Dialpad pricing, plans, & hidden fees: Is the total cost worth it?

2011 was a year to remember — for planking, Angry Birds, and legacy VoIP providers like Dialpad. This phone system evolved to serve large contact centers and now supports phone calls, texts, and video conferencing. You’ll also get access to features like AI-supported speech coaching for reps.

But while Dialpad has changed quite a bit over the years, some of its less desirable features have remained the same. Non-transparent pricing makes it difficult to know how much you’ll pay. Plus, some of its automations and integrations are locked behind expensive plans. This means Dialpad often fails to meet most small business owners’ needs.

Choosing a VoIP provider for your team can be stressful. If you’re trying to decide whether Dialpad is a good fit, we’ll help you see the full picture of Dialpad’s pricing, features, and hidden fees. Then, you’ll be able to make an informed decision.

TL;DR

• Dialpad is built for large contact centers. Its plans, features, and pricing structure make the most sense for enterprises with high call volumes and large budgets. Not small or growing teams.
• The real cost isn’t obvious upfront. Pricing gets complicated quickly with add-ons, texting limits, and basic features locked behind higher tiers.
• Other business phone systems are easier to scale. Do you want predictable pricing, texting automations on the base plan, and the flexibility to scale without hidden fees? Then Dialpad may feel restrictive compared to modern alternatives like Quo, formerly OpenPhone.

What is Dialpad?

Dialpad is a cloud-based business communication platform tailored for contact centers. It offers voice calling, video conferencing, messaging, and AI-powered customer support. In addition to basic call management features like phone menus, call routing, and transfers, it provides call centers with real-time sentiment analysis and live call transcriptions.

Breaking down Dialpad pricing and plans 

Dialpad has three different core products: Connect, Support, and Sell. 

Let’s jump into the costs and features you can expect from each.

Dialpad Connect

Feature	Standard	Pro	Enterprise
Unlimited domestic calling	✓	✓	✓
Additional numbers	X	Local or international	Local or international
Toll-free number support	✓	✓	✓
Internet fax	Add-on	Add-on	Add-on
Extensions	X	X	✓
Departments/ring groups	Up to 3	Up to 25	Unlimited
Hold queues	X	✓	✓
Multi-level auto attendant	✓	✓	✓
Call recording	✓	✓	✓
SMS, MMS, and team messaging	✓	✓	✓
HubSpot CRM integration	X	✓	✓
Open APIs and webhooks	X	✓	✓
SSO, or Okta, Azure, OneLogin	X	X	✓

Dialpad’s Connect plan lets you manage calls, texts, and video meetings from a business phone number.

Let’s take a closer look at the cost of each plan:

Standard plan

The Standard plan costs $15 per user per month annually, a $180 up-front investment. If you’d rather pay on a month-to-month basis, prices start at $27 per user per month, which is $276 per year. Here are the features you can expect to get on the Standard plan:

• IVR
• call recording
• voicemail transcriptions
• desk phone support
• call transcriptions

This plan offers most of the features available with other business VoIP solutions. However, you’re locked out of most mission-critical features unless you upgrade to the next tier, including:

• international texting
• additional numbers 
• Zapier integration
• Slack integration

Best for: Teams that only need basic calling features and are okay with working without integrations or additional numbers.

Pro plan

Like the Standard plan, prices for the Pro plan depend on your billing cycle. For annual agreements, prices start at $25 per user per month. Month-to-month pricing starts at $35 per user per month. Here are the features you’ll get on the Pro plan:

• international texting
• Zapier and Slack integrations
• Dialpad API and webhooks
• additional numbers

Best for: Large contact centers that send a lot of international texts.

Enterprise plan

Dialpad’s Enterprise plan is an unknown cost — there’s no pricing information available online. The only way to get a quote is to contact sales.

But you can still see its features online. Here’s what’s included:

• service level agreements
• named customer success manager
• priority routing
• SSO, such as Okta, Azure, and OneLogin
• extensions
• unlimited ring groups

Keep in mind that even though you’ll be paying for the most expensive plan, you’ll still miss out on: 

• premium support, like faster support response times, which requires an add-on
• large meetings for up to 1,500 participants, which requires an add-on
• internet fax, which requires an add-on

Best for: Large contact centers that handle high call volumes and need to route incoming calls across many teams.

Dialpad Support

Support plans are for customer support teams that need more robust features than those offered to small businesses. Just be prepared to pay if you want these features, or at least upgrade your plan to include more optional features.

Let’s break it down.

Essentials plan

Prices for the Essentials plan start at $80 per user per month, billed annually, or $95 per user per month if billed monthly. What makes this service different? Features like call barge and whisper, which don’t appear on the Connect plans.

More of the features you’ll get access to on this plan include:

• IVR
• call recording
• ACD, or automatic call distribution
• support for inbound and outbound calls
• call coaching and barge-in
• call transcriptions

Advanced plan

The next tier up is much more expensive at $115 per user per month, billed annually, or $135 per user per month, billed monthly. You can use this plan to build self-service workflows and integrate digital support channels without paying for an add-on.

Here are the features included with the Advanced plan:

• AI live coach
• custom moments
• digital virtual agents
• single digital channel

Premium plan

The Premium plan unlocks all the optional features for $150 per user per month, billed annually. If you opt for monthly pricing instead, be prepared to pay an additional $20 per user per month, for a total of $170 per user per month.

If you’re already a massive enterprise brand, this plan has much to offer. But if you’re a growing small business or a solopreneur, it’s probably overkill.

Here are the features you can expect to get on the Premium plan:

• omnichannel support
• AI-generated customer service scorecards
• AI customer satisfaction scores

Even though this is the most expensive plan, Dialpad’s platinum support add-on isn’t included. That means you’ll miss out on features like having a dedicated support number unless you pay extra. Plus, pricing for this add-on isn’t public, making the total cost unknown.

Dialpad Sell

Dialpad Sell was designed for sales teams. It’s ideal if you want to help your reps during live calls — without needing to hire more managers.

Here’s a closer look at what’s included with each Dialpad Sell plan.

Essentials plan

The first tier costs $39 per user per month, billed annually, or $49 per user per month, billed monthly. You can use this plan to provide your sales team with the tools they need to close more deals — like the option to host video meetings with clients.

Here are some of the key features included:

• mobile and desk phone app
• advanced call controls
• company dictionary
• video meetings
• IVR

Advanced plan

The next tier is much more expensive at $95 per user per month, billed annually, or $110 per user per month, billed monthly. This plan lets your sales team make calls within Salesforce using Dialpad, without paying extra for a separate add-on.

Here are more features you’ll get access to:

• local dial
• AI live coach
• voicemail drop
• AI live coach cards
• custom moments
• SFDC Power Dialer, or Dialpad Sell for Salesforce power dialer

Premium plan

The Premium plan costs $150 per user per month, billed annually, or $170 per user per month, billed monthly. You can use this plan to access better customer support, such as priority routing and a named customer success manager.

Here are some of the features you’ll get access to:

• screen recording
• AI playbooks that guide conversations in real time using topics and prompts
• in-queue callback
• AI scorecards
• AI CSAT
• automatic call distribution
• named customer success manager
• priority routing

Even at $150 per user per month, you still don’t get platinum support. That requires paying extra for an add-on that includes:

• dedicated support number
• fastest support response times
• direct access to tier-2 support that handles technical queries

Dialpad’s add-ons

Dialpad offers several add-ons that cost extra. Pricing isn’t always easy to find, even if you call its sales team.

Here are several add-ons that are available:

• Internet fax: Faxing costs vary by type — for example, toll-free outbound faxing costs $0.02 per minute
• Meeting PSTN that lets people dial in to a meeting using a traditional phone number: $15 per account per month  
• Large Meeting, up to 1,500 participants: $15 per user per month
• Platinum Support: Pricing isn’t public 
• AI scorecard: $20 per user per month
• AI CSAT: $20 per user per month

Dialpad’s true costs: Hidden fees to know

Dialpad’s up-front prices aren’t the only costs to consider. You also have to look at hidden fees and per-minute pricing, depending on your plan.

For example, you should be prepared to pay:

• Phone number porting fees. Dialpad charges users to port international numbers into its platform. For example, Peru is $58 per number. 
• Administrative cost recovery fee. This is a yearly non-negotiable fee for compliance, reporting, and filing requirements. You’re billed per user per month if you’re on a monthly plan or 12 months upfront if you’re on an annual plan. There’s no clear pricing listed online, although some sources report spending more than $47.88 per year.
• Hidden fees for texting. Although you’re not going to see it on the pricing page, you should know Dialpad SMS only includes 250 messages per user per month. Any messages beyond this cost extra. This costs  $0.008 per inbound/outbound SMS message and $0.024 per inbound/outbound MMS message.
• Per-minute pricing. If you’re on Dialpad Support and Sell plans, be prepared to pay $0.01 per minute for inbound calls and $0.02 per minute for outbound calls. If your team spends a lot of time on the phone, this could get expensive fast.
• Global Unlimited Calling. This is a flat monthly plan for calling 65+ countries and includes 1,500 international minutes per office per month. Additional usage is billed via calling credits. Keep in mind that unused minutes don’t roll over, and pricing isn’t public for this add-on.

5 things to keep in mind before committing to Dialpad

Dialpad’s pricing falls short in many ways, but it’s not the only drawback you should keep in mind.

Here are five more disadvantages of Dialpad you need to consider:

1. Expensive to scale. Spending $15 per user per month doesn’t seem that bad for a team of two. But as your call volume ramps up on Dialpad, so will your monthly bills. For starters, Dialpad’s Pro plan isn’t really $25 per user per month. There’s a three-user minimum just to unlock it — which means your team of two would have to pay for an unused seat. Even the Enterprise plan has a 100-user minimum, which most small businesses won’t need. Scaling is also difficult. You only get three ring groups on the Standard plan and 25 ring groups on the Pro plan. If you want more than this, you need to upgrade to the Enterprise plan. 
2. International calling and texting costs add up quickly. If you spend a lot of time chatting with customers overseas, you may get nickel-and-dimed by Dialpad’s plans. You can’t even send international text messages without paying for a more expensive plan. Dialpad’s international rates also by plan, so it’s difficult to know what you’ll pay until you call. Want to buy an international number to get around these fees? No dice — you need to upgrade to the Pro plan first.
3. Toll-free numbers cost extra. Dialpad’s toll-free numbers start at $15 per number per month. However, it may not be clear that you’re also charged $0.02 per minute for calling, as well as additional setup fees — neither of which you have to pay with Quo. Each user on your Quo plan comes with one local or toll-free number. If you’re wondering what a toll-free number is and how it works, Quo makes it simple and transparent. You should also know Dialpad won’t let you send or receive text messages through toll-free numbers. 
4. Canceling might be a pain. You can’t cancel your Dialpad plan without contacting its customer success team if you have more than five licenses. This needs to be a phone call or email — you can’t use live chat to cancel your plan. The good news is Dialpad’s convoluted cancellation practices are the exception rather than the rule. With Quo, you can cancel your plan anytime in the mobile app so that you can make the best decisions for your team.
5. Limited auto-reply features. If Dialpad’s limited texting features weren’t frustrating enough, you also can’t use them unless you upgrade. For example, you need a Pro or Enterprise plan to set up auto-replies.

A more effective alternative to Dialpad

Dialpad may be a decent option for massive enterprise brands. But as you can see from its prices, features, and drawbacks, it’s not designed for small business owners.

So, what if we compare Dialpad’s prices and features to a modern platform like Quo?

The base plans have a similar price point. However, the features you get are anything but:

Features	Quo	Dialpad
Price per month	$15 per user	$15 per user
Unlimited calling	✔️	✔️
Unlimited SMS, MMS to the US & Canada	✔️	❌
Voicemail-to-text	✔️	✔️
Toll-free numbers	✔️	$0.02 per minute for calling
Additional phone numbers	$5 per number per month for local US or Canadian numbers or North American toll-free numbers	Requires an upgrade, plus $10 per local US or Canadian number or $15 per toll-free number per month
Number porting	✔️	Charges to port in international numbers
Call recording	✔️	✔️
Shared phone numbers	✔️	✔️
Group text messaging	✔️	✔️
Fax	❌	Requires an add-on
Auto-replies	✔️	Requires an upgrade
Snippets, or templated messages	✔️	✔️
iOS and Android apps	✔️	✔️
Web-based apps	✔️	✔️
AI call tags	✔️	✔️
AI agent	✔️	✔️

As you can see, there’s a big difference between legacy providers and modern VoIP platforms.

Quo vs Dialpad: Important insights

Choosing the right business phone system isn’t always straightforward, especially when pricing pages don’t tell the full story. That’s why we’ve broken down where Quo and Dialpad really differ so that you can pick the best one for your business.

• Transparent pricing you can plan around. Dialpad’s pricing can seem unpredictable once you factor in add-ons, plan limits, and features locked behind higher tiers. For example, Dialpad SMS pricing only includes 250 texts per user per month. Quo’s plans are fully transparent, with no hidden fees, no minimum seat requirements, and no vague “contact sales” pricing. Plus, you can upgrade or downgrade your plan whenever you need to — without jumping on a sales call.
• Faster setup with less friction. Getting started with Quo takes 15 minutes or less. The platform is intuitive, and if you need guidance, step-by-step help articles and videos walk you through its features. That said, leaving Quo is just as simple. You can cancel directly in the app, without waiting for a customer success team.
• Texting automations and artificial intelligence that save time. When comparing Dialpad Standard vs Pro plans, you’ll see the former doesn’t offer automation features like auto-replies. With Quo, you get auto-replies on the base plan, so you can set expectations when people call or text — even outside business hours.

See why Quo is the best business phone service provider

So is Dialpad worth it?

You be the judge.

If you’re not a fan of high fees and steep learning curves, the answer is probably ‘no.’

Quo offers more bang for your buck — we’re one of the highest-rated business phone platforms on G2. We offer all the basics you should expect from a business phone system, as well as plenty of extras that help your team delight customers, like AI call summaries and custom contact properties.

You never have to upgrade before you’re ready, and thanks to transparent pricing, you can plan for consistent bills. You don’t even need to meet minimum seat requirements: we scale alongside you regardless of team size, helping you provide a great customer experience.

Ready to see us in action? You can try Quo for free for seven days.

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