10 best small business phone systems for 2026

If you’re on the hunt for a business phone system, you know there are dozens of options. It can be incredibly challenging to sort through the possibilities to find the perfect fit for your business.

Good news — we’ve done the hard work for you! After testing dozens of phone systems and evaluating them for ease of use, scalability, features, and integrations, we’ve narrowed it down to the best. This guide covers the top ten small business phone systems in depth, and it’ll show you why Quo is the best option for growing businesses.

Top 10 phone systems for small businesses compared

Here’s a quick look at how each provider stacks up:

Provider	Starting price	Best for	Unlimited calling to US & Canada	SMS/MMS to US & Canada	Shared phone numbers	Additional phone numbers	Average G2 rating	Devices supported	Free trial
Quo	$15 per user per month	Growing teams needing collaboration and automation tools	✓	✓	✓	$5 per number per month	4.7 out of 5	Computer, smartphone, and tablet	7-day free trial
Google Voice	$17 per month including Google Workspace	Teams using Google tools	Unlimited calls to Canada from the US only	US customers only	Requires upgrade for ring groups only	X	4.1 out of 5	Computer, smartphone, tablet, and compatible desk phones	X
Dialpad	$15 per user per month	Teams needing call monitoring	✓	US and Canadian customers only	✓	Requires upgrade, then $5 to $15 per month	4.4 out of 5	Computer, smartphone, tablet, and compatible desk phones	14-day free trial
Vonage	$13.99 per line per month	Teams wanting to customize with APIs	✓	Local US and Canadian numbers only	Requires upgrade	Cost varies	4.3 out of 5	Computer, smartphone, tablet, and compatible desk phones	Depends on product
Grasshopper	$14 per month	Teams needing multi-digit extensions	✓	MMS messaging for local numbers only	Requires upgrade	$9 per number per month	3.9 out of 5	Computer, smartphone, and tablet	7-day free trial
Nextiva	$15 per user per month	Teams using Microsoft products	✓	100 texts per user per month	✓	Undisclosed fee	4.5 out of 5	Computer, smartphone, tablet, and compatible desk phones	X
8x8	Contact sales	Teams needing global calling	✓	✓	✓	Contact sales	4.1 out of 5	Computer, smartphone, tablet, and compatible desk phones	Depends on product
GoTo Connect	Contact sales	Teams needing a conference bridge	X	Only available in the US and Canada	Requires upgrade	Contact sales	4.4 out of 5	Computer, smartphone, tablet, and compatible desk phones	14-day free trial
Zoom Phone	$10 per user per month	Teams that hold large industry events	Unlimited inbound with upgrade	US, Canadian, and Australian numbers only	Shared appearance only	$5 per number per month	4.5 out of 5	Computer, smartphone, tablet, and compatible desk phones	X
RingCentral	$20 per user per month	Teams needing desk phone rentals	✓ Limited toll-free minutes	25 texts per user per month	✓ Calls only	$4.99 per number per month	4.1 out of 5	Computer, smartphone, tablet, and compatible desk phones	Limited 14-day free trial

Breaking down the best small business phone systems

Investing in a business phone system is essential for building strong customer relationships, providing excellent customer support, and growing your business. Here are ten of the best small business phone systems to consider:

1. Quo: The best business phone system for small business

*Nearly all virtual phone numbers share this problem. For safety reasons, companies like Facebook, Uber, and Google rarely let you authenticate accounts through a virtual phone number.

Quo, formerly OpenPhone, is a VoIP system with modern features that can scale with your business. Quo has many features that automate your communications, like phone menus and texting auto-replies. It also works with your favorite business apps, so you never feel alone in managing your communications, even if you’re a solopreneur.

Best of all, you can easily call and text with Quo on your existing computer, smartphone, or tablet. 

As your business grows, you can add users to your account anytime. Each user can get their own US, Canadian, or toll-free number, allowing you to expand your business throughout North America. You can also share existing numbers with your team members to help field calls and texts. Collaborating is flat-out simple as teammates can add specific notes to contacts. Plus, start internal threads to work together on external communication and assign out tasks. 

Don’t worry about sitting on hold or visiting a store to activate your business phone system. With Quo, you can sign up online and get up and running in under 15 minutes. Try out Quo for seven days by signing up for our free trial.

Why choose Quo as your business phone

• Free calling and texting in the US and Canada
• Affordable international rates
• Desktop, web, and mobile apps
• Shared phone numbers
• Call recording
• Business hour settings
• Voicemail transcriptions
• Auto-attendant with IVR
• Texting automations via snippets and auto-replies
• AI-generated call summaries, transcripts, and action items
• AI-suggested text responses
• AI voice agent, Sona, to handle calls when you’re unavailable
• AI contact suggestions to stay organized
• Business app integrations with Slack, Zapier, Google Contacts, and email on the base plan

Quo pricing

• Starter: $15 per user per month for unlimited calling and messaging to the US and Canada, voicemail transcripts, and 10 free calls with Sona AI agent
• Business: $23 per user per month to access group calling, call transfers, HubSpot and Salesforce integrations, AI call transcripts, and more
• Scale: $35 per user per month for AI call tags, dedicated onboarding, and priority chat and email support

How to get a virtual number with Quo

Getting a new phone number from almost anywhere in the world is a simple process when you choose Quo as your virtual phone number provider.

Follow these three steps:

1. Create an account with Quo. When you sign up, you get a free, seven-day trial.
2. During signup, choose your city or area code in the US to select your preferred phone number.
3. Once the signup process is complete, you’re all set to use your new virtual phone number!

2. Google Voice: Best phone service for small business using Google tools

Google Voice for Google Workspace is a popular small business phone system for businesses that already use products like Gmail and Google Docs. It offers a number of necessities for growing businesses, like voicemail transcriptions and unlimited calling to the US.

However, Google Voice doesn’t offer toll-free numbers, call transcripts, or auto-replies. This can make it difficult to scale your business and train your team at a large scale. Another major caveat of Google Voice is it only integrates with other Google Workspace apps. This makes it hard to use if you rely on other communication tools.

You can call and text with Google Voice on your existing computer, smartphone, tablet, or compatible desk phone.

Google Voice pricing

Google Voice’s pricing has three options:

• Starter: $10 per user per month for voicemail transcripts, unlimited text messaging in US, and calls to the US from any Google Voice number
• Standard: $20 per user per month to unlock on-demand call recordings, ring groups, and phone menus
• Premier: $30 per user per month to unlock automatic call recordings and advanced reporting

Pro Tip: Google Voice is more expensive than you might expect because you need two subscriptions to access it in Google Workspace. This includes an additional $7 per user per month payment for Google Workspace required to use Google Voice for Business.

3. Dialpad:  Best small business phone system for call monitoring

Dialpad is an AI-powered business phone solution that offers plenty of modern features like shared phone numbers and business app integrations. It can even tell you when your team members are speaking too fast or slow. You can call and text with Dialpad on your existing computer, smartphone, tablet, or compatible desk phone.

However, Dialpad may cost more than it initially appears. Dialpad charges customers who want to port toll-free or international numbers. It also requires an upgrade for purchasing more than one number per user.

During testing, we noticed that going through Dialpad’s admin options is time-consuming. Setup is considerably slower than on other providers.
Many other key features, like auto-replies, Slack and Zapier integrations, and international SMS are also locked behind higher tiers.

Dialpad pricing

Here’s how Dialpad pricing plans currently breakdown:

• Standard: $15 per user per month for free calling in the US and Canada, team messaging, and up to 250 outbound text messages
• Pro: $25 per user per month for additional local or international numbers, international SMS, and access to the open API and webhooks
• Enterprise: Get a custom quote for unlimited ring groups, unlimited office locations, and 100% uptime

4. Vonage: Best small business phone solution with an API offering

Vonage is a legacy business VoIP service provider that’s well-known but fairly out-of-date compared to modern options like Quo and Dialpad. Its basic plan offers a few built-in features, requiring upgrades for today’s essentials, like auto-attendant capabilities and CRM integrations. 

While Vonage does offer desk phone compatibility, desktop, web, and mobile apps.  This is ideal for remote businesses, but  it doesn’t make up for the considerable amount of fees. Before subscribing, you should factor in the cost of extensions, toll-free numbers, and add-on expenses for features that come standard with other remote phone systems.

Vonage pricing

Vonage’s pricing for their base plans depends on the size of your team, with smaller teams paying more per user. Here’s how much teams of 1-4 users can expect to pay:

• Mobile: $13.99 per line per month for unlimited team messaging, access to the mobile and desktop apps, and the Vonage App Center with 20 integrations
• Premium: $20.99 per line per month for unlimited video meetings with up to 100 participants, multilevel auto-attendants, and integrations with IP desk phones, including Cisco and similar brands
• Advanced: $27.99 per line per month for visual voicemail, call groups, and 15 hours on-demand call recording

Learn more about how Quo and Vonage compare.

5. Grasshopper: Best small business phone service for multi-digit extensions

Marketed as a small business phone system, Grasshopper offers the basics like business phone numbers and extensions. You can call and text with Grasshopper on your existing computer, cell phone, or tablet.

While it includes unlimited calls and messages to the US and Canada, that doesn’t include Hawaii or Alaska. Grasshopper treats calls to Hawaii or Alaska as “offshore numbers,” so you’ll have to enable international calling if you have customers there. This requires contacting support and a $500 deposit. 

Plus, while you’re paying a premium to access all Grasshopper functionality, you still won’t meet key business needs like integrations or shared numbers as Grasshopper is very much a legacy provider.

We also tested out accessing Grasshopper’s admin portal and found it to be limited and outdated. Other providers let you customize call flows more easily than Grasshopper does.

Grasshopper pricing

Grasshopper’s plans are different than most other small business phone systems. Instead of charging by the user, you pay based on the amount of phone numbers you need:

• True Solo: $14 per month for one phone number, one user, and one extension
• Solo Plus: $25 per month for one phone number, unlimited users, and three extensions
• Small Business: $55 per month for four phone numbers, unlimited users, and unlimited extensions

6. Nextiva: Best phone system for small business using Microsoft products

Nextiva is a popular VoIP service provider that many well-known enterprises use. You can use Nextiva on your existing laptop, smartphone, tablet, or a compatible desk phone. However, as a small business, you can expect to pay more to get the features you need. 

While Nextiva has video conference features with screen sharing features on every plan, its business phone features are lackluster without upgrades. A basic plan  only offers 100 SMS per user per month, leading many small businesses to Nextiva alternatives.

Nextiva pricing

Here’s how Nextiva’s pricing per user breaks down: 

• Core: $15 per user per month for voice calls, 100 text messages, team chat, voicemail transcriptions, and access to the mobile app
• Engage: $25 per user per month for the Microsoft Teams integration, 500 text messages, digital fax, voice analytics, 2,000 toll-free minutes, and call recording
• Power Suite: $75 per user per month for up to 100 agents for skills-based routing, IVR, call transcriptions and summaries, and API integrations

7. 8×8: Best solution for global calling

8×8 is a communications platform that offers small business plans, though you can also access an enterprise-level contact center solution. With a basic plan, you can get key necessities like auto-attendant. You can use 8×8 on your existing computer, smartphone, tablet, or compatible desk phones.

However, while you may get the perk of unlimited video calling, you can expect 8×8 to have limitations on basic features like group texts. For example, group texting only supports US and Canadian numbers. Call recording storage is limited based on your plan, with starter plans only having 30 days of storage.

8×8 pricing

8×8’s pricing isn’t listed online. You’ll have to contact their sales team and request a quote.

8. GoTo Connect: Best small business phone software with conference bridge

GoTo Connect aims to consolidate businesses’ internal and external communication on a single platform. It offers customers a VoIP phone, virtual meeting system, ring groups, and integrations with Zoho and Zendesk. However, it can be tricky to configure. You can use the apps on your existing computer, smartphone, tablet, or a compatible desk phone.

Texting is limited and only available in the US and Canada. Toll-free minutes can quickly get pricey once you go over the 1,000 pooled minutes each month.

GoTo Connect pricing

GoTo Connect’s pricing isn’t publicly available, but you can still see its tiers and features on the website:

• Phone System: Video meetings, team chat, SMS and MMS, Microsoft Teams integration, and free calls to 50 countries
• Connect CX: Social media integrations, shared inboxes, and AI-powered call summaries
• Contact Center: Auto-queue callback, advanced call routing, and call monitoring tools

9. Zoom Phone: Best small business phone system for large industry events

Zoom might be better known for its online meeting platform, but in 2019, the company broke into the VoIP phone space. 

For small businesses, their plans offer a number of features, such as voicemail transcription, shared phone numbers, call recording, and transfers to a Zoom meeting. You can call and text with Zoom Phone on your existing computer, smartphone, tablet, or compatible desk phones.

While these features helpful, it takes a ton of admin work to get your team set up and running with Zoom Phone, and it’s overkill for small businesses.

Additionally, while you can text to the US and Canada, texting with Zoom doesn’t support videos and documents. You also won’t be able to save time sending any sort of repeat text messages unless you pay a developer to help you set up using their API.

Zoom Phone pricing

Zoom plans have the most complicated pricing. In addition to a half dozen potential add-on fees, you can choose between these plans for a Zoom Phone:

• US & Canada Metered: $10 per user per month for metered domestic calling, SMS and MMS in the US and Canada, auto-attendant, and Zoom meetings
• US & Canada Unlimited: $15 per user per month for unlimited outbound calls in the US and Canada, metered international calling, and AI call summaries
• Pro Plus: $18.32 per user per month for access to Zoom Workplace Pro, plus everything in the Unlimited plan
• Global Select: $20 per user per month for unlimited calling in 40+ countries, a direct dial number, and everything in US & Canada Unlimited
• Business Plus: $22.49 per user per month for access to Zoom Workspace, Business, visitor management tools, real-time reporting dashboards, and access to international calling add-ons

10. RingCentral: Best small business phone service with desk phone rental options

RingCentral has been around since 1999, and its RingEx product provides companies with business and toll-free numbers. While RingCentral is a popular VoIP provider, many of its key features — such as integrations, reporting, and additional file storage — remain locked behind higher-tier plans. You can access RingCentral on your existing computer, mobile device, tablet, or a compatible desk phone.

If your business frequently uses text messaging, you should also note that RingCentral’s Core plan only includes 25 texts per user per month. To send more, users need to upgrade to a higher-tier plan or pay extra fees. 

Finally, if you wish to have a clear communication trail, RingCentral’s storage can be a dealbreaker. RingCentral limits the number of text messages teams can store in the app, saving just 5,000 text messages for each user. This can create issues if you need to follow up with a contact months later or a legal dispute arises.

RingCentral pricing

Here’s how RingCentral pricing plans break down:

• Core: $20 per user per month to access unlimited domestic calling, SMS and MMS, and IVR
• Advanced: $25 per user per month to access auto call recording, advanced call monitoring and handling, and multi-site management
• Ultra: $35 per user per month to access unlimited enterprise-grade HD video, whiteboards, messaging, customizable business insights, and unlimited file-sharing with storage for files and recordings

10 phone features every small business needs

There are a lot of vendors in the business phone system space, from legacy providers to relative newcomers, each providing a range of features at different price points. Some vendors charge a premium for advanced features that others consider standard, while some vendors don’t offer them at all.

Here’s a list of features offered by the best small business phone systems. Use it as a checklist as you evaluate service providers.

1.  Option to have multiple phone numbers

Local area codes matter to customers. When customers see a local number pop up, they are much more likely to pick up the phone or read your messages.

At Quo, companies like Billdr and Hubbard Realty Group rely on having multiple business phone numbers with local area codes. That way, they can provide customers with a relevant number they can reach out to in multiple cities.

2. Call routing

With call routing, your customers get attention even when you’re unavailable to take their call. 

If you’re busy, you can forward calls to another team member’s number, send an auto-reply to let a customer know you’ll call back, or share responsibility for incoming calls through simultaneous ring. 

These options are all great ways to keep your customers engaged during high call volumes — rather than leaving them with unending rings and never being able to get ahold of you.

3. AI call management features

Efficient call management powered by AI saves your entire team’s time. The best small business phone systems offer auto-attendant or IVR that can route to an AI voice agent or human. 

These virtual phone menus automate call routing by allowing callers to choose where they need to go. AI agents can answer basic requests and escalate to a rep when needed. This means you and your employees can stay on task instead of fielding inbound calls.

Call forwarding, call transfer, and call tagging capabilities are also ideal for team collaboration.

4. Call recording and call summaries

Call recording is an essential feature of a small business phone system. It helps with coaching sales and support teams effectively. By reviewing recorded calls, supervisors can provide specific, actionable feedback to staff. This will help them improve their communication skills and problem-solving capabilities.

Additionally, call recordings are a valuable resource in understanding a customer’s history and interactions with your business. With this information, your team members can offer a more personalized and contextually-aware customer service experience.

Call summaries are a related feature to call recording that can make your recordings even more powerful. AI call summaries help you review your recordings at a glance. You can get the context you need to plan your next steps with a customer or a prospect without manual work.

5. Caller ID

Build trust by setting up a caller ID that displays your business name, even if your call recipient doesn’t have you in their address book. Caller ID usually isn’t available for toll-free or Canadian numbers, but it should be available for local numbers in the US.

6. Voicemail transcriptions

Having voicemails automatically transcribed may seem like something you would get out of the box with most solutions. However, some small business phone systems require you to upgrade for this feature.

Voicemail transcriptions come standard with every Quo plan. You can even push voicemail to an email inbox or Slack channel when you miss a call. Even if you can’t listen to a message right away, you can get a notification to see how urgently you need to call back.

7. SMS, MMS, and automated texting

You don’t always need to have real-time phone conversations to conduct business. Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could send texts, pictures, and videos or have group messaging conversations? SMS and MMS are essential services in a world where consumers send 2.2 trillion text messages each year. If you want to have a unified communications strategy for your customer relationships, you should prioritize SMS and MMS features in your business phone service.

To speed up your texting response time, choose a small business phone system that offers automated texting features like text message templates and auto-replies.

8. Integrations and APIs

Leveraging the small business tools you already use, like Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zapier by selecting a phone system with CRM and workflow integrations. These integrations can help you save time on repetitive tasks and give you more context to easily follow up on conversations.

Platforms with APIs let you get creative in connecting tools and creating useful workflows.

9. Shared numbers and inboxes

Make sure a team member’s got your back when you’re away. Shared phone numbers, like a shared email inbox, ensure incoming calls and texts from customers and prospects are always taken care of.

10. Free phone number porting

Switch providers without losing the numbers your clients have saved on their phones. Opt for a VoIP provider that will port your business phone numbers for free — whether you have a local number or a toll-free number — like Quo.

Now that you know which features you should be looking for, we’ll show you how you can compare different business phone providers and pick the best one for your needs.

How to choose the right business phone system for your small business

For some businesses, expensive international calling is a dealbreaker, while for others, seamless texting is the number one priority. So, based on your own unique needs, how can you decide which provider will be right for you?

Here are the different factors that influence what business phone system a team chooses:

• Key features: What are the must-have features you need from your business phone system? Is it call recording, voicemail transcriptions, or an auto-attendant to route calls? 
• Number of users: How big is your team? If your team is growing, you’ll need a business phone system that can scale with you.
• Remote or in-office: Is your team distributed or mostly working from one location? This can determine the type of business phone system you end up choosing.

We recommend using this process of elimination:

1. Shortlist a few potential options based on the features highlighted in this guide and on each provider’s website.
2. Check out review sites like G2 to get a sense of existing and former customers’ experiences with each provider. If the reviews are red flags based on your needs, strike the provider off your list.
3. Verify how responsive the providers are by reaching out to their customer support. Ask them any initial questions you might still have about their services after checking out their website. Keep an eye on how responsive and transparent they are when answering.
4. Trial the providers that remain on your shortlist. Hands-on experience will help you understand just how intuitive the system is, how easy it is to onboard, and how well the system will integrate into your existing tech stack and processes.

By the time you wrap up the final step above, you should have your winning business phone system selected. Congrats! 

If you have an existing number you wish to use on your new phone system after you’ve done a trial with a temporary number, you can port that over.

Types of business phone systems

There are a ton of acronyms and terminology to describe the types of phone systems being used by businesses today. But in the interest of keeping things simple, we’ll divide them into two categories: on-premises phone solutions and cloud-based phone solutions. 

System type	Best for	Cost	Mobility	Device
On-premises — Landline	Institutions, rural areas	High	None	Desk phones
On-premises — PBX	Large organizations	Very high	Very limited	Desk phones
VoIP	Small businesses	Low	Work from anywhere	Any device — mobile phone, laptop, tablet, or compatible desk phone

On-premises phone solutions

There are two kinds of on-premises solutions: landline phones and private branch exchanges.

Traditional landline

Companies once exclusively used traditional analog landline systems installed by phone service providers. Though they were reliable and produced great call quality, these phone systems were costly to set up and maintain. 

Analog phones are still in use within large institutions and in places without access to a reliable high-speed internet connection. These phone networks are managed with key service units, or KSUs.

Today, companies have moved on to phone solutions that provide more features than call transfer and call waiting. 

Private branch exchange — PBX

As phone lines became digitized, businesses started implementing private branch exchanges within their own company. 

PBX solutions can either manage calls through the PSTN network, or they can use VoIP technology to manage calls over the internet. This is called IP-PBX. 

These systems require expensive hardware, proprietary office phones, and on-site expertise to maintain, but they provide advanced calling features like call recording, voicemail, call queues, and interactive voice menus, or IVR. And they can be further customized to meet a business’s needs.

However, these solutions still may not meet the needs of modern businesses. This is especially true for those with workers who don’t need to be tethered to a desk phone waiting for inbound calls.

Voice over Internet Protocol — VoIP

With Voice over Internet Protocol, you make voice phone calls over a wireless connection instead of traditional plain old telephone service lines.

Since VoIP runs over a wireless connection, you don’t need a lot of complicated equipment to get up and running. All you need is a strong WiFi or cellular internet connection and an internet-enabled supported device to make and receive calls — from anywhere in the world.

VoIP has better call quality than regular phone lines. Many providers also offer extra business features you don’t get with regular phone lines. These features include unlimited calling in the US and Canada, shared phone numbers, text, call recording, and call forwarding. 

The best business phone services today tend to be VoIP-based systems.

3 key reasons to use a VoIP phone system for small businesses

So far, we’ve mentioned the high-level benefits of virtual phone systems. Here are the reasons thousands of businesses go with this solution. 

1. Works from anywhere on any device

Since a small business virtual phone service only requires an internet connection, you and your team can work from virtually anywhere. Whether you’re a solopreneur who frequently travels, a business with team members in the Philippines, or a company that’s opening up new locations, your virtual business phone system can travel with you.

Shared numbers also allow you to share a single number with team members internationally. This means that a virtual assistant can call and text clients from your number — even while across the globe. Your distributed team can all share responsibility for a single line.

2. Scales with your team as you grow

The best virtual phone systems charge companies by the user. This gives you the flexibility to add and remove members from the platform as your team scales. Need new direct numbers for new teammates? Or expanding to another city and need a local number to support your expansion? You can get as many phone numbers as you need.

As your team evolves, your business phone provider should also. Quo continually releases new updates and features to help small businesses communicate efficiently and build meaningful customer relationships.

3. Easy to get started

While landlines require hardware and can be more complicated to install, virtual phone systems work on devices your team already owns. 

This means that you can skip store visits, installation appointments, and waiting on hold for hours to get your phone system activated. Instead, you can be up and running in a matter of minutes … all without speaking to anyone at all, if that’s your preference.

Quo: The best small business phone system

You know the litany of features we listed above? Well, those are all Quo features. Many are add-ons with the other guys, and nearly all of them come standard with Quo for only $15 per user per month.

We might be a bit biased, but you don’t have to take our word for it. Thousands of happy customers and growing businesses can’t be wrong. When you use Quo, you’ll be saying things like “Solid, Streamlined, Seductive, Superpowered” and “Quo is the greatest.” 

Our virtual phone system will transform the way you do business. And because we’re constantly finding new ways to delight our customers with enhanced features and functionality, we’re gonna keep redefining greatness.

Check out Quo with a free trial and see how you can be up and running with your business phone in about a minute!

FAQs

If you still have questions about small business phone systems as you consider making a switch, check out our answers to these frequently asked questions.