The 8 Best UCaaS Providers for 2023

8×8 tops our list of the best unified communications providers, earning an outstanding 4.7/5 overall score in our in-depth research. It continues to impress our experts, scoring the highest in our analyses of these systems’ features, customer support, security, and scalability. With a long list of functionalities, 8×8 can give you the communication versatility you need to thrive. 

If you want to know more about your options, we’ve rounded up the eight best unified communications as a service (UCaaS) providers and compared them based on their communication channels and features. We’ve summarized everything you need to know about each UCaaS provider, from their price and ratings to their strengths and weaknesses. 

If you want a personalized recommendation, use our free quote comparison tool. We’ll connect you with UCaaS providers that match the needs of your business, and they’ll be in touch with obligation-free quotes that are tailored to you. 

What is UCaaS?

Unified Communications as a Service or UCaaS for short is software that brings together various communication channels.

The key features typically found in a UcaaS system include:

• Voice services: an integrated VoIP system can be used to make and receive calls.
• Video conferencing: alongside voice calls, you can also carry out virtual meetings.
• Email: you can connect with customers, clients, and colleagues via email on the software.
• Scalability: you can scale up or down with the software to meet your business needs and budget.
• Integrations: you can integrate with third-party platforms and other software such as VoIP and CRM to streamline your business operations.

UCaaS software helps to improve your business’s ability to collaborate and communicate with each other as well as customers. You can organize and streamline much more efficiently. Keep reading to find an aligned system for your business.

1. 8×8: Best Overall UCaaS Provider

8×8’s pricing is no longer public so the above prices may not be accurate. For a more accurate quote, you’ll need to contact the provider directly. 

When it comes to collaboration tools, we like that 8×8 offers team messaging on all its plans to help establish synergy among your colleagues and partners. As well as its SMS and chat feature, it can also sync with various messaging apps like Fleep, Slack, and Telegram, helping you communicate seamlessly with your team. 

We found that 8×8 also includes task management on its top three plans, helping you keep track of your team and their progress. There is also document tracking and Google Workspace integration across all plans, so you can share, edit and track changes on your documents for easier collaboration on paperwork. 

Best of all, 8×8’s video conferencing can host up to 500 participants per meeting — that’s double what GoTo and Nextiva offer. 

If there’s one thing to improve, it’s 8×8’s price. With a 2.5/5 score in our pricing evaluation, 8×8’s most advanced plan costs as much as $140 per user, per month. If you want friendlier price plans, we recommend Dialpad. Dialpad scores well on both our pricing (4.5/5) and features (4/5) analyses. For as little as $15 per user, per month, you’ll get a comprehensive list of inbound and outbound communication features: virtual receptionist, ring groups, external video calling, and SMS/chat.

2. RingCentral: Best UCaaS Provider for Small to Medium Businesses

With excellent scores in external connections (4.2/5), customer support (5/5), and scalability (4.9/5), we found that smaller businesses can sync a variety of the software they’re already using into RingCentral’s UCaaS interface, making for a simpler set up process. RingCentral can scale alongside your business’ growth, and can offer great support when you have a problem or question about the software.

RingCentral enables you to have unlimited users on the system, and provides unlimited domestic minutes, and local toll-free numbers. This makes it easier to connect with your clients and partners without incurring any cost. It also has an SMS feature, and video conferencing with up to 200 participants per meeting. Plus, it offers a long list of call features, such as call flip and call forwarding, so you can go mobile without worry. You’ll also get collaboration features, such as team messaging, document sharing, and task management to help streamline workflows for your team.  

Based on our user testing, what truly sets RingCentral apart from the other providers on this list is that it offers 250 ready-made software integrations, empowering you to expanding your functionalities and communication channels. All this makes for increased scalability, letting you handle the demands of a growing company.

As for the drawback, RingCentral receives a mediocre 3.5/5 average user review score from sites like G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, and TrustRadius. With this score ranking seventh out of eight providers, most users’ concerns revolve around contracts renewing automatically and how difficult they can be to cancel.

3. Vonage: Best UCaaS Provider for Scaling Businesses

We gave Vonage a scalability score of 4.5/5, as you can mix and match features, so you only pay for the functionalities you need. Offering an affordable price point and flexible plans, we recommend Vonage for businesses that start small and look to scale up. For example, features like call queue and call monitoring allow you to manage a growing number of calls. 

Vonage enables an unlimited number of users, and provides unlimited domestic minutes, and localized toll-free numbers from its cheapest plan. Plus, ready-made integrations, such as Slack, Hubspot, Office 365, and Salesforce, are available across all pricing tiers. This means, as long as you operate in the US, you don’t have to get a plan upgrade when your business takes off. Vonage also has a document sharing feature and comes with workspace integrations, including Office 365 and GSuite, allowing you and your team to work efficiently. 

That said, some features come at an extra cost, so you will have to pay more to increase the capabilities of your system. This includes features other UCaaS providers, like 8×8, include in their plans, such as SMS/chat and e-fax. Even Unytalk, Vonage’s UCaaS app that allows you to access its technology on your smartphone and other gadgets, costs a fee. Moreover, Vonage doesn’t come with any ready-made email integrations, like 8×8 and RingCentral do, so we recommend these systems if you’re looking for that.

4. Ooma: Best UCaaS Provider for Low-Cost 24/7 Support

Starting at $19.95, we found that Ooma also has the most affordable plans of all the top UCaaS solutions that offer 24/7 live support. This means you don’t have to go over your budget to get quick, reliable assistance from this UCaaS provider.

In addition to this, Ooma provides a fantastic list of unified communications features to improve your team’s communication and productivity. We gave Ooma a 4.5/5 features score, you get a variety of functionalities, like call queues and ring groups. This will prove helpful when handling a large number of incoming calls.

One thing we recommend looking out for is Ooma’s limited collaboration and management features. For instance, Ooma’s video conferencing and analytics features are only available on the Ooma Office Pro plan and up, while team messaging, document sharing, call flip, and call forwarding are only available on Ooma’s higher-priced Enterprise plans. Unfortunately, these are essential UCaaS features that can help your team achieve streamlined communication and efficient workflow. Meanwhile, Dialpad provides these features on its cheapest plan, Standard (at $15 per user per month).

5. Nextiva: Best UCaaS Provider for a Flexible Set Up

Since our last update in May 2023, Nextiva’s plans have been increased by a few dollars each.

Our research found that one of the best things about Nextiva, though, is its award-winning 24/7 customer support. Nextiva received a Stevie award for five consecutive years for excellent customer service, proving how helpful and reliable its support team is. This is because Nextiva’s 24/7 phone support is 100% human, which means more accurate problem analysis and solutions. As a result, there’s a lot of customer satisfaction in evidence across review sites like G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, and TrustRadius, with an outstanding average customer review score of 4.5/5. 

The drawback is Nextiva’s limited outbound communication features, earning it a lower score of 3.9/5 in our features analysis. Advanced features such as a power dialler, predictive dialling, and call whisper, which enable you to reach your team members and communicate with clients easily, are not available. If you want these sophisticated outbound communication features, you can get them on 8×8’s top three most expensive plans at an additional cost.

6. GoTo: Best UCaaS Provider for Low-Price Longevity

With GoTo, you’ll be getting great value for your money, especially if you’re looking to expand over the long term. For as little as $24 per user, per month, you’ll be able to add unlimited users to your system, and get unlimited domestic minutes, and a localized toll-free number.

GoTo also offers a generous list of inbound communication features like call queues and ring groups, helping you give a hassle-free experience to calling customers. It also boasts video conferencing with up to 250 attendees — the second-largest number of participants after 8×8. Because of all this, combined with strong security measures, our researchers found that GoTo is scalable enough to partner with you from starting your business to growing globally, as it has the capability to evolve as your business expands. Moreover, GoTo is getting glowing reviews from users on sites like G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, and Trustpilot, earning a high average review score of 4.4/5.

On the other hand, GoToConnect could benefit from more ready-made integrations, scoring only 2.6/5 in our analysis of its integrability. As of now, GoTo only offers two out-of-the-box CRM integrations: Salesforce and Zoho CRM. That’s a far cry from RingCentral’s 97 CRM integrations. GoTo also falls short of collaboration features, dropping a few points and earning 3.4/5 in our features evaluation. For example, it doesn’t have workspace integrations, and its document sharing is only allowable through MMS. GoTo also doesn’t have a 24/7 user support channel like Ooma does.

7. Net2Phone: Best UCaaS Provider for Low-Cost International Calling

Since our last update in May 2023, the Office and Office Pro plans have dropped by a couple of dollars each. 

Net2Phone lets you set up virtual phone numbers in over 500 countries and 300 cities. So if you plan to make waves in Europe, the Americas, or Asia, this UCaaS will help you establish your presence without breaking the bank. If you want to operate your business globally without incurring too many fees, we recommend Net2Phone as the UCaaS system for you. 

The main disadvantage of using Net2Phone is its limited software integrations, earning it a low score of 2.8/5 in our analysis of its integrability. While other UCaaS can integrate with CRM software free of extra cost, Net2Phone offers Salesforce and Zoho CRM integrations for an additional $2 per user, per month on its Office and Office Pro pricing plans. And if you upgrade to its most advanced pricing tier, the Office Power plan, you’ll only get ready-made inetragions with SalesForce, Zoho CRM, MS Teams, and Slack.

Net2Phone also misses out on some collaboration tools, including document sharing and task management, that can help you and your team work jointly on projects and paperwork. 

8. Dialpad: Best UCaas Provider for Conversational AI

Although we found that it lacks document sharing, Dialpad does come with G Suite and Office 365 integrations, so you can work closely as a team. It also has chat/SMS, and team messaging integrations like Slack, allowing you to reach your team in an instant. If you want better collaboration, you can use its voice and video conferencing features, which are a standard on all Dialpad’s plans. 

We found that what makes Dialpad unique among UCaaS providers is its focus on futuristic technology. It incorporates machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze conversations, enhancing your communication prowess. For example, Dialpad features real-time assist cards that can analyze and detect trigger words from your call and provide tailored and actionable suggestions to communicate effectively with your customers. 

However, it does lack external integrations, which is why we gave it an integrability score of 2.4/5. Currently, Dialpad only comes with ready-made integrations with Salesforce, Zendesk, Hubspot, Slack, G-Suite, and Office 365. If you use software other than these, you would have to open these apps on a separate window instead of finding them on one interface. That’s a far cry from RingCentral’s 200+ integrations. Nevertheless, Dialpad has an open API, so you can still integrate the software you need as long as you have the technical know-how.

How to Upgrade to a New UCaaS System?

It costs an average of around $25 per user, per month when switching to a new UCaaS system. If you are currently using a system but want to switch, speak to your new provider as they can help you to switch. If you are tied into a contract, check how long you have left, you might be able to ride out the system for a little while longer or your contract terms might allow you to leave the provider without penalty.

The best way to choose your next UCaaS system is to look at the providers on this page which cover a range of business needs or use our free quote comparison tool to get matched with the right system for your business.

The right system for your business will be one that has the features you need such as video conferencing, team messaging, and third-party integrations.