You can't be too careful when selecting the best call center software for your business. After all, businesses of all sizes rely on such software to provide efficient customer support and engagement. Moreover, some services provide packages and features that may work for enterprise-level companies but could be overkill for a smaller business.
We reviewed various call center software options to find the best available services in terms of features, pricing, and more. Please read on to find the best fit for your business.
Intermedia Unite is an award-winning cloud communication service with a focus on unified communications as a service (UCaaS) designed with small companies in mind. Originally founded in 1993, Intermedia employs thousands and has served more than 140,000 customers over the years. Through its features and straightforward plans, the brand continues to grow in reach and popularity thanks largely to its affordable pricing structure.
Intermedia Unite provides a wide range of cloud communication features. For instance, customers in the U.S. and Canada get free unlimited domestic calling and can make free calls to up to 33 different countries. The service also periodically provides equipment, such as a desk phone or headset at no cost.
Intermedia offers the standard UCaaS and CCaaS features that businesses are looking for at fixed monthly prices. There is no need to commit to a long-term contract and pricing is largely straightforward. It's possible for smaller companies to start off with a basic package and then, as the need arises, scale up to take advantage of Intermedia's contact center packages.
Although it is very easy to reach out and get an accurate quote for contact center plans, we do wish that contact center packages enjoyed the same level of pricing transparency as the Unite plans. Even so, companies signing up with Intermedia Unite should be able to find a plan and range of services that suit their budget and communication needs.
First founded in 2011, Dialpad has pivoted sharply in the direction of AI technology, actively using it to power its various cloud communication products, including its contact center software. Thanks to its willingness to lean into AI, Dialpad lets customers streamline a range of processes while also providing real-time suggestions for meeting customer needs. Headquartered in San Ramon, California, Dialpad has provided cloud communication services to millions of customers around the world.
Dialpad's contact center software makes it very easy for your agents to log in and engage with customers and peers across multiple channels. One thing that Dialpad has done very well is allow AI to work alongside agents, keeping them up to speed and making timely suggestions related to solving customer issues. Dialpad's software lets you call, chat, text, and video call, making it easy to communicate with clients or interact with team members from a single convenient hub.
8×8 has been in the telecommunication industry since the late 1980s. Although the brand started off with a strong emphasis on small businesses, in recent years, it has pivoted toward plan and pricing options that are better suited to larger companies. Enterprise-level companies find 8×8 worth the investment thanks to the number of UCaaS and CCaaS features and their overall quality. 8×8 has offices located in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Romania, Portugal, the Philippines, and Singapore. Its current headquarters is in Campbell, California.
8×8 not only has software that is very modern and visually pleasing, but it brings to the table all of the UCaaS and CCaaS a business would reasonably need to ensure the best possible customer experience. Although 8×8 was originally a brand that worked for companies of all sizes, it does seem to have pivoted in a direction where enterprise-level companies would get the most out of the brand.
To access 8×8's contact center features, you must sign up for at least the X6 plan. This tier introduces skills-based routing, call recording, customer experience journey mapping, and the choice between metered and unmetered call bundles. Upgrades offer access to key omni-channel support tools and analytics for speech and text.
With public pricing unavailable, smaller companies attempting to operate within a tight budget might want more transparency before reaching out for a quote. Even so, we believe larger companies that want a more complex virtual contact center solution won't be deterred. There might be a slight learning curve in getting 8×8 going if you are new to voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) services. However, once everything is set up, 8×8's contact center software provides all the essential features to handle even enterprise-level inbound communication.
While many of the top unified communication and call center providers link well with third-party apps. RingCentral stands apart in the number and quality of integrations available when compared to its competitors. For instance, RingCentral makes it easy for companies to enhance customer relationship management (CRM) features through integrations with Salesforce, Zoho CRM, HubSpot, and more.
Based in Belmont, California, RingCentral has spent decades evolving its communication offerings. In more recent years, it has assisted businesses with streamlining calling and collaboration through the use of advanced analytics and AI.
RingCentral continues to change and evolve constantly. This goes beyond how it makes the most of AI-based technology to the way it frequently adjusts plans and service options to ensure customers are receiving top-quality service that they can then pass on to their own clients. Its modern dashboards provide insights in real time, including customer sentiments and specific issues they are most concerned about. RingCX, as with other RingCentral products, lets you enhance your software experience through integrations with top-quality apps, such as Salesforce, Freshdesk, ServiceNow, Zendesk, and more.
Vonage was founded in 2001 and originally focused on providing digital phone service to residential customers. Instead of continuing to focus primarily on personal communication, Vonage eventually pivoted toward providing VoIP services for businesses. The enterprise-level company's products range from unified communications to contact centers and beyond. Vonage became a subsidiary of Ericsson in 2022 and is presently based in Holmdel, New Jersey.
Vonage is one of the best-known and relied-on names in the cloud communication industry. It provides different levels of VoIP and contact center features that should fit the needs of most businesses, although we believe Vonage is best suited to help companies that are midsize to enterprise-level. One of the best contact center software options is Vonage Fusion, which lets you combine UCaaS and CCaaS to improve customer experience and loyalty rather than doing so using purely one type of solution or the other.
While Zoom has been around since 2013, the brand didn't truly come into its own until 2020. Providing free and low-cost video meeting support has helped the company become a household name in the world of digital collaboration software. But while Zoom is recognized for its ability to support video conferences with thousands of participants, the brand is also able to provide affordable cloud phone support. Due to its highly scalable pricing and plans, Zoom works for both very small companies that require a cost-effective communication service and larger businesses that need enterprise-level plan options.
Often, the best contact center software is outside the affordability for very small business owners. With Zoom, it is possible to sign up for a free account and scale your business communication needs as your company grows. Moreover, the Zoom's Essentials plan is priced competitively, making it possible for small companies to experience good quality contact center features without risking their budget.
Nextiva is a popular award-winning VoIP provider with service features that includes inbound and outbound voice, live chat, short message service (SMS), social media management, and more. Nextiva originally launched in 2008 and has served tens of thousands of businesses and millions of customers worldwide. The brand's products offer businesses multiple channels of customer engagement, spanning unified communication and contact center capabilities. If your company is seeking a single platform for communication and collaboration features, Nextiva is among the best options.
We chose Nextiva's Inbound Call Contact Center because it is primed to help customers route incoming communication handily and also maximize and improve on customer engagement. With the Professional plan, Nextiva lets you understand the full customer journey in addition to offering advanced AI bots to assist customers through their unique journeys. The plan bridges the gap between human agent interaction and automation, letting agents handle issues based on experience while using AI to streamline tasks and reduce the workload of your representatives.
Although there are more affordable contact center alternatives, Nextiva makes a strong case for itself by offering top-tier features that could make it worth the investment.
Aircall is a virtual business phone service with cloud communication features aimed at companies of all sizes. Its services are primarily used for sales, information technology (IT) and operations, and customer support. Aircall aims for flexibility, allowing you to purchase plans according to features or opt for a custom solution based on your team or industry. It integrates with popular apps, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, and Gong. Because Aircall requires a purchase of at least three licenses, we recommend it for teams with at least three members as opposed to a sole proprietor or partnership.
Founded in 2014, Aircall is headquartered in New York City, with additional offices in Madrid, Paris, and Sydney.
Aircall offers a highly flexible contact center solution that works best for companies specializing in sales and customer service. With the Professional plan, you not only get unlimited inbound and internal calling, but you also can add as many teams to your service as needed as well as licenses. Aircall also provides unlimited access to call records by request.
Although Aircall isn't as well established as some brands listed, its pricing is competitive enough to make it a good starting place for companies new to VoIP and cloud-based call center software. While the Professional and Essentials plans require a minimum purchase of three licenses, these requirements shouldn't be a problem for most businesses.
Ooma Office is a virtual business phone service that primarily targets small companies and enables them to engage peers and customers with the same capabilities as their enterprise-level counterparts. Its plans support unlimited domestic calling, affordable international calling rates, virtual receptions, internet faxing, and dozens of other virtual communication tools. In addition to software, Ooma Office also provides business phone hardware for purchase. Founded in 2004, Ooma is currently headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
Ooma Office is a solid cloud communication service that works well for business owners who aren't impressed with the concept of mandatory long-term contracts. With Ooma Office, you not only get access to a decent array of VoIP and contact center features, but you can pay for software month by month. This makes it easier to move on if ever you decide to. However, as Ooma is among the best priced contact center solutions around, it's possible that plenty of small businesses will be content to stay with the service long term.
Freshcaller is one of several products released by Freshworks, all designed to assist businesses with improved performance and customer engagement. In the case of Freshcaller, it is a cloud-based contact center solution that lets customers choose a local, toll-free, or vanity number. Its robust cloud private branch exchange (PBX) system offers multilevel interactive voice response (IVR), call queue management tools, and also lets you customize business hours according to availability or holiday scheduling.
Freshworks makes products, such as Freshcaller, available to begin using at no cost. From its 2010 launch, the San Mateo, California-based brand has prioritized making its product affordable for small businesses. Since then, tens of thousands of companies have signed up to use Freshcaller and similar products.
Although Freshcaller is free to start using, we think that you won't start seeing real value for money unless you go with the Pro plan. Lower tiers include basic call center features, such as warm and cold transfer, call queueing, and inbound caller ID. With Pro, Freshcaller adds the ability to check your agents' statuses and availability in real time. Moreover, you can pause recordings or opt out of call recording altogether. The plan is affordable for most businesses and is a great introduction to call center software for small businesses new to the technology.
A call center is an ideal VoIP communication platform for businesses that have a team available to field client calls and also anticipate fielding calls from multiple customers daily. While call centers mainly focus on engagement by phone, contact centers allow businesses to communicate digitally across multiple channels, including by email and live chat.
In finding the best call center software for your business, there are a few important factors to keep in mind:
When choosing the best call center software, products capable of routing waves of incoming calls while enabling businesses to provide excellent customer support is a necessity. The platforms listed in our article provide features that should put them on the radar of any company looking for top-tier contact center solutions. Some offer not only great features but also excellent value for money. It can be tough for small businesses to compete with enterprise-level companies in terms of support quality, but with the right call center provider, it may be possible to scale naturally and provide customers with the best possible support experience.
It's best to prioritize quality as much as possible; although affordability is always a factor for smaller businesses, if a plan is too cheap, it may be lacking in ways that can negatively impact problem-solving and overall customer support quality.
Prior to recommending products to our readers, we review a wide range of relevant products and compare pricing and service features as well as review the previous experiences of customers and our expert team members. After narrowing down the choices, we use several key considerations to rank the platforms that ultimately make up our list of best call center software. Our methodology categories and their weight are:
