The value of good customer service can’t be overstated – in 2024, users are expecting you to solve their problems quickly and provide them with the best experience possible.

And, while many customer issues can be resolved online, nothing seems to beat talking to an actual person. That’s especially the case for e-commerce websites and service businesses.

Order issues and shipping mix-ups are much easier to solve through a phone call than an intense web chat with an annoyed customer.

To manage these calls and run a good customer service, companies today use VoIP business phone systems, as they are an easy and efficient way to communicate with your customers and provide support.

One of the most popular systems is Grasshopper. A company with tons of experience in the industry, Grasshopper markets itself as a perfect solution for small businesses and individuals who want to improve their business and streamline their client communication.

In this article, we will be taking a look at some of the best Grasshopper alternatives on the market, so you can compare them and check out if they are better suited to your needs.

But, before we do that, let’s take a look at what makes Grasshopper a good choice.

Why Grasshopper?

Grasshopper was founded more than 15 years ago, and has since become one of the best-known names on the market.

It’s marketed towards “solopreneurs” and small businesses, and offers competitive prices in this range with a lot of useful features.

With Grasshopper, you can handle business calls and send business texts from your number to clients from all over the U.S. and Canada.

However, this feature is limited to these two countries at the moment, although their site does mention that other countries will be coming soon.

Their mobile and desktop apps allow you to access the system from anywhere, while the standard call forwarding feature makes it easy to transfer calls or send them directly to voicemail.

Another important feature is their virtual receptionist, which can be both a live person (Grasshopper collaborates with Ruby, the US-based receptionist service) or an auto-attendant that takes care of your inbound calls just like a real-life receptionist would.

As for pricing, Grasshopper offers several options.

There is the Solo plan that’s available for $29/month, the Partner plan for $49/month, and the Small Business plan for $89/month. Be aware, however, that the Solo plan gives you just one number, so if you’d like a little more flexibility, go with one of the other two.

The best Grasshopper alternatives

These are our top Grasshopper alternatives:

1.  Ringblaze

2.  Google Voice

3.  Phone.com

4.  Freedom Voice

5.  Nextiva

6.  Evoice

As you’re about to see, we took into account several factors when ranking these tools, like:

–        Features

–        Ease of use

–        Pricing

–        Call options (domestic, international)

–        Customer support

–        Online reviews

–        Call quality

–        Etc.

We tested each of these tools for at least three weeks and summarized our experiences in this article.

ServiceInternational numbersExtensionsCall recordingClick-to-call Plans
GrasshopperNoUnlimitedNoNo$29/month $49/month $89/month
RingblazeYesUnlimitedYesYes$15/user/month
Google VoiceYes, but limitedUnlimitedYesNo$10/user/month $20/user/month $30/user/month
Phone.comYesUnlimitedYesNo$9.99/month $14.99/month $24.99/month
Freedom VoiceNoUnlimitedAdditional featureNo$9.95/month $19.95/month 29.95/month
NextivaNoUnlimitedIn some plansNo$19.95/user/month $20.95/user/month $27.5/user/month
eVoiceAdditional featureUnlimitedAdditional featureYes€7.5/month €14.95/month €19.95/month €29.95/month
Grasshopper alternatives comparison table

1. Ringblaze vs. Grasshopper

If you run an e-commerce website or a similar online brand that has a potentially worldwide audience, having a VoIP business phone system with an international calls feature is essential.

That’s exactly what we had in mind when launching Ringblaze two years ago.

Our main goal was to create a perfect solution for small and medium businesses in need of strong phone support, while providing them with international phone calls and numbers.

So far, Ringblaze has proven to do just that – offer small and medium businesses quality service with a lot of useful features at an affordable price.

What makes it better than Grasshopper?

The first thing that sets Ringblaze apart from Grasshopper (and some others on this list) is the international calls feature. You can use this feature as soon as you register, so there’s no need for any additional payments or fancy, premium plans.

On the other hand, Grasshopper doesn’t have international calls readily available in their plans, but you can activate it for a single down payment of $500.

With Ringblaze, you also get a dashboard for team collaboration that makes everything easier to manage. The team can record calls, leave comments on those calls, and assign calls to individual agents.

You can also get a business phone number from as many as 22 countries while answering calls from wherever you are.

More importantly – all of these calls are free for your callers. So, wherever they’re calling you, they won’t pay a dime!

Grasshopper alternatives: Ringblaze
Ringblaze dashboard

Grasshopper has far less team collaboration options. You can’t record calls, and the basic plan only gives you one phone number.

If you do have a customer support team, you’ll have to upgrade to the most expensive plan to get unlimited extensions.

Another very useful feature that Ringblaze offers is the click-to-call widget, or simply, a “Call Us” button that you can easily incorporate into your website. This feature can help you generate more leads from your website and convert customers quickly.

Ringblaze click-to-call web widget
Try clicking the “Call us” button

None of the other systems in this article offer this feature, Grasshopper included!

You can use it to engage with your clients more easily, talk to them while they browse your website, improve your customer care and retention and in general, improve your conversion rates significantly.

You can add anywhere – your website, your email signature or even to your blog article. E.g. right now you can click this link and instantly get in touch with me. I’m serious, try it! Just make sure you are calling California office hours 🙂

Ringblaze widget works around the world

Ringblaze pricing

Perhaps one of the best things about Ringblaze is the transparent pricing.

There are no “beginner”, “business”, “pro” and other plans – you have one plan, and every feature is included. If you choose to pay annually, the price is $15 per user per month.

For this price you get a free domestic phone number, the “call us” website button, international calling feature, an international number, and much more.

Ringblaze simple pricing

Not having to decide between plans and read carefully to see which features are included in which option is certainly a refreshment.

Ringblaze summary

A relatively new player in the market, Ringblaze is packed with great features for a reasonable price.

If you’d like to use a business phone system with international calling, recording options, team collaboration features and even conversion rate optimization capabilities, feel free to sign up for Ringblaze now – it’s quick and easy!

Ringblaze desktop and mobile app
Ringblaze is an app for desktop and mobile
free trial

2. Grasshopper vs. Google Voice

When Google entered the VoIP game in 2009 with Google Voice, we knew they were about to offer a competitive service with a lot of useful integrations with the rest of their G Suite.

That’s exactly what we got – a solid business phone system that will feel natural to those familiar with the G Suite Admin console.

With several pricing plans (including a free one for personal use), Google Voice comes with various features that may make it more suitable for you than Grasshopper.

What makes it better than Grasshopper?

Let’s deal with the obvious first – Google Voice is free for individuals.

Since Grasshopper also offers the “Solo” plan for $29/month, it’s safe to say that entrepreneurs that work alone are a part of its target audience.

Although Grasshopper’s Solo plan gives you up to three extensions, if you don’t need those, Google Voice is the better option simply because it’s free.

Now, we’re going to assume that you’re more interested in the business plans, so let’s get to those.

Grasshopper alternatives: Google Voice

The first advantage that Google Voice has over Grasshopper is the sheer number of integrations it offers – you can connect everything with your Google Calendar, Google Hangouts, and a number of other services from the G Suite.

You can even receive calls and messages through Google Hangouts.

Like with Grasshopper, you get unlimited domestic SMS with Google Voice, which is a big plus. But, what you also get is a number of international locations from which you can take calls.

As Grasshopper is only available in the U.S. and Canada at the moment, that’s a big advantage for Google Voice.

However, be aware that Google Voice does promise “unlimited” international locations, but with an important asterisk. You can only take calls in all international locations where Google Voice is actually available, which, at the moment, is 11 countries.

Google Voice features

Nevertheless, Google Voice still beats Grasshopper in this category.

Another feature you might find useful is the call recording option that Google Voice offers, but Grasshopper doesn’t.

Google Voice Pricing

Google Voice offers three plans, with the Standard plan marketed as the “best value”.

In it, you get an unlimited number of users and unlimited domestic locations for $20 per user per month. The only drawback here is that you can’t answer calls from international locations unless you upgrade to the premier plan at $30 per user per month.

Google Voice summary

If you feel at home in the G Suite Admin console and you like the features we listed above, this should be a no-brainer for you.

More numbers and more flexible international calling options also make it a more appealing option for online businesses.

It is, however, a bit pricier if you decide to go for the most interesting features.

Also, feel free to check out our in-depth guide on Google Voice alternatives if you want to learn more about your options.

3. Phone.com vs. Grasshopper

Much like Grasshopper, Phone.com targets the small business market and solo entrepreneurs.

It’s a cloud-based solution that offers customer support to more than 25.000 users all over the U.S., and it’s marketed as a great solution for small teams that work either under the same roof or remotely.

It was founded in 2007 but has since introduced some modern features that have made it more competitive with the fast-growing VoIP market.

What makes it better than Grasshopper?

The most obvious thing that you notice right away is the number of features that Phone.com offers, which is far more advanced than Grasshopper’s features.

Grasshopper alternatives: Phone.com

In addition to regular call center features like forwarding and transferring, Phone.com offers you some more advanced options, like caller menus, queues, custom greetings, and hold music. Some of these can come in pretty handy if you want to take your service to the next level.

However, the difference between the two becomes obvious when we get to scalability. Phone.com has a unique option of paying per minute, which allows you to buy a set number of minutes and scale everything up if your business starts to grow. That way, you don’t have to pay extra for unlimited minutes you don’t need.

Phone.com also offers you unlimited extensions even with their most basic plan, while you need to go for the most expensive plan to get that with Grasshopper.

Finally, like with previous Grasshopper alternatives, Phone.com wins in the international numbers category, as it offers you global phone numbers for a small fee.

Phone.com pricing

As we mentioned before, you can purchase a set number of minutes with Phone.com or go with the Unlimited plan, which costs a little more but doesn’t put a cap on your minutes.

Keep in mind that some features need to be purchased separately, depending on the plan you choose. For example, you could end up paying an additional $3.99 for caller analytics, $4.95 for call recording, and $4.99 for global phone numbers.

Phone.com summary

If you’re looking for a more advanced option that gives you the option to upgrade if your business starts growing, then Phone.com is a better option for you than Grasshopper.

Phone.com pricing

Some features are only available if you purchase them separately, but it’s still better to have that option on the table.

Having international numbers in several countries can also be a plus if you travel a lot or have multiple offices.

4. FreedomVoice vs. Grasshopper

Founded as early as 1996, FreedomVoice has since been servicing small businesses with a simple yet effective solution for their business phone needs.

In 2016, the service was purchased by the tech giant GoDaddy in an attempt to solidify their position as the go-to small business helper.

At the moment, FreedomVoice offers the CloudNumber and CloudPhone service. The latter provides physical phones for small offices (under four employees), so we’ll focus on the CloudNumber as a cloud-based VoIP system.

What makes it better than Grasshopper?

FreedomVoice puts a strong emphasis on the ease of use of their product. You purchase the service, choose a toll-free or local number, and it’s running in a matter of minutes.

Same can’t be said for Grasshopper – although it’s not that complicated, it’s not as simple as FreedomVoice.

One thing that Grasshopper is proud of is their virtual receptionist, but FreedomVoice matches this with their automated attendant. You can implement this feature to answer all of your calls with a customized message and help the users get routed to anyone on your team.

A great advantage for FreedomVoice over Grasshopper is the customization of features. Any plan you choose has a set of features that can be more or less advanced, depending on the plan.

However, you can pick and choose the features you like and create a custom plan if you’re willing to pay extra for certain features.

Two more options you get with FreedomVoice but not with Grasshopper are the call recording option (although you have to pay extra) and unlimited extensions for all plans.

FreedomVoice pricing

Similarly to Phone.com, FreedomVoice offers you a couple of minute-based plans and an unlimited one.

The difference here is that, if you break the limit and use more minutes, each additional minute is charged.

Grasshopper alternatives: FreedomVoice pricing

Phone recording, hold music library, sending voice messages, and other advanced features are charged separately.

FreedomVoice summary

The main reason why you would choose FreedomVoice over Grasshopper is its simplicity and customization. If you run a very small team and would like to have a scalable business phone system with some advanced features you can choose, FreedomVoice could be the right choice for you!

5. Nextiva vs. Grasshopper

Grasshopper alternatives: Nextiva

If you’re just getting into the VoIP market and researching your options, chances are Nextiva was among your first results.

That’s no coincidence – the company has been a big player in the game since its inception.

Although they are both marketed towards small businesses, it’s clear that Nextiva can be used by larger teams.

What makes it better than Grasshopper?

It’s in the more expensive plans that the differences between the two services really start swinging into Nextiva’s favor.

For example, screen sharing is a very useful feature that’s lacking in Grasshopper.

The more expensive plans in Nextiva also offer you audio conference calls with either 40 or unlimited number of participants, which is great for teams collaborating remotely.

The number of integrations you get with Nextiva is also pretty impressive – you can integrate with the most popular Microsoft apps like Teams, Outlook, and Google, but with other third-party apps that many businesses use: Salesforce, Zendesk, HubSpot, etc.

Grasshopper does have some integration options, but nowhere near Nextiva.

Unfortunately, like Grasshopper, Nextiva doesn’t give you the option to use international numbers, so if this is important to you, you may want to check out Nextiva’s competitors.

Nextiva pricing

Nextiva offers three different plans that charge you on a per user, per month basis. They all offer you unlimited minutes in the U.S. and Canada, but the two more expensive plans are packed with useful features.

Nextiva summary

Nextiva offers much more advanced features than Grasshopper, at a higher price. However, these features can be very useful if you have a team, especially one that collaborates remotely.

So, if you’re employing a larger team and are ready to pay more for a premium service, Nextiva is definitely a better choice. Alternatively, you can take a look at Ringblaze if you are looking for a tool that’s more affordable and easier to use yet with similar collaborative features as Nextiva.

For a more detailed overview, check out our Nextiva vs Grasshopper comparison guide.

Grasshopper vs. eVoice

Launched in 2000 and owned by j2 Global, eVoice has since been relaunched with new features to compete with new VoIP business phone providers. Back in 2000, it was the first large-scale, internet-enabled voicemail system.

In fact, several technologies that VoIP services offer today were patented by eVoice, such as voicemail-to-email.

Since the relaunch in 2010, eVoice has been targeting entrepreneurs and small businesses based in the U.S. and Canada.

What makes it better than Grasshopper

The area where Grasshopper and eVoice compete most closely is the receptionist.

While Grasshopper offers the Virtual receptionist which can be both a live person or a machine, eVoice guarantees a similar thing – a 24/7 virtual receptionist that gives callers a studio-recorded welcome and directs them to wherever they need to go. 

However, the greeting message recorded by a professional actor comes free with eVoice, while you have to post a one-time payment of $75 to get the same with Grasshopper.

One more notable difference is the voicemail transcription that can be sent to a text message or email. With Grasshopper, you need to pay $10 a month for this service, while eVoice provides it for free.

But perhaps the biggest difference between the two is in conference calls. Grasshopper allows you to have up to ten participants in a conference call, while eVoice allows up to 95. If you go with the premium plan, you can increase this number up to 2.000.

You also get an unlimited number of extensions in all eVoice plans, which can prove important if you’re running a larger team.

eVoice pricing

As for pricing, eVoice has four different options, first of which is a “pay as you go” model, with no free minutes. Instead, they charge you six cents per minute.

Unfortunately, no plans offer unlimited minutes or texts, which can be a downside if you need those features.

eVoice summary

Compared to Grasshopper, eVoice takes customer support a bit more seriously and makes everything feel more professional with recorded messages and a free voicemail-to-text feature.

Furthermore, eVoice is better suited to teams, with advanced conference call options and more extensions.

See also how Grasshopper compares to Dialpad.

Grasshopper alternatives: Final verdict

What you’re looking for in a VoIP business phone system is entirely up to you – whether you’re an individual, a small business, or a big enterprise will surely dictate your needs.

However, if you’re looking for a reliable system packed with great features at a reasonable price, we suggest trying Ringblaze.

Apart from standard business phone features, it comes with some extra ones that you can only find in premium price plans of some other systems – the click-to-call and voice recording features come to mind.

Moreover, its pricing plan is simple and transparent, with no additional charges!

Sign up and see why Ringblaze is one of the best Grasshopper alternatives you can find.

Grasshopper alternatives: FAQs

What are the disadvantages of Grasshopper?

Grasshopper is currently only available in Canada and the U.S., so if you’re based anywhere else in the world, it’s pretty much useless for you. What’s more, international numbers aren’t included in the standard pricing. There are also no call recording or click-to-call options in this service.

What is similar to Grasshopper phone service?

A similar option to Grasshopper is Ringblaze. This alternative works all over the world and supports international calls. It also has more team collaboration options, a click-to-call widget for generating leads easily and more affordable, transparent pricing.

How much is Grasshopper per month?

Grasshopper offers three pricing options:
– Solo plan for $29/month
– Partner plan for $49/month
– Small Business plan for $89/month

Which is better: Grasshopper or RingCentral?

Grasshopper has a better feature pack for small American businesses, e.g., toll-free numbers, support for multiple extensions, call forwarding, voicemail transcription and text messaging.

Larger companies can appreciate the feature bundle in RingCentral that includes 100 toll-free minutes, unlimited calls, visual voicemails, CRM integrations and an auto-attendant.

See also: Grasshopper vs RingCentral vs Google Voice

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