![8 Grasshopper Alternatives in 2021 [Compared & Reviewed]](images/grasshopper-alternatives.jpg "8 Grasshopper Alternatives in 2021 [Compared & Reviewed]")
Though Grasshopper solutions may have been an ideal business phone system when your business first opened its doors, when it was still just your “side hustle,” or when you were your company’s only “employee,” but you’ve probably outgrown it.
The Grasshopper alternatives we’ll cover in this post offer much more than just a business phone number with a few call management capabilities.
But which one is right for your business?
We’ve evaluated how the below providers’ pricing, features, user experience, and more stand up against Grasshopper and one another to determine the type of small business that would most benefit from each platform.
Our Best Grasshopper Alternatives – And Why
1. RingCentral: For Small Remote Teams Seeking Unified Communication and Collaboration
2. Nextiva: For remote/in-house teams that need both internal team collaboration and customer-facing sales and support solutions within their business phone system
3. Dialpad: For in-house/remote SMBs that have a higher daily call volume than their number of current agents can handle
4. GoToConnect: For small businesses of 10 or fewer in-house employees that primarily communicate via phone, but don’t need especially advanced call routing strategies
5. Vonage Business: For small businesses of under 20 employees that want to buy phone features a la carte, or that are already using third-party platform(s) for additional communication channels like video
6. CloudTalk: For in-house teams with a high daily contact volume that prioritize personalized customer support, CRM integration, and that don’t usually communicate via other channels
7. Phone.com: For in-house and remote SMBs that prioritize scalable, tiered pricing options above all else.
8. Google Voice: For startups/solopreneurs needing an additional local phone number that heavily rely on Google Workspace applications like Gmail, Google Meet, Google Docs, and Google Calendar.
RingCentral
For remote teams of 10-25 employees needing a unified communication and collaboration experience across phone, messaging, and video
RingCentral MVP (Message, Phone, Video) is a unified communications platform offering unlimited SMS and team chat messaging, unlimited VoIP calling in the United States and Canada, and audio/video conferencing for up to 200 participants.
The below table provides a direct comparison between Grasshopper and RingCentral.
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Offers native:
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Does not include:
Does Include:
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| Allows up to 1,000 attendees per conference call and up to 200 participants per video call | Allows up to 10 attendees for an audio conference, including the host |
Multi-level auto attendant available on three out of four plans, includes:
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Ruby Virtual Receptionist is available only as a paid add-on with all plans ($195.00/month for 100 receptionist minutes) that allows callers to speak with a live receptionist
Other call management features include:
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| Integrates with 200+ apps | Does not offer third-party integrations |
RingCentral MVP pricing for 2-10 users is outlined in the table below:
Key Takeaways:
- RingCentral MVP offers more advanced features than Grasshopper — it also offers more competitive pricing. At $49.99/user per month with unlimited users, RingCentral’s most expensive plan is still cheaper than Grasshopper’s, which is $80.00/month for up to 5 phone numbers.
- RingCentral and Grasshopper both offer 24/7 support, but RingCentral also offers superior customer service with features like free training webinars, dedicated customer success managers, and personalized onboarding training
- Here’s a complete breakdown of RingCentral pricing and plans.
Overall Impression:
Since Grasshopper doesn’t include or integrate with any team collaboration tools like whiteboarding, instant chat messaging, and file editing, there is simply no way it’s an effective standalone business phone system for completely or mostly remote teams. Teams of all sizes can benefit from RingCentral’s advanced video calling, team collaboration, and audio conferencing tools to easily re-create the in-office experience from anywhere — without having to waste time constantly switching in-between apps. The majority of RingCentral users have between 2-10 team members in total, but its advanced features and scalable pricing system mean that larger teams could also benefit from it.
Nextiva
For remote or in-house teams needing a VoIP phone system with features specifically geared towards strengthening customer-facing sales and customer support teams, in addition to better internal team collaboration
Nextiva ONE is a cloud-based business phone system that offers multiple communication channels including phone, texting, and faxing. It also recently launched CoSpace, its video conferencing and team collaboration solution that’s included with all Nextiva Plans.
What sets Nextiva apart from other VoIP phone systems is that it also offers Sales and Service Productivity software bundled feature sets via NextOS, which are specifically designed to assist customer service and sales departments.
Deeper insight into the differences between Nextiva and Grasshopper is explored in the table below.
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Advanced Native Sales Productivity and Customer Service Features:
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No CRM capabilities requires use of separate third-party software |
| Unlimited video conferencing and phone call recording, access recordings directly from analytics portal, advanced voice analytics using NLP/AI | No call recording available, basic analytics (call history/call logs only) |
| Unlimited audio conferencing participants, up to 250 video conferencing participants | Only 10 audio conference participants and no video calling available |
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No available third-party integrations, no available native sales or CRM features |
| Most affordable Nextiva Plan is the Essential Plan at $18.95/user per month | The most affordable Grasshopper plan is Solo Plan at $29.00/month per phone number, and still requires paid add-ons for key features |
Nextiva pricing for 20-99 users is outlined in the table below:
Key Takeaways
- CoSpace, Nextiva’s integrated team collaboration hub, offers advanced features like polling, video calling, participant feedback, task management, team calendars, screen sharing, persistent chat, file sharing, and more. Grasshopper’s complete lack of team collaboration tools simply can’t compete — even in an in-house environment.
- Nextiva offers 24/7 chat, phone, and email support in addition to professional setup, custom onboarding training, free training webinars, and more. Grasshopper has 24/7 email and phone support but no real onboarding training
- Here’s a complete breakdown of Nextiva pricing and plans.
Overall Impression
Grasshopper may be an effective phone system for a solopreneur trying to make outbound sales calls or help customers with basic questions, but for those who prefer to work outside of a basic spreadsheet, it just won’t cut it. Not only does Nextiva offer native CRM capabilities like account history, contact management, and call pops, it also integrates with popular CRM tools like Zendesk, HubSpot, and Salesforce. Plus, advanced tools like Conversational AI offer a high level of customer self-service that, according to data from Nextiva’s website, has helped companies achieve a 99% reduction in support resolution time and a potential savings of $23,200. Companies of between 20-50 agents, whether remote or in-house, can streamline their sales and customer service processes — and integrate customer feedback — with Nextiva.
Dialpad
For in-house or remote SMBs with a high daily call volume and a small number of available agents needing a business phone system that optimizes agents, reduces hold time and call queues, and helps agents improve current performance.
The Dialpad Business Communications suite combines voice calling, one-click audio conferences, SMS, team instant messaging, and video calling in a streamlined omnichannel interface.
The below table further highlights key differences between Dialpad and Grasshopper.
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All Dialpad plans come with features that many providers only offer on more expensive plans, including:
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Speech Coaching Feature automatically activated when:
It also provides real-time and post-call transcripts designed to decrease “filler” agent words such as “um,” “like,” “uh,” etc. |
AI and Voice Analytics are not available |
Advanced call routing options include:
Users can also configure unlimited ring groups |
Only Call Blasting, which is an add-on feature for $10.00/month to dial up to 15 simultaneous numbers, is available |
Automatic Post-Call Notes:
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Does not offer CRM features or integrate with any CRM platforms |
| At $15.00/user per month, Dialpad’s standard plan is one of the most affordable options in this post.
However, Enterprise plan cost is unlisted. |
Does not offer any customized/quote-based pricing, but cheapest plan is $26.00/month when billed annually |
Available Dialpad pricing and plans are outlined in the table below:
Key Takeaways
- Dialpad offers advanced integrations (whereas Grasshopper offers none) which include both standard CRM systems (HubSpot, Salesforce, etc.) and industry-specific platforms like Okta, Azure, and ServiceNow.
- Dedicated account managers are available for purchase as an add-on with every plan, in addition to priority support for Enterprise customers. Additional customer support includes 24/7 phone support, an online knowledge base, a thriving community forum, and multilingual live chat support. Priority case management isn’t something Grasshopper offers.
- Especially for the $15.00/month price, Dialpad’s Standard Plan offers advanced features that are available as Grasshopper paid add-ons (if they’re available at all.) These include call recording, multi-level auto attendants, spam detection, custom routing, Dialpad UberConference video meetings, voicemail transcription, and post-call notes.
- Here’s a complete breakdown of Dialpad pricing and plans.
Overall Impression:
Dialpad is best for SMBs that are growing at a rate that outpaces their current number of available agents — and that therefore need to maximize agent efficiency, shorten call hold times, and offer improved self-service. Growth-oriented businesses in the startup phase would do much better to choose Dialpad over Grasshopper, as Dialpad offers the scalability that Grasshopper lacks. Note that video conferencing is available via Dialpad UberConference, which has one free plan (up to 10 users meet for 45 minutes maximum) and one paid plan for $15.00/user per month. The paid plan offers a 5-hour meeting maximum time for up to 100 participants, as well as features like call transcriptions, post-meeting notes, and dial-in meeting access. Both Video plans offer screen sharing, in-meeting chat, video recording, file sharing, and meeting room locks. Therefore, Dialpad is best for teams that either are willing to pay an extra $15.00/month for video conferencing (negating the cost savings) or that only have occasional video calls.
GoToConnect
For small businesses of 10 or fewer in-house employees that primarily communicate via phone, but don’t need especially advanced call routing strategies.
GoToConnect is a unified cloud hosted PBX phone, team chat, SMS, and video meeting solution. Each plan includes the GoToMeeting video conferencing solution, a sister product by parent company LogMeIn.
The table below provides a comparison between GoToConnect and Grasshopper features.
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Drag-and-drop Visual Dial Plan Editor allows admins to create and edit call paths in real-time according to:
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Call routing by Business Hours only, basic call forwarding and call transfer available |
Offers unlimited:
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Unlimited extensions available only on most expensive plan, call queues and IVR not available |
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Team Collaboration features from advanced GoToMeeting video call tool:
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Strictly business phone functionality, no team collaboration tools included |
| Premium Plan is still half the cost of Grasshopper’s most expensive plan | Essential features paid add-ons, most expensive plan $89.00/user and up |
Available GoToConnect pricing and plans for 2-10 users are outlined in the table below:
Key Takeaways
- GoToConnect also offers a $29.99/month cloud contact center add-on, which offers additional call routing strategies, real-time agent activity insights, call whisper and call barge, and more. Grasshopper doesn’t offer features like these, but most other providers do — without the paid add-on.
- AI-powered team collaboration tools are a welcome, but recent, addition. Though some may find them useful (and undoubtedly cool) the fact that GoToConnect added these features as opposed to offering more advanced call routing strategies and in-app file editing first
- In order to access advanced video calling features like higher meeting capacities, unlimited cloud recording, whiteboarding, and even meeting lock, users must upgrade to the Business GoToMeeting plan for $16.00/user per month.
- Here’s a complete breakdown of GotoConnect pricing and plans.
Overall Impression
GoToConnect has recently added some exciting features like its automated Smart Assistant and in-meeting note-taking tool, and provides more communication channels than Grasshopper does. That said, when compared to some of the other providers on this list, it doesn’t offer any especially “unique” features that could justify the higher-than-average cost of the Basic Plan. Plus, some of the calling features that are included in competing provider plans are available only with the Cloud Contact Center add-on (advanced call routing strategies, customizable call flow editing tools, pre-recorded agent messages, etc.) Therefore, we’d suggest GoToConnect to current GoToMeeting users who want to add phone communication or current Grasshopper customers that can’t decide if they need to upgrade to a better phone system or a cloud contact center software.
Vonage Business
For small businesses that want to add features a la carte or that already use some third-party communication software for additional communication channels
Vonage Business is a unified communications (UC) platform offering voice calling, video meetings, online faxing, SMS, chat, and social media messaging in one place.
Key differences between Grasshopper and Vonage are outlined in the table below.
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| Visual Voicemail, which includes voicemail transcription and voicemail-to-email, requires a paid add-on for two most affordable plans ($4.99/month per extension) | Visual Voicemail available on all plans |
| Company-wide automatic call recording and on-demand call recording available as add-ons for $49.00/500 hours per month, or $4.99/month per extension for 15 hours of recording, only included as a feature in most expensive plans | Call recording not available |
| Audio conference bridge for up to 30 participants, up to 100 video conference participants | No video conferencing available, only up to 10 conference call participants |
| Offers several fee-based onboarding support plans, including up to 5 days of on-site installation support and customized 90 minute training webinars for teams | Phone support, online knowledge base, and online chat support only, no customized onboarding plans available |
| Though most affordable plan is cheaper than Grasshopper’s basic plan, it’s almost a requirement to purchase paid add-ons to have a functioning phone system | All Grasshopper plans include the same features, but no add-on features (aside from Ruby Receptionist and translation) are available |
Available Vonage Business pricing and plans for up to 20 users are outlined below:
Key Takeaways
- Purchasing Vonage plans as-is won’t provide as many features as other providers, paid add-ons are required to have a more complete business phone system
- Unlike Grasshopper, Vonage does offer team chat messaging, unlimited SMS, and CRM integrations, but video calling isn’t included in Vonage’s basic plan
- Vonage Analytics offers excellent insights into business communication that Grasshopper and even other providers on this list don’t offer, including AI Conversation Analyzer, call disposition analysis, rankings of most/least active agents and call groups, etc.
- Here’s a complete breakdown of Vonage pricing and plans.
Overall Impression
Unfortunately, Vonage’s pricing model overshadows most of the benefits it offers. Although Vonage Business Communications presents itself as a “unified” platform, the reality is quite different. First, video calling is not available on the most basic plan, and even advanced plans allow for only up to 100 participants. Additionally, features like call recording, call groups, visual voicemail, call monitoring, and even call queuing all require the purchase of paid add-ons. Therefore, Vonage Business Communications is only a viable solution for businesses of under 20 employees that want a la carte features or that are currently using third-party platforms for non-calling communication channels that they don’t want to switch from.
CloudTalk
For in-house teams that communicate primarily via phone, have a high daily contact volume, and need a platform with excellent CRM integrations as opposed to additional communication channels
CloudTalk is a cloud-based call center software and business phone solution primarily designed for customer service teams who rely mainly on voice communication.
The main differences between CloudTalk and Grasshopper are compared in the table below.
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All CloudTalk plans come with more advanced features like:
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All Grasshopper plans offer:
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Call Routing Strategies include:
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Only routing strategy available is Business Hour Routing |
Provides stronger call organization opportunities through features like:
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Allows for simultaneous call handling and custom user scheduling for receiving calls, but no real post-call organization opportunities |
| No native video calling tools nor integration, requires separate third-party software | No native video calling tools or available integration, requires separate third-party application |
| No native team chat messaging, but integrates with Slack | No native team chat, requires separate third-party software |
Available CloudTalk pricing and plans are outlined below:
Key Takeaways
- After Call Work, which creates a mandatory amount of time between when agent finishes speaking and when agent can begin their next call, allows for better agent organization
- Like Grasshopper, CloudTalk does not have native video or team chat messaging, but integrates with Slack. However, video calling will require another third-party software.
- Offers a completely tailor-made Custom Plan (with custom pricing) that allows users to design their business phone system from the ground up
- Outbound calling features, like Smart Dialer and Power Dialer, are available on the most expensive plans — whereas the majority of other providers listed here don’t offer any form of dialer modes
Overall Impression
CloudTalk is much closer to a call center solution than a unified communications tool — especially since it doesn’t offer native team chat messaging or video communications. Given that, CloudTalk’s plans include some advanced features, like After Call Work and Unlimited Call Queueing, that go way beyond the capabilities of other providers. The flip side is that CloudTalk’s basic plans don’t include some essential standard features like call transfer, automated call forwarding, and IVR. As such, users need to purchase, at minimum, the Essential Plan for $25.00/month to have a truly functioning business phone system. The good news is that CloudTalk’s Essential Plan is still more affordable than Grasshopper’s Solo Plan, which starts at $29.00/month. CloudTalk is ideal for businesses with a high daily call volume that prioritize personalized service, but who don’t need the additional communication channels a unified communications platform offers.
Phone.com
For in-house and remote SMBs that prioritize scalable, tiered pricing options above all else.
Phone.com is a flexible business phone system also offering texting, audio/video conferencing, faxing, toll-free 800 numbers, and team collaboration tools.
It includes over 50 standard communication features in all of its plans and prides itself on its affordability and scalability.
The comparison table below explains key differences and similarities between Phone.com and Grasshopper.
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| CRM integration is only available on the most expensive plan, but no native CRM features are available | No CRM features or integrations |
All plans include video conferencing and team collaboration features like:
Whiteboarding and video recording are only available on more expensive plans |
No video calling or team collaboration features |
| The basic plan offers pooled minutes per user and 1,000 pooled monthly text messages | Even most basic plan offers unlimited US/Canada calling and SMS messaging |
| 24/7 phone, email, and chat customer support | 24/7 phone and live chat support, but no 24/7 email support |
| Call recording is available for $8.00/user per month on the first two plans, included with the most expensive plan | Does not offer call recording |
Available Phone.com pricing and plans are outlined below:
Key Takeaways
- Top VoIP features include call recording, shared phone lines, live receptionist (similar to Grasshopper’s Ruby Virtual Receptionist and faxing allow for higher cost savings
- Especially well-known for its ease of implementation, which takes less than 15 minutes
- Plan is unique in that it allows companies to combine different user types to save even more, as not all users will need access to the same features
Overall Impression
Phone.com is designed for smaller teams that may not always require the advanced telephony features that some of the other providers listed here have. However, where it differs from Grasshopper is that it does offer these features, allowing teams to add features like a virtual receptionist, call recording, and more on an as-needed basis. Phone.com is right for small businesses who need a highly scalable plan and want to be able to choose features a la carte. These teams may only have a small to moderate daily call volume.
Google Voice
For startups/solopreneurs needing an additional local phone number that heavily rely on Google Workspace applications like Gmail, Google Meet, Google Docs, and Google Calendar
Google Voice is a popular Grasshopper alternative and cloud-based small business phone service offering additional local telephone numbers, basic call management features, and Google Workspace integrations.
The below Grasshopper vs. Google Voice comparison table provides additional information.
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| Number porting and local phone numbers available (no toll-free or vanity phone numbers available) | Grasshopper offers local, toll-free, and vanity phone numbers |
| All plans offer voicemail transcription | All plans offer voicemail transcription |
| Limited features don’t allow callers to be placed on hold, but call forwarding to linked numbers and ring groups are available | Incoming call control (call transfer, call forwarding, etc.) available on all Grasshopper plans |
| AI Spam call filter automatically filters out phone calls from blocked, unknown, or likely spam phone numbers
Do Not Disturb mode also available |
Do Not Disturb and Call Blocking features available |
| All plans come with an SLA | Does not require a contract |
Available Google Voice pricing and plans for up to 20 users are outlined below:
Key Takeaways
- An affordable basic business phone number (not really at the level of a “phone system”) that offers SMS texting, unlimited calling, and Google Workspace integration
- Ring Groups and basic multi-level auto-attendant features are available on two most advanced plans
- Offers 24/7 support, but most of that support exists via the Google Voice Help Community online, not true 24/7 phone support
Overall Impression
For solopreneurs and micro-businesses that already work within the Google Workspace universe, Google Voice will certainly feel intuitive and familiar. Users can easily integrate Google Meet video calling, Google Docs file sharing, and Google Calendar/Gmail into the Voice app. That said, though Google Voice claims that it has plans for businesses of every size, it’s highly unlikely that a business with more than 5 (or frankly, even fewer) will find its limited features sufficient. Google Workspace is best for users that just need an alternative local phone number they can use for their business, both to be able to look more professional and to avoid giving out their personal phone number.
Comparing Alternatives to Grasshopper
Though all the Grasshopper alternatives we highlighted in this post are strong contenders, the one you choose will come down to two main factors: pricing and the specific features you need your business phone system to have.
To make comparing these alternatives even easier, use the below table. Click the “more information” links under each software to be directed to an in-depth provider review.
| Provider | RingCentral | Nextiva | Dialpad | GoToConnect | Vonage Business | CloudTalk | Phone.com | Google Voice |
| Pricing | 4 Paid Plans from $14.99/user per month to $49.99/user per month | 4 Paid Plans from $18.95/user per month $57.95/user per month | 3 Paid Plans from $15.00/user per month to $25.00+/user per month | 3 Paid Plans from $22.00/user per month to $39.00/user per month | 3 Paid Plans from $14.99/user per month to $34.99/user per month | 4 Paid Plans from $20.00/user per month to $40.00+/user per month | 3 Paid Plans from $12.99/user per month to $29.99/user per month | 3 Paid Plans from $10.00/user per month to $30.00/user per month |
| Best For | Remote teams of 2-10 that need multiple communication channels to recreate the office experience | Remote or In-House teams of 20-50 agents that need a phone system with native CRM capabilities | Small businesses with a daily call volume that is currently outpacing their number of available agents | Current GoToMeeting users who want to add phone service, or Grasshopper users that can’t decide between a business phone or contact center solution | Businesses of 20 or fewer employees that are already using third-party communications software they don’t want to switch from, but add to | SMBs with a high daily call volume that don’t need additional communication channels | Small teams with a moderate daily call volume that want to purchase scalable features a la carte | Solopreneurs and businesses with under 5 employees already using Google Workspace |
| Reviews | RingCentral Reviews | Nextiva Reviews | Dialpad Reviews | GoToConnect Reviews | Vonage Business Reviews | CloudTalk Review | Phone.com Reviews | Google Voice Reviews |
Grasshopper Alternative FAQs
Below, we’ve answered a few of the most common FAQs about alternatives to Grasshopper and business VoIP.
Some essential VoIP features to look for include:
- IVR and ACD
- Advanced call routing strategies (skills-based routing, time-based routing, VIP routing, etc.)
- Visual Voicemail
- Call forwarding
- Call hold, call park, call transfer
- Call blocking and caller ID
- Call recording and call recording transcription
- Audio conferencing
- Video calling
- SMS and MMS texting
- Integrations
- Basic CRM capabilities
- Team chat messaging
- Hot desking
- User presence
- Automatic callback
To learn more about other capabilities to consider, check out our VoIP feature guide.
Though of course, the monthly cost of your business phone system will depend on the provider, plan, and features you choose, in general, you should expect to pay between roughly $20.00-$40.00/user per month for VoIP phone service.
Key questions to ask potential business phone platforms include:
- What kind of onboarding support and new user training do they offer?
- What is their guaranteed uptime?
- Which communication channels do they offer?
- Do they offer end-to-end encryption?
- How do they respond to data leaks and other issues, and what is their average response time?
- Do they require users to sign a contract? If so, what is included in the SLA and what is the contract length?
- Which features are included in the monthly subscription, and which features are paid add-ons?
- Do they offer live 24/7 support, and if so, on what channels? What is their average support ticket turnaround time?
Your existing hard phones are likely to be compatible with your new VoIP software if you’ve purchased them in the past few years, and most providers will have a list of compatible devices on their website.
Softphones allow users to access the VoIP phone system, team collaboration tools, and more either within their web browsers, as a browser extension, or as a downloadable application that can be used with their desktop computers. Any provider today will also have compatible mobile apps.
Some users may purchase hardware like a new router, headsets, speakers, or new telephones, but in many cases, they are not required. The main thing to evaluate is whether or not you currently have enough Internet bandwidth to successfully operate your VOIP system. In general, at least 100 kpbs of upload and download bandwidth per line will be enough to successfully run about ten VoIP phone lines.
