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About VonageStarting Price: $19.99 per user per month. Key Features:
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Vonage is an average business phone system if you just need a phone that supports the basic calling and texting features of a smartphone. If you need more functionality, it lacks advanced features and team collaboration tools, though its price is higher than many competitors.
However, if that’s a priority for your business, Vonage’s support for a communications API that lets you embed custom calling capabilities into apps and websites might be worth giving up on other features.
Vonage Pricing
Vonage has three standard business phone system plans:
- Mobile: For some users who only need basic calling and texting features, they need to pay $19.99 per user per month.
- High quality: For small teams that need internal messaging, video conferencing, and desk phones, it costs $29.99 per user per month.
- Advanced: $39.99 per user per month, provides call recording, voicemail transcription, and team call groups on demand.
If you need to handle a lot of calls, Vonage offers two contact center plans. Neither plan is priced, but there are plenty of add-ons to choose from, so you can mix and match features to build a plan that works for your business.
There’s also a unique Conversational Business package that starts at $1,000 per month for up to 10 agents, with the option to add more for $35 per month. You’ll also have to pay a $5,000 setup fee, so it’s a significant upfront investment.
Communications API pricing is based on usage:
- Domestic calls start at $0.0127 per minute.
- Prices start at $0.0062 per SMS.
- Video conferencing starts at $0.004 per minute.
- In-app messaging starts at $0.0007 per minute.
You can also use digital insights, scheduling, custom events, reporting, social media messaging, and verification APIs.
Key Features of Vonage
Vonage’s standard phone system features include unlimited domestic calling, unlimited text messaging, free number porting, and a virtual receptionist. But its most standout feature is its powerful communications API.
Unlimited talking and texting
Every Vonage plan comes with unlimited domestic talking and texting.
If you want a more cost-effective alternative to traditional carrier plans that are billed based on usage, this is a great value option.
You can make and receive calls or send text messages using your existing devices without purchasing any additional hardware. Simply download the Vonage app and switch seamlessly between personal and business lines.
Free Number Porting
If you’re interested in switching to a VoIP provider or want to change your business phone system, Vonage makes the process easy for you. They’ll port your number to Vonage for free so you can stay connected with your clients without having to worry about number porting or missed calls.
Local and toll-free number porting may take up to 21 business days to be fully processed, so it is best to keep your current subscription active until the number is officially transferred to Vonage.
Virtual Receptionist
With Vonage’s Virtual Receptionist, all incoming calls are answered by a virtual auto-attendant instead of a live agent.
From there, callers will see a list of menu options from which they can select the reason for their call. This allows them to quickly be transferred to someone who can help. You can also set up your virtual receptionist to play different greetings based on the time of day, day of the week, holiday dates, and more.
This is a standard feature offered in all Vonage business phone plans.
Intuitive management portal
Vonage’s user-friendly management portal makes it easy to quickly manage and view phone system activity across your entire organization.
You can monitor system status, track team trends, add new extensions, and manage your numbers. The clean interface helps managers and system administrators complete tasks quickly without spending hours scrolling and clicking.
The management portal also gives you access to audit logs where you can track changes and revert content to the original settings if necessary.
This feature is only available to users with designated administrator privileges. All regular Vonage users on your team can manage their own extension settings from their user portal, but not other system settings.
Communication API
Vonage offers voice, video, SMS, social media messaging, in-app messaging, scheduling, verification, number insights, custom events, and reporting APIs that you can use to create a truly customized collaboration and customer engagement environment.
If you have the resources to build and maintain custom communications applications and embedded solutions, this is the best way to use Vonage.
Advantages of Vonage
- Basic Phone System is easy to deploy.
- Each plan includes one free primary company line.
- Extensive communication APIs.
- A unique solution for conversational commerce.
- Modular contact centre options.
- User-friendly interface.
- Centralized user management.
- Numerous privacy and security certifications.
Disadvantages of Vonage
- Support is not available 24/7.
- Although the price is the same as competitors, the mobile phone plans have fewer features.
- At higher levels, the cost-effectiveness is even lower.
- There is no desk phone included in the cheapest plan.
- Recently sued by the Federal Trade Commission.
- Limited AI capabilities.
Vonage Alternatives
For most businesses, Nextiva and RingCentral are generally better choices than Vonage. Nextiva offers the best balance of price, availability, and scalability for businesses of all sizes. RingCentral is more advanced than Nextiva and Vonage, and it’s better suited for businesses with more than 100 employees.
Here is a detailed comparison of Vonage on key business communication factors.
| Warnatch | Nextiva | RingCentral | Large room | Dial pad | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $19.99 per user per month | $28.95 per user per month | $20 per user per month | $19.95 per user per month | $15 per user per month |
| Free Trial | No | Demo only | 14 days | No | 14 days |
| Desk Phone | Some plans | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Apps | Great | Average | Great | Great | OK |
| videoconference | Some plans | Yes | Yes | Some plans | Yes |
| Send SMS | Yes | Some plans | Yes | Some plans | Yes |
| Team Chat | Some plans | Yes | Yes | Some plans | Yes |
| Online Fax | + $14.99 per month | Yes | Some plans | Yes | + $10 per month |
| Call Routing | Basic | Average | Advanced | Basic | Advanced |
| Call Recording | Top plan only | Top plan only | All Plans | Some plans | All Plans |
| AI capabilities | No | Average | Advanced | Basic | Advanced |
| integrated | 20+ | 20+ | 300+ | 10+ | 70+ |
Nextiva
My top recommendation for most businesses is Nextiva because it’s easy to set up, has excellent customer service, and you never have to worry about running out of money.
RingCentral
If you need more customization options than Nextiva offers, RingCentral is a premium alternative that you can tweak to your needs. While it’s more difficult to set up and use, it offers the most flexibility.
Large room
If you want a desk phone from Vonage, it will cost you $10 more per user per month than Ooma, which is my top recommendation for field offices that need a physical phone. Also, Ooma is much easier to use and deploy, whereas Vonage requires you to be at Tier 2 or higher to use a desk phone.
Dial pad
Overall, Vonage’s AI features are very limited, especially compared to Dialpad. If AI and automation are important to you, Dialpad is a better choice. Plus, you’ll save $5 per user per month on the cheapest plan while getting more collaboration and productivity tools.
Methodology
I researched, tested, and reviewed business communications tools, including Vonage, based on several key considerations.
Standard and advanced features
I looked at key features, including video conferencing, voicemail, text messaging, virtual receptionist, call forwarding between devices, call transfer, desktop apps, and mobile apps, and compared their availability at different plan tiers.
Customer Support
I looked at customer support availability hours, each service’s support channels, and customer reviews related to the provider’s service level and speed.
Third-party integrations
To compare features at an enterprise level, I examined each platform’s ability to sync with common business software such as CRM, cloud storage, fax, ERP, SMS, and more.
Security and Privacy
Encryption, account management, redundant architectures, data center audits, multi-factor authentication, and multiple servers and data centers in different locations are all taken into account.
Uptime Percentage
I checked for any reports of unexpected outages, infrastructure issues, or technical problems that could cause uptime issues, delays, or service interruptions.
Demo or free trial
This metric includes the ability to test the service using a trial or demo before subscribing, as well as the length of the free trial.
Total Cost
This includes all associated costs, including free trials, discounts, monthly vs. annual fees, per-installation costs, and per-user prices. It also takes into account whether using the call center phone system requires existing equipment or new equipment.
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