8×8 Review: Overview, Features, Pricing & Alternatives in 2025

Disjointed communication tools slow everything down.

If you’re exploring 8×8, you’re probably frustrated with juggling multiple apps for calls, video meetings, and customer service—wishing everything just worked together.

Here’s the real pain: you’re likely forced to constantly switch context and lose track of conversations, which means fewer problems are solved and more mistakes creep in.

From my deep dive, I’ve found 8×8’s XCaaS platform ties unified communication and contact center features into a single workflow, letting your team collaborate, serve customers, and analyze performance all in one place—without the usual headaches.

In this review, I’ll show you how 8×8 actually fixes tangled communication workflows and what that means for your day-to-day productivity.

You’ll see in this 8×8 review how the platform stacks up across features, pricing, integrations, and real alternatives so you can benchmark what really matters for your business.

You’ll walk away knowing the features you need to confidently decide if 8×8 fits your requirements.

Let’s get started.

8×8 Overview

8×8 has been in the communications game since its founding in 1987. Based in Silicon Valley, I’ve watched them pivot from semiconductors to become a leader in internet-based telephony.

What I believe sets them apart is their dedicated focus on mid-market and enterprise businesses that must connect internal teams with external customers. Their single platform for unified communications and contact center truly defines this practical, all-in-one approach.

Their 2021 acquisition of Fuze was a smart move, seriously bolstering their enterprise-grade feature set. Through this 8×8 review, you’ll see this reflected in their powerful XCaaS platform today.

Unlike competitors who often feel like they just bolt-on contact center tools, 8×8 designed XCaaS natively from the ground up. I find their single integrated UCaaS and CCaaS solution genuinely simplifies administration and cuts down the vendor headaches your IT team faces.

They work with a broad spectrum of mid-market and enterprise companies, especially those needing to scale globally or finally consolidate a messy and expensive collection of disparate communication tools.

From what I’ve seen, their entire strategy centers on unifying the complete employee and customer journey on one native platform. This directly addresses your need to break down frustrating data silos and the operational inefficiencies that come with using separate tools.

Now, let’s examine their core capabilities.

8×8 Features

Tired of fragmented communication tools?

8×8 offers a comprehensive cloud-based platform that unifies your communications. Here are the five main 8×8 features that truly transform how businesses connect, both internally and externally.

1. 8×8 XCaaS Platform

Stuck with separate communication apps?

Managing multiple tools for calls, chats, and meetings fragments your team’s workflow. This ultimately makes it harder to deliver consistent customer experiences.

The XCaaS platform integrates voice, video, chat, and contact center into one unified application. What I found impressive is how seamlessly you transition from chat to call without losing context. This feature means your sales or support teams can handle any interaction, from any channel, all in one place.

So, you could finally eliminate communication silos and create a much more connected, efficient workplace for your team.

2. Omnichannel Contact Center

Customers reaching you on too many channels to track?

Juggling customer interactions across different channels leads to missed messages and frustrated agents. This often results in a poor customer experience.

8×8’s omnichannel contact center centralizes interactions from voice, chat, email, and social media onto a single agent interface. This means agents see all customer history instantly, which improves first-contact resolution dramatically. From my testing, the skill-based routing ensures customers reach the right person every time.

This helps your team deliver consistent, personalized support, no matter how a customer chooses to reach out.

3. Video Conferencing and Collaboration

Zoom fatigue from juggling countless meeting tools?

Holding large team meetings or webinars with disparate tools can be clunky and inefficient. It often leads to wasted time on setup and poor participant engagement.

8×8’s robust video conferencing supports up to 500 participants with essential features like screen sharing, chat, and file sharing. This is where 8×8 shines; the AI-enabled meeting summaries are a game-changer, automatically generating action items. This feature helps your distributed teams stay connected and productive, simplifying virtual collaboration.

So you can run more effective meetings and ensure everyone is aligned on next steps without the hassle of manual note-taking.

4. AI-Powered Analytics and Insights

Struggling to understand your communication performance?

Without clear data, it’s hard to identify bottlenecks or improve agent performance effectively. You might be missing crucial insights that impact your bottom line.

8×8 leverages AI and machine learning to provide cross-platform analytics and real-time insights into communication patterns. Here’s what I found: supervisors gain deep visibility into call metrics and customer journey bottlenecks. This feature empowers you to make data-driven decisions, optimizing operations and enhancing customer satisfaction.

This means you get actionable intelligence to refine your communication strategies and boost overall business efficiency.

5. Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) APIs

Need to embed communication into your existing apps?

Manually integrating communication features into your custom applications is complex and time-consuming. This can hinder your ability to innovate and automate key workflows.

8×8 offers CPaaS APIs for SMS, voice, chat, and video, allowing direct integration into your business applications. What I love about this is how easily you can automate things like delivery updates via SMS or build custom IVR systems. This feature lets you tailor communication experiences to your unique business needs, making processes smarter.

So you can extend 8×8’s powerful communication capabilities directly into your workflows, creating truly bespoke solutions.

These 8×8 features truly work together to create a cohesive communication ecosystem for your business, simplifying complex interactions.

8×8 Pricing

Confused about complex pricing structures?

8×8 pricing, while not always publicly displayed, follows a structured tier-based model, offering clear paths as your communication needs evolve.

Plan	Price & Features
X2 Plan	$24 per user, per month (billed annually) • Small business phone system • Unlimited US/Canada calls • Meetings and messaging • Unlimited international calls to 14 countries
X4 Plan	$44 per user, per month (billed annually) • All X2 features • Advanced calling and analytics • Supervisor monitoring (barging, whispering) • Unlimited international calls to 48 countries
X6 Plan	$85 per user, per month (billed annually) • Voice-focused contact center • Customer experience journey mapping • Skill-based routing • Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
X7 Plan	$110 per user, per month (billed annually) • All X6 features • Digital channel customer access (chat, email, social) • 8×8 Open API support • Multiple CRM integrations
X8 Plan	$140 per user, per month (billed annually) • Comprehensive multichannel contact center • Geared for customer experience transformation • For associates and contact center managers

1. Value Assessment

Understand what you’re paying for.

From my cost analysis, 8×8’s tiered pricing clearly outlines the progressive value you get, especially with advanced analytics and international calling. The bundled UCaaS and CCaaS features mean you’re investing in a unified communication experience, avoiding the headaches of managing disparate systems.

This means your budget provides comprehensive tools, ensuring predictable costs for your global or growing communication needs.

2. Trial/Demo Options

Evaluate before you commit.

8×8 previously offered a 30-day free trial for its Express Plan, allowing you to test core phone and messaging features. While explicit free trials are less visible now, you can request a tailored demo to understand specific plan capabilities for your business.

This helps you evaluate the platform’s fit and value proposition before making a long-term commitment to their pricing structure.

3. Plan Comparison

Choosing the right plan for you.

The X2 plan is ideal for core business communication, while X4 adds critical supervisor tools and broader international reach. For contact centers, X6 focuses on voice, whereas X7 and X8 expand to full omnichannel support and deep CRM integrations.

This clear progression helps you match 8×8 pricing to your actual usage requirements, preventing you from overpaying for unused features.

My Take: 8×8’s pricing strategy, though less transparent publicly, scales effectively for businesses from small teams to large enterprises, offering robust UCaaS and CCaaS features.

The overall 8×8 pricing reflects comprehensive communication value for scalable business needs.

8×8 Reviews

What do real customers actually think?

To help you understand real-world experiences, I’ve analyzed numerous 8×8 reviews from actual users, uncovering common themes and patterns in their feedback. This provides context for your decision-making.

1. Overall User Satisfaction

Users often praise the comprehensive features.

From my review analysis, 8×8 generally shows strong user satisfaction, especially for its all-in-one capabilities. What I found in user feedback is how its reliability and integrated features simplify workflows for many businesses, contributing to peace of mind, review-wise.

This means you can likely expect a stable and feature-rich communication solution.

2. Common Praise Points

Users love the all-in-one solution.

Customers consistently highlight 8×8’s ability to consolidate voice, video, and contact center functions into one platform. From my analysis of user reviews, the unified communication experience streamlines operations, reducing the need for multiple disparate tools and improving efficiency.

This shows you’ll benefit from a simpler, more integrated approach to business communications.

3. Frequent Complaints

Configuration complexity is a common frustration.

While feature-rich, some reviews mention challenges with non-intuitive configuration changes and advanced customization. What stands out in customer feedback is how certain advanced features may require extra cost or lack flexibility, which can be a hurdle for some users.

These issues are often manageable with initial setup support, but be aware of potential complexities.

The overall 8×8 reviews reflect a reliable, comprehensive platform with some setup nuances.

Best 8×8 Alternatives

Choosing the right communication solution?

The best 8×8 alternatives include several strong options, each better suited for different business situations, priorities, and budget considerations, which I’ll help you navigate.

1. RingCentral

Need more third-party integrations?

RingCentral is a strong alternative if your business relies heavily on integrating with a wide array of existing software applications beyond what 8×8 offers. What I found comparing options is that RingCentral boasts a wider range of third-party integrations, making it ideal for a highly connected tech stack.

Choose RingCentral when extensive integrations and advanced team collaboration features are your top priorities.

2. Five9

Seeking a specialized AI-powered contact center?

Five9 excels if your primary focus is a highly specialized, AI-infused contact center solution with a strong emphasis on agent performance and customer engagement. From my competitive analysis, Five9 provides superior AI and employee engagement features, including conversational AI and live transcription.

Consider this alternative when a dedicated, advanced contact center with robust AI capabilities is your core need.

3. Dialpad

Prioritizing built-in AI for call insights and coaching?

Dialpad works well if your business highly values integrated AI capabilities for real-time call transcription, agent coaching, and advanced analytics. Alternative-wise, Dialpad offers more transparent and accessible AI features built directly into their plans, often without being costly add-ons.

Choose Dialpad when real-time AI insights and a potentially lower cost for AI-driven features are essential for your operations.

4. Nextiva

Looking for a user-friendly UCaaS solution with great support?

Nextiva is a solid choice if you need a straightforward, user-friendly UCaaS solution with excellent customer support and a focus on simplicity. What I found comparing options is that Nextiva offers a highly intuitive interface and strong customer service, making setup and daily use very easy.

Consider Nextiva if ease of use, reliable support, and basic communication tools are more important than 8×8’s extensive international calling.

The best 8×8 alternatives depend on your specific business needs and feature priorities more than anything else.

8×8 Setup

Worried about complex software setup?

The 8×8 setup process offers a pragmatic approach to deployment, balancing ease of use with the capacity for robust configurations, as explored in this 8×8 review.

1. Setup Complexity & Timeline

Initial setup might surprise you.

While 8×8 aims for simplicity, setting up the Contact Center can be involved, supporting complex configurations efficiently. What I found about deployment is that number porting can take up to five weeks, so planning for this timeline is critical for your business.

You’ll need to allocate time for administrative setup of numbers, extensions, and auto-attendants through the online portal.

2. Technical Requirements & Integration

Expect internet and integration considerations.

As a cloud-based system, 8×8 primarily requires a stable internet connection with sufficient bandwidth for call volumes. From my implementation analysis, integrations with CRM or Microsoft Teams will require careful planning and configuration to ensure seamless data flow.

Prepare your IT team to assess network readiness and manage integrations with existing business applications.

3. Training & Change Management

User adoption is key for success.

8×8’s intuitive interface often reduces extensive training needs, but user adoption still requires attention, especially for new workflows. From my analysis, leveraging available training resources is crucial for ensuring your team maximizes platform features and embraces the new system.

Invest time in user training, utilizing 8×8’s on-demand or instructor-led courses to smooth the transition for your employees.

4. Support & Success Factors

Vendor support makes a difference.

8×8 generally receives positive feedback for its customer support, offering 24/7 assistance and helpful resources. What I found about deployment is that responsive support significantly eases implementation challenges, providing peace of mind during your transition.

Plan to engage with 8×8’s support early and often, ensuring any issues are addressed swiftly for a successful rollout.

The overall 8×8 setup experience is manageable, with proper planning and leveraging support leading to a smooth transition for your communications.

Bottom Line

Is 8×8 the right choice for your business?

This 8×8 review provides my final assessment, outlining who benefits most from its integrated communication platform and where its strengths truly shine.

1. Who This Works Best For

Mid-market to large enterprises needing unified communications.

8×8 is ideal for businesses requiring an integrated UCaaS and CCaaS solution to consolidate communication channels and enhance customer engagement. From my user analysis, organizations prioritizing a holistic view of customer journeys will find 8×8’s comprehensive features invaluable for streamlining operations.

You’ll succeed with 8×8 if your business operates remotely or globally and requires a scalable, reliable communication infrastructure.

2. Overall Strengths

Integrated XCaaS platform delivers unparalleled unity.

The software succeeds by offering a single, unified platform for voice, video, chat, and omnichannel customer engagement, backed by a strong uptime guarantee. From my comprehensive analysis, 8×8’s all-in-one approach eliminates communication silos and simplifies management for diverse business needs.

These strengths mean your business gains enhanced productivity, improved customer experiences, and streamlined operations from a single vendor.

3. Key Limitations

Pricing transparency and configuration complexity.

While feature-rich, 8×8’s pricing often requires direct sales contact, and some users note initial complexity in advanced configuration changes. Based on this review, advanced AI or analytics customizations may incur additional costs not immediately apparent from core offerings.

I find these limitations are manageable trade-offs for its robust capabilities, provided you budget for setup and potential add-ons.

4. Final Recommendation

8×8 earns a strong recommendation for integrated needs.

You should choose this software if your business prioritizes consolidating internal and external communications onto a single, scalable, cloud-based platform. From my analysis, 8×8 is compelling for complex communication environments that demand high reliability and advanced contact center functionalities.

My confidence level is high for businesses seeking a powerful, unified solution, especially those with international or hybrid workforces.

This 8×8 review shows strong value for businesses seeking a unified communications solution, especially those with complex needs and a focus on customer experience.