2024’s Best VoIP Phone Service Providers for UK Businesses

According to our research, the best VoIP provider for UK businesses is RingCentral Premium. As VoIP solutions go, it’s one of the most comprehensive, offering a broad range of impressive training and call management features, extensive software integrations, and robust security measures.

But it’s not the only option out there. 8×8’s X4 plan is also an excellent choice for UK businesses, offering unlimited minutes across 48 nations, similarly impressive communication channels, and training features. We found RingCentral Premium offered slightly better value for money and even more wide-reaching software integrations and call management features though, which sees it take the VoIP crown this year.

In this guide, we’ll take you through the strengths and weaknesses of our favourite VoIP providers available in the UK, suggesting which ones are best suited to your business needs.

1. RingCentral Premium – Best all-round business VoIP provider in the UK

RingCentral is a cloud-based communications platform suited to businesses of varying sizes based in West London.

Our research found that besides being the best VoIP product for UK businesses, its Premium Plan is particularly adept at large-scale communications and improving customer service at medium-sized enterprises of any kind (including healthcare-related firms, where it also came out on top).

RingCentral Premium VoIP Pricing

With a monthly price per user of £24.99, RingCentral Premium is in line with most other providers we tested on the face of it. However, with capped inbound and outbound minute limits per user of 1,000 and 2,000 respectively, it does fall behind other providers in value for money and scored a middling 3.7/5 because of this. While it isn’t as wallet-friendly then, the features RingCentral Premium offers – as we’ll go into shortly – are frequently more extensive than those offered by competitors to make it well worth your consideration.

Pricing correct as of June 2024

RingCentral Premium VoIP Features

Earning perfect marks in five of our eight testing areas, RingCentral’s Premium plan tested superbly well to win the Expert Market gong of best all-round business VoIP provider via the highest overall star rating from our testing process of 4.7 out of five.

While there’s not much in it, that sees RingCentral Premium has taken over 8×8 X4 as our top business VoIP plan in the UK through its breadth of call management, communication, and training features. It improves upon 8×8’s X4 plan by offering additional live chat functionality and perhaps crucially, a set price point rather than a changeable, bespoke costing model.

While we think its call minute allowance is generous, if you need more per user then 8×8 X4’s unlimited minutes may still be the way to go.

RingCentral Premium Features: Highest Scoring Assessment Areas

Software Integrations (Score: 5/5): RingCentral Premium integrates seamlessly with Salesforce and over 107 other CRM platforms, as well as various helpdesk, workspace, email, and conferencing platforms.  Unique to RingCentral Premium is its ability to integrate with customer live chat channels like WhatsApp directly through the VoIP system, which few other providers we tested offer, and it’s the only one to support initiating video calls via software such as Microsoft Teams,

Call Management (Score: 5/5): RingCentral’s Premium plan crucially offers a comprehensive range of features to handle incoming business calls effectively. These include a virtual receptionist with call routing and custom greetings, customisable call routing, call flipping, and call blocking tools. The only absence we could find was around automatic nuisance call screening that Dialpad Enterprise and Google Business Plus offer, but RingCentral still has caller ID, voicemail screening (so you can listen to voicemail messages before deciding to return the call) and call blocking to make up for it.

Training Features (Score: 5/5): Training is critical in customer service – and your team’s phone manner is all important. RingCentral Premium comes with features that can help with this, including call transcripts, call recording, call monitoring, call whisper, and call barge. Plus, there are tools to track and analyse call activity, performance, and interactions with callers to understand your team’s performance levels better. Like 8×8 X4 and Vonage Max, this earned it 5/5 for training features.

Help & Support (Score: 5/5): We also believe that RingCentral Premium excels with its customer support, earning another perfect score. It has 24/7 live support, a knowledge hub, a user forum, as well as phone and email support. Its 99.999% uptime SLA guarantee means your system will stay connected and your customers will be able to get hold of you.

RingCentral Premium Features: Lowest Scoring Assessment Areas

Communication Channels (Score: 4.5/5): While RingCentral Premium scores slightly lower in communication channels, this is by no means a weakness with a still exemplary score of 4.5 from 5. The plan includes robust team messaging, video conferencing, and integration with live chat channels such as WhatsApp, though doesn’t offer SMS support.

It’s the only slight downside to RingCentral Premium we could find, besides the aforementioned opaque pricing structure. For more details on features and the other plans available, read our RingCentral review.

What Business Is RingCentral Premium Best Suited To?

Alternatives

• bOnline: Ideal if you require a low-cost solution but don’t use Google Workspace.
• Google Voice: Perfect if you need a customer-service solution with outbound call capabilities.
• Dialpad: Suited for organisations experiencing high call volumes and requiring robust call management features.

2. 8×8 X4 – Best business VoIP provider for unlimited international minutes in the UK

8×8 X4 VoIP Pricing

8×8 offers a bespoke pricing system, so you’ll have to contact its sales team directly for a quote for your business. From what we do know about its X4 plan pricing – around £36 per month when paying annually – affordability is not 8×8’s forte. It secured joint-second last position from our eight tested options, with a score of just 3/5 for pricing – simply put, it’s one of the more expensive phone systems on the market.

Still, 8×8’s X4 plan is decked out with more features than its competitors, as we’ll detail shortly. In other words, 8×8 X4 is geared towards businesses looking for an extensive range of functionalities over budget considerations. Check out our full-length 8×8 review for more information on the VoIP provider and its other plans.

8×8 X4 VoIP – Features

Across seven of our eight testing areas, 8×8’s X4 plan scored excellently with a rating of 4/5 and above – with six of those seven being 4.5 or above. Here’s where it scored highest and lowest, with a little extra detail to help you understand if 8×8 X4 is for you.

8×8 X4 Features: Highest Scoring Assessment Areas

Training Features (Score: 5/5): This high rating reflects the 8×8 X4 plan’s robust capabilities in call recording and storage, call monitoring and forwarding, and detailed analytics and reporting metrics. Particularly noteworthy are the call barge and call whisper functionalities, which allow managers to join ongoing calls as participants or communicate discreetly with team members during live calls, only matched by RingCentral Premium and Vonage Max.

We had no problem using any of these features ourselves, and calling remained crisp when forwarding across international numbers, too. We particularly like the amount of data you can play with inside the reporting section of 8×8’s Application panel, as seen below.

Help & Support (Score: 5/5): 8×8 X4 also scores perfectly in our help and support assessments thanks to complete coverage across all our tested areas, including 24/7 live support, a comprehensive user forum, and extensive knowledge base resources.

8×8 X4 Features: Lowest Scoring Assessment Areas

Software Integrations (Score: 4/5): Despite a still strong score of 4.0, 8×8 X4 falls slightly short in software integrations compared to RingCentral Premium. While it supports external video conferencing platforms and offers iOS/Android apps, it lacks live chat functionality, which could impact businesses that rely on this form of communication integration.

The only other area where it fell short compared to other competitors – as already detailed – is in pricing (3/5).

What Business Is 8×8 X4 Best Suited To?

Alternatives

• RingCentral: If you want to integrate VoIP with CRM or Helpdesk.
• Vonage: If you want to train employees on using the phone.
• bOnline: If you’re a micro to small business that wants to use mobile phones.

3. Vonage Max – Best VoIP provider for small businesses

Vonage is another global VoIP provider, with data centres in the US, Singapore, Sydney, Frankfurt, and Dublin. International data centres can be a plus for global teams, but if you deal with sensitive data, you may feel more comfortable signing up with a provider that is based in the UK or EU and subject to data protection laws.

It also has a globally distributed network of offices, including one based in London. It is not clear whether it has a London-based call centre. But there’s a lot to love, especially if you are a small business, as we’ll dive into shortly.

Vonage VoIP Pricing

Vonage Max is priced at £25 per user, per month, providing a comprehensive set of features tailored for businesses that require advanced and unified communication tools at a fair price, in our view. This plan includes CRM integrations that are particularly beneficial for marketers, offering them the tools needed to enhance customer interactions effectively. Crucially, it also includes unlimited inbound and outbound minutes, too.

As a result, we awarded it a score of 4/5 in this category. In fact, in terms of value for money, it beats almost all other providers on this list. The exception is bOnline, which offers a very similar level of value for money; bOnline is cheaper than Vonage, but also less robust, in our view.

Read our Vonage review for further details on the VoIP provider.

Pricing correct as of June 2024

Vonage Max VoIP – Features

Cost-conscious small businesses will find Vonage Max an appealing proposition based on its best features, including numerous CRM integrations and unlimited call minutes. It falls a little short in comprehensive communication channels and software integrations, making it less suitable for businesses needing extensive integrations or virtual receptionist functionality, but still scores a strong overall star rating is 3.9 out of 5 which is the joint-third highest score we’ve given out. Here’s why we rate it, as well as some causes for pause.

Vonage Max Features: Highest Scoring Assessment Areas

Training Features (Score: 5/5): Achieving a perfect score (like RingCentral Premium and 8×8 X4) for its training features, Vonage Max is an excellent tool for helping improve the skillset of staff. Call recording, monitoring, barging, and whisper functionality, plus analytics and reporting tools, means Vonage Max ensures businesses are fully equipped to enhance overall productivity and user proficiency via several different training and monitoring tools.

Call Management (Score: 4.8/5): Vonage Max also scores highly in call management. While it isn’t alone in this regard, with many other providers scoring high in this category, it still edges ahead with the extent of its features. That includes company-wide call recording, custom call routing and voicemail screening, and detailed call analytics, according to our research.

Vonage Max Features: Lowest Scoring Assessment Areas

Communication Channels (Score: 2.3/5): Despite offering team messaging and video collaboration tools, we found Vonage Max’s overall suite of communication options to be less all-encompassing than its competitors. The absence of SMS and e-fax functionality may be an oversight depending on your usual communication channel usage.

Software Integrations (Score: 3.1/5): Although it provides integration with popular CRM platforms and productivity tools like calendar invitation integration through its Vonage Integration Suite, the range and depth of Vonage Max’s integrations do not match those of some competitors. Seamlessly integrating into varied IT ecosystems may not always be possible then, most notably, in our experience, through video conferencing applications. As a result, businesses that rely on a wide range of software or with complex, multi-app workflows may want to choose a more robust option than Vonage Max.

Read our in-depth analysis of the best phone systems for small businesses.

What Business Is Voyage Max Best Suited To?

4. GoToConnect – Best business VoIP provider for hardware integration

GotoConnect is another VoIP provider that UK businesses will be interested in – especially those who want to integrate VoIP with their current phone hardware, according to our research.

That’s because US-based GoTo and its global network of data servers offer businesses crucial communication features like call routing and ring groups (which help colleagues reach the right people in different offices), as well as team chat and video conferencing tools.

GoToConnect offers a bespoke pricing plan, so it won’t be immediately clear if its pricing is suitable for your business in a financial sense. You’ll need to contact their sales team to get a quote. This lack of transparency, plus zero inbound and outbound minutes as part of the plan, left us resigned to awarding the provider the lowest score for pricing out of all the options on this page; just 2/5.

Check out our in-depth GoToConnect review for more details.

GoToConnect VoIP – Features

When considering all eight of our testing areas, GoToConnect performed admirably across our tests. It sits in the middle of the pack with an average score of 3.8/5, positioning it as the fifth-best choice under our assessment criteria.

While that may not overly impress on first look, GoToConnect was our top scorer for both hardware integration and communication channels. Any organisations looking to scale their customer-service operations will find better options elsewhere however since GoToConnect has a limited number of CRM integrations and fewer training features than competitors.  But any businesses looking to integrate VoIP with existing phone hardware and desire a breadth of communication channels should be interested in what GoToConnect has to offer. Here’s where it performed best and worst and why we gave it those scores.

GoToConnect Features: Highest Scoring Assessment Areas

Hardware Integrations (Score: 5/5): GoToConnect is the only VoIP provider to earn a perfect score in this category for compatibility with a wide range of phone manufacturers and conference room speaker systems. This versatility allows companies to use existing hardware or choose from a variety of new options without being locked into a specific brand, thereby tailoring their communications setup to their specific needs.

Communication Channels (Score: 5/5): With a comprehensive suite of communication tools, GoToConnect also stands alone in this area, too, as the only provider with top marks for communication channels. The platform integrates phone, video conferencing, and messaging into a single system, ensuring seamless connectivity across devices and locations to support team collaboration and productivity. The inclusion of features such as outbound SMS campaigns, AI-assisted personalisations, and a multi-channel shared inbox further enhances its capabilities, making it ideal for businesses looking to improve customer engagement and internal communication.

GoToConnect Features: Lowest Scoring Assessment Areas

Security Options (Score: 2/5): On the flip side, GoToConnect gets the worst score out of any VoIP we have tested for its security options. The platform lacks advanced security features such as multi-factor authentication and granular user permissions controls. For businesses that handle sensitive or personal data, this could be a major drawback. Despite having basic security in place, including third-party data compliance certification, the absence of more robust measures makes GoToConnect less suitable for organisations with stringent security requirements and those prioritising data protection in their communications systems.

Software Integrations (Score: 2.5/5): GoToConnect also scores relatively low in software integrations, which might be a limitation for businesses relying on specific third-party applications. While it supports integration with a major CRM in the form of Salesforce, amongst others, and offers a suite of API integrations, the range of support for other CRMs is not as extensive as some competitors. There’s also a lack of video conferencing integration with the likes of Microsoft Teams, alongside no customer service live chat abilities, which see GoToConnect sit in the bottom three scores for this category.

What Business Is GoToConnect Best Suited To?

5. bOnline Unlimited Calling & Video – Best business VoIP provider for medium-sized organisations on a strict budget

bOnline Unlimited Calling & Video is a more budget-friendly VoIP system plan. Our research highlights its value for money above all else, with unlimited calling minutes at a lower cost than other providers.

It has also earned an ‘excellent’ rating on Trustpilot partly due to its helpful customer service, based out of its offices in Surrey, even if its customer support options aren’t as extensive as other providers.

While bOnline excels in affordability and basic functionalities like call routing and queues, it does fall short in advanced training and security features, as well as hardware and software integrations. Businesses seeking a long-term solution suitable for scalability might need to consider one of the other alternatives on this page.

bOnline VoIP Unlimited Calling & Video Pricing

One of our favourite things about bOnline is its pricing, earning a top score of 5/5 in our cost analysis as one of the cheapest VoIP providers you’ll come across. The Unlimited Calling plan is priced at £13.95 per user per month, providing unlimited UK landline and mobile calls, mobile and desktop apps, on-demand call recording, and 1-1 HD video meetings. You can also pick up the Unlimited Calling plan that includes an IP desk phone for each user, which is available for £15.50 per user per month. 

NBC Cloud Voice Complete Mobility and Vonage Max are our next two highest-rated VoIP providers in terms of cost, each earning a four-star rating, which shows just how excellent value for money bOnline can be to a budget-conscious business. 

Pricing correct as of June 2024

bOnline Unlimited Calling & Video VoIP – Features

bOnline scored the joint-third highest average score in our testing across all eight assessment areas, including the best possible marks in terms of price point as we’ve already discussed, alongside excellent call management and communication features. It’s not all brilliant, since it lacks advanced smarts in training features like call barge and whisper functions or more extensive customer support like 24/7 availability. But there’s still a lot to love and customers seem to love its service, too. Here’s our favourite and least appealing aspects of its service.

bOnline Features: Highest Scoring Assessment Areas

Communication Channels (Score: 4.8/5): bOnline offers a comprehensive suite of communication tools including essential features such as team messaging, video conferencing, and call conferencing. There’s no e-fax or SMS support, though how much this impacts your business will ultimately come down to company workflow. 

Call Management (Score: 4.3/5): The call management capabilities of bOnline include the key functionalities your business will need like custom call routing, call queues, and ring groups. These features are particularly beneficial for small customer-service teams, ensuring that calls are efficiently managed and directed. As a result, it scores highly here and competes with the best VoIPs around.

bOnline Features: Lowest Scoring Assessment Areas

Security Options (Score: 2/5): bOnline receives the joint-lowest score in this category due to its lack of user permissions controls and multi-factor authentication. This could be a significant concern for businesses handling sensitive or personal data. Even if it does have data security compliance certifications and password rules for users, the absence of more robust security measures makes it less suitable for organisations requiring high-security standards.

Hardware Integrations (Score: 3.3/5): During our testing, we found that bOnline isn’t compatible with a wide range of phone manufacturers compared to the competition, getting the joint-lowest score in this category too. As outlined, its most expensive plan comes with a handset for each user included, which is useful, though essentially locks your business into additional handset purchases via bOnline rather than other, potentially more affordable, third-party hardware options.

What Business Is bOnline Best Suited To?

Similar alternatives to bOnline

• RingCentral: If you’re looking for a long-term VoIP upgrade.
• Goto Connect: If you have existing desk phones and need a compatible system.
• Google Voice: If you want additional security features.

6. Dialpad – Best business VoIP provider for small customer service teams

Dialpad has headquarters in California with a London-based office, and servers that are spread across the globe, making it a suitable VoIP provider for internationally dispersed teams.

Overall, we found its Enterprise plan to be most suitable for smaller customer service teams (that require minimal training) and businesses experiencing high call volumes since it offers excellent call management and robust support features, including unlimited call minutes and integration with major CRM systems like Salesforce, Hubspot, and Zendesk.

We found that Dialpad Enterprise pricing reflected the features offered, so it scores a middling 3/5 in our pricing analysis. Starting at £12 per user, per month, Dialpad is certainly affordable on first look, but its Enterprise plan has a custom, bespoke pricing structure which isn’t particularly clear for potential customers who want to avoid spiraling costs. This will be worked out on a case-by-case basis, so you’ll need to contact the provider directly for a tailored quote. In any case, we felt it didn’t offer quite as much value for money as GoTo, Vonage, or bOnline.

Read our full Dialpad review for more information.

Pricing correct as of June 2024

Dialpad Enterprise VoIP – Features

Our research highlighted that Dialpad offers standout features that can streamline your workflow, such as the use of conversational AI.

This feature is most helpful for businesses with sales teams, call centres, or contact centres because the tool helps your team quickly make sense of high volumes of calls, with instant visibility over outcomes, the next steps, and access to in-the-moment coaching. Dialpad includes unlimited outbound and inbound call minutes, which is a huge plus, too, though limitations in training and communication features could pose a problem.

Overall, we gave it an average score of 3.7 out of 5, leaving it as one of the weaker overall offerings on this page. Dialpad is lacking in training features, as well as comprehensive communication channels compared to its rivals, making it less suitable for larger businesses requiring extensive video conferencing capabilities or specialised training programs..

Dialpad Enterprise: Highest Scoring Assessment Areas

Call Management (5/5): Only matched by RingCentral Premium in this category, Dialpad Enterprise is one of the top choices for call management and offers almost identical features from ring groups to call routing. It even brings into play a feature RingCentral doesn’t have in the form of automatic screening of nuisance calls, although you’ll have to live without the voicemail screening that RingCentral offers instead.

Help & Support (4.6/5): Dialpad Enterprise offers a strong amount of help and support options, including phone support, live chat, and a comprehensive knowledge hub. Even if it doesn’t provide email support, which could be a limitation for some businesses, the high score reflects the effectiveness and availability of its support channels. And that should mean users can access help quickly when required.

Dialpad Enterprise: Lowest Scoring Assessment Areas

Training Features (2/5): Something we wouldn’t suggest choosing Dialpad Enterprise over other providers for is its training features. Basic call recording and call analytics are covered but there are no call monitoring, barging or whisper features that many providers can offer at least one of, according to our research. As a result, Dialpad Enterprise is in the joint-bottom position for these features.

Communication Channels (3.8/5): We also found the extent of communication channels offered by Dialpad Enterprise to be a little disappointing, especially since participants in video conferencing are limited to ten or fewer people at a time. Dialpad Enterprise has an ace up its sleeve in the form of SMS support, which the majority of other providers we have tested do not allow for. But besides this boon, there’s little other reason why it should be the VoIP provider for you on this basis; every other option not named Vonage Max offers improved functionality.

What Business Is Dialpad Enterprise Best Suited To?

Alternatives

• 8×8: If your organisation needs to host video calls with more than 10 people.
• RingCentral: If you want to integrate with a more niche CRM/Helpdesk platform.
• Vonage: If your organisation wants to implement hands-on phone training.

7. NBC Cloud Voice Complete Mobility – Best business VoIP provider for a low-budget small business

NBC Cloud Voice Complete Mobility is a solid value VoIP solution ideal for small and medium-sized businesses backed by the globally recognised Cisco Broadsoft platform – in other words, businesses can be assured that they are leveraging leading Cloud VoIP technology.

Starting at £24.99 per month, it provides over 40 business-grade features, including state-of-the-art handsets and app-based management, without hidden costs.

While NBC excels in affordability and basic functionalities, it lacks any CRM integrations and extensive training features, making it less suitable for businesses seeking to integrate VoIP with other systems or needing comprehensive employee training. This crucial absentee sees it score a lower average score than most providers on this page with 3.3 out of a possible.

NBC Cloud Voice Complete Mobility Pricing

NBC Cloud Voice Complete Mobility begins its offerings at an attractive price of £24.99 per month, per user, without limits on inbound and outbound calling minutes. This pricing strategy positions NBC as a provider of one of the best value cloud-based phone systems on the market, only beaten by bOnline Unlimited Calling & Video using our scoring criteria. 

NBC Cloud Voice Complete Mobility VoIP – Features

For businesses on a budget, NBC Cloud Voice Complete Mobility is one of our favourite VoIP solutions. Starting at just £6.99 per month, it provides over 40 business-grade features, including state-of-the-art handsets and app-based management, all with unlimited calling. It lacks CRM integrations and extensive training features which may put off businesses growing at speed and those requiring their VoIP to integrate with multiple software. This has negatively impacted its average score, with it sitting at 3.3 out of 5, but given its cheaper cost this is somewhat expected and we think it’s still well worth our recommendation. Read on for some highlights and lowlights of NBC Cloud Voice Complete Mobility.

Highest Scoring Assessment Areas

Call Management (4.7/5): Essential call management features such as custom call routing, call queues, and hunt groups, paired with unlimited inbound and outbound minutes make NBC Cloud Voice Complete Mobility a strong VoIP package to consider. A lack of caller ID and voicemail screening stops it from taking a perfect score but NBC still has all the other features we deemed important for call management.

Communication Channels (4.3/5): Communication tools such as team video and call conferencing for large amounts of users, number porting, and alternative numbers are crucial for efficient internal and external communication – and NBC has the lot. Like a lot of VoIPs in the UK, there is no SMS or e-fax functionality but beyond that, you’ll be well served with options.

Lowest Scoring Assessment Areas

Software Integrations (0/5): A key absence in NBC Cloud Voice Complete Mobility’s service is the lack of integrations with popular CRM systems like Salesforce and other software applications. This could be a significant drawback for businesses that rely on seamless integration between their VoIP system and CRM tools and see NBC score the joint-lowest score in this category (alongside side Google Business Plus).

Training Features (2/5): Advanced training functionalities like call monitoring, barging, and whisper controls, which are available from providers like RingCentral Premium, 8×8 X4, and Vonage Max, are all missing with NBC. This earns it the joint-lowest score from the options on this page.

What Business Is NBC Cloud Voice Complete Mobility Best Suited To?

Alternatives

• RingCentral: If you want to integrate VoIP with CRM or Helpdesk.
• Vonage: If you want to train employees on using the phone.
• bOnline: If you’re a micro to small business that wants to use mobile phones.

8. Google Business Plus: Best business VoIP for organisations with a Google workplace subscription

Google Business Plus, also known as Google Voice for Business, is a communication plan on the Google platform tailored for enterprises already embedded in the Google ecosystem. Because of this, we found it to be particularly well-suited to organisations needing robust internal communications – especially when remote working – as well as stringent security measures.

Google Business Plus also offers essential features such as advanced collaboration tools, extensive cloud storage, and large-scale video conferencing, all of which facilitate efficient teamwork and data management. 

However, businesses looking to enhance their customer service operations might need to consider alternatives. We found Google Business Plus had no CRM integrations, from Salesforce to HubSpot, and fewer training features compared to competitors, which could be a drawback for customer-service-centric enterprises or those running sales operations.

Google Business Plus VoIP Pricing

We found Google Workspace Business Plus to be competitively priced at £15 per user per month when billed yearly (£18 per user, per month when billed monthly), offering several features tailored for businesses seeking enhanced security and larger storage capacities, as we’ll detail shortly. While it provides unlimited inbound minutes, zero outbound minutes left a hole in Google’s armoury compared to the competition and resulted in Google Business Plus receiving a fairly middling 3.5/5 score.

Google Business Plus VoIP – Features

Google Business Plus, which houses Google Voice for Business, is a cloud-based communication platform ideal for medium to large enterprises integrated with Google Workspace.

Priced at £15 per user per month when billed yearly, it has a number of plus points in terms of features including internal communication tools, advanced security features, and extensive cloud storage. Still, it lacks included outbound calling minutes, any non-Google software integration, and less comprehensive training features compared to the likes of Vonage Max and RingCentral Premium, making it less suitable for customer service-centric enterprises.

Here’s where it scored highest and lowest in our eight-area testing procedure, alongside with explanation as to why.

Highest Scoring Assessment Areas

Communication Channels (4.3/5): Google Business Plus offers a comprehensive suite of communication tools, including advanced collaboration features like pin-verified sharing, document approvals, and a shared team drive of 5TB of pooled cloud storage per user.

The plan supports video meetings for up to 500 participants, incorporating features like recording, attendance tracking, background blur, whiteboarding, live captions, breakout rooms, co-moderation, Q&A, and polls. Additionally, Google Chat with advanced room capabilities, enhanced security, and reporting controls ensures secure and organised team communications.

Security Options (5/5): Google’s international expertise on the security front earned Business Plus a perfect score in this category. It offers advanced security controls and compliance features such as data retention and eDiscovery with Google Vault. These capabilities make it an excellent choice for businesses in regulated industries like healthcare and finance, ensuring that sensitive data remains protected and compliance requirements are met.

Lowest Scoring Assessment Areas

Training Features (2/5): The training features of Google Business Plus are somewhat limited, reflecting its lower score. While it provides essential training tools for onboarding and ongoing education of employees, other providers offer more comprehensive training resources. This limitation can impact businesses requiring extensive training programs for their staff, making it less suitable for those with significant training needs.

Software Integrations (0/5): Perhaps the most notable absence in Google Business Plus’s service is the lack of integrations with popular CRM systems like Salesforce and other software applications. We couldn’t find any integration potential on this front, so should CRM tools be central to your business, you’ll find this VoIP to be severely lacking.

What Business Is Google Business Plus Best Suited To?

Alternatives

• bOnline: Ideal if you require a low-cost solution but don’t use Google Workspace.
• RingCentral: Perfect if you need a customer-service solution with outbound call capabilities.
• Dialpad: Suited for organisations experiencing high call volumes and requiring robust call management features.

How did we find the best business VoIP providers in the UK?

At Expert Market, we spend time researching, testing, and evaluating providers we write reviews about. This typically consists of conducting market research to narrow down the software that’s really worth digging into a little more and then assessing it against a range of research criteria.

Informed by readers and businesses we speak to regularly, we identified eight overarching assessment categories that we used to assess each VoIP provider.

Scoring Criteria with Respective Weighting

• Call Management (25%): an analysis of a given platform’s call management features, including call routing functionality and the presence of a virtual receptionist.
• Communication Channels (20%): assessment of the tools available within a VoIP platform for internal communication, including team messaging, video conferencing, and SMS capabilities.
• Training Features (20%): the ability of the VoIP service to support the training of employees, from call review features like call recording and call data reporting, to live call coaching features like call barge or call whisper tools.
• Pricing (10%): the pricing structure associated with the VoIP service, such as monthly subscription fees, call rates, setup fees, and any additional charges for add-on features or services.
• Software Integrations (10%): the VoIP service’s ability to connect and integrate with external software systems, such as integration varying CRM, helpdesk, and external video conferencing platforms.
• Hardware Integrations (5%): the ability of a VoIP service to integrate with different phone brands.
• Customer Support (5%): the extent of assistance and resources provided by the VoIP service provider to customers including technical support, online resources, and access to customer support representatives.
• Security Options (5%): the measures and features implemented by the VoIP service to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and protection of voice communications and data.