6 Best Ooma Alternatives 2019

Ooma is one of the leading VoIP phone systems with a wealth of features. However, the service requires upfront investment in hardware and lacks customization. Therefore, we looked at the 20 best Ooma competitors on the market and compared them based on price, features, and other factors to determine the best alternatives for small business.

Top 6 Ooma Competitors & Alternatives 2019

How We Evaluated Ooma Alternatives

Ooma has many strengths, including its E911 features and virtual receptionist. However, it requires the purchase of hardware and has an unintuitive mobile app, making Ooma competitors a better option in some instances. To determine the best alternatives, we looked for products that were more affordable or offered a wide range of service plans to accommodate different budgets. We also looked for reliable customer support ease of use and similar features.

The criteria we used to evaluate systems include:

• Price: We examined each solution’s pricing tiers and packages.
• Ease of use: Business phone services should be easy to set up and use.
• Additional hardware required: We examined the type of equipment that customers have to buy with each service, if any.
• Call management: We assessed the types of call management tools each provider offered, such as call transfer, hold, screening, and park.
• Auto-attendant: Ooma and other business phone systems offer an automated attendant to greet and route callers.
• CRM integration: Many providers offer the ability to connect data with customer relationship management solutions.
• Call quality: We looked at online customer reviews of each virtual number provider’s call sound and quality.
• Customer support: We assessed the types of customer service support each provider offers.

Based on the above criteria, we find Nextiva to be the best Ooma alternative on the market. It requires no additional hardware yet it comes with most of the features small businesses need to run an effective phone network. Read on to see how Ooma’s competitors stacked up.

Best Overall Ooma Alternative for Small Businesses: Nextiva

Nextiva is a moderately priced Ooma alternative that starts at $19.99 and comes with features like an auto-attendant, voicemail-to-email transcription, and conference calling without the need to buy any hardware. The balance of price and feature set make Nextiva the best all-around phone service for small businesses that are looking for a complete voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) phone system.

Nextiva Pricing

Nextiva offers three different pricing plans. The Pro version starts at $34.95 per month, Pro Plus starts at $37.95 per month, and Enterprise starts at $44.99 per month. Nextiva is priced per user and volume discounts are available. Unlike Ooma, Nextiva does not require you to buy any hardware.

Nextiva Tiered Features

Office Pro

Nextiva’s Office Pro plan starts at $19.95 per user, per month and provides you with the choice of either a local or toll-free phone number. Features include unlimited domestic calling, voicemail-to-email transcription, and SMS functionality. Office Pro costs the same as Ooma Office, but Ooma is more expensive in the long term once you account for the extra cost of adding extensions and numbers. Nextiva is also our pick for best small business phone system.

This tier of the service is missing features like access to a mobile app and conference calling, so you won’t be able to hold virtual meetings or accommodate workers who travel frequently. Still, the Office Pro plan is good for companies that want to leverage unlimited calling and a virtual number.

Office Pro Plus

For $20.95, the Office Pro Plus version gives you a professionally recorded voicemail greeting, use the company’s mobile app, and conference calling features. This is slightly more expensive than the $19.95 starting price of Ooma, but does not require you to buy hardware or additional minutes. Ooma also lacks a professionally recorded greeting.

Unfortunately, Nextiva Office Pro Plus lacks call recording, which is something that even free services like Google Voice provide. It also lacks CRM integrations and reporting features. As a result, this version is best for those who want to hold phone meetings and also want to take their work phone everywhere they go with the Nextiva mobile app.

Office Enterprise

The Office Enterprise version of the system starts at $27.95 per user, per month, and comes with all the features of the other versions along with analytics features and call recording. This is one of the less expensive top-tier services available today.

This plan comes also comes Nextiva’s CRM features. These modules track customer journeys and have advanced call routing capabilities that you can configure around your sales pipelines. Ooma lacks this functionality at any price. Sales teams and consultants will especially appreciate what Nextiva Office Enterprise has to offer.

What Nextiva Is Missing

Nextiva is a useful VoIP service for most small businesses. However, it lacks unlimited international calling, so it’s not great for companies with overseas associates. Businesses that want to make calls internationally should check out 8×8, which offers unlimited calling for up to 47 countries, depending on the plan.

What Users Think About Nextiva

Our readers give Nextiva a 4 out of 5-star rating. They are particularly happy with the company’s customer service, saying that representatives are helpful and quick to respond. However, many find the system to be difficult to use and that there are frequent downtimes. For more reviews, visit our Nextiva user reviews page.

Where to Find Nextiva

If you want an affordable business phone system with the best possible combination of feature set and affordability, then Nextiva is the platform for you. The company offers a free demo of the service as well. Click here to get started with Nextiva today.

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Best Virtual Phone Alternative to Ooma: Grasshopper

Grasshopper, which starts at $26 per month, is a virtual business phone number provider that can be used with mobile devices or landlines you already own rather than requiring new hardware. It also it includes call forwarding, texting, and voicemail-to-email transcription. Grasshopper is the best Ooma competitor for solopreneurs wanting robust business phone features on the device of their choice, but don’t need a full-fledged phone system.

Grasshopper Pricing

Grasshopper has three different tiers of service. The Solo version costs $26 per month and offers one number and three extensions. The Partner plan is $44 per month and provides three numbers and six extensions, and the Small Business plan costs $80 per month and gives you five numbers and unlimited extensions.

Grasshopper Features

As a virtual phone number service, Grasshopper forwards calls to your personal phone number instead of acting as its own complete service. Grasshopper boasts features like call forwarding, voicemail-to-email, unlimited domestic calling, and Wi-Fi calling. It lacks the full-blown communications functionality of systems like Ooma and Nextiva, but it still has plenty to offer small organizations looking for a professional phone presence.

Grasshopper business phone features include:

Auto-attendant

Grasshopper’s automated attendant answers inbound calls, then forwards them to the employee or department that the caller is trying to reach. You can record personalized greetings via the solution’s desktop app the same way you would with Ooma. The feature is great for businesses that want a professional phone presence.

Phone Number & Extensions

Grasshopper gives you the choice between a local and a toll-free number, like what is offered by Ooma. Having a toll-free number can be helpful if you have customers throughout the entire United States. This makes Grasshopper a good fit for businesses that want to look professional to customers outside of their local region.

Call Management

Like Ooma, Grasshopper’s call management tools include call forwarding, call transfer, call block, and call screening. This feature allows you to hear the caller’s name or number before deciding on whether to take the call. We recommend Grasshopper as a great Ooma alternative if you just want a virtual phone service but still want all of the necessary features for managing calls.

Integrations

Grasshopper has a connector on Zapier, which is a service that lets you build connections to more than 1,000 different apps. This means that you can connect Grasshopper to a wide range of major business applications. Ooma does not offer any such integrations unless you subscribe to the company’s expensive Enterprise plan. Grasshopper is a good fit for any team that uses outside business software and wants to connect data to their phone service.

What Grasshopper Is Missing

Grasshopper is not a full-featured VoIP service, and as such, it lacks features like conferencing and call recording that you can find on more complete systems like Nextiva and 8×8. Therefore, if this is important to your workflow, you may want to look elsewhere or consider using a recording service in addition to Grasshopper.

What Users Think About Grasshopper

Users generally like the features offered by Grasshopper. They say that the software is easy to use. They also say that the pricing is affordable and that the service is reliable. With that said, a number of users are also dissatisfied with the company’s customer support. For more reviews, check out our Grasshopper user reviews page.

Where to Find Grasshopper

Grasshopper is an effective Ooma alternative that provides a professional phone number at an affordable price. It offers the ability to switch between a personal and business phone without the need for a second device while also helping to promote a more professional image for your company thanks to features like voice menus. Click the button below to start your free trial.

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Best Free Ooma Alternative: Google Voice

Google Voice is a free, no-frills virtual phone service that can be used on mobile devices, desktops, and landlines for business calls and voicemail. It offers features like call forwarding, call block, text messaging, and call recording. This is an ideal Ooma alternative for consultants, freelancers, and small teams seeking a free virtual number with a core set of basic features.

Google Voice Pricing

Google Voice provides a local business number without requiring an initial setup fee or monthly payments. Calls to most locations to the U.S. and Canada are also free. However, calls that aren’t, such as those made to some U.S. locations and international numbers, start at low 1 cent per minute.

Google Voice Features

Google Voice provides a small set of features that allow you to make calls, send text messages, and receive voicemail. It has basic call management functionality, but doesn’t have more advanced features like extension support, auto-attendant, or toll-free phone numbers like Ooma. Still, the fact that the system is free makes it easy to recommend.

Google Voice features include:

Auto-attendant

Unlike Ooma and other leading services, Google Voice does not have an automated attendant to greet and route callers to different extensions. However, it does offer a screening feature that welcomes callers and asks them to say their name before the call is forwarded to your phone. Google Voice is good for solopreneurs and smaller teams that are fine with such a basic call screening module.

Phone Number & Extensions

Google Voice only provides you with a local phone number. This differs it from Ooma, which offers the choice of either a toll-free or a local number. It also lacks the ability to adopt an international number, unlike 8×8. Google Voice is best suited for users that only have a business presence in their region and are fine with a domestic phone number.

Call Management

Google Voice connects data with your address book or contact list to let you know who is calling. You can choose to hear the person’s name and either answer the call, send it to voicemail, or send it to voicemail and listen in live. It also offers call blocking and forwarding, like paid phone systems. Google Voice is good for general business users who want to effectively handle their call volume.

Integrations

Outside of the Google Voice app, the service only allows you to send and receive calls and SMS in Google Hangouts. This is better than Ooma, which offers no integrations in its Office version, but it lags behind systems like Nextiva or 8×8 that can connect data with Salesforce and other popular CRMs. Google Voice is best for companies that do not need to integrate their phone service with a wide range of outside business software.

What Google Voice Is Missing

Google Voice works great as a free virtual phone service, but it lacks standard business phone features, such as an automated attendant and extensions for multiple users. Businesses seeking a more robust system may want to consider Nextiva instead.

What Users Think About Google Voice

Google Voice customers are mostly satisfied with the service. They appreciate its routing, voicemail, and SMS features. Those disappointed with Google Voice say that porting phone numbers is difficult, and the lack of individual customer support is frustrating. For more reviews, visit our Google Voice user reviews page.

Where to Find Google Voice

As a free solution, Google Voice is a great option for very small teams, solo entrepreneurs, and freelancers who want a separate business phone number. If you have a Google account, you can start using Google Voice immediately. Get started today.

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Best Ooma Alternative for International Calling: 8×8

8×8 is an Ooma competitor that offers features like text messaging, conferencing, and call recording starting at $25 per user, per month. However, what sets the service apart from other alternatives is that it offers unlimited international calling plans for up to 47 countries. Ooma, on the other hand, only offers international calls in separate packages. 8×8 is good for multinational businesses that want a professional phone presence in other countries.

8×8 Pricing

8×8 offers three packages that include international calling. The X2 plan is $25 per user, per month, with calling to 14 countries. The X5 tier is $35 per user, per month and supports calling to 32 countries. The X8 plan is $55 per user, per month with a calling zone of 47 countries.

8×8 Tiered Features

X2

The X2 package is the company’s most affordable at $25 per user, per month. Features include unlimited calling to 14 countries, audio and video conferencing for up to five people, and 1GB of media storage. You also get CRM integration, which Ooma Office does not offer.

This plan is missing call recording, the option of adopting a toll-free number, and voicemail-to-email transcription like Nextiva’s basic plan. Still, this is the only VoIP provider that offers unlimited international calling in its entry-level plan, so it’s a good fit for multinational organizations.

X5

The X5 package costs $35 per user, per month and comes with call recording and conferencing for up to 25 people. This far exceeds the functionality of Ooma, which only supports conferences of up to ten people at a time. This tier of service also comes with unlimited calling to 32 countries.

However, this tier lacks reporting tools and contact center functionality offered at the highest tier of service. It’s also missing use of a mobile app, unlike Nextiva’s mid-tier plan. It doesn’t offer hold music for callers, either. Still, its wider scope of international calling makes it a good fit for organizations with overseas operations.

X8

8×8’s X8 package comes with reporting tools as well as a contact center package that offers features such as auto-dialers and interactive voice response (IVR) technology. Ooma and other systems on the market come with no such functionality. This top tier plan, which costs $55 per user, per month, also supports unlimited calling to 47 countries.

The X8 version is one of the more expensive VoIP packages on the market today. Still, the service could be a large saving for companies that need to make calls to a wide range of countries. It is also a good fit for teams that want to monitor their staff’s call activity and view reports on that data.

What 8×8 Is Missing

8×8 lacks voicemail-to-email transcription, so you won’t be able to view your voice messages as text within your inbox. If you want message content to be sent directly to email, you might want to consider services like Nextiva, which offers it even in its entry-level package.

What Users Think About 8×8

Customers say that 8×8 is priced well for the features it offers. However, there are several complaints about regular system disruptions and unreliable customer service. For more impressions, check out our 8×8 user review page.

Where to Find 8×8

Business seeking an affordable, feature-rich alternative to Ooma with unlimited global calling plans should consider 8×8. Get in touch with one of the company’s specialist today to sign up for an account. Get started today.

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Best Ooma Alternative for Online Collaboration: Vonage

Vonage is a VoIP system and Ooma alternative that starts at $19.99 per month with features like call recording, video conferencing, and CRM integration. Unlike Ooma, the system requires no hardware to use and comes with a handful of online collaboration tools and a la carte pricing. This makes it a great option for sales teams and consultants that want to work together remotely and for those who only want to pay for the features they need.

Vonage Pricing

Vonage has three different package choices: Mobile starts at $19.99 per month, Premium starts at $29.99 per month, and Advanced starts at $39.99 per month. There are volume discounts available as well. A la carte options are also available.

• Local phone number: $9.99 per month
• Toll-free phone number: $39.99 per month
• Toll-free paperless fax number: $14.99 per month
• Automatic call recording: $49.99 per month
• Conference bridge: $14.99 per month, plus 3 cents per minute

Vonage Tiered Features

Mobile

Vonage Mobile tier costs $19.99 per user, per month, which is equal to Ooma Office’s starting price. It includes basic call management options such as call forwarding, call waiting, and hold music as well as unlimited domestic calls and SMS messages. However, this plan does not offer CRM integration or an auto-attendant like Nextiva does. Also, unlike Ooma, no additional hardware is required.

This plan does not offer unlimited faxing, which you can find in Nextiva’s least expensive version. This plan also lacks the option of adopting a toll-free number, like with Nextiva. Still, it’s a good entry-level package for small teams that just want basic calling functionality.

Premium

Vonage Premium includes all of the features of the mobile plan, along with a multi-level auto-attendant feature to greet and route callers for $29.99 per month. You also get video conferencing and integration with popular CRM systems like Salesforce and Zoho, which exceeds the capabilities of Ooma office. This puts it in line with intermediate packages from 8×8 and Nextiva, but it costs more than Nextiva’s top-tier version.

Unfortunately, this version lacks call recording and visual voicemail modules available at the Advanced level. It’s also missing the online fax functionality that comes standard with Nextiva. Vonage Premium is good for businesses that need to connect data with CRM systems and greet users with an auto-attendant.

Advanced

For $39.99, the Advanced plan adds call recording and visual voicemail. You also get what Vonage refers to as the “Orange Glove Setup,” where a dedicated team of trained professionals help you with setup and onboarding. Such guided help is not offered by Ooma.

Unfortunately, conferencing is limited to just 100 attendees at once. And for $9 less per month, Nextiva offers unlimited conference calling. Vonage is a better solution for companies that don’t need to hold large phone meetings regularly.

What Vonage Is Missing

Vonage is missing app integrations that systems like Nextiva offer. It also lacks unlimited international calling, which is available in 8×8. Additionally, Vonage is one of the more expensive Ooma competitors on the market today, unless you can get by with on the mobile plan alone.

What Users Think About Vonage

Some users report that Vonage has better call quality than other VoIP systems. However, others say that customer support can be very slow to respond to customers who do experience call quality issues. For more reviews, visit our Vonage user reviews page.

Where to Find Vonage

Teams that want to collaborate via video meetings, file sharing, and chat will likely find Vonage a useful platform. The company offers a 14-day free trial so that you can try the system’s features out for yourself. Visit the company’s website for more details.

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Best Full-featured Ooma Alternative for Low Call Volumes: Phone.com

Phone.com is a low-cost business phone service that offers phone numbers and bundles of minutes at a starting price of $12.99 per month. It also provides SMS messaging, call conferencing, voicemail, and an automated attendant. The service is a good Ooma alternative for small organizations that need a complete phone system but don’t make a lot of calls or need unlimited minutes.

Phone.com Pricing

Phone.com offers three different price plans that include a bundle of calling minutes and text messages. Prices range from $12.99 for 300 monthly minutes and 5,000 text messages to $39.99 for 1,000 monthly minutes and 20,000 texts. Unlimited calling is also available for each plan for an additional fee.

Phone.com Tiered Features

Base

Phone.com’s Base plan costs just $12.99 per month and includes a mobile app as well as features like 5,000 text messages, Wi-Fi calling, conference calling, voicemail-to-email, and call block. This is one of the more affordable packages available on the market.

The Base plan doesn’t include premium hold music or the call recording functionality found in Phone.com’s more expensive tiers. It’s also missing the team messaging module and media storage capabilities offered with 8×8’s basic plan. Still, the Base plan is a good choice for small teams that don’t require a lot of calling minutes.

Plus

Phone.com’s Plus plan includes two local or toll-free phone numbers with 500 minutes of calling time, starting from $19.99 per month. This package also includes 10,000 SMS messages, voicemail-to-text, and premium hold music, which is not offered by Ooma. This package costs about the same as other mid-level business phone systems on the market, but offers more phone numbers.

The Plus level is missing video conferencing, call recording, and analytics offered with Phone.com’s premium plan. It also lacks CRM integration, unlike other solutions we looked at. However, this feature is available as an add-on by calling Phone.com’s sales team for a quote. The Plus tier is good for teams that prefer SMS messaging over audio calling.

Pro

Phone.com’s Pro plan comes with three local or toll-free phone number with 1,000 minutes of calling time, starting from $39.99 per month. Pricing is lower than other upper-level business phone plans on the market. Features include 20,000 SMS messages, call analytics, call record and save, and video conferencing for up to 25 participants. This far exceeds Ooma, which can only support conferences of up to 10 people at once.

Phone.com Pro package doesn’t offer online storage options like 8×8 or professionally recorded greetings like Nextiva. However, professional recordings are available as an add-on option starting at $79. The Pro plan is ideal for businesses wanting tools to analyze and save call data but also have a low call volume.

What Phone.com Is Missing

While it is available for an additional fee, Phone.com doesn’t bundle unlimited calling with any of its plans. If you want a cell phone plan that includes unlimited calls, then Nextiva or 8×8 would be a better fit.

What Users Think About Phone.com

Our readers give Phone.com mixed reviews, giving it a 3 out of a possible 5-star rating. Users like that the service is affordable and accommodates teams with low call volumes. However, many customers find that customer service is slow and that the staff is unhelpful. For more user reviews, visit out Phone.com user review page.

Where to Find Phone.com

Companies that don’t make a high volume of calls and don’t need unlimited minutes should consider Phone.com. Plans include a 30-day money back guarantee. Visit Phone.com’s website for details.

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Bottom Line

Ooma is a powerful internet phone service used by businesses all over the United States. However, Ooma’s competitors offer more advanced features like call recording, international calling, and video conferencing. They also save businesses the cost of having to buy hardware alongside service.

Businesses that want a powerful Ooma alternatives should check out Nextiva. It features unlimited calling, a free local phone number, voicemail, and unlimited fax. The service even offers a free demo so you can try it out before committing. Get started with Nextiva today.

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