Dialpad vs Zoom: Which Is Better for Small Business?

Our Dialpad vs Zoom comparison shows that Zoom is superior to Dialpad, as it offers more affordable subscription plans, powerful call management and artificial intelligence (AI) tools, and seamless connectivity with third-party apps. Dialpad, on the other hand, is an excellent choice if you need various business phone numbers. Upon completing our evaluation, we concluded that the best use cases for Dialpad vs Zoom are as follows:

• Zoom: Better for streamlining unified communications
• Dialpad: Better for establishing a strong locational presence

If you want to focus more on handling phone calls, go for a voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) system with extensive call management tools. One with a centralized interface for accepting incoming calls and managing extensions’ presence.

• RingCentral: Best for efficient call management

Dialpad vs Zoom Compared

Monthly Pricing	$23 per user**	$15.99 per user*
Free Trial	14 days	✕
Free Plan	✕	✓
Unlimited Domestic Calling	✓	✓
Multi-levelAuto-attendant	✓	✓
Call Analytics	Powered by AI	Queue analytics requires an extra fee (Zoom Power Pack)
Short Messaging Service (SMS)	Includes international SMS	✓
Uptime Guarantee	100%	99.999%
Security Certifications	HIPAA SOC2 Type II General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)	Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Service Organization Control 2 (SOC2) Type I and II SOC 2 + Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) State Risk and Authorization Management Program (StateRAMP) Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP)
Learn More	Read our Dialpad Review	Read our Zoom Review
For More Information	Visit Dialpad	Visit Zoom
*Save up to 21% with annual billing.**Pay $15 only when you choose annual billing.

Best Alternatives

Dialpad and Zoom are excellent unified communications solutions, but their limitations may be deal breakers for some businesses. If you’re looking for a platform with an extensive set of call management tools, a built-in customer relationship management (CRM) system, or affordable international calling plans, consider these Zoom and Dialpad alternatives:

• RingCentral: This popular business phone system is the best option for those handling large volumes of calls, given its robust call management features. Aside from the essential VoIP capabilities like call forwarding, call screening, and extensions, it features a Heads-up Display (HUD) that allows you to see active calls, take incoming calls on behalf of team members, and check user extensions’ statuses. Subscribe to RingCentral for only $30 per user monthly.
• Nextiva: If you want to streamline CRM activities like lead generation and nurturing, this is the ideal solution, as it has a built-in CRM tool that lets you customize sales pipelines. Sales agents track deals more easily and adjust strategies for pushing leads to the closing stage more effectively. The monthly subscription to Nextiva costs $30.95 per user.
• 8×8: This is the most suitable VoIP platform if you want to maintain communications with a global audience. 8×8 supports unlimited international calling to 48 countries, including Australia, China, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and Russia. Contact the provider to know their exact subscription rates.

Best for Pricing: Zoom

Basic: Free for 40-minute video meetings, 100 attendees per session, whiteboards, team chat, mail, and calendar Pro: $15.99 per user for 30-hour meetings, local and 5GB of cloud recording storage, in-meeting polls and quizzes, and co-host and alternate host Business: $19.99 per user for 300 attendees per meeting session, recording transcripts, branded join meeting pages, and custom mail domain Business Plus: $25 per user for local and 10GB of cloud storage recording, translated captions in meetings, and business phone features, such as metered and unlimited outbound calling, unlimited auto-attendants, and call monitoring Enterprise: Custom pricing for 500 meeting attendees per session, local and unlimited cloud recording storage, executive business reviews, and Webinar 500 Plans are paid monthly; save 21% with annual billing. When you subscribe to Business Plus, you can mix types of plans in an account.

Standard: $23 per user for unlimited domestic calling, one local phone number, multi-level auto-attendant, maximum of three ring groups, and unlimited meetings for up to 10 people and five hours of duration Pro: $35 per user for hold queues, maximum of 25 ring groups, international SMS, and quality-of-service reports Enterprise: Custom pricing for phone extensions, unlimited ring groups, and integrations with single sign-on solutions Free trial: 14 days Plans are paid monthly. Pay $15 and $25 per user for the Standard and Pro plans when you choose annual billing.

In the pricing battle between Zoom vs Dialpad, Zoom wins as it offers more affordable, flexible subscription plans. Its base-level package is $15.99 per user, while Dialpad starts at $23 per user. It can be argued that Zoom’s entry-level subscription doesn’t include business phone features, and companies must upgrade to Business Plus, which costs $25 per user to unlock the call management features.

However, the difference between Zoom’s Business Plus and Dialpad’s Standard plans is minimal: $25 per user vs $23 per user monthly. Moreover, the Business Plus package offers the flexibility of mixing different types of plans in an account. If there are team members who won’t need VoIP features, you have the option to settle with lower-tier packages for specific users and enjoy cheaper rates.

On top of this, when you choose annual billing, you’ll secure $50 savings per user yearly with Business Plus. Similarly, Dialpad offers annual billing discounts. The monthly base-level subscription lowers to $15 per user (from $23) and the second-tier plan drops to $25 per user (from $35).

Best for Virtual Phone Numbers: Dialpad

Local, toll-free, and vanity Phone numbers in 70 countries Extension numbers Free number porting	Local, toll-free, and vanity (toll-free, not local) Phone numbers in 49 countries Extension numbers Number porting

Evaluating the virtual numbers offered by both solutions, we saw that Dialpad has a slightly better advantage than Zoom, given the types of numbers provided and country coverage. Dialpad offers local, toll-free, and vanity numbers, with one local number per user included in all subscription plans. It has local numbers in about 70 countries, including Germany, Mexico, Australia, the United Kingdom, and France.

Dialpad’s extension numbering has a maximum length of five digits. If you plan to keep your existing phone numbers, the provider offers number porting free of charge.

Add phone numbers to your Dialpad account as your operations grow. (Source: Dialpad)

Similarly, Zoom offers local, toll-free, and vanity numbers. However, the vanity numbers are limited to toll-free, not local. Its country coverage for international numbers only includes 49 locations. But the extension numbering features a maximum length of six digits. It’s unclear whether or not Zoom charges for its number porting process.

Secure a local phone number as you use Zoom. (Source: Zoom’s YouTube)

Best for Call Management: Zoom

Metered and unlimited calling Interactive voice response (IVR) Automatic call distribution (ACD) Call queues Three-way conference calls Call recording Shared line appearance Call park Call monitoring Call whisper Call barging Call takeover Elevate a call to a meeting	Unlimited domestic calling Multi-level auto-attendant Custom call routing Hold queues Three-way calling Call recording Exec-assistant pairings Call park Unlimited ring groups Hunt groups

To settle the Zoom vs Dialpad debate on call management, we listed their shared and unique features, favoring the one with valuable capabilities for handling different volumes of inbound calls. We found that Zoom is superior to Dialpad for call management because it offers the options of metered and unlimited outbound calling and the ability to monitor and elevate conversations to a meeting.

Given Zoom’s metered and unlimited calling, businesses effectively manage communication costs depending on the present customer service demand. It features various call monitoring tools, such as whisper, barge, and takeover, enabling managers to evaluate agent performance in real time and provide coaching, if necessary. At the same time, moving a phone call to a meeting is useful for providing detailed, visual assistance for customer support.

Elevate a call to a meeting to offer better customer support. (Source: Zoom’s YouTube)

Dialpad has unique call management features, which are hunt groups and unlimited ring groups. With a ring group, multiple team members’ phone numbers will simultaneously ring when an incoming call comes through, keeping you from missing any important calls. Hunt groups, on the other hand, locate the most equipped agent to handle a specific concern.

While Zoom offers call monitoring tools in its unified communications subscription packages, Dialpad’s call monitoring tools are locked behind its contact center plans, which start at $80 per user monthly.

Configure simultaneous ring on Dialpad to ensure you won’t miss any calls. (Source: Dialpad)

Best for Artificial Intelligence: Zoom

Meeting intent detection AI-generated whiteboard ideas Smart meeting recordings Meeting summary Unread chat summary AI-suggested chat responses AI-generated email messages	Real-time call transcriptions Post-call summary Real-time analytics and reporting

Zoom bested Dialpad in the area of AI as it offers a broader range of tools that are beneficial for making different communications in various channels easier. The AI Companion for video meetings features meeting intent detection. When team members mention specific phrases in chats alluding to a future meeting, Zoom automatically displays a scheduling button. Similarly, it suggests and curates whiteboard ideas to help you kick-start brainstorming sessions.

After the session, Zoom sends a meeting summary, detailing the key points of the discussion. The smart recordings are divided into smart chapters, so referring to certain information and listing action steps becomes faster and easier. On top of the AI tools for meetings, the provider has intelligent features for instant messaging and emails. Essentially, it offers reply recommendations.

Ask Zoom’s AI Companion to summarize what’s been discussed so far in a meeting. (Source: Zoom)

If you plan to use AI for phone calls only, Dialpad is the better option. While Zoom is still working on AI applications for recorded calls, Dialpad already offers real-time call transcriptions and post-call summaries. The call summary includes a searchable transcript and Key Moments, which outline action items, sentiment analysis, and call purpose categories. Use this information to adjust communication strategies and agent training.

Understand quickly what a call is about with Dialpad’s call summary. (Source: Dialpad)

Best for Video Communications: Zoom

Maximum participant capacity is 1,000 Up to 30 hours of meeting duration Collaboration tools: Virtual backgrounds Chat Screen sharing Reactions Spotlight and pin people Co-host and alternate host Meeting scheduler assignment Polls and quizzes Original sound for musicians	Maximum participant capacity is 10 Up to five hours of meeting duration Collaboration tools: Virtual backgrounds Chat Screen sharing Reactions Countdown timer Social profiles

On the aspect of video communications, Zoom had more robust features than Dialpad. For one, Zoom accommodates up to 1,000 attendees (Enterprise Plus plan) and 30 hours of duration in one meeting. Dialpad only allows a maximum of 10 participants and five hours of duration. Additionally, Zoom’s in-meeting collaboration tools are more extensive than Dialpad’s.

While both share virtual backgrounds, chat, screen sharing, and reactions, Zoom takes its offering up a notch with spotlight and pin participants, co-host and alternate host, and meeting scheduler assignments. It allows users to launch polls and quizzes to increase engagement among attendees. Users have the option to enable the “original sound for musicians” feature to activate professional audio settings.

Launch polls in Zoom meetings. (Source: Zoom’s YouTube)

Dialpad’s unique video meeting features include the countdown timer and social profiles. The countdown timer tells participants how much time is left before the supposed end time of the session. Social profiles display an attendee’s company affiliation, email address, and CRM information.

See meeting attendees’ profiles within Dialpad. (Source: Dialpad)

Best for Third-party Integrations: Zoom

Connects with over 2,000 third-party solutions Integrations are available in all plans, including the free version Free premium Zoom apps for a year for the Pro, Business, and Business Plus plans	Works with over 60 third-party apps Google Workspace integrations are available at the base-level plan, while the CRM integrations are offered at the second-tier package Integrations with single sign-on solutions are exclusively featured in the Enterprise plan

Zoom is the clear winner for connectivity with external apps because it works with over 2,000 solutions. Regardless of the subscription package you choose, you have access to these third-party integrations. Some popular apps included in Zoom’s marketplace are Google Workspace, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Asana, and monday.com. Lead management becomes easier as Zoom links to Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho CRM, and other CRM tools.

Connect Zoom to your Slack account. (Source: Slack)

On top of the extensive range of apps, Zoom emerged as the winner in this round because when you choose the paid plans, you get access to premium Zoom apps for an entire year without extra charge. These include the game-based learning platform Kahoot, collaborative solution Coda, and Prezi Video.

In contrast, Dialpad only works with over 60 third-party business tools. You must upgrade to the higher-tier plans to unlock more integrations. The single sign-on solutions, for instance, are locked behind the most expensive plan, which comes with custom pricing.

Sync Dialpad and Azure to improve account security. (Source: Dialpad)

How We Evaluated Dialpad vs Zoom

To objectively compare the software solutions, we listed criteria points representing small business priorities when selecting a unified communications solution. These include affordability, functionality, and user-friendliness. Here’s a complete breakdown of these factors:

• Pricing: To determine how accessible the pricing point is, we evaluated the cost of entry-level plans. We considered if the provider offers discounts for annual billing and volume users. We looked at the availability of a free plan and the free trial duration.
• General Features: The essential VoIP tools we included in our evaluation were unlimited domestic calling, multi-level auto-attendant, call recording, and call analytics. We checked the provider’s uptime guarantee.
• Ease of Use: For this category, we measured ease of use by looking into how intuitive the interface is. We determined how easy it is for users to manage phone calls, message team members, and launch video meetings.
• Expert Score: Our expert score includes an assessment of the provider’s value for money, standout features, and level of popularity. We studied third-party review websites to know how real-world users perceive the software solutions.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Bottom Line

In our assessment of Dialpad vs Zoom, Zoom emerged as the clear winner for being the better solution in five out of six categories: pricing, call management, AI, messaging and video, and third-party integrations. In summary, it’s suitable for budget-conscious companies looking to make customer and team communications more efficient.

On the other hand, Dialpad is an excellent option for establishing a strong local, national, and international presence because of its various virtual phone number offerings and wide country coverage. Sign up for Zoom’s free plan or Dialpad’s 14-day free trial to know which solution fits your business requirements best.