Top 11 Ooma Alternatives in the UK

Whether you need a telephony, messaging, or video conferencing platform, you will find Ooma competitors that will help you achieve successful and efficient business communication. Discover alternatives to Ooma and choose the one that best fits your company and your communication goals.

Table of the Best Ooma Competitors

What is Ooma?

Ooma is a telecommunications company specialising in small and medium businesses which began serving professionals in 2013. Prior to that, they provided VoIP phone subscription services to consumers. They offer unified communications as a service (UCaaS) with functionalities and prices for small operations. The services Ooma offers include functionalities like video calls, call routing, business phone systems, and softphone.

Their coverage includes not just the United States, but unlimited calling in Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Ooma is a reliable telecommunications provider. However, not everything that glitters is gold. Below, we take a look at Ooma's advantages and disadvantages and why it is a good idea to explore other alternatives available on the market.

Why stop using Ooma?

One of Ooma's strengths is that they specialise in small and medium businesses. However, if what you want is a complete solution that provides you with basic functionalities such as virtual numbers, call recording, management of all communication channels with customers and prospects on a single platform...Here are a few more reasons why you should stop using Ooma.

You need reliable service

One of the most basic functionalities offered by a business phone system is providing reliable service. After all, there's nothing worse than being in the middle of closing a deal or responding to a complex customer query, for the call to drop. That's why the reviews from Ooma's users of dropped calls and service outages are troubling. Not to mention, users also report difficulties with the calls coming in through the app, as they should. Therefore, a call might go unanswered or even unnoticed.

On the other hand, Ringover provides a reliable service for an affordable price, ensuring that users can conduct business, be it recruitment, sales activities, or customer service, without worry. Not to mention, the interface has been consistently praised for its ease of use. Not only can users receive calls directly within the interface, but there are also features like screen pop which provide all the necessary context for personalised interactions with clients and prospects.

You need straightforward pricing

One of the most important things to keep in mind about Ooma's pricing is that it's not straightforward. Many customers report being surprised by add-ons, or that it can be difficult to successfully cancel the service. Finally, all it takes is one quick look at the plan breakdown on Ooma's website to see that the features are quite limited for the price. For example, even when you're subscribed to the most expensive tier Ooma only offers one integration to a CRM.

In short, if what you need is a simple and 100% customizable system from the same platform and, above all, from the same provider and for a good price, consider Ringover. You can purchase this complete communication solution for only £19 per month, with the possibility of making unlimited calls to 110 destinations, the ability to add virtual numbers, record calls, manage other communication channels such as email or video and integrate with other business tools, all at a fair price!

You need a high-quality user experience

Ooma is presented as an ideal cloud phone provider for all companies that manage a cloud PBX. However, despite its affordable price and market-responsive pricing, reviews consistently mention bugs and service outages, and a complicated user interface. In fact, the user experience is so bad that users can struggle to accomplish tasks.

These reasons, and more, are an example of why you should consider Ringover's business phone system. Ringover was specifically designed to have an intuitive interface, so you can easily and efficiently optimise your virtual phone system. Our wide selection of features and the ability to integrate with over 60 CRM tools provides significant performance and productivity benefits, all at an affordable price.

The 11 best Ooma alternatives for successful business communication

1. Ringover

Ringover offers a solid VoIP telephony solution for small and growing businesses with transparent pricing. With two all-inclusive plans and a customised option, companies can optimise their sales and customer service communications at a fair price. In fact, monthly user subscription fees start at just £19 [1].

Ringover streamlines sales and customer service operations with features such as device switching between calls, a call centre analytics dashboard, call monitoring, and call recording. Regardless of the chosen plan, businesses using the Ringover phone system can make and receive unlimited calls from 110 international destinations, switch devices between calls, benefit from call analytics, and much more. Moreover, it has numerous integrations, including popular software like Hubspot, Salesforce, and Zoho.

Advantages ➕

• Seven-day free trial
• Clear pricing plan
• Unlimited international calls
• Integrations with CRMs and other business software
• Efficient call management systems
• Clear pricing plans

Disadvantages ➖

• Having so many features and integrations available can be a bit overwhelming

Pricing

Ringover offers the Smart plan at £19 per user/month, the Business plan at £39 per user/month, and the Advanced plan at £49 per user/month.

2. RingCentral

RingCentral is a business communication company founded in 1999. Originally, RingCentral focused on business telephony but now it offers UCaaS, including videoconferencing in addition to the classic telephony tools like text messaging, audio conferences, etc. And with the debut of their product RingSense, Ringcentral launched their first business AI tool. This product leverages conversation intelligence for sales enablement.

But before you get too excited, make sure you double check RingCentral's plans to verify you'll be able to get what you need for your budget. For example, if you need additional international numbers, you'll have to pay for that as an add-on. Plus, their most affordable plan doesn't include video calling or even interactive voice response menus [2]. Finally, their support service has been criticised as unresponsive to the point of being practically non-existent.

Advantages ➕

• Advanced features such as digital fax, text messaging, and online conferences
• UCaaS capabilities

Disadvantages ➖

• Plans can be expensive for the functions they offer
• Customer support has been said to be lacking

Pricing

Starts at about £18 per user/month, with a second tier at about £24 per user/month and a third tier at about £29 per user/month.

3. CloudTalk

This company is one of the youngest on the list, founded in 2018. Originally a very limited product, Cloudtalk has grown rapidly to include the typical features offered by cloud communication services. That includes inbound and outbound call centre software, SMS messaging, call queuing, and more.

Though CloudTalk has most of the basic functions you might expect, be sure to pay close attention to the details so you're not surprised by unexpected charges in your bill. For example, text messages are usually charged by message. In the same vein, outbound calls are charged per minute.

Advantages ➕

• Provides call centre management with conference calls and international numbers

Disadvantages ➖

• Outbound calls charged per minute
• Charges vary for international phone numbers
• Customer support isn't necessarily helpful
• Lacks certain key features, may lack quality in some functionalities

Pricing

There are three plans available. The least expensive tier is about £25 per user/month, with a second option at about £30 per user/month, and a third tier at about £50 per user/month.

4. Nextiva

Nextiva has been active in the VoIP market since 2006. They have a few products available, but the best alternative to Ooma is their VoIP software. Their product includes the features you would expect, like faxing, texting, auto attendant, and video and audio conferencing.

Given the basic nature of Nextiva's offerings, their pricing can seem to be quite expensive. Not to mention, the prices for some of their products change depending on the number of users. Before you set your heart on their service, you'll need to investigate if it will integrate seamlessly with your existing selection of business software, as they don't provide much information about integrations.

Advantages ➕

• There is the possibility to combine their VoIP phone with their customer experience platform

Disadvantages ➖

• Limited integration options
• Complex and restrictive pricing plans
• Using their customer experience tool and their VoIP service requires a significant budget

Pricing

The price varies based on users, starting at about £19 per user/month.

5. 8x8

8x8 offers telephone, video, live chat, and contact centre services for businesses. This VoIP provider has call analysis and API solutions, as well as voice and video calls and SMS for businesses.

8x8 includes certification for Microsoft Teams and offers an uptime guarantee. On the other hand, it should be mentioned that some levels of service plans limit the number of users and unlimited incoming and outgoing calls are not available in all locations. Another aspect to highlight is the speed of response of its customer service since, compared to other alternatives, it can be slow and even inaccurate.

Advantages ➕

• HD voice and video calls
• Integrates with popular applications

Disadvantages ➖

• Slower customer service and technical support
• Some plans limit the number of users

Pricing

Starter package at $28 per month, with a second plan at about $57 per month [3]–they currently don't have their prices listed online in British pounds.

6. 3CX

3CX is a company founded in Cyprus with more than 10 years of activity in the market, which has become a fairly popular alternative communication solution among companies. 3CX is not a telephone operator, it simply provides the necessary software to manage the company's phone lines and numbers.

In addition to this main functionality, you can find other functions such as video calling, integrations with your sales tools, chat [4], or the possibility of creating a virtual switchboard. However, if you want to obtain virtual numbers, you will have to request them from third parties, which makes 3CX significantly less scalable and flexible than full-service options like Ringover. 3CX offers a simple free version, however, from there on, the prices become incomprehensible.

Advantages ➕

• A free trial with limited features
• Live chat

Disadvantages ➖

• After the free trial ends, the prices rise rapidly
• Integrations may require advanced technical knowledge
• Only basic functions are available

Pricing

3CX's plans begin at about £235 per year, and the rates rise according to the number of simultaneous calls.

7. JustCall

Founded in 2016, JustCall focuses on both inbound and outbound communication, and targets small and medium businesses. The relatively large selection of features is most suitable for companies which already operate contact centres, either for customer support or sales outreach. It's worth noting that JustCall has many integrations available, but they are only available for subscribers to their second-most expensive plan. For those who need a Salesforce integration, that is only offered to subscribers to their most expensive tier.

Before you commit to JustCall, keep in mind many users report being confused by the wide range of features–even though the most affordable plan has an extremely limited offering. A little planning doesn't go awry either, as JustCall has user minimums for most of their plans.

Advantages ➕

• Offers many integrations.

Disadvantages ➖

• Limited outbound calls, potentially expensive for sales development needs
• Poor user experience
• Pricy plans, which don't necessarily offer a good value for the money

Pricing

JustCall doesn't list their prices online in British pounds.

8. Vonage

Vonage is practically a dinosaur among business phone systems, having been founded in 2001. It has a strong focus on omnichannel communications, offering two products for businesses looking for cloud-based business phone systems. They have a unified communications product, and cloud contact centre software.

Already, Vonage is off to a bit of a confusing start, especially for businesses, as you'll need to do your research to understand which product works for your needs. For example, the business communications product has a relatively limited selection of features for a small price, but it lacks basic features like call recording.

Advantages ➕

• Known VoIP provider

Disadvantages ➖

Pricing

The business communications plan starts at £10 per user/month, while the contact centre service is price on request only.

9. Dialpad

Dialpad debuted in 2011 with a strong focus on cloud telephony. It has now incorporated AI technology into its product with the intent of providing customer intelligence to its users. In fact, artificial intelligence is integrated into each of its subscription plans in some form or another. For example, the AI can provide an automatic transcription of video calls if your plan includes the AI Meeting feature.

With that being said, Dialpad has a complex set of services available, grouped under three categories: business communications, AI Meetings, and AI Contact Centre. The closest equivalent to Ooma is the business communications product, but you should do your own research to determine if another product would be a better option for your business. That's key because if your business will have significant inbound and outbound call volume, you'll need to note that in their plans, some types of calls are billed on a per-minute basis. And if you know you'll be conducting meetings with the service, the number of participants is capped depending on your plan.

Advantages ➕

• Multiple voicemail options

Disadvantages ➖

• Complex and confusing product offering
• Billed per minute for international calls
• Participant limits for meetings and calls

Pricing

Their business communication offering begins at £18 per user/month, while their AI Contact Centre product begins at £78 per user/month.

10. Five9

Five9 has also been around for many years, since 2001 [5]. Unlike the other software on this list, Five9 specialises in customer service. Rather than being a UCaas, they are a contact centre as a service (CCaaS). In recent years, they have incorporated artificial intelligence technologies like a virtual agent to help ease the work for service agents.

One downside of Five9 is that its basic services fall through at times. For example, some users have issues with the calls dropping or even poor call quality. To compound the problem, the customer support can be lacking.

Advantages ➕

• Omnichannel communication options
• Coordinated analytics dashboard

Disadvantages ➖

• Recurring service issues
• Analytics may not be comprehensive

Pricing

Five9 has many plan options available, with the least expensive options ringing in at about $150 per month. They only list prices in US dollars online, so you will need to contact them for accurate pricing information in pounds.

11. Zoom Phone

Founded in 2011, Zoom became a presence in households across the country in 2020. Zoom Phone is a complement to the main Zoom product everyone knows, the video conference software. In fact, to describe Zoom Phone as a complement to Zoom is somewhat of an overstatement–neglected step-sibling may be more accurate.

That's because Zoom Phone is lacking in key features like international numbers and even texting. In fact, the limitations of its service can mean that it's prohibitively expensive for some businesses. Outbound calling is metered, resulting in high costs that could eliminate Zoom Phone as an option for businesses who make outbound calls.

Advantages ➕

• Integrates with Zoom video conference service
• Basic phone services

Disadvantages ➖

• Lacks international numbers and texting
• Metered outbound calling

Pricing

This service begins at £8 per user/month, up to £16 per user/month for the most expensive plan. Plus, your outbound calls will be metered, so you'll be charged per minute.

What is the best cloud communication alternative to Ooma?

Ooma is a decent VoIP provider, as it offers basic functions and mostly reliable service. The fact that Ooma has three plans available also allows businesses to choose the option best for them. Though it's true the features are quite limited when comparing Ooma to other providers like Ringover, especially when it comes to unlimited international calling and integrations.

In summary, Ooma lacks the specific functions that sales and customer service teams need. Not to mention its confusing product selection and lack of transparency in terms of pricing.

This is why the best alternative to Ooma is Ringover, as it offers very complete functions for both sales and customer service teams. Additionally, Ringover will provide you with excellent technical assistance at no additional cost. Not to mention that you can easily transfer your phone lines. This solution is more flexible and intuitive than Ooma and is especially suitable for companies looking for stable, scalable, and efficient solutions. Don't wait any longer and start your free trial now.

Bibliography

1. https://www.ringover.co.uk/pricing
2. https://www.ringcentral.com/gb/en/office/plansandpricing.html
3. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/8x8-pricing/
4. https://www.3cx.com/live-chat/
   
5. https://www.five9.com/en-uk/about