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Zoom Phone is the cloud-based VoIP solution from the video conferencing platform of the same name. In this Zoom Phone review, we'll explain why our research found it to be an excellent value choice, comparing its $10 per user, per month starting price to leading competitors like RingCentral and Vonage.
Zoom was not the best VoIP provider on the market, though, with notably poor security and below average customer support offerings. Still, if cost is your main priority, consider Zoom a serious contender to be your VoIP of choice.
You can also visit our Zoom pricing guide to see its costs compared directly with other leading VoIP providers, which include our top three picks below.
The Best Zoom Phone Alternatives
- RingCentral – Best for hospitality, retail, healthcare & customer service
- 8×8 – Best for sales teams (option of unlimited or global extensions
- Vonage – Best for training features (improving staff on the job)
You can use our phone systems comparison tool to get completely free customized quotes in under a minute.
What Is Zoom Phone?
Before we get into this Zoom Phone review, we'd like to clarify that this article is a detailed look at Zoom's VoIP/Softphone offering, Zoom Phone, rather than the company's world-famous video conferencing software which had a 48.7% share of the video conferencing market in 2021, after becoming a near-universal fixture for companies offering remote working during and after the pandemic.
Zoom Phone is a much more recently launched product, but similarly to Zoom's video conferencing software, it's quickly become one of the best offerings on the market, coming third out of 12 providers on our last round of VoIP research.
Excitingly, Zoom has now consolidated its Meetings, Team Chat, Whiteboard, and VoIP phone products into a line of plans called Zoom One, so you can get all of Zoom's top products in one package, if you wish. However, Zoom Phone is only available on the Zoom One Business Plus and Enterprise plans, with the latter providing a fully featured PBX. It's still possible — and cheaper — to buy Zoom Phone as a standalone product, and that's what we'll be discussing throughout this article.
Pros
- Very low starting price ($10/user/month)
- Highly scalable, with features for growing businesses
- Popular with users
Cons
- Weak security features
- Limited customer support options
- Pricing starts at $10/user/month
- Unlimited plan from $15/user/month
- Select plan ($20/user/month) with unlimited calling to 40+ countries
Zoom Phone Pricing
Zoom Phone has three pricing plans: the Metered plan ($10 per user, per month), the Unlimited plan ($15 per user, per month), and the Select plan ($20 per user, per month).
Zoom's Metered plan is the joint-cheapest VoIP provider plan we tested, tied with Google Voice. Interestingly, they're pretty much polar opposites — Google Voice excels when it comes to security (5/5) but not much else, and was awarded an overall score of just 3.4/5, whereas Zoom Phone is let down by its poor security score (2/5) but does well in other areas, such as customer score and overall feature offering, especially when compared to other providers like MagicJack.
If you want one of the Zoom One packages that include Zoom Phone, as well as Meetings, Team Chat, and more video conferencing features, you'll have to opt for the $25 per user, per month Zoom One Business Plus plan, or the Zoom One Enterprise plan, which has no public pricing at present.
| Price | Users | Unlimited calls in US | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | | | ||
| Metered | Unlimited | Pro Global Select | ||
| $10/user/month | $15/user/month | $20/user/month | ||
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | ||
| | | |
Zoom Phone Features
Overall, our researchers found that Zoom Phone offers a pretty comprehensive range of inbound and outbound communication features, plus a number of useful integrations — although it's not quite as good from a security standpoint as some of its competitors. We'll discuss the key ones here.
Zoom scores 4.2/5 for features, meaning it has one of the better sets out of the systems we tested. Inbound comms features include voicemail, virtual receptionist, spam prevention, call queue, and customizable hold music. Outbound comms features include external video calling (Zoom Meeting subscription required), Set Caller ID, and Call Conferencing.
Zoom has conversation features like call forwarding, call flip, call whisper, and call barge on all of its plans, which is quite unusual for a VoIP provider, particularly one as affordable as Zoom Phone. Neither 8×8 or RingCentral offer call whisper or call flip on their first two plans, while Net2Phone, another VoIP provider we tested, does not offer this at all.
We discovered that Zoom doesn't have as many collaboration features as you may expect, but it does have video conferencing with Zoom Meeting, and a team messaging function. There's also an omission of some security features offered by other providers, including multi-factor authentication or enforceable password rules. Considering Zoom's patchy security history, you'd have hoped they'd have upped their game by now.
If you feel like Zoom fits your budget and has the features you need, fill in this 60-second survey and make sure you get matched to the right plan.
Zoom Integrations
Zoom integrates with a myriad of other software, which might make it a more attractive proposition if you're already using them (or a reason to invest in a Zoom-friendly CRM or workspace solution if you're not):
- Salesforce CRM
- Zendesk Helpdesk CRM
- Zoom video conferencing service
- GmailÂ
- Microsoft Outlook
- Google Workspace
This is a pretty decent set of some of the most widely used software solutions out there, but our research found that Zoom only scored 3.7/5 for external connections, which wasn't as good as 8×8 (4.2/5) and RingCentral (4.3/5). RingCentral, for example, has a huge 96 CRM-related integrations, as well as at least 57 analytics integrations plus external live chat options in the form of WhatsApp and Facebook. But remember RingCentral's pricing plans aren't nearly as affordable as Zoom's.
Since our last update...
In October 2023, Zoom Phone launched a significant update that saw a wide range of improvements to the platform, including advanced encryption for voicemails, concurrent calls for devices with large number of lines, and the ability to opt-in or out of SMS messages.
Zoom Phone Customer Support
As with any software, if it's hard to acquire support when things go wrong, you can end up with some serious periods of downtime which can affect your bottom line significantly.
Overall, Zoom scores a pretty respectable 3.3/5 for customer support – a score which is largely down to the fact some of Zoom's customer support options on offer are only available for an additional cost.
Zoom has a user forum and an extensive online knowledge base for customers to refer to if they'd like to attempt to troubleshoot a problem themselves. However, live chat, email, and phone support are only available if you pay extra. There's also no onboarding support on any of Zoom's plans.
8×8 and RingCentral both score 5/5 for customer support, which is a far sight better than Zoom. See if one of their plans (or indeed Zoom's) is the best fit for your business with a free quote.
How Zoom Phone Compares to Other VoIP Providers
Zoom is in our top three best VoIP providers and considering it's so cheap, is an excellent investment compared to other VoIP options. Among Zoom Phone customers, there seem to be very few who regret their choice, which is always a good sign.
Our research determined that Zoom Phone has a high average customer satisfaction score (4.4/5) which is a testament to the quality of the platform, and its impressive range of inbound and outbound communication features for as little as $10 per user, per month.
However, Zoom Phone is not the best provider when it comes to features, and there are better (albeit pricier) options out there. Here are our picks for the best Zoom alternatives:
| 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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | BEST Zoom Alternative  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Zoom Phone | RingCentral | 8×8 | Vonage | GoTo Connect | Ooma | Nextiva | Net2Phone | NUACOM | Dialpad | Google Voice |
| 4.4 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.4 |
| Value for money | Overall, hospitality, retail, healthcare & customer service | Sales teams | Training features | Great for scaling | Overall customer experience | Professional services | Great for international businesses | Great customer satisfaction | Startups on tight budgets | Small businesses that prioritize security |
| Affordable pricing | Very easy to set up and scale as necessary. | Option of unlimited or global extensions | Staff improve on the job | Available through a proprietary, purpose-built cloud | No contracts, keep your number, and work from anywhere. | Unlimited Calls in U.S. & Canada | Integrates with Microsoft Office, Google and others | Great automation and analytics tools. | High customer satisfaction at low prices | Integration with the Google platform |
Is Zoom Phone Right for Your Business?
We'll be the first to admit that there's a lot of information in this Zoom Phone review, which can get a bit intimidating for business' trying to make a decision on their communication needs. Subsequently, we want to give you a clearer picture of whether or not Zoom Phone is right for your business, so here's a few things to consider before making your decision:
- Zoom Phone is the best value choice when it comes to VoIP software, starting at only $10 per user, per month.
- Zoom offers an all-in-one communication hub that includes Phone, Meetings, Whiteboard, Webinar, and Contact Center functionality.
- Zoom Phone integrates with major services like Salesforce, Zendesk, and Microsoft Teams, but is otherwise pretty limited.
- Zoom Phone provides mid-tier customer service, with no email or onboarding support.
- Zoom Phone offers poor security, with no multi-factor authentication, password rules, or user permissions.
All in all, Zoom Phone is a solid choice, particularly for those on a strict budget. Clearly, though, that low cost comes with a few shortcomings that could be a dealbreaker for certain businesses, so make sure you know what you want before you sign up for Zoom Phone monthly or yearly contracts.
We take our impartial research and 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 tools in the market, we put them through their paces with hands-on testing to see their real strengths and weaknesses. In this case, we put ten VoIP systems to the test across 78 areas of investigation.
Based on years of market and user needs research, we've established a VoIP system testing methodology that scores each product in seven main categories of investigation and 16 subcategories; this covers everything from the features and security options available to the product's value for money and customer score, as well as much more.
Our main testing categories for VoIP phone systems are:
Customer Score: the external customer opinion as to their satisfaction with the VoIP product; the feedback and ratings given by customers who have used a particular VoIP system, as well as the market poisiton and reputation a VoIP software holds.
Cost: the pricing structure associated with the VoIP service. It includes factors such as monthly subscription fees, call rates (especially for international calls), setup fees, hardware costs (if applicable), and any additional charges for add-on features or services.
Features: the functionalities and capabilities offered by the VoIP service. This can include basic features such as call forwarding, voicemail, call waiting, and caller ID, as well as advanced features like auto-attendant, conference calling, and call recording.
External Connections: the VoIP service's ability to connect and integrate with external systems or devices. This can include compatibility with existing phone systems, integration with mobile devices, and support for softphones or IP phones.
Customer Support: the assistance and resources provided by the VoIP service provider to customers. This can include technical support, documentation, online resources, knowledge bases, and access to customer support representatives.
Security Options: Security options refer to the measures and features implemented by the VoIP service to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and protection of voice communications and data. This can include encryption of voice calls, compliance, password ruels and user permissions.
Scalability: the ability of the VoIP service to accommodate the growth and changing needs of an organization. This includes factors such as the capacity to handle a growing number of users, support multiple locations or offices, and scale up or down according to the organisation's requirements.
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.
At Tech.co, we have a number of full time in-house researchers, who re-run this testing process regularly, to ensure our results remain reflective of the present day.
Verdict: Is Zoom Phone Worth It?
However, RingCentral was our top-rated provider overall — and the biggest gap between RingCentral and Zoom is actually integrations, with Zoom offering some widely used programs like Salesforce and MS Teams, but not the vast library that RingCentral does. RingCentral also offers superior security, an area where Zoom is noticeably lacking, and is more scalable for growing businesses.
Every business is different and Zoom or RingCentral might not suit yours — if you'd like to cut down your research time and get matched to a provider immediately based on your company's size, sector and exact needs, use our VoIP quotes comparison tool today.
Our content is funded in part by commercial partnerships, at no extra cost to you and without impact to our editorial impartiality. Click to Learn More