Vonage is a leading VoIP provider that offers solutions for businesses of all sizes. Its most affordable plan starts at $19.99 per user, although it offers volume discounts, and all plans are highly scalable. Vonage stands out for its attractive mobile interface, excellent functionality, and integration with third-party CRMs and other platforms. Live chat support is somewhat limited, but the self-help resources are excellent.
PROS
- Highly scalable
- Attractive mobile apps
- Excellent CRM integrations
CONS
- No free trial
- Limited live chat support
Features Available with Vonage Business VoIP
Vonage lacks some minor features in its most affordable plans, but there are many offerings with the Premium and Advanced subscriptions.
Vonage Meetings
All Vonage Meetings VoIP plans include access to the Vonage Meetings video conferencing app. It’s a great tool for hosting great meetings between team members. You can send invitations when needed, and there are tools for screen sharing and meeting recording.
Integrated Admin Tools
It also includes an advanced management portal, which is especially useful for large businesses. It allows you to manage all aspects of your phone system from a central location, making it easy to manage overall operations. Additionally, the management portal allows you to control access permissions and view your account activity in real time.
Business Inbox
Vonage Business Inbox is a standalone add-on that costs $9.99 per month, but it’s worth considering. It lets you collect SMS, MMS, and Facebook Messenger conversations into one inbox so you can manage and respond to them efficiently.
Voicemail to Email
voicemail to Email The email tool does exactly what its name suggests: it transcribes any voice message and sends it to the specified email address. The MP3 recording will also be sent as an attachment, allowing you to listen to it or save it whenever you need it.
Call Recording
Vonage offers excellent call recording options. You can set the app to record all calls or use on-demand call recording to save the most important ones. You can also record incoming and outgoing corporate calls based on certain rules that you configure.
Vonage Security and Reliability
Vonage claims to “implementing various security measures to protect its customers’ data. While it doesn’t mention what specific measures it uses, it does show compliance and certification from various organizations such as HITRUST, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, and SOC. It also complies with GDPR regulations.
Vonage Integrations
Vonage offers 20 integrations with various CRM and business applications. Business applications such as Microsoft Teams and Surfly are available on all plans. However, to access CRM integrations, you will need to upgrade to one of two premium plans, such as Bullhorn, G-Suite, Hubspot, Office 365, Salesforce, Sugar CRM, ZenDesk, Zoho, and more.
Some Vonage integrations are free, but many require an additional monthly fee. Connecting your applications to Vonage is a simple process and does not require specialized technical knowledge. Additionally, many of the integrations can be customized.
Vonage App
Vonage has a highly functional mobile app for iOS and Android devices. It offers text, voice, and video calling, plus team messaging, call forwarding, and other tools. You can also sync accounts across multiple devices.
The mobile interface is attractive and easy to navigate. There are a lot of VoIP tools, but they are smartly distributed throughout the app, so they never feel overwhelming or confusing. Another notable feature is the App Center, which allows you to integrate your mobile VoIP with various business and productivity apps.
Vonage Customer Support
Vonage offers live chat, phone, and email support. Email tickets can be accessed through your management portal. Phone support is available Monday through Friday (8:00 AM to 12:00 PM EST) and Saturday through Sunday (9:00 AM to 9:00 PM EST). Live chat is only available through a built-in chatbot and is very slow. At one point, we wanted to ask a simple question about Vonage’s call recording features. However, we had to give up after not receiving a response for over an hour.
On the plus side, the Business Support Center offers a wealth of self-help resources. It includes a variety of articles and guides, including a comprehensive “Getting Started” section and an extensive FAQ. You’ll find more informative and educational content on the “Resources” page on the main website.
Pricing & Special Offers
Vonage offers three unified communications plans, ranging in price from $19.99 per month to $39.99 per user. The price per user decreases as you add users, and all plans with more than 100 users have special pricing.
The most affordable mobile plan starts at $19.99 per month per user and includes unlimited texting and calling, as well as access to the Vonage App Center. The Premium plan (starting at $29.99 per month) includes CRM integrations and a multi-level auto attendant, while the Advanced subscription (starting at $39.99 per month) includes call recording and visual voicemail.
Physical phones and other products can be purchased through the Vonage website. Several additional services are available at checkout, including toll-free numbers ($49.99 per month), voicemail transcription ($4.99 per month), and a call queuing tool ($14.99 per month). You can also purchase premium support services if needed.
Vonage vs RingCentral
RingCentral is another leading VoIP service provider and, like Vonage, offers options for businesses of all sizes. RingCentral is a bit more expensive, but it has hundreds of integrations compared to Vonage’s 20, and its 24/7 support is excellent. RingCentral is also very transparent about its security practices, which are among the best we’ve seen.
Vonage vs Ooma Office
Ooma Office is a bit more expensive than Vonage, but it offers much more advanced features. For example, it supports analog phones (with additional hardware) and has an excellent interactive voice response (IVR) system. Ooma Office also offers a 30-day free trial, which Vonage does not.
Vonage vs Grasshopper
Grasshopper is a very affordable VoIP service provider and is great for small to medium-sized businesses. It offers a convenient free trial and an easy-to-use mobile app, but some features are somewhat limited. For example, Grasshopper doesn’t offer integrations or video conferencing, two areas where Vonage excels.
Bottom Line
Vonage is a popular VoIP service provider, and it’s easy to see why. It’s relatively affordable compared to its competitors, offers a lot of useful features, and has a user-friendly interface and mobile app. While some aspects of live support are somewhat limited, there is a comprehensive help center with helpful guides, tutorials, FAQs, and other resources.
Some of Vonage’s standout features include Business Inbox, the Vonage Meetings video conferencing tool, and a voicemail-to-email conversion tool. While the company’s security practices aren’t fully disclosed on its website, Vonage is certified by several major organizations and is GDPR compliant.
On the other hand, the downside is that there’s no free trial or way to test the platform without a paid subscription. However, if you are looking for a scalable VoIP solution or a good phone company, Vonage is definitely worth considering.
