Aircall is a powerful business communication platform that’s particularly useful for small cloud-based call centers. It’s flexible enough to support inbound, outbound, and blended contact centers alike—making it a viable option for sales teams and customer support agents. The platform shines for its interoperability–while it doesn’t come with many features beyond advanced calling, you can easily integrate Aircall with other business tools, like CRMs, video conferencing tools, instant messaging solutions, scheduling platforms, and help desk software.
It’s also notably easy to get started with Aircall, even for remote or hybrid teams. And you’ll be able to supercharge your staff’s productivity with native AI functions, although this costs extra.
The Best Aircall Alternatives and Competitors
Nextiva, Cloudtalk, and TalkDesk are the closest alternatives to consider if you don’t think Aircall is right for you.
Nextiva is our top recommendation for most businesses looking for a phone system or call center solution. Its phone system alone is a cost-effective alternative to full-blown contact center software, plus it comes with everything your team needs to communicate internally. Nextiva also has an omnichannel contact center solution that lets you connect with customers by phone, text, email, social media, and more. There’s unlimited scalability, no matter where you start.
Cloudtalk is a solid entry-level call center software. It shines for its exceptional call-routing capabilities and affordable price point, making it a great choice for smaller teams on tighter budgets.
With TalkDesk, you have a range of different options to choose from depending on the type of call center you’re running. It’s highly customizable and supports omnichannel contact centers across phone, live chat, social media, SMS messaging, and email—plus it’s packed with AI-powered capabilities an nearly infinite customization opportunities.
Our Take on Aircall
We recommend Aircall for businesses with fewer than 100 call center agents. It’s more affordable than other contact center software, and every plan is packed with the features that your team needs to succeed.
You’ll get unlimited calling, interactive voice response (IVR), call queues, call routing, call recording, warm transfers, and business texting on the cheapest plan. Aircall also lets you segment your teams for different use cases or departments, like sales, support, and billing.
But what really separates Aircall from its competitors is the way it integrates and syncs so smoothly with other third-party tools. Rather than trying to be something that it’s not, Aircall supports over 100 one-click integrations and provides API access for teams that need something customized. So while it doesn’t have built-in UCaaS features, a built-in CRM or helpdesk solution, Aircall’s strong focus on interoperability makes it easy to connect your favorite tools and bring all of your customer data together in one place.
Just know that Aircall is not a unified communication suite—so you’ll need to look elsewhere for things like team chat, virtual faxing, and video conferencing. And while the entry-level plan has an attractive price point, the cost can easily double if you upgrade or start purchasing add-ons.
Refer to our in-depth Aircall review to learn more about its pros, cons, features, and pricing.
Aircall vs. Nextiva
Nextiva has a better all-in-one business phone system than Aircall. For a lower starting price, Nextiva gives you unlimited calling plus team chat, unlimited internet fax, and video conferencing—none of which are available from Aircall.
Aircall’s platform is more call-center-specific, with some advanced calling features you won’t get from Nextiva’s phone system. For example, you’ll get access to power dialers, live monitoring, whisper, better call distribution rules, and smart routing at a lower price point than you would with Nextiva. Aircall also has the edge when it comes to integrations.
That said, Nextiva’s phone system is still better if you want to have a UCaaS solution—and it’s more than enough if you want to set up a virtual call center on a smaller scale without breaking the bank. Aircall only makes sense if you already have other platforms in place for internal communication.
Nextiva also shines over Aircall at scale. Beyond its business phone system, Nextiva also has a cloud-based omnichannel contact center solution that’s suitable for larger organizations, providing phone, social, SMS, chat, and email communication from a single screen. Aircall is mostly phone-based, and it doesn’t offer anything like this.
Read our Nextiva review to learn more.
Aircall vs. Cloudtalk
Cloudtalk is more of an entry-level contact center solution. While its Starter plan is actually $5 cheaper than Aircall, we don’t recommend that plan because it’s so basic.
Looking strictly at the next two tiers, Aircall and Cloudtalk are essentially the same price.
But one notable difference between the two is how you’re billed for outbound calls. Both providers offer unlimited internal and inbound calls (excluding toll-free), but Aircall also gives you unlimited calling throughout the US and Canada. Cloudtalk charges outbound calls based on usage.
This inevitably means you’ll end up paying more to use Cloudtalk, especially for high-volume use. But Cloudtalk does have more international numbers than Aircall and it has really strong call-routing capabilities for its low price point.
Ultimately, Aircall just seems to be a better fit for most businesses. You’re getting over pre-built 100 integrations with Aircall whereas Cloudtalk has less than 20. Beyond the international numbers and advanced call-routing options, it’s tough to justify choosing Cloudtalk over Aircall for most businesses. Aircall is the better value from just about every angle.
Check out our Cloudtalk review for a more in-depth look at its strengths, features, pricing, and potential drawbacks.
Aircall vs. TalkDesk
TalkDesk is more advanced than Aircall, and it’s a better fit for larger organizations. While Aircall is a great option for teams in the 3-99 range, TalkDesk works best for companies that need a phone system for 100-999 users.
In addition to its scalability, TalkDesk is much more customizable than Aircall.
You’ll have a wider range of deployment options—perfect if you want to run your contact center through a hybrid or regional cloud. TalkDesk also has a better enterprise-grade BYOC (bring your own carrier) solution, especially useful in global locations where you couldn’t otherwise have a local presence.
But all of these advanced features and capabilities available from TalkDesk come at a much higher price point. Plans range from $85 to $145 per month, whereas Aircall is in the $30 to $50 range.
For nearly triple the cost, Aircall still has more out-of-the-box integrations than TalkDesk. Although TalkDesk has stronger built-in AI capabilities—even when you factor in Aircall’s AI add-on.
If you have a scaling team with more than 100 users, take a look at our TalkDesk review to see if it’s right for you.
Aircall vs. Dialpad
Dialpad shines above other call centers for its robust AI-powered capabilities. The entire platform has built-in AI features that just continue getting more advanced at every tier.
Aircall has an AI add-on that includes call transcriptions, summaries, and key topic recognition. But this is really in its infantile stages and nowhere close to how Dialpad leverages AI.
With Dialpad, you have access to features like real-time AI coaching recommendations during calls, live sentiment analysis, AI-powered workflow automations, and so much more. These advanced capabilities make Dialpad a better fit for larger call centers in the 100-999 user range—although its contact center plans are nearly triple the cost of Aircall.
It’s also worth noting that Dialpad does have a basic business phone system and unified communication platform that’s separate from its call center software. These start at just $15 per user per month, which is cheaper than Aircall, and comes with team chat, SMS/MMS messaging, and unlimited calling.
Check out our Dialpad review and see our complete list of Dialpad alternatives to learn more.
Aircall vs. OpenPhone
OpenPhone is an entry-level phone system.
It’s an affordable and basic option for solo users or teams of up to five people. Aircall has a three-user minimum to get started, so OpenPhone is a solid alternative to consider if you just need one or two lines.
However, OpenPhone isn’t really a complete call center solution. It gets the job done if you just need a business phone number, but its calling features are virtually non-existent. OpenPhone’s Starter plan doesn’t even let you place a caller on hold or transfer them to a teammate, which is obviously required for high-volume inbound call centers.
It’s also worth pointing out that OpenPhone isn’t that much cheaper than Aircall. Sure, its entry-level plan starts at $15 (compared to $30 for Aircall).
But if you’re on a Business plan for $23 just to access basic call-handling capabilities, it may make sense to pay the extra $7 for Aircall.
That said, OpenPhone works really well for small teams running a text-based contact center. You get unlimited messaging, AI-powered message responses, auto replies, scheduled messages, and teams can even collaboratively respond to customer texts within a single thread.
We break all of these features down in greater detail in our OpenPhone review.
Aircall vs. PhoneBurner
PhoneBurner is a power dialer software above all else, but it can also be used by call centers to manage outbound campaigns at scale. You get unlimited outbound minutes, built-in CRM, and advanced call tracking—all included with arguably the most advanced power dialer on the market.
But starting at $127 per user per month, PhoneBurner is expensive.
Aircall’s power dialer is available at the Professional tier and higher, which starts at just $50 per user per month. While this dialer may not be as advanced as PhoneBurner, it still gets the job done.
Plus, PhoneBurner doesn’t offer any inbound calling capabilities until you reach its most expensive plan tier. You can run a blended contact center that comes with a power dialer for a third of that price by going with Aircall.
Read our PhoneBurner review to learn more about it.
Aircall vs. Zoom
Most of us know Zoom for its video conferencing capabilities. But Zoom recently came out with a new call center solution that starts at an appealing price for businesses interested in offering omnichannel support.
For $69 per month per agent, you can communicate via phone, video, live chat, and SMS. You also get real-time transcriptions and Zoom’s AI companion.
The next tier, starting at $99, also includes email, social media, WhatsApp, and automatic dialing.
The biggest downside? It’s call center solution is really new and doesn’t yet have a proven track record. If that bothers you, you might consider Zoom Phone for international calling. You can get unlimited calling to 19 countries and get unlimited calling in one of 48 countries if you have an office or high concentration of customers in another region.
Aircall also offers custom bundles for international calling. But these will end up costing you more money than Zoom.
Check out our Zoom review to learn more.
Aircall vs. RingCentral
RingCentral is one of the most powerful business communication platforms on the market. Aircall essentially offers just a single product.
But with RingCentral, you have the option to get a UCaaS business phone system, entry-level contact center, or enterprise-level contact center. That said, RingCentral’s advanced features and capabilities are typically too complex for smaller teams.
So if you have less than 100 call center agents, you’ll probably find Aircall more approachable.
Aircall is also much cheaper than RingCentral. Plus, Aircall has plans that come with a power dialer, whereas RingCentral charges extra for preview, predictive, and progressive dialing no matter the plan you’re on.
In a nutshell, RingCentral is more advanced and better for larger organizations. But it’s more expensive. Smaller teams can save money and still be really productive by using Aircall.
Refer to our RingCentral review for more about its features, benefits, use cases, and pricing.
Aircall Alternatives: The Final Verdict
Aircall is a great choice for smaller contact centers with 3-99 agents.
It’s affordable and supports nearly every integration you can imagine to help consolidate your needs under one roof. The calling features aren’t quite as advanced as others on the market, but you still get unlimited inbound and outbound calling at a manageable price point.
Nextiva is more versatile than Aircall, and it’s our top recommendation for most people. Whether you need a business phone system or an omnichannel contact center, Nextiva has you covered.
Talkdesk, Dialpad, and RingCentral are a better fit for call centers with over 100 agents. All three of these solutions have strong AI capabilities plus plenty of different plans and packages to choose from.
Consider OpenPhone if you just need one or two lines for basic calling capabilities or strong texting features, and use PhoneBurner if you don’t mind paying a premium price for an outbound power dialer. Zoom’s contact center solution is relatively new but you can also get a good deal on international calling through its standard phone system.
To learn more about these options and other Aircall alternatives, read our reviews of the best call center software and best business phone systems.
