7 Best Vonage Alternatives for Business Phones (2026)
Vonage Business Communications has been around long enough to have a loyal base, and long enough to have a long list of complaints. Vonage for Businesses (USA) rates 2.1 out of 5 on Trustpilot, with reviewers describing daily dropped calls, phone queues that won’t let them cancel and an account that auto-renewed into a new year.
The quick answer: The best Vonage alternative for a small business is Carly if the real job is answering every customer. It rings your team first, picks up when nobody can, books the caller on your real calendar and texts from your business number, with nothing to sign. Copy one prompt into ChatGPT or Claude, grab a number, and you’re live. For a plain seat swap, Quo starts at $15 a user billed annually and Ooma Office at $19.95 with no contract.
US prices from each vendor’s own pricing page, checked October 23, 2026.
Vonage alternatives compared
| Tool | Starts at | AI that answers calls | Contract | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/mo | Answers, books, texts back, calls new leads | None | Teams that can’t afford a missed call |
| Vonage (for reference) | $19.99/line monthly, $13.99 on a 12-month promo | AI Virtual Assistant, priced by sales | 1 year for the promo price | Offices with desk phones |
| Quo | $15/user annual, $19 monthly | Sona: 10 calls free, then $25 for 40 | Monthly or annual | Small teams sharing numbers |
| Ooma Office | $19.95/user | AI Answering Service from $14.99 | None | No-contract desk phones |
| RingCentral RingEX | $20/user annual, $30 monthly | AIR add-on from $39 | Auto-renews | Calls, video and chat together |
| Nextiva | $15/user annual, $23 monthly | XBert at $1.50 a conversation | 12-month term for the annual price | Phone plus helpdesk |
| Dialpad | $15/user annual | AI Agents on a credit pool | Annual for the $15 price | AI transcripts |
| Grasshopper | $14/mo | AI and live receptionist options | Monthly or annual | Solo owners |
Why businesses leave Vonage
- The good price has a contract attached. The 30%-off promotion that turns Mobile from $19.99 into $13.99 a line needs a minimum one-year contract for new accounts. Vonage’s own terms say early termination fees “can range up to the total price of your service contract.”
- Recording and transcripts cost a tier. On-demand call recording (15 hours a month), visual voicemail with transcription and call groups start on Advanced at $39.99 a line.
- The AI has no published price. Vonage lists an AI Virtual Assistant among its VBC features with no price on the page, and sends you to a specialist for a quote.
- Reviews describe service and cancellation trouble. Recent Trustpilot reviews mention repeated outages, long holds to reach support, a cancellation request that went unanswered and an account renewed into a new one-year contract after the customer had asked to leave.
1. Carly: best Vonage alternative for answering every call
Carly is the AI that sits on your business line and does what you’d want a great receptionist to do. It follows your rules the same way on every call, and you change them by typing a sentence.
- Rings your people first. During business hours your team gets the call. If nobody picks up, Carly answers. After hours it picks up right away.
- Books on the spot on your team’s real Google and Outlook calendars, round robin, then texts the confirmation from your number.
- Texts back every missed call and handles two-way texting from the same number (missed-call text back).
- Calls new leads within a minute of a web form fill (how it works).
- Answers in English or Spanish, whichever the caller speaks (bilingual answering).
- Phone menus and ring groups with up to nine options.
- Summaries in one team inbox, with every call logged to Carly’s CRM, HubSpot, Salesforce or Dynamics 365.
- Works from ChatGPT or Claude. Ask the chat to call a customer back or text everyone booked tomorrow (see how).
Pricing: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Get started. Still inside a Vonage term? Keep the number and forward the calls you miss to Carly until it ends.
2. Quo
The phone app formerly called OpenPhone, built around shared numbers and text threads. See Quo alternatives and Quo pricing.
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 desk phones in the way Vonage supports them, and Sona takes messages rather than booking.
3. Ooma Office
No contract, desk-phone friendly and well reviewed for support. 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, capped at 250 a month, and CRM integration sits on Pro Plus.
4. RingCentral RingEX
The full suite of calls, meetings and chat. See RingCentral alternatives.
Pricing: Core $20, Advanced $25 per user billed annually ($30, $35 monthly). AIR starts at $39 a month. Watch out for: contracts auto-renew unless you give notice, and Core includes 25 texts per user a month.
5. Nextiva
A phone system with a shared inbox and XBert, its AI employee. See Nextiva alternatives.
Pricing: NEXT Core $15, Engage $25 per user billed annually ($23, $50 monthly). XBert is $1.50 a conversation. Watch out for: the annual price needs a paid 12-month term, swapping one contract for another.
6. Dialpad
AI transcripts and summaries built into calling. 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 pool of credits.
7. Grasshopper
A simple second line with an app and texting, now with AI and live receptionist options. See Grasshopper alternatives.
Pricing: From $14 a month. Watch out for: sized for a solo owner, not a team sharing a front desk.
Leaving Vonage without getting burned
- Confirm your contract end date with Vonage before you cancel, since leaving early can cost up to the rest of the contract. Keep a written record of the request.
- Port the number last. Set up the new line, test it, then move the number.
- Cover the gap. Forward the calls nobody answers to Carly now, so nothing is lost during the switch.
Paste this into ChatGPT or Claude and Carly walks you through setup:
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 compare more in best small business phone systems.
FAQ
What is the best alternative to Vonage Business?
Carly if your calls need answering and booking when your team is busy. Ooma Office if you want a no-contract system for desk phones.
Does Vonage Business have a contract?
New accounts need a minimum one-year contract for the promotional price, and Vonage says early termination fees can reach the total price of the contract. Month-to-month plans cost more per line.
How much is Vonage Business per month?
Mobile is $19.99, Premium $29.99 and Advanced $39.99 per line a month, or 30% less ($13.99, $20.99, $27.99) on the 12-month promotion. Taxes and fees are extra.
Does Vonage have an AI receptionist?
Vonage lists an AI Virtual Assistant among its features and prices it through sales. Its standard Virtual Receptionist is a phone menu. Carly answers, books and texts back without changing your phone provider.
Ready to automate your busywork?
Carly schedules, researches, and briefs you—so you can focus on what matters.
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."
