Google Voice Review 2025: Cheap Option For Google Users

If your business already runs on Google Workspace, Google Voice might look like the obvious next step for handling calls. It’s affordable, easy to set up, and slots neatly into Gmail, Calendar, and Meet, which is all great news for small businesses. But here’s the catch: outside of the Google ecosystem, its usefulness quickly falls away.

In this review, we discuss what Google Voice really offers UK businesses in 2025, detailing where it shines, where it struggles, and whether it can compete with more feature-packed rivals like RingCentral, GoTo Connect and 8×8.

What Are Google Voice’s Key Features?

Below, we break down Google Voice’s core capabilities, how they work in practice and how they stack up against close rivals from our research.

Call management

Google Voice offers several call management features, including multi-level auto-attendants (virtual receptionists), call transfer, call forwarding and number ownership (numbers stay with the business if staff leave).

Admins can also configure ring groups so multiple people can answer the same inbound line, plus workspace-aware routing (e.g. send calls to voicemail when your Google Calendar shows you’re out of office). Voicemail is also auto-transcribed for easy legibility.

For simple routing (press-1 menus, basic distribution via ring groups), Google Voice is easy to set up and manage from the Admin console. However, Google’s own plan table and our testing indicate no native call queues, custom hold music or rule-based custom routing, beyond the auto-attendant and ring groups. That makes it less suited to higher-volume or complex flows.

In our small-business scoring, Google Voice (Business Standard) scored a middling score for call management, largely due to the absence of queues, hold music and custom routing. GoTo Connect and RingCentral topped this category with perfect scores, featuring full queues, advanced routing and other extras.

Spam prevention and screening

Google Voice uses Google AI to automatically block spam calls and provides voicemail transcription. You can also use caller ID and send callers to voicemail when busy or outside working hours via Calendar.

Spam filtering is a genuine strong point for Voice and helps keep nuisance calls down with minimal admin overhead. In our scoring, though, Voice earned mid-tier marks for the screening tools because its admin-level screening controls and analytics aren’t as rich as some enterprise-focused rivals.

For micro/small teams that mostly want fewer junk calls, Google Voice is excellent. But for supervisors who want deeper screening controls and reporting on said calls, the likes of RingCentral and Dialpad (top scorers in this area) come out on top.

Integrations and Workspace fit

Google Voice features tight integration with Google Calendar and Google Meet (e.g. route to voicemail during out-of-office blocks), calling inside Gmail and centralised admin via the Google Admin console. Premier adds eDiscovery via Google Vault and advanced reporting via BigQuery (a serverless, multi-cloud enterprise data warehouse including user info, call logs and more) for compliance and analytics.

As part of Google Workspace, Voice is seamless. Users and admins benefit from single-place management and data retention in Vault on the Premier plan. It’s ideal if you already live in Gmail/Calendar/Meet day-to-day.

Third-party customer relationship management (CRM)/help-desk integrations are restricted versus unified communications as a service (UCaaS) leaders, however. Google Voice offers zero non-Google integration opportunities for tools like CRM and help-desk connectors. In comparison, both RingCentral and 8×8 Work posted full marks for broad plug-and-play ecosystems. If you need Salesforce, Zendesk or another CRM to light up with calls, choose RingCentral, 8×8 or GoTo Connect instead.

Communication channels and apps

Google Voice has both a mobile app (Android/iOS) and a web app. As mentioned above, you can also make/receive calls in Gmail, as things are readily tied to its native email comms channel. We found day-to-day calling to be smooth across devices, and its voice and voicemail coverage earned a near-perfect score in this area.

For integrated video, Voice pairs with Google Meet naturally, with features such as breakout rooms, polls, live streaming, Q&A, noise cancellation, attendance tracking and meeting recording all present and correct (and often bettering third-party alternatives). Many businesses already use Meet, so it’s handy to have it available a click away from your phone system.

There’s also Google Chat for internal team messaging and collaboration, and the ability to see where your colleagues are inside of Google Docs pages, Google Sheets spreadsheets and Google Slides presentations, to collaborate effectively (each has on-page chat, too), and many more in-built apps offered by Workspace.

Unfortunately, unlimited texting is only available in the US, so UK users won’t benefit from that communication channel (unlike GoTo Connect or Dialpad, which bundle UK-usable SMS/MMS and are therefore better for UK teams that rely on texting).

Calling inclusions and geography

Calls between Google Voice numbers and to the US from any country are free and included by default. The same applies to calls to Canada, but only from US/CA numbers, and calls to most European countries when you’re in Europe. Plan availability and location support differ by tier (e.g. Premier supports international locations).

For globally scattered teams that frequently call the US or teams operating within Europe, these inclusions can cut costs substantially.

Competitors are strong in this area, too though. GoTo Connect stands out for its unlimited international calling to 50+ countries, even on its core plan, which could be a better value proposition for high-volume global calling than Voice’s inclusions. Still, if US calling is a priority, Voice is a very cost-effective option.

Hardware and SIP options

Google Voice has support for Poly/Polycom desk phones and Analog Telephone Adapters (ATAs) with zero-touch provisioning. There’s also SIP Link to connect Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) services through certified Session Border Controls (SBCs), which manage call flows on VoIPs like this.

Setup is fast if you’re standardising on Poly, but the brand breadth for physical phone hardware is narrow. In our hardware-integrations scoring, Google scored joint lowest alongside bOnline for the number of compatible brands, reflecting this tighter device list.

Once again, GoTo Connect and RingCentral’s Bring Your Own Device policies are clear winners in this area, with support for more manufacturers out of the box and ranked top in our hardware tests. Teams already owning mixed Yealink/Cisco/Poly and other branded devices should consider these two first.

Training, security and compliance

With Google Voice, you get 24/7 support and a Service Level Agreement (SLA) around levels of uptime across any plan you choose. There’s also emergency dialling support, automated call recording with Google Vault integration for discovery/retention (on the Premier plan) and the optional BigQuery reporting, for deeper analytics around your data.

For regulated teams already using Workspace and Vault, Voice centralises telephony records alongside email/files, simplifying retention and audits.

RingCentral and 8×8 offer broader enterprise coaching and analytics suites (e.g. live whisper/barge, richer dashboards) and publish extensive UK-relevant compliance badges.

Instead, Google Voice’s strengths are more about Workspace-native governance than contact-centre-grade supervision. Our training-features scores reflect this, with Google trailing leaders like RingCentral, Vonage and Dialpad.

How Much Does Google Voice Cost? Pricing Plans

Google Voice is sold as an add-on to Google Workspace, which means you’ll need to pay for both a Voice licence and a Workspace licence for every user. That makes it cheaper for firms already invested in Workspace, but less competitive for those starting from scratch.

Voice has three business tiers – Starter, Standard and Premier – each priced per user, per month, with a 10-user minimum.

Voice pricing starts from $10 per user, per month in the US, alongside a Workspace plan from $6 per user, per month. UK and EU pricing is available only via sales, but the dollar tiers give a strong benchmark.

Google Voice plan pricing

Workspace licences cost extra, starting from $6 per user, per month, for Business Starter. Pricing accurate as of August 2025.

Which Google Voice plan should you choose?

• Starter ($10): Best for microbusinesses and sole traders in the US who need a budget-friendly business number with spam filtering.
  • Not suitable for teams above 10 users or those outside the US, given it doesn’t allow the former or calls to the latter.
  • At this tier, Voice looks fairly competitive against budget rivals like bOnline Unlimited Calling (usually from £13.95 per user, per month).
  • However, bOnline bundles unlimited UK/EMEA calling, which Google Voice Starter lacks, and at the time of writing, it is discounted to £9.95 per user, per month, which undercuts Google completely.
• Standard ($20): The most balanced option for SMEs.
  • It unlocks auto-attendants, call transfer, ring groups and Poly desk phone support, making it workable for distributed teams.
  • Compared with GoTo Connect (£18), Voice still lags on call management (queues, custom hold music) but wins on spam prevention.
• Premier ($30): Designed for larger or compliance-heavy organisations.
  • It integrates with Google Vault for discovery/retention and with BigQuery for advanced call reporting. This makes it attractive to regulated firms already using Workspace.
  • However, RingCentral Ultimate (£29.99) delivers 4,000 minutes, advanced analytics, and live coaching tools, which Google lacks.

How much does Google Workspace cost?

Because Google Voice requires an active Workspace subscription, you’ll need to budget for both. Google Workspace has four UK tiers – Starter, Standard, Plus, and Enterprise Plus – with flexible monthly pricing or discounted annual contracts (saving 16%). Starter, Standard and Plus are capped at 300 users, but Enterprise has no limit.

All prices shown in GBP. Annual pricing requires a one-year commitment and is ~16% cheaper than monthly flexible billing.

Are there any other hidden or additional costs?

• International calling: Outside free inclusions (US, Canada, some EU countries), outbound calls are billed per minute.
• Hardware: Poly desk phones are supported, but you’ll need to buy devices outright. There is no rental scheme, like RingCentral’s.

How does Google Voice pricing compare?

• Value for existing Workspace users: If you’re already paying for Workspace, Voice is one of the cheapest ways to add business calling. Starter + Workspace can cost as little as $16 per user, per month, total; cheaper than RingCentral Standard (£19.99) or GoTo Connect (£18).
• Less competitive for non-Google shops: Businesses not using Workspace face double costs (Voice + Workspace), meaning overall spend often exceeds budget rivals like bOnline (£13.95) or Vonage Max (£25).
• Scaling beyond basics: Once you move past small-business needs, competitors like RingCentral and 8×8 Work quickly outpace Voice. They offer unlimited minutes, CRM/help-desk integrations, and coaching tools at similar or lower costs than Google’s Premier plan.

What Help and Support Does Google Voice Provide?

Google’s support varies depending on the Voice plan you choose.

1. Support for Google Voice (within Workspace)

All Google Voice business plans (Starter, Standard, Premier) come with 24/7 support and an SLA that sets up the reliability and fast response times to expect.

As a Workspace admin, the primary place to start is the Google Workspace Admin console:

• Click “Get help” (top right) to open the help assistant.
• Describe your issue; if the help article doesn’t solve it, click “Continue to Support” to access phone, chat or email help.

2. Support levels and add-ons

Google offers tiered support levels depending on your plan:

• Standard Support: Included with all plans, via Help Centre and Admin console.
• Advanced Support: Available as a paid add-on to Standard or Plus customers (and included with Enterprise). Offers:
  • 24/7 assistance for critical issues (P1/P2)
  • ~1-hour response for P1 tickets
  • Technical specialists
• Premium Support: Also a paid upgrade (or included in Enterprise). Provides:
  • Faster response (~15 minutes for P1)
  • Full P1 to P3 support
  • Technical Account Manager (TAM)
  • Customer success reviews, training labs and more

3. Self-serve resources

Google’s ecosystem includes rich self‑help options:

• Help Centre: Guides on account setup, billing, product use, troubleshooting and Voice‑specific queries.
• Workspace Community Forum: Peer‑supported troubleshooting and tips.
• Google Voice Help Center: Focused documentation for voice features.

4. Phone and chat support in the UK

In the UK, business admins can also call 0800‑169‑0455 for help with Workspace issues.

Live chat is accessible through the Admin console or Help Centre when logged in.

How does its support compare with other providers?

GoTo Connect includes 24/7 phone, email and chat support with all tiers, and provides comprehensive Help Centre resources. However, it does not offer dedicated technical account managers like some premium options.

RingCentral offers dedicated UK-based support, including local phone lines, live chat and a robust online knowledge base. It also provides escalation paths for enterprise tiers with additional customer success features.

8×8 Work starts support via its AI assistant “Otto”, accessible through the Help portal or admin console, which can escalate to live agents depending on plan. Enterprise users also gain access to a dedicated UK support number.

What Businesses Does Google Voice Suit Best?

Google Voice is strongest as a low-cost, Workspace-native phone system, given its standout spam blocking, auto-attendants, voicemail transcription and simple ring-group routing.

It’s best for micro to small teams already on Google Workspace. Think of a 10-person consultancy or local agency that wants an affordable number, voicemail transcripts and clean admin controls, without investing in a full-blown contact centre. However, it underperformed on call management and integrations, meaning it isn’t designed for scaling businesses or complex call flows.

That makes it a poor fit for customer-service teams, high call-volume environments or firms reliant on CRM/help-desk integrations. These are all areas where rivals like GoTo Connect (with queues, custom routing and broad hardware compatibility) or RingCentral (advanced coaching, analytics and hundreds of integrations) are much stronger options.

How Does Google Voice Compare With Competitor VoIP Phone Systems?

Google Voice has its place as a low-cost, Workspace-native phone system, but when tested against the wider UK VoIP market, it scored lower than most rivals in areas like call management, CRM integrations and scalability. Here’s how it compares:

GoTo Connect vs Google Voice

GoTo Connect outperformed Google Voice in nearly every call management metric during our research. It includes queues, custom hold music and advanced routing from its cheapest plan, while Voice is limited to basic auto-attendants and ring groups (still flagged as a beta feature).

GoTo also bundles unlimited international calling to 50+ countries at £18 per user, per month, making it a far better option for distributed teams. If you need a robust, all-in-one system with video, SMS, and global minutes built in, GoTo is a stronger choice.

RingCentral vs Google Voice

For medium-sized businesses, RingCentral Ultimate is more expensive (£22.99 to £29.99 per user, per month) but justifies the cost with full coaching tools (barge, whisper), advanced analytics and 500+ integrations.

Google Voice, by contrast, has no CRM or helpdesk connectors, so it scored poorly in our integrations tests. RingCentral is therefore better suited to service-heavy or sales-focused teams, while Google Voice only works if your ecosystem is already Google-first and you don’t rely on external apps.

bOnline vs Google Voice

At £13.95 per user, per month, or £9.95 at the time of writing, bOnline undercuts Google Voice + Workspace on price and includes unlimited UK/EMEA calling.

It’s a simpler product with fewer features overall, but for sole traders or microbusinesses not tied to Google Workspace, it’s a better value than paying for two subscriptions (Workspace + Voice). Google Voice only makes sense at the very low end if you’re already a Workspace customer.

How We Reviewed Google Voice