Tired of your clunky old phone system?
You’re likely juggling missed calls and high costs, while your remote team struggles to maintain a professional front with customers.
It’s frustrating when outdated tech holds your business back and makes customer communication feel inconsistent and unreliable across different locations.
This dissatisfaction is widespread. According to Blueface, 61% of businesses are open to switching from traditional phone lines. This shows a clear need for a more flexible, modern solution.
The right system can solve these issues, giving you a unified communication hub that works from anywhere, effortlessly.
In this guide, I’m going to review the best virtual phone system options to help you streamline communication and boost your professional image.
You’ll discover affordable and reliable tools that enhance collaboration and improve your overall customer satisfaction without the technical headaches.
Let’s get started.
Quick Summary:
| # | Software | Rating | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nextiva → | Medium to large enterprises | |
| 2 | RingCentral → | Global scalable businesses | |
| 3 | GoTo → | Small to mid-size teams | |
| 4 | Dialpad → | Sales-driven businesses | |
| 5 | 8×8 → | Distributed teams globally |
1. Nextiva
Struggling with outdated, costly business communication?
Nextiva offers a Unified-CXM platform to bring all your customer interactions into one AI-powered solution. This means you can manage inbound/outbound voice, live chat, SMS, video meetings, and social media from a single place.
It helps you overcome challenges like dropped calls and integration issues by centralizing communication, allowing your team to deliver end-to-end personalized experiences at scale. The result is streamlined workflows and enhanced customer satisfaction.
Here’s how Nextiva can help.
Nextiva unifies customer interactions across channels, providing a 360-degree view in real-time. This includes an AI-powered contact center, AI voice and digital bots, and intelligent routing for efficient customer journeys.
You gain powerful analytics with customizable dashboards and reports, offering real-time insights into customer sentiment. This comprehensive view ensures your team has the information needed to resolve issues quickly and build deeper relationships, even with geographically dispersed teams.
Additionally, Nextiva includes workforce engagement management tools for monitoring and coaching, plus automated scheduling, reducing agent fatigue and increasing retention. This helps you maintain a professional image and consistent client experiences, whether working remotely or in the office, while also boosting productivity.
You can truly transform your customer experience.
Key features:
- Unified Communications Platform: Manage voice, live chat, SMS, and video meetings from one central system, eliminating communication silos and ensuring consistent customer interactions.
- AI-Powered Customer Experience: Utilize AI voice bots, intelligent routing, and sentiment analysis to automate tasks, personalize customer journeys, and provide real-time insights.
- Workforce Engagement & Analytics: Optimize team productivity with monitoring, coaching, and automated scheduling tools, alongside comprehensive reporting and dashboards for informed decision-making.
Nextiva features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Nextiva stands out as a strong contender for the best virtual phone system, particularly for businesses seeking to consolidate and enhance their communication strategy. Its Unified-CXM platform, robust AI capabilities, and comprehensive analytics, including over 2,000 5-star Trustpilot reviews, help solve common pain points like siloed systems and inconsistent customer experiences.
2. RingCentral
Struggling with outdated, costly business communication?
RingCentral offers an AI-powered platform to transform your phone system, addressing your need for reliable, affordable, and scalable solutions. This means you can finally unify calls, messages, and meetings effortlessly.
You’ll discover how RingCentral helps you overcome challenges like dropped calls and integration issues, ensuring your business maintains a professional image. It’s ideal for managing geographically dispersed teams.
Here’s how to simplify your communication.
RingCentral’s AI Receptionist provides 24/7 support, answering questions, routing calls and sending texts, eliminating missed customer inquiries. This allows your team to focus on critical tasks, improving overall efficiency.
The RingEX suite empowers every employee with AI-powered calls, messages, and meetings across all devices, enhancing mobility and collaboration. Its advanced features include business SMS and online fax for comprehensive communication. Additionally, RingCX and RingSense offer robust contact center capabilities and conversation intelligence, improving customer satisfaction and providing valuable deal insights.
This creates a cohesive, professional experience for your clients and team.
Before diving deeper into RingCentral’s features, you might find my analysis of population health management solutions helpful for other business areas.
Key features:
- AI Receptionist: Offers 24/7 support, accurately routing calls and sending text follow-ups to ensure no customer inquiry is missed, enhancing your business reputation.
- RingEX Suite: Empowers employees with AI-powered calls, messages, and video meetings across multiple devices, facilitating seamless collaboration for remote and hybrid teams.
- Integrated Contact Center: Includes RingCX for effortless customer experience management and RingSense for conversation intelligence deeply integrated with your CRM, driving sales.
RingCentral features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: RingCentral stands out as the best virtual phone system, providing an all-in-one AI communications platform trusted by over 400,000 businesses. Its 99.999% availability, AI-powered features, and global scale make it ideal for businesses seeking reliable, affordable, and flexible solutions to unify communications.
3. GoTo
Tired of communication headaches and missed customer calls?
GoTo Connect offers an all-in-one business communication software, including a cloud-based phone system and softphone, perfect for your diverse team. This means you can centralize your communication efforts, reducing the complexity of managing multiple platforms.
The system is packed with over 100 features, ensuring your business communication is easy to use and manage while being remarkably affordable. This comprehensive suite addresses your need for advanced capabilities, preventing dropped calls and improving customer inquiries.
Here’s how to boost your business communication.
GoTo Connect simplifies how your organization connects, engages, builds relationships, and surpasses expectations. You can streamline workflows and ensure professional interactions across various devices.
Their AI Receptionist, a 24/7 smart assistant, handles all incoming calls, automates tasks, and improves customer service at every step. This frees up your team for higher-value work, addressing the pain point of missed inquiries and inconsistent client experiences.
Additionally, GoTo offers comprehensive CX tools, unifying communications across departments for industries like automotive, healthcare, and retail. This focus on customer experience and team collaboration allows you to engage instantly across every channel, delivering effortless and reliable support.
The result is enhanced business reputation and improved team collaboration.
If you’re also looking for the best VoIP software to scale your communication, my guide provides in-depth analysis.
Key features:
- AI Receptionist: This 24/7 smart assistant handles incoming calls and automates tasks, ensuring no customer inquiry is missed and allowing your team to focus on higher-value work.
- Cloud-based Phone System: Get a flexible and scalable business phone system with over 100 features, ideal for managing geographically dispersed teams and reducing communication costs.
- GoTo Connect CX: Access a comprehensive suite of customer experience tools, including a phone system, softphone, digital channels, and advanced reporting for seamless customer journeys.
GoTo features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: GoTo Connect is truly a best virtual phone system, providing an AI-powered, cloud-based solution that unifies communication and simplifies IT management. Its robust features, including the AI Receptionist and comprehensive CX tools, empower your teams to connect effortlessly, ensuring reliability and affordability for any business size.
4. Dialpad
Is your team struggling with fragmented communication?
Dialpad offers an AI-powered customer communications platform that unifies calls, messages, and meetings. This means you can achieve seamless, professional interactions across all your devices.
This platform helps you overcome the pain points of missed customer inquiries and inconsistent experiences, by providing instant AI summaries and action items.
Here’s how you get started.
Dialpad solves communication challenges by bringing your teams and workflows together on a reliable, resilient, and scalable platform. This means your business can scale communication effortlessly.
You’ll find next-gen contact center solutions with AI agents, assistants, and real-time coaching, allowing for improved customer satisfaction and enhanced business reputation. This allows your sales team to experience real-time AI coaching and automation, ensuring every outbound call is optimized. The result is greater efficiency for your management and frontline teams.
Additionally, Dialpad integrates with essential business apps like Salesforce, Zendesk, and Google Workspace, streamlining your workflows and saving your team valuable time. You can replace multiple phone line providers and consolidate business applications onto one platform, simplifying your communication infrastructure.
Enhanced business reputation and seamless team collaboration are yours.
Key features:
- AI-Powered Customer Communications: Unifies calls, messages, and meetings with instant AI summaries, action items, and real-time coaching for sales and support interactions.
- Comprehensive Contact Center Solution: Includes AI agents, assistants, and robust coaching tools for inbound and outbound calls, improving efficiency and customer outcomes.
- Seamless Integrations and Scalability: Connects with essential business applications like Salesforce and Microsoft Teams, built on a dual-cloud architecture for reliable, enterprise-grade scalability.
Dialpad features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Dialpad truly stands out as a strong contender for the best virtual phone system, especially with its AI-powered features. It helps overcome challenges like inconsistent client experiences and high costs, as evidenced by RE/MAX driving agent success with 2.3k calls automatically graded by AI CSAT. This makes it ideal for businesses seeking to boost communication and streamline operations.
5. 8×8
Tired of communication headaches and skyrocketing costs?
8×8 offers a unified platform to connect your employees and customers globally, ensuring seamless and professional interactions. This means you can finally say goodbye to outdated systems.
Their intelligent platform is designed to deliver the outcomes that matter most for your business, helping you elevate customer experience and maximize operational efficiencies effortlessly.
Here’s your communication simplified.
8×8 tackles fragmented communication with a single, intelligent platform. It brings together unified communications, contact center solutions, and even no-code APIs.
This approach means you can streamline workflows and improve customer satisfaction, connecting with customers on the channels they prefer. It’s ideal for managing geographically dispersed teams effectively.
Additionally, 8×8 offers AI-enabled features to empower agents and teams, enhancing customer service and supporting all your customer-facing staff with ease. It also integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Teams, amplifying your existing communication infrastructure.
The result: a professional image and improved collaboration.
Key features:
- Unified Communications: Connects your global teams and customers using an AI-enabled communication suite for seamless interactions and enhanced collaboration.
- Contact Center Solutions: Powers up agents with AI to simplify operations, delight customers, and build loyalty through top-tier customer experiences.
- No-Code Communications APIs: Allows you to connect with customers on their preferred channels from a single platform, solving complex communication challenges easily.
8×8 features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: For businesses seeking a scalable, affordable, and reliable solution, 8×8 stands out as a best virtual phone system. It helps unify communication, elevate customer experience, and maximize operational efficiencies, as evidenced by over 3 million business users trusting their platform.
6. Ooma
Tired of outdated phone systems and high costs?
Ooma provides business phone services with solutions for business communication, collaboration, and customer experience. This means you can upgrade your communication without breaking the bank.
With Ooma, you get phone, video, and messaging solutions, custom-fit for your business size. You can streamline your workflows and improve team collaboration.
Here’s your solution to seamless communication.
Ooma solves common business communication problems by offering a unified platform for all your interactions. This allows your team to connect effortlessly, regardless of location.
For instance, features like their Desktop and Mobile Apps, along with Videoconferencing and Team Chat, ensure your remote workforce stays connected. You’ll find features such as call management, call recording, and virtual receptionist options particularly useful for maintaining professionalism.
Additionally, Ooma offers customer experience features like a Contact Us Website Widget, Shift-to-Text, and Toll-free Numbers, helping you provide exceptional service. Plus, integrations with platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot streamline your business operations, improving efficiency and customer satisfaction. The result is a professional image and enhanced team collaboration.
While streamlining business operations is crucial, understanding how to manage regulatory compliance is equally important. My guide on best audit management software can help.
Key features:
- Comprehensive Communication Tools: Access phone, video, and messaging solutions, all tailored to your business size, streamlining communication efforts across your team.
- Enhanced Customer Experience: Utilize features like Virtual Receptionist, Toll-Free Numbers, and a Website Widget to improve how your business interacts with clients.
- Flexible & Integrated Solutions: Benefit from mobile and desktop apps for remote work, alongside key integrations with CRM platforms like Salesforce and HubSpot.
Verdict: Ooma offers a robust suite of communication tools that make it a strong contender for the best virtual phone system, especially for businesses seeking scalability and seamless customer interactions. Its comprehensive features and integration capabilities are designed to alleviate pain points like dropped calls and limited mobility, ensuring reliable and professional communication.
7. OpenPhone
Are you tired of missed calls and disconnected teams?
OpenPhone solves this by bringing your calls, texts, and contacts into one AI-powered shared space, ensuring you respond faster and keep your team aligned.
This means you can say goodbye to outdated systems and enjoy streamlined, professional customer interactions.
Here’s how OpenPhone helps.
OpenPhone introduces Sona, an AI agent that answers calls 24/7, so your business is always available, capturing crucial details, and ensuring you never miss a lead or opportunity.
This keeps your team on the same page and moving quickly with features like automatic call summaries and transcripts, which help your team document details with a lightweight CRM for full contact context. Additionally, you can automate messaging and build custom workflows using the OpenPhone API.
Plus, you can get new local or toll-free numbers in minutes, or port your existing ones, consolidating customer texts, call logs, and voicemails into a unified view. OpenPhone also helps manage team activity with analytics and configurable call flows, routing calls to the right person.
Your team communicates better and customers feel valued.
Key features:
- AI-powered Answering Agent: Sona ensures 24/7 availability, answering calls and logging details so you never miss leads or customer opportunities, even after hours.
- Unified Communication Hub: Combines calls, texts, and contacts into a shared space, providing call summaries, transcripts, and a lightweight CRM for full customer context.
- Enhanced Team Collaboration: Features like shared numbers, internal threads, and warm transfers streamline communication and increase team effectiveness, boosting oversight with analytics.
OpenPhone features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: If you’re seeking the best virtual phone system to unify communication, reduce missed opportunities, and streamline team collaboration, OpenPhone is an excellent choice. With its AI answering agent, comprehensive call management, and team alignment features, it effectively addresses the common pain points of business owners and team leaders.
8. Zoom
Struggling with outdated phone systems and high costs?
Zoom offers a unified platform for phone, chat, and meetings, helping you connect from anywhere. This means you can keep your teams in sync and your customers happy.
Your business needs reliable communication to thrive, and Zoom provides this with enterprise-grade call quality across all devices. Here’s how it helps you manage your dispersed teams.
Imagine a single solution for all your communication.
Zoom Phone streamlines your interactions, letting you make and receive calls on desktop or mobile, ensuring you’re always connected. You can easily manage calls with features like call forwarding and voicemail, making sure no customer inquiry is missed.
Additionally, Zoom offers comprehensive team chat capabilities, allowing instant messaging and file sharing to improve collaboration among your remote and hybrid teams. Plus, you get powerful video conferencing, so you can host professional meetings directly from your phone system, unifying your entire communication strategy. The result is improved customer satisfaction and a professional image.
Before diving deeper, you might find my analysis of virtual board meeting software helpful for comprehensive business communication.
Key features:
- Unified Communication: Consolidate phone, video, and chat into one platform, reducing complexity and ensuring consistent, professional customer interactions across all devices.
- Scalable Voice Solution: Get enterprise-grade call quality and reliability for both internal and external communication, supporting your growing business needs without high traditional phone line costs.
- Enhanced Team Collaboration: Leverage integrated chat and meeting features for seamless internal communication, improving workflow efficiency and fostering better collaboration among your geographically dispersed teams.
Zoom features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Zoom’s integrated suite of calling, meeting, and chat features makes it an excellent choice if you’re seeking the best virtual phone system. It directly addresses pain points like high costs and limited scalability, offering a professional, unified solution for your communication needs.
9. Google Voice
Struggling with outdated and expensive phone systems?
Google Voice offers a flexible cloud phone system that works across devices, including mobile, laptops, and desk phones. This means your team can stay connected whether they’re in the office or on the go, addressing the need for seamless communication and mobility for remote teams. Plus, it reduces the pain points of high communication costs and limited scalability.
This means you get a modern, reliable solution.
Google Voice tackles those challenges directly, offering an easy-to-manage and trusted solution. Here’s how it works: it uses Google AI to block spam calls and automatically transcribe voicemails to text, saving you valuable time. Additionally, integrations with Google Meet and Calendar keep your team focused and enhance collaboration. You can even receive voicemails and SMS messages directly in Gmail.
The Voice Admin Console provides an intuitive interface to manage number assignment, porting, and billing, which is excellent for IT managers. You can also configure ring groups and multi-level auto attendants to route calls intelligently.
The result is truly effortless communication.
While focusing on communication, securing your entire online infrastructure is vital. My guide on best DDoS mitigation tools can help protect your services.
Key features:
- Flexible Device Access: Your Voice line operates on mobile devices, laptops, and supported desk phones, ensuring connectivity from anywhere, anytime, including direct calls within Gmail.
- AI-Powered Time Savings: Google AI blocks spam calls and automatically transcribes voicemails to text, while integrations with Google Meet and Calendar streamline your communication workflows.
- Intuitive Administration: The Voice Admin Console offers easy management for number assignment, porting, billing, and the configuration of ring groups and multi-level auto attendants.
Google Voice features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Google Voice is an excellent option if you are seeking the best virtual phone system, especially for businesses with remote or hybrid teams. Its AI capabilities, seamless integration with other Google Workspace tools, and robust administrative controls ensure reliable, scalable, and professional communication, addressing key pain points like high costs and limited mobility.
10. Phone.com
Tired of tangled business and personal calls?
Phone.com offers a dedicated business phone number, allowing you to separate personal and professional communications. This means you can work from any device, anywhere, and maintain a professional image.
With Phone.com, you avoid complicated setups and hefty upfront investments, making it easy and affordable to manage your business communications. Here’s how they solve your communication woes.
Your business communication just got easier.
Phone.com introduces an affordable and scalable solution that helps you streamline workflows and unify communication across your teams. This is crucial for businesses with [remote or hybrid teams needing seamless interaction].
You gain a dedicated business phone number, ensuring your clients always reach your professional line, not your personal one. This separation enhances your business reputation and customer trust, as highlighted by Amy W., a business owner who saw remarkable growth and improved customer service after adopting a custom toll-free number.
Additionally, features like AI-Connect for [automated call routing] and appointment scheduling, alongside ProSIM for superior business mobility, truly empower your team to work effectively from anywhere. Live Answer-Connect further elevates customer experience with professional live receptionist services, handling calls, messages, and appointments.
Effortless communication is now at your fingertips.
Key features:
- Dedicated Business Number & Mobility: Get a separate business phone number and the flexibility to manage calls and messages from any device, anywhere, enhancing your professional image.
- Advanced Call Management & AI: Utilize features like AI-Connect for intelligent call routing and appointment scheduling, plus video meetings and conferencing for enhanced collaboration.
- Scalable & Cost-Effective: Access over 50 features and reliable support without enterprise-level complexity or cost, scalable to accommodate your business growth from startups to enterprises.
Phone.com features, pricing, & alternatives →
Verdict: Phone.com stands out as the best virtual phone system for businesses seeking a cost-effective, scalable, and feature-rich communication solution. Its ability to provide dedicated business lines, advanced call management through AI-Connect, and robust mobile applications makes it ideal for improving customer satisfaction and team collaboration, as demonstrated by the success of over 50,000 small businesses.
Conclusion
Ready to fix your business communication?
I know choosing the right tool feels overwhelming, especially when you need a reliable system that grows with your small business.
The switch is worth it. According to Nuacom, businesses can save up to 75% on communication costs. Imagine slashing your operational expenses while significantly improving your service.
So, here is my top recommendation.
After my extensive reviews, Nextiva is the top choice for unifying your communications and solving the challenges of a dispersed team.
Its Unified-CXM platform brings everything together, from calls to chat. I believe it’s the best virtual phone system for streamlining workflows and enhancing your professional image.
For comprehensive business growth, exploring secure data management is key. My guide on best virtual data room software offers valuable insights.
I recommend you book a free demo of Nextiva to see how its AI-powered features can directly help your business.
You’ll see a big difference quickly.
