Quo (OpenPhone) Alternatives: 8 Best Picks for 2026
Quo (the business phone app that was called OpenPhone until late 2025) is easy to love on day one. Shared numbers, texting and a clean app for $15 a user.
Then the team grows, calls pile up after hours, and the bill and the missed calls both start climbing.
The quick answer: the best Quo alternative for a small or mid-sized business is Carly. It gives you the same business line (calls and texts on one number, routing, phone menus, voicemail transcripts, CRM logging), and its AI receptionist does more than take a message: it qualifies the caller, checks your real calendars and books the right person on the spot. The Carly team sets it all up with you, so book a call with the Carly team to see it on your own call flow. If you only need a cheap second line, Google Voice or Grasshopper will do. If you want a full phone suite, look at RingCentral, Dialpad or Nextiva.
Quo alternatives compared
Prices are per user per month on annual billing, with the month-to-month price in brackets, as listed on each vendor’s US pricing page in September 2026. Carly Phone is scoped to your team, so book a call with the Carly team for yours.
| Tool | Starting price | AI call answering | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | Set on a short call | AI receptionist that qualifies callers, checks real calendars and books meetings | SMBs that want calls turned into booked appointments |
| Quo (for reference) | $15 ($19) | Sona: 10 calls included, then credit packs | Small teams texting from a shared number |
| RingCentral RingEX | $20 ($30) | AI Receptionist add-on from $39 | Growing teams that want a full phone and video suite |
| Dialpad | $15 ($27) | AI Agents sold as a separate product | Teams that want AI transcription and coaching |
| Aircall | $30 ($40), 3-license minimum | AI Voice Agent: 50 minutes a month included, $175 per 500 minutes | Sales and support call teams |
| Nextiva | $15 ($23) | XBert AI Receptionist add-on | One bill for voice, video, SMS and chat |
| Grasshopper | $14 per account ($18) | Forwards calls to the phones you already carry | Solo operators who want a second line |
| Google Voice | $10 (Workspace required) | Auto attendants from the $20 Standard plan | Teams already paying for Google Workspace |
| JustCall | $29, 2-license minimum | AI Voice Agent billed per minute | Sales teams that live in their CRM |
Why businesses leave Quo
Quo is a good product, and its reviews say so. The complaints cluster in five places.
The per-user price climbs with the features you need. Starter is $15 a user ($19 monthly), but phone menus, call transfers, custom ring orders, HubSpot and Salesforce sync, auto call recording and AI summaries on every call all start on Business at $23 ($33 monthly). Scale is $35 ($47). Josh runs a six-person HVAC office: on Business, month to month, that is $198 a month before a single add-on. Extra numbers for a second location are $5 a month each. For the full breakdown, see our Quo pricing guide.
Sona counts calls, not minutes. Every plan includes 1,000 Sona credits, and one call costs 100 credits, so you get about 10 AI-answered calls a month. After that, credit packs run $25, $49, $99 and $199 for 40, 100, 250 and 600 calls, and a 20-second wrong number burns the same credit as a five-minute sales call. By Quo’s own description, Sona greets callers, answers questions from your knowledge base, takes messages, transfers calls and can text a scheduling link mid-call. It handles inbound calls only. If you would rather the AI book the caller onto a real calendar, that is the Carly approach below.
Texting carries registration fees. Quo passes through The Campaign Registry’s $19.50 one-time review fee plus $1.50 to $3 a month. That fee applies to most US business texting, but it still surprises people who signed up for a $15 app.
Support when something breaks. Recent Trustpilot reviewers describe accounts and lines suspended shortly after paying, then support that stops answering. Quo’s reviews are mostly positive overall, so experiences vary, but the bad ones hit exactly when the business line is down.
Call quality depends on your connection. TechRadar’s Quo review lists call drops on weak internet connections, says the AI “can sometimes falter”, and flags per-user pricing plus AI credits adding up for larger teams. Our Quo review goes deeper.
1. Carly: the AI receptionist that books the meeting
Carly is an AI assistant for businesses, and Carly Phone adds a business phone line that Carly runs. The pitch against Quo is simple: whatever Quo sells a small business, the Carly team sets up for you, and the AI on the line knows who is calling.
What you get, set up by the Carly team:
- Your business number. A new local number, or bring the number you already have. Calls and texts on the same number.
- Call routing. Ring the whole team at once or in order, business-hours and after-hours rules, call flows and phone menus built to match how you actually work.
- An AI receptionist. When nobody picks up, or after hours, Carly answers, handles questions, qualifies the caller against your criteria, checks your real calendars and books the right person, then texts the caller a link (a booking page, an application) once the call ends.
- Business texting. A shared SMS inbox where Carly answers texts for you and anyone on the team can take a conversation over. Photos, attachments and opt-out handling included.
- One call inbox. Voicemail with transcripts, call outcomes and summaries, with resolve and reopen so follow-ups don’t slip.
- CRM logging. Every call lands in Carly’s built-in CRM and in HubSpot, Salesforce or Dynamics 365.
Get a walkthrough of Carly Phone and the team will map your current Quo setup (shared numbers, ring orders, phone menus, texting) onto Carly on the call.
Where it beats a message-taking bot. Emily calls a property manager at 7:40pm about a two-bedroom. A message-taker logs her number, and by tomorrow’s callback she has booked a viewing elsewhere. Carly already has her email thread and CRM record, confirms her move-in date and budget, books Michael’s open Thursday 5pm slot and texts her the application link before she hangs up.
That is the difference that matters: Carly’s AI knows the caller’s email and CRM history and books the meeting on a real calendar, instead of taking a message. For more on how that works on text, see SMS appointment booking for business.
It is also the rest of Carly. The same assistant runs email, calendar, scheduling and follow-ups, and Carly connects to thousands of apps, so the call that books a job can also update the project board and remind the customer the day before. See Carly Phone on a call to watch one call trigger all of it.
Best for: service businesses, agencies, property managers, clinics and sales teams that lose revenue every time a call goes to voicemail.
Pricing: Carly Phone is an add-on for teams, scoped and priced on a short call with the Carly team.
Watch out for: it is set up with you rather than self-serve, so budget one call before go-live. Book a call and it can be live after that one call.
2. RingCentral RingEX
RingCentral is the heavyweight most Quo users look at when they outgrow an app and want a full business phone system with video meetings and team messaging. Advanced and Ultra add admin and analytics controls for multi-site companies, and AIR (the AI Receptionist) can answer and route calls. Compare the two directly in Quo vs RingCentral.
Best for: multi-location teams that want one enterprise-grade suite.
Pricing: Core $20 a user ($30 monthly), Advanced $25 ($35), Ultra $35 ($45). AI Receptionist starts at $39 as an add-on, or $49 standalone, with 100 minutes included and $0.50 a minute after that.
Watch out for: contracts auto-renew for the same term unless you give notice 30 days before the end. More in our RingCentral pricing guide and RingCentral AI Receptionist review.
3. Dialpad
Dialpad built its phone system around its own AI, with live transcription and call recaps as the headline. It is a common step up for Quo teams that want more analytics and coaching on sales and support calls.
Best for: teams that want AI transcription and call insights baked into every call.
Pricing: Standard $15 a user ($27 monthly), Pro $25 ($35) with a 3-user minimum. Dialpad AI Agents are sold as a separate product.
Watch out for: the monthly Standard price is nearly double the annual one, so month-to-month flexibility costs real money. See Dialpad alternatives.
4. Aircall
Aircall is a cloud call center for sales and support teams, with click-to-dial, IVR, call recording, 250+ integrations and power dialing on the higher tier. Its AI Voice Agent handles inbound calls on top of the phone plan.
Best for: call-heavy sales and support teams.
Pricing: Essentials $30 a license ($40 monthly), Professional $50 ($70). Every plan needs 3 licenses. AI Voice Agent includes 50 minutes a month per account, then $175 for 500 minutes.
Watch out for: the 3-license minimum makes the real entry price $90 a month on annual billing. See Aircall alternatives.
5. Nextiva
Nextiva bundles phone, video meetings, team chat and business SMS on its Core plan, and adds live chat, a chatbot and call-center routing on Engage. The XBert AI Receptionist is an add-on across plans. See how it stacks up in RingCentral vs Nextiva.
Best for: businesses that want voice, video, SMS and chat on one bill.
Pricing: Core $15 a user ($23 monthly), Engage $25 ($50 monthly), Scale $75.
Watch out for: Engage doubles when billed monthly, and Engage and Scale are sold through a demo rather than a checkout.
6. Grasshopper
Grasshopper, owned by GoTo, is a virtual phone system: a business number that forwards calls to the phones you already carry. Pricing is per account rather than per user, and you can add users at no extra cost. Head to head: Quo vs Grasshopper.
Best for: solo operators and tiny teams that want a professional second line on their cell.
Pricing: True Solo $14 ($18 monthly), Solo Plus $25 ($32), Small Business $55 on annual billing.
Watch out for: True Solo forwards to a single number, so ringing several people means a higher plan. See Grasshopper alternatives.
7. Google Voice
Google Voice is the cheapest way to put a business number on a team that already runs on Google Workspace. Voicemail and texts show up in Gmail, and the higher plans add Gemini call notes. Compare in Quo vs Google Voice.
Best for: Workspace teams that want a basic line at the lowest price.
Pricing: Starter $10 a user (up to 10 users), Standard $20 (auto attendants and ring groups), Premier $30 (automatic call recording, transcription and AI notes).
Watch out for: Workspace is required to run Voice for a team, so the Workspace seat comes on top. More in Google Voice for business.
8. JustCall
JustCall is a phone and SMS system for sales teams, with CRM integrations from the entry Team plan, workflow automations on Pro and AI coaching on Pro Plus. Its AI Voice Agent covers after-hours, weekend and overflow calls.
Best for: sales teams that want calling, texting and CRM sync in one dialer.
Pricing: Team $29 a user, Pro $49, Pro Plus $89, all billed annually with a 2-license minimum. The AI Voice Agent is a per-minute add-on.
Watch out for: the published prices are annual, and the AI agent bills on usage on top of licenses.
Switching off Quo without losing your number
- Keep Quo active until the port completes. Start the port with the new provider first, since cancelling early can release the number.
- Recreate the call flow, not just the number. List shared numbers, ring orders, phone menus, business hours and auto-replies. On Carly, the team rebuilds these for you, so get a walkthrough with your current setup in hand.
- Start texting registration early. US business texting needs carrier registration wherever you go.
Which Quo alternative fits your team
- You lose jobs to voicemail after hours: Carly. Its AI receptionist books the caller onto a real calendar. Book a call with the Carly team.
- You want one enterprise suite with video and desk phones: RingCentral. Also see RingCentral alternatives.
- You run a call-heavy sales floor: Aircall or JustCall.
- You want AI transcription and coaching on every call: Dialpad.
- You just need a second number on your cell: Grasshopper or Google Voice.
- You are comparing AI answering on its own: start with our AI answering service guide and best AI receptionists, or the wider best small business phone systems list.
FAQ
What is the best alternative to Quo (OpenPhone)?
For small and mid-sized businesses that want calls answered and booked, Carly is the strongest alternative: the Carly team sets up the same shared numbers, routing, phone menus, texting and CRM sync, and its AI receptionist books callers onto real calendars. For a full phone and video suite, RingCentral and Nextiva are the usual picks. For a cheap second line, Google Voice or Grasshopper.
Is Quo the same company as OpenPhone?
Yes. OpenPhone rebranded as Quo in late 2025. It is the same company and product, which is why many older articles still use the OpenPhone name and quote older prices.
Is there a cheaper alternative to OpenPhone?
Google Voice starts at $10 a user a month for Workspace customers, and Grasshopper starts at $14 a month on annual billing for a single forwarding line. Quo’s own Starter plan is $15 a user on annual billing, so the savings are small unless you need very little.
Does Quo have an AI receptionist?
Yes, Quo’s AI agent is called Sona. Every plan includes 1,000 credits, which is about 10 calls a month, and extra calls come from credit packs between $25 and $199 a month. Sona answers inbound calls, handles questions, takes messages, transfers calls and can text a scheduling link.
Can I keep my phone number if I leave Quo?
Yes, in most cases you can port a business number to another provider. Start the port with the new provider and keep your Quo account active until the transfer finishes, since cancelling first can release the number.
Who are OpenPhone’s main competitors?
The alternatives most often compared with Quo are RingCentral, Dialpad, Aircall, Nextiva, Grasshopper, Google Voice and JustCall, along with AI-first options like Carly that combine the business line with an AI receptionist and CRM.
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