Google Voice Alternatives for Business (2026), Sorted by the Job

People search for a Google Voice alternative for three different reasons. Some want a cheap business number that isn't "for personal, consumer use". Some want a real phone system for a team. Some are tired of missed calls ending in voicemail. Most lists mix all three into one ranking, which is why they seem to disagree. This one sorts twelve alternatives by the job, with every price read on the vendor's own page on November 3, 2026. We sell an AI receptionist, which does the third job and not the first two, so it sits in its own section and not at the top of the list.

The short answer

• Small team, US or Canada: Quo.
• Outside North America: Dialpad.
• You want every feature and will pay for it: RingCentral RingEX.
• One person, wants a second line for as little as possible: Line2 or iPlum.
• The real problem is calls nobody answers: an AI answering add-on on your phone system, or a standalone AI receptionist. Switching phone systems alone won't fix it.

Which job are you replacing it for?

The reason the jobs matter: if you move from Google Voice to Quo or RingCentral and keep answering your own phone, missed calls still go to voicemail. Most people who leave Google Voice because of missed calls are surprised by that. The useful question is not "which app?" but "who answers when I can't?"

The twelve, in one table

How we picked, and who we are

1. Only vendors' own pages count. Every price was read on the vendor's pricing or product page on November 3, 2026 and is linked below. Where a page doesn't publish something, the table says so. Grasshopper's pricing page is only shown to US and Canadian visitors, so its prices come from Grasshopper's own plan summary page.
2. Annual and monthly prices are labelled. Several vendors show the annual price large and the monthly price small. The difference is often 25 to 35 percent.
3. We did not run call-quality tests. We could not do it fairly for twelve products, and call quality depends more on your internet connection than on the vendor.
4. Our product is in its own section. We sell an AI receptionist. It answers calls on its own number. It has no desk phones, extensions or team calling, so we don't rank it against phone systems.

Phone systems, one at a time

1. Quo (formerly OpenPhone): the closest replacement

• Price: Starter $15 per user per month, billed annually at $180, or $19 monthly. Business is $23 annual and $33 monthly, and adds phone menus and auto call recording.
• Numbers: "One new or ported phone number (local or toll-free) per user", extra numbers $5 a month each. Calling and texting to US and Canadian numbers, and texting needs carrier registration.
• AI: the Sona AI agent is included with 1,000 automation credits a month. At 100 credits a call, that is 10 calls, with more sold in packs.
• Why first: it is the only vendor we found with a published guide for porting a Google Voice number, and it needs no Workspace subscription. Trial: 7 days.

2. Dialpad Connect: for businesses outside North America

• Price: Standard $15 per user per month and Pro $25 on annual billing. The monthly prices did not display on the page when we checked.
• Numbers: in over 50 countries, more than any other phone system here.
• AI: real-time call transcription, voicemail transcription and call summaries are built in. Dialpad's AI agents are custom-priced, so there is no small-business AI receptionist price to compare.
• Trial: 14 days.

3. RingCentral RingEX: the most complete system

• Price: Core $20 per user per month paid annually, $30 monthly. Advanced is $25/$35, Ultra $35/$45, for 1 to 5 users.
• AI Receptionist (AIR): an add-on on every plan that "starts at $39". The page doesn't say per user, per number or per month. AIR is sold standalone in the US and Canada, and as an add-on only in the UK, Australia and the EU.

• Watch: "Phone rental available only with multi-year contract." The 14-day trial excludes SMS.

4. Nextiva: month-to-month without a big premium

• Price: NEXT Core $15 per user per month billed annually, $23 monthly, "cancel anytime". Engage is $25 and $50.
• AI: XBert AI at $1.50 per conversation, with packages from 100 conversations a month.
• Watch: the page shows a "get up to 12 months free" promotion with an asterisk. Read the terms before you compare it with anyone else's price.

5. Ooma Office: no contract, free toll-free number

• Price: Essentials $19.95 per user per month, "No Contract Necessary", plus a one-time $29.95 activation fee.
• Numbers: one direct number per user and one free toll-free number. Google Voice doesn't offer 1-800 numbers.
• AI: an AI Answering Service from $14.99 per account per month, and a separate AI Receptionist that is sold through sales.

6. Grasshopper: solo with extensions

• Price: True Solo $14 a month billed annually, $18 monthly for one user and one number. Solo Plus is $25/$32 with unlimited users and three extensions.
• Watch: US and Canada only, and Grasshopper itself lists "no third-party CRM integrations, no public API". It offers AI, live and hybrid receptionist options without a published price.

7. Talkroute: AI receptionist with a published rate card

• Price: phone plans from $19 a month for one user and one number. The AI Receptionist, marked beta, runs from $39 a month pay-as-you-go at $0.40 per AI minute, to $99 for 250 minutes at $0.30 after that.
• Why it's here: among phone systems, it is the only one that publishes both the AI price and the minute rate. Month to month, no contract, 7-day trial.

Also checked

MightyCall starts at $20 per user billed annually with a three-user minimum, so its real entry price is $60 a month. Zoom Phone also sells an AI receptionist, but its US pricing page did not load for us in a form we could quote, so we left it out of the table.

Cheap second numbers

If what you liked about Google Voice was a second number on your own phone for almost nothing, these are the closest paid equivalents:

• Line2: $7.99 a month billed yearly, $9.99 monthly, US and Canadian numbers, 30-day money-back guarantee. Line2 now markets itself as a privacy line, and its pricing page sends business buyers to eVoice.
• iPlum: Standard $8.99 per user billed annually, $13.99 monthly, with a toll-free number for $5 more and a HIPAA-oriented Professional plan.

Neither one answers a call you miss. If that is what pushed you off Google Voice, read the next section first.

AI answering for the calls you miss

This is the part most switching guides skip. Google Voice, and every phone system above on its base plan, sends an unanswered call to voicemail. There are two ways to have something answer instead.

An AI add-on to your phone system

Simplest if you are switching anyway: Quo's Sona (10 calls included), Ooma's AI Answering Service (from $14.99 per account), RingCentral's AIR (from $39), Talkroute (from $39) or Nextiva ($1.50 per conversation). Ask each one what it does with a caller it can't help, and how you get the details.

A standalone AI receptionist

These answer on their own number, or take forwarded calls from a phone system that allows it. Upfirst bills per call (from $24.95 a month for 30 calls). Brilo bills per minute (Pro $149 for 600 minutes). Ours is €99 a month for 1,000 minutes with one number and one call at a time, or €299 for 3,000 minutes, three numbers and three calls at once, and it books into Google Calendar or Outlook (pricing). Ringly is $1.99 per conversation with a $99 minimum, and is built for Shopify stores only.

Which approach to choose, and what these products should do on a test call, is covered in how to choose an AI receptionist. If you would rather have people answer, live services are compared in what an answering service costs.

Taking your Google Voice number with you

1. Open the account at the new provider first. Keep Google Voice active, and don't cancel it, until the port completes.
2. Personal Google Voice: unlock the number in Google Voice settings. Unlocking costs $3, waived if you originally ported the number in. Then give the new provider the account details it asks for. Quo's guide walks through each field for Google Voice.
3. Google Workspace Voice: the admin requests a port-out PIN from the Admin console. The new provider needs it to release the number.
4. Test before you cancel. Call the number from another phone, send a text, and check voicemail on the new system. Then cancel Voice.

If you keep your current number and only add an answering service, you don't need to port anything. Conditional call forwarding does the job, as described in how to forward calls to an answering service.

Who writes the other lists

Worth knowing when you read other rankings for this search. On November 3, 2026, three of the listicles near the top of Google for "google voice alternative" were published by AI phone vendors:

• Brilo ranks itself first, as the "Overall Best Google Voice Alternative for AI-Automated Inbound Calls". Its disclosure is that a team member uses it as a paying customer.
• Upfirst ranks TextNow first, then adds itself between picks four and five with the line "It's not a Google Voice replacement", which is accurate.
• Ringly ranks RingCentral first and itself seventh, discloses through the author's bio, and sells only to Shopify stores.

None of this makes those lists wrong. It does mean that an AI receptionist ranked as the "best Google Voice alternative" is answering a different question from the one most readers asked. We sell one too, so judge our list by the same standard.

When to stay on Google Voice

• Your company already runs on Google Workspace and needs basic calling for a few people. Voice Starter at $10 per user is cheaper than every team system here.
• You need phone menus and ring groups inside Workspace. Voice Standard at $20 per user does that, and its auto attendant can send after-hours calls to an answering service's number.
• You answer your own phone and rarely miss calls. Then a paid Voice plan is fine. Move off the free plan if the number matters to your business.

What each Voice plan includes, and Google's rules on the free plan, are covered in Google Voice for business: pricing and limits.