When 8x8 doesn’t add up: The best 8x8 alternatives for business communications

If you’re looking for a new communications solution, you’ll definitely have seen 8x8 pop up in your search. It’s a well-known name in business communications. But that doesn’t mean it’s the right solution for every company—as you may have discovered if you’re using 8x8 already.

8x8 has its good points, sure. Its XCaaS branding sounds exciting, and I can totally see why you’d consider this platform. Thing is, if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find there are 8x8 alternatives that give you way more bang for your buck. Yes, Dialpad is one of those competitors, but we’re going to be as honest and open as we can about why we think it’s one of the best 8x8 alternatives. I’ll explore these a little later—but first, let’s see what 8x8 has to offer.

What is 8x8?

8x8 has been around for a while. These days it describes itself as the “eXperience Communications Platform,” designed to provide optimized experiences for both customers and employees—and it does have some features to help you do that.

These include a VoIP phone system with call encryption, advanced call management, video conferencing, team chat, a contact center option, and an open integrations framework. There’s 24/7 technical support via live chat and phone for users of some products (dependant on plan), plus a knowledge base and virtual assistant.

Pricing plans start at $15 per user per month for 8x8 Express, which gives you up to 10 users and unlimited calling in the US and Canada, plus auto attendant, intelligent call routing, voicemail, and music on hold. You can upgrade to the next tier at $24 per user per month, while the most advanced plan, which includes analytics, is $44 per user per month.¹

Reasons why you might look for an 8x8 alternative

You’re looking for a fully integrated platform

Although it’s presented as a unified communications platform, 8x8’s features aren’t quite as tightly bound together as, for example, Dialpad’s. The contact center offering is a case in point—8x8 was planning to build its own product, but is now reselling the Genesys contact center solution through a new partnership.

That’s actually quite a common practice for UCaaS companies, but it means 8x8 doesn’t have full ownership of its platform (which could be tricky if there’s a glitch). In addition, calls made with 8x8 may be ported through a third party, depending on location and availability.

A fully integrated platform makes for a much more consistent user experience, as you have a single interface for all your comms and data, with no need to toggle between different screens or systems. That’s why Dialpad builds its own software and owns every bit of its code.

You want the best value for money

You’ve probably realized already that “value for money” can mean different things to different businesses, but it’s something to keep a close eye on when you’re researching 8x8 virtual office alternatives.

8x8’s pricing starts at $15 per user per month for the Express package, which sounds pretty standard at first glance, especially if you’re on a tight budget. But this level only gives you limited features, and you have to pay quite a lot more for the advanced ones.

If there’s one tip I can give you, it’s to have a serious think about what your business needs—and what it’s going to need in the future—before committing to a solution based purely on price.

Consider how much it will cost to implement, configure, and support your chosen software. If it’s tricky to set up and learn, the hassle could negate the affordable price point.

To use Dialpad as an example again, the lowest-priced tier is $15—exactly the same as 8x8 Express. They share some features, like smart call routing. However, Dialpad’s $15 plan provides more value for your money, such as built-in AI, and voicemail transcription:

And because it’s truly integrated, it offers a much lower total cost of ownership than paying for a bunch of separate apps.

You need a wide variety of features

8x8 isn’t short on features—it’s just that some of them have limitations, and others are only available if you’re willing to pay top dollar. Which isn’t ideal when you’re looking for a comprehensive platform. That’s why it’s important to take any solution for a test-drive before embarking on a greater commitment (8x8 offers a month’s free trial, but only for the basic plan).

8x8 lacks any tools for real-time coaching, and only offers limited switching between devices. It does come with AI, but it’s provided by a third-party rather than built into the platform—and speech analytics is only available in the higher tiers. There are a couple of dozen applications for customer management and productivity, but other 8x8 competitors (like Dialpad) give you way more.

Take a closer look at the top 10 alternatives to 8x8

There are a lot of competitors to 8x8, some of them more viable than others. Narrow down your options by checking out this list—­and to make things even simpler, I’ve divided them into two categories.

Category A: All-in-one communications

Solutions in this category provide unified communications—typically voice, video, and messaging, and sometimes more—in one package. They’re mostly also 8x8 cloud contact center competitors.

1. Dialpad: An easy-to-use communication platform with built-in AI

Dialpad really is an all-in-one solution, enabling you to keep all your tools, conversations, and customer data in one central place. All plans include HD voice and video calling, SMS, MMS and group messaging, and an integrated contact center.

What makes Dialpad an excellent alternative to 8x8?

For starters, let’s circle back to the “fully integrated” thing. 8x8 has you covered for both UCaaS and CCaaS, but they’re on two different apps—as opposed to Dialpad, where you have one interface and one login for the whole shebang. It’s faster and more productive.

The onboarding and setup are a lot smoother, and you don’t have to call your IT team (or the vendor themselves) to help with basics like adding extra users or a new auto attendant greeting. However, if you do need assistance, there’s 24/7 support via phone, email, live chat (with a real human!) and the detailed Help Center.

Dialpad offers more integrations than 8x8 (with an ever-expanding list), and they all happen in the cloud, so you get the same experience on desktop and mobile. The Salesforce integration is included in all Pro and Enterprise Plans, with no hidden implementation fees.

Dialpad gives you unlimited calling in the US and Canada, plus affordable international calling with 70+ countries supported (8x8 supports 47). There’s also unlimited meeting recordings, AI-powered call and voicemail transcriptions, and built-in analytics.

The system is built on the Google Cloud Platform for top-notch security, reliability, and call quality, with 100% uptime guaranteed for Enterprise customers. Want to know what customers think? Here are the TrustPilot ratings for Dialpad and 8x8:

What you get with Dialpad that you don’t get with 8x8

Seamless switching between devices

If you have a remote team or spend a lot of time away from your desk, you need a solution that works on all devices—and the ability to switch seamlessly between them without losing the discussion thread. 8x8 only has limited device-switching capabilities, whereas Dialpad automatically syncs your conversations across devices.

That means you can communicate and collaborate with colleagues or customers on whichever channel is most effective—or even use Call Flip to continue an ongoing call on another device. And you’ll be able to see all these interactions in a single interface, whether you’re using iOS, Android, Mac or PC.

Robust business messaging

There’s a lot that Dialpad’s business messaging can do. You can ask a quick question without typing out an entire email or picking up the phone, collaborate with your team on group chat, and send updates or reminders with bulk texts.

While 8x8 does include messaging capability, Dialpad gives you robust messaging including SMS, MMS, instant, and group messaging. And you can even start a Discord-like temporary voice chat from a messaging conversation with Dialpad’s Sidebar feature:

Hyper-accurate AI

Dialpad’s communications platform is the only one that has AI built into the product—and it’s available on all plans. Known as “Dialpad Ai," the conversation intelligence technology harnesses natural language processing (NLP) to transcribe calls and meetings in real-time, with speech analytics picking up customer sentiment and frequent keywords and phrases.

8x8’s AI offering largely takes place via partnerships with other vendors, and most of the features are only accessible to managers using the contact center product—usually at an extra cost. Speech analytics, for example, is only available on the X8 plan ($140 per user per month).

Real-time coaching features

8x8 doesn’t give you live coaching either. Its top-priced contact center plan lets managers monitor calls, but that’s about it. With Dialpad Ai, you can get sophisticated real-time coaching features, alongside other handy tools like monitoring and unlimited call recording.

RTA (Real-Time Assist) cards pop up automatically on an agent’s screen when a customer says a particular word or phrase. They provide relevant info so the agent doesn’t have to go look it up—and they even point out if someone’s talking too fast or using too many filler words.

Meanwhile, managers can oversee all ongoing calls (and real-time transcriptions) on a live dashboard. Status lights indicate whether a given caller’s sentiment is positive or negative. This helps managers immediately see which agents need support and jump in to assist while the call is still happening:

A wide range of integrations

Dialpad integrates seamlessly with software like OneLogin, Google Workspace, and Okta, making it even easier to deploy new users and handle identity management. Automatic provisioning and de-provisioning help decrease manual workloads as well as improving security and compliance.

OneLogin’s single sign-on (SSO) integration with Dialpad means you don’t have to remember multiple passwords or usernames, while Okta ensures strict authentication for the latest cloud technology. The Google Workspace integration adds business productivity tools to Dialpad’s unified communications platform, which automatically populates meeting invites with a video meeting link, for example. No more juggling different windows, tabs, and logins.

Pricing

Standard: $15 per user per month; Pro: $25 per user per month; Enterprise: Get in touch!

2. Nextiva

Nextiva is another 8x8 competitor whose solution includes VoIP phone, video conferencing and messaging.

What makes Nextiva a good alternative to 8x8?

Nextiva is quite comparable to 8x8, and offers volume discounts from time to time—the more users you have, the lower the price. The lowest-priced plan still costs a couple of dollars more than 8x8 Express, but the higher tiers work out cheaper if you have 100+ users.

Depending on the plan, you can have up to 250 video conference participants. Other useful features include live chat with custom chat buttons, analytics, and a customizable auto attendant. However, call recording and transcription are only available at the top level (remember, these are available in all Dialpad plans).

It’s important to note that Nextiva, like 8x8, is reselling another company’s software as its own for its UCaaS and CCaaS products. This can cause issues if you have to go through a third party for integrations and customer support.

Pricing

Essential: $17.95 per user per month; Professional: $21.95 per user per month; Enterprise: $31.95 per user per month (these are the lowest prices, based on 100+ users)²

3. RingCentral

RingCentral offers an all-in-one cloud solution for enterprise VoIP, video, SMS and team chat. The higher plans have a decent array of features, which we’ll cover shortly.

What makes RingCentral a good alternative to 8x8?

The platform beats 8x8 for device-switching with its desktop and mobile apps, and it has a call flip feature like Dialpad’s. It also offers chat and messaging capabilities, plus extra integrations and a higher number of participants for video meetings.

RingCentral also has real-time analytics and reporting, and voicemail transcription. There’s also a contact center package (pricing not shown online). But—yet again—even though it calls itself an integrated unified comms and contact center platform, it’s actually reselling another company’s contact center software.

Be aware that even though the Essentials package comes with basic call management, other essential features like auto attendant, call recording, real-time transcription, and Salesforce integration (and even video meetings!) are limited to higher tiers.

Pricing

Essentials: $19.99 per user per month (up to 20 users); Standard: $22.99 per user per month; Premium: $32.99 per user per month; Ultimate: $42.99 per user per month (top 3 tiers based on 100+ users)³

4. Aircall

Aircall is a cloud phone system that focuses on voice calling and contact center solutions, and makes it easy to manage your calls. However, it’s a little more expensive than most of the other competitors on this list.

What makes Aircall a good alternative to 8x8?

One advantage for Aircall is that it owns its own platform, rather than reselling software from other companies. It’s easy to use and flexible, with apps for both desktop and mobile, and has a large set of integrations to help you build your tech stack (although not Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, oddly).

The Essentials tier gives you a wide range of call management features, including recording, IVR, custom hold music, ring groups, and voicemail by email. And so it should­—it doesn’t come cheap! However, it has only basic analytics and lacks a Salesforce integration.

One major downside is that the platform has no video functionality. As good as the calling features may be, you’d have to pay for (and switch in and out of) a separate platform for video. Aircall doesn’t have built-in AI, either.

Pricing

Essentials: $30 per user per month; Professional: $50 per user per month; Custom: (ask for quote). You have to pay an additional $6 for each new number added to your account.⁴

5. GoToConnect

GoToConnect is another of the 8x8 VoIP competitors, offering video, chat, and texting alongside phone calls. Formerly known as Jive, it’s now part of LogMeIn, which houses all the GoTo products.

What makes GoToConnect a good alternative to 8x8?

Pricing is relatively simple—there are just three tiers to choose from. The system is easy to set up and configure via the visual editor. It scores well for customer service, with phone support, email, and tickets, plus user guides, FAQs, and videos, plus a community for crowdsourcing answers.

There’s a mobile app that lets you call from any device, anywhere, with free international calling for up to 50+ countries (in the higher plans). Video meetings enable up to 250 participants, with screen sharing, collaboration, and analytics.

The Basic tier has enough features to get you started, including auto attendant, call forwarding, and ring groups, although video meetings are limited to four attendees. Call recording, voicemail-to-email, and analytics are reserved for the higher tiers (you’d get all of those with Dialpad Standard), with contact center capability only at the Premium level.

Pricing

Basic: $24 per user per month (for 20 or fewer users); Standard: $29 per user per month; Premium: $39 per user per month⁵

Category B: Bare-bones, entry-level options

The following options are aimed at smaller businesses that don’t require so much in the way of communications. They have limited features and often don’t have a unified platform—but the funny thing is their pricing is comparable to the more robust options in Category A. In fact, Dialpad, for instance, is cheaper than many of these.

6. Grasshopper

Grasshopper adds a business line and virtual phone system to your personal phone so that you can keep work and personal calls separate. It’s aimed at smaller businesses and solopreneurs.

What makes Grasshopper a good alternative to 8x8?

If your business is small enough that you don’t need all the bells and whistles of a solution like 8x8, Grasshopper is a decent option. It’s good for maintaining privacy while working remotely, with the ability to have two numbers on a single phone so that customers can call your cell without needing your personal number.

There’s a long list of vanity, local, or toll-free numbers to choose from. A desktop and mobile app are included in all plans—as are voicemail, call forwarding and Wi-Fi calling. However, just like Aircall, there’s no video conferencing or instant messaging, contact center functionality, or third-party integrations.

As the features are the same in every plan, pricing is simple—it’s based on how many numbers and extensions you have. The Solo plan gives you one phone number and three extensions, but will set you back $26 per user per month. That’s a little pricey compared to something like Dialpad, which gives you much more functionality (at a lower price too).

Pricing

Solo: $26 per user per month; Partner: $44 per month; Small Business: $80 per month⁶

7. Ooma

Designed for small businesses who want to get up and running quickly, Ooma is a business phone system with a decent selection of call management features.

What makes Ooma a good alternative to 8x8?

Ooma has just two pricing plans, so it’s easy to compare them. If your business uses a lot of different devices and isn’t desk-bound, the seamless call transfer and call flip features will prove useful, as will call forwarding and the simultaneous ring feature (though this is not uncommon—almost all the other alternatives on this list have these features).

The cheaper tier has HD voice calling, hold music, call blocking, internet fax, virtual receptionist, call park, ring groups, and SMS messaging. But even though it costs more than 8x8 (and Dialpad), it doesn’t include video conferencing.

For that, you have to choose the Pro tier, where you’ll also find the desktop app, call recording and voicemail transcription. Neither plan has team messaging, which is another reason you’d be better off with almost any of the options in Category A.

Pricing

Ooma Office: $19.95 per user per month; Ooma Office Pro: $24.95 per user per month⁷

8. OnSIP

OnSIP is a cloud-based VoIP phone system with apps for mobile, desktop, and browser. It claims to be able to replace your existing phone system in less than an hour.

What makes OnSIP a good alternative to 8x8?

OnSIP’s pricing structure is more flexible than 8x8’s. OnSIP lets you choose a base plan and add extra features depending on your needs. With no long-term contracts, you can scale these up or down as needed. With the Unlimited plan, you also get free desk phones or headsets.

This plan gives you auto attendants, ring groups, call park, music on hold, voicemail-to-email, and unlimited standard calling minutes. The Pay-as-you-go option, for users with lower call volume, has many of the same features but with user limits. Add-on features are priced individually, and include extended call area, e911 service, and number porting.

The “sayso” web chat feature allows customers to chat with sales teams through your website.

On the downside, video conferencing only accommodates up to five people, and there’s no online fax option. You have to make a special request for extended international dialing.

Pricing

Unlimited: $18.95 per user per month; Pay-as-you-go: $49.95 per month per account⁸

9. Phone.com

Phone.com is a business communications solution with voice calling, video conferencing, and text messaging. Each of the three pricing bands offer a different range of features.

What makes Phone.com a good alternative to 8x8?

It’s certainly cheaper than 8x8, which makes it an attractive option for small businesses. The Basic plan includes call forwarding and call transfer, plus a mobile app that lets you turn your iPhone or Android into a Phone.com extension and call using your mobile carrier, 3G/4G, or Wi-Fi.

At this pricing level, you also get video conferencing for 10 participants, toll-free number support, and 50 standard voice features. However, you have to upgrade to Plus for business texts, and to Pro for recording, analytics, CRM integration, and voicemail transcription.

The Basic plan seems affordable at first glance, but beware of the caps for inbound and outbound calling and texts, with charges if you go beyond these limits. And many features that are pretty basic and usually come included are treated as add-on features that cost extra, such as unlimited minutes and call recording.

Pricing

Basic Users: $11.99 per user per month; Plus Users: $15.99; Pro Users: $23.99. Volume discounts available⁹

10. Mitel

Mitel has been around for a long time, and offers a choice of cloud or on-premises PBX hosting, with the cloud solutions combining phone, text, and video calling.

What makes Mitel a good alternative to 8x8?

Mitel doesn’t have set pricing plans. Instead, you build your own system and pay only for the features you want, which may be useful for smaller businesses that have tight budgets and shifting needs. The platform works across all devices and you can transition easily between them when you’re away from your desk. Plus, you get a built-in virtual private network (VPN).

The drawback is in the overwhelming amount of choices. For example, MiCloud Connect is an all-in-one cloud communications, collaboration and contact center service, but there’s also MiCloud Flex, a “mix and match” version offering five different service profiles. Then there are the on-site systems, such as MiVoice Business.

Advertised features include business SMS, individual and group chat, automatic speech recognition, call routing, and real-time performance updates. CRM and business process integrations are available. But it’s difficult to work out how expensive your package might be.

What’s also worth noting is that certain Mitel technologies were actually acquired by RingCentral in late 2021. The upshot being that RingCentral has become the “exclusive UCaaS partner” of Mitel. In practice that means Mitel has essentially given up on evolving its own platform to the cloud and will now bump customers over to RingCentral.

Pricing

None listed on their website—you'll have to contact their Sales team to get pricing.

What's the best 8x8 alternative for your business?

The field of business communications is a crowded one, and there are a few serious competitors to 8x8.

In our opinion, Dialpad’s easy-to-use unified communications platform packs a wealth of advanced features into its basic plan, and is a truly integrated all-in-one platform that’s entirely owned and built in-house—and at the very least, it's worth checking out with a free trial or product tour.

Alongside its powerful AI technology, Dialpad is also recognized for its reliability, security, scalability, and customer service. If you need any more reasons why it’s the best alternative to 8x8, check out the review comparisons on GetApp:

¹8x8.com/products/plans-and-pricing

²nextiva.com/nextiva-pricing.html

³ringcentral.com/office/plansandpricing.html#office

⁴aircall.io/pricing

⁵goto.com/pricing/connect

⁶signup.grasshopper.com/plans

⁷ooma.com/small-business-phone-systems/plans

⁸onsip.com/pricing

⁹phone.com/pricing