Top 7 Ooma Alternatives: Plan & Price Comparison

After putting the best VoIP plans through their paces, our research determined that Zoom Regional Unlimited is the best alternative to Ooma Office Essentials. Not only does the plan offer a wider selection of call management features, better hardphone integrations, and better security safeguards than Ooma’s plan, but it’s also much cheaper at just $15 per user, per month.

Alternatively, Dialpad’s Standard VoIP plan will be an excellent choice for customer service teams, with better AI capabilities and internal communication features than Ooma. While Ooma Office’s customer support options and outbound calling tools will be ideal for some small businesses, our research suggests that there are a ton of stronger VoIP plans out there.

After extensively researching plans from the best small business VoIP providers on the market, we’ve ranked the best Ooma Office Essentials alternatives in order, prioritizing factors like affordability, and calling capabilities — read on to see how they compare.

This article will discuss seven promising Ooma alternatives – including industry heavyweights like Zoom, Dialpad, and RingCentral. Continue reading for our in-depth analysis, or use our free VoIP comparison tool to compare the prices of top providers.

On this page:

• Top 7 Ooma Office Essentials Alternatives Compared
• Should You Choose Ooma Office Essentials Anyway?
• How Did We Compare Ooma Office Alternatives to Other Plans?
• Verdict: Can You Do Better than Ooma Office Alternatives?

Top Ooma Office Essentials Alternatives Compared

Ooma Office is a cloud-based VoIP system designed specifically for small businesses. If you’re reading this guide, you’re probably already familiar with the service, but for those who aren’t, our research found Ooma Office to be a middle-of-the-road contender, with reasonable call management features, but lackluster integrations and security.

Ooma Office is widely regarded as an entry-level VoIP provider. So, in this guide, we offer seven strong alternatives to its entry-level package – Ooma Office Essentials ($19.95/user/month).

1. Zoom Regional Unlimited – Best Ooma Alternative Overall

• Tech.co Rating: 4.6/5
• Price: $10/user/month

If you’re looking for a cost-effective, feature-rich alternative to Ooma Office’s Essential package, look no further than Zoom Regional Unlimited.

The low-cost plan beat out Ooma Office Essentials in every category of our research, offering superior call management features, internal communication channels, security safeguards, and hardware integrations – all for a lower price per month.

In fact, our research determined that Zoom Phone’s Regional Unlimited plan is the best choice out there for small businesses, beating other plans like Dialpad Standard and Net2Phone Essentials to the punch. The main reason Zoom Regional Unlimited secured the top spot is because of its expansive selection of call management features.

From call screening, call queue, and ring groups, to customizable call routing and hold music, Zoom Regional Unlimited offers tons of tools to help businesses streamline the process of handling incoming calls. In comparison, Ooma Office Essentials lacks fairly basic calling features like call queue, making Zoom’s rival plan the clear choice for teams managing high numbers of inbound calls.

Zoom’s AI live chatbot is available to users on all plans. Tech.co testing

Another area where the Regional Unlimited plan excels is hardware integrations. Its provider, Zoom Phone, lets businesses connect with desk phones from seven manufacturers, including massive names like Yealink, Poly, Grandstream, and AudioCodes. In contrast, Ooma Office’s selection is much more limited, only letting users integrate with its own hardware and Yealink’s.

It was easy to leave voicemails with Zoom Phone and I could even leave a note alongside the message. Source: Tech.co testing

Zoom Regional Unlimited offers very similar calling limits to Ooma’s plan too, letting businesses make unlimited calls within the US, Mexico, and Canada. By foregoing metered rates, Zoom’s plan will be ideal for businesses making regular outbound calls. However, if your business makes calls to Puerto Rico, Ooma Office Essentials has the edge, as the package includes unlimited calls to this territory.

Zoom Regional Unlimited vs Ooma Office Essentials pricing

Zoom Regional Unlimited costs $15 per user, per month, matching the price of Dialpad Standard, and making it one of the cheapest VoIP plans on this list.

In contrast, Ooma Office Essential’s price tag of $19.95 per user, per month, will seem steep. However, the fact it offers unlimited calling in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, does make it more cost-effective than Zoom Regional Unlimited if your business regularly makes calls to these regions.

Learn more about the provider’s plans and price points in our Zoom Phone review.

Is Zoom Regional Unlimited  better than Ooma Office Essentials?

In short, yes Zoom Regional Unlimited is better than Ooma’s Office Essentials plan – especially for retailers, travel agents, or any business that manages a high number of inbound or outbound calls. Zoom Phone’s ample hardware integrations also make it the superior plan for businesses looking for a greater selection of hard phones to choose from.

Zoom Regional Unlimited’s starting price undercuts Ooma Office Essentials too, making it a better value solution overall. However, unlike Zoom’s plan, Ooma Office Unlimited includes unlimited calling to Puerto Rico, making it a more cost-effective option for businesses making regular calls to the region.

2. Dialpad Standard – Best for Busy Customer Service Teams

• Tech.co Rating: 4.1/5
• Price: $15/user/month

Dialpad Standard is a modern VoIP package that offers useful AI features, and a wider selection of call management capabilities than Ooma Office’s rival plan. Our research found that Dialpad Standard offers better internal communications features than Ooma Office Essentials, making it an asset to businesses after a multi-purpose comms platform.

However, by offering unlimited calling for just $15 per user, per month, it’s DialPad’s value that really gives it an edge over competitors – especially for businesses managing high call volumes like sales or customer service teams.

With Ooma Office’s Essential offering limited call screening capabilities, and missing out on call queue tools altogether, it’s no surprise that Dialpad performed much better in our call management research category, receiving one of the best scores overall.

Dialpad Standard’s impressive roster of calling tools and unlimited calling limits make it a much stronger choice than Ooma Office Essentials for customer service businesses fielding high call volumes – especially if they’re looking to keep overheads as low as possible.

Dialpad is committed to keeping up with the times too. Its Standard tier offers AI voicemail and call transcription capabilities, which use artificial intelligence to transcribe audio into text, before displaying them to you visually and sending you post-call summaries.

Dialpad’s useful AI transcription features reduces the need for manual processes. Source: Dialpad

Dialpad may not be as established as other VoIP providers, but it matches bigger names eye-to-eye, largely due to its impressive array of call-handling tools. From call flip, call forwarding, and customizable call routing, to interactive voice response (IVR) menus, its Standard plan is fully adept at streamlining a range of advanced call-management processes.

If you’re looking to do more than just make calls with your VoIP plan, Dialpad Standard also offers a wealth of unified communication features, including unlimited AI meetings for up to 10 participants, and integrations with Google Workspace and Microsoft. The entry-level plan also gives teams access to instant and SMS messaging – a feature that Ooma Office Essential currently lacks.

The Dialpad Inbox interface is clean and comprehensive. Source: Dialpad

Dialpad’s Standard plan isn’t without faults, however. The tier doesn’t give you the chance to connect with third-party CRM, web conferencing, or live-chat customer service software. If strong software integrations are a dealbreaker for your small business, we’d advice checking out Net2Phone’s Essential instead.

Dialpad Standard vs Ooma Office Essentials pricing

Dialpad Standard’s $15 per user, per month price tag massively undercuts Ooma Office Essentials. It’s feature offering blows Ooma’s rival plan out the water too, making it a much better value overall.

Is Dialpad Standard better than Office Office Essentials?

Dialpad Standard offers stronger calling features, smart AI capabilities, and inbound communication tools than Ooma Office Essentials – all for a lower price. So yes, our research concluded that Dialpad’s Standard plan is a stronger alternative overall.

This being said Dialpad Standard doesn’t offer unlimited calling to overseas regions like Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, so if your business regularly makes calls to these areas we’d recommend sticking with Ooma Office Essentials or pursuing other options like Net2Phone Essentials.

3. Net2Phone Essentials – Best for Remote or Hybrid Businesses

• Tech.co rating: 3.9/5
• Price: $19.99/user/month

Net2Phone’s Essential plan should definitely be on your radar if you’re after a strong alternative to Ooma. The package offers the best call management features on this list and also lets you connect with a wide selection of third-party apps, making it an especially reliable option if your business needs are likely to evolve over time.

Our research found that Net2Phone’s essentials will be a great choice for remote or hybrid teams too, thanks to the plan’s wealth of internal communications tools like call conferencing, SMS messaging, and instant team messaging.

Check out our guide to the best international phone call apps for more info

From basic call handling options like call forwarding, voicemail, call recording, and ring groups, to more advanced capabilities like caller ID, and call parking, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a call handling option Net2Phone Essentials doesn’t offer. The plan also lets you see the status of other extensions to check if you’re colleagues are available with its busy lamp field feature, helping it reduce a near-perfect category score in our research.

Net2Phone Essential saves your call recordings, and saves key details like their duration and potential charges. Source: Net2Phone

While Net2Phone Essentials doesn’t offer unlimited calling to as many regions as Ooma Office Essentials, the tier lets you make calls to Canada and Mexico at no extra cost. This gives Net2Phone Essentials a leg up over alternative plans like Dialpad Standard for teams that do business in these countries.

The team messaging functionality lets you connect with your team instantly. Source: Net2Phone

This plan boasts over 40 unified communication features, including real-time team messaging, SMS messaging, electronic faxing, and limited video conferencing. Due to this impressive array of tools, we’d recommend Net2Phone Essentials for businesses looking to consolidate multiple communication channels into one streamlined platform.

However, if you want to unlock Net2Phone’s full suite of video conferencing features, you’ll have to upgrade to its Professional plan for $24.99 per month.

Net2Phone Essentials vs Ooma Office Essentials pricing

At $19.99 per user, per month for businesses with 25-99 users, Net2Phone Essentials and Ooma Office Essential’s pricing is basically neck-to-neck. Our research found Net2Phone’s plan delivery better overall value through, due to it’s more expansive VoIP and internal communication features.

Net2Phone Essential’s price point does increase for smaller teams, however, with the plan costing $21.99 per user, per month for teams of 10-24, and $27.99 per user, per month for teams of 1-9. Unfortunately, if you have a micro business, this will make it markedly more expensive than low-cost alternatives like Zoom Metered and Google Business Starter.

To understand Net2Phone’s small business pricing in greater detail, refer to our table below:

Is Net2Phone Essentials better than Ooma Office Essentials?

Our research revealed that Net2Phone Essential is better than Ooma Office Essentials in almost every way, especially for businesses with a flexible working model. However, if your business has a small team, or regularly makes calls to Puerto Rico, you’ll probably end up saving more money with Ooma Office’s entry-level plan.

4. RingCentral Core – Businesses Prioritizing High Call Quality

• Tech.co rating: 3.7/5
• Price: $19.99/user/month

RingCentral Core is the provider’s entry-level RingEX package. Packing in unlimited domestic calling, useful calling capabilities, and some unique features like custom integrations and real-time quality of service (QoS) analysis – the VoIP plan gives Ooma Office Essentials a very good run for its money.

The plan is designed to handle significant call volumes, making it a reliable option for high-traffic call centers, and other businesses that rely heavily on calls. RingCentral Core integrates with more third-party software than Ooma Office Essentials too, which is why we’d recommend it for growing teams.

While lots of RingCentrals sophisticated calling options are reserved for its pricier tiers, its Core plan offers just about any capability a small business would need, including a virtual receptionist, call screening, voicemail transcriptions, and more.

What’s more, the plan’s QoS analysis feature separates it from the pack. The capability provides users with real-time data on the health of their phone systems, offering useful metrics like jitter, latency, and packet loss. This gives RingCentral Core a leg up over Ooma Office Essentials – and other plans on this list – for businesses serious about maintaining flawless call quality.

RingCentral Core’s QoS feature gives users a way to filter call data by various dimensions. Source: RingCentral

However, the plan does lack customizable call routing, so if you need a VoIP service that directs direct calls to the most appropriate agent based on specific criteria like call purpose or Caller ID, you should use Ooma Office Essentials instead.

If you require a specific tool the plan lacks, RingCentral Core also lets you create custom workflows and applications with its open API developer platform. However, if you aren’t keen on building your own API, the plan’s software integrations aren’t anything to write home about.

RingCentral’s calendar integration makes it easy to view scheduled events and meetings in the platform. Source: Tech.co user testing

While the plan can integrate calendars and web conferencing platforms it lacks compatibility with third-party CRM and web conferencing software, making its options only marginally better than Ooma Office Essential.

Ooma Office Essentials vs RingCentral Core pricing

RingCentral Core’s price point is near-identical to Ooma Office Essentials at $19.99 per user, per month. However, with stronger call handling and performance management features, our research concluded that it’s overall value offering is much better.

However, for advanced features like automated call motoring and CRM integrations, you will have to upgrade to one of RingCentral’s higher-priced packages. This makes RingCentral Core a less competitive option for businesses on a budget, especially compared to cheaper alternatives like Dialpad Standard and Google Business Starter.

Check out the table below to see how the provider’s plans compare, or learn more in our RingCentral pricing guide.

Is RingCentral Core better than Ooma Office Essentials?

RingCentral Core is more scalable and offers a wider feature set than Ooma Office Essentials overall. This makes the solution more appropriate for a wider pool of businesses. RingCentral is also compatible with more external software, which extends its use even further.

It isn’t a total clean sweep, however, as Ooma’s rival plan offers unlimited calling options to more regions than RingCentral Core – including Mexico and Puerto Rice – at a very similar price point.

To find out if either of these business telephone systems are right for your business, use our free comparison tool and receive bespoke quotes today.

5. Nextiva Core – Best for Growing Teams

• Tech.co rating: 3.6/5
• Price: $30/user/month

Nextiva Core is another great, albeit slightly expensive, alternative to Ooma Office Essentials – offering unlimited calling to the US and Canada, useful calling features like auto attendants and voicemail to email, as well as some useful AI features to boot.

The plan offers the widest selection of third-party integrations out of any plan on this list too, positioning it well for small businesses planning to expand in the future.

Nextiva Core’s call management features may not be as extensive as Net2Phone Essentials, but the plan does boast a good selection of tools for small businesses, including IVR menus, ring groups, and customizable hold music. Like Dialpad Standard, the plan gives users access to AI-powered voicemail transcription, making it easier for users to search through and retrieve messages.

Nextiva Core’s IVR feature lets users automatically route calls and offer options for callers. Source: Nextiva

In our research, Nextiva Core’s huge range of software integration options blew our other plans out of the water. Native integrations include CRM software like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zoho, Helpdesk platforms like Zendesk, and productivity tools like Google Workspace and Microsoft Teams.

Ooma Office Essentials integrations are extremely limited in comparison, making Nextiva the clear choice for businesses keen on extending their VoIP service with useful software platforms.

However, despite being Nextiva’s cheapest VoIP package, its $30 per user, per month price tag will be too steep for a lot of microbusinesses, and small businesses concerned about their bottom line.

Nextiva Core vs Ooma Office Essentials pricing

At $30 per user, per month, Nextiva’s Core plan is notably more expensive than Ooma Office Essentials.

However, if your business will benefit from Nextiva’s extensive suite of software integrations and has the budget for a slightly more high-end VoIP package, Nextiva Core will still be an excellent choice.

For more information about Nextiva’s pricing, check out our pricing table below:

Is Nextiva Core better than Ooma Office Essentials?

Yes, our research found Nextiva Core to be better than Ooma Office Essentials in most core categories. However, the plan is $10 more expensive per user, per month, so we wouldn’t recommend it for smaller teams that are looking to keep spending to a minimum.

6. Vonage Mobile – Best Staff Training Features

• Tech.co rating: 3.4/5
• Price: $13.99/user/month

Vonage Mobile is a user-friendly phone service app that provides customers with unlimited domestic calling, SMS, and MMS capabilities, and a surprisingly advanced analytics platform for monitoring call performance.

Its feature profile makes it a great option for businesses that regularly train staff, but its extremely limited range of hardware and software interactions makes it less suitable for small businesses with complex operations and prevents it from appearing any higher on this list.

Vonage Mobile gives users access to a decent selection of call-handling tools, including call forwarding, voicemail, and call transfer. However, what really makes the plan stand out is its centralized reporting features, which let users monitor call activity with detailed call logs, save calling reports, and subscribe to reports for daily, weekly, or monthly delivery.

For a plan of this price, this toolkit is pretty impressive. Combine this with Vonage Mobile’s useful training features like call barge, and call whisper, and the plan should definitely be on the radar of businesses that onboard regularly.

However, unlike Ooma Office Essentials, and other VoIP packages on this list, Vonage’s Mobile plan doesn’t let you connect with physical hardware like IP telephones. Therefore, if your business relies on this hardware, we’d recommend sticking with Ooma Office Essentials or upgrading to Vonage Premium for $20.99 per user, per month.

Read our Ooma vs Vonage guide to learn more about how the providers compare.

Vonage Mobile vs Ooma Office Essentials pricing

Vonage Mobile’s affordable price point of $13.99 per user, per month, gives other low-cost plans like Google Business Starter a run for their money. The plan is also heads-and-shoulders cheaper than Ooma Office Essential’s, so it’s definitely one to consider if your business is budget-conscious.

However, if you need to upgrade for desk phone support, Vonage’s Premium could also be an option. Its price point is similar to Ooma Office Essentials, but it offers better security features and slightly better call-handling tools.

Take a look at the table below for more information on Vonage pricing.

Is Vonage better than Ooma?

All things considered, we think Vonage Mobile is a better VoIP plan than Ooma Office Essentials. While Ooma Office lets you integrate its software with desk phones,  Vonage Mobile ranks higher in almost every other category, offering stronger calling and training features, all for a lower price.

It’s not a landslide though. Ooma Office Essentials provides users with more internal communication features. So, if you’re willing to overlook Ooma’s poor security features, the VoIP service could still fit the needs of your business.

7. Google Business Starter – Best for Google Workspace Users

• Tech.co Rating: 4.2/5
• Price: $7/user/month (with a Google Workspace subscription)

If your team already uses Google Workspace, Google Business Starter is the cheapest Ooma alternative on this list by a large margin.

Despite its tiny price tag, the package offers unlimited calling to US locations, and our research concluded that its internal communication features and security protocols are stronger than Ooma Office Essentials, making the switch especially worth it for remote teams and businesses handling sensitive data.

Since Google’s Business Starter is Google Voice’s entry-level plan, the provider reserves a lot of call management features for pricier tiers. However, the Business Starter does give users access to a decent selection of call-handling tools including toll-free numbers, call screening, and call forwarding.

Unlike Ooma’s Essential package, Google Business Starter lets you view your voicemails visually through its app and uses AI to automatically transcribe voicemail messages into text, saving users time by allowing them to scan messages quickly for key pieces of information.

The voicemail interface in Google Voice. Source: Tech.co testing

However, truth be told, Google Business Starter lacks some pretty basic features like customizable hold music and virtual receptionists. So, if you require these capabilities to streamline call processes and present a more professional facade to clients and customers, Ooma Office Essentials will be a safer bet.

If you’re interested in using a VoIP system to streamline internal communications, chances are you’ll benefit from Google Business Starters’s Google Workspace integration. The collaboration toolkit lets you message directly with Google Chat, set up video conferences with up to 100 participants with Google Meet, and create discussion forums with Google Groups.

You’re able to integrate with Google Voice’s VoIP service with the rest of Google Workspace. Source: Tech.co user testing

In contrast, Ooma Office Essentials notably lacks internal team messaging and video conferencing tools, making it the inferior option for remote and hybrid businesses that tend to depend on these features more.

All of Google Voice’s plans offer top-notch security protocols too, including 2-step verification, spam filtering, E2E data encryption, and enforced SSL certificates. With all Ooma Office tiers lacking basic compliance certifications, it goes without saying that Google Business Premier will be a better option for small businesses serious about safeguarding data.

Google Business Starter vs Ooma Office Essentials pricing

At just $7 per user, per month, Google Business Starter’s value offering is undeniably great. Google’s Voice entry plan doesn’t charge calls per minute either, letting you make unlimited calls to the US and Canada.

However, the catch is you need to be subscribed to Google Workspace to use the software – adding anything from $8.40 to $26.60 per user, per month onto its total price, depending on which package you opt for.

However, even with this additional fee, its price point rivals Ooma Office Essentials, so it’s definitely worth still considering, especially if you’d benefit from Google’s productivity tools.

Is Google Business Starter better than Ooma Office Essentials?

After researching both VoIP packages rigorously, we found Google Business Starter is stronger than Ooma Office Essentials overall. Not only is Google’s VoIP plan a fraction of the price, but it also offers superior internal communication tools, security safeguards, and voicemail features.

Ooma Office Essentials may still be the best choice for some businesses, however, with the plan offering a greater selection of calling features than Google Business Starter, and a more straightforward pricing system.

Should You Choose Ooma Office Essentials Anyway?

If you’re getting started with VoIP technology, and don’t want to pay extra with metered calling, Ooma Office’s Essential plan will be a reliable option. With useful calling features like a virtual receptionist, and unlimited calling to the US, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, the VoIP plan will be able to meet the needs of a wide variety of businesses.

However, with Ooma lacking HIPAA compliance and basic security features, like user permissions and E2EE, it will be a bad fit for companies that deal with customer and client data like professional service and healthcare firms.

It also doesn’t have key features like analytics, call queue, or chat integrations, and isn’t as affordable as most other contenders on this list – preventing it from being a top choice for smaller businesses and those on tight budgets.

We understand that budget is often a determining factor when it comes to settling on a VoIP system. Check out Ooma’s pricing table below to see if it’s within the budget of your business, or compare the prices of the top phone systems using our free price comparison tool.

Ooma Office pricing 

Aside from Ooma Office’s Essential package ($19.95/user/month), the VoIP provider offers two pricier tiers: Pro and Pro Plus.

Check out our comparison table below to see how the plans weigh up side-by-side.

How Did We Compare Ooma Office Essentials to Other VoIP Plans?