What is the best call center software for a small business?

The one whose price covers your calls, not only your seats. For the lowest price with unlimited US and Canada calling, Dialpad Standard ($15 per user a month on annual billing); for a multi-level IVR on the first plan, RingCentral Core ($20); for sales teams that call out, JustCall or Aircall; and if calls must sit next to email and chat in one help desk, LiveAgent (we make it) or Zendesk. LiveAgent's calls come with Team, its plan with calls, on a VoIP provider you connect.

How much does call center software cost per agent?

On annual billing, the cheapest paid plans with calling start at $15 per user a month (Dialpad Standard, Nextiva NEXT Core, Freshcaller Growth) and run to $55–$89 for help desk suites and contact center plans (Zendesk Suite Team, Zoom Contact Center Essentials, Dialpad Support). Then add numbers and minutes: some prices include unlimited US and Canada calling, others bill every minute and number on top. LiveAgent's calls come with Team, with numbers and minutes from your VoIP provider. Compare a month of your real calls, not the seat price.

Do I need my own phone numbers and minutes?

It depends on the tool. Aircall, CloudTalk, Dialpad Standard, JustCall and RingCentral include calls within the US and Canada in the price, and Nextiva includes unlimited voice. Zendesk, Freshcaller and Zoom Contact Center sell numbers and charge minutes on top. LiveAgent connects to a VoIP provider you choose over a SIP trunk, so you pay that provider for numbers and minutes: with Twilio, for example, a US number is $1.15 a month.

Which call center software has an IVR on its cheapest plan?

Sorted by price on annual billing: Dialpad Standard ($15) has a department IVR, RingCentral Core ($20) a multi-level IVR, JustCall Team ($29, at least 2 users) a single-level IVR, Aircall Essentials ($30, at least 3 users) an IVR with basic call flows, and Zoom Contact Center Essentials ($69) a flow editor with an IVR. LiveAgent has a multi-level IVR on Team, its plan with calls. CloudTalk's IVR starts on Essential, Zendesk's on Suite Professional.

Can a supervisor listen to live calls?

In most tools, yes, but often on a higher plan. Whisper and barge, where a supervisor talks to the agent or joins the call, need Aircall Professional, JustCall Pro, RingCentral Advanced or Zendesk Suite Professional; Dialpad's contact center includes listen, barge and takeover; Freshcaller charges per minute of monitoring. LiveAgent lets supervisors listen to live calls but has no whisper or barge.

How is AI billed in call center software?

In five ways: per minute or in minute bundles for an AI voice agent (Aircall, CloudTalk, JustCall, RingCentral, Zendesk), per AI conversation (Nextiva), per automated resolution for chats and emails (Zendesk), per seat for call summaries and scoring (Aircall AI Assist Pro, CloudTalk, JustCall), or by your own AI provider. LiveAgent charges no AI fees: its AI voicebot and live call transcription run on your own OpenAI account, which bills you for what you use.

Can an AI voicebot answer our calls?

Yes, in most tools here. In LiveAgent the AI voicebot is a step in your call menu: it answers in a natural voice and, when the caller needs a person, transfers the call to your agents with a summary on the ticket. It runs on your own OpenAI account, at about $0.054–$0.32 for a 3-minute call (our estimate from OpenAI's list prices). The same call costs $1.47 on Aircall and $1.50 on RingCentral after their included minutes, from $0.45 on JustCall at its volume price, and $1.50 per conversation on Nextiva.

Aircall or Dialpad: which is cheaper for a small team?

Dialpad. Its Standard plan is $15 per user a month on annual billing, with no minimum, so 3 people pay $45; Aircall Essentials is $30 for at least 3 users, $90. Both include unlimited calling within the US and Canada. Neither entry plan has call monitoring: Aircall's starts on Professional ($50, also the first plan with its PowerDialer), Dialpad's on its contact center, Dialpad Support ($89).

Can calls ring on our mobile phones?

In LiveAgent, yes: an agent can add their own mobile number as an external phone, so calls ring there without an app; calls also ring in the browser and on SIP desk phones.

Which reports show missed calls and waiting times?

LiveAgent reports incoming, unanswered and missed calls, voicemails, calls per hour, call minutes and the average time to pick up; it has no abandoned-call or time-in-queue report. Zendesk shows queue size and wait time from Suite Team, CloudTalk real-time wallboards on Expert, and Freshcaller abandoned-call metrics on Enterprise.

Can I keep my business phone number?

Usually yes: Aircall, CloudTalk, Freshcaller and the others offer number porting, and with LiveAgent the number stays with the VoIP provider you connect. Ask about the porting time before you cancel your old provider.

Is call center software the same as a business phone system?

They overlap. A business phone system gives each person a number, voicemail and calls between colleagues; call center software adds queues, an IVR, routing to available agents, call recording for quality, and reports on waiting times. Dialpad and RingCentral sell both separately; Aircall, CloudTalk and JustCall sit in between; LiveAgent and Zendesk add a call center to a help desk.

Best call center software for small businesses: 10 tools compared

Written by: Andrej Harsani, Co-founder, Quality Unit
Updated: November 2, 2026
Prices checked: November 1, 2026

Short answer: if calls are all you take, Dialpad Standard ($15 per user a month) or RingCentral Core ($20, with a multi-level IVR, the “press 1 for billing” menu) cost least, with US calls included: about $60 to $80 a month for 4 people; Freshcaller Growth comes to about $75 including the minutes it bills. Nextiva NEXT Core costs the same as Dialpad but needs a 12-month term and a demo first. If customers also email and chat, a help desk with a call center keeps everything on one ticket: LiveAgent (we make it) or Zendesk. Below, ten tools compared on the full monthly bill: seats, numbers, minutes and AI.

We make LiveAgent. It is listed first in our tables because it is ours, not because it won a test. We describe every tool, ours included, from its vendor’s own pages, with its drawbacks; which tool fits which business is our opinion. How we compared

Call center solutions for small businesses: which kind do you need?

Start with what your team does on the phone; it narrows ten tools to two or three. Enterprise contact centers such as NICE CXone, Talkdesk, Genesys Cloud and Five9 are left out: they are built for large centers with staff to run them.

Which kind of call center software fits which team, and the tools to look at
If you…	You need	Look at
Take calls only, on a tight budgetRingCentral has a multi-level IVR on its first plan.	A business phone with unlimited US calling	Dialpad RingCentral Nextiva
Answer calls, emails, chats and Instagram messages from the same customersOne ticket per customer, whatever the channel.	A help desk with a call center	LiveAgent· We make this Zendesk Freshcaller with Freshdesk
Call out all day (sales, renewals)Dialers start on their second or third plan.	A phone tool with a dialer	JustCall Aircall CloudTalk
Take a few calls a weekA free plan; you pay for numbers and minutes.	Pay per minute	Freshcaller
Let AI answer callsCompare what one call costs, not the price per seat.	An AI voice agent	LiveAgent· We make this Aircall RingCentral JustCall CloudTalk
Run a contact center with video, social media and more channels	A contact center suite	Zoom Contact Center Dialpad Support RingCentral RingCX

Call center software comparison: 10 tools side by side

What each tool is best for, which other channels (email, chat, social media, self-service) it handles next to calls, its starting price for a plan with calling, free plan or trial, and how it charges for AI.

In the entry plan Add-onOn a higher plan or for an extra fee Not offered

Ten call center tools: what each is best for, its channels, starting price with calling, free plan or trial, and how it charges for AI
Tool	Best for	Email	Chat	Phone	Social	Help center	Starts at	Free plan / trial	How AI is charged
LiveAgent We make this	Support teams that want calls, email, chat and social media in one help desk, with their own phone company for internet calls (a VoIP provider)	Email In the entry plan	Chat In the entry plan	Phone In the entry plan	Social In the entry plan	Help center In the entry plan	Starts at $22 Team · Special offer until November 22, 2026, regular $29; numbers and minutes from your VoIP provider	Free plan / trialNo free plan · 30-day trial, no card	How AI is charged No AI feesAI voicebot and live transcripts on your own OpenAI account
Aircall	Sales and support teams that work in a CRM	Email Not offered	Chat Not offered	Phone In the entry plan	Social Add-on	Help center Not offered	Starts at $30 Essentials, at least 3 users	Free plan / trialFree access to test; no trial length stated	How AI is charged50 AI voice agent minutes a month, then per minute
CloudTalk	Small teams that want a low entry price and add features later	Email Not offered	Chat Not offered	Phone In the entry plan	Social Expert	Help center Not offered	Starts at $25 Starter; IVR from Essential ($29)	Free plan / trialNo free plan · 14-day trial	How AI is charged$9 per user for summaries and transcripts
Dialpad	Teams that want the lowest price for calls and may grow into a contact center	Email Not offered	Chat Dialpad Support	Phone In the entry plan	Social Dialpad Support	Help center Not offered	Starts at $15 Standard (business phone); contact center Dialpad Support from $89	Free plan / trialNo free plan · 14-day trial	How AI is chargedTranscripts and AI recaps included
Freshcaller	Teams with few calls that want a low seat price and pay for minutes	Email Freshdesk	Chat Freshdesk	Phone In the entry plan	Social Freshdesk	Help center Freshdesk	Starts at $15 Growth, plus numbers and minutes	Free plan / trialFree plan, pay per minute · 14-day trial	How AI is chargedNo AI on Freshcaller; Freddy AI with Freshdesk
JustCall	Sales teams that call and text from one app	Email Add-on	Chat Not offered	Phone In the entry plan	Social In the entry plan	Help center Not offered	Starts at $29 Team, at least 2 users	Free plan / trialNo free plan · 14-day trial, no card	How AI is charged$9 per user for AI review; voice agent per minute
Nextiva	Small offices that want calls, texts and a basic help desk in one bill	Email In the entry plan	Chat Engage	Phone In the entry plan	Social Not stated	Help center Not offered	Starts at $15 NEXT Core, 12-month term	Free plan / trialNo trial · demo only	How AI is charged$1.50 per AI conversation
RingCentral	Inbound teams that need an IVR and queues from the first plan	Email Not offered	Chat RingCX plans	Phone In the entry plan	Social RingCX plans	Help center Not offered	Starts at $20 RingEX Core; RingCX contact center from $65	Free plan / trialNo free plan · 14-day trial	How AI is chargedAI Receptionist from $39 a month, then per minute
Zendesk	Growing support teams that want many integrations and plan to customize	Email In the entry plan	Chat In the entry plan	Phone In the entry plan	Social In the entry plan	Help center In the entry plan	Starts at $55 Suite Team, plus numbers and minutes; IVR from Suite Professional	Free plan / trialNo free plan · 14-day trial	How AI is charged5 resolutions per agent included, then $1.50–$2 each
Zoom Contact Center	Teams already on Zoom that want video and chat in their contact center	Email Premium	Chat In the entry plan	Phone In the entry plan	Social Premium	Help center Not offered	Starts at $69 Essentials, billed annually up front, plus minutes	Free plan / trialNo trial · contact sales	How AI is chargedBasic AI included; Expert Assist $40 a month

Starting prices in US dollars per user (agent) a month on annual billing for the cheapest plan with calling, as each vendor’s page showed them on the day in sources. Phone numbers and minutes may cost extra: see what the cheapest plan includes. “Not stated”: the vendor’s pricing page does not say. Prices change; check the vendor’s page before you buy.

6 of 10
include unlimited calling in the price, within the US and Canada, as each vendor names it: Aircall, CloudTalk, Dialpad Standard, JustCall, Nextiva and RingCentral. Freshcaller, Zendesk and Zoom bill numbers and minutes on top; with LiveAgent you pay your own VoIP provider (a phone company for internet calls, such as Twilio) for them.
4 tools need a minimum or a term
Aircall needs at least 3 users and JustCall 2. Nextiva’s prices need a 12-month term, and Zoom bills a year up front.
AI billed 5 ways
Per voice agent minute, per AI conversation, per resolution, per seat, or by your own AI provider: LiveAgent charges no AI fees; you pay OpenAI for what you use.

What call center software really costs a month: seats plus calls

Seat prices hide the second half of the bill: numbers and minutes. Pick your team size. Each bar is one month for a new customer on annual billing: the plan, one US number and the minutes below, before taxes. Tools that include US calling add nothing for minutes; for LiveAgent we count Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking's US prices, before taxes and fees ($1.15 a number, $0.0034 a minute in, $0.01 out), as an example of a VoIP provider you connect.

4 agents12 agents25 agents

4 agents, about 33 calls a day: 2,900 minutes a month, 2,600 in and 300 out

The cheapest plan with calling for each tool, the first CloudTalk plan with an IVR, both Zendesk Suite plans, and Freshdesk Omni with its phone add-on.

Seats Numbers and minutes

Dialpad Standard $60
No call monitoring or callbacks on this plan; a department IVR and US calling included.
Nextiva NEXT Core $60
12-month term, demo only; unlimited voice.
Freshcaller Growth $60 + $15.40 = $75.40
One number, plus 600 incoming minutes beyond the 2,000 included (at $0.013 each) and 300 outgoing minutes. Its page does not say whether the included minutes are per agent; we counted them once for the account.
RingCentral Core $80
Multi-level IVR and US calling included.
LiveAgent Team We make this $88 + about $13 to Twilio = about $101
For 4 agents on the offer, with email, chat and social media in the same inbox; calls at Twilio’s prices.
At the regular price: about $129 a month ($116 for seats).
CloudTalk Essential $116
The first CloudTalk plan with an IVR; US calling included.
JustCall Team $116
Single-level IVR; US calling included (fair use).
Aircall Essentials $120
Basic IVR; a number and US calling included.
Freshdesk Omni Growth with phone $176 + $15.40 = $191.40
Email, chat and calls in one help desk: Omni Growth plus the voice add-on per agent; calls at Freshcaller’s rates.
Zendesk Suite Team $220 + $38.80 = $258.80
No IVR on this plan; numbers and minutes billed on top.
Zoom Contact Center Essentials $276 + $14.54 = $290.54
Billed a year up front; outgoing minutes counted, incoming not (no rate on its page).
Zendesk Suite Professional $460 + $38.80 = $498.80
The first Zendesk plan with an IVR, callbacks and monitoring.

The same costs as a table

Tool	Seats	Numbers and minutes	Total a month
Dialpad Standard	$60	–	$60
Nextiva NEXT Core	$60	–	$60
Freshcaller Growth	$60	$15.40	$75.40
RingCentral Core	$80	–	$80
LiveAgent Team	$88	$12.99	$100.99
CloudTalk Essential	$116	–	$116
JustCall Team	$116	–	$116
Aircall Essentials	$120	–	$120
Freshdesk Omni Growth with phone	$176	$15.40	$191.40
Zendesk Suite Team	$220	$38.80	$258.80
Zoom Contact Center Essentials	$276	$14.54	$290.54
Zendesk Suite Professional	$460	$38.80	$498.80

12 agents, about 150 calls a day: 20,000 minutes in and 2,000 out

The plan with callbacks and call monitoring where the tool has it; LiveAgent’s supervisors listen but cannot whisper.

Seats Numbers and minutes

RingCentral Advanced $300
Multi-level IVR, whisper and barge; US calls included; same price for 1 to 100 users.
LiveAgent Team We make this $264 + about $89 to Twilio = about $353
For 12 agents on the offer, with email, chat and social media in the same inbox; calls at Twilio’s prices.
At the regular price: about $437 a month ($348 for seats).
CloudTalk Expert $588
Live monitoring and the power dialer; US calls included.
JustCall Pro $588
Callbacks, whisper and barge, power dialer; US calls included (fair use).
Aircall Professional $600
Queue callback, whisper and barge, PowerDialer; US calls included.
Zoom Contact Center Essentials $828 + $68.60 = $896.60
Billed a year up front; outgoing minutes counted, incoming not (no rate on its page).
Dialpad Support Essentials $1,068
Listen, barge and takeover; numbers and US calling are add-ons its page does not price, so this bill is too low.
Zendesk Suite Professional $1,380 + $285 = $1,665
IVR, callbacks and monitoring; numbers and minutes billed on top.
Zendesk Suite Team (for comparison) $660 + $285 = $945
For comparison, if your team is on Zendesk already: calls and voicemail, but no IVR or callbacks.

The same costs as a table

Tool	Seats	Numbers and minutes	Total a month
RingCentral Advanced	$300	–	$300
LiveAgent Team	$264	$89.15	$353.15
CloudTalk Expert	$588	–	$588
JustCall Pro	$588	–	$588
Aircall Professional	$600	–	$600
Zoom Contact Center Essentials	$828	$68.60	$896.60
Dialpad Support Essentials	$1,068	–	$1,068
Zendesk Suite Professional	$1,380	$285	$1,665
Zendesk Suite Team (for comparison)	$660	$285	$945

25 agents, about 400 calls a day: 44,000 minutes in and 8,000 out

The same plans for 25 agents; LiveAgent moves from Team (up to 15 agents) to Business.

Seats Numbers and minutes

RingCentral Advanced $625
Multi-level IVR, whisper and barge; US calls included; same price for 1 to 100 users.
LiveAgent Business We make this $950 + about $231 to Twilio = about $1,181
For 25 agents on the offer, with email, chat and social media in the same inbox; calls at Twilio’s prices.
At the regular price: about $1,456 a month ($1,225 for seats).
CloudTalk Expert $1,225
Live monitoring and the power dialer; US calls included.
JustCall Pro $1,225
Callbacks, whisper and barge, power dialer; US calls included (fair use).
Aircall Professional $1,250
Queue callback, whisper and barge, PowerDialer; US calls included.
Zoom Contact Center Essentials $1,725 + $259.40 = $1,984.40
Billed a year up front; outgoing minutes counted, incoming not (no rate on its page).
Dialpad Support Essentials $2,225
Listen, barge and takeover; numbers and US calling are add-ons its page does not price, so this bill is too low.
Zendesk Suite Professional $2,875 + $705 = $3,580
IVR, callbacks and monitoring; numbers and minutes billed on top.

The same costs as a table

Tool	Seats	Numbers and minutes	Total a month
RingCentral Advanced	$625	–	$625
LiveAgent Business	$950	$230.75	$1,180.75
CloudTalk Expert	$1,225	–	$1,225
JustCall Pro	$1,225	–	$1,225
Aircall Professional	$1,250	–	$1,250
Zoom Contact Center Essentials	$1,725	$259.40	$1,984.40
Dialpad Support Essentials	$2,225	–	$2,225
Zendesk Suite Professional	$2,875	$705	$3,580

Estimate your own minutes

Minutes a month = calls a day × average minutes per call × 22 working days. 33 calls of 4 minutes come to about 2,900 minutes.
Agents on the phone in the busiest hour = calls in that hour × minutes per call ÷ 60, then divided by 0.8 so agents have time between calls. 68 calls of 5 minutes need 7.1 agents, so plan for 8.
Your phone bill or your current tool's call report shows your real numbers; use last month's.

Read the small print

“Unlimited” calling means within the US and Canada where the vendor names a region, under a fair use policy; toll-free, international and premium numbers are billed separately.
The cheapest plans often leave out the call center parts: Dialpad Standard has no call monitoring or callbacks, CloudTalk Starter no IVR, Zendesk Suite Team no IVR.
Aircall's price is for at least 3 users and JustCall's for 2; Zoom bills its contact center a year up front.
Twilio charges $0.01 a minute to most US numbers and more to some rural ones; other VoIP providers price differently.

What we would pick for your team

Our opinion, from the costs and features on this page, including where LiveAgent loses.

4 people, calls plus emails and social messages

LiveAgent Team We make this

About $101 a month with Twilio minutes on the offer ($129 regular)

Each call lands on the same ticket as the customer's emails and messages. Zendesk Suite Team costs $258.80. Calls only: Dialpad Standard ($60) or RingCentral Core ($80, with a multi-level IVR).

Try two side by side for a week

12 agents on Zendesk Suite Team, turning on calls (about 150 a day)

Stay: Suite Team ($660) plus Zendesk's numbers and minutes ($285), no IVR or callbacks$945
Upgrade: Suite Professional, IVR and callbacks$1,665
Add a phone tool: RingCentral Advanced next to Zendesk, whisper and barge$960
Switch: LiveAgent, one inbox, tickets moved for freeabout $353$437 regular

Today you pay $660 a month for the seats. Calls counted: 20,000 minutes in and 2,000 out a month.

12 agents, about 150 calls a day, coaching new people on live calls

RingCentral Advanced

$300 a month, US calls included

The cheapest plan here with whisper and barge. LiveAgent's supervisors can listen and read the live transcript, but cannot whisper or join the call.

25 agents, about 400 calls a day, busy Mondays

RingCentral Advanced

$625 a month, US calls included

The cheapest with whisper and barge. For peaks, a queue callback lets callers hang up and keep their place: Aircall Professional, CloudTalk, Dialpad Support, JustCall Pro, Zendesk Suite Professional and LiveAgent have one; RingCentral's pages do not say. LiveAgent Business (about $1,181 on the offer, $1,456 regular) pays off when the same agents also answer email and chat; Zendesk Suite Professional with those channels costs about two and a half times LiveAgent's regular price.

With an AI voicebot taking about 600 three-minute calls a month, this is the whole bill: seats, calls and AI. It is not like for like: RingCentral Advanced has whisper and barge, LiveAgent does not.

600 AI-answered calls a month	12 agents	25 agents
RingCentral Advanced with AI Receptionist	$1,189	$1,514
LiveAgent with Twilio and OpenAI, regular price We make this	$470–$629	$1,488–$1,648

RingCentral’s AI Receptionist is $39 a month with 100 minutes, then $0.50 a minute; LiveAgent’s range is the OpenAI estimate explained under AI voice agents. The AI-answered calls are part of the minutes already counted for each team size. LiveAgent (Team at 12 agents, Business at 25, the plan for more than 15) costs less at 12 agents; at 25 it costs a little less at the low end of the OpenAI estimate and a little more at the high end. On our offer, until November 22, 2026, LiveAgent’s seats cost $264 instead of $348 for 12 agents and $950 instead of $1,225 for 25, which puts it below RingCentral at both sizes.

Should you pick LiveAgent? Three reasons yes, four reasons no

We make LiveAgent, so here is when it is the right choice on this page's own numbers, and when another tool is better.

Pick LiveAgent if…

Your customers call, email, chat and send Instagram messages, and you want one ticket per customer. Each customer's calls, emails and messages land on one ticket, so nobody asks the caller twice. See the costs
You want an AI voicebot with no fee from us. It runs on your own OpenAI account, which bills you about $0.054–$0.32 for a 3-minute call, where the same call costs $1.47 on Aircall and $1.50 on RingCentral after their included minutes. AI voice agents
You weigh what users say. 4.7 on Capterra from 1,789 reviews, the highest score of the tools here, and 4.5 on G2; ratings tell you how happy users are, not whether a tool fits you. Ratings

Pick something else if…

Your team calls out all day. LiveAgent has no dialer. Look at JustCall Pro or Aircall Professional.
You coach new agents by whispering to them on live calls. In LiveAgent supervisors listen, read the live transcript and leave notes only agents see, but cannot whisper or join the call. Look at RingCentral Advanced.
You want one bill with calls included. With LiveAgent you pay a VoIP provider such as Twilio for numbers and minutes. Look at Dialpad or RingCentral.
Your agents mostly talk on the phone and rarely email or chat. RingCentral costs less than LiveAgent at every team size here, with US calls included: Core for 4 agents, Advanced with whisper and barge for 12 or 25. Costs

What the cheapest plan with calling includes

The features that decide whether a small team can run a call center on the entry plan, as each vendor's pricing page and help center describe them. Where a feature starts on a higher plan, the cell names it.

Tool and plan	Numbers and US minutes	IVR	Callback	Supervisor listens	Whisper and barge	Dialer
LiveAgent Team We make this	From your VoIP provider	Multi-level	Yes	Yes	No	No
Aircall Essentials	1 number; US and Canada unlimited	Basic call flows	Professional	Professional	Professional	PowerDialer, Professional
CloudTalk Starter	US and Canada unlimited; numbers priced in the app	Essential	Yes	Expert	Not stated	Power dialer $15 add-on, in Expert
Dialpad Standard	Personal number; US and Canada unlimited	Department IVR	Support plans	Support plans	Support plans	Power dialer, Support plans
Freshcaller Growth	Bought: $1 a number; 2,000 incoming minutes, outgoing from $0.022	Speech IVR on Enterprise; basic IVR not stated	Not stated	$0.005 a minute	$0.005 a minute	No
JustCall Team	2 numbers; US and Canada unlimited (fair use)	Single-level	Pro	Pro	Pro	Power dialer, Pro
Nextiva NEXT Core	Unlimited voice; toll-free number add-on	Not stated	Not stated	NEXT Scale	Not stated	Contact center plans
RingCentral Core	Numbers included; US and Canada unlimited; 100 toll-free minutes	Multi-level	Not stated	Advanced	Advanced	RingCX
Zendesk Suite Team	Bought: $1 a number, $0.012 a minute in, $0.022 out	Suite Professional	Suite Professional	Suite Professional	Suite Professional	No
Zoom Contact Center Essentials	$5 a number; US calls out $0.0318 a minute	Yes	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated	Premium (preview, progressive)

Every plan in the table can record calls and keeps a call log; Freshcaller charges recording per minute.

In plain words. IVR: the “press 1 for billing” menu; a department IVR sends each choice to one team. Whisper and barge: a supervisor speaks only to the agent, or joins the call. Dialer: software that calls the next number on a list for the agent. Fair use: “unlimited” calling has a limit for unusual volumes.

How phone numbers work with LiveAgent. LiveAgent takes the calls; a VoIP provider, a phone company for internet calls such as Twilio, supplies the numbers and the minutes.

Open an account with a provider, such as Twilio, Telnyx, VoIP.ms, Flowroute, sipgate or Zadarma, and buy a number there, or move (port) your current number to it. Keep your old line until the move is done.
The provider gives you three things to copy into LiveAgent: an address, a user name and a password (together called a SIP trunk). Our support helps with the setup by chat and email.
Build your call menu and queues in LiveAgent, and test a call in and out.

Calls ring in the browser, on SIP desk phones, or on an agent’s own mobile number. LiveAgent has no conference calls.

AI voice agents compared: what each tool charges

An AI voice agent answers calls itself and hands the caller to a person when needed. How each tool sells it, from its pricing page on November 1, 2026.

Tool	What its AI voice agent can do	How it is billed	A 3-minute call
LiveAgent We make this	AI voicebot on Team, a step in the call menu: answers from your instructions and knowledge base, uses any MCP tool you connect, such as your calendar, booking or order system, and hands the call to your team with the transcript on the ticket	By OpenAI on your own account, no fee from LiveAgent. Our estimate for gpt-realtime-2.1-mini, with the caller and the voicebot each speaking half the call; the range is explained below	About $0.054–$0.32
Aircall	AI Voice Agents: answer around the clock, book appointments through integrations such as Calendly, and hand the call to a person with the context; 25 languages, more in beta	50 minutes a month included, then $0.49 a minute pay as you go, less in bundles	$1.47 after the included minutes
CloudTalk	AI Voice Agents: answer around the clock, book and reschedule in Google Calendar, Outlook, HubSpot or Salesforce, and detect the caller’s language	From $99 a month for 200 minutes	About $1.49, at its bundle price
Dialpad	AI agents (Dialpad Resolve)	Credits per conversation, priced by sales	Not stated
Freshcaller	No AI voice agent; Freddy AI Agent comes with Freshdesk Omni, for chats and emails	Freddy AI Agent: 500 sessions included, then $49 per 100	–
JustCall	AI Voice Agent: answers around the clock, books in Google Calendar or Outlook, and hands the call to a person with the context; 14 languages	Per minute, down to $0.15 with volume; first 100 minutes free	From $0.45 at its volume price; pay as you go not stated
Nextiva	XBert AI	$1.50 per AI conversation	$1.50 per conversation
RingCentral	AI Receptionist: answers around the clock, books, moves and cancels appointments in Google, Outlook or Calendly, and routes calls with a summary; 10+ languages	$39 a month with RingEX, 100 minutes included, then $0.50 a minute	$1.50 after the included minutes
Zendesk	AI agents for voice	A per-minute connection fee on top of calls; resolutions for chats and emails	Not stated
Zoom Contact Center	Zoom Virtual Agent	Priced by sales	Not stated

How we estimated LiveAgent's AI cost

“No AI fees” is not free AI: with LiveAgent you pay OpenAI for the audio the voicebot hears and speaks. Our estimate uses OpenAI’s list prices ($10 per 1M audio tokens in, $20 out) and its own conversion of about 600 tokens per minute heard and 1,200 spoken; long calls cost more per minute, because the model re-reads the conversation (sources). The low end of the range counts the conversation the model re-reads on every turn at OpenAI’s cached price ($0.30 per 1M audio tokens); the high end counts it at the full price.

The 10 call center tools, one by one

One card per tool: who it suits, where its prices start, how AI is billed, and the catch. Under each name: what 4 agents pay a month on the plan named, on one scale for all ten, and whether that plan has an IVR, callbacks, whisper and barge, a dialer and email; a plan name means a higher plan has it, and ? means the vendor's pages do not say. Each card links to the vendor's pricing page as we saved it on November 1, 2026, from a US address. Whisper and barge: a supervisor speaks only to the agent, or joins the call. Dialer: software that calls the next number on a list for the agent.

LiveAgent: calls in your help desk
We make this
Best for support teams that want calls, email, chat and social media in one help desk
4 agents a month on Team regular ~~$128.99~~, now on offer $100.99
- In the entry plan: IVR
- In the entry plan: Callback
- Not offered: Whisper and barge
- Not offered: Dialer
- In the entry plan: Email
LiveAgent's call list (our product).
Plan with calls
The call center comes with Team, LiveAgent’s plan with calls: a multi-level IVR, queues with a callback option, warm and blind transfers, call recording, a call button for your website, and calls as tickets next to the customer’s emails and chats. Starter has no calls. Numbers and minutes come from a phone company for internet calls, such as Twilio: for 4 people with about 33 calls a day, about $13 a month. You connect it once, and our support helps you by chat and email. For the AI voicebot you open a pay-as-you-go account with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, and paste its key into LiveAgent.
AI
No AI fees
An AI voicebot answers incoming calls in a natural voice, as a step in your call menu; when the caller needs a person, it transfers the call to your agents, a queue or voicemail and adds a summary of the conversation to the ticket. Live call transcription shows agents what is said as it is said, labelled by speaker, and saves it on the ticket, where it is searchable. Both run on your own OpenAI account, and you pay that provider, not us.
More facts
Moving from another tool
Free on paid plans: tickets, contacts and knowledge base from Zendesk, Freshdesk and others. Migration
Watch out for: Numbers and minutes come from a phone company for internet calls, such as Twilio: a second small bill, and the AI needs your own OpenAI account. No dialer, no whisper or barge and no conference calls: supervisors listen to live calls and read the live transcript instead, and a sales team that calls out all day is better served by a phone-first tool.
Start a 30-day free trial, no card Back to the comparison
Aircall: calls inside your CRM
Best for sales and support teams that work in a CRM
4 agents a month on Essentials $120
- In the entry plan: IVR
- Professional Callback
- Professional Whisper and barge
- Professional Dialer
- Not offered: Email
More facts
Starts at
Essentials $30 per license ($40 monthly) for at least 3 users: one local or toll-free number, unlimited calls within the US and Canada, an IVR with basic call flows, call recording and transcripts. Extra numbers $6 a month. Professional $50 adds the PowerDialer, whisper and barge, live monitoring and queue callback.
AI
50 AI voice agent minutes a month included, then $0.49 a minute pay as you go, less in bundles; AI Assist Pro $49 per seat.
Watch out for: The 3-license minimum, and no email or chat inbox: Aircall connects to your help desk or CRM instead.
Aircall pricing Saved screenshot Back to the comparison
CloudTalk: pay as you grow
Best for small teams that want a low entry price and add features later
4 agents a month on Essential $116
- In the entry plan: IVR
- In the entry plan: Callback
- Not stated: Whisper and barge
- Expert Dialer
- Not offered: Email
More facts
Starts at
Starter $25 per user ($34 monthly) with unlimited calls within the US and Canada, queues, queue callback and call recording. Essential $29 adds the IVR and time-based routing; Expert $49 adds live monitoring, the power dialer and WhatsApp.
AI
Conversation intelligence (summaries, transcripts, sentiment) $9 per user a month; AI voice agents from $99 a month for 200 minutes.
Watch out for: No IVR on Starter, so most call centers start on Essential. Number prices are shown only inside the app.
CloudTalk pricing Saved screenshot Back to the comparison
Dialpad: unlimited US calls for less
Best for teams that want the lowest price for calls and may grow into a contact center
4 agents a month on Standard $60
- In the entry plan: IVR
- Support Callback
- Support Whisper and barge
- Support Dialer
- Not offered: Email
More facts
Starts at
Standard $15 per user ($27 monthly): a personal number, unlimited calls within the US and Canada, a department IVR, basic routing and a basic hold queue. Its contact center, Support Essentials, is $89 ($109 monthly) with listen, barge and takeover, skills-based routing, callbacks and a power dialer.
AI
Real-time transcripts and AI recaps on every plan; Live Coach and quality management are add-ons on the contact center; AI agents run on credits priced by sales.
Watch out for: Standard is a business phone: no queue priority, callbacks or call monitoring. On the contact center plans, numbers and US calling are add-ons the page does not price.
Dialpad pricing Saved screenshot Back to the comparison
Freshcaller: a free plan, minutes billed
Best for teams with few calls that want a low seat price and pay for minutes
4 agents a month on Growth $75.40
- Not stated: IVR
- Not stated: Callback
- Per minute Whisper and barge
- Not offered: Dialer
- Freshdesk Email
More facts
Starts at
Free plan with pay per minute. Growth $15 per agent ($18 monthly) with 2,000 incoming minutes a month (per agent or per account, not stated), queues, voicemail, transfers and recording (billed per minute). Numbers from $1 a month (toll-free $2), outgoing calls from $0.022 a minute. The same voice plans are the phone add-on of Freshdesk Omni.
AI
No AI on Freshcaller itself; Freshdesk Omni’s Freddy AI Agent includes 500 sessions, then $49 per 100.
Watch out for: Recording, monitoring and barging, and conference calls each cost per minute on top of the plan. Freshworks now sells it as Freshdesk Contact Center, but the pricing page still says Freshcaller.
Freshcaller pricing Saved screenshot Back to the comparison
JustCall: calling and texting for sales
Best for sales teams that call and text from one app
4 agents a month on Team $116
- In the entry plan: IVR
- Pro Callback
- Pro Whisper and barge
- Pro Dialer
- Add-on Email
More facts
Starts at
Team $29 per user ($39 monthly) for at least 2 users: 2 numbers per account, unlimited calls within the US and Canada (fair use), a single-level IVR, queues and 500 texts. Pro $49 adds the power dialer, listen, whisper and barge, queue callback and intelligent routing.
AI
Unlimited AI transcription; AI Review Assist (summaries, scorecards) $9 per user; the AI voice agent per minute, down to $0.15 with volume, first 100 minutes free.
Watch out for: Built for sales: the predictive dialer is in a separate Sales Suite, and the shared email inbox is an add-on.
JustCall pricing Saved screenshot Back to the comparison
Nextiva: one bill for calls and texts
Best for small offices that want calls, texts and a basic help desk in one bill
4 agents a month on NEXT Core $60
- Not stated: IVR
- Not stated: Callback
- Not stated: Whisper and barge
- Contact center Dialer
- In the entry plan: Email
More facts
Starts at
NEXT Core $15 per user ($23 monthly) on a 12-month term: unlimited voice and video, call recording, skills-based routing, 100 texts per user, email and basic ticketing. NEXT Engage $25 adds live chat, a toll-free number and 2,000 toll-free minutes; supervisor monitoring is on NEXT Scale.
AI
XBert AI $1.50 per conversation on every plan, with 50 AI transcriptions and summaries included on Core.
Watch out for: No trial: every plan asks for a demo. The pricing page does not mention an IVR or queues for the small business plans.
Nextiva pricing Saved screenshot Back to the comparison
RingCentral: multi-level IVR on the first plan
Best for inbound teams that need an IVR and queues from the first plan
4 agents a month on Core $80
- In the entry plan: IVR
- Not stated: Callback
- Advanced Whisper and barge
- RingCX Dialer
- Not offered: Email
More facts
Starts at
RingEX Core $20 per user ($30 monthly): numbers, unlimited calls within the US and Canada, 100 toll-free minutes, a multi-level IVR and basic queues. Advanced $25 adds whisper, barge and monitoring and automatic recording. Extra numbers $4.99 a month. The contact center, RingCX, starts at $65 with a predictive dialer.
AI
AI Receptionist $39 a month with RingEX, 100 minutes included, then $0.50 a minute; conversation intelligence is an add-on.
Watch out for: The trial is limited to five users, and RingCX, the full contact center, shows no trial and asks you to contact sales.
RingCentral pricing Saved screenshot Back to the comparison
Zendesk: calls in a large help desk suite
Best for growing support teams that want many integrations and plan to customize
4 agents a month on Suite Team $258.80
- Professional IVR
- Professional Callback
- Professional Whisper and barge
- Not offered: Dialer
- In the entry plan: Email
More facts
Starts at
Calls start with Suite Team at $55 per agent ($69 monthly), with email, chat and messaging: group routing, call recording and calls as tickets. Numbers ($1 a month for a US local one) and minutes ($0.012 in, $0.022 out) are billed on top. Suite Professional $115 adds the IVR, callbacks, and call monitoring and barging.
AI
5 automated resolutions per agent a month included, then $1.50 each on a commitment or $2 pay as you go; voice AI agents add a per-minute fee.
Watch out for: No IVR on Suite Team, and every minute and number costs extra. More in Zendesk pricing explained.
Zendesk pricing Saved screenshot Back to the comparison
Zoom Contact Center: video, chat and calls
Best for teams already on Zoom that want video and chat in their contact center
4 agents a month on Essentials $290.54
- In the entry plan: IVR
- Not stated: Callback
- Not stated: Whisper and barge
- Premium Dialer
- Premium Email
More facts
Starts at
Essentials $69 per user, billed annually up front; the $85 monthly price on its page is shown for comparison only, as Zoom bills every plan for the year: inbound voice, video, chat and text, a flow editor with IVR, real-time transcription and surveys. Premium $99 adds email, social channels and preview and progressive dialers. Numbers $5 a month; US calls out $0.0318 a minute pay as you go.
AI
Summaries and sentiment included; AI Expert Assist $40 a month, the virtual agent priced by sales.
Watch out for: No trial and no online purchase: every plan says “Contact sales”. Calls are metered on top of the seat price.
Zoom Contact Center pricing Saved screenshot Back to the comparison

Ratings on G2 and Capterra

How each tool's users rate it on the two largest software review sites, all read on November 1, 2026. Ratings say how happy existing customers are, not which tool fits you; the review count says how much the rating rests on.

Stars filled to the rating, out of 5 Reviews: 100 · 1,000 · 10,000

G2 and Capterra ratings out of 5 and review counts, November 1, 2026
Tool	G2	Capterra
LiveAgent We make this	4.5 out of 5, 1,538 reviews	4.7 out of 5, 1,789 reviews
Aircall	4.4 out of 5, 1,685 reviews	4.2 out of 5, 467 reviews
CloudTalk	4.4 out of 5, 1,958 reviews	4.4 out of 5, 271 reviews
Dialpad	4.4 out of 5, 4,227 reviews Listed as Dialpad Connect	4.2 out of 5, 572 reviews Listed as Dialpad Connect
Freshcaller	4.1 out of 5, 132 reviews	4.0 out of 5, 35 reviews
JustCall	4.3 out of 5, 2,396 reviews	4.1 out of 5, 225 reviews
Nextiva	4.5 out of 5, 3,694 reviews	4.6 out of 5, 931 reviews
RingCentral	4.2 out of 5, 1,532 reviews Listed as RingEX	4.2 out of 5, 1,206 reviews Listed as RingEX
Zendesk	4.3 out of 5, 7,120 reviews The whole Zendesk suite	4.4 out of 5, 4,114 reviews
Zoom Contact Center	4.4 out of 5, 80 reviews	1 review, too few to rate

How we chose and compared

Which tools. Call center software sold to small businesses in the US, with a price for at least one plan on its own website and reviews on G2 or Capterra. Enterprise contact centers that are built for large centers are left out.

What we compared. What changes a small team’s bill or day: the monthly cost with numbers and minutes, the IVR, callbacks and monitoring, whisper and barge, a dialer, other channels, AI pricing and the trial.

How. We read each vendor’s pricing pages and help articles from a US address on November 1, 2026, saved each pricing page, and wrote “Not stated” where a page says nothing; LiveAgent is listed first because it is ours, the others alphabetically. The links are under sources. LiveAgent’s facts come from its pricing data and its product.

What this is not. A desk review of prices and plans, not a hands-on test of call quality. A hands-on test is planned; we will add its results and date here.

Call center vs contact center software

Call center software handles phone calls: numbers, an IVR, queues, routing and recordings. Contact center software adds the other ways customers reach you, such as email, chat, text and social media, and routes them the same way as calls.

For a small business the line runs between plans more than between products:

Phone tools are call centers: Aircall, CloudTalk, JustCall, Dialpad (Standard) and RingCentral (Core). Some add text messages or social media on higher plans. Nextiva also includes email and a basic ticketing system on every plan.
Contact center plans add chat and social media to the calls, at contact center prices: Dialpad Support, RingCentral RingCX and Zoom Contact Center (social media on Premium).
Help desks with a call center start from email and chat and put calls on the same ticket: LiveAgent (ours), Zendesk, and Freshdesk with Freshcaller.

If your customers write about as often as they call, start with the help desks; if nearly everything comes by phone, start with the phone tools.

Inbound vs outbound call center software: which you need

Inbound call center software handles the calls customers make to you: support lines, orders, bookings. What matters is an IVR menu, queues with a callback option, routing to the right agent, and reports on waiting times. Every tool here covers inbound calls; the cheapest-plan table shows which plan has the IVR and the callback.

Outbound call center software helps agents call out: sales, renewals, reminders. What matters is a dialer (power, preview or predictive), local caller ID and scripts. Dialers come with Aircall Professional, CloudTalk (Expert, or an add-on), Dialpad’s contact center, JustCall Pro, RingCentral’s RingCX and Zoom Contact Center Premium. LiveAgent has none: it is built for teams that answer calls. For sales teams, see outbound call center software and call dialers.

When nobody can answer: after hours, busy lines and missed calls

Where each tool handles it, from its pricing page and help center.

Tool	After hours	Busy or no answer
LiveAgent Team We make this	A rule switches the call menu by time, day or date, a lunch break for example; the AI voicebot can answer	Voicemail, callback, or forward to another number such as an agent’s mobile; missed calls show on the ticket
Aircall	Time and date routing on Essentials	Voicemail; queue callback on Professional
CloudTalk	Business hours from Essential	Queue callback on every plan
Dialpad	Open, closed and holiday hours on Standard	Callbacks on Dialpad Support
Freshcaller	Holiday routing on Pro	Wait queues and voicemail on Growth (voicemail billed per minute)
JustCall	A time rule sends calls to voicemail, a forward or its AI voice agent (help center)	Queue callback on Pro
Nextiva	A separate after-hours phone menu and a holiday schedule (help center; plan not stated)	Voicemail from the after-hours menu (help center)
RingCentral	An after-hours rule: voicemail, a forward or a message; holiday rules for the company (help center)	Basic call queues on Core, advanced rules on Advanced
Zendesk	After-hours routing on Suite Professional	Voicemail on Suite Team; callbacks on Suite Professional
Zoom Contact Center	Not stated	Not stated

Is there free call center software?

Not much: calls cost the vendor money for every number and minute, so free plans are rare. For one person with a few calls a day, Freshcaller’s free plan with per-minute charges can cost less than any seat; once a team spends hours a day on the phone, a plan with unlimited calling (Dialpad Standard, Nextiva NEXT Core, RingCentral Core) usually costs less.

Free plan Freshcaller
Free, with numbers from $1 a month and every minute paid; no recording or queues on Free. A 14-day trial of its Enterprise features too.
30-day trial, no card LiveAgent
Every feature of the plan you try; you pay only your VoIP provider’s numbers and minutes. We make it.
14-day trial 6 tools
CloudTalk, Dialpad, Freshcaller (its paid plans), JustCall (no card), RingCentral (up to five users) and Zendesk. Aircall offers free access with no length stated.
No trial 2 tools
Nextiva and Zoom Contact Center: a demo or a call with sales first.

Try two tools for a week

Run both on real calls, then count what you learned.

1 Pick two
Two tools from the table whose price covers your calls, not only your seats.
2 Forward a number
Send one line to each tool for a week, or port a spare number, so customers reach you as usual.
3 Count
Calls, minutes in and out, missed calls and the longest wait: those numbers decide your plan and your bill.
4 Check the follow-up
After a call, could the agent email the customer from the same thread, or did it start over somewhere else?

We make this

Want calls next to your emails and chats?

One inbox. Calls, emails, chats and social media messages land on the same ticket, from Team, on the VoIP provider you choose.
No AI fees. The AI voicebot and live call transcription run on your own AI provider.
A free move. Coming from Zendesk or Freshdesk? We move your tickets and contacts on a paid plan.

Start your 30-day free trialNo credit card.

How the call center works Plans and prices

About the author: Andrej Harsani co-founded Quality Unit, the company behind LiveAgent, in 2004.

Related guides

Call center software: how a call center works in LiveAgent
Outbound call center software: calling out at volume
Call dialers explained: power, preview and predictive dialers
Best VoIP phone systems: providers to connect
IVR in LiveAgent
Best customer service software for small business: when you need more than calls
Best live chat software for small business: ten live chat tools compared
Help desk software for small business: ten ticketing tools compared

Sources

Every competitor fact on this page comes from the vendor's own pages, read from a US address on the date shown.

Aircall: pricing, November 1, 2026.
CloudTalk: pricing, November 1, 2026.
Dialpad: pricing (Connect and Support), November 1, 2026.
Freshcaller: pricing, call rates, Freshdesk Omni, November 1, 2026.
JustCall: pricing, November 1, 2026; after-hours voicemail, November 1, 2026.
Nextiva: pricing, November 1, 2026; after-hours menu, November 1, 2026.
RingCentral: RingEX pricing, RingCX pricing, AI Receptionist, November 1, 2026; company custom rules, November 1, 2026.
Zendesk: pricing, Zendesk Talk number availability and pricing, November 1, 2026.
Zoom Contact Center: pricing, calling rates, November 1, 2026.
Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking, as an example of a VoIP provider for LiveAgent: US pricing, November 1, 2026.
LiveAgent: pricing, call center, IVR, migration; 7,000+ businesses: about LiveAgent. AI voicebot and live transcription run on the customer’s own OpenAI account: OpenAI API pricing, realtime audio prices on November 1, 2026.
G2 and Capterra ratings, from each tool’s page on November 1, 2026. G2: Aircall, CloudTalk, Dialpad, Freshcaller, JustCall, LiveAgent, Nextiva, RingCentral, Zendesk, Zoom Contact Center. Capterra: Aircall, CloudTalk, Dialpad, Freshcaller, JustCall, LiveAgent, Nextiva, RingCentral, Zendesk, Zoom Contact Center.

Changes: November 2, 2026: first published with 10 tools; replaces our earlier list of inbound call center software.

Frequently asked questions

: The one whose price covers your calls, not only your seats. For the lowest price with unlimited US and Canada calling, Dialpad Standard ($15 per user a month on annual billing); for a multi-level IVR on the first plan, RingCentral Core ($20); for sales teams that call out, JustCall or Aircall; and if calls must sit next to email and chat in one help desk, LiveAgent (we make it) or Zendesk. LiveAgent's calls come with Team, its plan with calls, on a VoIP provider you connect.
: On annual billing, the cheapest paid plans with calling start at $15 per user a month (Dialpad Standard, Nextiva NEXT Core, Freshcaller Growth) and run to $55–$89 for help desk suites and contact center plans (Zendesk Suite Team, Zoom Contact Center Essentials, Dialpad Support). Then add numbers and minutes: some prices include unlimited US and Canada calling, others bill every minute and number on top. LiveAgent's calls come with Team, with numbers and minutes from your VoIP provider. Compare a month of your real calls, not the seat price.
: It depends on the tool. Aircall, CloudTalk, Dialpad Standard, JustCall and RingCentral include calls within the US and Canada in the price, and Nextiva includes unlimited voice. Zendesk, Freshcaller and Zoom Contact Center sell numbers and charge minutes on top. LiveAgent connects to a VoIP provider you choose over a SIP trunk, so you pay that provider for numbers and minutes: with Twilio, for example, a US number is $1.15 a month.
: Sorted by price on annual billing: Dialpad Standard ($15) has a department IVR, RingCentral Core ($20) a multi-level IVR, JustCall Team ($29, at least 2 users) a single-level IVR, Aircall Essentials ($30, at least 3 users) an IVR with basic call flows, and Zoom Contact Center Essentials ($69) a flow editor with an IVR. LiveAgent has a multi-level IVR on Team, its plan with calls. CloudTalk's IVR starts on Essential, Zendesk's on Suite Professional.
: In most tools, yes, but often on a higher plan. Whisper and barge, where a supervisor talks to the agent or joins the call, need Aircall Professional, JustCall Pro, RingCentral Advanced or Zendesk Suite Professional; Dialpad's contact center includes listen, barge and takeover; Freshcaller charges per minute of monitoring. LiveAgent lets supervisors listen to live calls but has no whisper or barge.
: In five ways: per minute or in minute bundles for an AI voice agent (Aircall, CloudTalk, JustCall, RingCentral, Zendesk), per AI conversation (Nextiva), per automated resolution for chats and emails (Zendesk), per seat for call summaries and scoring (Aircall AI Assist Pro, CloudTalk, JustCall), or by your own AI provider. LiveAgent charges no AI fees: its AI voicebot and live call transcription run on your own OpenAI account, which bills you for what you use.
: Yes, in most tools here. In LiveAgent the AI voicebot is a step in your call menu: it answers in a natural voice and, when the caller needs a person, transfers the call to your agents with a summary on the ticket. It runs on your own OpenAI account, at about $0.054–$0.32 for a 3-minute call (our estimate from OpenAI's list prices). The same call costs $1.47 on Aircall and $1.50 on RingCentral after their included minutes, from $0.45 on JustCall at its volume price, and $1.50 per conversation on Nextiva.
: Dialpad. Its Standard plan is $15 per user a month on annual billing, with no minimum, so 3 people pay $45; Aircall Essentials is $30 for at least 3 users, $90. Both include unlimited calling within the US and Canada. Neither entry plan has call monitoring: Aircall's starts on Professional ($50, also the first plan with its PowerDialer), Dialpad's on its contact center, Dialpad Support ($89).
: In LiveAgent, yes: an agent can add their own mobile number as an external phone, so calls ring there without an app; calls also ring in the browser and on SIP desk phones.
: LiveAgent reports incoming, unanswered and missed calls, voicemails, calls per hour, call minutes and the average time to pick up; it has no abandoned-call or time-in-queue report. Zendesk shows queue size and wait time from Suite Team, CloudTalk real-time wallboards on Expert, and Freshcaller abandoned-call metrics on Enterprise.
: Usually yes: Aircall, CloudTalk, Freshcaller and the others offer number porting, and with LiveAgent the number stays with the VoIP provider you connect. Ask about the porting time before you cancel your old provider.
: They overlap. A business phone system gives each person a number, voicemail and calls between colleagues; call center software adds queues, an IVR, routing to available agents, call recording for quality, and reports on waiting times. Dialpad and RingCentral sell both separately; Aircall, CloudTalk and JustCall sit in between; LiveAgent and Zendesk add a call center to a help desk.

Best call center software for small businesses: 10 tools compared

Call center solutions for small businesses: which kind do you need?

Call center software comparison: 10 tools side by side

What call center software really costs a month: seats plus calls

4 agents, about 33 calls a day: 2,900 minutes a month, 2,600 in and 300 out

12 agents, about 150 calls a day: 20,000 minutes in and 2,000 out

25 agents, about 400 calls a day: 44,000 minutes in and 8,000 out

What we would pick for your team

Should you pick LiveAgent? Three reasons yes, four reasons no

What the cheapest plan with calling includes

AI voice agents compared: what each tool charges

The 10 call center tools, one by one

LiveAgent: calls in your help desk

Aircall: calls inside your CRM

CloudTalk: pay as you grow

Dialpad: unlimited US calls for less

Freshcaller: a free plan, minutes billed

JustCall: calling and texting for sales

Nextiva: one bill for calls and texts

RingCentral: multi-level IVR on the first plan

Zendesk: calls in a large help desk suite

Zoom Contact Center: video, chat and calls

Ratings on G2 and Capterra

How we chose and compared

Call center vs contact center software

Inbound vs outbound call center software: which you need

When nobody can answer: after hours, busy lines and missed calls

Is there free call center software?

Try two tools for a week

Want calls next to your emails and chats?

Related guides

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Necessary Cookies

Analytics Cookies

Marketing Cookies

Functional Cookies

Best call center software for small businesses: 10 tools compared

Call center solutions for small businesses: which kind do you need?

Call center software comparison: 10 tools side by side

What call center software really costs a month: seats plus calls

4 agents, about 33 calls a day: 2,900 minutes a month, 2,600 in and 300 out

12 agents, about 150 calls a day: 20,000 minutes in and 2,000 out

25 agents, about 400 calls a day: 44,000 minutes in and 8,000 out

What we would pick for your team

Should you pick LiveAgent? Three reasons yes, four reasons no

What the cheapest plan with calling includes

AI voice agents compared: what each tool charges

The 10 call center tools, one by one

LiveAgent: calls in your help desk

Aircall: calls inside your CRM

CloudTalk: pay as you grow

Dialpad: unlimited US calls for less

Freshcaller: a free plan, minutes billed

JustCall: calling and texting for sales

Nextiva: one bill for calls and texts

RingCentral: multi-level IVR on the first plan

Zendesk: calls in a large help desk suite

Zoom Contact Center: video, chat and calls

Ratings on G2 and Capterra

How we chose and compared

Call center vs contact center software

Inbound vs outbound call center software: which you need

When nobody can answer: after hours, busy lines and missed calls

Is there free call center software?

Try two tools for a week

Want calls next to your emails and chats?

Related guides

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Cookie Settings

Necessary Cookies

Analytics Cookies

Marketing Cookies

Functional Cookies