MagicJack vs Vonage – Price and Features Comparison

According to our research, Vonage is a better VoIP provider than MagicJack, offering an all-around better platform when it comes to features, customer support, security and scalability.

In fact, Vonage beats MagicJack in almost every research category, due to MagicJack’s decidedly low scores across the board. MagicJack scored 2.5/5 overall, compared to the 4.3/5 that we gave Vonage.

In this guide, we’ll explain how these two top VoIP providers match up on everything from external connections to pricing plans, so you can make the right decision for your business. And given the big gap between these two providers, the decision should be an easy one.

For an in-depth look at these and other VoIP providers, check out our VoIP quotes comparison form to get more information.

In this guide:

• MagicJack vs Vonage: Key Differences
• MagicJack vs Vonage: Pricing and Plans
• How Do Vonage and MagicJack Compare to Other VoIP Providers?
• How We Compare VoIP Providers
• The Verdict: Which VoIP Provider Is Best?
• Frequently Asked Questions

MagicJack vs Vonage: Key Differences

Our research found that Vonage and MagicJack are very different VoIP providers. For example, MagicJack only offers one pricing plan, which is more affordable than the three pricing plans from Vonage. Additionally, Vonage has far more external connections than MagicJack, offering integration with CRM and web conferencing software.

You’ll also find MagicJack lacking compared to Vonage when it comes to security, since Vonage offers user-permissions and compliance certifications for a wide range of organizations. That, combined with the fewer customer support channels available, makes Vonage the clear choice, even at the higher price.

Here are some other key differences between the two options, which should help you narrow down which one is a better choice for you and your business.

• Vonage has more features than MagicJack
• MagicJack is more affordable than Vonage
• Vonage has more external connections than MagicJack
• MagicJack has fewer pricing plans than Vonage
• Vonage has better security than MagicJack
• MagicJack has worse customer support than Vonage

Now that we understand how these two VoIP providers match up on the basics, let’s take a deeper look at MagicJack and Vonage on their own, so you know what you’re getting into.

MagicJack Review

Our research found that MagicJack isn’t really the best option when it comes to VoIP providers. In fact, it came in last place in all our research, due to its notable lack of features, its poor customer support options, its essentially non-existent security, and its lack of scalability in its offering.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom with MagicJack. Given its fewer offerings, it does take care of the basics, providing unlimited domestic and international minutes in its single pricing plan. Additionally, it offers this at a lower price the most other VoIP options at $15.99 per user per month, making it surprisingly good value if you just need the basics.

Still, if you’re a larger business, or even a small business with plans to grow, MagicJack just isn’t going to provide the features, security, customer support, or scalability you need to get to the next level.

Check out our MagicJack alternatives guide for more information on other options

Vonage Review

Whether you’ve seen their commercials or just love VoIP software, you’ve almost certainly heard of Vonage before. The robust VoIP provider offers a lot, which secured its spot in the top four of our best VoIP provider research, and for good reason.

Vonage scored highly in all our categories (particularly compared to MagicJack), which is why it scores highly overall. Its two highest categories were features and scalability, netting 4.4/5 and 4.5/5 respectively in our research, thanks to its massive feature catalog of advanced tools for businesses. Some of the features do cost a bit extra on top of the $19.99 per user, per month starting price, so be sure you have room in the budget.

Vonage’s weakest point is its security, scoring only a 3/5 in our research, due to its lack of multi-factor authentication and password rules on its platform. Still, compared to MagicJack, which received a 1/5, it’s safe to say Vonage is still the better option.

Check out our full Vonage review.

Best Value for Money: MagicJack

When it comes to value, we looked at the price of a provider and whether or not they offered unlimited domestic and international minutes. While MagicJack has a lot of shortcomings as far as features are concerned, it’s cheaper than Vonage and offers unlimited domestic and international minutes.

Still, when it comes to value, it’s important to understand exactly what you need before making a decision. Take a look at the two pricing options for MagicJack and Vonage below to get a better idea of what you’re working with.

MagicJack for Business pricing

MagicJack for Business pricing is pretty simple compared to Vonage. The VoIP provider offers only one pricing plan, compare to three from Vonage, so you don’t have to do too much research to find out which one is the right fit for you.

The MagicJack for Business pricing plan costs $15.99 per user, per month, which is a bit less expensive than Vonage’s least costly option. You get all the basic features you should expect from a VoIP provider. Unlimited domestic and international minutes come with this plan, as well as features like caller ID, extension dialing, voicemail, and online call logs.

This plan is a great value for these basic features, scoring a 4/5 in our research for this category, but it’s worth remembering that MagicJack offers almost none of the advanced features found with Vonage, so be wary of going for the cheaper option here. There are features like auto-attendant, virtual fax, and toll-free numbers, but they’ll cost you between $5 per month and $10 per month extra.

Vonage pricing

Vonage pricing is more varied than MagicJack for Business, offering three different pricing plans to choose from: Mobile, Premium, and Advanced, rather than just one plan from MagicJack.

Vonage’s Mobile plan costs $19.99 per user, per month, the Premium plan costs $29.99 per user, per month, and the Advanced plan costs $39.99 per user, per month. On top of all that, some of Vonage’s more advanced features will cost you extra, including voicemail to text, call queue, text chat, call conferencing, call barge-in, and call whisper.

Vonage is a pretty good value, scoring a 3.8/5 in our research, due to its slightly higher price but bountiful offerings for the cost. It’s definitely more expensive than MagicJack, with even the least expensive plan costing more than the single MagicJack plan, but it offers so much more that we think it’s a better buy.

Vonage vs MagicJack: Head-to-Head

If you haven’t guessed by now, our research shows that Vonage is absolutely a better VoIP provider, outscoring MagicJack in almost every category that we measured. Read on for an in-depth look at each category, so you know why we deem Vonage to be the better option of the two.

Best for Features: Vonage

As with most categories, this one isn’t even close between Vonage and MagicJack. Our research found that Vonage scored an impressive 4.4/5 for features, whereas MagicJack netted a mere 2.1/5, which should concretely show you that one is better than the other in this regard.

The problem is that MagicJack is geared towards smaller, more basic needs for VoIP. It offers no management or collaboration features at all, minimal conversation features, and very sparse outbound communication features. Even worse, many of the inbound communication features cost extra, which is why we have to give Vonage the edge.

Best for Customer Service: Vonage

With a business tool as important as VoIP, you’re going to want to have customer support on hand to help with any problems. Subsequently, you’ll want to opt for Vonage over MagicJack, as the provider offers substantially more customer support options than its more affordable counterpart.

For one, Vonage customer support is reachable by all channels, including email, phone, and live chat, whereas MagicJack is only reachable by email and phone. Additionally, Vonage provides many more resources, like user forums and onboarding support, although these will cost a bit extra.

In short, Vonage – with a score of 3.4/5 – has the clear edge for customer support over MagicJack, which scored only a 2.1/5 for the category.

Best for External Connections: Vonage

In all likelihood, your VoIP system is going to integrate with other tools installed at your business. Subsequently, you’ll want to choose a provider that offers a lot of external connections, and Vonage blows MagicJack out of the water on this one, scoring a 3.5/5 in our research, compared to MagicJack’s 1.1/5, our lowest score for the category.

Simply put, MagicJack can’t integrate with CRM, live chat, web conferencing, or workplace software, which Vonage absolutely can. MagicJack also can’t integrate with email, but neither can Vonage, so maybe you want to check out another top VoIP provider if that’s what you need.

How Do Vonage and MagicJack Compare to Other VoIP providers?

Vonage and MagicJack obviously aren’t the only VoIP options on the market. In fact, the industry is filled with plenty of excellent choices that could be a better fit for your business.

Our top choice in our research was RingCentral, thanks to robust customer support, lots of features, and unmatched scalability. 8×8 and Zoom Phone were two other options that we found competitive in the space, while Ooma has customer service to rival Vonage. Take a look at the table below to see how all these VoIP providers match up against each other.

How We Compare VoIP Providers

There’s no doubt that Vonage is better than MagicJack, but how did we come to that conclusion? At Tech.co, we’re all about thorough research that gives you a clear picture of how one provider differs to another. Here are the metrics we used to compare, rate, and rank VoIP providers for your business:

• Value – How affordable a provider is, while still offering basics like unlimited domestic and international minutes.
• Features – How large the feature catalog is for a particular provider.
• External connections – How many Intergrations are available.
• Customer support – What hours they are available, and through which channels.
• Security – Whether a platform has advanced security features like multi-factor authentication, encryption, and password rules.
• Customer score – How customers feel about the platform, based on app reviews and customer feedback.
• Scalability – How well a platform can grow with a business, based on features like call queue, ring groups, local numbers, and call barge.

If you want to learn more about our process, take a look at our in-depth research guide to understand how we rate and rank all business software.

Frequently Asked Questions