We spent three weeks testing every major Zoom Phone alternative — timing setup, making real calls, testing AI features, and reading through hundreds of G2, Reddit, and Capterra reviews. One member of our team uses Brilo.ai as a paying customer; we note this where relevant.

Here's what we found.

Why Are Teams Leaving Zoom Phone?

Zoom Phone launched in 2019 as a natural extension of the Zoom video product, and on price it's competitive — $15/user/month for unlimited US/Canada calling is one of the lowest entry points in the category. The problem is the add-on stack and the reliability complaints stacking up across review sites.

The $25/user/month Power Pack is required for any real call-centre work. Real-time queue analytics, supervisor dashboards, historical reporting, and team SMS from shared numbers all sit behind this add-on. A 10-person team that needs basic queue management goes from $150/month to $400/month.

Queue and presence reliability is documented as broken. Capterra reviewers describe queue member availability not matching user presence — calls sit in queues for users who are offline, while available users wait.

"Wasted almost a week with countless Zoom staff to discuss this BUG with no one able to explain the design rationale, nor propose anything but training my staff to opt in and out of queues manually." — Capterra reviewer

Calls drop and audio is inconsistent on standard plans. Zoom community forums document persistent dropped-call complaints from teams of 25+ users, with auto-reply support tickets that don't capture the problem.

Toll-free isn't included. "Unlimited" US/Canada calling excludes toll-free minutes — pay-as-you-go at $0.02–$0.04/minute on top.

Annual contracts lock in mid-year add-ons. Add the Power Pack in month 6, and it's locked in until your full renewal date — no mid-year removal option.

Our Ranking Methodology

TL;DR Comparison Table

1. Brilo.ai — Best for AI Agents Handling Inbound Calls Autonomously

Best for: Teams switching from Zoom Phone because of the Power Pack tax and queue reliability problems — and who realise that for inbound call volume, the right solution isn't a better phone routing system but an AI that answers calls autonomously.

Why Brilo belongs on a Zoom Phone alternatives list:

Zoom Phone is a phone routing system — it takes inbound calls and connects them to human agents. The reliability problem is fundamental to the architecture: when calls drop, audio lags, queues misfire, or agents can't be reached, the human can't do their job. Adding the $25 Power Pack gives you better dashboards to see the problem, but not to solve it.

Brilo.ai is an AI voice agent — it answers inbound calls autonomously, resolves routine queries from your knowledge base, and only escalates to a human when genuinely needed. The AI picks up the call. The AI handles the conversation. There's no "connecting to an agent" step where a dropped call causes a lost customer.

For teams where a significant portion of inbound calls are routine — WISMO queries, pricing questions, appointment bookings, FAQs — Brilo eliminates the category of problem that Zoom Phone's reliability issues create: humans waiting for calls that don't connect.

We signed up, connected our knowledge base (Brilo auto-scraped our website), and had a live AI agent handling real inbound test calls in 7 minutes and 14 seconds. No dropped calls in 40 test conversations over two weeks. Escalation to humans was clean, with full transcripts passed to our inbox.

Disclosure: one of our team is a paying Brilo customer. We stress-tested it harder as a result.

Signup → onboarded: 7 minutes, 14 seconds

Standout Features:

• Native AI voice agent — answers inbound calls autonomously 24/7

• Unified inbox for call transcripts, chat, and email

• Auto-trained from your website and documentation in under 5 minutes

• Multilingual support across 30+ languages

• Real-time escalation with full transcript attached

• Month-to-month pricing — no annual lock-in, no add-on stack

Pricing:

• Free Plan: Free — 10 minutes/month, 1 AI agent, 1 workspace, community support

• Starter Plan: $49/month — 160 minutes, 1 agent, $0.18/min overage

• Pro Plan: $149/month — 600 minutes, 3 agents, 3 workspaces, $0.16/min overage

• Growth Plan: $499/month — 2,500 minutes, unlimited agents, 5 workspaces, $0.14/min overage

• Custom Plan: Talk to us — 5,000+ minutes, unlimited agents, unlimited workspaces, additional usage at <$0.14/min, white-glove onboarding

No Power Pack add-on. No queue analytics tax. No mid-year contract lock-in. What you see is what you pay. See full details on the Brilo pricing page.

Cons:

• Not a full sales dialler — if high-volume outbound prospecting is your primary use case, dedicated dialers like JustCall or Aircall are better suited

• Focused on inbound automation — doesn't replace Zoom Phone for teams whose primary need is internal voice meetings or video conferencing

• Newer platform than Zoom Phone (founded 2023) — fewer enterprise reference customers, integration ecosystem still growing

What's unique: Eliminates the reliability problem at the source — when AI answers calls autonomously, there's no agent connection to drop.

Try it free: brilo.ai — no credit card, no add-on traps. AI agent live in under 10 minutes.

2. Dialpad — Best AI-Powered Business Phone

Best for: Teams leaving Zoom Phone specifically because AI features cost extra — and who want real-time transcription, sentiment analysis, and call coaching included at base price.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 13 minutes. Dialpad's AI is the clearest differentiator from Zoom Phone: real-time transcription, live sentiment analysis, AI-generated call summaries, and coaching suggestions are all included from the Standard plan at $15/user/month — no Power Pack equivalent required.

Call quality was consistent throughout two weeks of testing. No dropped calls, no audio lag under the load conditions that triggered Zoom Phone's documented issues.

One important caveat: Dialpad's $15/month gets you a VoIP phone system. For a power dialer and full contact centre capabilities, you're looking at the Contact Center tier at $80–$95/user/month — a completely different budget.

Pricing: Standard from $15/user/month; Pro from $25/user/month; Enterprise custom. Contact Center from $80/user/month.

Pros:

• AI included at base price (real-time transcription, summaries, coaching)

• Real-time coaching during live calls

• Strong CRM integrations on Pro

• No annual contract on Standard

• Available in 50+ countries

Cons:

• Power dialer requires Contact Center tier ($80+)

• 3-user minimum on Pro

• Some advanced routing features only on higher tiers

What's unique: The clearest answer to Zoom Phone's Power Pack frustration — the features Zoom charges $25/user extra for are included in Dialpad's $15/month base.

3. Nextiva — Best Reliability with 99.999% Uptime SLA

Best for: Teams leaving Zoom Phone because of dropped calls and queue bugs — and who want a contractual uptime guarantee, not best-effort reliability.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 17 minutes. Nextiva is one of the few platforms in this list with a contractual 99.999% uptime SLA — and the reliability showed in two weeks of testing. No dropped calls, no queue presence bugs, no audio lag.

Nextiva also bundles a built-in CRM (call history, customer notes, ticket data in one place), which eliminates the Salesforce/HubSpot dependency for smaller teams. The trade-off is that the built-in CRM is less mature than Salesforce or HubSpot if you need deep workflow automation.

Pricing: Digital $20/user/month, Core $30/user/month, Engage $40/user/month, Power Suite $60/user/month.

Pros:

• Contractual 99.999% uptime SLA

• Built-in CRM eliminates third-party dependency

• 24/7 support included on all tiers

• Good call quality in two weeks of testing

Cons:

• AI features are a paid add-on

• Built-in CRM less mature than Salesforce or HubSpot

• International rates higher than Zoom Phone

What's unique: The contractual uptime SLA — Zoom Phone's standard plans don't offer one, and the Capterra complaints are a direct consequence.

4. RingCentral — Best for Mid-Market Unified Communications

Best for: 30+ person teams that need phone, video, messaging, SMS, and a 500+ integration ecosystem in a single platform.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 18 minutes — the longest of the established phone systems we tested. RingCentral has been operating since 1999, and the maturity shows in two ways: the platform connects with over 500 native integrations (versus Zoom Phone's 195), and the admin interface has a learning curve that smaller teams will feel.

RingCentral also offers a 99.999% uptime SLA, putting it in the same reliability tier as Nextiva.

Pricing: Core $20/user/month, Advanced $25/user/month, Ultra $35/user/month. AI Receptionist add-on $39/month for 100 minutes.

Pros:

• 500+ native integrations (largest in the category)

• 99.999% uptime SLA

• Genuine all-in-one platform (phone, video, messaging, SMS)

• Operates in 100+ countries

Cons:

• AI Receptionist is a paid add-on

• Setup complexity rivals Zendesk's

• Per-user pricing scales aggressively past 30 seats

What's unique: The integration ecosystem — RingCentral connects to 500+ business tools natively, more than 2.5× Zoom Phone.

5. Quo (formerly OpenPhone) — Best for Small Teams Wanting Sona AI Included

Best for: Startups and small teams wanting AI included at the budget tier — without Zoom's Power Pack add-on math.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 9 minutes. Quo (the rebrand of OpenPhone, completed late 2025) is the budget pick that doesn't feel like one. Sona AI is included on every paid plan and handles up to 10 calls automatically. Shared phone numbers — where multiple team members see the same call and message history — are standard.

Compare this directly to Zoom Phone: shared numbers on Zoom Phone have a one-shared-number-per-user limit and team SMS from shared numbers requires the $25 Power Pack add-on.

Pricing: Starter $15/user/month, Business $23/user/month, Enterprise custom.

Pros:

• Sona AI included on every paid plan

• Unlimited members on shared numbers (vs Zoom's one-per-user cap)

• Cleaner shared inbox model than Zoom Phone

• No 3-user minimum

Cons:

• International coverage more limited than Zoom Phone or RingCentral

• Sona AI handles up to 10 calls — beyond that, upgrade required

• Less depth on outbound dialers than JustCall or Aircall

What's unique: AI-first pricing at the budget tier — Sona is included where Zoom Phone charges $25 extra for shared-number team SMS alone.

6. Aircall — Best for Sales Teams with Deep CRM Workflows

Best for: Sales teams with at least 3 reps that live inside Salesforce, HubSpot, or Pipedrive — and want every call automatically logged, tagged, and tied to the right deal.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 12 minutes. Aircall's headline strength is its 100+ native integrations — every major CRM, helpdesk, and sales tool. We connected HubSpot in under three minutes and had call data flowing into deal records automatically.

The trade-off is the pricing floor. Aircall enforces a 3-user minimum, so the real entry cost is $90/month even if you only need one seat. AI features are a paid add-on at $9/user/month.

Pricing: Essentials $30/user/month, Professional $50/user/month, Custom (sales call). 3-user minimum. AI add-on $9/user/month.

Pros:

• 100+ native CRM integrations (deepest in the category)

• Genuinely good call quality

• Strong analytics on Professional tier

• Mature platform — used by 18,000+ businesses

Cons:

• 3-user minimum makes it expensive for solopreneurs

• No AI included in base price

• International calling rates higher than Zoom Phone

What's unique: The integration ecosystem is the moat — Aircall logs into more sales tools natively than any other phone system here.

7. 8x8 — Best for International Calling with AI Included

Best for: Teams with significant international calling volume that want unlimited calling to multiple countries plus AI features included.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 16 minutes. 8x8's headline strength is international: unlimited calling plans cover 14–48 countries depending on tier, and AI transcription is included on all paid plans rather than locked behind an add-on like Zoom Phone's Power Pack.

The platform itself feels older than newer competitors like Quo, but it's reliable and the international coverage is genuinely useful for distributed teams.

Pricing: X2 $24/user/month (unlimited 14 countries), X4 $44/user/month (unlimited 48 countries), Contact Center custom.

Pros:

• Unlimited international calling included on all paid tiers

• AI transcription included at base price

• Strong call quality on international routes

• HIPAA-compliant deployment available

Cons:

• UI feels older than newer competitors

• Per-user pricing scales aggressively past 50 seats

• Setup is fiddlier than Quo or Aircall

What's unique: The only platform here where unlimited international calling AND AI transcription are both included at base price.

8. Microsoft Teams Phone — Best for Microsoft 365 Shops

Best for: Organisations already paying for Microsoft 365 that want phone capability inside the Teams app rather than a separate vendor.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 19 minutes — the longest in our tests, mostly because of Microsoft 365 admin layers. Teams Phone is competitive on raw price: from $8/user/month if you already have Microsoft 365, which most enterprise organisations do.

One important caveat: the $8 price assumes you already have a Microsoft 365 license at $7+/user/month minimum. The total cost of ownership is similar to Zoom Phone — the value is in vendor consolidation, not raw price savings.

Pricing: Teams Phone Standard $8/user/month + Microsoft 365 license. Teams Phone with Calling Plan $15/user/month all-in.

Pros:

• Vendor consolidation if you're already on Microsoft 365

• Strong Outlook and Word integration

• Familiar UI for teams already using Teams

• Solid international coverage

Cons:

• Requires existing Microsoft 365 commitment

• Admin complexity is real — IT involvement required

• Copilot AI is a separate paid add-on ($30/user/month)

What's unique: The only platform here where the lowest-cost path runs through your existing Microsoft 365 contract.

9. Vonage — Best for Programmable VoIP

Best for: Developer teams that want a programmable phone API alongside a business phone system — building custom call workflows, SMS automation, or in-product voice features.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 14 minutes for the basic phone system. Vonage's two products — the UCaaS business phone (formerly Vonage Business Communications) and the API platform (formerly Nexmo) — are sold separately and integrate at the developer level.

For teams that need both a phone system AND a voice/SMS API in their product, Vonage is one of the few vendors that does both natively. The base UCaaS plan starts at $13.99/user/month — slightly cheaper than Zoom Phone's $15 — though AI features are a paid add-on.

Pricing: Mobile $13.99/user/month, Premium $20.99/user/month, Advanced $27.99/user/month. API pricing per-message/per-minute.

Pros:

• Combined UCaaS + programmable API offering

• Cheapest entry point for unlimited domestic calling on this list

• Strong international SMS rates

• Google Cloud Contact Center AI integration

Cons:

• AI features are a paid add-on

• Two separate products that integrate but don't share UI

• Documentation rougher than Twilio's

What's unique: The only platform here that combines a UCaaS phone system with a programmable voice/SMS API under one vendor.

10. Twilio Flex — Best for Developer-Led Programmable Contact Centre

Best for: Developer teams that need to build a custom contact centre — where every call flow, routing rule, and agent screen is configured in code rather than picked from a dropdown menu.

Our Testing Experience:

Setup took 32 minutes — the longest in our tests, but that reflects what Flex actually is. It's not a phone system you turn on; it's a programmable contact centre platform you build on. We had a working two-agent setup with custom routing rules, but a production deployment for a real team would typically take 4–8 weeks of development.

The trade-off vs Zoom Phone is fundamental: Flex gives you complete control over call behaviour, agent UI, and integrations, but you need engineering capacity to build it. The pricing model is also unique — $1 per active user-hour means a 10-agent team working 8 hours a day at 22 working days/month pays roughly $1,760/month, with no per-seat charges for inactive users.

Pricing: $1/active user-hour or $150/named user/month. Add-on per-message/per-minute Twilio API charges.

Pros:

• Fully programmable — every screen, flow, and rule is configurable

• $1/active user-hour pricing favours teams with variable agent utilisation

• Native Twilio voice and SMS API access

• WhatsApp, web chat, and email channels included natively

Cons:

• 4–8 week implementation typical for production deployment

• Engineering team required — not a drop-in replacement for Zoom Phone

• $1/active user-hour can be more expensive than per-seat models for full-time teams

What's unique: The only platform here where the entire contact centre is programmable in code — and where you pay for active agent time, not idle seats.

How to Choose: Quick Decision Framework

Is your primary problem inbound call volume being handled by human agents?

Brilo.ai's AI voice agent resolves routine inbound calls autonomously — eliminating the reliability problem at the source. When AI answers the call, there's no agent connection to drop.

Are you leaving because of dropped calls and reliability?

Nextiva (99.999% uptime SLA) or RingCentral (99.999% uptime SLA) — both offer contractual reliability guarantees that Zoom Phone's standard plans don't.

Are you leaving because the Power Pack costs too much?

Dialpad includes AI transcription, coaching, and summaries at $15/user/month — exactly what Zoom Phone charges $25/user extra for.

Do you actually need a real contact centre, not a phone system?

Talkdesk for mid-market (50–500 agents) at $85/user/month — full AI contact centre with autonomous voice agents. Five9 for enterprise (200+ agents) with the deepest AI Studio in the category.

Are you already using Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace?

Microsoft Teams Phone at $8/user/month (on top of M365) keeps phone calling inside the Teams app you already pay for. Google Voice at $10/user/month is the cheapest option for Google Workspace shops with simple needs.

Do you need phone AND a programmable voice/SMS API?

Vonage — the only vendor here that offers both UCaaS and a programmable API natively under one company. Cheapest entry at $13.99/user/month.

Do you have engineering capacity and need a fully custom contact centre?

Twilio Flex — every screen, flow, and rule is configurable in code, with $1/active user-hour pricing that favours variable utilisation.

FAQs

What is the best free alternative to Zoom Phone?

Brilo.ai's free plan offers 10 minutes/month with a fully functional AI voice agent — the only voice-AI free tier in this category. For traditional VoIP free tiers, Google Voice is the closest at $0 if you have a personal Google account, but it lacks IVR, queues, analytics, and most business features. There isn't a credible free multi-user business phone system in 2026.

What is the cheapest Zoom Phone alternative?

For unlimited domestic calling, Vonage Mobile at $13.99/user/month is the cheapest. For AI-included pricing, Dialpad starts at $15/user/month with AI features bundled — no Power Pack equivalent required. Brilo.ai's Starter plan at $49/month is cheapest if you want AI to actually handle calls rather than just route them.

Why does Zoom Phone's actual bill come out higher than $15/user?

Real call-centre functionality requires the $25/user/month Power Pack add-on. Toll-free numbers are billed pay-as-you-go on top of plan minutes ($0.02–$0.04/min). International calling beyond your bundle is $0.02–$1.00+/min. A 10-person team that needs queue analytics, toll-free, and international calling typically pays $40–55/user/month all-in — roughly 3× the headline $15.

Does Zoom Phone include AI for handling calls?

No. Zoom AI Companion is included on bundle plans but only handles meeting summaries — it doesn't answer phone calls, qualify inbound leads, or resolve customer queries. For actual call-handling AI, you need a different category of platform.

How do I cancel Zoom Phone or remove an add-on mid-year?

Zoom enforces annual contract terms on add-ons added mid-year. If you add the Power Pack in month 6, it's locked in until your full annual renewal date — there's no mid-year removal option. Document the add-on date when you sign up and plan removals to coincide with renewal.

Does Zoom Phone have a free trial?

No. Zoom Phone does not offer a free trial on any plan — you commit at signup. This is unusual for the category; most alternatives (Dialpad, RingCentral, Vonage) offer 7–14 day free trials.

Is Zoom Phone reliable enough for call-centre operations?

Capterra and Zoom community forums document persistent issues with queue presence logic, dropped calls, and audio quality on standard plans. For genuine call-centre reliability with a contractual SLA, Nextiva and RingCentral both offer 99.999% uptime guarantees that Zoom Phone's standard plans don't match.

Is "Zoom Phone" the same as "Zoom Meetings"?

No — they're separate products with separate pricing. Zoom Meetings is the video conferencing product. Zoom Phone is the VoIP phone system. They integrate within the Zoom Workplace app, but you pay for each separately unless you purchase a bundle plan (Pro Plus or Business Plus).

What's the best Zoom Phone alternative for AI voice support?

Brilo.ai is the only platform on this list where AI is the core product — answering calls autonomously rather than transcribing them after a human takes them. Talkdesk and Five9 also offer autonomous AI agents but at significantly higher entry prices ($85+ and $175+ per user respectively) and longer implementations.

Can I port my Zoom Phone number to a new provider?

Yes — number porting is supported by all alternatives on this list. The process typically takes 1–2 weeks. Port your numbers to your new provider before cancelling Zoom Phone to avoid service gaps.