The 6 Best Talkroute Alternatives in 2022

Although Talkroute is an affordable virtual phone system, it lacks integrations, 24/7 phone support, and metered subscriptions, which might make going with a competitor the better option. We identified the top Talkroute alternatives and explored the similarities and differences between each provider’s voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) features, functionality, and subscription pricing.

Based on our criteria, here are the best options:

• Grasshopper: Best overall Talkroute alternative and best system for small teams
• Aircall: Best Talkroute alternative for organizations looking for one-click integrations
• Phone.com: Most affordable Talkroute competitor for teams needing flexible mix-and-match plan options
• Nextiva: Top alternative to Talkroute for toll-free minutes and large video meetings
• eVoice: Best low-cost Talkroute alternative for small teams wanting multi-level automated attendants
• Google Voice: Free Talkroute alternative for solopreneurs wanting a second phone number for business with call recording

Talkroute Alternatives Compared at a Glance

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Grasshopper: Best Overall Talkroute Alternative for Small Teams

Grasshopper is one of the best business phone systems for entrepreneurs and small businesses wanting to pay one flat fee instead of per-user pricing. It works well for small teams who are able to share five business phone numbers and have the option to add extensions for different departments or users. All Grasshopper packages have the same features, such as auto-attendant menus, voicemail transcriptions, call reports, and automated text replies.

Grasshopper and Phone.com services include your choice of a local, toll-free, or vanity number. In contrast, Google Voice and Nextiva don’t support custom numbers, and eVoice and Aircall charge an additional one-time fee. However, you’ll pay per-minute rates to call customers in Alaska and Hawaii and need to put down a $500 deposit that goes toward your metered international minutes.

Grasshopper also stands out for its multi-channel customer support options. You can reach customer service 24/7 using your preferred channel, from social media to live chat. Other Talkroute competitors don’t provide phone support on the base plan or encourage users to reach out through Facebook or Twitter.

Grasshopper Pricing at a Glance*

• Solo: $29 per month for one phone number and three extensions
• Partner: $49 per month for three phone numbers and six extensions
• Small Business: $89 per month for five phone numbers and unlimited extensions

*Pricing is based on monthly payments. Choose annual billing to save over 10%.

Grasshopper Features

• Rotational Extensions: Contact Grasshopper to enable Rotational Extensions to distribute calls equally to your employees and departments. For instance, if your sales department has five employees, it will send each incoming call to a different employee extension.
• Instant response: Use the instant reply feature to text when you miss a customer’s call. Your text can include an image or hyperlink. Recipients can respond to your message with additional details.
• Customer service: Grasshopper offers more customer service channels than other Talkroute alternatives. The U.S.-based call center is available 24/7, and you can connect via live chat, phone, Twitter, email, and Facebook.

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Aircall: Best Talkroute Alternative for Integrations

Aircall is an excellent choice for companies that want to incorporate voice conversations and data into their existing workflows. It integrates with the most third-party apps out of all Talkroute alternatives. In comparison, Nextiva connects to 19 apps, and Phone.com only supports customer relationship management (CRM) software integrations on the Pro version. Plus, you can create custom solutions with API access with all Aircall packages.

While Aircall’s base plan costs more than other Talkroute competitors, it’s also packed with features like call recording, an IVR system, and data recording storage. The Professional package adds call monitoring, a power dialer, and call whisper.

Aircall also provides international phone numbers that you can add during or after signing up. However, Aircall requires that you have a minimum of three users, so solopreneurs or small firms may prefer the more affordable eVoice system.

Aircall Pricing at a Glance*

• Essentials: $40 per user, per month with a minimum of three users for unlimited calling, call recording, unlimited incoming texts, 4,000 outbound texts, voicemail, and more than 95 integrations
• Professional: $70 per user, per month for call monitoring, call whisper, unlimited data recording storage, advanced analytics, Salesforce integration, and a power dialer
• Custom: Request a custom quote for unlimited calls worldwide, a service level agreement (SLA), and API developer support

*Pricing is based on monthly billing. Prepay annually and save up to 29%

Aircall Features

• Call routing: Configure your IVR system’s call routing to send calls to specific extensions based on a preset order or custom rules for individuals or lines. Select the Professional plan to access advanced routing tools, including time-based routing. Plus, your employees can toggle their user presence on or off to manually manage their availability.
• Integrations: Aircall integrates with help desk solutions, CRMs, recruiting tools, and ecommerce platforms. Integrations let your team make calls within their favorite tools, such as Microsoft Teams or Happy Fox. Likewise, you can use help desk, recruiting, and ecommerce integrations to view detailed contact records while on a call.
• Conferencing: Connect with five people during an audio call or application-sharing session. Aircall syncs data to your CRM and logs participant lists, call recordings, call comments, and conference tags.

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Phone.com: Best Talkroute Alternative for Flexible Plan Options

Phone.com is the only Talkroute alternative that lets you mix and match plans with video conferencing capabilities. It works great for teams with full- and part-time employees. You also have the option to add a shared phone line for a receptionist’s desk or a meeting room for only $5 per month.

Phone.com offers the lowest rates for companies with 25 or more users yet doesn’t skimp on features. All plans include video and audio conferencing, an auto-attendant, and in-meeting chat.

You’ll pay $299.75 per month (total) for 25 users on Phone.com’s unlimited Plus plan with annual billing. In comparison, Nextiva’s unlimited Essential package costs $473.75, and Google Voice is $500. Only eVoice comes close, as it offers sales promotions on bundles with multiple users and numbers that share 30,000 minutes.

In addition, Phone.com is the only Talkroute competitor offering free calls to landline numbers in Germany, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel, France, and Italy. Explore other affordable options in our guide to the best cheap VoIP services.

Phone.com Pricing at a Glance*

• Basic: $12.99 per user, per month for one phone number per account, 300 minutes, 1,000 text segments, and video conferencing with 10 participants
• Plus: $19.99 per user, per month for one phone number per user, unlimited minutes and texting, video recording, video meetings with 25 participants, and VoIP desk phone compatibility
• Pro: $29.99 per user, per month for call recording, call analytics, CRM integrations, video conferencing with 100 participants, and voicemail transcription

*Pricing is based on monthly billing for one to four employees. Save 20% with annual prepayment and by adding more users.

Phone.com Features

• Video conferencing: Meet without time limits on all Phone.com plans and share screens or documents and instant messages during meetings. Upgrade to the Plus or Pro versions for video recording and whiteboarding features. Similarly priced Talkroute alternatives like eVoice and Google Voice don’t include video meetings.
• Follow me: If you or your employees are constantly on the go and switching between devices, Phone.com’s follow me feature can help. It rings your devices in a preset order so you never have to miss a call.
• VoIP phones: Talkroute doesn’t sell or rent VoIP desk phones, so Phone.com is a better alternative if you want to equip your office with new hardware. It offers a nice selection of conference, cordless, and desk phones.

Visit Phone.com

Nextiva: Best Talkroute Alternative for Toll-free Minutes & Large Video Meetings

Nextiva is the only provider among the best Talkroute alternatives to include toll-free minutes with subscriptions, and it offers the highest video conferencing capacity. You can connect with up to 250 people via video compared to 100 on Phone.com. Other Talkroute competitors don’t include video conferencing with any plans. Nextiva also earns a spot on our best small business VoIP services list.

It’s a feature-rich unified communications (UC) platform with integrated group and team messaging, unlimited faxing, and file sharing. Nextiva does cost more than other Talkroute alternatives, but the built-in conferencing and collaboration tools can improve efficiency and productivity, lowering your labor costs. Phone.com is a less expensive option but limits video participants to 100.

Nextiva Pricing at a Glance*

• Essential: $30.95 per user, per month for unlimited calling within the U.S. and one-to-one video calls, 1,500 toll-free minutes, auto-attendant, team messaging, and unlimited internet fax
• Professional: $35.95 per user, per month for unlimited texting and 250-participant video meetings, audio conferences with 40 attendees, 3,000 toll-free minutes, and one professionally recorded greeting
• Enterprise: $45.95 per user, per month for call and video recording, audio calls with unlimited attendees, 12,500 toll-free minutes, voice analytics, and three professional greetings
• Ultimate: $75.95 per user, per month for NextOS surveys, including templates, analytics, personalized landing pages, and survey scheduling

*Prices are based on one to four users with monthly billing. Discounts are available for additional users and annual prepayment.

Nextiva Features

• Integrations: Although Nextiva offers fewer integrations than Aircall, you can still connect with several help desk and CRM tools. You can pull up caller data from Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zendesk or start calls right from Microsoft Teams.
• Team collaboration: The Nextiva Cospace app is a virtual workspace for your team. Users can create to-do lists, assign tasks to others, and sync all meetings to your Google calendar. In addition, you’ll never miss a conversation as all files, discussions, and links are saved to the app.
• Desk phones: Like Phone.com, you can purchase VoIP equipment from Nextiva. However, Nextiva also offers equipment with a monthly payment plan and can convert your traditional desk phones for VoIP use.

Visit Nextiva

eVoice: Best Low-cost Talkroute Alternative for Multi-level Auto-attendants

All Talkroute alternatives offer plans with an automated attendant, but they lock multi-level attendants behind higher plan tiers. In contrast, eVoice has one all-inclusive package, and you can set up several menus and submenus for advanced call flows. Create dialing orders to send calls to different lines or devices based on numerous schedules for after work, vacations, and more.

While you can’t host video meetings in eVoice, you can connect with employees and customers in audio conferences. In contrast, Nextiva costs more than double for audio conferencing with 40 participants. If you want video and audio conferencing on one platform, consider Phone.com. It supports up to 300 audio and 100 video participants.

eVoice Pricing at a Glance*

• Elite Monthly: $14 per user, per month for unlimited calls, audio conferencing with 94 participants, 40 voicemail transcriptions per month, auto-attendant, and a free custom greeting

*Price is based on monthly billing plan. Speak to an eVoice sales representative for annual pricing and bundled packages with more than 10 phone lines.

eVoice Features

• Advanced call routing: eVoice supports many call routing options, such as routing according to the type of contact. Set up separate schedules for personal, vendor, and customer calls or create multiple schedule-based profiles.
• Voicemail transcriptions: Transcribe up to 40 voicemails per month and have them sent to your cell phone as a text message or to your email. You’ll pay more per month with other Talkroute competitors with voicemail-to-text or email features.
• Call blocking and screening: Block unwanted numbers or entire area codes on eVoice. Plus, your auto-attendant can prompt callers to give their name, and you can choose to accept, decline, or route the caller to voicemail.

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Google Voice: Best Free Talkroute Alternative for Solopreneurs

Google Voice is a scalable option for entrepreneurs. The free plan includes a complimentary phone number and unlimited calling and texting. As your company grows, you can add up to 10 users to the Starter plan or move up to the Standard package with advanced features for call routing, including an auto-attendant and ring groups.

Unlike Nextiva, Google Voice doesn’t support desk phones on the base plan. However, if your business requires an SLA for service quality, Google Voice is your best option, as it’s included on the Starter version. In comparison, Aircall locks it behind its custom enterprise package.

Google Voice also integrates seamlessly with Google tools, allowing you to start a call right from your email and schedule meetings in your calendar. While it lacks integrations with CRMs and help desk tools, you’ll appreciate a phone system that doesn’t have a steep learning curve if your team uses Google products.

Google Voice Pricing at a Glance*

• Free: Get a free personal account for unlimited calling and texting, voicemail, call screening and blocking, voicemail transcription, and call recording
• Starter: $10 per user, per month for up to 10 users for voicemail transcription, do not disturb (DND), SLA, and user and activity reporting
• Standard: $20 per user, per month for unlimited users, ring groups, desk phone compatibility, auto-attendants, and eDiscovery for calls, text messages, and voicemail
• Premium: $30 per user, per month for unlimited domestic and international locations, international numbers in 13 countries and territories, and exporting to BigQuery

*Paid Google Voice subscriptions require a Google Workspace license starting at $6 per user, per month.

Google Voice Features

• Voicemail transcripts: Get an unlimited number of voicemail messages transcribed and read them right from your Google Voice inbox. This feature comes with paid and free versions, whereas it’s a premium feature on eVoice.
• Call screening: When a call comes in, Google Voice will prompt the caller for their name and announce it to you. You can accept the call, reject it, or route it to voicemail. If the caller comes from a known contact or a business on Google Maps, Google automatically announces the name without asking the caller.
• Mobility: Use your personal cell phone, tablet, or computer to make and receive calls. Google provides iOS and Android applications or works in a web browser. Mobile apps also come with other Talkroute alternatives, but Google Voice stands out for its ease of use.

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How We Evaluated the Best Talkroute Alternatives

Our Talkroute review explains some of the general and advanced features we assessed relative to Talkroute competitors. We then identified the best alternatives to Talkroute based on comparable features, cost and overall value, types of call management tools, and customer support services.

Grasshopper is the best Talkroute alternative with 4.3 out of 5 stars. It has easy-to-use mobile and desktop apps with basic VoIP features, so your team can share phone calls and keep business calls separate from personal ones. Unlike Talkroute, Grasshopper provides 24/7 phone support, and you can also reach out on social media, email, and live chat.

Here’s a breakdown of how we measured each provider:

Bottom Line

Talkroute is a virtual phone number provider offering call management features, including live call transfer and a multi-level auto-attendant for Pro users. However, it lacks unlimited internet faxing and high-capacity video conferences. In some cases, a Talkroute competitor is a better fit.

Grasshopper is the best Talkroute alternative because it provides 24/7 U.S.-based customer service through multiple channels, including social media. Like Talkroute, you won’t pay a per-user fee. Instead, you can choose from plans with various numbers and extensions. Learn more by signing up for a seven-day free trial.

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