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Our independent research and testing found that 8×8 is better than Nextiva in virtually every major category, boasting more features, better customer support, more external connections, more affordable pricing, and better security. In fact, the only category that Nextiva scored higher than 8×8 in was customer experience, which is based on app ratings and reviews.
In fact, 8×8 is the best VoIP provider for small businesses, according to our research, with its Express plan boasting the highest score on a wide range of metrics for smaller teams. You can also check out our VoIP comparison page to get more information about top providers for your business.
In this guide, we’ll cover some of the major differences between Nextiva and 8×8, including features, pricing, customer support, and security. We’ll also see how these two VoIP providers matchup against the rest of the industry. Just scroll on for more information about Nextiva and 8×8.
Price from The typical lowest starting price. The lowest price available for your business will depend on your needs. | Best For | Core Benefit | Pros | Cons | Free Trial | ||
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Nextiva | 8×8 | ||||||
Professional services | Security | ||||||
Unlimited Calls in U.S. & Canada | Integrates with various other communication tools | ||||||
Lots of excellent features, especially in the advanced plans which offer call recording and voicemail to text. |
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Some users state that the initial set up can be pretty time consuming. |
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30 days | 30 days |
Nextiva vs 8×8: Key Differences
Nextiva and 8×8 are both very respectable VoIP solutions for your business, with both scoring above a 4 star rating, in our impartial research. 8×8 achieves an overall score of 4.6 out of 5 and Nextiva scores 4.1 out of 5. Still, there are some key differences between the two that are worth noting.
- 8×8 has more features than Nextiva
- Nextiva has lower pricing options than 8×8
- 8×8 has more external connections than Nextiva
- 8×8 has better customer support than Nextiva
- 8×8 has better security than Nextiva
- Nextiva has a better customer experience than 8×8
- 8×8 has more scalability than Nextiva
Overall, 8×8 is better than Nextiva, but each offers their own perks and downfalls that could be helpful for your business. Keep scrolling for a more in-depth look at both VoIP providers to see how they might meet your business communication needs.
Nextiva Overview
If you’re a service professional looking for a VoIP software to manage your business, Nextiva is your best bet. It’s the perfect good value VoIP option for those such as accountants, contractors, and consultants that need a lot of features but don’t necessarily need to scale too much. The plans are affordable and offer a lot at lower prices, so you don’t need to shell out too much money and can still get a lot of solid features without all the bells and whistles.
Compared to 8×8, Nextiva is lacking in some key areas, but overall, it’s a pretty solid option. Security is good enough to get you by, customer support should handle the majority of your needs, and there’s enough external connections to keep you in business. Still, if you’ve got a bigger team that could scale in the future, we’d recommend looking elsewhere.
Pros
- Unlimited users on all plans, ideal for large businesses on a budget
- Easy to use and simple set up, which makes it good for beginners
- 24/7 live support + excellent additional support options
- Lots of collaboration features like a team messenger, which is great for hybrid/remote teams
Cons
- Few management features, which means it isn't very scalable
- No multi-factor authentication, and there are better options for managing sensitive customer info
- Few integrations on the first paid plan, so you won't be able to sync it with your CRM
8×8 Overview
Nextiva is fine, but 8×8 is definitely the better VoIP provider, based on our research. It offers more features, more external connections, better customer support, more pricing plans (and then some), and just general offers a more robust service than Nextiva. In fact, our research found that 8×8 is the best VoIP provider for small businesses thanks to all these factors.
Our research also found that 8×8 is the best for small to medium sized business and sales teams, offering a lot of useful features to cater to your needs. While RingCentral is our best pick overall, smaller teams will feel much more at home with 8×8, particularly given the number of relevant features made available for a starting price of only $24 per user per month.
Pros
- Extensive outgoing call features are perfect for sales teams
- Great security features, perfect for sensitive data handling
- Training features like call whisper, call barge will help staff improve
- Onboarding assistance on all plans makes getting started smooth
Cons
- Unimpressive customer scores from those who've used the product
- Higher tiers are very pricey, and there are cheaper options for small businesses
- No dedicated spam prevention mechanism, which may prove problematic for large businesses
Nextiva and 8×8 Pricing Plans
While 8×8 is the better VoIP provider, Nextiva actually offers better deals when it comes to pricing, with more inexpensive plans that don’t skimp on features. Still, 8×8 is the more robust option for long term value, if you can afford it, so you’ll have to decide which pricing plans are more effective for your business. Take a look at how these two VoIP providers matchup on price, below.
Nextiva pricing
Compared to 8×8, Nextiva pricing is pretty cut and dry. With only three pricing plans — Essential, Professional, and Enterprise — you don’t have to overthink which plan is going to be the right choice for your business. The plans start at $23.95 per user, per month, with the two more expensive plans going up to $27.95 per user, per month and $37.95 per user, per month, respectively.
You’ll get unlimited domestic calls, inbound and outgoing, with all three plans, as well as standard features like call forwarding, caller ID, and local numbers. Each plan also comes with team features like messaging, document sharing, and task management, although the Essential plan does not include video conferencing.
Overall, Nextiva plans offer a lot without costing too much. The pricing plans are affordable and don’t skimp on the features too much. The scalability factor is quite low, though, with features like call queue and call barge only available with the Call Center add-on.
Price | Users | Unlimited calls in US | Team messaging | Document sharing | Video conferencing | 24/7 support | Call recording | Call monitoring | Analytics | Task management | Single sign-on | ||
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Digital | Core | Engage | Power Suite | ||||||||||
Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | ||||||||||
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| 250 participants | 250 participants | 250 participants | ||||||||||
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| Add-on | | | ||||||||||
Requires add-on | Requires add-on | Requires add-on | Requires add-on | ||||||||||
3 reports | 5 reports | 10 reports | Unlimited | ||||||||||
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8×8 pricing
8×8 pricing is a bit wild. It offers six different pricing plans — Express, X2, X4, X6, X7, and X8 — and some of them get quite expensive. There’s a lot to consider here, with prices starting at $15 per user, per month, with subsequent plans costing $24 per user, per month, $44 per user, per month, $85 per user, per month, $110 per user, per month, and $140 per user, per month.
While the Express plan is understandably a bit limited, missing virtually every third-party integration that makes 8×8 so great, the other plans are quite competitive, offering a lot of features from the get-go without having to invest too much.
The more expensive plans add advanced features like task management and customizable SLAs, but other than that, we’d recommend sticking within the more affordable plans to keep in line with the rest of the industry, including Nextiva.
Price | Users | Video conferencing | Call monitoring | Task management | Email integration | CRM integration | Omnichannel support | ||
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X2 | X4 | X6 | X7 | X8 | |||||
Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | |||||
500 participants | 500 participants | 500 participants | 500 participants | 500 participants | |||||
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Best for Features: 8×8
8×8 has more features than Nextiva, and it’s not even close. In fact, in our research, we found that 8×8 has the most features of any VoIP provider, scoring a 4.9 out of 5 in the category. Other than the Express plan, every plan from 8×8 is filled with a lot of features, inbound communication, outbound communication, collaboration, team management, and conversation.
Some more advanced features, like call monitoring, auto dialer, and task management are only available in the more expensive plans, which cost well beyond the most expensive plan from Nextiva, so it’s worth considering value on this decision. But when it comes to outright feature availability, 8×8 absolutely takes the cake.
Best for Scalability: 8×8
8×8 is infinitely more scalable than Nextiva, because Nextiva scored the worse in this category than any VoIP provider we’ve tested. With a score of just 2.9 out of 5, Nextiva boasts very little scalability, lacking features like call barge and ring groups costing extra in the Call Center add-on.
Conversely, 8×8 is incredibly robust, offering features like local numbers and call queue within its standard plans. You won’t even have to pay much extra, as most of these scalable features are available within the affordable plans, although as usually not in the Express plan.
Best for Security: 8×8
Protecting company data becomes more and more important every day. Security breaches have been shown to have a dire effect on a company’s bottom line, so making sure your VoIP software isn’t a liability is key. Fortunately, 8×8 and Nextiva both boast pretty impressive security, although we have to give the edge to 8×8 on this one as well, because it scored a perfect 5 out of 5 in our research.
8×8 offers all the security measures that we measured in every plan except the Express plan, offering TLS/SRTP encryption, multifactor authentication, user permissions, and password rules. Comparatively, Nextiva does not offer multifactor authentication or password rules. Additionally, 8×8 offers more compliance certifications than Nextiva, although both offer HIPAA compliance.
Best for Customer Support: 8×8
This one was actually pretty close, but 8×8 also has better customer support than Nextiva, scoring another perfect 5 out of 5 in our research. No matter what plan you opt for, even the Express plan, you’ll get 24/7 live support on phone and chat, as well as a 99.999% uptime guarantee. On top of that, Customer Success Managers are available for onboarding, which can help you get setup. It’s unclear if this service is included, but it’s safe to say it’s probably an add-on charge.
Nextiva, on the other hand, scored a 4.5 out of 5 in our research on customer support, despite offering all of the above. The only hit was the lack of a user forum for discussions with other users, which 8×8 does have, which is why we give them the edge here.
Best for Customer Satisfaction: Nextiva
Finally, a win for Nextiva! While 8×8 takes the cake in virtually every other category, Nextiva does boast a bit of favor when it comes to how users feel about it. In our aggregate scoring of app reviews from various sources, Nextiva was proven to have a higher user rating than 8×8.
This doesn’t necessarily mean much though, as we know that online reviews should always be taken with a grain of salt, particularly when comparing two providers with vastly different users bases. Still, if you’re worried about getting bogged down by a less easy to use platform, Nextiva could be the best option.
How Did We Compare Nextiva and 8×8?
Tech.co has conducted hours of independent, unbiased research on VoIP software to provide users with in-depth information on providers. We aim to give you as much power as possible to make the right decision for your business. As for what criteria we measure these providers on, take a look at some of the metrics below:
- Price – We compared pricing plans of each VoIP provider, matching up what you get at each tier
- Features – The size of the feature catalog was heavily weighted in deciding which provider was better
- Security – Keeping company data secure is important and options like end-to-end encryption and multifactor authentication were considered
- Customer support – Being able to get help when you need is key for VoIP software
- Scalability – The ability to grow with a company helps significantly, and we used features like call queue, local numbers, and ring groups to measure this
- Customer satisfaction – We checked out the app ratings for each provider to create an aggregate customer satisfaction score for each
For more information about our research, check out our handy page that details exactly how Tech.co conducts research to give you the most pertinent information for providers of business tech.
Value How much of a value the service is | External connections How many third-party integrations the service allows | Features How many features the service has | Customer support How available customer support teams are for the service | Security How many security features the service has | Customer Score How users rate the services in app stores and other sources | Scalability How many scalable features the service has | Overall score An aggregate score of all other metrics | ||
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Nextiva | 8×8 | ||||||||
3.8 | 2.5 | ||||||||
3.3 | 4.2 | ||||||||
3.8 | 4.9 | ||||||||
4.5 | 5.0 | ||||||||
3.0 | 5.0 | ||||||||
4.2 | 3.5 | ||||||||
2.9 | 4.9 | ||||||||
4.1 | 4.6 |
How Do Nextiva and 8×8 Compare to Other VoIP Providers?
Nextiva and 8×8 aren’t the only VoIP providers out there. In fact, the industry is filled with quality picks for your business, depending on what you need it for. Take a look at some of the best alternative VoIP providers in the table below and keep scrolling for a more in-depth look at some of our top picks.
Price from The typical lowest starting price. The lowest price available for your business will depend on your needs. | Our Rating Relative score out of 5 | Best For | Core Benefit | |||||
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BEST OVERALL | ||||||||
RingCentral | Vonage | magicJack | 8×8 | Zoom Phone | GoTo Connect | Ooma | Nextiva | Net2Phone |
4.7 | 4.3 | 2.5 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 |
Integrations | Customer service industries, due to impressive training features | Small businesses that don’t require a lot of features or scalability, owing to its single-price plan. | Security | Value for money | Managing large volumes of inbound calls | Overall customer experience. Also great for retailers, due to strong inbound and outbound communication tools. | Professional services | Great for international businesses |
Large variety of Helpdesk and CRM integrations | Staff improve on the job, due to top training and management tools. | Basic, affordable option for smallest businesses | Integrates with various other communication tools | Affordable pricing | Provides call management features at low cost | Flexibility: No contracts, keep your number, and work from anywhere. | Unlimited Calls in U.S. & Canada | Integrates with Microsoft Office, Google and others |
RingCentral – from $20.00 per user, per month
While 8×8 is the best VoIP provider for small businesses, our research found that RingCentral is the best overall pick, as it offers more competitive pricing and more external connections. It allows you to integrate with more business tools like CRM and email, although 8×8 does offer better security.
For more information, check out our RingCentral pricing guide.
Pros
- Highly scalable thanks to lots of team management features
- Lots of integrations, which make setup very easy
- Both sales and customer service functionality for all teams
Cons
- Limited inclusive toll-free minutes, and you'll have to pay extra if you need more
- Not as popular with its users as some of the other providers on this list
Vonage – from $19.99 per user, per month
If you’re a business that needs a lot of training features, like call recording and call monitoring, Vonage could be your best bet. It offers more of these than any provider, so you can help improve your call process with employees.
These kinds of features make it great for customer service and retail industries, compared to 8×8 which is more geared towards small businesses.
Pros
- Great central hub for collaborating, with team messaging on all plans
- Great training and management features on, perfect for sales and customer service teams
- Lots of big-name integrations means minimal changes for your team
Cons
- Analytics features are quite primitive, making it difficult to get actionable insights
- Lots of features include additional fees, so it's hard to get a good gauge of your final price
GoTo Connect – from $26 per user, per month
GoTo is a popular brand when it comes to business communication, and the GoTo Connect service is one of our top picks. Our research found that it was the best value choice for businesses, offering lots of features for comparatively low prices.
Yes, the starting price is a bit higher, but more expensive plans offer a lot without getting too high in price. Spam prevention and analytics are a great example, offered in Nextiva’s most expensive plan at $39 per user, per month, but not available in 8×8’s most expensive plan, which costs $140 per user, per month. Simply put, Nextiva is not necessarily better than 8×8, but if you need to save a bit of money, it can help a lot.
Pros
- Excellent 24-hour support service, minimizing downtime
- Uncomplicated product range, meaning no hidden costs or paid add-ons
- Lots of features for the price point, which is lower than 8x8 and Vonage's top-tier plans
Cons
- Setting up is quite complicated, so you won't be able to get started quickly
- No free trial, so you can't test the software before you buy it
- Users often complain about performance and connectivity issues
Verdict: 8x8 Is Better Than Nextiva
Overall, 8×8 is better than Nextiva, scoring 4.6 out of 5 in our research compared to the 4.1 out of 5 from Nextiva. It offers more features, better customer support, more external connections, more affordable plans, and better security, which naturally puts it well ahead of Nextiva. In fact, our research shows that 8×8 is the best VoIP provider for small businesses, with Nextiva representing a great option for professional services like accountants, consultants, and contractors.
If you’re in the market for a VoIP provider right now, you’re in luck. Tech.co has done hours of in-depth, independent research to find the best of the best, and you can get information on the exact costs for your needs using our VoIP price comparison tool to compare quotes, in minutes.
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