CallHippo Call Center Review: Features & Pricing 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.
Marianne is a staff writer at Fit Small Business who covers business phone services, VoIP, and video conferencing tools.
This article is part of a larger series on VoIP.
CallHippo Call Center is a voice-focused contact center solution for small businesses wanting to improve their sales and support teams’ call efficiency. Standout features include outbound dialers, campaign management, and virtual phone numbers from over 70 countries. A free version is available, while monthly plans start at $20 per user. In our CallHippo Call Center review, it scored high in pricing and customer service but slightly lower in specialized features.
CallHippo Call Center Review: At a Glance
Overall Score:
4.00 / 5
What We Liked
- Free-forever plan
- Local number support in 70+ countries
- Setup takes less than three minutes
- Rich add-on features
What's Missing
- No unlimited calls and texts
- Extra fees for voicemail transcription
- Hold music includes CallHippo branding
- Lacks video meetings
When to Use CallHippo Call Center
- Call center operations with a limited budget: CallHippo provides a free version with basic contact center features and low-cost monthly plans, starting at only $20 per user.
- Low call volumes: CallHippo puts more emphasis on features than unlimited calls. This is ideal for businesses with low call volumes but needs sufficient call management tools for their inbound and outbound campaigns.
- Sales and support teams: Its power dialer and click-to-call features will support your outbound call efforts to close deals faster and get more lead conversions.
- Voice-based call centers: CallHippo is a voice-based contact center solution with smart call routing features and automatic call distribution (ACD), which help improve call satisfaction and first-call resolution rates.
When to Use an Alternative
- Omnichannel customer service: RingCentral Contact Center is a leading business phone system with omnichannel capabilities. It supports voice, chat, email, and 30-plus digital channels, allowing you to interact with customers in their channel of choice.
- Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered contact center: Talkdesk uses advanced AI-based tools like agent coaching and virtual agents, helping improve agent performance and automate routine interactions.
- All-in-one customer engagement and collaboration solution: Nextiva Contact Center provides a single platform for team and customer communication. Collaborate with your team and access customer engagement tools on one screen.
Looking for a business phone system instead? Check out our list of providers in our guide to the best small business voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) service. You may also explore CallHippo’s virtual phone system in our in-depth CallHippo review.
CallHippo Call Center Deciding Factors
CallHippo Call Center provides feature-rich plans without paying for unlimited minutes you won’t use. This is ideal for startups and small teams dealing with low call volumes and need advanced contact center capabilities to increase agent productivity. With its robust campaign management tools, CallHippo also makes excellent outbound contact center software.
Best For | Businesses with low call volumes that want to improve their call distribution process and outbound call campaigns. |
Standout Features |
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Pricing Plans |
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Annual or Volume Discounts Available |
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Integrations |
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Customer Service | 24/7 support via phone, live chat, and email help desk |
CallHippo Call Center Alternatives
CallHippo Call Center comes with a few disadvantages that may not fit well for businesses with specific needs. Some of its missing features include video conferencing, unlimited call plans, and omnichannel support. If these are what you’re looking for, here are the best alternatives to consider:
 |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|
Best For | Business wanting to connect with customers in different communication channels | Teams wanting to automate self-service processes and multichannel support | Companies needing advanced contact center analytics |
Monthly Starting Price (per User) | Contact sales for pricing | $50 | $85 |
Learn More |
We gave CallHippo Call Center a perfect score due to its free-forever plan, low-cost monthly plans, and discounts for annual billing and bulk purchases. Monthly plans start at $20 per user but can go even lower at $16 if you pay annually. Note that free version users only have to pay for phone numbers. For paid plans, a per-minute charge of 2 cents applies once the free incoming call minutes have been used, while incoming texts will be charged 1 cent per message.
CallHippo Call Center Plans | Basic | Bronze | Silver | Platinum |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Best For | Startups looking for a free call center plan | Small teams needing a standard phone number | Fast-growing businesses needing robust call routing tools | Larger businesses needing reporting and analytics features |
Monthly Pricing ($/User/Month) | Free | $20 | $30 | $50 |
Annual Pricing ($/User/Month) | Free | $16 | $24 | $40 |
Call Forward ID | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
One Free Phone Number | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Concurrent Calls | Two calls | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Business Hours | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
IVR | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
Custom Reports | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
Reports/Analytics | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
Add-ons
CallHippo offers a variety of add-ons to extend the capability of your call center plan. Each feature comes with extra fees to be added to your monthly subscription.
CallHippo Call Center Add-on | Starting Price (per Month) | Usage |
|---|---|---|
Call Scribe | $15 per user | See the text transcription of recorded calls |
Voicemail Transcription | $1.50 per user | Receive your voicemail in text format |
Call Tracking Insights | $25 per account | Get incoming call source analytics with Google Ads and Google Analytics integration |
Custom Caller ID | $12 per account | Display any number you want while making outgoing calls |
Hide Numbers From Agent | $1.99 per agent | Protect your callers’ contact details by masking their phone numbers |
Dashboard User | $15 per agent | Enable a user to access the dashboard and web app |
Caller ID Name (CNAM) | $100 one-time fee | Use your business name as caller ID |
WhatsApp Business | $15 per number | Communicate with your clients via WhatsApp |
Website Call Button | $10 | Enable website visitors to call your business by clicking a call button widget |
SMS Services | $15 | Activate CallHippo SMS services |
CallHippo Call Center has all the capabilities businesses look for in telephony-first contact center systems. However, it lost a few points due to its lack of omnichannel support, meaning team and customer communications are limited to calls and text messaging. Different routing methods are available to ensure calls are distributed evenly within the team and forwarded to the right destination. Here are other essential call center features CallHippo offers:
- Call forwarding
- Voicemail
- Skills-based call routing
- Holiday routing
- Call recording
- IVR
- Call queuing
- Call cascading
- Multiple-level call transfer
- Call tagging
CallHippo Call Center comes fully packed with unique features specifically for businesses with a wide global reach. For example, the multilingual IVR helps overcome language barriers by setting your IVR in multiple languages. Global connect helps identify a phone number’s time zone before placing a call. Smart switch is also a signature CallHippo feature that allows you to switch between multiple telephony providers, ensuring better call quality.
Click on each item below to discover other CallHippo Call Center features:
Power Dialer
Make automatic outgoing calls to a given contact list instead of dialing each number separately. Once a call ends, the system will automatically dial the next phone number on the list. If the receiver doesn’t respond, it will skip the call and dial the following contact. The process continues until all the numbers are dialed. Starting an outbound campaign with CallHippo is easy because all you need to do is to upload an Excel sheet containing your contact list.
The power dialer feature prevents agents from wasting time browsing contact lists and manually dialing the number. (Source: CallHippo)
Gamification
Give your agents much-needed encouragement and recognition by turning work into play. Badges are given every time agents complete a specific number of calls. Use the dashboard to analyze team performance and identify the top performers.
Agents receive badges each time they hit a goal or a target number of calls.
(Source: CallHippo)
Multi-line Phone System
Set up an internal telephone network without paying for additional telephone lines. It involves receiving incoming calls to your business number and directing them to multiple lines, allowing two phones to be connected simultaneously using the same connection. Agents are given their individual extension numbers, which provides the advantage of distributing calls equally among the team.
CallHippo Call Center earned another perfect score due to its 24/7 customer support via phone, live chat, and email help desk. Those who use live chat can continue the conversation on Twitter, Messenger, or phone. Upgrading to the Platinum plan includes an onboarding coach, one-to-one onboarding sessions, and a VIP hotline. When it comes to the quality of customer service, many customers find it responsive, helpful, and easy to reach.
CallHippo Call Center is fairly easy to deploy and configure, thanks to its clean and minimalist user interface. Although it doesn’t look as modern as other leading competitors, its straightforward design makes it easy for new users to utilize the platform fully. Setup only takes less than three minutes, so you can get your call center running in no time.
CallHippo’s main navigation bar is located on the left side of the dashboard, allowing you to access other functionalities easily. (Source: CallHippo)
Although CallHippo indicates that its call center solution is ideal for bulk calling, users must pay additional charges once free minutes run out. Businesses with high call volumes are likely to face higher costs if bulk calling is happening. In this case, the CallHippo contact center only works well for those experiencing lower call volumes but require advanced call management features to deliver smooth customer experiences.
Here are the most recent ratings from other CallHippo reviews on the following sites:
- Trustpilot: 3.8 out of 5 based on 577 reviews
- Software Advice: 4.24 out of 5 based on 416 reviews
- G2: 4.3 out of 5 based on 244 reviews
How We Evaluated CallHippo Call Center
We tested CallHippo Call Center and checked user feedback on popular review websites. As the basis for our evaluation, we compared it with other popular contact center systems in the market. From there, we created a scoring system divided into a set of criteria: pricing, general features, niche features, customer service, ease of use, and expert score.
Learn how we evaluated CallHippo Call Center by clicking on the tabs below:
20%
Pricing
25%
General Features
20%
Niche Features
10%
Customer Service
10%
Ease of Use
15%
Expert Score
20% of Overall Score
We checked for the availability of a free plan, free trial, and discounts for annual billing and volume purchases. We provide additional points if the provider’s base plan costs $70 or less.
25% of Overall Score
We looked at capabilities essential to a contact center system, such as omnichannel support, ACD, call monitoring, and call analytics. We also considered the type of uptime service level agreement (SLA). CallHippo Call Center gets an additional point for the availability of any of these features.
20% of Overall Score
We checked the niche features of CallHippo Call Center to see the additional value users get by subscribing. In evaluating contact center systems, we check if they offer a virtual assistant (chatbot), workforce management features, and outbound dialers. We also give additional points if it has robust integrations.
10% of Overall Score
We assessed the quality of customer service by checking the number of hours and days the support team is reachable. Higher points are given if it operates 24/7. We also looked at the availability of customer support channels, including email, phone, and live chat.
10% of Overall Score
We evaluated CallHippo’s user interface based on its usability and the technical skill required to set up and operate its entire platform. We explored its web portal and mobile app and considered the firsthand experience of its users.
15% of Overall Score
We came up with our expert score by comparing CallHippo Call Center against other contact center systems. We also consulted recent CallHippo Call Center reviews to see what others say about its features, ease of use, cost-effectiveness, and popularity.
*Percentages of overall score
Bottom Line
CallHippo Call Center is a low-cost solution for businesses needing extensive features to manage incoming and outgoing calls. Despite the lack of unlimited calls, its feature-rich plans compensate for the cost. Features like power dialer, campaign management, and global connect help streamline outbound call campaigns, while the multi-level IVR and skills-based routing help deliver personalized caller experiences.
