Vonage Business Pricing and Review: Virtual Phone Service Comparison
About Vonage Business
Vonage Business Solution provides cloud communications and calling plans. The company established itself by providing residential phone services. In 2013 Vonage entered the business phone market after acquiring Vocalocity and Telesphere. Vonage Holdings Corp is headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey, with offices in the United States, Europe, Asia and Israel.
About AVOXI
For nearly 20 years, AVOXI has been a leading provider of toll free and local numbers for business around the world. Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, the company also maintains locations in North Carolina, the Caribbean, South Africa, and Hong Kong. Our global VoIP infrastructure allows us to provide top-quality voice services at highly competitive rates in over 140 countries.
Comparing Virtual Phone Systems
Before we compare and review Vonage business phone service, let’s acknowledge some key differences. AVOXI originally established itself as a global provider of business phone numbers. We wanted to guarantee that companies could connect with customers anywhere in the world while enjoying top call quality and business phone features. Over the years we’ve developed a VoIP PBX around our business phone number offerings. Today, each virtual number from AVOXI includes a flexible virtual phone system feature set that can be plugged in to your existing PBX or act as a stand-alone service. For us, it starts with connecting your business to any market worldwide. Then AVOXI can act as your stand-alone virtual phone system or integrate seamlessly with your existing business phone service.
In contrast, Vonage’s product was designed as a stand-alone business phone system from the beginning. Instead of starting with the number, they offer a business phone system that has the option of adding on toll free or local numbers. As a stand-alone phone system, their service includes business phone features that AVOXI’s does not. On the other hand, AVOXI offers a greater range of virtual number options at more competitive prices than Vonage. Vonage and AVOXI are designed to meet slightly different needs, so deciding which one is right for you is often a matter of understanding your specific requirements. This comparison is targeted for readers looking for a stand-alone virtual phone system. If you are simply looking for a business phone number to attach to an existing VoIP PBX, AVOXI is certainly the more competitive offering.
Vonage Business Pricing and Features
Vonage Business comes in three plans: Mobile, Premium, and Advanced. To keep this simple, we’ll look at their Mobile plan. This plan is meant for users that do not require a desk phone, making it the most comparable with AVOXI’s stand-alone service offering. Their Premium and Advanced plans also include features that AVOXI does not yet offer, like video conferencing and physical desk phones. The Mobile plan starts at $19.99 per user and includes a variety of useful business features. For each user, you can connect your business number to both a desktop and mobile app. Each user gains access to business SMS and Vonage’s “Unlimited” minute plan. Unlimited minutes are subject to Vonage's acceptable and reasonable use policy, which allows up to 3,000 minutes of outbound calls and 500 minutes of inbound calls per user per month. Features included at no additional charge include:
- Call forwarding
- Custom Caller ID
- Virtual Attendant
- Voicemail-to-Email
- 3-Way Calling
- Call Screening
- And Many More
All the features listed above are also included with any plan from AVOXI. One notable advantage Vonage holds over AVOXI in this plan is their business SMS feature. AVOXI partners with a third-party SMS service to provide business texting to customers that require it, but we do not have it integrated with our service yet. AVOXI provides a lower cost-per-user at only $5 - $15 per user, depending on specific needs. In addition, AVOXI includes many features that Vonage Business charges add-on fees (as detailed below).
Call Conferencing
Customers enjoy unlimited teleconference rooms with AVOXI’s audio conferencing service. As many as 500 callers from 25+ countries can connect with your business call conference from dedicated toll free or local dial-in numbers. Vonage’s call conference feature only accommodates up to 30 callers. Their enterprise conferencing feature accommodates up to 300 callers but comes as part of a more expensive plan. Vonage charges $14.99 for this add-on feature, while AVOXI includes it at no extra cost.
Mobile Application
Vonage offers a call recording on-demand feature that allows users to choose when to record calls. This feature provides 15 hours of storage and costs a monthly $4.99 per user. Their company-wide feature includes 500 hours of storage (total) for $49.99 per month. AVOXI’s free call recording feature includes 15 days of call storage. Extended plans are also available.
Call Recording
Vonage Business includes a mobile application for cell iPhone and Androids. AVOXI’s user interface is designed to be mobile-responsive, but will be managed from a browser window on mobile device rather than an integrated app. Both Vonage and AVOXI allow you to set up a VoIP softphone on your mobile device for business calling.
Toll Free Numbers
Vonage Business provides 1800 toll free numbers from the US/Canada, while AVOXI provides toll free service from 120+ countries worldwide. A toll free number from Vonage is a $39.99 monthly add-on charge. As a reminder, Vonage’s acceptable use policy allows up to 500 minutes of inbound calling per user from toll free numbers. All virtual numbers from AVOXI include a user extension and give you access to the AVOXI Core virtual phone system at no additional charge. With AVOXI, AVOXI US toll free number plans with a user extension and 400 minutes of talk time included start at only $7.99 per month.
Local Business Numbers
Vonage offers local business numbers in North America and the UK. Each US local number comes at an additional $10 monthly fee, while UK local numbers start at £9.99 ($13) per month. AVOXI’s US local number plans for as little as $4.49 per month and UK local numbers plans start at $7.79 per month.
Vonage Business provides a convenient support schedule for its customers. Their support line is open Monday-Friday from 8:00 AM to 12:00 AM ET, and from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM ET on the weekends. Vonage UK maintains the same support schedule for their UK customers (GMT +1). They also have emergency support services advertised on their website. AVOXI maintains locations around the world and offers 24/7 technical support. However, Vonage Business is focused on customers in the US, Canada and UK, so 24/7 phone support may not be as necessary as it is for AVOXI’s range of customers.
Customer Support
Choosing a Virtual Phone System
Vonage offers a very strong virtual phone system service. However, if you do not need some of their premium features, you can greatly reduce your costs with the comprehensive VoIP PBX included with a business phone number from AVOXI.
As a stand-alone phone system, Vonage is best if:
- You require a stand-alone system with desk phones for all your employees.
- You require video call conferencing.
- You require an integrated business texting feature.
- You have many US employees requiring 1,500+ minutes of local outbound calls.
As a stand-alone business phone service, AVOXI is best if:
- You need international business numbers.
- Your employees can use desktop and mobile phones rather than desk phones.
- You primarily deal with inbound calls.
- You receive a large number of international calls.
- You are interested in saving money on features like additional business numbers, call-recording and call conferencing.
If you are simply looking for toll free or local numbers to attach to your existing business phone service, AVOXI is the obvious choice. We offer toll free and local numbers in the US and UK at a much lower price. In addition, we can provide you with business phone numbers around the world at any time.
Other popular business phone services from AVOXI include:
If you are interested in virtual phone systems or business phone numbers from AVOXI, let us know for custom pricing today!
