The Best Business Phone Systems of 2024

A business phone system is more than just a tool for making and receiving phone calls. Today’s business phone systems are complete unified communications systems that allow businesses, especially established companies with more advanced needs, to communicate with customers and clients in various ways. Today’s top systems provide phone service, video conferencing, text messaging, internal messaging, online faxing and much more. This ensures growing businesses can meet their customers and clients wherever they are on whatever type of platform they prefer.

Most of the leading business phone systems utilize VoIP technology, which provides the functionality needed to offer dozens of useful tools and features, like unlimited calling, visual voicemail, call recording and automated attendants. In addition, most of the best phone systems don’t require a standard office phone. Many have desktop and mobile apps that let users operate the entire system from the desktop computer or mobile device.

Businesses that have been up and running for a while know just how critical it is to present a professional image while staying connected with their customers and clients. Cloud-hosted phone services improve customer experiences while increasing efficiency. A professional phone number boosts a business’s credibility in the eyes of consumers, while automation features fuel productivity.

Lower Costs

Many companies switch to VoIP to save money. Unlike an on-premises system, your business isn’t responsible for server maintenance or upgrades. A cloud service’s flexibility means you don’t necessarily need hardware. Employees can use their existing computers or cell phones for free or add an analog telephone adapter to connect traditional desk phones.

Better Customer Experiences

Advanced features like auto attendants and customer relationship management (CRM) integrations translate into satisfying customer experiences. Clients can reach the correct department or select an employee by name through the company directory. Likewise, employees see ring group details (the line your caller chose) and customer information, such as when they last called or their survey results. This enables your staff to personalize their greeting and meet customer expectations.

Scalability

With a VoIP phone service, you can add or remove lines, features and user permissions from the admin dashboard. Call reports provide insights about call volumes and missed calls, which informs scheduling and hiring decisions. These capabilities help small businesses scale operations to meet demand.

Increased Productivity

The best business phone systems of 2024 unify business communications, resulting in less application switching. They also provide virtual receptionists and IVR menus, reducing call transfers. AI-powered tools can generate voice and video summaries, highlight action items and track assigned task progress. Moreover, admins can schedule recurring reports to keep leaders abreast of call volumes without performing the same steps weekly or monthly.

Business phone systems are full of valuable features and tools.  Some VoIP providers offer only a few dozen features while others have over 100. As your business grows, many of these features become increasingly valuable. Ensuring your employees have the tools they need to easily communicate with your clients and each other is critical as your venture grows and becomes more sophisticated. As you can see with many of the tools below, while they might not be as valuable to a business with a couple employees, they are vital for those with a larger staff that have varying needs and responsibilities.

Metered or Unlimited Calling

Most VoIP phone services today allow unlimited incoming and outgoing calls. However, this usually only applies to domestic calls and calls using local phone numbers. Many providers impose extra charges and restrictions for toll-free calling. In addition, some cloud phone systems offer metered extensions or pay-as-you-go phone lines.

Voicemail Options

Business phone systems may offer shared and individual voicemail boxes. Most let users check messages from anywhere. VoIP providers also offer visual voicemail and voicemail-to-email. The former displays a list of your voicemails and you can listen to them in any order while the latter sends an email with your message as an audio attachment. Voicemail transcription is another popular feature but availability varies according to the service plan.

Most business phone systems offer users the ability to read their voicemail messages directly from their desktop or mobile app. Source: RingCentral

Caller ID

This basic function shows the number of the person calling you. The caller ID appears on desk phones or through a softphone on your computer or mobile device.

Speed Dial

Instead of dialing a seven-digit number, you can push one button to connect to the numbers you call most. This feature applies to desk phones but many softphone apps provide a favorites list for your most-used contacts.

Personal and Company Directories

A personal directory is an easy way to manage your contacts. It gives you access to your contacts’ phone numbers whenever needed. A company directory displays every employee (and their contact information).

Do Not Disturb

When working on a big project or important task, you can put your phone in this mode to prevent interruptions. Your phone will not ring and all callers are sent directly to voicemail.

Single and Multilevel Automated Attendants

An auto attendant answers calls to your business, plays a greeting and directs the caller to the person or department they are trying to reach automatically. Advanced systems may offer multilevel auto attendants, which offer more extensive options, including transferring the caller to another auto attendant or IVR system.

On-hold Music

You can choose the music callers hear while they wait on hold. Most vendors offer prerecorded tracks while others let you upload a custom music playlist, which may include messages for callers.

Paging

You can use your phone to send messages to everyone, similar to a traditional intercom system. Certain services can also connect your VoIP system to a physical paging system.

Call Flip

This option allows users to move seamlessly between devices while on a call without putting the caller on hold. It’s ideal for business owners who run their company from a smartphone or anyone who shifts between mobile and desktop devices frequently.

Presence

The presence status shows employees whether their colleagues are on a call or available to chat. Some solutions let users choose a status like out-of-the-office, away from my desk or in a meeting.

Call Reports

Call logs provide basic analytics on your company’s phone usage. You can often break down usage statistics by filters, such as by employee or department.

Business phone systems include various reports and analytics that give businesses better insight into the calls their organization is making and receiving. Source: Nextiva

Online Management

All VoIP systems can be managed in an online portal. From the dashboard, you and the other administrators can add users, set phone numbers, review call reports, create ring groups and see monthly statements. Employees can also access the portal to check their voicemail, view a company directory and set call forwarding routes.

Call Forwarding

Your office phone can forward calls to another number automatically. This could be a mobile phone, another employee’s line or an external VoIP or analog phone.

Extension Dialing

Employees can dial a co-worker by a three-, four- or five-digit extension instead of their entire phone number.

Call Recording

Many cloud-based phone systems give you the ability to record your calls. Depending on the phone provider and administrator settings, this feature may be on-demand or automatic.

Ring Groups

You can create ring groups for employees who answer calls from the same group of customers. For example, your customer service team might have its own ring group. The entire group is notified when a caller asks to speak to a customer service representative.

Call Queues

This tool is typically used in call centers or companies with high call volumes. However, even small businesses like restaurants can use this feature during peak hours to manage phone orders. It puts callers “in line” so that their calls can be answered when operators become available.

Speakerphone

Many IP phones include a speakerphone option that allows you to speak to a caller without using the phone’s handset.

Call Transfer

Employees can quickly transfer calls to their colleagues. Some solutions offer warm transfers, which let you speak with your co-worker before passing the call.

Audio and Video Conferencing

Top-rated phone systems typically support three-way calling, one-to-one video meetings or larger conferences on one or more service plans. Native online meeting technologies let your team convert a chat or voice conversation into a video call with one click.

Team Messaging and SMS

Most business phone systems offer SMS/MMS text messaging options and team chat tools. Employees can use softphone or browser-based apps to communicate one-on-one or in groups. The team messaging services usually support file sharing while business texting solutions may vary by subscription.

Cloud-based phone systems typically cost $10 to $75 per user, per month. Many office phone and UC system providers have several service plans that vary in price and features. Restaurants and retail shops use a mix of dedicated and shared VoIP numbers while remote team members may require metered or unlimited phone lines. Some providers allow companies to mix and match subscriptions, ensuring each employee has access to the tools they need.

Most vendors ask for annual prepayment or extended contract terms for the lowest pricing. A long-term agreement can result in early termination fees if you cancel before it expires or forget to stop the auto-renewal, which is relatively standard. These costs can be significant, especially if you participated in a promotion for free desk phones or headsets.

Since the hosted PBX equipment is stored in the cloud, there are usually no large installation or setup costs. Unlike a traditional office phone system, modern phone services work with your existing hardware, such as tablets, cell phones and computers. Softphone apps and browser-based programs provide full business phone functionality.

Several multiline business phone systems sell or lease hardware with service plans. Renting phones can reduce capital costs but most experts recommend purchasing them outright. Buying them through the phone provider does have its benefits as it’s often preprovisioned for your account.

The best business tools and technology seamlessly integrate into existing workflows and enhance communications. However, what may work for a solopreneur or small team might not meet the needs of a small to midsize business. To best understand the process of choosing a business phone system, we spoke with business owners who have gone through the process to understand the steps they took and prioritized along the way.

Integration

It is vital to ensure that your business phone system easily integrates with other software and technology you have employed, such as CRM systems, collaboration tools, customer support software, ERP systems and marketing automation tools.

Dan Khasis, founder and CEO of Route4Me, priotized flexibility and integration when choosing his business phone system.

“Your communication needs will evolve as your business grows, so choose a system that can easily adapt and integrate with other tools in your tech ecosystem,” Khasis said. ” Don’t just look for a phone system, seek out a communication hub that can scale with you and enhance overall operational efficiency.”

Colleen Clark, Founder and Attorney of Schmidt & Clark LLP,   agrees that integration with their existing platforms was the priority. She said her firm relies on a suite of specialized software for case management, client communication and document storage. The phone system had to work seamlessly with these tools to ensure that calls could be logged, client interactions could be tracked, and important data could be easily accessed during calls.

“I spent considerable time assessing whether the phone system could connect with our existing infrastructure without causing disruptions or requiring extensive customization,” Clark said. “The last thing I wanted was a system that would create silos of information or require our team to spend more time navigating technology than serving our clients.”

Scalability

Ideally, your business will constantly be growing. You need a business phone system that can keep up with that growth. It is inefficient in many ways to always change phone systems each time you reach a new stage in your business’s life. The system you choose must be able to easily scale.

“Route4Me’s growth trajectory meant that the phone system needed to scale with us without compromising functionality,” Khasis said.

Team needs

It is important to think about your specific needs and those of the people using the system each and every day. Talk to your staff to learn more about their communication needs and their pain points around those needs. Then work to find a business phone system that can solve those pain points.

“My tip for other business owners would be to think about what your team needs most from a phone system and make that your focus,” said Rob Stevenson, founder of BackupVault. “Whether it’s reliability, ease of use, or integration with other tools, make sure the system you choose excels in the areas that matter most to your business. Don’t just go with the most popular option – choose the one that fits your specific needs.”

Cost

Price will always be a crucial factor regardless of what you purchase for your business. However, it’s not always about choosing the cheapest option. Many business owners we spoke to said that finding the best value was vital.

In addition, don’t just consider those initial costs. Consider how much the system will cost you annually on an ongoing basis.

“We carefully evaluated pricing–considering not just the upfront costs, but also ongoing fees and any potential hidden charges. We wanted to understand the total investment over time,” said  David Primrose,  president of Metal Marker Manufacturing.

Onboarding and customer support

It’s one thing to choose a quality system, it’s another to choose a system with a team behind it that will help ensure you are able to get it up and running quickly and is there to solve any problems should the arise. Every second your system is down could be costing you money, so look for a business phone system that has a strong support team.

Sarah Fletcher, CEO of Flower Delivery, said first and foremost she wanted a business phone system that was easy to use.

“As a fast-growing company, I know the phone system has to be user-friendly enough for fast onboarding and efficient usage,” Fletcher said. “It was important that our team could pick up the system without extensive training. We also needed solid customer support because every minute that we’re down directly impacts our bottom line.”

In addition to conducting extensive research before choosing a system, many of the business owners we spoke to emphasized the importance of demoing platforms before making a final choice.

“One of the most important steps in our decision-making process was conducting thorough demos of potential systems,” Clark said. “Instead of just simply reading reviews or comparing specs on paper, we took the time to experience each system firsthand. This allowed us to evaluate the user interface, call quality, and the ease with which our staff could navigate the system.”

To determine the best business phone systems on the market, our team of communications experts evaluated an initial list of 75 platforms. We examined all 75 and eventually started to pair down the list by looking at several critical factors, including cost, how many service plan offerings were available, the included features in each service plan, and the integration offerings. After whittling our list down to 20, we chose seven business phone systems as our top recommendations. Our experts and analysts studied each platform’s functionality and evaluated each on more than 25 factors.

These factors were weighted differently in our overall conclusion. The weights were determined based on how much business owners prioritize these criteria when shopping for business software and services and making purchasing decisions.

• Pricing: (30%): Our experts and analysts compared and contrasted each vendor’s communication service plans, judging which packages offered the best value. We took into plan options, monthly fees, extra charges and the costs of add-on services.
• Features (25%): We looked for standard phone system tools like, automated attendants, call forwarding, call monitoring, call recording, audio conferencing and SMS and internal messaging. We also awarded extra points for advanced services, like AI-powered tools.
• Ease of Use (20%): We tested the platforms ourselves, gauging each’s learning cure, user-friendliness and customization options. We also considered whether there was a fully featured mobile app and softphone for accessing your business phone line on the go.
• Integrations (15%): Knowing how important this is to users, we considered the number of built-in integrations that made it easy to connect to the other programs businesses use. In addition, we factored in whether an API was available for needed integrations that weren’t already built-in.
• Customer Service (10%): We evaluated the range of customer service options, including whether phone assistance was provided with all package tiers. We also examined each vendor’s online resources for those interested in self-guided help.

Based on these criteria, we not only determined which business phone systems our readers could trust but also the ways in which each solution could best serve different business needs. Some platforms were better at certain tasks than others or more suited to a particular type of company. These takeaways informed the “Best for” use cases you see on this page.

To learn more about our methodology, see our full editorial process.

Essentially, business phone service is part of a business phone system. Phone service is what allows you to make and receive calls. This is the core of a business phone system. Without the phone service, having a business phone system doesn’t make much sense.

Business phone systems today include so much more than just the ability to make and receive calls. The phone system includes dozens of features, like IVRs, call routing, and voicemail, just to name a few, that build on the phone service. It takes making and receiving calls to the next level.

Additionally, many business phone systems today offer the ability to communicate in ways other than just talking on the phone. These include video conferencing, text messaging and internal messaging. All of this is what separates a business phone system from a business phone service.

Here are several more business phone systems that might be a good fit for your needs.

Vonage

Vonage stands out for its customization due to its a la carte features, pay-as-you-go APIs and low-code or no-code design tools. It offers over a dozen add-ons to expand your capacity during peak season. With a couple of clicks, you can add metered or unlimited extensions, call queues or call recording. Likewise, we appreciate the free trial credits and sample code to embed the voice and message APIs.

A nice aspect of Vonage is that it’s subscriptions differ from rivals because it doesn’t include every feature. If an employee doesn’t require desk phone or fax functionality, there’s no need to pay for it. We were impressed with the range of add-ons. It has standard and advanced options, from a popular shared business inbox to an AI virtual assistant. Learn more in our Vonage review or visit the Vonage website directly.

OpenPhone

OpenPhone is a versatile virtual phone system. Its unified inbox and conversation features align remote teams, allowing them to deliver exceptional customer experiences. We were pleased that it offers an economical base plan with business hours routing and shared inboxes while the step-up tier adds phone menus. Time-saving auto-responses, snippets and voicemail transcripts come with all plans.

We were impressed by the unified conversations and internal threads features. Shared spaces track all communications and group them into active, unread and unresponded categories, ensuring no customers fall through the cracks. Distributed workers can view the entire interaction history on individual records, including call transcripts, voicemails and text messages. Internal conversations appear here also and team members can @mention each other to request additional context or status updates.

Grasshopper

Grasshopper’s unique offering sets the platform apart from competitors. It doesn’t aim to replace your current office PBX system or transform how you handle calls. Instead, Grasshopper provides one or more business phone numbers and softphone apps with the fundamentals, plus a few perks. Depending on the plan, you can forward calls to one or more co-workers without per-user fees.

With softphone apps for desktop computers and mobile devices, professionals can use Grasshopper for cellular, Wi-Fi and VoIP calling. It works particularly well for partnerships or small teams covering low-volume phone lines. When customers call your number, Grasshopper forwards it to the first provided call forwarding number. If that line is busy or doesn’t pick up, the virtual service tries the next available forwarding number automatically.

800.com

Rather than a complete phone service like some others on this page, 800.com is a provider of 1-800, vanity and local phone numbers. This service allows small business owners the ability to separate their personal and business calls. 800.com offers three service plans, each of which includes a fax number, call recording, text messaging, analytics, voicemail transcription and a variety of call-forwarding options.