Equipping your business with a VoIP phone system can be one of the best decisions you’ll make this year.
These systems allow you to streamline all communication with your customers, whether it be through sales or customer service calls. And, as competition in the VoIP industry keeps growing, VoIP providers will keep packing their plans with useful features at affordable prices, giving small businesses more reasons to make the switch from landlines to VoIP.
As one of the most popular VoIP solutions for small businesses, Dialpad and Ooma are often mentioned in the same sentence. However, there are some important differences between these two services that could affect your decision on which one to buy.
In this article, we will be analyzing Dialpad and Ooma to see how they compare in different categories – from pricing to user reviews.
First, let’s learn more about VoIP numbers and their advantages.
What is a VoIP business phone system?
VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, which simply means that VoIP tools use an Internet connection to handle all your calls. Unlike your landlines that use copper wiring installations to transmit signals, VoIP services only need a standard Wi-Fi connection.
This comes with many advantages but you have to make sure your connection is strong enough to handle multiple calls at the same time.
The key reason why companies are choosing VoIP systems over landlines is the low price of service. Since there are no big phone companies and complicated infrastructures involved, VoIP providers don’t charge as much for minutes, even if you’re calling internationally. You can also choose the pricing plan that perfectly fits the size of your business, so you’ll rarely end up overpaying.
VoIP systems have a number of other advantages over landlines, such as desktop and smartphone apps with advanced features, call recording, and “call us now” buttons that you can incorporate on your website.
What are the different types of small business phone systems?
There are a lot of options to choose from when you’re searching for a perfect small business phone system for your company. For example, you’ll quickly run into an important question: should you choose a system that works with every phone, smartphone, and PC or a system that provides special hardware.
Since the latter is more flexible and easier to set up, you might want to go for one of these providers. One of such systems is Ringblaze – the tool that we’re building. It’s easy to install and available on all devices. Sign up and try Ringblaze now – it will only take a couple of moments!
Another important differentiation is between fixed and non-fixed VoIP numbers. Fixed numbers require an address from the country in which you’re purchasing the service. Non-fixed VoIP numbers, on the other hand, can be purchased from virtually anywhere. So, if you’re planning to run a part of your call center from abroad, make sure your provider has that option.
What is Dialpad?
Dialpad is a cloud-based VoIP solution that was one of the pioneers in the industry. Founded in 1999 as Dialpad Communications, it experienced fast international growth and reached 14 million users in its first year.
It received $100 million in Series E funding this fall and it’s currently a preferred partner of Microsoft, Google, and Sprint. The founder of this service is Craig Walker, who might be familiar to you as the creator of both Google Voice and Yahoo! Voice.
Dialpad has some impressive references, as it’s used by such companies as Uber, TED, and HubSpot.
What is Ooma?
Started as a “VoIP in a box” service back in 2003, Ooma is a VoIP provider that offers its services to a set of audiences: from families to large enterprises. In 2015, the Silicon Valley Business Journal named Ooma one of the fastest-growing private companies.
As of 2013, Ooma splits their services into two key categories: Ooma Telo and Ooma Office. The first one is aimed at the residential sector, while the second one targets companies. In this article, we will be focusing on the Ooma Office, which is a cloud-based solution that provides a set of enterprise features.
Ooma usually requires a base station to work but since the launch of the mobile version in late 2016, that’s no longer necessary.
Dialpad vs Ooma: How did we compare them?
We used each of these tools for at least two weeks, summarizing our impressions along the way. After that period, we compared the tools on six criteria.
Pricing – we looked at which plans were marketed as “best value” and what features are included in those plans. We also took into consideration how scalable each tool is, meaning how costly it is for you to add new users or features.
Setup and ease of use – starting with the installation process, we examined how easy it is to set these tools up and use them. We considered their interface, intuitiveness of their design, and their overall feel.
Features – here, we’ll compare what kind of features both of these tools offer, including the more advanced features that go beyond basic VoIP options like call forwarding and recording.
Team collaboration – running a call center is much easier if your VoIP service has a built-in set of team collaboration features. Here, we’ll see if either of these tools delivers such features.
Integrations – any good VoIP provider should offer you a set of integrations with the most popular business tools out there. This includes the Google Suite, Office 365, Salesforce, and others.
Now that we know what we’re looking for, let’s see how Dialpad and Ooma compare to each other!
Dialpad vs Ooma: Pricing
Both Dialpad and Ooma have fairly standard pricing plans to choose from. They both charge on a per-user, per-month basis, which means that you’ll pay additionally for each new line you need. This is a standard pricing model in the VoIP industry.
Dialpad pricing starts at $15 per month, per user, for their Standard plan. You can also go for the Pro plan for $25 per user, per month, and the Enterprise plan depends on your specific needs, so you need to contact Dialpad directly to get a price. It’s important to mention that these prices apply only if you pay annually. If you pay monthly, the Standard plan ends up at $20 and the Pro plan at $30 per user, per month.
Also, Dialpad’s 24/7 customer service is not available in the Standard plan.
Ooma Office offers two pricing plans: the Ooma Office ($19.95) and Ooma Office Pro ($24.95). The more advanced features like call recording, voicemail transcription, and the desktop app are only available in the Office Pro plan. You can also get one of the two Enterprise plans: Ooma Enterprise ($34.99) or Call Center ($74.99).
If you’re finding all this pricing talk confusing, you might want to check out Ringblaze. With only one pricing plan with all features included, Ringblaze is refreshingly transparent and easy to understand. There are no hidden costs, no exclusive features, and it’s only $15 per user, per month.
Sign up for Ringblaze and start saving!
Dialpad vs Ooma: Setup and ease of use
As we mentioned earlier, you can get Ooma both with a base station and as a mobile version. If you choose to get it with a base station, you’ll need to set that up on your own. The process is intuitive and, if you get the product directly from Ooma, it should be pre-configured for your company.
If you have any trouble setting up the system, you can always contact Support to help you go through the Ooma Login process.
Dialpad’s phone system doesn’t need additional hardware to work. If you have more than five employees, a Dialpad engineer will get in touch with you and guide you through the installation process. They’ll even run a network assessment test to identify potential problems.
When it comes to interface, both apps feature a clean design that’s easy to navigate. We might give a slight edge to Dialpad here, as it’s slightly more intuitive and looks better.
We believe that Dialpad is the winner in this category, especially if you don’t like the idea of installing new hardware in your office. You can also consider some of our Ooma alternatives that don’t have this problem.
Dialpad vs Ooma: Features
In terms of features, Dialpad and Ooma are hard to separate. Both of them offer a basic set of VoIP features like call forwarding, free minutes, free SMS, vanity numbers, etc. To get to their key differences, we need to dig a little deeper.
In the calling and SMS field, we have to give a slight advantage to Ooma. While with Dialpad phones you can only dial numbers within the U.S. and Canada, Ooma extends this service to Mexico and Puerto Rico.
When we get to the more advanced features, Dialpad starts to fight back. For example, Dialpad offers its web app, voicemail transcription, and online meetings in its cheapest plan. If you want to get any advanced features with Ooma, you’ll have to invest in the more expensive plan. Neither video conferencing nor call recording is available in the Ooma Office plan.
Both apps offer a variation of the “multi-ring” feature which allows you to have multiple devices ringing at the same time when a call is being made. You can also set up Call Queues and have agents to receive calls in a particular order.
One of Ooma’s standout features is the Virtual Receptionist that can play custom messages to your callers and route calls. You can also create menu options for different languages and create different modes for business hours and after hours.
Dialpad vs Ooma: Team collaboration
When it comes to team collaboration, neither of these tools has advanced features that can help your team organize their work and collaborate more efficiently. On Dialpad, you can organize your team to a certain extent with Office 365 or the G Suite, since both of these integrations are available in all plans.
Ooma’s dashboard has a variety of options but it lacks team collaboration features. If you go for Ooma Office Pro, you’ll get the video conferencing feature but other options are slim.
If you’d like a VoIP tool that has build-in collaboration features, Ringblaze might be your answer. It has a team collaboration dashboard that you can use to assign calls to agents, leave comments on these calls, and much more. That way, everyone will be in the loop and there will be less pressure on individual agents when they pick up each other’s shifts.
Try it now and see for yourself!
Dialpad vs Ooma: Integrations
If you’re using tools to manage other aspects of your business (like CRM and sales), you’ll want your VoIP service to offer integrations with those tools. That will allow your agents to stay within the app and easily share data between the two tools, simplifying the process.
For example, an integration with Salesforce will likely allow you to see previous interactions and contact detail from Salesforce while using your VoIP app.
Both Dialpad and Ooma offer integrations with the most popular business tools like Zendesk, G Suite, Office 365, Slack, etc. However, there are slight differences in which integrations you get with which pricing plans.
Dialpad offers integrations with Slack, Zendesk, Hubspot, and Azure – but none of those are available in the Standard plan. The only two integrations you get with this plan are G Suite and Office 365.
Similarly, Ooma offers app integrations only for the Enterprise and Call Center plans.
See also our other Dialpad comparisons:
Or our Ooma comparisons:
Dialpad vs Ooma: Summary
Both Ooma and Dialpad target the small business market, which is obvious from looking at their features and pricing plans.
However, you can say that both of these tools fall short in certain areas. Ooma reviews often criticize it for its confusing setup process and a lack of advanced features. Dialpad, on the other hand, offers little advanced features in its basic plan, which forces you to go for the more pricey ones.
If you’d like to try an alternative to these two services which provide an impressive set of features for a more affordable price, try Ringblaze. You get all the basic features like free minutes and call forwarding, but you also get a set of advanced features like the “click-to-call” website button and a useful dashboard for team collaboration. The pricing is transparent and there are no confusing plans to choose from.
Try Ringblaze now for free!