when your office is closed as well as reporting modules that provide data on queue time, hold time, talk time, and more. It also comes with the call barge feature, which allows managers to drop in on live calls. This is great for use cases when managers and agents need to work together on handling an issue over the phone.

Freshcaller Garden serves as a complete call center system. However, it is not HIPAA-compliant like Talkdesk, nor does it offer unlimited international calling like Jive. With that said, it provides an incredible package to any small business that does not deal with healthcare-related data and does not have an overseas business presence.

What Freshcaller Is Missing

Freshcaller lacks the ability for a manager to capture the computer screen activity of agents. While this might not be of concern for some teams, those that handle tickets over the web as well as the phone may want to consider RingCentral Contact Center instead. This is because RingCentral allows you to see what employees are doing on their machines during work.

What Users Think About Freshcaller

Reviewers generally like Freshcaller. They find the platform to be intuitive, and they like that it is so easy to handle a large volume of incoming call traffic. However, some customers find that the Freshcaller interface can be cluttered. Visit our Freshcaller review page to read more about what other users are saying.

RingCentral Contact Center: Best Phone System for Customized Plans

RingCentral Contact Center is a call center software solution backed by RingCentral’s popular VoIP business phone system. Among other things, it offers call management, granular call routing, and reports. However, what sets RingCentral contact center apart is that it offers an open API for building out your own integrations and custom features. The service, which tailors pricing to need, is great for teams that want a solution with custom features.

RingCentral Contact Center Pricing

RingCentral Contact Center differs from competitors in the sense that they do not offer public pricing on any of their service plans. On one hand, it is possible that managers can negotiate a price that works for them. However, we find that making prices publicly available better assists small business owners in their research.

RingCentral Contact Center Tiered Features

Basic

The Basic tier of RingCentral Contact Center offers minimal features. It provides voice channel capabilities and the ability to set up and deploy a basic IVR for your callers. This system can automatically greet and route callers to whatever extension they are trying to reach. We cannot determine if the Basic package is a good value because that information is not made available to the public.

This plan lacks the advanced IVR features found in the Advanced tier. This means that you will not be able to automatically route calls to specific agents based on their unique skills. It also lacks multichannel support, so you will not be able to help customers over email, chat, SMS, or social media. As such, this plan is best for teams that only plan on doing phone support.

Advanced

RingCentral Contact Center Advanced provides advanced IVR functionality. This means that you can route calls based on things like agent skills. It also comes with support for handling tickets over email, chat, and other channels. Most notably, it comes with RingCentral’s application programming interface (API) so that you can build out your own integrations and features as you see fit.

If you want outbound modules such as predictive dialing, you will have to upgrade to the Ultimate tier of the service. It is also worth noting that we simply do not know if this is an affordable system or not compared to Freshcaller. We would love to see RingCentral consider posting this information on their website. Still, this is a good package for companies that want to build out custom integrations and new features.

Ultimate

The Ultimate package offers everything found in the Advanced version. However, the Ultimate version comes with outbound contact center features such as a predictive dialer that can automatically dial numbers from a database. This can be useful for sales, billing, or any other purpose that your company might see fit.

RingCentral offers a phenomenal VoIP service, and its dedicated contact center offering is solid. However, its secretive pricing makes it difficult to compare to other services. The Ultimate package is great for companies that want to leverage outbound contact center features, but they will have to get in touch with RingCentral to find out how much it’s going to cost them.

What RingCentral Contact Center Is Missing

RingCentral Contact Center offers all of the core functionality that you need to effectively manage your call traffic. The company also has a customer support team if you need help. However, they do not have a dedicated account manager like the top-tier version of Talkdesk. If you are looking for a more personal touch to your call center setup, then that might be a better option.

What Users Think About RingCentral Contact Center

Customers love the customization options that RingCentral Contact Center provides. However, they find the wealth of configurations to be both a blessing and a curse. While many appreciate being able to set up routing and integrations to their preference, they find that it is easy to “break” the service by changing a setting they didn’t intend to change.

Talkdesk: Best HIPAA-compliant Call Center Phone System

Talkdesk is a call center telephony solution that comes standard with a power dialer and call recording. The solution also comes with guaranteed compliance with HIPAA for both call and other platform data. There is no concrete pricing information available to the public, but Talkdesk is great for healthcare-related organizations that deal with patient information.

Talkdesk Pricing

Like RingCentral Contact Center, Talkdesk does not offer pricing information to the public. You will have to get in touch with a salesperson from the company for more information. This could be very frustrating to customers, as it forces them to do extra work when researching a contact center solution.

Talkdesk Tiered Features

Professional

Talkdesk Professional offers a wide range of call center features, including an IVR, conference calling, power dialer, and more. We were impressed with this package’s feature set, as outbound calling modules are usually only found in competitor’s high-end packages. There is no publicly available pricing for this plan, although the website claims that plans start at $65 per seat, per month.

This tier of service is missing the advanced reporting capabilities of the Enterprise plan. It also lacks the text message capabilities found in the midrange version of RingCentral Contact Center. Still, Talkdesk Professional offers a valuable package for companies that need HIPAA compliance.

Enterprise

The Enterprise version of Talkdesk adds a set of advanced reporting tools that can give you information on agent productivity. The system can also listen to calls and pick up keywords that you can search for. Perhaps best of all, the Enterprise plan also comes with a dedicated account manager that will walk you through setup and maintenance for as long as you are subscribed to the service.

The Professional plan starts at $65 per person, per month, so we can only assume that the Enterprise version costs even more. This makes for an extraordinarily expensive solution compared to competitors. It is only recommended for midsize or larger companies that can afford it.

What Talkdesk Is Missing

Talkdesk has a complete set of functions for handling call center call traffic. However, it is missing some features that would lend themselves well to collaborative work, such as shared contacts and a shared inbox. If your agents work closely with one another, you might find Aircall to be a better fit for your organization.

What Users Think About Talkdesk

Online reviews of Talkdesk are positive. Many customers highlight the fact that integrations are easy to set up. With that in mind, many find the wide range of reporting tools to be overwhelming at first.

Aircall: Best Call Center Phone System for Collaboration

Aircall is a call center phone platform that comes standard with collaboration tools such as shared contacts and a shared call inbox. On top of that, it also comes with unlimited inbound calling, smart call queuing, and call monitoring functionality. Plans start at $30 per user, per month. It is a good fit for teams that tend to work together when resolving customer tickets.

Aircall Pricing

Aircall offers two different pricing plans. The Essentials package is $30 per user, per month and comes with a wide range of telephony features. The Professional version is $50 per user, per month and adds call monitoring and a power dialer. This is one of the more moderately priced solutions on the market.

Aircall Tiered Features

Essentials

The Essentials version of Aircall comes with unlimited inbound calling as well a free local or toll-free telephone number. It also comes with a share contacts module as well as a shared inbox that you and your agents can access at the same time. This can help foster a collaborative call center. This plan costs $30 per user, per month.

Aircall Essentials does not come with the reporting features found in the Professional tier. Additionally, it is missing an automatic call distributor, which is standard in the entry-level version of Talkdesk. Still, this plan provides a good range of features and would be ideal for any collaborative office environment.

Professional

Aircall Professional adds call monitoring functionality so that managers can listen to calls in progress. This is helpful for both training and evaluation purposes. It’s similar to RingCentral Contact Center in that it also comes with an outbound dialer that can automatically call numbers within a database. The plan comes at a cost of $50 per user, per month.

This plan does not come with unlimited outbound calls. However, it can be added to the plan by contacting Aircall for a customized quote. This is an affordable solution that has a lot to offer teams that need analytics in addition to collaboration capabilities.

What Aircall Is Missing

Aircall is a solid call center platform, but it comes at a cost. If you are a brand-new startup, you might want to try out a free call center solution before making a commitment. In that case, we suggest looking at Zendesk Talk, which offers a respectable feature set at no cost to users.

What Users Think About Aircall

Aircall customers like that the service is easy to use, and they speak highly of the company’s customer service team. They also like the collaboration features that come standard with the system. With that in mind, several online reviews mention that call quality can be choppy at times. Visit our Aircall review page to read more about what other users are saying.

Zendesk Talk: Best Free Call Center Phone System

Zendesk Talk, which offers a free version with paid plans from $19 per user, per month, is a call center phone system that comes with voicemail, call recording, and call routing functionality. Advanced features include prerecorded greetings and an IVR module. The service’s free version serves as a great fit for smaller teams that are on a budget and need a free, no-frills system.

Zendesk Talk Pricing

Zendesk Talk offers a free plan as well as two paid plans. The Team plan costs $19 per user, per month, while the top-shelf Professional edition is $49 per user, per month. Zendesk Talk offers some of the best values in the call center telephony space.

Zendesk Talk Tiered Features

Lite

Zendesk Talk’s free plan accommodates unlimited users, which makes it a great solution for cash-strapped businesses that can’t afford a paid service. It also comes with the option to buy a local phone number for $1 or a toll-free number with a 1-800 prefix for $2. On top of that, you get voicemail as well as voicemail transcription features. It also comes with call recording and call history logs so you can keep track of agent activity.

This plan does not come with text messaging capabilities. It doesn’t come with call monitoring features, either. However, it does offer call recording and voicemail, which are core telephony functions not found in Freshcaller’s free plan.

Team

For $19 per user, per month, Zendesk Talk Team adds text messaging capabilities. It also provides call hold and the ability to purchase multiple phone numbers. It is about even with Jive’s pricing and is good for agents that want to incorporate SMS into their workflow.

If you want call monitoring capabilities, you will need to upgrade to Zendesk Talk Professional. It is also worth noting that, while priced competitively, Zendesk Talk does not offer unlimited international calls to 52 countries like Jive. However, unlike Jive, this comes standard with SMS.

Professional

The Professional version of Zendesk Talk adds an IVR module so that you can automatically greet and direct callers to their desired extension without human intervention. It also comes with real-time analytics that can give you an updated view of what your agents are doing and who they are talking to. This is especially useful for managers who want to evaluate workers as while they are on calls.

At $50 per user, per month, this solution could be too expensive for some small business users. It also lacks a free phone number, unlike most competing solutions. Still, Zendesk Talk Professional offers a wealth of features that would be useful in virtually any small business environment.

What Zendesk Talk Is Missing

Zendesk Talk offers a lot to like for companies that do all of their business within the confines of the U.S. However, it lacks unlimited international calling, so it could get expensive for organizations with an overseas business presence. For those customers, we recommend Jive, which offers unlimited calling to 52 countries around the world.

What Users Think About Zendesk Talk

Online reviewers have mixed thoughts on Zendesk Talk. Some find that the call recording and reports features work as promised. However, they say that call quality can be unreliable, even with a solid network connection.

Jive: Best Call Center Phone System for International Calling

Jive is a call center VoIP service that offers unlimited calling and voicemail. The service starts at $29.95 per month for one to four users. What sets Jive apart from competitors is the fact that it offers unlimited calling to 52 countries. It is great for any organization that does business outside of the United States.

Jive Pricing

Jive offers five distinct pricing plans but does not lock features behind any one plan. Instead, pricing is based on total number of users. Jive is a moderately priced solution.

Pricing plans include:

• $29.95: One to four users
• $25.95: Five to nine users
• $23.95: 10 to 24 users
• $21.95: 25 to 49 users
• $19.95: 50 and more users

Jive Features

In addition to unlimited international calling, Jive also offers a mobile app, call reporting, and call record functionality. It comes with a full suite of call center management tools, such as precall announcements and advanced ring strategies.

Call & Queue Management

Jive comes with the ability to deploy custom hold music. It also comes with wait-time announcements and advanced ring strategies that offer the ability to send a call to multiple phones at once. It also comes with basic call management options like call forwarding, call hold, call park, and more.

Supervisor Controls

Jive lets supervisors record calls and use presence monitoring to see when agents are active. A desktop dashboard gives real-time data on agent activity, queue length, and more. It about matches the competition in this respect.

Interactive Voice Response

Jive does not offer any sort of IVR as part of its call center features. It comes with a customizable call distribution module, but that does not offer as many configuration options as a proper IVR. Therefore, it lags behind most of the competition. It is best for teams that have no use for such a feature.

Analytics & Reporting

Jive provides managers with individual call logs that provide information on call dates, times, duration, and more. It also has an analytics module that provides details on inbound and outbound calls. This information can provide valuable insights on when call centers are busiest.

What Jive Is Missing

Jive does not come with the ability to connect data to a CRM platform, so you won’t be able to connect your call data to a virtual sales pipeline. This is lacking compared to Freshcaller and other solutions.

What Users Think About Jive

Our readers generally like Jive. They say that the company offers responsive and helpful customer support. They also like the international calling features. However, there are some complaints about the lack of text messaging. Check out our Jive user review page for more information.

Call Center Considerations

An internet-based call center phone service requires a fast, stable network connection. Before you adopt a system for your business, you should make sure that you have a powerful enough connection to handle it. We recommend using our free VoIP speed test to measure the health of your network.

Bottom Line

Call center phone solutions to help support and sales staff handle a high volume of incoming calls. They also help agents with features such as multichannel support and compliance with legal standards such as HIPAA. They are valuable tools for making sure your agents can help callers as best as they can.

Companies that are in the market for a new call center system should consider Freshcaller. The solution is intuitive, affordable, and comes with all the features you need to increase customer satisfaction. You can even start using it for free.

Visit Freshcaller