Nextiva vs Vonage: Which one is the best for your business?

October 10, 2023
phone system for small business

Witness a showdown of titans: Nextiva vs. Vonage. Unveil the ideal communication contender for your business. Let the competition begin!

Introducing Nextiva: The future of business communication. Reliable VoIP delivers seamless voice, video calls, conferences on mobile, web, desktop, or desk phones. Choose from 3 plans and 4 contact center options.

Like Nextiva, Vonage is a virtual business communication platform based on VoIP technology. It can be used by small and large businesses to communicate through voice, video and text. Vonage has 40+ features packaged in three business communication plans available through monthly subscriptions. These subscription fees vary according to the number of users. They also offer a cloud contact center solution and programmable communication APIs.

Compare Nextiva and Vonage plans and features

How many users do you need?

1
Nextiva Vonage
Pick up plan
Price for users /month /month
Channels
Key features
Support Channel
Pros and Cons
Best For

Choosing between Nextiva and Vonage to find a plan that offers more value for money

The Nextiva Essential plan is a good choice for startups. For $30.95 per user per month, subscribers can make unlimited voice and video calls throughout the USA and Canada, record video conferences, access voicemail and integrate their calling system with Outlook or Google Contacts.

Upgrading to the Nextiva Professional plan gives businesses access to all the features included in the Essential plan as well as a multi-level auto attendant, conference calling with up to 40 participants and Salesforce/HubSpot integrations. The upgrade costs $35.95 for teams of up to 4 users.

Businesses can upgrade to the Nextiva Enterprise plan to access all the features of the Essential and Professional plans as well as exclusive features like CRM integration and call recording. Depending on the number of users, the monthly subscription user fee for this plan ranges from $39.95 to 45.95.
phone system for small business

When it comes to budgets, Vonage has cheaper plans as compared to Nextiva.

Priced at $19.99 per line per month, the Vonage Mobile plan offers unlimited calling within the USA and access to all standard features.

Businesses wanting access to features like CRM integration, IP desk phone support and unlimited meetings with up to 100 participants can subscribe to the Premium plan. This plan is priced at $29.99 per line per month.

The Advanced plan costs subscribers $39.99 per line per month. This subscription includes all the features of the Premium plan as well as exclusive features like on-demand call recording.
phone system for small business

A step-by-step comparison between Nextiva and Vonage

To help you find what solution fits best your need between Zoom Phone and Ringcentral, we have conducted an unbiased comparison based on 8 criterias:
#1 Manage your office calls : How will you handle calls while at the office? Can you use computer-based calls or do you require an office phone?
#2 Manage your calls on the go: Does it offer a mobile app with VoIP calls? Do you need to set up call forwarding to your mobile device?
#3 Auto-attendant : Can you easily distribute calls to your team?
#4 Greetings Management : Can you set up company greetings on your own? How easy is it to create and manage announcements?
#5 Call Tracking : How easy is it to monitor your business calls?
#6 Call recording : Can you record and listen to calls?
#7 Call billing : How much does it cost to make and receive calls? Is everything included?
#8 Activation : How easy is it to activate a phone number and set up your phone system?
COMPARE
  • Manage Your Office Calls
  • Manage Your Calls On The Go
  • Auto-attendant
  • Greetings Management
  • Call Tracking
  • Call recording
  • Call billing
  • Activation

#1 Manage Your Office Calls

Browser and deskphone support for Nextiva and Vonage communication service

The three main interfaces through which Nextiva subscribers can make and receive calls are desktop apps, web browsers and IP deskphones.

phone system for small business

Both Nextiva and Vonage subscribers can handle incoming and outgoing calls by a desktop app. Premium and Advanced Vonage plan subscribers can also use IP desk phones.

phone system for small business

#2 Manage Your Calls On The Go

Cloud-communication on the go with Nextiva and Vonage

Nextiva subscribers can make and receive calls out of the office through an app on Android or iOS smartphones.

phone system for small business

Nextiva and Vonage offer common access points.

Subscribers can stay connected no matter where they are through the Vonage smartphone app.

phone system for small business

#3 Auto-attendant

Varied IVR structuring for Nextiva and Vonage plans

Incoming calls can be routed easily. Nextiva Essential plan subscribers can do so with an intuitive phone menu while Professional and Enterprise subscribers can access a multi-level auto attendant with as many sub menus as required to direct callers to the appropriate agent.

phone system for small business

While Nextiva relies on auto attendants, Vonage includes a virtual receptionist in all plans. The Premium and Advanced plans also include a multi-level auto attendant.

phone system for small business

#4 Greetings Management

Customized message recording included in all Nextiva and Vonage plans

To customize call greetings, Nextiva subscribers can record their messages and save them as 8 or 16 bit .wav files. The steps to upload them on the Nextiva account attendant menu are:

1. Login to the Nextiva website as admin.

2. Click on sites and then auto attendant.

3. Select the Greetings option from the menu.

4. Click on the upload button to find your recording and upload it.

phone system for small business

As with Nextiva, anyone with admin access can customize greetings from the Vonage dashboard.

Step 1: Open "phone system" and then pick the relevant feature.

Step 2: Record a new greeting or upload a recorded message in .mp3 or .wav form.

phone system for small business

#5 Call Tracking

Multiple options to followup on calls with Nextiva and Vonage

Businesses that subscribe to Nextiva Essential and Professional plan can have their supervisors study call logs and call history sheets from their dashboard to assess agent productivity. This feature is available to businesses subscribed to Enterprise plans too. In addition, they can read voicemail transcriptions and listen to recorded calls to analyze calls for quality control. However, live call monitoring services are not available in any of the Nextiva plans.

phone system for small business

Nextiva and Vonage offer comparable call monitoring features.

Team supervisors with admin access can get real-time information to assess calls and agent productivity. They can instantly tell when agents are free to take a call, when they are busy and when they are unavailable. They can also see caller IDs, call times and other such information. Calls forwarded to voicemail have their messages transcribed and made available through email. Calls can also be transformed into 3-way conference calls between agents, the customer and the supervisor.

phone system for small business

#6 Call Recording

Both Nextiva and Vonage users must upgrade to record calls

Nextiva Enterprise plan subscribers have the option of manually recording all incoming and outgoing calls or automating the call recording option. These recordings can be saved for up to 6 months. This feature is not included in the Essential and Professional plans.

phone system for small business

The limited availability of call recording is a similarity between Nextiva and Vonage.

Vonage includes call recording only in the Advanced plan and even then limits it to 15 hours of conversation. Add-on call recording packs are available to Mobile and Premium plan subscribers.

phone system for small business

#7 Call Billing

Similar international outgoing call rates by Nextiva and Vonage

While calls to numbers in the USA and Canada do not incur any additional fee, other international calls are billed on a per minute rate. This rate depends on the country and the type of number. For example, calls to India are billed at a per minute rate of $0.09.

Unlike Nextiva, Vonage plans do not include the ability to make international calls. To call numbers other than those in the USA and Canada, subscribers must get an add-on pack. These are available with varying call capabilities in terms of locations and call minutes.

#8 Activation

Nextiva and Vonage offers can be activated online in minutes

Once you have chosen a plan, you can set up an account on the Nextiva website and assign user roles. Greetings, call menus, etc. can be customized to suit the brand’s operating hours and brand tone with an easy to use drag-and-drop call flow builder. Users can then download apps for their desktops and mobile devices to access their account. Certain IP supported deskphones can also be used.

phone system for small business

Both Nextiva and Vonage have simple, online account activation processes.

It is possible to sign up for Vonage communication plans from the website. These accounts can be activated automatically or set to be manually activated at any time within 45 days of signing up. This is followed by defining user roles, managing permissions, etc. Users must then download the Vonage app for their smartphones, laptops or desktop devices. IP desk phones can also be included as access points for Premium and Advanced plan subscribers. If you want to buy a deskphone, options are available on the Vonage website.

phone system for small business