Starting at $10 per user, per month, Zoom Phone US & CA Metered and Google Voice Standard are the two cheapest VoIP plans available.
However, you’ll have to pay an additional $7 per user, per month for Google Workspace to get access to Google Voice. Plus, Zoom Phone has a much wider set of inbound call features, including skill and time-based call routing, which makes it more suitable for larger teams fielding high volumes of calls.
Zoom Phone and Google Voice are far from the only cheap VoIP plans on the market. Led by our own in-house research, which involved scoring 10 major VoIP providers across 44 different categories, we’ve broken down the cheapest options on the market.
Key Takeaways
- Google Voice Starter and Zoom Regional Metered are identified as the cheapest VoIP plans, both starting at $10 per user, per month, when billed annually, though Google Voice requires an additional $7 for Google Workspace.
- Other affordable VoIP options include Dialpad Standard at $15 per user, per month, net2phone Essentials at $19.99 per user, per month, and RingCentral Core at $20 per user, per month.
- Key factors that go beyond just the monthly fee include call management functions, integration with existing tools, and whether unlimited domestic calling is included.
- VoIP services offer a modern alternative to traditional phone systems, leveraging the internet to potentially drive significant cost savings for businesses.
What Are the Cheapest VoIP Plans?
In this section, you’ll find an overview of the best cheap VoIP plans on the market. Use the links to start comparing prices now, or check out the head-to-head table below to see how each platform directly compares.
- Zoom US & CA Metered ($10/user/month) — Best overall, lowest starting price
- Google Voice Starter ($10/user/month) — Best for very small teams with basic VoIP needs
- Dialpad Standard ($15/user/month) — Best for small customer service teams
- net2phone Essentials ($19.99/user/month) — Best for unifying internal communications
- RingCentral Core ($20/user/month) — Best for customer support options
| Plan | Price | Users | Our rating | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FEATURED  | BEST OVERALL  |  |  |  |  |
| Phone.com | Zoom Phone | Google Voice | Dialpad | net2phone | RingCentral |
| Basic | US & CA Metered | Starter | Standard | Essentials | Core |
| $15/user/month | $10/user/month | $10/user/month | $15/user/month | $19.99/user/month | $20/user/month |
| Scalable, starting from 1 (contact sales for more information) | 1-99 | 10 | Unlimited | 1–100+ | 100 lines max (for more, contact sales) |
| Not yet rated | 4.6 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 3.7 |
What Are Businesses Looking For in a VoIP System in 2026?
Today, businesses are much more concerned with how VoIP enables them to process inbound calls, meaning that call management features are high on the agenda.
Forwarding, queues, virtual receptionists — these are features that have grown in importance, while two-factor authentication (2FA), single sign-on (SSO), and other security protocols are less of a deal-breaker these days.
As always, cost remains top of mind for a lot of these businesses, particularly smaller enterprises with fewer than 50 employees.
Ultimately, our research indicates that a winning solution combines affordability, abundant call management features, streamlined communications channels, and possible CRM integrations.
1. Zoom US & CA Metered: Best Overall, Cheapest Starting Price
- Starting price: $10 per user, per month
Starting at $10 per user, per month, Zoom US & CA Metered is the joint-cheapest VoIP plan we’ve found. Unlike Google Voice Standard — which is only available to existing Google Workspace customers — you won’t be required to pay extra for additional software.
Zoom US & CA Metered boasts an impressive number of inbound communications tools for its price, which makes the platform an excellent option for cost-conscious small teams that still want heavy-duty features.
Pros
- Very low starting price, ideal for smaller businesses
- Excellent for managing high numbers of incoming calls (spam prevention, hold music, etc.)
- Top tier security protocol with abundance of compliance certificates
Cons
- Limited number of CRM and helpdesk integrations
- No email support available and you don't get much help with onboarding
- Insufficient analytics tools with a lack of detail in reporting
- US & CA Metered: $10/user/month
- US & CA Unlimited: $15/user/month
- Pro Plus: $18.33/user/month
- Business Plus: $22.49/user/month
Why I think Zoom US & CA Metered is the best cheap VoIP plan
Zoom US & CA Metered has a good set of call management features for its price, including interactive voice response (IVR), queuing, and distribution groups, all of which will improve the on-call experience for your customers.
By contrast, you won’t find queueing on either Google Voice Standard or Dialpad Standard, both of which are more expensive than Zoom. So, if you’re fielding high volumes of calls at all hours of the day, Zoom Phone is definitely the better option (especially if you don’t want to leave callers frustrated).
Other impressive features include built-in voicemail transcription, so nothing will ever get lost in translation.
The voicemail dashboard on Zoom Phone. We found the built-in transcription easy to use during testing. Source: Tech.co testing
Zoom also has a great selection of tools for training your employees. Two examples are call recording and call whisper, the latter of which will let you give advice or direction to your agents mid-call without customers or clients hearing.
Call recording is pretty common among VoIP providers in 2026. However, Dialpad Connect Standard ($15 per user, per month) does not provide call whisper, and nor does Google Voice, on any of its plans.
It’s these sorts of features that make Zoom Phone stand out as the budget choice for any businesses with medium-to-large contact and/or call centers.
What limitations does Zoom Phone have?
In terms of help and support, the plan is quite limited, with most options gated behind the Pro Plus plan ($18.33 per user, per month), including access to a chatbot, live chat, and phone support, technical support, and access to a knowledge base.
Testing out the Zoom Phone chatbot. Source: Tech.co testing
Zoom Phone also has quite a limited range of available integrations. You’ll be able to integrate with Outlook, Salesforce, Gmail, Microsoft Teams, ServiceNow, and HubSpot, but only on the Pro Plus plan ($18.33 per user, per month) and above.
Check out our Zoom Phone review for more information.
What's new for Zoom Phone in 2026?
Zoom Phone has rolled out a few new features in 2026. Among them, users can now access detailed call information, including caller and recipient details, operator assignments, call timing, wait times, and recording status, via the Call Log report.
You can now also view historical data from the Auto Receptionist, which sheds light on performance analytics, call distribution patterns, and separate tracking for business hours and after-hours activity.
With these two enhancements, users have improved oversight of employee communication patterns, as well as insight into the effectiveness of the Auto Receptionist.
How much does Zoom Phone cost?
Zoom Phone has five plans, which you can learn about below.
- US & CA Metered: $10 per user, per month
- US & CA Unlimited: $15 per user, per month
- Pro Plus: $18.33 per user, per month
- Business Plus: $22.49 per user, per month
- Global Select: $20 per user, per month
While the US & CA Metered plan is a fantastic option for most small businesses, due to its lack of unlimited domestic minutes, you should consider upgrading if your company makes a high volume of outbound calls.
The US & CA Unlimited plan ($15 per user, per month), for instance, offers unlimited domestic calling, which will particularly suit sales teams that make lots of cold calls.
2. Google Voice Starter: Best For Very Small Teams
- Starting price: $10 per user, per month
Google Voice Starter is the best cheap VoIP plan for small teams. It has a highly attractive entry price ($10 per user, per month), features most VoIP basics, and boasts an exceptional user experience.
As we mentioned earlier on though, there is a caveat: you will be required to pay an additional $7 per user, per month for access to Google Workspace, if you don’t already.
Pros
- Joint-lowest starting price ($10 per user, per month)
- Seamless integration with other Google Workspace tools
- Easy-to-use, clear interface
Cons
- Requires Google Workspace ($7 per user, per month)
- Limited customer support options in lower pricing plans
- Lacks training features like call monitoring and whisper
- Starter: $10/user/month
- Standard: $20/user/month
- Premier: $30/user/month
Why I think Google Voice Starter is the best cheap VoIP plan for small teams
Google Voice Starter covers most of the basics that you would expect from a cloud phone system. It allows for up to 10 users, you can make unlimited domestic calls, you can record calls, get access to 24/7 customer support, and automatically transcribe voicemails.
With these features, it’s a great fit for most small teams and microbusinesses.
The voicemail interface in Google Voice. Source: Tech.co testing
Google Voice’s UX design is one of the best on the market. I tested the product myself and found it to be very easy to use.
The dial pad, which is located on the right of the screen, has large keys for ease of dialing. Additionally, it can be hidden on demand. While small, these design touches can make a big difference to users who need to dial multiple numbers in quick succession.
Inclusive design is baked into everything Google does, and this is evident across Google Voice, which emphasizes white space, logical site-mapping, and general intuitiveness.
The Google Voice interface is clearly laid out, with minimal clutter and generous use of white space for ease of navigation. Source: Tech.co testing
What limitations does Google Voice Starter have?
As a very basic VoIP plan, Google Voice Starter lacks basic call management tools, including call queue. As a result, small-to-medium sized businesses that process a high volume of inbound calls should consider alternatives.
You can read our full Google Voice review to learn more.
How much does Google Voice cost?
Google Voice has three different pricing plans, which you can learn about below.
- Starter: $10 per user, per month
- Standard: $20 per user, per month
- Premier: $30 per user, per month
Combining great UX with key VoIP fundamentals, Google Voice Starter is the best cheap VoIP plan for small teams.
Larger businesses that process a high volume of inbound calls, such as a call center, could be tempted by the Standard plan ($20 per user, per month), which unlocks call recording, call queuing, and ring groups.
3. Dialpad Standard: Best For Small Customer Service Teams
- Starting price: $15/user/month
Dialpad Standard is the best cheap VoIP plan for small customer service teams, due to its excellent range of tools for handling inbound calls, including instant messaging and ring groups.
While it still has a couple of features missing that are included on Zoom Phone’s US & CA Metered Plan (more on this below), it’ll still allow you to provide a high level of customer service to all of your callers.
Pros
- Excellent, comprehensive suite of features
- Great array of alternative communication channels
- Excellent security
Cons
- Slim range of software integrations with CRM, helpdesk or PMS
- Lacks some training tools
- No call queue functionality
- Standard: $15/user/month
- Pro: $25/user/month
- Enterprise: Custom
Why I think Dialpad Standard is the best cheap VoIP plan for small customer service teams
Dialpad Standard has an impressive toolkit for fielding high volumes of inbound calls, with examples including a multi-level auto attendant, visual voicemail, routing, and forwarding.
However, if you want call queuing, you will have to opt for the Pro plan ($25 per user, per month), or Zoom Phone’s US & CA Metered plan ($10 per user, per month).
With Dialpad, you can customize your routing options to ensure your calls are always connected to the right party. Source: Tech.co testing
Dialpad Standard also offers some excellent AI-enhanced tools. Among them, you’ll get access to real-time call transcriptions, voicemail transcriptions, and real-time call analytics, which can all be used to coach your existing employees.
Dialpad has also recently introduced a dedicated AI coaching hub. The paid add-on (which has no public pricing) enables users to deploy AI agents to streamline day-to-day processes, including developing customer insight, making decisions, and executing them on your behalf.
Dialpad’s AI Coaching Hub feature is a great way to monitor your team’s performance and identify coaching opportunities. Source: Dialpad
What limitations does Dialpad Standard have?
Dialpad Standard has a limited set of integrations, with Google Workspace the only available option — and this will incur an added cost of $7 per user, per month, if you don’t already have access to it.
What's new for Dialpad in 2026?
As of February 2026, Dialpad admins can now update user license types from directly within the “Users” page, meaning that you no longer have to raise support tickets. Ultimately, this will allow you to onboard new hires more quickly, and reduce the administrative burden on managers.
How much does Dialpad cost?
Dialpad has three main pricing plans, which you can learn about below.
- Standard: $15 per user, per month
- Pro: $25 per user, per month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Users who are looking for an all-in-one communications platform could upgrade to the Pro plan ($25 per user, per month).
At this tier, you’ll get access to leading CRM integrations to help you manage all of your customer data from one central location, making the plan a great fit for B2B sales teams.
4. net2phone Essentials: Best For Unifying Internal Communications
- Starting price: $19.99 per user, per month
net2phone Essentials is the best cheap VoIP plan for unifying internal business communications. This is because it offers a range of alternative communication channels in addition to calling, including video conferencing, messaging, and fax.
By unifying different channels into one interface, you can communicate with your colleagues more effectively, ensuring that nothing gets lost as you switch between platforms.
Pros
- Excellent call management features
- Video conferencing platform built-in for team communication
- Plenty of AI features to save time and improve productivity
Cons
- Video conferencing and AI features very limited in Essentials plan
- Toll-free and international numbers cost extra in all plans
- Training features are highly limited
- Essentials: From $19.99/user/month
- Professional: From $24.99/user/month
- Ultimate: From $29.99/user/month
Why I think net2phone Essentials is the best cheap VoIP plan for unifying internal communications
With its range of alternative communication channels, net2phone Essentials is a great solution for businesses that want to unify all of their business operations. Teams that are geographically spread out, for example, will benefit from the ability to manage all of their comms from one interface.
Team messaging lets you stay in instant contact with your team members, no matter where they are in the world. Source: net2phone
net2phone also offers a good selection of call management features, including call waiting, forwarding, transfer, parking, routing, and more. With these, you can improve the on-call experience for your end customers, as well as ensure that your staff team isn’t overburdened.
Considering its price point, net2phone Essentials has an impressive selection of available integrations. Specifically, it integrates with Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, Zapier, Zoho, and Slack, among others, ensuring your call data and information is readily available, wherever you need it.
What limitations does net2phone Essentials have?
net2phone Essentials has fairly mediocre training features. While you get access to call recording, it lacks barge, whisper, and monitor, three fundamental training features which you can find on the Zoom US & CA Metered plan ($10 per user, per month).
How much does net2phone cost?
net2phone has three pricing plans, which operate on a per-user basis. You can learn more below (prices given for 25–99 users).
- Essentials — $19.99 per user, per month
- Professional — $25.99 per user, per month
- Ultimate — $29.99 per user, per month
Businesses that make a high volume of outbound international calls, such as a multinational with several different offices, should consider opting for the Ultimate plan ($29.99 per user, per month), as you will unlock unlimited calling to more than 40 countries.
What’s more, if you employ a lot of people, the per-user pricing will work in your favor.
Be sure to check out our net2phone review for more information.
5. RingCentral Core: Best For Speedy Onboarding
- Starting price: $20 per user, per month
RingCentral Core is the best cheap VoIP plan for speedy onboarding, due to the fact that it has the best help and support options out of all of the plans on this list.
In addition to 24/7 support, you’ll also get access to dedicated onboarding support to help you get up and running quickly. Notably, no other providers on this list offer onboarding support on entry-level plans.
Pros
- Flexible range of pricing plans, with easy scaling for all businesses
- Largest library of third-party integrations across our research
- All-in-one hub for internal and external communication
Cons
- No automatic downloads for video meeting transcripts
- High starting price makes it prohibitive for smaller businesses
- CRM and helpdesk integrations reserved for more expensive plans
- Core plan: $20/user/month
- Advanced plan: $25/user/month
- Ultra plan: $35/user/month
Why I think RingCentral Core is the best cheap VoIP plan for speedy onboarding
RingCentral Core has fantastic onboarding support, which is not widely offered across the VoIP landscape. For small businesses that can’t afford technical downtime, this level of dedicated help is invaluable.
It also offers a great selection of help and support options, including 24/7 phone and chat support. Zoom Phone, by contrast, doesn’t offer 24/7 phone support on any of its plans.
RingCentral has an impressive array of call management features for the price point, including call queues, forwarding, transfer, screening, and logs.
In fact, it exceeds Dialpad Standard ($15 per user, per month) in this area, albeit at a higher cost ($20 per user, per month).
We used RingCentral’s audio transcription services in a video meeting, and it was nearly perfect. Source: Tech.co testing
What limitations does RingCentral Core have?
RingCentral Core is quite limited in its selection of available third-party integrations. You won’t get any CRM integrations, for instance, although this is also the case with Dialpad Standard and net2phone Essentials.
How much does RingCentral cost?
RingCentral offers three pricing plans — Core, Advanced, and Ultra, which you can learn about below.
- Core: $20 per user, per month
- Advanced: $25 per user, per month
- Ultra: $35 per user, per month
While the Core plan is an excellent solution for small businesses, institutions that conduct a lot of SMS marketing, such as a food takeaway franchise, might want to consider the Ultra plan ($35 per user, per month), as you’ll be able to access 200 SMS per user, per month.
| Plan | Price | Users | Unlimited calls in US | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | ||
| Core | Advanced | Ultra | ||
| $20/user/month | $25/user/month | $35/user/month | ||
| 100 lines max (for more, contact sales) | 100 lines max (for more, contact sales) | 100 lines max (for more, contact sales) | ||
| | | |
Can I Use VoIP for Free?
Yes, you can use VoIP for free, although with strict limitations. With Zoom, for instance, you can only host calls that last up to 40 minutes.
Google Voice can also be used for free, but only to make calls in the US and you will be required to pay for Google Workspace ($7 per user, per month), if you don’t already.
Other free VoIP services include WhatsApp, Skype and Line.
Check out our guide to the best free and paid Google Voice alternatives for more options.
Tech.co’s Jack Turner and Isobel O’Sullivan testing Zoom. Source: Tech.co testing
A few VoIP companies, such as Dialpad, RingCentral, and GoTo Connect, offer free trials, which means you can work out whether the software is actually worth purchasing without spending anything.
Free VoIP systems typically offer limited business features and have strict user caps. This means they won’t fit the needs of most businesses.
We take our hands-on testing and impartial analysis seriously, so you can have complete confidence that we're giving you the clearest, most useful recommendations.
After conducting an initial exploration to identify the most relevant, popular, and established business phone platforms on the market, we selected 10 top VoIP systems and took a deeper dive into their plans to find out more about the features and functionality on offer.
Based on years of market research, product testing, and user needs analysis, we've established a VoIP system research methodology that scores each product in eight core categories of investigation, which are broken down into 44 further subcategories.
With this framework we cover everything, from internal communication tools and security options to niche training features, and it ensures we can accurately assess each product's value for its price and suitability for different types of businesses.
Our main research categories for VoIP phone systems are:
- Call management features: The presence and quality of call handling features, including basic features such as call forwarding and voicemail, as well as more advanced features like auto-attendant and interactive voice response (IVR).
- Communication channels: Features designed to support communication other than calling, including integrations with websites and social media platforms.
- Training features: The presence and quality of features designed to support onboarding and training, like call barge, call whisper, and performance dashboards.
- Customer support: The assistance and resources provided by the VoIP service provider to customers, including online resources, knowledge bases, and access to customer support representatives and AI chatbots.
- Security options: The measures and features implemented by the VoIP service to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and protection of voice communications and data.
- Pricing factors: The pricing structure associated with the VoIP service, including factors such as monthly subscription fees, domestic and international call rates, setup fees, hardware costs, and extra costs, like add-on features or services.
When it comes to calculating a product's final score, not all testing areas are weighted evenly, as we know some aspects matter more to our readers than others, which are merely “nice to have.” After hundreds of hours, our process is complete, and the results should ensure you can find the best solution for your needs.
Learn more about our research testing process.
Verdict: Which Cheap VoIP Provider Should You Choose?
The best cheap VoIP solution currently on the market is Zoom US & CA Metered. It rivals Google Voice Starter as the cheapest platform on the market (minus the $7 per user, per month, Google Workspace fee).
For this modest outlay, you’ll get an abundant list of features, with standouts including automatic call distribution groups and queuing, alongside call barge, monitor, whisper, and takeover.
The plan also scored highly for communication channels, as it offers video conferencing and messaging in addition to voice calling.
However, we understand that it’s important to have options. That’s why we’ve developed a VoIP comparison tool to give you insight into the best providers on the market.