Google Voice Personal Vs. Business: Which One Fits the Best?

Google Voice Personal is a free service offered by Google that provides users with a virtual phone number within the United States. Understanding how Google Voice works involves utilizing the platform to make and receive calls, send and receive text messages, and manage voicemail. While it's a convenient option for individuals seeking a simplified phone experience, Google Voice Personal lacks advanced features like auto-attendants and is limited to a single user per account, making it unsuitable for business or team use.

Some of the features of Google Voice Personal are:
 

• Personalize voicemail greetings for a better user experience.
• Provide custom Google phone numbers (for the U.S. only).
• Using voicemail transcripts, users can convert speech into readable format.
• Offers a free plan, making communication a no-cost option.

Google Voice Business, aka Google Voice Workspace, is a cloud-based phone system designed specifically for businesses. It offers advanced communication tools, including multiple users, auto-attendants, call forwarding, voicemail transcription, and call recording. Unlike the personal version, Google Voice for Business is tailored to meet the needs of organizations by providing features that enhance productivity, improve customer service, and streamline operations.

Some of the key features of Google Voice business are:
 

• Provides unlimited calls, voicemails, and audio conferences through the Internet.
• Offers international calls for connecting with international users
• Offer call transfer feature, making calls to receive from any connected devices
• Provide auto attendant that helps in directing callers to your organization's correct people or departments.

Here is a table summarizing the key differences between Google Voice personal and business.
 

Google Voice personal does not offer various plans. Instead, it is free to use with general communication features such as texting, calling, and voicemail. It is a no-cost solution for individuals who need online communication without any cost. However, it has limited enhanced features like meetings, auto attendant, desk phone compatibility, and more.

On the other hand, Google Voice business is pay-to-use and includes various pricing and plans for enhanced business communication. The pricing and plans of Google Voice business are as follows: Starter: $10/User/Month, Standard: $20/User/Month, and Premier: $30/User/Month. You have to buy credit to make calls in Google Voice.  Again, after getting the plan, you must get Google credit to make and receive calls. The maximum limit of your Google credit balance is $70.

Individuals use Google Voice with a personal plan for general communication, such as calls and messages. Google Voice personal has basic communication features. Such as:
 

• Forward calls to linked numbers: Helps to receive incoming calls through other connected devices (phones).
• Voicemail Transcripts: Helps to convert voicemail audio to texts
• Mobile Apps: Available on Android & iPhone or iPad
   

However, Google Voice with business plans offers all the features of Google Voice Personal and additional features. Such as:
 

• Do not Disturb mode: Helps to redirect incoming calls to other available persons within the ring group and helps to focus on high-priority tasks without interruptions.
• Auto attendants: Helps to direct the callers to the right person or departments.
• Ring Group: Helps to ring different devices and ensure there’s always someone to pick up the phone.
   

Features Comparison Table: Google Voice Personal vs Business

In Google Voice personal, there is only one user per account, and the setup and management are individual.
 

• The maximum number of users is only 1 per account
• Individual access to the personal account
• The local number is available only in the U.S.
   

On the other hand, Google Voice Business offers many users capacity (10 to Unlimited) with centralized setup and management through Google Workspace.
 

• The total number of users is 10 to Unlimited.
• Admin has access control and provides multiple roles to others with different permissions.
• Custom numbers are available for businesses in 14 countries. They are the United States, Canada, Belgium, United Kingdom, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, France, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Google Voice personal offers two-factor authentication with the help of your Google account or phone numbers. Google Voice personal supports Transport Layer Security (TLS), which helps to secure the information that is exchanged over the internet. Google Voice personal does not allow for customizable policies, causing low engagement and bad experiences for users.

On the other hand, Google Voice business has advanced security features, i.e., Google Workspace includes a voice biometric authentication feature, making it more secure and reliable. Customizable policies help teams tailor their privacy settings to their specific needs. Google Voice business supports TLS and 256-bit AES encryption to secure the information. Using AES 256 encryption ensures your data is secured at rest.

Regarding customer support, Google Voice business has an advantage due to its advanced features like 24/7 calls and email support. Due to 24/7 calls and email support features, Google Voice with paid plans (business plan) is quicker and better responsive. It helps businesses to have positive feedback and customers with good user experiences.

Google Voice personal offers customer support through the Google Help Center, Google Account Help Center, and Community Support. Google Voice business offers 24/7 call and email support, resulting in faster response times and better user experiences.

Choosing the right Google Voice setup depends on your specific communication needs and budget. Google Voice Personal is ideal for individual users seeking a no-cost solution for personal calls and messages. It offers basic features sufficient for single-user access and handles typical communication needs effectively.

On the other hand, Google Voice Business is better suited for organizations that require more robust features. It supports multiple users and shared accounts, includes an auto attendant feature, and is designed to centralize and manage business communications efficiently at a reasonable cost.

Depending on whether your focus is personal simplicity or business functionality, select the version that aligns with your requirements.

Although Google Voice is a popular business communication provider, it has some limitations and users face common issues with the Google Voice that make users to switch to other platform. Some of the drawbacks of Google Voice are:
 

• Limited Countries Availability with Custom Number: You can only access the communication services of Google Voice except in 14 countries with custom numbers.
• Limited Text Forwarding: Google Voice has only one automated option for forwarding text, i.e., forwarding messages to an email address. There is no automatic forward text to multiple email addresses or other apps.
• No free Trial: There is no free trial option for the Google Voice business plan, which leads to losing a customer who wants to test the service before buying it.
• No Video Conferencing features: Google Voice does not have a video conferencing option, which is a disadvantage for users who need video conferencing for collaboration and live video meetings.
• Starter Plans has only 10 users: Google Voice offers its starter plan at $10 for only 10 users. It is not the best solution for the users with more than 10 members.
• No Toll-Free Numbers: Google Voice does not provide toll-free numbers of 1 to 800.
   

Google Voice is a popular business communication service. However, it may not be the best choice for fast-growing businesses due to the limitations mentioned in the blog. There are some better alternatives to Google Voice with enhanced communication tools and better AI that make business communication more effective and improve efficiency and productivity. Some of them are OpenPhone, RingCentral, Dialpad, and more.

Calilio stands at the top regarding cloud-based communication providers due to its enhanced and robust business communication features, such as a unified callbox, AI-powered call summary, internal messages, call notes and tags, and more. Calilio is better in the following aspects:
 

• Advanced Features: Calilio offers AI-powered communication features that generate call reports and sentiment analysis to understand customer behaviour. It also has a Unified CallBox feature that helps to centralize all the conversations (calls, messages, and voicemails) on one platform. So, it helps to reduce business communication management and increase efficiency and productivity.
• Broad Communication Service: Provides communication service to more than 100 countries instead of 14, which makes Calilio superior to Google Voice.
• Toll-free Numbers: Calilio also offers toll-free numbers for free calls and to improve customer relationships.
• Money Back Policy: Calilio also offers a 14-day money-back of the plans for users who are not satisfied with the service.

The significant differences between Google Voice Personal and Business are price and feature differences. Google Voice Personal is free to use and has basic communication features. On the other hand, Google Voice business is a pay-to-use communication platform with enhanced communication features.

Yes, You can use Google Voice for business to work remotely with Google Workspace from anywhere using the internet.

Google supports only its communication tools, such as Gmail, Google Drive, Google Meet, and more Google apps. Thus, Google Voice does not have other integrated tools for communication.

Yes, Google Voice personal is free but has limited features such as phone calls, messages, and voicemail transcripts. The custom number in Google Voice Personal is available only in the U.S.