Best VoIP for small business
Business phone systems with calling, texting and AI call features, compared on the per-user rate each vendor publishes as a static number.
Quo wins for a small team that wants AI call summaries, HubSpot and Salesforce integrations and unlimited US/Canada calling from an entry-level, clearly published rate. Nextiva wins instead for a business planning to grow into a full contact center. Its tier ladder runs from a basic Core plan up through dedicated Enterprise Contact Center plans on the same platform.
The short answer
- Quo's Starter plan is $19/user/month monthly ($15/user/month annually). It includes one phone number per user, unlimited US/Canada calling and messaging, and its Sona AI agent. Its Business tier ($33/user/month monthly) adds AI call summaries, transcripts and CRM integrations, per quo.com/pricing.
- Nextiva's Core plan is $15/user/month monthly ($23/user/month annually, described by Nextiva as a 35% saving structure). Its Scale plan at $75/user/month adds AI transcription, skills-based routing and journey orchestration, per nextiva.com/pricing.
- RingCentral's and Dialpad's core per-user phone plan pricing could not be read as a static figure. Both render their rate through an interactive user-count selector rather than a fixed price table.
Small business VoIP tools compared
| Tool | Starting price | AI features included? | CRM integrations | Best for | Not for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quo | $19/user/mo (Starter, monthly) | Yes, Sona AI agent from Starter tier | HubSpot and Salesforce named (Business tier and above) | A small team wanting AI call handling and CRM sync from an entry-level plan | A business wanting CRM integrations without upgrading past Starter |
| Nextiva | $15/user/mo (Core, monthly) | No, AI transcription/summary starts at the Scale tier ($75/user/mo) | Not detailed on the small-business pricing page | A business planning to grow into a full contact center on one platform | A small team wanting AI features without a large tier jump |
| RingCentral | Could not verify, interactive pricing tool | AI Receptionist available as an add-on from $39 | Not detailed in static form | A business willing to use an interactive calculator to get a real quote | A buyer wanting to read a flat rate without using the selector |
Figures checked on quo.com/pricing and nextiva.com/pricing, September 2026. RingCentral's and Dialpad's core phone-plan pricing renders through an interactive tool rather than a static table; Grasshopper's pricing page detected the fetch as being outside its supported US/Canada region and returned no plan details, so none of these three vendors' base per-user rates are quoted as fixed figures here.
How the two published options differ in practice
Quo
The clearest published tier ladder of the vendors checked here. Three plans from $19 to $47 per user per month, each adding a specific, named set of features. Group calling and IVR at Business, AI call tags and priority support at Scale. Additional phone numbers cost $5/month each beyond the one included per user. Automated SMS through Zapier or the API runs $0.01 per message. Not for: a business wanting the lowest entry price if Nextiva's $15/user/month Core plan meets its needs otherwise.
Nextiva
Structured to scale a business from a basic Core phone plan through Engage (customer-to-team SMS, inbound call center) up to a full Scale tier with AI transcription and journey orchestration. It then goes further into dedicated Enterprise Contact Center plans starting at $75/agent/month. That range suits a company that expects to outgrow a basic phone system without switching vendors. Not for: a small team wanting AI call features without jumping to the $75/user/month Scale tier.
When none of these is the answer
A one- or two-person business that mostly texts and takes the occasional call can often run on a phone carrier's standard business line without a dedicated VoIP platform. The AI summaries, CRM sync and multi-user features these tools charge for matter most once a team exists to coordinate.
SalesCrew is not included in the ranking above because it does not provide phone numbers or carry voice traffic. It runs outbound calls through Vapi as one channel and logs the outcome against a contact. Business phone numbers, inbound routing and SMS are on the roadmap as part of SalesCrew's local-services pack, not shipped. SalesCrew is not a candidate in a VoIP comparison today.
Questions
- Is OpenPhone still called OpenPhone?
- No. openphone.com now redirects permanently to quo.com, and the product is branded Quo. Any current comparison should reference Quo, not OpenPhone. The two names may still appear interchangeably in older material.
- What's the cheapest published VoIP plan here?
- Quo's Starter plan is $19/user/month monthly ($15/user/month billed annually). It includes one phone number per user and unlimited US/Canada calling and messaging, per quo.com/pricing. Nextiva's Core plan is $15/user/month monthly. That is slightly cheaper on the surface, but it jumps to $23/user/month on its annual rate structure.
- Why don't RingCentral and Dialpad have prices in the table?
- Both vendors render their per-user rate through an interactive selector rather than a static price table. RingCentral's page references add-on pricing (AI Receptionist from $39, Conversational Intelligence at $60) but not the base per-user rate itself in a form that could be read directly. Dialpad's fetched page detailed only its AI Agent credit system, not its core Connect phone plans.
- Does either published tool include AI features standard?
- Quo includes its Sona AI agent starting on its cheapest Starter tier. AI call summaries and transcripts are reserved for the Business tier and above. Nextiva's Scale tier ($75/user/month) adds AI transcription and summary. Its cheaper Core and Engage tiers do not include it.