8 Best Dialpad Alternatives in 2026 (Compared)
Dialpad’s $15 sticker price is an annual-billing number. Pay monthly and Standard is $27. Pro means three seats minimum, and the AI agents that actually answer customers are a separate product you price with sales.
The quick answer: Carly is the best Dialpad alternative for teams that want missed calls to turn into booked meetings, not voicemails. It answers your line, books callers on your team’s real calendars, texts from the same number and logs every call to your CRM. Copy one prompt into ChatGPT or Claude, grab a number, and you’re live.
Dialpad alternatives compared
| Tool | Price per user (annual / monthly) | AI answering | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/mo | Answers 24/7 and books callers on your real calendars | None: setup is one prompt in ChatGPT or Claude |
| Dialpad (for reference) | $15 / $27 Standard, $25 / $35 Pro | AI Agents sold separately, per-conversation credits | 3-user minimum on Pro |
| Quo | $15 / $19 Starter, $23 / $33 Business | Sona, 1,000 credits (about 10 calls) included | CRM sync and phone menus start on Business |
| RingCentral RingEX | $20 / $30 Core, $25 / $35 Advanced | AIR add-on from $39 | Auto-renews unless you give 30 days’ notice |
| Aircall | $30 / $40 Essentials, $50 / $70 Professional | AI Voice Agent, 50 minutes a month | 3-license minimum |
| Nextiva | $15 / $23 Core, $25 / $50 Engage | XBert AI Receptionist add-on | Annual price needs a paid 12-month term |
| Zoom Phone | $10.50 / $12 Metered, $16 / $18 US & Canada plan | Varies by bundle | Metered plan bills outbound calls per minute |
| JustCall | $29 Team, $49 Pro (annual) | AI Voice Agent, per-minute add-on | 2-license minimum |
| Google Voice | $10 Starter, $20 Standard, $30 Premier | Voicemail transcription | Needs a separate Google Workspace plan |
US list prices, checked September 14, 2026.
Why teams leave Dialpad
Dialpad is a capable phone system rated about 4 out of 5 on Trustpilot. People leave over cost and follow-through:
- The advertised price assumes a year up front. Standard is $15 per user annual and $27 monthly. Pro is $25 or $35 with a 3-user minimum, so a two-person team pays for three seats. Enterprise has a 100-seat minimum.
- The AI that talks to customers is priced separately. Dialpad AI Agents bill per conversation from a pool of credits you buy through sales.
- Billing and cancellation complaints. Recent 1-star reviewers report a renewal invoice 5X their previous annual bill, refunds pending weeks after cancelling, and charges months after a confirmed cancellation. Dialpad replied to one that a discounted trial converts into an annual subscription when the trial ends.
- Hard to reach a human. One September reviewer spent over a month trying to book a sales demo.
- Texting stalls on registration. Dialpad blocks outbound texts from US numbers without an approved A2P campaign, and one reviewer learned during onboarding that their industry couldn’t send SMS on Dialpad at all.
1. Carly
Carly is the phone line run by an AI that’s reliable and endlessly customizable. It follows your rules exactly, the same way on every call.
- Answers 24/7, or only when your team doesn’t pick up, in English or Spanish.
- Books callers during the call on your team’s real Google and Outlook calendars, round robin.
- Calls new web leads within a minute and texts back every missed call from the same number.
- Hands callers to a person through ring groups or a phone menu.
- Logs every call, text and voicemail to one team inbox and HubSpot, Salesforce, Dynamics 365 or Carly’s own CRM.
- Runs from ChatGPT or Claude with the Carly connector, connects to thousands of apps and triggers free Zapier-style workflows.
Best for: Service businesses, agencies and sales teams whose calls should end in a booked meeting. Pricing: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Setup: Copy one prompt into ChatGPT or Claude, grab a number, and you’re live. Get started.
2. Quo (formerly OpenPhone)
The closest like-for-like swap for a small team that wants a shared number and texting app. Its AI agent, Sona, answers calls, with 1,000 credits (about 10 calls) on every plan, then packs at $25, $49, $99 or $199 a month for 40 to 600 calls. See Quo alternatives.
Pricing: Starter $15 per user per month annual ($19 monthly), Business $23 ($33), Scale $35 ($47). Extra numbers $5 a month. Texting registration is $19.50 one-time plus $1.50 to $3 a month. Watch out for: HubSpot and Salesforce sync, phone menus and AI summaries on all calls start on Business.
3. RingCentral RingEX
The established pick for calls, meetings and chat from one big vendor. Its AI Receptionist (AIR) is an add-on. See RingCentral vs Dialpad and RingCentral AI Receptionist.
Pricing: Core $20 per user per month annual ($30 monthly), Advanced $25 ($35), Ultra $35 ($45). AIR is $39 a month ($49 standalone) with 100 minutes, then $0.50 a minute. Watch out for: Contracts auto-renew unless you give notice at least 30 days before the term ends. More in RingCentral alternatives.
4. Aircall
Built for sales and support teams that live in their CRM, with power dialing, call tagging and analytics on Professional, plus an AI Voice Agent. See Aircall alternatives.
Pricing: Essentials $30 per license per month annual ($40 monthly), Professional $50 ($70). Watch out for: A 3-license minimum, so the real entry is at least $90 a month. The AI Voice Agent includes 50 minutes a month per account; more are bundles (for example, $175 for 500).
5. Nextiva
Voice, video and messaging with hands-on setup help and phone, email and chat support. The XBert AI Receptionist is an add-on.
Pricing: Core $15 per user per month annual ($23 monthly), Engage $25 ($50), Scale $75. Watch out for: The annual price requires a paid 12-month minimum term.
6. Zoom Phone
Calling for teams already on Zoom Workplace, at one of the lowest seat prices here.
Pricing: US & Canada Metered $10.50 per user per month annual ($12 monthly). The US & Canada calling plan with domestic minutes is $16 ($18). Watch out for: Metered bills every outbound call by the minute.
7. JustCall
Calling and texting for sales and support teams, built around CRM integrations. Its AI Voice Agent is a per-minute add-on.
Pricing: Team $29 per user per month, Pro $49, Pro Plus $89, all billed annually. Watch out for: A 2-license minimum, and AI voice minutes on top of the seat price.
8. Google Voice
A basic business number with voicemail transcription for teams on Google Workspace. See best small business phone systems.
Pricing: Starter $10 per user per month, Standard $20, Premier $30. Watch out for: It requires a separate Google Workspace plan.
Picking the right Dialpad replacement
- Your calls should end in booked meetings: Carly. See also AI answering services and best AI receptionists.
- Cheapest shared number and texting app: Quo or Google Voice.
- Full unified communications suite: RingCentral or Nextiva.
- Outbound sales floor: Aircall or JustCall.
- Already on Zoom: Zoom Phone.
Switching off Dialpad without losing your number
- Check your renewal date. Cancel in writing well before the term ends.
- Port your number before you close the account. Closing a phone account can release its numbers.
- Re-register texting. US business texting needs an approved brand and campaign with your new provider.
- Get the new line live. With Carly, that’s one prompt:
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/account (API key under Carly Teams) 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. Customers who book by text? See SMS appointment booking.
FAQ
What is the best alternative to Dialpad?
For teams that want calls answered and turned into booked meetings, Carly. It answers your line, books callers on your team’s real calendars and logs every call to your CRM, and setup is one prompt in ChatGPT or Claude. For a plain shared number, Quo is the closest match. For a large unified communications suite, look at RingCentral or Nextiva.
Is there anything cheaper than Dialpad?
On list price, yes. Zoom Phone’s Metered plan is $10.50 per user per month on annual billing, and Google Voice Starter is $10 (plus a Google Workspace plan). Quo Starter and Nextiva Core match Dialpad’s $15 annual price, but they’re cheaper month to month at $19 and $23 against Dialpad’s $27.
Does Dialpad have an AI receptionist?
Dialpad sells AI Agents, autonomous voice and chat agents that Dialpad says can schedule appointments where configured and make outbound calls for reminders and follow-ups. They’re a separate product, billed per conversation from a pool of credits and priced through Dialpad’s sales team.
Does Dialpad require a contract?
Dialpad offers monthly and annual billing, and the lower advertised prices require annual billing. In a reply to a reviewer, Dialpad said a discounted trial converts into an annual subscription when the trial ends, so check which terms you signed up under before you cancel.
Can I keep my Dialpad phone number if I switch?
Usually, yes. Port the number to your new provider before you close your Dialpad account, because closing the account can release the number.
Is Dialpad better than RingCentral?
Dialpad starts lower ($15 against RingCentral’s $20 on annual billing) and puts AI features front and center. RingCentral has the bigger suite and sells its AI Receptionist as a $39 add-on. Our RingCentral vs Dialpad comparison covers both in detail.
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"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."
