How to choose a business phone system: prices, terms and the traps on entry plans

A cloud phone system gives your team business numbers, calls, texts and often video meetings in one app. The seven systems in our business phone systems ranking all sell online, but their entry plans differ more than their headline prices suggest. This guide covers what we weigh, the prices you will see, and the traps we found on the companies' own pages. Prices were read between Sep 24 and Sep 27, 2026.

What our ranking weighs, and why

We score each system on its entry plan, the cheapest plan a small team can buy online. The methodology shows every formula.

• Price for a small team (30%). The per-user monthly price of the entry plan, annual prepay included, before promotions. $15 or less scores full marks; $45 or more scores nothing. Where a company's pages disagree, we take the higher figure.
• Included features (25%). Six things most small teams use: unlimited US calling, an auto-attendant, business texting, video meetings, call recording and a mobile app.
• Contract and cancellation (15%). Points come off if the entry plan can't be bought month to month, has a seat minimum above one, or charges for leaving early.
• Support (15%). 24/7 phone and chat scores highest; chat or email only scores low.
• Reliability and compliance (15%). A published uptime SLA, and whether the company says it signs a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement.

The prices you will see

Entry plans run from $10.50 to $30 a user a month on annual billing:

• Zoom Phone US & CA Metered: $10.50, billed annually.
• Nextiva Core and Dialpad Standard: $15, billed annually.
• Ooma Office Essentials: $19.95, no contract.
• Vonage Mobile: $19.99 a line, month to month.
• RingCentral Core: $20, paid annually.
• Aircall Essentials: $30 a licence, billed annually, with a three-licence minimum.

Higher plans are on each company's pricing page, linked above. Month to month, the same entry plans cost $23 (Nextiva), $27 (Dialpad), $30 (RingCentral) and $40 (Aircall).

The traps we found

1. The annual price is not the monthly price. Nextiva's $15 needs a 12-month minimum term; month to month, Core is $23. Dialpad Standard is $27 billed monthly, and RingCentral Core is $30. Compare prices on the billing you will actually use.

2. Leaving early can cost the rest of the term. RingCentral's terms make all sums for the rest of the term due within 30 days. Nextiva adds any disconnect fee. Dialpad charges the rest of the annual term. Aircall's terms give the customer no right to end a term early and bar removing licences mid-term. Vonage's annual contracts carry fees "up to the total price of your service contract", though its monthly plans have none. Our guide to contracts and cancelling goes further.

3. A "monthly" price that is billed yearly. Zoom's pricing page shows monthly prices, but its footnote says "All plans are billed annually as a single upfront charge." We read it as no month-to-month plan.

4. Metered calling. Zoom's cheapest plan has no unlimited US and Canada calling; minutes are charged at rates behind a link. Unlimited calling starts at $16.

5. Features held back for higher plans. Ooma lists texting, video meetings and call recording only from Pro ($24.95). Vonage's Mobile plan has no desk phones or video meetings (Premium, $29.99) and no call recording (Advanced, $39.99). Nextiva lists call recording as an add-on on Core, with no price shown.

6. Seat minimums. Aircall needs three licences, so its entry plan is at least $90 a month. Dialpad Standard has a one-seat minimum; Pro needs three.

7. Uptime claims that aren't commitments. RingCentral publishes a 99.999% SLA. Nextiva's 99.999% is a headline, Vonage's is "based on Vonage's average up-time", and Dialpad's "100% uptime" page conflicts with its pricing page, which ties 99.9% to Enterprise only. Ooma's terms say it offers no uptime guarantee.

8. Support that stops at weekends, or at small accounts. RingCentral and Nextiva offer 24/7 phone and chat. Dialpad Standard gets 24/5 web and chat. Zoom gives live phone support only to accounts over $200 a month. Vonage and Aircall publish no hours for human support.

9. HIPAA on a higher plan. RingCentral and Dialpad put no plan limit on their BAA. Ooma's needs Pro, Zoom's comes in a healthcare bundle built on Pro Plus, Aircall lists HIPAA only on Enterprise, and Nextiva needs a separate "HC" version on a quote. See our HIPAA BAA guide.

A checklist before you buy

• Price the entry plan on the billing you'll use, for your actual number of users.
• Check the six features on that plan, not on the brand's feature page.
• Read the termination clause: what do you owe if you leave in month four?
• Look for fees on top: regulatory and E911 fees, extra numbers, texting registration.
• Check support hours and channels for your plan, not the top plan.
• If you handle patient information, confirm the BAA covers your plan.
• If you port a number in, check how long it takes; our guide to keeping your business number explains the steps.
• Not sure you need a full system? Read a business phone system or a virtual number.

Where to go next

Our business phone systems ranking scores all seven on these criteria, and our list for teams of 2 to 10 re-scores them for a five-person team, counting ring groups, call queues, extensions, team chat, desk phones and an admin portal.