Quo (OpenPhone) vs Google Voice: 2026 Pricing Compared
Both give a small business a second number that rings on the phone you already carry. Google Voice is a phone line attached to your Google account: the personal version costs $0, and the team version is a per-user add-on to Google Workspace. Quo, the company formerly called OpenPhone, is a phone system built around a shared team inbox, with carrier registration, CRM sync and an AI agent called Sona built in.
For one person making calls, Google Voice is hard to beat. Once a team shares a number and texts customers, the two stop looking alike.
The quick answer: Pick Google Voice if you already run on Google Workspace and mostly make calls. Pick Quo (OpenPhone) if your team texts customers from a shared number and wants calls logged to a CRM. If you want the phone answered by an AI that qualifies the caller and books them on a real calendar instead of taking a message, book a call with the Carly team to see Carly Phone.
Quo vs Google Voice Pricing (US, September 2026)
| Quo (formerly OpenPhone) | Google Voice | |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest tier | Starter: $15/user/mo annual, $19 monthly | Voice Basic: $0, one user, personal Gmail |
| Middle tier | Business: $23/user/mo annual, $33 monthly | Starter: $10/mo personal, or $10/user/mo on Workspace (up to 10 users) |
| Top tier | Scale: $35/user/mo annual, $47 monthly | Standard $20/user/mo, Premier $30/user/mo (Workspace) |
| Also required | Nothing else | A Google Workspace plan, billed separately, for any multi-user setup |
| Business texting | Carrier registration: $19.50 one-time, $1.50 to $3/mo | Policy bars large volumes of commercial texts and automated texts |
| Shared team number | Starter up to 10 users; no user cap on Business and Scale | Ring groups and call queues on Workspace Standard and Premier |
| Phone menus | Business and Scale | Auto attendants on Standard (personal or Workspace) and Premier |
| AI answering | Sona: 10 calls/mo included, credit tiers from $25/mo | Not listed on Google’s Voice plans |
| AI call notes | All calls from Business; Sona calls only on Starter | Gemini notes on Standard and Premier (Workspace Business Standard or higher), English only |
| CRM | HubSpot and Salesforce from Business | Built around Gmail, Calendar and Meet |
Quo’s annual billing saves 21 to 30% depending on the tier. Google’s personal Standard plan is currently half price for the first six months, then returns to $20. For the full plan breakdown on the Quo side, see Quo pricing.
What Free Google Voice Actually Gets You
Voice Basic is the version most people mean when they search “free business number.” It gives one person a US number that rings on every device, with calling, texting and voicemail transcripts. Setup needs an existing mobile number.
The catches are all in Google’s own documentation:
- Your number can disappear. Google reclaims free Voice numbers that go unused for too long, and you get 45 days to add one back. Google’s paid Starter plan is sold with the promise that your number “will not be reclaimed due to inactivity.”
- No business calling basics. Google’s plan table shows no three-way calling, call recording, desk phone support or 911 emergency support on the no-charge tier.
- Texting is for conversations, not campaigns. The policy bars “large numbers of commercial messages, or automated messages,” and names sending messages “via an automated process, such as a script.”
- One user. Every personal plan, paid or not, tops out at one user and has no ring groups.
In July 2026 Google added two paid personal plans for side hustles and solo operators. Voice Starter ($10/month) adds 24/7 support, call recording, three-way calling, desk phones and a number that won’t be reclaimed. Voice Standard ($20/month) adds auto attendants and Gemini call notes. Neither needs Workspace. More on that setup in Google Voice for business.
Google Voice for Workspace: Three Tiers
Each tier sits on top of a Workspace subscription, so a team pays for two seats per person.
Starter, $10/user/month. Up to 10 users. Calling, US texting, call transfers, three-way calling, call recording, desk phones and 24/7 support.
Standard, $20/user/month. No user cap. Adds ring groups, call queuing, multi-level auto attendants, Gemini call notes (when your Workspace plan is Business Standard or higher), eDiscovery for calls, voicemails and texts, and SIP Link, which connects numbers from another carrier to Voice.
Premier, $30/user/month. Adds automatic call recording, transcription and AI notes, international billing locations, and Voice activity reporting in BigQuery.
Google’s strength is administration: numbers, porting, billing, ring groups and zero-touch HP Poly desk phones all live in the Workspace admin console.
Texting Is the Difference That Decides Most Teams
Quo treats texting as a business channel and makes you register it. Every Quo account texting US numbers registers with The Campaign Registry: a $19.50 one-time review fee plus $1.50 to $3 per month, depending on your use case. Quo’s own troubleshooting guide is blunt about the order of operations: unregistered numbers cannot text US numbers, regardless of how long ago a port completed. Budget for the approval before you print the number on your truck.
Once registered, Quo gives teams snippets, scheduled messages, auto-replies to missed calls, internal threads, and automated texts from Zapier, Make or the API at 1¢ per segment. Sona can also follow up by text with a lead whose call you missed.
Google Voice treats texting as person-to-person. That suits a plumber replying to customers one at a time, not appointment reminders or anything a script sends. In February 2025 Android Police reported Google Voice texts failing for some users, tied to carrier rules on business messaging, and Google’s help community has repeated threads from users asking how to receive texts on a ring group number.
Picture Emily and Josh answering the same line for a cleaning company. On Quo, both see the same customer thread and who is typing. Google’s team features route calls (ring groups, queues, auto attendants). If texting customers is half your day, that outweighs the price gap. If you want texts to become booked appointments, get a walkthrough of Carly’s shared texting inbox or read SMS appointment booking for business.
AI: Sona Answers Calls, Gemini Takes Notes
The two companies aimed their AI at different moments.
Quo’s Sona picks up when you can’t. It answers inbound calls when you’re busy or closed, answers questions from your business details, asks leads your intake questions, transfers to a teammate, and can text the caller a scheduling link mid-call. It speaks English, Spanish and French.
Sona is usage-priced. Every plan includes 1,000 credits a month (10 calls). Beyond that: $25/month for 40 calls, $49 for 100, $99 for 250 or $199 for 600, with overage from $1.00 down to $0.45 per call. AI summaries for every call start on Business; Starter gets them only for Sona calls.
Google’s Gemini helps on calls you take yourself. “Take notes for me,” launched in June 2026, records the call, transcribes it and emails you a summary with next steps. It is English only, and only the person who started notes gets the recording, transcript and summary. It comes with the personal Standard plan, and with Voice Standard and Premier when the Workspace plan underneath is Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard or Enterprise Plus. A Workspace Business Starter office doesn’t get it. Premier makes recording, transcription and notes automatic. Google also uses AI to block spam calls and transcribe voicemails.
So Gemini gives you a better record of the conversations you have. Sona covers the ones you miss. If missed calls are the leak, compare best AI receptionist and AI answering service, or see Carly Phone on a call if you want the missed call booked, not just summarized.
Integrations: Your CRM or Your Google Account
Quo connects to where small businesses keep customers: HubSpot and Salesforce from Business, plus Zoho CRM, Pipedrive, HighLevel, Clio, Jobber, Slack, Zapier, Make, an API and an MCP server for ChatGPT and Claude.
Google’s integrations are its own apps and phone hardware: calls, voicemails and texts in Gmail, calls sent to voicemail outside your Calendar working hours, records in Vault, BigQuery exports on Premier, plus SIP Link and certified desk phones. If customers live in Gmail and Sheets, that’s enough. If they live in a CRM, Quo does more of the logging.
Who Each One Fits
Google Voice A clean second number for calls, and a sensible office phone system if you already run on Workspace.
- Best for: Solo operators, side businesses, and Workspace offices where most customer contact is voice calls.
- Pricing: $0 Basic; $10 or $20/month personal plans; $10, $20 or $30/user/month on top of Workspace.
- Watch out for: Texting built for one-to-one conversations, a free number that Google can reclaim if it sits unused, one user on every personal plan, and AI notes that only reach the person who started them.
Quo (formerly OpenPhone) A team phone app where calls and texts share an inbox, with CRM logging and an AI agent that answers when nobody can.
- Best for: Service businesses, agencies and sales teams of 2 to 20 sharing a line and texting customers daily.
- Pricing: $15, $23 or $35/user/month annual ($19, $33, $47 monthly), plus carrier registration, $5 per extra number and Sona credits past 10 calls.
- Watch out for: No US texting until registration is approved, per-call AI costs that climb with volume, Starter’s 10-user cap on shared numbers, and HubSpot, Salesforce and phone menus held back to Business.
Comparing more than these two? See Quo alternatives, Quo vs RingCentral and the best small business phone systems.
Where Carly Fits: The Receptionist That Books the Job
Google Voice sends a missed call to voicemail. Quo’s Sona takes the details and can text a scheduling link. Either way, somebody on your team still has to read the summary, look the caller up, check a calendar and call back.
Carly Phone is a business line run by Carly, an AI assistant for businesses. The Carly team sets it up with you, and it’s live after one call:
- One number for calls and texts. A new local number, or bring the number you already have.
- Routing built to how you work. Ring your team at once or in order, business hours and after-hours rules, call flows and phone menus.
- An AI receptionist that finishes the job. When nobody picks up or it’s after hours, Carly answers questions, qualifies the caller against your criteria, checks your real calendars and books the right person. Then it texts the caller a link, like a booking page or an application.
- A shared texting inbox. Carly answers texts for you, and anyone on the team can take a conversation over, with photos, attachments and opt-out handling.
- One call inbox. Voicemail with transcripts, call outcomes and summaries, and resolve or reopen for follow-up.
- CRM logging on every call. Calls land in Carly’s built-in CRM and in HubSpot, Salesforce or Dynamics 365.
The difference: Carly already knows the caller. It sees their email history and CRM record, so a returning customer isn’t asked to repeat themselves, and a hot lead gets routed to the right person. It also does everything else Carly does, including email, calendar, scheduling and follow-ups, and it connects to thousands of apps.
Here’s what that looks like. Michael runs a roofing company. At 7:40 on a Tuesday night a homeowner calls about a leak. Carly answers, asks about the roof’s age and whether an insurance claim is open, checks Claire’s inspection calendar, books Thursday at 9 a.m., texts a confirmation and logs the lead to HubSpot. Michael sees a booked job in the morning, not a voicemail.
Everything Quo and Google Voice sell a small team (shared numbers, routing, phone menus, voicemail transcripts, call summaries, texting, AI answering, CRM sync), the Carly team sets up for you. Pricing is set on a short call based on your team and call volume. Get a walkthrough of Carly Phone, or book a call with the Carly team to price it for your line.
Quick Reference
| Your situation | Pick |
|---|---|
| One person, mostly calls, $0 budget | Google Voice Basic |
| Already on Google Workspace, want desk phones | Google Voice Standard |
| Need eDiscovery or BigQuery call reporting | Google Voice Premier |
| Team shares one number and texts customers | Quo Business |
| Want calls logged to HubSpot or Salesforce | Quo Business, or Carly Phone |
| Want an AI to take messages after hours | Quo with Sona |
| Want an AI to qualify callers and book them on your calendar | Carly Phone |
| Want your phone, email and calendar handled by one assistant | Carly Phone |
Not sure which setup your team needs? See Carly Phone on a call and the Carly team will map your current routing onto it.
FAQ
Is Quo the same as OpenPhone?
Yes. OpenPhone rebranded as Quo in 2025. The product, plans and apps carried over, and Quo still describes itself as “formerly OpenPhone.” Older OpenPhone reviews and comparisons often quote prices that have since changed, so check the current tiers: $15, $23 and $35 per user per month billed annually.
Is OpenPhone better than Google Voice for a small business?
For a team that texts customers from a shared number, yes. Quo (OpenPhone) gives you a shared inbox, carrier-registered business texting, phone menus and CRM logging. For a single person who mostly makes calls, or an office already on Google Workspace that wants desk phones, Google Voice is cheaper and simpler.
Is Google Voice free for business use?
Voice Basic costs $0, but it is limited to one user, needs an existing US mobile number, and Google can reclaim the number if it goes unused. Google’s acceptable use policy also bars large volumes of commercial or automated texts. Google sells paid personal plans at $10 and $20 a month, and Workspace add-ons at $10, $20 and $30 per user per month.
Can Google Voice send texts to customers?
Yes, for one-to-one conversations. Google’s policy prohibits large numbers of commercial messages and messages sent by a script, so reminders and campaign texts are a poor fit. Quo requires carrier registration before US texting ($19.50 once, then $1.50 to $3 a month).
Does Google Voice have an AI receptionist like Quo’s Sona?
Google’s Voice plans list auto attendants, spam blocking, voicemail transcription and Gemini call notes, which work on calls you answer yourself. Quo’s Sona answers inbound calls when you can’t, with 10 calls a month included. Carly Phone goes further: it qualifies the caller and books them on your real calendar.
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