Dialpad Alternatives
Seven business phone and contact center platforms that replace Dialpad, compared on what you really pay per seat.
The best Dialpad alternative depends on which Dialpad you are leaving. To replace Dialpad Connect, the office phone system, RingCentral is the most complete swap, Nextiva matches its $15 annual entry price, and Quo suits small teams that share numbers and text a lot. Zoom Phone is cheapest for companies already on Zoom, Ooma Office is the no-contract pick, and Aircall fits sales teams that log every call in a CRM. To replace Dialpad Support, the contact center, look at Talkdesk. Below: why people leave, each tool's real price next to Dialpad's, and the billing traps we found while comparing them.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored placement is always flagged on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Why teams are leaving Dialpad
Dialpad is a solid AI-first phone platform: transcripts and call summaries come with the entry plan, the apps are clean, and local numbers are available in over 50 countries. Teams rarely leave because the product is bad. They leave because the bill, the contract or the product line stopped matching what they bought. Here are the eight reasons we saw most often while comparing it with the alternatives below.
The $15 headline is an annual price
CRM integrations and 24/7 support start on Pro
The contact center is a different price world
Outbound sales features sit a tier up
Annual terms renew for the same length
Support and billing complaints
The uptime figure is on Enterprise only
The product focus moved to AI agents
RingCentral
RingCentral is the closest like-for-like swap for Dialpad Connect. RingEX, its business phone plan, bundles calling, business SMS, video meetings and team messaging, and it adds a contact center (RingCX) when your support team outgrows a simple queue. Where Dialpad sells its AI as the headline, RingCentral sells depth: multi-level IVR, call queues, multi-site management and more than 330 integrations, plus RingCentral automations through Make for custom workflows.
On price, Core costs $20 per user a month billed annually, or $30 if you pay month to month, for accounts of 1 to 100 users; above 100 users, RingCentral quotes on request. That is $5 more than Dialpad Standard on the same annual footing, so a 10-person team pays $200 a month instead of $150. Advanced ($25 annual, $35 monthly) adds multiple sites and core reporting, and Ultra ($35 annual, $45 monthly) lifts the toll-free and SMS allowances.
Its limit is texting. Core includes 25 SMS per user a month, Advanced 100 and Ultra 200, and unlimited calling covers the US and Canada markets only. A team that texts customers all day hits that ceiling fast and pays for the Business SMS Booster on top. CRM integrations also start on Advanced, at $25 annual or $35 monthly: the same step up Dialpad asks for with Pro. If you are weighing the reverse move, our guide to switching from RingCentral lists what people miss once they leave it.
- Unlimited domestic calling and on-demand call recording on Core
- Multi-site management from Advanced, 10,000 toll-free minutes on Ultra
- RingCX AI contact center from $65 per user when you outgrow call queues
- ✓One vendor for phone, SMS, video and chat, with a contact center upgrade path
- ✓Monthly billing available on every plan, not only annual
- ✓Integrations reach far beyond the main CRMs
- ✗25 SMS per user a month on Core is tight for customer-facing teams
- ✗Monthly billing costs $10 more per user on Core
- ✗AI conversation features sit in paid add-ons, Conversational Intelligence from $60
- ✗CRM integrations start on Advanced, not Core
Nextiva
Nextiva is a unified communications platform that has moved toward customer service: calls, messaging, video and customer conversations, plus XBert, an AI agent sold per conversation. It is the alternative that matches Dialpad's entry price almost to the cent, which makes it the easiest budget conversation for a small business.
NEXT Core costs $15 per user a month billed annually, exactly Dialpad Standard's price, or $23 on monthly billing. Read the condition, though: the annual small business price applies to new customers with 1 to 100 employees signing a 12-month or longer term. NEXT Engage, the most popular plan, is $25 annual against $50 monthly, so the month-to-month premium doubles the bill. NEXT Scale, for sales and service teams, is $75 per user.
Core also includes 100 business text messages per user and a basic CRM and ticketing system, and other apps connect through Nextiva's Zapier integration. The catch is that AI is rationed. Core includes 50 AI transcriptions and 50 AI summarizations, Engage 200, and only Scale makes them unlimited; XBert, the AI agent, costs $1.50 per conversation on top. Dialpad lists transcripts and call summaries in Standard with no cap stated, so a team that wants AI on every call pays Nextiva Scale, at $75, to match it.
- Same $15 annual entry price as Dialpad Standard
- NEXT Engage, the most popular plan, at $25 annual
- XBert AI agent priced per conversation, not per seat
- ✓Annual entry price level with Dialpad Standard, at $15
- ✓Clear plan ladder for teams that will grow from phone to customer service
- ✓Simple admin for a small office
- ✗Monthly billing on Engage costs twice the annual price ($50 against $25)
- ✗The annual price is reserved for 1 to 100 employees on a 12-month term
- ✗AI transcriptions capped at 50 on Core, XBert billed $1.50 a conversation
Quo (formerly OpenPhone)
Quo, the new name of OpenPhone, is a business phone app built around shared numbers: several teammates answer the same number, see the same thread of calls and texts, and leave internal notes on a conversation. It is lighter than Dialpad on routing and contact center features, but it is often faster to set up and nicer to use on mobile.
Starter costs $15 per user a month billed annually, $180 a year, or $19 on monthly billing. Business is $23 annual or $33 monthly, Scale $35 or $47. In Dialpad terms, Starter matches Standard's annual price, and its $19 monthly price is $8 below Standard's $27. Each user gets one new or ported number, local or toll-free; extra numbers are $5 a month each. Read the plan line, though: Starter has voicemail transcripts, but AI call summaries and call transcripts only for calls handled by Sona, its AI agent, and no phone menus and no HubSpot or Salesforce integration. Those start on Business, so the like-for-like price against Dialpad Standard is $23 annual, not $15.
The limit is the fine print on texting and calling abroad. US business texting needs carrier registration, with a one-time $19.50 review fee and a $1.50 to $3 monthly messaging fee, and international calls and texts are billed with credits at a per-minute or per-message rate. For a team that calls across Europe every day, that metering adds up.
- Shared phone numbers with one inbox for calls, texts and voicemail
- 1,000 automation credits, worth 10 Sona AI agent calls, on every plan
- Additional numbers at $5 a month each
- ✓Very quick to roll out, the mobile app is the product
- ✓Shared inbox stops two people answering the same customer
- ✓Fair monthly price: only $4 above the annual rate on Starter
- ✗AI summaries on every call, phone menus and CRM integrations start on Business, at $23
- ✗Routing and analytics are lighter than Dialpad or RingCentral
- ✗Texting in the US carries carrier fees on top of the seat
- ✗International calls and texts are billed per use with credits
Zoom Phone
Zoom Phone is the cloud phone system inside Zoom Workplace. If your company already lives in Zoom meetings, adding phone keeps one app, one directory and one admin console, and calls move into a meeting in one click. Every plan includes call recording, domestic SMS and MMS, online fax, AI post-call summaries, and integrations with Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft and Google.
Its pricing is the cheapest entry on this page. The Metered plan costs $10.50 per user a month, $4.50 less than Dialpad Standard, and US & CA Unlimited costs $16, which is $1 more. Bundled with Workplace, Pro Plus is $20.50 and Business Plus $24.50. All of those are annual prices, which Zoom bills as a single upfront charge: 10 users on Unlimited means $1,920 paid on day one. Monthly billing is offered too: Unlimited is $18, Metered $12, Pro Plus $24 and Business Plus $29.
Watch the add-ons. International calling is a $10 add-on per month, extra numbers are $5 each, and the Customer Engagement Pack is $25. Teams that call abroad every day should price those lines before comparing seats.
- Metered plan from $10.50 a month for light callers
- Phone, meetings and chat in one Zoom Workplace admin
- Domestic online fax, 50 pages a month, included
- ✓Metered seat at $10.50 suits light or occasional callers
- ✓No new app to learn for teams already on Zoom
- ✓Customer Engagement Pack add-on at $25 a month when calls turn into service
- ✗Annual prices are charged upfront for the year; monthly billing costs $2 more on Unlimited ($18)
- ✗International calling and extra numbers are paid add-ons
- ✗On Metered, domestic minutes are charged on top of the $10.50 seat
Talkdesk
Talkdesk is a contact center platform, not an office phone system. It belongs on this page because many teams type "Dialpad alternatives" while they really run Dialpad Support, the contact center product, and that is the comparison that matters for them. Talkdesk brings voice routing through Studio, speech recognition, voicemail transcription, business intelligence dashboards and API access on Voice Essentials, then omnichannel and workforce management on Elite.
Voice Essentials is listed at $105 per user a month, with no billing option shown. Dialpad Support Essentials costs $89 on annual billing and $109 monthly, so Talkdesk sits between the two. Digital Essentials, for chat and messaging teams, is $85, and Elite is $165. Put simply, you leave the $15 office phone world entirely: a Voice Essentials seat costs seven times Dialpad Connect Standard.
Size is the real filter. Talkdesk is built for structured support teams; a 5-person sales team would pay contact center prices for features it never opens. Talkdesk Express, for US and Canadian businesses under 50 employees, includes 25 licenses and $100 in free credit with no commitment, which is the low-risk way to try it.
- Studio routing, speech recognition and voicemail transcription on Voice Essentials
- Elite adds omnichannel and workforce management
- Express offer for businesses under 50 employees, no contract
- ✓Deep contact center features, from routing to quality management
- ✓Strong AI and analytics roadmap for support teams
- ✓Express lets a small team start without a contract
- ✗At $105 a seat, dearer than Dialpad Support Essentials on annual billing ($89)
- ✗Overkill for an office phone system or a small sales team
- ✗Add-ons are sold through sales, so the final quote needs a call
Ooma Office
Ooma Office is a straightforward small business phone system: a virtual receptionist, extensions, ring groups, a mobile app and desk phones if you want them. It does not try to be an AI platform. That is the point for teams who left Dialpad because they paid for AI features they never used.
Essentials costs $19.95 per user a month, Pro $24.95 and Pro Plus $29.95, and Ooma asks for no contract. Next to Dialpad, Essentials costs $4.95 more than Standard's annual price, but you can leave any month, which matters if you were caught by a Dialpad renewal. Number transfer is free, every plan includes one free toll-free number with 500 inbound minutes a month, and unlimited calling covers the US, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
The limit shows in texting and integrations. Essentials has no text messaging, no call recording and a desktop app that cannot make calls: all three start on Pro, with up to 250 texts a month, and Pro Plus raises texting to 1,000. CRM integration, AI insights and call queuing only arrive on Pro Plus, so a sales team that logs every call in its CRM pays $29.95 per user to get there. For other apps, see how Ooma Office connects to Zapier.
- Virtual receptionist, free number transfer and a free toll-free number
- Unlimited calling in the US, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico
- CRM integration and AI insights on Pro Plus
- ✓No contract, so leaving costs nothing
- ✓Simple setup for an office without IT staff
- ✓Wide North American calling area included
- ✗No texting on Essentials, 250 a month on Pro, 1,000 on Pro Plus
- ✗CRM integration only on the top plan
- ✗Little in the way of AI coaching or analytics
Aircall
Aircall is a cloud phone system built for sales and support teams who live in their CRM or helpdesk. Calls, recordings and AI transcripts sync to the contact record, and the app covers IVR, call routing, a shared call inbox and, on Professional, supervisor tools such as call whispering and live monitoring. Mind the split: HubSpot, Zendesk and Pipedrive integrations come with Essentials, while Salesforce needs Professional. It is the alternative most guides name for CRM integration, and it keeps the score of our full Aircall review.
It is also one of the most expensive per seat. Essentials costs $30 per license a month billed annually, or $40 monthly, and every plan requires at least 3 licenses: a solo founder pays $90 a month on annual billing, $120 on monthly. Professional is $50 annual or $70 monthly. Compared with Dialpad, Essentials costs $15 more per seat than Standard on annual billing.
Then come the add-ons. Extra numbers are $6 a month, AI Assist Pro for real-time help is $49 per seat, and WhatsApp in Aircall is $10 per seat. Price the CRM features you need before you count seats; our Aircall pricing breakdown walks through every plan and add-on.
- 250+ integrations, with HubSpot, Salesforce and Zendesk among them
- Shared call inbox with assignment, comments and tags
- Unlimited inbound messages and 4,000 outbound texts per user a month
- ✓Calls and notes sync to the CRM without manual logging
- ✓Clean dialer that reps adopt quickly
- ✓Supervisor tools on Professional: call whispering and live monitoring
- ✗3-license minimum on every plan
- ✗Salesforce integration and the power dialer only from Professional, at $50
- ✗$15 more per seat than Dialpad Standard, before AI add-ons
- ✗Support and value scores are weak in our full review
7 Dialpad alternatives compared
Read the "Seat price next to Dialpad" column first. Dialpad Connect Standard costs $15 per user a month on annual billing, so each line tells you how far a tool moves your bill, and the catch that comes with it (a minimum, a cap, a contract). Prices are the entry plan on each vendor's pricing page.
| Best for | Seat price next to Dialpad | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RingCentral | Best all-round Dialpad replacement | Core $20 vs $15: +$5, SMS capped at 25 | 4.2/5 | $20 annual / $30 monthly (1 to 100 users) | — | 10 to 500 users | Visit → |
| 2 | Nextiva | Best for small teams on a 12-month term | Same $15 annual price, 12-month term | 4.1/5 | $15 annual / $23 monthly | — | 1 to 100 employees | Visit → |
| 3 | Quo (formerly OpenPhone) | Best for shared numbers and texting | $15 annual; AI and CRM from $23 | 4.1/5 | $15 annual / $19 monthly | — | 2 to 30 users | Visit → |
| 4 | Zoom Phone | Best for teams already on Zoom | Metered $10.50: $4.50 less | 3.9/5 | $16 annual / $18 monthly (Metered from $10.50) | — | Zoom Workplace companies | Visit → |
| 5 | Talkdesk | Best contact center upgrade from Dialpad Support | $105 vs Dialpad Support $89 annual, $109 monthly | 3.8/5 | $105, no billing choice shown | — | 20+ agent support teams | Visit → |
| 6 | Ooma Office | Best no-contract office phone | $19.95, no contract | 3.7/5 | $19.95, no contract | — | 1 to 20 users | Visit → |
| 7 | Aircall | Best for CRM-native calling | $30, 3-license minimum: $90 floor | 3.2/5 | $30 annual / $40 monthly, 3-license minimum | — | 3 to 50 reps | Visit → |
Annual means the monthly price of a plan paid for the year. Talkdesk lists its prices per user per month without a billing toggle.
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
Which Dialpad alternative for which case?
Start from the reason you are leaving. Each card points to the review that answers it.
Core $20 annual, multi-site from Advanced, RingCX contact center when needed.
You want Dialpad's $15 price from a bigger vendorNextivaNEXT Core $15 annual for 1 to 100 employees.
Your team shares numbers and texts customers all dayQuoShared inbox, $15 annual or $19 monthly; AI summaries on every call from Business, $23.
Your company already pays for Zoom WorkplaceZoom PhoneMetered $10.50 or Unlimited $16 on annual billing ($18 monthly), one admin console.
You are replacing Dialpad Support, the contact centerTalkdeskVoice Essentials $105, Express for teams under 50 employees.
You never want an annual contract againOoma Office$19.95 a user, no contract necessary.
Every call must land in HubSpot or SalesforceAircallHubSpot from Essentials, Salesforce from Professional, 3-license minimum.
Should you stay on Dialpad?
Stay on Dialpad if…
- You use the AI transcripts and call summaries every day: Standard includes them at $15, while Nextiva Core caps them at 50 transcriptions and 50 summaries.
- You need local numbers in many countries: Dialpad supports international local numbers in over 50 countries.
- You are mid-way through an annual term: leaving early means paying all remaining charges, so switch at renewal instead.
- Your support team already runs on Dialpad Support and the $89 Essentials seat covers your routing and analytics.
Leave Dialpad if…
- You need every call logged in your CRM: Aircall syncs HubSpot from Essentials and Salesforce from Professional, while Dialpad keeps CRM integrations for Pro at $25 a seat.
- You want monthly billing without paying a premium: Ooma has no contract and Quo charges $4 more than its annual rate.
- Your team texts more than it calls: Quo's shared inbox is built for that, and RingCentral Core caps SMS at 25 per user.
- Your company already pays for Zoom: adding Zoom Phone Metered at $10.50 costs less than a second vendor.
How to choose a Dialpad alternative
Dialpad sits in two categories at once. Dialpad Connect is a VoIP business phone system, also called UCaaS (unified communications as a service): your phone numbers live in the cloud, calls run over the internet through a desktop app, a mobile app or a desk phone, and the same account adds SMS, video meetings and team chat. Dialpad Support is a contact center, or CCaaS: it routes calls and chats to agents by skill and availability, records and scores them, and measures queues in real time. Before you compare tools, decide which of the two you are replacing. Entry office phone seats on this page run from $10.50 to $30 a month on annual billing; contact center seats start at $65 with RingCentral RingCX, $89 with Dialpad Support and $105 with Talkdesk Voice Essentials. Our rankings of the best phone systems for small businesses and of the best phone systems for call centers cover each side in depth.
Underneath, every VoIP system works the same way. The provider owns or rents phone numbers from carriers, connects your calls to the public phone network, and bills you for three things: seats (one user or license, sometimes with a minimum, like Aircall's 3), usage (minutes outside the unlimited calling area, SMS beyond a cap, AI conversations) and numbers (one is usually included, extra ones cost $5 to $6 a month). AI adds a fourth line: Nextiva bills its XBert agent $1.50 per conversation, Quo counts 100 credits per AI agent call with 1,000 credits included, and Aircall includes 50 AI voice agent minutes a month. Unlimited calling has a zone: the US and Canada for RingCentral and Zoom, the US, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico for Ooma.
Demand four answers before you sign: the price on monthly and annual billing, and any seat minimum; the unlimited calling zone and the international rates; the SMS allowance per user and the US carrier registration fees; and how the contract renews and how you port your numbers out. We also compared Vonage, GoTo Connect, 8x8, Ringover, JustCall, CloudTalk, Five9, Grasshopper and Google Voice. They are serious tools, but each overlaps with a pick above for the same buyer: Vonage and GoTo Connect with Ooma and Zoom Phone for small offices, 8x8 with RingCentral for multi-site companies, Ringover, JustCall and CloudTalk with Aircall for sales calling (our Aircall vs CloudTalk comparison details that pair) (see our phone systems for sales teams), Five9 with Talkdesk for large contact centers, Grasshopper, a virtual number for solo founders, with Quo, and Google Voice with Quo for very small teams already on Google Workspace: Voice is added to a Workspace plan from $10 per user a month on Starter, for up to 10 users, or $20 on Standard. If you are weighing Aircall, our Aircall alternatives page goes deeper on sales dialers.
Trap 1: the seat minimum sets your real entry price
Trap 2: annual upfront billing moves cash, not just price
Trap 3: texting has fees outside the seat
Leaving Dialpad cleanly
- Same billing basis (monthly or annual) on every quote
- Seat minimum multiplied by the plan price
- Unlimited calling zone and international rate per minute
- SMS cap per user and carrier registration fees
- CRM integration included on the plan you will buy
- Renewal length, notice period and number port-out process
Dialpad alternatives, the FAQ
Can I keep my phone numbers when I leave Dialpad?
Yes. A Company or Office Admin generates a port-out PIN at dialpad.com/portout, and the new provider runs the port with that PIN, your company name as it appears on your Dialpad invoice and the Company ID from that invoice as the account number. Do not cancel Dialpad before the port completes, then close the account separately: porting a number out does not close it. Ooma transfers numbers in for free on every plan, and Quo includes one new or ported number per user.How do I cancel my Dialpad subscription?
Tell Dialpad customer service you will not renew at least 30 days before the end of your current term; otherwise it renews automatically for a term of the same length. Monthly plans can stop at any time. On an annual plan, terminating early leaves you responsible for all remaining charges, including any applicable disconnection fee, with no refund of prepaid months.What happens to my Dialpad call recordings when I close the account?
They are deleted: upon termination, all information associated with a Dialpad account is deleted or destroyed, and Dialpad advises regular backups. Download recordings, voicemails and call logs you need for compliance or coaching before the account closes, not after the number port finishes.What is the difference between Dialpad Connect, Support and Sell?
Connect is the business phone system, from $15 per user a month on annual billing or $27 monthly. Support is the contact center, from $89 annual or $109 monthly, with omnichannel routing and a power dialer. Sell is the outbound sales line, from $39 annual or $49 monthly, with AI transcripts and CRM integrations. Most alternatives on this page replace Connect; Talkdesk replaces Support.Can I use Dialpad outside the US?
Yes. Dialpad supports international local numbers in over 50 countries, and calls abroad are billed at its international per-minute rates rather than included. Alternatives price it differently: Zoom Phone's $10 monthly add-on gives unlimited international calling to more than 15 countries and regions, and Quo bills international calls and texts with credits.Which Dialpad alternatives support HIPAA compliance?
Several do, on different plans. RingCentral lists HIPAA among its compliance certifications, Nextiva describes itself as HIPAA compliant, Quo lists HIPAA ready among its features, and Aircall reserves HIPAA compliance for its Enterprise plan, which has a 25-user minimum. Whichever you pick, ask for a business associate agreement before you record patient calls.Is there a free version of Dialpad?
Not as a plan: Dialpad's entry plan is Connect Standard at $15 a user on annual billing, and Connect can be tried free for 14 days. The alternatives work the same way: Quo offers a 7-day trial, RingCentral a free trial for up to five users without SMS, Zoom Phone a trial on US & CA Unlimited, and Talkdesk Express starts with $100 in free credit.Which Dialpad alternatives include call recording on the entry plan?
RingCentral, Zoom Phone and Aircall do. RingCentral Core includes on-demand call recording, Zoom Phone lists call recording on every plan, and Aircall Essentials keeps recordings for up to a year on request, six months in the dashboard. Ooma adds recording on Pro, at $24.95, and Quo's automatic call recording starts on Business.