7 Best 8x8 Alternatives for Small Teams (2026)
8x8 sells phones, a contact center and communications APIs to companies with IT departments. Its pricing page lists no prices at all. Every product, from 8x8 Work to the Contact Center, ends in “Request a Quote.” For a ten-person office that wants its calls answered, that’s a lot of process.
The quick answer: The best 8x8 alternative for a small team is Carly. It answers your business line when nobody on your team picks up, books the caller on the right person’s calendar, texts back every missed call and logs it all to your CRM. Setup is one prompt in ChatGPT or Claude, and the price is on the page. If you need a published-price phone system instead, RingCentral RingEX starts at $20 a user and Quo at $15, both billed annually.
Prices from each vendor’s own pricing page, checked October 23, 2026.
8x8 alternatives compared
| Tool | Published price | AI that answers calls | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/mo | Answers, books, texts back, calls new leads | Small teams that want every call handled |
| 8x8 (for reference) | Quote only | Intelligent Customer Assistant, a contact-center product | Larger contact centers |
| RingCentral RingEX | $20/user annual, $30 monthly | AIR add-on from $39 | Calls, video and chat in one app |
| Nextiva | $15/user annual, $23 monthly | XBert at $1.50 a conversation | Phone plus a light helpdesk |
| Dialpad | $15/user annual | AI Agents on a credit pool | AI transcripts and coaching |
| Quo | $15/user annual, $19 monthly | Sona: 10 calls free, then $25 for 40 | Shared numbers and texting |
| Aircall | $30/license, 3 minimum | AI Voice Agents, 50 min a month included | Sales and support teams |
| Ooma Office | $19.95/user, no contract | AI Answering Service from $14.99 | No-contract desk phones |
Why teams leave 8x8
- No price without a sales call. 8x8’s plans and pricing page shows four products and a “Request a Quote” button under each.
- The AI is built for contact centers. 8x8’s Intelligent Customer Assistant is a self-service virtual agent for voice and digital channels, sold through the same quote process.
- Contract trouble shows up in reviews. 8x8 rates 2.7 out of 5 on Trustpilot across 48 reviews. Reviewers describe not knowing when a contract expires, bills that kept coming after a cancellation was confirmed, and having to go through a reseller to make changes.
- Call quality complaints. One support team on Trustpilot reports beeping and poor voice quality on customer calls even when their network showed no latency.
1. Carly: best 8x8 alternative for small teams
Carly gives a small team what a contact center gives a big one: every call answered, routed and logged, with none of the setup. It’s reliable and endlessly customizable, and it follows your instructions the same way on every call.
- Live from a prompt. Paste Carly’s setup prompt into ChatGPT or Claude, describe how calls should go, and grab a number in the chat.
- Your team, then Carly. Calls ring your people first during business hours. Carly answers when nobody picks up, and right away after hours.
- Routing without a console. Ring groups and phone menus with up to nine options, or transfer by name and reason.
- Books and confirms on your team’s real Google and Outlook calendars, round robin, with a text from your number.
- Recognizes customers. Callers in your CRM are greeted by name, with their history and upcoming appointments in front of Carly.
- Calls web leads back within about a minute, then texts and emails if they miss it (how it works).
- English and Spanish, detected from the caller.
- One record of everything. Calls, transcripts, voicemails and texts land in a team inbox and log to Carly’s CRM, HubSpot, Salesforce or Dynamics 365. Carly connects to thousands of apps for the rest.
Pricing: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Test it with a call to your own phone before you move a single number.
2. RingCentral RingEX
The most complete published-price suite: calls, meetings and team chat, with the AIR AI Receptionist as an add-on. See RingCentral alternatives and RingCentral pricing.
Pricing: Core $20, Advanced $25 per user billed annually ($30, $35 monthly). AIR from $39 a month. Watch out for: CRM integrations start on Advanced, and contracts auto-renew unless you give notice.
3. Nextiva
Phone, video and a shared inbox, with XBert as an AI employee. See Nextiva alternatives.
Pricing: NEXT Core $15, Engage $25, Scale $75 per user billed annually. XBert is $1.50 a conversation, or from $99 a month for 100. Watch out for: annual pricing needs a paid 12-month term.
4. Dialpad
AI transcription and coaching built in, with a contact-center tier if you grow into one. See Dialpad alternatives.
Pricing: Standard $15, Pro $25 per user billed annually. Watch out for: the AI Agents that answer customers are bought as a separate credit pool.
5. Quo
Shared numbers and text threads for small teams, with Sona answering overflow. See Quo alternatives.
Pricing: Starter $15, Business $23, Scale $35 per user billed annually ($19, $33, $47 monthly). Sona takes 10 calls free, then $25 a month for 40. Watch out for: no contact-center tooling, and Sona takes messages rather than booking.
6. Aircall
A calling platform for sales and support teams, with AI Voice Agents included on every plan. See Aircall alternatives.
Pricing: Essentials $30, Professional $50 per license a month, three licenses minimum. Every plan includes 50 AI Voice Agent minutes a month. Watch out for: the three-license floor and $6 a month for each extra number.
7. Ooma Office
No contract, desk-phone friendly and simple. See Ooma alternatives.
Pricing: Essentials $19.95, Pro $24.95, Pro Plus $29.95 per user. AI Answering Service from $14.99 a month for 40 minutes. Watch out for: texting starts on Pro, and CRM integration sits on Pro Plus.
Which 8x8 alternative fits
- Fewer than 25 people and calls that need answering: Carly, on its own number or behind your current one. See the best AI receptionists.
- You want a published-price suite with video: RingCentral RingEX.
- You run a real support queue: Dialpad or Aircall.
Paste this into ChatGPT or Claude to set up Carly:
Carly business setup prompt
Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or any AI. It walks you through the rest.
Help me connect Carly Teams so I can work with my organization's business texts, phone calls, voicemail and voice/text agents from this chat. I'll add it to you myself: tell me exactly what to click for the app you are, one step at a time, and wait for me to confirm before moving on. If a step doesn't match what I see, ask me what's on my screen. If you can do the setup yourself (Claude Code, Codex, Muse, Grok Bot), go ahead, and ask me for any key in your secure credential prompt, never in the chat. Don't tell me it's connected until list_phone_lines works, and if I have several teams, ask which to use. Before sending a text or making a call, confirm the team, recipient and message or task with me. The steps are below.
# Connect Carly Teams to an AI app
> Carly Teams works a team's business phone lines through the team's AI agents: business texts, phone calls, voicemail, the voice and text agents, and the team's CRM.
MCP server: https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp (streamable HTTP, OAuth)
## Setup
Carly Teams isn't in any plugin or connector directory yet, so it's added as a custom connection by URL.
1. Add Carly Teams:
- ChatGPT: open https://chatgpt.com/plugins, click Add, and choose Create MCP App (not Create plugin or Upload plugin archive). If Create MCP App isn't on the menu, turn on Developer mode first in Settings > Security and login. Name it "Carly Teams" with the description "Work with my team's business texts, calls, voicemail and voice/text agents," paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp as the server URL, choose OAuth, create it, and sign in. Then in the message box open the + menu, choose Developer mode, and pick Carly Teams. No plugin needs to be built, packaged or uploaded.
- Claude (claude.ai, Claude Desktop, or Cowork): Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http --scope user carly-teams https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then /mcp, pick carly-teams, and authenticate.
- Codex: `codex mcp add carly-teams --url https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then `codex mcp login carly-teams`.
- Cursor: add {"mcpServers": {"carly-teams": {"url": "https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp"}}} to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, then sign in to carly-teams from Customize.
- Muse: a custom connector to https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp with a Carly API key as its bearer token. The key comes from carlyassistant.com/integrations (Advanced > API Keys > Create a new key, with Owner set to the team and all scopes selected) and goes in Muse's connector settings, not in a chat message.
- Grok: grok.com/connectors > New Connector > Custom, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Grok Bot: a custom remote MCP server named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. Approve it and sign in.
- Perplexity: Plugins in the sidebar (or Customize > Connectors), then Add custom > Connector > Add MCP connector. Choose Remote, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, pick OAuth, check the box and click Add, then click the Carly Teams card to sign in.
- Anything else: a remote MCP server (streamable HTTP) named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. It signs in with OAuth.
Sign in with the Carly account that belongs to the organization.
2. Once it's added, the Carly Teams tools show up in the chat, including list_phone_lines. If they don't, turn Carly Teams on for the chat or start a new chat.
3. To check it worked, call list_phone_lines: it returns the teams and phone lines the account can reach. A team with no phone line yet can get one with find_numbers (optionally by area code) and get_number, which may return a checkout link to finish.
4. Something to try first: "Review our missed calls and voicemail and help me reply to customers." Carly Teams also reads and answers business texts, has the team's agent make calls, and edits the voice and text agents. Texts and calls go out at once from the agent's number and can't be taken back. Team permissions apply.
## Email, calendars and workflows
Email, calendars, files, booking pages and workflows are the regular Carly connector, added separately. It's listed in ChatGPT's plugin directory (https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6a67a26316b88191860222f918d4ec54) and Claude's connector directory (https://claude.ai/directory/carly), and connects anywhere else at https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/. Its setup is https://carlyassistant.com/mcp.txt.Get started, or watch the 2-minute video.
FAQ
What is the best alternative to 8x8?
For small teams, Carly: it answers, books and follows up on calls with a published price and no quote process. For a full phone and video suite, RingCentral RingEX.
How much does 8x8 cost?
8x8 doesn’t publish prices. Its plans and pricing page asks you to request a quote for 8x8 Work, the Contact Center, 8x8 Engage and its APIs.
Does 8x8 have an AI receptionist?
8x8 sells the Intelligent Customer Assistant, an AI virtual agent for voice and digital self-service, as part of its contact-center lineup. It’s priced by quote.
Can I keep my 8x8 number?
Business numbers can be ported once your contract allows it. Until then, forward the calls your team misses to Carly and keep 8x8 running.
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See what people say
"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
