Top 7 Ooma Alternative and Competitors: Features & Pricing
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Ooma is a well-known telecommunication firm based in Silicon Valley. It has been providing services to consumers since 2004, after being founded in Palo Alto, California. A leading communications platform, Ooma has grown over the years. It was also on the list of the fastest-growing private enterprises of 2015, published by San Francisco Business Times and Silicon Valley Business Journal.
Apart from that, Ooma has won a lot of awards. Nonetheless, despite achieving multiple accolades, many users are still not satisfied with the company’s services, like how expensive it is and needs updates to use advanced features, and looking for other options. So today, let’s learn about some of the best Ooma alternatives and competitors in the market, alongside their prices and significant features.
Why Do People Choose Ooma?
Here are multiple reasons why people consider Ooma for their business communication solution.
Top-Notch Call Quality
Ooma offers high-quality audio thanks to its HD Voice and PureVoice technologies. The firm uses advanced voice compression and reduces the consumption of the phone call’s bandwidth by over 50%. Furthermore, Ooma has adaptive redundancy that smartly identifies audio information missed during transition and fills in the spaces to avoid losing call clarity.
Emergency Service
Unlike other telecommunication providers, Ooma directly places your call to your local dispatcher, rather than the national call center. Plus, your home’s location is conveyed automatically to emergency services for quick response, even when you are not able to say anything. On top of that, you can set up your phone system to send you an SMS when a 911 call is made.
Cost-Efficient Plans and Features
One of Ooma’s significant services is that it offers free calls within the US under its Basic Service plan, starting at just $9.99 per month. Additionally, with Ooma’s free calling app, consumers can avoid international data charges after connecting to Wi-Fi and contact anyone with their existing Ooma phone number, projecting as if they haven’t left home. Also, after making an upgrade, you can take advantage of features like call blocking, instant second line, and voicemail-to-email audio forwarding.
Reasons for Consumers to Seek Ooma Alternatives
As stated earlier, there are many reasons why people have subscribed to Ooma’s phone services. Nonetheless, it also has criticisms, making users search for other reliable options.
Difficulty Using Features: While features are there to make things easy, a few have complained about how difficult it has been to learn to use some services like call park, call flip and others.
Expensive Hardware: Yes, the subscription packages are low cost. But, an Ooma Telo (a device) is mandatory which costs $99.99.
Need to Upgrade for Advanced Features: Ooma’s Basic plan has many features. However, you must upgrade to their Premier plan to use services such as do not disturb, anonymous/custom call blocking, call forwarding, multi-ring, etc.
Difficulty Terminating Contracts: Many user reviews about Ooma, describe how it kept them on hold or did not let them terminate their contracts easily, making it inconvenient.
Poor Customer Service: There have also been complaints about Ooma’s customer service and how the enterprise’s representatives couldn’t provide a reason for canceling number porting requests or their reasons made no sense, with many even citing them as incompetent.
7 Best Ooma Alternatives
Since there are plenty of communication providers out there, do not worry about which to select. Here, we present the seven best Ooma alternatives, along with their pros and cons and how they compare to the VoIP provider.
Google Voice
Google Voice is a reliable communication service that offers virtual phone numbers for calling, texting, and voice mailing. It was initially released on March 11, 2009, and has been serving users for more than one and a half decades. While it is totally free for personal use, its business plan has 3 packages, with the Starter costing $10 per user per month.
Pros | Cons |
How does Google Voice Compare to Ooma?
Despite not having a desktop app and being solely web-browser based, Google Voice excels in many aspects. Mainly, Voice offers unlimited global calls for paid plans, whereas Ooma’s unlimited calling is limited in the US, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Canada. Moreover, Google Voice is the best Ooma alternative if you are already habituated to Google Workspace.
Calilio
Calilio is among the most reliable VoIP providers. It was founded to bring the future of communication to users’ doorsteps. With a mission to revolutionize business phone systems, it has been offering flexible and affordable services, simplifying, enhancing, and securing business communication. With a 14-day trial period, Calilio’s Basic plan starts at just $12 per user per month.
Pros | Cons |
How Does Calilio Compare to Ooma?
Calilio’s prices are much lower than Ooma’s. While Ooma’s Office Essentials costs $19.95/month per user, Calilio is $7.95 cheaper, with its Basic plan starting at $12. The latter also provides virtual phone numbers of more countries.
RingCentral
Trusted by over 7 million individuals, RingCentral is possibly the most famous Ooma competitor. Founded in 1999, it launched its cloud phone system in 2003. Plus with its partnership with AT&T since 2012, RingCentral has been able to reach a wide range of consumers. The communication provider’s cheapest plan is Core, costing $20 monthly per user.
Pros | Cons |
How Does RingCentral Compare to Ooma?
Unlike Ooma, all of RingCentral’s plans can handle up to 200 participants in video conferencing. Plus, the latter is compatible with hardware like Yealink, Cisco, Poly, and Unify. Moreover, RingCentral has toll-free minutes and services like call barge and whisper, which Ooma doesn’t have.
OpenPhone
Well, OpenPhone’s main mission is to help SMBs (Small and Medium-Sized Businesses) build meaningful relationships with their customers. It believes in quality and simplicity for a smooth conversation while striving for a delightful experience. As per OpenPhone itself, its staff is 100% remote, spread worldwide. Its plan can go as low as $15 per user per month.
Pros | Cons |
How does OpenPhone compare to Ooma?
Firstly, OpenPhone meets business needs better than Ooma. Also, as per reviews, clients felt OpenPhone had more product support quality and preferred its direction for roadmaps and feature updates. Similar to Calilio, OpenPhone too doesn’t charge for number porting and offers an array of features for a lower price than Ooma.
Aircall
Contrary to other Ooma alternatives, Aircall is specifically designed to empower the Support and Sales teams. It advances towards new initiatives with a commitment to success. With offices in some of the world’s top cities, such as Paris, New York, Madrid, London, Berlin, and Sydney, Aircall provides services to over 19K companies worldwide. Its least expensive plan is Essentials, at $30 per license.
Pros | Cons |
How Does Aircall Compare to Ooma?
Dialpad
Dialpad is building unified products, mostly powered by advanced communications AI, making it simple for all-sized businesses to converse with their clients. Doing the right thing and delighting its consumers by helping them connect globally inspires the communication provider. Dialpad’s Standard plan is its economical package, costing $15 per user/month.
Pros | Cons |
How does Dialpad compare to Ooma?
Dialpad’s starting plan is $4.45 cheaper than Ooma’s, and the former even has AI-powered real-time call and meeting transcription. Though both have call recording features, Dialpad allows all users to use it, regardless of their subscription packages, while only Ooma’s Pro plan users can access it.
Zoom Phone
When the world stood still because of the COVID-19 pandemic and people could no longer attend their jobs, Zoom came to their rescue by allowing remote work. And despite being launched not too long ago in January 2019, Zoom Phone has also taken the world by storm. Among its packages, US and Canada Metered is the lowest cost, at just $10 per user per month.
Pros | Cons |
How does Zoom Phone compare to Ooma?
Like many of the above-mentioned VoIP providers, Zoom Phone is cheaper than Ooma and better at meeting requirements. Furthermore, while Ooma’s call recording is only for top-tier subscribers, Zoom Phone offers it in all plans.
Comparisons Between Ooma and Its Competitors
Providers Key Features Available Plans with Prices (USD) Essentials $30 per license Professional $50 per license CustomOoma Google Voice Calilio RingCentral OpenPhone Aircall Dialpad Zoom Phone
Note: Above mentioned prices may vary based on monthly or annual billing. Furthermore, all the prices are mentioned as per the data available as of November, 2024.
Conclusion
Every consumer has their own set of preferences. Nonetheless, they all want the best and something worth the price. Even if Ooma is one of the well-known VoIP providers, it still lacks in many aspects, leading people to find alternatives. If you are still confused about whom to choose from among those mentioned above, Calilio can be your go-to provider.
It is affordable and provides virtual phone numbers in more than 100 countries. Its 24/7 customer service is trustworthy and can assist you with any troubles. Features like call/sentiment analytics, call transcriptions, and monitoring, among others, help to achieve a pleasant business communication experience. Sign up now and modernize your communication platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Similar to Ooma?
There are many VoIP providers similar to Ooma, such as Google Voice, Calilio, OpenPhone, and Aircall.
Is Ooma Actually Free?
Though Ooma Basic is said to cost nothing, you still have to pay applicable taxes and fees.
Who Are Ooma’s Competitors?
Google Voice, Calilio, OpenPhone, RingCentral, and other telecommunication providers are Ooma’s competitors.
Does Ooma Work When the Internet Is Down?
No, Ooma doesn’t work when the Internet is down. But, you can set up a number for call forwarding, when there is a power outage or problem with the Internet.
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