8 Best call routing software for small businesses

When you were just starting to build your business, your call routing system may literally have been a personal cell phone and a call forwarding app. But times have changed, and now, call handling is more complex. You need to route calls across different locations, team members, devices, and departments.

That’s why it’s important to choose call routing software that matches your current needs while giving you room to grow. You’re busy, so to save you time, we’ve put together a list of the best call routing software. We explain each platform’s features, pricing, and more so you can make an informed decision.

Just want the TL;DR? Some of the best call routing software for businesses include:

• Quo, formerly OpenPhone: Best overall for small and growing businesses that want to keep scaling.
• Allo: Best for QuickBooks users.
• Five9: Best for large enterprises.
• Aircall: Best for brands that need international phone numbers.

Comparing the best call routing software

As you can guess, every business handles calls differently, so the best call routing software depends on how your team works and what features you need. That’s why the list below highlights the best call routing software for different business sizes, use cases, and routing options.

But first, here’s a side-by-side look at the top providers.

We’ll start with the platform rated #1 in customer satisfaction on G2:

1. Quo: Best for small and growing businesses

Pros

• Call routing features are available on every plan
• Unlimited calls in Canada and the US
• Interactive voice response, or IVR, for inbound calls
• AI features like AI voice agent, call tags, call transcripts, and summaries
• Integrations with apps like Slack, HubSpot, and Salesforce

Cons

• No verification through two-factor authentication*

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

Quo is a business phone platform that offers call routing features on any plan. It helps growing small businesses set up flexible routing options that help ensure your team doesn’t miss calls.

Every user you add to your Quo plan gets one local US, Canadian, or North American toll-free phone number. You also get access to unlimited calls and texts in the US and Canada, making it easy for your team to handle high call volumes.

With Quo, you can set up time-of-day routing to send phone calls to different locations, depending on whether it’s during or after business hours. You might send daytime callers to reps who are currently available. For after-hours callers, you might forward them to an emergency number.

Want to set up different call flows for weekend or holiday hours? Quo lets you create and toggle between multiple call flows based on what your team needs.

You can also use Sona, an AI-powered voice agent that can answer calls 24/7. Route calls to Sona whenever your team is unavailable. It can answer FAQs, take messages, and even text during calls to save your team time with repetitive tasks like scheduling customer appointments. Sona can also transfer calls to your reps when the issue is too complex to solve on its own.

On Quo’s Business plan, you can set up phone menus so callers automatically route themselves to the right rep or destination using their voice or phone keypad selections.

You’ll also have access to ring groups. These allow you to customize which team members receive incoming calls and when. There are three different ring groups to choose from:

• All at once. Rings everyone on a shared phone number at the same time
• In random batches. Evenly distributes calls to your team in batches until someone picks up the phone
• Custom. Decide who gets incoming calls first and in what order

Here’s what one customer had to say about using Quo:

“I’ve finally found the unicorn phone system that does everything. Quo is extremely easy to use. We have a 6-person office routing calls to two companies, and the combination of simplicity and features is incredible.” — Sean Williams, Managing Director, Nymble Insurance

Activate our call routing software in under 15 minutes. Try Quo for seven days by signing up for our free trial.

Key features of Quo

• Warm and cold call transfers
• CRM integrations
• Call summaries and transcripts
• IVR call flows
• Custom ring orders
• Group calling
• Call recording
• Advanced call forwarding
• Shared phone numbers
• SMS auto-replies

Quo pricing

Quo’s pricing plans are designed to grow alongside your business. To get started, you can use call forwarding and shared numbers on our base plan. Then upgrade your plan for more features as you scale. Here’s what you can expect to get on each plan:

• Starter: $15 per user per month for unlimited domestic calling, call routing, voicemail and voicemail transcripts, call forwarding, call hold, Quo API, business hours, internal threads, Tasks, and more
• Business: $23 per user per month for advanced call forwarding, call transfers, IVR phone menus, custom ring orders, group calling, CRM integrations, live chat support, and more
• Scale: $35 per user per month for AI call tags, dedicated onboarding support, inbound phone support, and priority live chat and email support

2. Aircall: Best for buying international phone numbers

Aircall is a global business phone system that supports local numbers in 100+ countries. It offers features like advanced call routing and ring groups to better distribute calls to international teams.

You can use Aircall to create multi-level IVR menus that route callers to the right team, department, or location. For example, a caller can select a department first, then choose a specific location before being connected. 

Aircall also lets you set up time-of-day routing for both team and individual working hours. That way, callers are only routed to available reps instead of team members who’ve already finished for the day.

But Aircall is more expensive than the other call routing software on this list. Its base plan costs $30 per user per month and comes with a three-user minimum. That means Aircall’s call routing features are a minimum of $90 per month. 

Plus, most of Aircall’s best routing features require one or more upgrades. The queue callback feature, for example, requires the Professional plan, which costs $50 per user per month. But considering that plan requires a three-user minimum, you’ll actually end up paying at least $150 per month.

Key features of Aircall

• IVR support
• Queue callback, with an upgrade
• Time-based routing
• Mandatory call tagging, with an upgrade
• Call monitoring, with an upgrade

Aircall pricing

There are three Aircall pricing plans to choose from:

• Essentials: $30 per user per month for unlimited calls in Canada and the US, IVR system, call recording, click-to-dial, and SMS support, with a three-user minimum
• Professional: $50 per user per month for the Salesforce integration, mandatory call tagging, advanced analytics, and call monitoring, with a three-user minimum
• Custom: Custom price for unlimited calls worldwide and custom onboarding, with a 25-license minimum

3. Allo: Best for QuickBooks users

Pros

• Conversational IVR is available
• Business hours routing

Cons

• No shared numbers on the base plan
• Shopify and QuickBooks integrations require an upgrade

Allo is a cloud-based VoIP system specifically designed for sales teams. It lets you set business hours, forward calls, and share phone numbers — although shared numbers require an upgraded plan.

The base plan comes with conversational IVR. It uses natural language understanding, or NLU, so callers can speak in a natural way. This helps callers route to the correct rep or department faster, leading to better customer experiences.

Own a Shopify store? Allo offers a Shopify integration that lets reps view a caller’s total orders, lifetime spending, and more during live calls. That way, reps have the context they need before answering customer questions.

There’s also a QuickBooks integration that identifies callers before answering, then displays key customer information during the call. For example, reps can view outstanding invoices, total invoices, and lifetime revenue. This makes it easier to prioritize VIP customers and route billing-related questions to the right team or rep.

But keep in mind these integrations require the Business plan, which costs $32 per user per month. Also, you can only send 150 text messages per number per day on all plans.

Key features of Allo

• Business hours
• IVR routing
• Call forwarding
• Cascade ring
• SMS, with limits 
• AI voice agent

Allo pricing

Allo’s pricing lets you choose between three plans. Here’s what you can expect to get on each:

• Starter: $18 per month for one user, unlimited calls in the US and Canada, business hours and IVR routing, Do Not Disturb mode, 150 SMS messages, and call recording
• Business: $32 per user per month for unlimited users, power dialer, call analytics, and shared inbox
• Ultra: $100 per user per month for custom analytics dashboards and custom AI voice for your IVR

4. Dialpad: Best for contact centers

Pros

• Idle time call routing
• Digital contact center for multi-channel routing

Cons

• AI agents cost $1,500 per year 
• No additional numbers without upgrading

Dialpad is a cloud communications platform specifically designed for contact centers. Unlike many other VoIP services, it offers idle time call routing. This tracks how active each rep has been throughout their shift and automatically routes calls to those who have been idle the longest.

With Dialpad, you can easily create a digital contact center. It routes conversations to reps based on their channel expertise, like SMS and Instagram. 

That said, Dialpad doesn’t offer any additional phone numbers unless you upgrade your plan. This makes it harder to create separate routing options for different teams and locations. 

And some bare-bones features require add-ons. Want to route after-hours calls to an AI agent? Be prepared to pay at least an additional $1,500 per year, plus $1.99 per conversation handled by AI.

Key features of Dialpad

• Custom call routing, including idle time call routing
• Custom phone menu greetings
• Call forwarding
• AI voice agent, with an add-on 
• Ring groups, more are available with upgrades

Dialpad pricing

You have three Dialpad pricing plans to choose from:

• Standard: $15 per user per month for custom call routing, multi-level auto attendants, Dialpad SMS, voicemail transcriptions, call forwarding to other devices, three ring groups, and Google Workspace integrations
• Pro: $25 per user per month for hold queues, additional numbers, and 25 ring groups, with a three-user minimum
• Enterprise: Contact sales for 99.9% uptime, unlimited ring groups, SSO integration, and user access controls, with a 100-user minimum

5. Nextiva: Best for teams that use Microsoft products

Pros

• Skills-based routing, with an upgrade or add-on
• Auto-attendant on the base plan

Cons

• The MS Teams integration requires an upgrade or add-on
• Some users report issues with Nextiva’s call routing features

Nextiva is an older VoIP platform that was established in 2006. In addition to business text messaging and video support, you can access different types of inbound call routing. This includes IVR routing, which lets you send calls through a phone menu before reaching a destination such as:

• Shared numbers 
• Reps
• External phone numbers
• Recorded messages
• AI voice agent

Nextiva also offers a Microsoft Teams integration. That way, you can make and receive calls directly from MS Teams using your Nextiva phone number. But this requires either a paid add-on on the base plan, with pricing not publicly available, or an upgrade to the Engage plan. This is almost double the cost at $25 per user per month.

And keep in mind that some users report issues with this integration. See for yourself:

“We are having issues with answering calls in Microsoft Teams—especially when users are part of a Nextiva call group.” — Microsoft’s Q&A forum

Want your team to have a shared SMS inbox so they can send, receive, and manage customer text messages together? You’ll need to upgrade to the Engage plan first. 

What about improving first-call resolution by routing callers via skills-based routing? You’ll need to pay for the most expensive plan. This costs $75 per user per month. Not ready to spend that amount of money? You may want to choose a Nextiva alternative.

Key features of Nextiva

• Auto-attendant
• Smart call routing, with an upgrade
• Inbound call handling
• Shared numbers and inboxes, with an upgrade
• Skills-based routing, with an upgrade

Nextiva pricing

You can choose from the following Nextiva pricing plans:

• Core: $15 per user per month for unlimited domestic calling, up to 100 SMS messages, auto-attendant, voicemail transcriptions, team messaging, and call routing
• Engage: $25 per user per month for an integration with Microsoft Teams, 500 SMS messages, 2,000 pooled toll-free minutes, and call recording
• Power Suite: $75 per user per month for skills-based routing, 10,000 pooled toll-free minutes, and call transcriptions and summaries

6. Five9: Best for large enterprises 

Pros

• ACD, or automatic call distribution
• Round robin features for call routing, with an upgrade

Cons

• No voice calling on the base plan, requires an upgrade
• Nontransparent pricing

Five9 is a cloud contact center for companies managing high call volumes. 

One of its biggest claims to fame is ACD, or automatic call distribution. This feature automatically distributes calls based on rep idle time, round robin, minimum calls handled, and more. That way, it’s easier to balance workloads across the team and prevent reps from cherry-picking certain calls.

You can also use features like hold music and in-queue announcements to offer estimated wait times while callers wait for a rep. Not only does this help set clear expectations, but it can also help reduce abandoned calls.

That said, voice calling isn’t available on Five9’s base plan. That means there are no call routing features available without upgrading to the Core plan. This works out to about $159 per user per month — although keep in mind, this requires a 50-seat minimum. Considering Five9’s call quality isn’t always up to par, it may be too high an investment for small and growing businesses.

Here’s what one user had to say about Five9’s call routing and call quality:

“I really like the intelligent call routing, which automatically directs calls to the most appropriate agent based on their skills and availability, … [but] sometimes the calls drop automatically, which is a direct financial loss.” — G2

Key features of Five9

• Voice support, with an upgrade
• Automatic call distribution
• Round robin calls
• Hold music
• In-queue call announcements

Five9 pricing

Five9’s pricing is only partially transparent. You can only see prices for two out of five plans on its website. Here’s a quick breakdown of each:

• Digital: $119 per user per month for chat, SMS, email, and social messaging
• Core: $159 per user per month for voice support, IVR, call recording, the dialer, and AI transcripts and summaries
• Plus: Contact sales for additional artificial intelligence features, such as the AI Agent Assist and AI Knowledge
• Pro: Contact sales for a quote to access all the features of the Core and Digital plans, plus workforce engagement tools
• Enterprise: Contact sales for all features available on the Digital, Core, Plus, and Pro plans

Keep in mind that these prices are based on concurrent users, meaning the number of team members who useFive9 at the same time. Five9 also requires a minimum of 50 seats. 

7. Zendesk: Best for omnichannel routing

Pros

• Intelligent omnichannel routing for calls, emails, and app messaging
• Call forwarding via Failover

Cons

• No VoIP phone on the base plan
• No business hours on the two lowest-tier plans

Zendesk is a customer service and sales platform offering omnichannel routing. This means it automatically directs calls, emails, and messages into one inbox and to the most suitable rep based on predefined rules. That way, your callers can reach the right person or department faster.

You can also use Zendesk to forward calls to external phone numbers through a feature called Failover. Let’s say a customer calls your main business line, but there’s a power outage preventing you from receiving calls. Failover sends the caller to another number where you can continue providing support with minimal downtime.

But since VoIP calling isn’t available on the base plan, call routing isn’t available either. You’ll have to upgrade to the Suite plan, which starts at $55 per user per month, just to use basic call routing features.

You should also know business hours aren’t available on the two lowest-tier plans. The Suite Growth plan, which starts at $89 per user per month, is the only way to access it. Considering most VoIP systems offer these on the base plan, Zendesk may be too expensive for small and growing teams.

Key features of Zendesk

• Omnichannel routing across email, chat, phone, social, and WhatsApp
• Call forwarding to external phone numbers
• Ticket routing
• Business hours
• 1,000+ integrations

Zendesk pricing

Zendesk’s pricing for phone support starts on the Suite Team. That said, you can technically choose from one of four plans:

• Support team: $19 per user per month for ticket routing, the ability to manage web chat, mobile, and social media conversations from a single inbox, integrations, and pre-written responses for incoming messages
• Suite Team: $55 per user per month for omnichannel routing to reps, voice support, queue size and wait times, and call recording
• Suite Professional: $115 per user per month for IVR, business hours, conference calling, request a callback, and the option to assign priority numbers
• Suite Enterprise + Copilot: Contact sales for AI Intelligent Triage so reps see what customers need when resolving tickets, automatic email archiving, skills-based routing, on-demand Failover, and extended queue size and wait time

8. Google Voice: Best for Google Workspace users

Pros

• Ring groups with round robin distribution
• Call transfers are available

Cons

• Requires Google Workspace to use with more than one user
• No AI voice agent is available

Google Voice is a phone system that offers a free and a business version. The free version of Google Voice was built for individuals. Google Voice for business, on the other hand, offers the call routing features that growing brands need.

Call transfers, for example, let you manually move callers to a specific rep or department. You can also play custom voicemail greetings to certain contacts. That way, it’s easier to offer VIP experiences to high-value or brand-new customers.

Google Voice for business also supports ring groups with three tiers:

• Round robin to rotate calls evenly between team members 
• Simultaneous ring to notify everyone at once of an incoming call
• Fixed order to ring team members in a predefined sequence until someone answers

Keep in mind, Google Voice for business requires Google Workspace, which starts at $7 per user per month. So if you want more than one person on an account, you’ll need a Workspace subscription on top of your Voice plan. 

Plus, Google Voice doesn’t offer an AI voice agent to answer and route calls when your team is unavailable. This can lead to more missed opportunities after hours or during busy periods. If you’re looking for a tool that offers these features on the base plan, you may want to look for a Google Voice alternative.

Key features of Google Voice

• Round robin call distribution
• Simultaneous ring
• Call transfers
• Custom voicemail greetings
• Call queueing

Google Voice pricing

There are a few Google Voice pricing plans you can choose from. Here’s what you can expect to get on each:

• Starter, Voice only: $10 per month for one user, unlimited calling and texting in the US, voicemail transcriptions, and three-way calling, only for US businesses
• Standard, Voice only: $20 per month for one user and auto attendants, only for US businesses
• Starter: $10 per user per month for three-way calling, call transfers, desk phone support, and call recording, for 10 users
• Standard: $20 per user per month for multi-level auto-attendants, ring groups, and call queueing, for unlimited users
• Premier: $30 per user per month for access to advanced reporting of Voice activity with BigQuery, automatic call recording, and the ability to get additional numbers outside of your home country

Keep in mind, prices for Google Workspace start at $7 per user per month. Plans with more features, like additional storage, cost $22 per user per month.

What is call routing?

Call routing is a phone system feature that automatically directs incoming calls to the right person or team based on rules you set. Instead of every call going to the same place, your system decides where calls should go and what happens if nobody answers.

Most businesses choose to create routing rules based on factors like:

• Business hours
• Team availability
• Regions and service areas
• Skills and specialties
• Departments

You can also send calls to fallback options like emergency numbers, voicemail, or an AI voice agent like Quo’s Sona.

What are the different types of call routing?

Some of the most common types of call routing strategies include:

• Simultaneous ring. Multiple team members get notified about the same call at once.
• Time-of-day routing. Directs calls to different destinations based on the time of day.
• Shared number routing. Lets multiple users share the same phone number to route incoming calls to different reps.
• AI call routing. Routes incoming calls to an AI voice agent to answer questions and provide customer support. 
• IVR call routing. Stands for interactive voice response, which lets people route themselves using their voices or keypad inputs.
• Round-robin routing. Equal call distribution so all reps have a chance to speak with customers.
• Shift-based routing. Route calls to available reps only, skipping reps who are unavailable.
• Skills-based routing. Matches callers to the rep best equipped to help them based on expertise.
• Sequential routing. Call reps in predetermined batches. When one isn’t available, your call routing software will call the next batch.

How to choose the best call routing software

Struggling to choose the right call routing software? To help narrow down your list, consider the following factors:

• Routing options. Not all call routing software works the same way. Some providers only offer basic call forwarding. Others support phone menus and visual call flow builders. Make sure the platform supports the routing options your team needs before signing on the dotted line.
• Team size. A small painting company may only need a shared number and basic ring groups. Larger enterprises may need advanced routing features like call queues and skill-based routing.
• Pricing. Pay close attention to which routing features are included in the base plan. Some providers lock features like business hours and voice calls behind higher-tier plans.
• Growth plans. Your routing needs will likely become more complex as your business grows. Look for software that can support your growth with intelligent call routing options.
• After-hours coverage. What can your phone system do when nobody’s available to answer? Some providers let you route calls differently during evenings, weekends, and holidays. Others offer AI voice agents that can answer calls, capture leads, and take messages when your team is unavailable.

Quo: The best call routing software

Call routing isn’t just for large enterprises with high call volumes. With Quo’s call routing software, it’s never been easier to set up a custom call flow for small and growing businesses.

We offer IVR menus, business hours call routing, and shared phone numbers to help direct calls to the right people or departments. You can also answer the phone 24/7 with our AI voice agent, Sona. Plus, we offer thousands of integrations via Zapier and Make to save your team time.

Sign up today for a seven-day free trial and test Quo’s call routing software with your team.

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