Dialpad Review: Smarter Calls, Smarter Teams

Dialpad Connect sets itself apart with built-in AI features like live transcription, automated call summaries, and real-time analytics – tools that can boost productivity and give your team clearer insight into every customer interaction.

But while its Standard plan starts from just £12 per user, per month, it lacks some key integrations and coaching tools found in competitors like RingCentral. In this Dialpad review, we assess how well its features, pricing, and support stack up against other top UK VoIP systems – like 8×8 Work and bOnline – and who we think it’s best suited for.

Dialpad Review: Setup, Interface and Navigation

One of the most immediately impressive things about Dialpad is how polished and modern its interface feels. From the moment you sign in, the platform is clearly built with accessibility in mind – a clean, uncluttered dashboard, intuitive navigation, and subtle colour cues make it easy to figure out where everything lives.

Quick setup and onboarding

Getting started with Dialpad is straightforward. After signing up, you’re guided through a quick onboarding sequence, which includes assigning phone numbers, adding users, and linking devices.

You can port over existing numbers during this process or choose a new local one with just a few clicks. For teams already using tools like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, calendar and contact syncing can be activated straight away.

Dialpad also lets you download apps for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and Chrome, but if you prefer not to, the web app is fully functional on its own.

Notably, all the programs have the same design across platforms (besides being streamlined or reshaped for different-sized devices). Admins can configure call routing rules, voicemail settings, and business hours directly from the browser without ever needing to dig through complex menus. That’s pretty standard for VoIP providers like RingCentral, though smaller, lower-cost companies often lack this unified approach.

Interface and navigation

The dashboard is designed around a central panel that highlights recent contacts, voicemails, and threads. On the left, a collapsible menu gives quick access to key areas: your inbox, contact centre data, messages, contacts, call history and more. Everything is searchable from the top bar, and the whole experience feels consistent across both desktop and mobile.

As shown in the image above, Dialpad also places strong emphasis on real-time analytics. Call volume, user status, average call duration, and even AI-generated customer satisfaction scores are all visualised in a series of clear, colourful graphs from the get-go. These features are particularly useful for supervisors or team leaders managing busy inbound queues or sales pipelines.

We also like the lead Dialpad has taken from communication platforms through the use of #channels for different teams, groups and projects within your company.

It allows company messages to be organised and specific to certain operations and it’s a little surprising that more integrated VoIP-Comms platforms don’t implement a similar setup, albeit, many have similar aspects with a less Slack-heavy influence (with RingCentral and Vonage you can create messaging teams, for instance, while 8×8 Work allows for public and private chat rooms).

AI tools baked into the UI

Another standout is how Dialpad integrates AI features natively into the interface. You’ll see live call transcription, sentiment tracking, and automated call summaries by simply turning on Dialpad AI during a call or configuring background settings – especially handy during back-to-back meetings or when handling multiple client accounts.

These tools feel like part of the core design rather than an afterthought or optional plugin, as with other software we’ve tested like GoTo and Vonage, or even (to a lesser extent) RingCentral.

Dialpad Review: Key Features

After setting up Dialpad Connect, the next step is to dig into the platform’s suite of features. Below, I’ll cover Dialpad’s standout tools in detail, highlighting exactly how they work, their ease of use, and why they’re valuable to your business, compared with other providers.

Calling and routing

Dialpad makes everyday calling straightforward. Initiating calls is easy: just use the keypad to dial numbers or quickly search for contacts by name. It’s worth noting that alongside unlimited calling in the UK (or your home country, where compatible), all Dialpad plans include limitless calling to the US and Canada (good for companies operating in multiple English-speaking markets).

Once connected, transferring calls to team members is seamless, with clear prompts guiding the process.

You can also easily set business operating hours too, allowing calls to go exactly where they should at specific times (and direct calls outside those hours to a relevant voicemail).

For inbound call handling during operating hours, Dialpad offers several flexible routing options:

• Sequential routing: Calls route through agents in a fixed order. Ideal for priority-based answering.
• Round robin: Distributes calls evenly, cycling through available agents, one-by-one.
• Idle time routing: Sends calls to the agent who’s been free the longest, balancing workloads effectively.
• Skills-based routing: Directs callers to agents based on skills or specialisation, using IVR prompts.

Compared with competitors like Ooma or bOnline, Dialpad provides similarly intuitive basics but adds more sophisticated options like skills-based and idle-time routing, features usually reserved for premium VoIP providers.

Integrated communication history and AI summaries

One of Dialpad’s standout capabilities is its deeply-integrated communication history. Whenever you make or receive a call, Dialpad automatically pulls up your complete communication history with that contact. This includes:

• Previous calls
• Message threads
• SMS and MMS messages (included in all plans, unlike some providers)
• Missed calls and voicemails
• AI-generated call summaries and action items

This integrated approach means users never enter a call blind, instantly getting context around what was previously discussed or promised to a client.

Inside these person-to-person histories, Dialpad’s AI-driven summaries are particularly powerful. After each call, Dialpad’s AI generates a concise summary outlining the main topics discussed, critical action points, and even sentiment analysis of the conversation.

These summaries can be quickly reviewed before follow-up interactions, helping sales reps or customer service agents rapidly re-establish context with clients, even if the previous interaction was weeks or months ago.

Moreover, these call summaries and detailed communication histories can be effortlessly shared with other team members, or even externally with clients. This is invaluable for smooth transitions between sales representatives or customer support agents, say, if someone leaves the company or is away on annual leave, without the need to repeat past conversations.

AI features are something that many providers are now offering, but Dialpad was one of the first we spotted using them among our top VoIP providers in the UK. And you can tell: Dialpad feels a bit more integrated than other platforms, as if it has worked out exactly what will improve the usability of their platform. RingCentral has many of the same features but, besides it, I’d struggle to suggest another platform which integrates AI features as comprehensively or smoothly.

Real-time transcription and multilingual support

Dialpad’s real-time call transcription is one of its most compelling features, particularly if your business handles a high volume of calls or needs precise records of client interactions. During calls, conversations are transcribed live and displayed clearly within the call interface. This feature doesn’t just stop at providing transcripts; Dialpad’s AI actively analyses calls, highlighting significant action points and moments of particular interest or customer sentiment.

In terms of language support, Dialpad goes beyond just English, providing real-time transcription in multiple languages, including:

• English
• Spanish
• French
• Japanese
• German
• Portuguese

This multilingual functionality significantly broadens the usability of Dialpad for international businesses or UK-based companies serving diverse customer bases. For teams managing multilingual communications, this instant transcription capability means that language barriers can be reduced, and helps to keep accurate record-keeping across different language interactions.

The accuracy of Dialpad’s live transcription appears impressive, according to our research. Even in cases with strong accents or quick speech, the software kept up admirably. The transcripts produced were clean, easily searchable afterwards, and could be exported or shared internally for record-keeping, training, or follow-up purposes.

AI-powered productivity features

Beyond just real-time transcription and call summaries, Dialpad has other built-in AI productivity tools, helping teams manage conversations more effectively and with greater insight. Here are the other standout AI-driven features you’ll get with Dialpad Connect:

Real-time sentiment analysis: During live calls, Dialpad’s AI not only transcribes the conversation but also actively analyses the sentiment and tone of the discussion. The software intelligently flags conversations that are becoming tense or problematic, immediately alerting supervisors so they can quickly intervene if necessary.

Assist Cards: Additionally, Dialpad also provides what it calls Assist Cards, which pop up automatically during conversations to provide call agents with relevant contextual information or suggested talking points.

This is particularly valuable for sales or customer service agents who may be handling complex queries or needing quick reference materials, like pricing plan details or product specifications, without having to search elsewhere mid-call.

Custom Moments: Dialpad’s AI also features a capability called Custom Moments. Here, businesses can define specific words or phrases they want the AI to monitor during calls.

For instance, managers can set up Custom Moments around compliance phrases (“terms and conditions agreed”) or specific sales language (“special promotion mentioned”). Dialpad then automatically tracks and flags these moments in call transcripts, helping supervisors quickly audit compliance, track campaign effectiveness, or identify coaching opportunities.

SMS and MMS support as standard

Dialpad offers built-in SMS and MMS capabilities across all its UK plans, allowing businesses to send and receive text messages (including video and image texts) directly from the same interface used for calls and meetings.

Each user has an allowance of 250 outbound messages per month included with their plan. For messages sent to external numbers, there is a character count limit of 1,500 and an MMS attachment size limit of 1MB.

You can set up automatic responses that are sent whenever someone texts relevant numbers or even certain keywords and queries, too. And there are plenty of other ways to automate these text messages, too, such as campaigns for marketing or collecting customer feedback via SMS surveys.

Since many UK VoIP providers don’t support business SMS or MMS functionality in the UK, including providers such as RingCentral, 8×8 Work, bOnline and Google Voice, texting support is a major benefit of Dialpad. Vonage and GoTo Connect (upon request to the administration team) also support SMS/MMS, with the former offering 2,000 messages per day, per account. It’s unclear how many texts are included with GoTo, however, since this varies by custom plan.

Sub-par video conferencing allowance

Dialpad offers video conferencing, called Dialpad Meetings, with all its Connect plans without additional cost. Meetings can host up to 10 participants and meet for 45 minutes at a time, with virtual backgrounds, unlimited audio recordings, and the ability to join a meeting across any device without downloading any apps.

However, while limitless audio recordings are a boon, compared with other platforms, the participant and time limits for meetings didn’t impress us. You can upgrade, with its Dialpad Meetings Business add-on for an extra £10 per user, per month, and improve these limits to 150 users and five hours of meeting time per call, but you’ll get greater meeting numbers included with the likes of RingCentral (up to 200 users), GoTo Connect (up to 250 users) and 8×8 Work (up to 500 users) out the box.

With its business tier add-on, you also get access to its AI meeting transcriptions, action item capture and post-meeting summaries, plus unlimited video recordings, custom hold music and meeting room hardware integration.

This all makes it feel like an essential add-on to us, as these AI tools are one of the main strengths of Dialpad, but that price tag can take your total cost above comparable plans elsewhere, bringing into question its value for money. If you stick to the free meetings, you’ll find better capabilities, and overall value in this specific area, elsewhere.

JUMP TO: Our comparison between Dialpad and other VoIP plans

Advanced analytics and keyword tracking

Dialpad’s analytics suite goes beyond the basic call logs or volume metrics typically found in standard VoIP services. Its advanced analytics hub provides detailed, actionable insights into call performance, team productivity, and customer interactions – all visualised within a clean, intuitive interface.

Interactive summary data

On logging into Dialpad’s web-based analytics dashboard, users are immediately presented with a comprehensive visual summary of key performance metrics. This includes:

• Call volume trends: A visual overview of inbound and outbound call activity over time, helping managers quickly spot busy periods, identify trends, or allocate resources more effectively.
• Call breakdowns: Detailed breakdowns of inbound, outbound, and missed calls, with the ability to drill down into specifics like call duration, hold times, or customer wait times.
• Agent performance: Easy-to-understand visual data summarising individual and team performance, covering metrics such as average call duration, missed calls, responsiveness, and follow-up efficiency.

Most of these data points are clickable, allowing you to dig deeper into specific calls, teams, or time periods for granular insights.

Powerful keyword tracking and analysis

One feature that particularly stood out in Dialpad’s analytics toolkit is its keyword tracking. Users can search for specific keywords or phrases used in conversations, surfacing calls in which these terms appeared.

For example, suppose a sales manager notices multiple mentions of a particular competitor or a recurring client complaint. They can input that competitor’s name or the complaint keyword into Dialpad’s search tool and quickly see:

• Exactly how many calls contained this keyword
• Which agents or clients were involved
• When and how often the keyword was mentioned

The visual analytics instantly update to reflect this keyword usage, providing clarity on customer concerns, competitor mentions, or emerging trends. This functionality offers tangible value, especially for businesses prioritising proactive customer support or wanting to analyse customer sentiment towards specific issues.

Actionable insights and reporting

All analytics data within Dialpad can be easily exported into common file formats (such as CSV) for use in broader reporting, presentations, or internal discussions. This simplifies reporting processes significantly, allowing integration of this critical call data into wider strategic discussions or customer relationship management (CRM) systems with minimal friction.

Moreover, Dialpad’s analytics dashboard supports the setup of scheduled automated reports sent directly to designated emails, keeping teams informed without needing to continually check the platform.

The likes of RingCentral and 8×8 do offer more advanced analytics, with greater analytical potential through a wider variety of sub-categories and ready-made reports. But Dialpad’s ease of use, immediate keyword search functionality, and seamless data export provide a uniquely user-friendly yet powerful analytics solution.

Cross-platform app and device support

Dialpad is available on a range of devices and operating systems, including Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and even Chromebook.

Impressively, from our research, the user experience remains consistent across all platforms, meaning your team won’t waste time figuring out new interfaces as they switch devices. Icons and menu placements remain identical on desktop and mobile.

One small detail I particularly appreciated was the ability to switch between devices mid-call without interruption. This kind of feature is crucial in today’s flexible working environments, enabling easy transition between working from home, commuting, or moving around the office.

Most competitors like Ooma and RingCentral also provide cross-platform support, but Dialpad’s execution is notably smoother compared with options like bOnline.

Desk phone options

Dialpad supports several desk phone brands, including Poly, Yealink, Cisco, Grandstream and Mitel. That’s more choice than some providers like bOnline, which only offers Yealink compatibility, but less than the Bring Your Own Device policy offered by GoTo. But considering the brands on offer here, it’s likely that your existing hardware (if you have any) is covered.

Dialpad don’t recommend that you use a desk phone not listed, as they can’t promise it won’t impact negatively on your end-user experience (or even compromise your team’s security). Worse still, if you need international calling, these phones will be considered insecure by Dialpad and won’t be permitted for use in this way.

Integrations with Dialpad

We wouldn’t say that third-party software integration is a major strength of Dialpad. While major CRM brands are covered, including Salesforce, Zendesk and HubSpot, more niche providers like noCRM and HappyFox are not.

As such, businesses shopping for an integrated customer service solution may find better alternatives with highly compatible systems like RingCentral, which has over 500 ready-to-go app integrations at the time of writing (the industry leader in this regard). But ultimately, you’ll need to browse Dialpad’s App Marketplace yourself and see if its compatibility extent matches your needs.

Dialpad’s Plans and Pricing

Dialpad Connect offers three pricing tiers for UK businesses, each suited to different stages of growth, from solo founders through to large, compliance-driven organisations. Pricing is transparent, and you can test both the Standard and Pro plans with a 14-day free trial, no credit card required.

Here’s how the plans compare, based on our testing and Dialpad’s official features list:

Are there any add-on costs or setup fees?

Dialpad doesn’t charge extra for common tools like call recording, voicemail transcription, or call analytics like other providers, such as bOnline. Instead, all of those features mentioned and more are included in the Standard tier, while others are also tier-dependent. To that end, some limitations still apply unless you’re on Pro or above, including:

According to our research, there’s no mention of mandatory onboarding costs, and Dialpad’s own setup process is streamlined enough that most teams should be up and running in under an hour.

How does Dialpad’s pricing compare to other UK VoIP providers?

At £12 per user, per month, for annual billing, Dialpad Standard is one of the cheapest AI-enabled VoIP plans we’ve assessed, beating out most entry-level options from RingCentral and GoTo. Its built-in call transcription, team chat, and routing tools offer excellent value, especially for startups that want more than a basic dialler.

That said, teams needing live call coaching (like whisper and barge), or deeper customer service tools may find themselves stepping up to RingCentral Premium (£24.99 per user, per month) or 8×8 Work, which offer more out-of-the-box features for larger teams, albeit at a higher cost.

Instead, Dialpad keeps its coaching tools for its contact centre-oriented Dialpad Support plans (starting from £65 per user, per month), as well as its outbound sales plans under the Dialpad Sell banner (starting from £29 per user, per month).

Dialpad Review: Alternatives to Dialpad

Dialpad offers a powerful combination of AI-driven insights, intuitive analytics, and effective communication tools. But depending on your specific business needs, particularly around integrations, video conferencing, or affordability, there might be a better-suited provider.

Here’s a quick summary of our top provider plans (compared on our best VoIP roundup), including Dialpad Enterprise, before directly comparing how two popular VoIP providers might be appealing (or not) versus Dialpad overall:

RingCentral – Best for integrations and video conferencing

When compared with Dialpad, it is clear that RingCentral is strong in two areas where Dialpad struggles; integration capabilities and advanced video conferencing tools.

Where RingCentral beats Dialpad

• Integrations: RingCentral integrates with over 500 apps, including many niche apps. Dialpad, by contrast, has fewer integrations and limits key ones like Salesforce or Microsoft Teams to its more expensive Pro tier.
• Video conferencing: RingCentral’s built-in video conferencing accommodates up to 200 participants (on its higher-tier plans) with no extra cost. Dialpad includes video conferencing too, but with fewer advanced meeting controls and a lower participant limit, meaning it won’t scale as smoothly for larger meetings or webinars.
• Live coaching tools: Features like call whisper, barge, and extensive monitoring come standard with RingCentral. Dialpad lacks some of these live coaching options, relying instead on AI analytics and post-call summaries.

Where RingCentral falls short of Dialpad

• Pricing: RingCentral starts at £12.99 per user, per month, (annual payment) for its Essentials plan, making it marginally pricier than Dialpad’s cheapest plan at £12 per user, per month.

Best for: Medium and large businesses prioritising advanced integrations, extensive video conferencing, and live coaching tools.

bOnline – Best for ultra-affordable VoIP

If budget is your top priority and your needs are relatively straightforward, bOnline could represent better value compared with Dialpad.

Where bOnline beats Dialpad

• Cost-effective pricing: bOnline’s plans start from as low as £7 per user, per month, notably cheaper than Dialpad’s already cheap, lowest-cost plan (£12 per user, per month). Even bOnline’s mid-tier unlimited calling plan (£9.95 per user, per month) still undercuts Dialpad’s entry-level price.
• Simple, clear setup: bOnline provides an extremely straightforward onboarding process, ideal for small businesses or teams who need minimal complexity.

Where bOnline falls short of Dialpad

• Limited advanced features: bOnline doesn’t come close to Dialpad’s powerful analytics, AI-driven transcriptions, or deep integrations.
• Lack of SMS support: bOnline doesn’t offer true integrated business SMS capabilities; Dialpad’s built-in SMS and MMS are a notable advantage here.
• Scalability: bOnline’s simplicity, while beneficial for small setups, may limit larger teams or businesses needing advanced routing and analytics that Dialpad offers. In this sense, it also has add-on costs to consider too, like CRM integrations and video recording for £5–£9 per month extra.

Best for: Solo entrepreneurs, small businesses, or startups who primarily need low-cost voice calls without extensive extra features.

What kind of business is Dialpad best for?

Dialpad may not be as feature-packed as the other business VoIP systems in our research, but there’s one thing Dialpad does best: powerful software-driven communication.

With innovative deep-learning and conversational AI capabilities, our research has found Dialpad is a top choice for any organisation that embraces modern AI communication technology. It will thrive in businesses that value communication for a more collaborative work environment and higher customer satisfaction.

Equipped with reliable multi-language support, Dialpad will also do well in organisations that outsource or have offices abroad. So, if your team is looking for a VoIP system that offers cutting-edge communication tools, Dialpad will undoubtedly impress you.

The clear lack of training tools for live coaching, such as call barge, whisper and monitoring, makes it a poor choice for teams that need hands-on employee training. That means call centres or call-centred sales teams with high turnover will want to look elsewhere. There are similar cost VoIP systems that can provide these calling features without requiring your team to stump up the higher £29 per user, per month, or £65 per user, per month, starting prices for Dialpad’s Support or Sell packages.

How We Reviewed Dialpad