Ooma vs Vonage: Price, Features & What’s Best in 2019

Ooma and Vonage are both internet-based business phone systems that provide unlimited domestic calling, business texting, and voicemail. When considering Ooma vs Vonage, the majority of teams will find Ooma to meet their needs at a more affordable price. With that said, Vonage offers more advanced functionality for more established teams.

When to Use Ooma

Teams looking for a great mix of basic features in their Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone system such as calling, text messaging, and call management, should consider Ooma. While it may lack the more robust features like video calling or integration with customer relationship management (CRM) tools found in other plans, at a starting price of $19.99 per user, per month, Ooma represents a solid value for smaller teams just starting out.

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When to Use Vonage

Larger and more established teams who want to do more with their phone service than place and receive phone calls, should consider Vonage. Pricing ranges from $19.99 to $39.99 per user, per month and gives teams the ability to chat over the web, host video conferences, and the ability to integrate phone call data with other systems like their customer relationship management software (CRM).

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Ooma vs Vonage at a Glance

How We Evaluated Ooma & Vonage

Small business VoIP services differ from landline systems in the sense that they transmit calls as data over the internet rather than over a copper wire network. This allows a phone system to do more than simply receive calls, however, more advanced functionality can impact overall system costs. When choosing between Ooma or Vonage, you should consider whether your organization needs advanced features like video chat, team messaging, and CRM integration.

We evaluated Ooma and Vonage based on the following:

• Price: Services should be affordable enough for small businesses.
• Ease of Use: We looked at how easy each system is to set up and use.
• Call Quality & Reliability: Audio quality should be clear and consistent during phone calls.
• Call Management: We looked at call management functions, including call forwarding, screening, call block, and voicemail modules.
• International Calling: The ability to call international numbers is useful to teams with an overseas business presence.
• Virtual Receptionist: A virtual receptionist can automatically greet and route callers without human intervention.
• Software Integrations: We looked at the software integration capabilities offered by each solution.
• Device Support: VoIP services should support mobile phones, desk phones, and desktop applications.
• Customer Service: Vendors should offer a customer support channel to help users in the event of a problem.

Based on the above criteria, we find that Ooma’s affordability and strong telephony features make it the best fit for most small business users. With that in mind, Vonage offers several advanced features like team messaging that make it a good choice for more established organizations that can afford a more expensive service package.

Ooma vs Vonage: Pricing & Features

Ooma and Vonage are both small business VoIP services, and as such, they offer standard features like unlimited domestic calling, texting, conferencing, and voicemail. Vonage’s premium packages offer more features than Ooma, but they come at a higher price. On the other hand, Ooma has a lower starting price but charges extra for things like phone numbers. Check out our guide to Ooma alternatives for more information.

Ooma Pricing

Ooma costs $19.95 per user, per month. Every new account comes with one local number, with additional local numbers costing $9.95 per month. Each new account also comes with a free toll-free number and 500 monthly toll-free minutes. Ooma is one of the more affordable options on the market.

Ooma Features

When comparing Ooma vs Vonage, Ooma is extraordinarily easy to use and comes bundled with unlimited calling and texting throughout North America. The service comes with a free mobile app, a virtual receptionist, and other standard features that most small business users will want. It’s about even with Vonage’s Mobile plan in terms of functionality.

Ooma’s features include:

Call Management

Ooma offers call management functionality, including the ability to accept, route, and block calls. You can also initiate audio conferences with the service. One feature that helps Ooma stand out is its “ring group” function, which can ring multiple phones simultaneously when one number or extension is dialed. Ooma’s call management features are mostly matched with Vonage Mobile.

Virtual Receptionist

Ooma offers a virtual receptionist module that can automatically greet callers and route them to their desired extension without any human staff having to intervene. Additionally, the service comes with the ability to set business hours for your phone service so that callers will be automatically sent to voicemail after your office closes. Setting up the virtual receptionist is just as easy as it is with Vonage.

Phone Numbers

Ooma offers a free local telephone number with each new account. Additional local numbers cost $9.95 per month. You also get a free toll-free number with each new account, along with 500 minutes of incoming toll-free minutes. On the other hand, Vonage charges $39.99 per month for a toll-free number.

Software Integrations

Ooma’s small business plans do not offer any ability to connect data with outside business software. Integrations are only available with the company’s Enterprise package for larger organizations. Vonage, on the other hand, offers the ability to connect the services with Salesforce, Slack, and other systems. Ooma is only recommended for organizations that have no use for such connectivity.

Vonage Pricing

Vonage offers three pricing packages for small businesses. They range from $19.99 to $39.99 per user, per month and offer features like unlimited domestic calling, voicemail, and more. Volume discounts are also available as you bring on more users.

Vonage Tiered Features

Mobile

Vonage’s Mobile package is $19.99 per user, per month. Like other business phone systems, it comes with features like unlimited domestic calling, texting, and voicemail. It also comes with a free local phone number. Unfortunately, you will not be able to adopt a toll-free number unless you pay an additional $39.99 per month.

Unlike Vonage’s more expensive packages, Vonage mobile does not come with video conferencing functionality. It also lacks a multi-level virtual receptionist, so you will not be able to provide callers with a list of extensions or departments to be forwarded to. This plan is recommended for smaller teams that only require a simple calling system.

Premium

Vonage Premium costs $29.99 per user, per month. For the extra money, you get features like a virtual receptionist to greet and route callers, and the ability to hold video conferencing for up to 100 people. Furthermore, the Premium edition can also connect data with Zoho, Salesforce, and other CRM systems. This means that, among other things, your call log can be synced with your sales software for automatic prospect tracking.

The Premium package is missing the on-demand call recording functionality of the top-tier package. It also lacks the visual voicemail functionality, so you will not be able to see all of your voicemail messages automatically transcribed into text. With that in mind, the virtual receptionist makes this a good fit for companies that want a more established business presence on the phone.

Advanced

The Advanced plan, which costs $39.99 per user, per month, offers what the company calls its “Orange Glove Setup.” This essentially means that when you first sign up with the service a representative from Vonage will personally guide you through the onboarding process. The package also includes 15 hours per month of on-demand call recording, so that you can save and playback important calls for later reference.

At this price, Vonage Advanced is twice as expensive as Ooma. While it offers more features, it will likely be too expensive for most smaller teams that are looking for a basic internet phone system. Vonage Advanced is ideal for organizations that want a no-compromise feature set.

Ooma vs Vonage: Ease of Use

When looking at Ooma vs Vonage, both are designed to make business telephony an easy task. Therefore, setup and everyday use should be simple enough for even non-technical users. Both solutions are evenly matched in this regard.

Users of either service should expect the following:

Ooma Ease of Use

Ooma has a simple feature set, and the average worker shouldn’t expect any problems when making calls or navigating through the system’s interface. The fact that Ooma no longer requires any specialized hardware makes it even more user-friendly. It is one of the easiest VoIP phone services to use in 2019.

Vonage Ease of Use

When you first install Vonage, an automated wizard guides you through the initial setup process. The platform’s dashboard is exceptionally clean and modern-looking. The interface lists users, extensions, private branch exchange (PBX) settings, and billing. Workers should be able to use Vonage without issue.

Ooma vs Vonage: Customer Service

The best phone services offer useful support channels to assist customers when they need help. Both Ooma and Vonage provide live phone support 24 hours a day. They also offer helpful knowledge bases that can walk you through using system features and troubleshooting assistance. Both solutions are matched evenly when it comes to customer service.

Ooma Customer Service

Ooma provides an online knowledge base with user manuals and video tutorials that provide visualized help. It also includes live chat and 24/7 phone support. Additionally, it has a community forum where customers can share ideas and help each other. All told, Ooma customers have access to a lot of help from the company should they need it.

Vonage Customer Service

Vonage’s customer service channels are very helpful. The company offers support by email, phone, or help desk ticket system. Its phone support is also available 24/7. Like Ooma, the service has a community forum where Vonage customers can help each other solve problems.

Vonage vs Ooma: Customer Reviews

When researching Ooma vs Vonage, it can be helpful to learn what customers think of each telephony system. We examined our user review pages for both providers to see what our readers think. In general, users are satisfied with both systems.

Ooma Customer Reviews

Our readers are pleased with Ooma and its features. They find that the solution’s features are easy to use. They also find that its customer service team is extraordinarily helpful. With that in mind, there are a number of complaints that porting phone extensions is an extraordinarily difficult process. For more reviews, visit our Ooma User Reviews page.

Vonage Customer Reviews

Overall, customers are satisfied with the quality of service offered by Vonage. However, there are several complaints about the high overall cost of the service. Additionally, there is a reader who claims that at one point, calls intended for their business were being forwarded to another company. For further insights, check out our Vonage User Reviews page.

Bottom Line: Vonage vs Ooma

When comparing Ooma vs Vonage, both offer VoIP services with features like local phone numbers, voicemail, domestic calling, text messaging, and voicemail. Those features, along with call management and virtual receptionist modules, can help make your telephony workflow run smoothly for an affordable price.

Businesses that are looking for a cost-effective VoIP system with a solid core feature set should consider Ooma. The service comes with everything you need to make calls. It also offers a free local business number and 24/7 customer support to help you with whatever you need. Click the button below to get started today.

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