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Looking for a VoIP Provider? Here Are 5 OpenPhone Alternatives for Your Small Business

As every business's needs are specific, not all VoIP phone providers can cater to these needs. While OpenPhone is a good cloud-based VoIP provider for solopreneurs looking for a cheap, functional VoIP solution, it might not be the best solution for your organization. In this blog post, we will look at five of the best alternatives to help you choose the best VoIP provider for your needs.

9 min read

Tatiana Ogurtsovskaia

Tatiana Ogurtsovskaia

Sep 30, 2021

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Looking for a VoIP Provider? Here Are 5 OpenPhone Alternatives for Your Small Business

OpenPhone Review

OpenPhone is a startup that, since launching in 2018, has made a lot of traction in the last few years. OpenPhone provides a good, cost-effective service that comes with the majority of the standard calling features to run a business — such as phone calls, auto-attendant, integrations, call waiting, sending a text message, and more. However, it is worth noting that OpenPhone has some limitations that some of its competitors can solve.

OpenPhone is known to be an affordable solution for businesses to make VoIP calls; however, they only offer unlimited plans. This means that companies have to pay for unlimited minutes for all users, regardless of how much talking they are actually going to do. The unlimited business model is becoming outdated and not cost-effective for businesses as with the introduction of Zoom, WhatsApp, and Google Meet, employees, have a number of ways to organize calls and almost never need unlimited minutes.

While OpenPhone is known to offer the basics that a business needs to run, like a phone number, a central hub for the communication history as well as offering some integrations, it is focused on providing a cost-effective solution rather than a feature-rich solution, and therefore is more applicable to freelancers or solopreneurs.

OpenPhone Pricing

The monthly base fee for a selected plan:

  • Standard: $10 per user/per month
  • Medium: $25 per user/per month
  • Enterprise: Available on request

Additional Costs:

  • $5 per additional phone number
  • International calls: $0.1-$3.45 per minute.

Pros:

  • One of the cheaper options on the market;
  • Easy to navigate the system;
  • Basic integrations such as CRM integrations, Zappier, Slack, and more.

Cons:

  • Users complain there are bugs with the software;
  • Lacks sophisticated features such as AI technology and video conferencing;
  • Can only set up US, North America, and Canadian numbers;
  • The lowest plan has a minimum of 3 users and the top plan has a minimum of 100 users meaning you potentially have to pay for users who don’t exist.

Inperium Talk cloud phone system

Another startup, new to the VoIP market, Inperium Talk, is a good alternative for OpenPhone as it offers a more feature-rich solution that is powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Inperium’s business outlook is also an affordable solution for SMBs; however, they take a different approach to most when it comes to pricing. Inperium offers a more cost-effective package that offers minutes that are tailored to the individual businesses’ needs. This means you don’t pay for an unlimited plan for all employees when in reality, only a few employees in the company need that number of minutes.

Inperium Talk Pricing

The monthly base fee for a selected plan:

  • Essential: $25/$20 (billed monthly / annually)
  • Professional: $99/$79.20 (billed monthly / annually)
  • Enterprise: $199/$159/20 (billed monthly / annually)

Additional costs:

  • $5 per user per month on all plans, regardless of whether you are billed monthly or annually;

  • $5 per additional phone number on all plans, regardless of the type of the number and billing cycle;

  • Extra minutes packages that add more call minutes to your plan and make price-per-call-minute lower:

    1. Small, 500 min: $19.50
    2. Medium, 1,000 min: $39
    3. Large, 2,500 min: $75
    4. X-Large, 5,000 min: $139

These extra minutes packs are paid per pack, and their minutes are available for all tenant users, so those who talk more will use up more minutes, and those who are rarely on the phone – less. And the good thing, each user only costs $5 per month, as stated above.

Pros

  • More affordable solution for SMBs allowing them to pay for what they use;
  • Easy to set up and use, can be used by those who are not tech-savvy;
  • A flexible solution, you can use your existing equipment, connecting from anywhere in the world;
  • Robust infrastructure, with high-quality calls;
  • Powerful and advanced business phone system features;
  • No limits on users, can sign up for any plan with only 1 user if needed.

Cons

  • No video conferencing;
  • Do not connect to SIP hardware phones;
  • No SIP Trunking support.

Vonage

Vonage has been serving the VoIP market for over 20 years and is known as one of OpenPhone’s biggest competitors. While Vonage is known to offer a very affordable monthly fee, all calls come at an additional cost, meaning if you use the phone a lot, this can all add up. It is also known for having an abundance of hidden fees that make the service far more expensive in the long run. Vonage comes with all the essential features that OpenPhone does, it also includes video conferencing with the capability to host up to 100 guests on the calls making it a fierce competitor to OpenPhone for businesses that want video conferencing capabilities. It is worth noting that Vonage only offers to the UK market, where OpenPhone is also based, so due to that reason, it does not compare to a number of the other key players that offer VoIP solutions worldwide.

Vonage Pricing

The monthly base fee for a selected plan:

  • Select: $9 per user/per month -UK landlines: 10/min, UK mobiles 10p/min
  • Professional: $12.50 per user/per month - UK landlines included, UK mobiles 5p/min
  • Ultimate: $16.50 per user/per month - UK landlines and mobiles included

Additional Costs:

  • $5 per user per month
  • International calls: $0.1-$3.45 per minute.

Pros

  • Offers video conferencing;
  • Wide range of third-party integrations such as Office, G-Suite, Zendesk, and Slack;
  • Can support a large volume of users on the calls;
  • Cheap monthly fee.

Cons

  • Only offering a limited number of call recordings (15 hours on the advanced plan);
  • No MMS, meaning that text messaging cannot handle images;
  • Most additional features come at a fee, making it expensive if you want all the bells and whistles;
  • Only offers to the UK market.

RingCentral

RingCentral was one of the first VoIP phone providers to enter the market, which was in 2003. It has had years to develop its platform; this is evident in its video conferencing capabilities, where the calls have the ability to last up to 24 hours. Along with video conferencing capabilities, RingCentral comes with a wide range of features and integrations, making it a good choice for larger organizations that need the added functionality that OpenPhone does not provide.

RingCentral Pricing

The monthly base fee for a selected plan:

  • Basic - $19.99 per user per month
  • Premium - $34.99 per user per month

Additional Costs:

  • $4.99 per toll-free or local number per month
  • $5.99 per international number per month
  • $14.99 per international toll-free number per month, plus a $25 one-time fee per number
  • $30 one-time fee for a vanity number

Pros

  • Wide range of features and integrations;
  • Epic video conferencing capabilities;
  • Ability to host large numbers of people on calls.

Cons

  • Customers complain of a clunky, outdated user interface;
  • A lot of additional fees make the total more expensive for freelancers and SMBs.

Dialpad

Dialpad Talk is a good alternative to OpenPhone for customers who are looking for a more feature-rich platform. Dialpad’s VoIP service is an AI-powered platform that works in conjunction with their other offerings, including a contact center and video conferencing.

Dialpad Pricing

  • Standard: at $15 per user per month, 1 license minimum;
  • Pro: at $25 per user per month, with 3 licenses minimum;
  • Enterprise: pricing available on request, with 100 licenses minimum.

*Pricing is based on an annual payment plan; monthly plans are available at an additional cost.

Additional Costs:

  • $15 per user for Uber Conferencing;
  • $95 for Dialpad Sell;
  • Dialpad Support, pricing available on request.

Pros

  • Flexibility, as you can work from any location on any device;
  • AI features such as voicemail transcription, call recorder, and call analysis;
  • Easy integration with Office 365 and GSuite and a number of other third-party platforms;
  • Access to multiple communication platforms, video conferencing with UberConference, and a contact center with Dialpad Sell.

Cons

  • Users complain of poor call quality;
  • Hard to set up and navigate;
  • Expensive as you add on features such as UberConference and Dialpad Sell;
  • Only offers unlimited plans, meaning you pay the same price per employee, even those who barely use the phone.

Grasshopper

Grasshopper has been around for several years, and like OpenPhone, it also services solo entrepreneurs and small businesses. While Grasshopper and OpenPhone have quite similar capabilities in terms of features, one big benefit of Grasshopper is that the features do not change across the plans, meaning that the base plan still has access to features such as virtual receptionist, voicemail, and toll-free number, the downside is that it does require an existing PTSN phone line that you can forward calls from.

Pricing

  • Solo: $26 per month per user, with three extensions;
  • Partner: $44 per month for three phone numbers and six extensions;
  • Small Business: $80 per month for five phone numbers and unlimited extensions.

*Pricing is based on an annual payment plan, monthly plans are available at an additional cost.

Pros

  • Unlimited domestic calls, and voicemails on all plans;
  • You can use your existing equipment, eliminating the need to buy or rent additional equipment;
  • Robust mobile and desktop apps designed to be user friendly;
  • Voice-to-text capabilities let you read or download your voicemail messages as texts.

Cons

  • Limited features, limiting scalability;
  • Video conferencing isn’t offered;
  • Unlimited plans mean that you have to pay the same price per employee regardless of how much they use the phone.

Choose the right VoIP solution

In today’s market, there are a number of VoIP solutions enabling businesses to manage all their voice communications from a central web console no matter where your employees are located, how many extensions they are using, or even what devices they’re using. Across the board, the benefits that implementing a VoIP solution has is undeniable; however, every business is different, and when choosing your VoIP solution, you need to carefully choose the right provider for your business.

Along with being cost-effective, you want to consider if the provider has the right features for your needs, can support you as you scale and can give you the flexibility to grow your team internationally. If you are a freelancer who needs basic functionality at a cost-effective price, then OpenPhone is a good option; however, if you want more features that can enhance productivity, the ability to easily scale and manage a team from anywhere in the world, then you should look at solutions like Inperium Talk. Not only does Inperium Talk provide a more comprehensive small business VoIP solution, optimizing productivity and enhancing customer satisfaction, but it is one of the only providers that offers a pricing package that does not require you to purchase unlimited plans for all users, meaning you can access a much more affordable pricing structure while still getting access to a comprehensive range of features.

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