VoIP phone services have gained much popularity in the past few years. Businesses and individuals have started relying on VoIP for communication needs, especially compared to traditional phone services. This is because VoIP provides several advantages and benefits which traditional phone systems cannot provide. These services are not only affordable but also very easy to set up and use.
This post will look at some of the best free virtual phone number service providers you can use for your business needs.
What Are Free Virtual Phone Numbers?
Virtual phone numbers allow you to create a business number different from your own. The virtual phone number will look professional and be associated with your business name.
You can use these numbers to create a business presence outside your home city or country. You can use your virtual phone number to receive calls from clients worldwide without paying international charges.
Also, users can hide their locations and IP information when using a virtual phone number. This can allow them to conduct confidential conversations without worrying about security or privacy concerns.
Virtual phone numbers are always powered via VoIP technology by VoIP service providers, allowing you to receive calls wherever you have an internet connection. They are also easy to use and set up. You must sign up with a service provider and set up your virtual numbers according to your chosen plan.
Top Free Virtual Phone Number Providers
Below, we have compiled a list of some of the top free virtual phone number providers currently available. This should give you a good idea of what to expect from these services and which one to sign up for.
- Nextiva: Best for flexibility
- RingCentral: Best for scalability
- Zoom: Best for interactive whiteboarding
- Vonage: Best for international calling
- Ooma: Best for free virtual business phone numbers
- 8×8: Best for web conferencing
- Dialpad: Best for call tracking and record keeping
- Trengo: Best for social media integration
- OpenPhone: Best for group messaging
- Google Voice: Best for personal customization
Let’s have a look at each of them in more detail now.
Nextiva
This is a well-reputed virtual phone number provider in Canada and the USA. It was founded in 2006 and offers brilliant business and domestic telephony communications solutions. Nextiva utilizes AI, automation, and business applications to help facilitate communications between your teams and customers.
With Nextiva, you get various communication channels comprising SMS, voice calls, video, virtual fax, and other useful cloud-based communications services. They help you route client calls and attend video conferencing calls.
Nextiva Key Features
This virtual business phone system provides all the vital business communication features necessary to promote productivity and flexibility for your small or large business organization.
You’ll also be better positioned to stay focused on your customers with features such as free virtual numbers, CRM integrations, a virtual receptionist, voice or video meetings, and more.
Nextiva Pros
If you want a virtual phone number provider with great benefits for your business, Nextiva is among the market’s most popular virtual phone number providers. Nextiva’s virtual phone system allows you to enjoy a wide range of benefits, including free call recording and advanced features for small and large businesses.
Nextiva Cons
Just like every other VoIP service provider, Nextiva has got a few downsides that are worth mentioning. This happens without any involvement on your side — and may occur due to an inadequate router or bad connection.
Nextiva Pricing
While Nextiva doesn’t offer free trial alternatives, users can still try out the options on demo versions.
RingCentral
This free virtual phone number provider is also popular among small and medium-sized organizations across the USA. It allows you to make phone calls over the internet and facilitates various other vital services.
They include messaging, video meetings, phone MVP plans, a desk phone, and more. All these services are tailor-made to optimize your business and team collaboration workflow.
RingCentral Key Features
This business phone system offers affordable cloud-based communications with excellent UCaaS features and great functionalities. This VoIP company offers communication tools without purchasing new hardware, benefiting small business owners.
RingCentral Pros
One of the main reasons RingCentral is a popular choice across North America is that it comes with great benefits, comprising a toll-free number for your business line.
RingCentral Cons
- Has no direct Linux support, but you can use the web portal
- You cannot customize the conference call greeting message
Any phone system on the market has its downsides, and RingCentral isn’t an exception to this rule. However, this virtual phone number vendor’s issues are minor and in no way disturb the system’s working.
RingCentral Pricing
The best part about RingCentral’s plans is that users can try them for free except for the Ultimate package.
Zoom
Among the best free VoIP phone number platforms, you’ll also find Zoom. This business phone system helps you modernize your communications system to improve productivity and cut costs — as a result, you achieve your business goals effectively. Additionally, Zoom software integrates with native apps to transfer calls across different devices, including mobile.
Zoom Key Features
Most virtual phone number VoIP platforms offer excellent features, and it’s no different with Zoom. As stated above, this best free virtual phone number provider provides various tools to help small businesses improve team collaboration and efficiency.
Zoom Pros
Users benefit from using Zoom in various ways — its free centralized management tools offer an easy way to achieve your business goals regardless of the size of your organization.
Zoom Cons
- Too many add-ons and subscriptions
- Does not offer HD Video as the standard
While Zoom has got plenty of excellent features, it does have a couple of disadvantages. However, some of these may not affect you at all, depending on the usage of the virtual phone number provider.
Zoom Pricing
Vonage
Vonage offers reliable VoIP communications solutions for both consumers and businesses. With Vonage, users get SMS, fax, team messaging, video conferencing, and voice. Vonage lets you integrate real-time voice and messaging with popular applications without necessarily building backend infrastructure.
Vonage Key Features
With the Vonage features listed above, you can manage your team members, forward calls, and keep in touch with your local and international clientele. Also, you can integrate third-party apps such as Salesforce, Microsoft Team, Office 365, G Suite, and more with Vonage.
Vonage Pros
Besides great features, you also get a lot of benefits with Vonage, including toll-free numbers and managing incoming and outgoing calls.
Vonage Cons
- Vonage voicemail transcription is sometimes inaccurate
- It could be a bit hard to get a hold of customer service
These are the main drawbacks we discovered when we reviewed this virtual phone system, but everything else functions just fine for your small business communications needs.
Vonage Pricing
Even though Vonage doesn’t offer a free trial plan, new users can still use credit-based trials, where you get a free trial with $10 in credits. This allows you to use any video API tools you want. For instance, you could redeem your trial credits to get free calls or minutes.
Ooma
Established in 2004, Ooma is a good virtual phone service for small businesses in the United States. Ooma’s products deliver great reliability with advanced telephony features, which allow you to make free local and international calls. With this free VoIP phone number service, you get remote access to the Ooma Office app, enabling you to run your business smoothly no matter where you are in North America.
Ooma Key Features
Ooma phone service is designed for both residential and business purposes. In each case, you’ll find different services with different phone number features, including a local phone number to help fulfill your communications needs.
Ooma Pros
Along with effective free virtual phone number tools, you’ve got great benefits with the Ooma VoIP platform.
Ooma Cons
- Has got limited third-party integrations
- Somewhat unclear security protocols
These are the drawbacks that we stumbled upon when reviewing this VoIP provider. They are, however, minor flaws for many users.
Ooma Pricing
While Ooma Office has no free trial plans, you could utilize Ooma Premier, which has an extended free calling zone. You can make free calls to other Premier clients in USA, Mexico, and Canada.
8×8
8×8 has existed for quite some time now, and it’s one of the most popular unified business phone and virtual business phone number providers. It offers a variety of tools for your communications solutions, including a softphone and call management features.
8×8 Key features
With 8×8 phone system features, you can collaborate well with your team and customers, which translates to efficiency and high-profit margins for your business.
8×8 Pros
8×8 comes equipped with advanced phone system functionalities to allow business owners to get the most out of the system at relatively low prices.
8×8 Cons
- Connectivity outside of the US is lacking a bit
- Connecting to customer service representatives can be challenging
Like all the other top-rated cloud-based communications services, 8×8 does have some minor challenges for users, which we’ve stated above. These, however, don’t affect the workings of the 8×8 virtual phone number provider.
8×8 Pricing
Note that the 8×8 Express plan has got a 30-day free trial so that you can determine whether or not the service is worthwhile.
Dialpad
Dialpad is a popular voice-over-internet-protocol communications solution built on Google Cloud, and it fuses contact center, calling, and conferencing. Like most cloud-based free virtual phone number services, its UCaaS tools/features are available for remote teams on different devices, including your mobile phone.
Dialpad Key Features
These features allow you to communicate with your team members remotely. Dialpad is one of the best wireless business phone systems providing virtual phone numbers for organizations with distributed teams and patrons worldwide.
Dialpad Pros
As described above, Dialpad has a list of benefits for its users in the USA at pocket-friendly prices.
Dialpad Cons
- For an upgrade, you require at least three users on your account
- Phone support is minimal for lower-level customers
We did find some disadvantages with Dialpad, which don’t necessarily affect your virtual phone number service.
Dialpad Pricing
With Dialpad, users are given a 14-day free trial. The setup process takes a few minutes to get started with your free virtual phone number.
Trengo
Trengo is another popular virtual phone system that offers a complete communication package for your small business. You can access it through your desktop PC and mobile phone wherever you are. Users can connect Trengo with SIP devices to show notifications of incoming calls and register calls via Voys in a Trengo ticket.
Trengo Key Features
With these features, Trengo users can offer a great customer experience and increase productivity.
Trengo Pros
- Integrates well with third-party apps such as HubSpot, Instagram, Salesforce, Magento, and WeChat
- With Trengo, you can create an awareness platform that’s accessible by service agents and customers
- Customer support is available worldwide
These are the major advantages we found while reviewing Trengo, which help you improve your workflow operations and virtual phone number experience.
Trengo Cons
- Trengo doesn’t store data for closed tickets, which could be a bit inconvenient
- It doesn’t have AI capabilities to keep improving auto-chats flow based on past interactions
Like any other cloud-based communications platform, Trengo has a few downsides, as described above.
Trengo Pricing
Apart from the Enterprise plan, the other packages are available with a free trial that ends after 14 days.
OpenPhone
OpenPhone is a well-reputed VoIP telephony solution that helps small businesses modernize services such as contact organization, internal communications, and other operations via a unified platform. Users can receive and make calls and benefit from toll-free phone numbers. Below, we’ve listed OpenPhone’s key features.
OpenPhone Key Features
OpenPhone offers excellent VoIP phone features to help supercharge your business communication needs, saving you money and time.
OpenPhone Pros
OpenPhone virtual phone system has various benefits for your business, regardless of the size.
OpenPhone Cons
- It doesn’t provide comprehensive call analytics such as answered calls, and response periods
- You cannot transfer out-going calls
This popular business phone company has its downsides, but it’s still a good choice for small business owners.
OpenPhone Pricing
Both the Standard and Premium packages give you a free trial of the service to determine whether it suits your business.
Google Voice
Google voice is among the best free virtual phone numbers services for business and personal use. This service is easy to use as you need a Gmail account. With Google Voice, you can receive messages and calls worldwide.
Google Voice Key Features
Google Voice has many features that offer great value to your business for free.
Google Voice Pros
- With Google Voice, users can configure their PBX
- It can be integrated with Google Calendar and Meet
- This platform can be customized to suit your everyday workflow
These are some benefits you enjoy with Google Voice number service, along with a custom Google Voice phone for residents of the following countries. They include the USA, UK, Canada, and various European countries.
Google Voice Cons
Although Google Voice has many disadvantages for many countries, it’s still a good choice for residents of North America and the vast majority of European nations.
Google Voice Pricing
Users can choose any pricing plan and qualify for a 14-day free trial.
Virtual Phone Number: Conclusion
There are numerous virtual business phone number services on the market. We have compiled a list of the best free virtual phone number providers for your small business to thrive. We know every business has unique needs, so we cannot tell you one option is better than the other.
The final decision has to come from you simply because you know exactly what your business requires in terms of a virtual phone number system.
Originally published at https://theventurer.co on January 27, 2023.
