9 Best Call Center Software : Ranked & Reviewed

If you’ve ever called a company’s helpline and been frustrated by the confusing, circular voice prompts you must wade through to speak to an actual person, you already know how important it is to run a well-organized call center.

Thanks to modern software technology, you don’t need a giant switchboard with multiple operators to keep your customers and call center agents happy — you just have to use the best call center software for your business and its customers.

There is no shortage of call center software products on the market today, so we took a look at the major players to share with you our top picks along with quick reviews of each. And since call center needs vary by business, we’ve also included a guide with some of the things you need to know before making a decision.

Our Top Picks for Best Call Center Software

• Hubspot Service Hub — Best for Small Businesses
• Zendesk Suite — Best for Startups
• RingCentral Contact Center — Best for Growing Business
• Freshdesk — Most Affordable
• Dialpad — Best for AI-Enhanced Tools
• LiveAgent — Best for Third-Party Integrations
• Five9 — Best for Large Business
• AirCall — Best for Sales Floors
• Twilio Flex — Best for Customization

Best Call Center Software Reviews

Why we chose it: While many call center software products can be adequately tweaked to support a small business’s customer service call center, Hubspot Service Hub is built for that sole purpose. It has a free version that you can check out without having to input your credit card information, so if your business is still small, this may be a good option for you. This free version has basic ticketing and live chat functionality as well as a reporting dashboard.

Hubspot's $45-per-month plan supports up to two users, conversation routing, multiple ticket pipelines and multiple currencies. The pricier plans also offer increased automation and team oversight functions.

That said, while Hubspot Service Hub is a great pick for a small business with basic customer support needs, it may not be the best option for large companies. Hubspot Service Hub’s premium $1,200-per-month version only supports up to ten users, so if you anticipate your call center staff growing beyond that, you'll need to look for another solution.

Also, if you foresee your call center needs growing beyond just customer service — for example, if you anticipate having a sales floor at some point — Hubspot Service Hub may not be the option for you. It doesn't offer any call center software products other than Hubspot Service Hub, which means you would need to find a different, compatible software to fulfill those needs.

Why we chose it: While certainly appropriate for businesses that intend to remain privately held, Zendesk is particularly well suited to startup companies that have raised some capital. Its Zendesk for Startups Program offers six months of free Zendesk products for up to fifty users to startups that have raised angel, pre-seed, seed or Series A capital. Businesses that get accepted into the program also get access to Zendesk’s community of startup founders and marketing experts.

In terms of features, Zendesk Suite’s basic plan, Suite Team, has most of the functionality that a startup or any other small business would want in their customer service software. This includes ticketing, omnichannel support and basic reporting and analytics dashboards.

That said, there are some features you may want or need that are only available through Zendesk's top-tier plans. For example, Zendesk allows you to set up your own self-service helpdesk for customers, but this feature is only available with the two most expensive plans.

And Zendesk's highest-tier plan, Suite Professional, is the only one that integrates interactive voice response (IVR) technology, which is what allows users to make selections on their phone to get routed to the correct agent or department. Of course, your IT team would still have to carefully script the IVR prompts to reduce caller wait times and ensure that callers aren't asked to answer multiple prompts only to be connected to a voicemail box.

Why we chose it: While many call center software cater to one kind of call center — such as those composed of customer support teams — RingCentral offers a call center platform that services inbound as well as outbound needs. It's also one of our top picks for the best conference calling services.

If your business is growing by leaps and bounds and you need call center software that can support and manage your sales floor as well as keep new customers happy, RingCentral may be the contact center solution you’ve been looking for.

RingCentral Contact Center has four different plans, Essentials, Standard, Premium and Ultimate. The Essentials plan is a typical baseline call center software, but it includes IVR support, something that the lowest-tier plans don't typically offer. The Standard plan will get you omnichannel features and advanced voice recording, while the two most expensive plans expand on features for managing a call center team.

RingCentral doesn't advertise plan pricing online, so you'll have to speak to an agent and likely listen to a sales pitch to get numbers. This, of course, makes it a little harder to compare options without putting in a lot of time.

Why we chose it: Freshdesk Contact Center is our pick for most affordable call center software for inbound call centers because not only does it offer a free plan, but also very affordable paid options.

Although Freshdesk's free plan lacks features such as reporting and call recording, its $15-per-month-per-agent plan has those features and other basic functionality to run a solid inbound call center. You start to get IVR functionality and tools relevant to outbound calls with the $39-per-month plan.

Freshdesk Contact Center on its own, however, does not offer ticketing — you’d need to also have Freshdesk Support Desk to integrate that feature. That said, Freshdesk Support Desk has a free plan for up to ten users, so if your business is small, ticketing integration will come at no additional cost.

Why we chose it: Dialpad offers two call center software products, one built for customer support, the other built for sales, and both heavily enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI). You might be able to tell by their names: Ai Contact Center and Ai Sales.

But what does AI actually mean in the context of a call center? Let’s use a phone conversation between your agent and a customer or lead as an example. Dialpad’s AI technology can automatically transcribe the call, identify keywords from the conversation (say, “refund”), and display helpful references on screen (say, your company’s actual refund policy) to assist your agent with the call.

Dialpad’s AI technology can also help alert call center managers to potential issues in real time by automatically detecting the sentiment of the conversation as “positive,” “negative,” or “neutral.” If a manager sees a call turn negative, they could then listen in to the conversation in real time and interject if necessary.

Ai Contact Center and Ai Sales have two plans, Pro and Enterprise, with the main difference between them being additional customizations available through the Enterprise plan. Dialpad’s website doesn't indicate pricing, so you’ll have to contact the company to get a custom quote.

Why we chose it: While many call center software include native integration with heavy-hitter products like Salesforce, LiveAgent provides integrations with over 200 tools you may use in your business. Some of these integrations are native and plugin-based, while others are API-based and may require you to use Zapier — though Zapier integrations appear to be automatic, without the need to set up and map a custom webhook.

For example, if your business uses AWeber for email marketing, your agents can click a button in LiveAgent and send email opt-in forms to contacts without having to log in to AWeber separately. LiveAgent also integrates with Mailchimp, GetResponse and several other email marketing tools. And if your business uses ChargeDesk for payment processing, your agents can charge clients, refund charges, and more directly through LiveAgent.

LiveAgent has a free plan as well as the All-inclusive plan for $49 per agent per month. The free plan is quite limited, allowing ticketing for only one email address and call center support for only one business phone number, so it’s really only suitable for very small call center operations.

Its All-inclusive plan, on the other hand, offers advanced features such as time tracking, call queuing, IVR technology, unlimited call recording, call routing and more. Unless your business has unusual call center needs, the All-inclusive plan shouldn't leave you wanting.

Why we chose it: Five9 offers call center solutions for businesses of every size, but it’s exceptionally well suited for larger businesses with a high call volume. Its virtual agent technology can also take some customer calls, so you may not need to hire as many live agents for periods of increased call volume. Five9 estimates this technology can save a company with 15 million inbound calls per year over $15 million.

Five9 is add-on based, meaning you can choose exactly which add-ons you want for your call center software. These add-ons include omnichannel support, virtual agents, a performance dashboard, gamification, IVR and more.

Five9 offers four pre-built plans ranging from $149 to $229 per month but encourages customers to call for a custom quote. Since the details Five9 shares about these plans are thin, it’s probably best to reach out for a quote and assistance to determine which add-ons your business needs.

If you're looking to transition to a modern, cloud-based call center but aren’t sure how to get away from the legacy, on-premise system your company has been relying on for years or decades, Five9 may have a solution for you. It specializes in assisting enterprise customers in making these migrations profitably.

Why we chose it: If your primary call center needs are related to support for your sales floor, you won’t be disappointed by Aircall. The $30-per-user-per-month Basic plan includes IVR, call recording and unlimited simultaneous outbound calls, while the $50-per-user-per-month Professional plan introduces Salesforce integration, advanced analytics and Aircall’s Power Dialer feature.

Aircall’s Power Dialer is a robust automatic dialer that can save your sales team hours of precious time by automatically dialing from your leads list. If you have web address information for your prospective customers but not phone number information, the Power Dialer can scrape their websites for phone numbers, integrate this information into your CRM and dial any numbers it finds.

As a customer support platform, Aircall falls short. It doesn't have native omnichannel support or ticket management, though both of these capabilities are possible through integration with third-party applications.

Both of Aircall’s out-of-the-box plans come with a three-user minimum. If your team has ten users or more, you can opt for a custom Aircall plan.

Why we chose it: True to its name, Twilio Flex is the most customizable and flexible call center software on our list. To take advantage of this customization, you’ll need to be comfortable using Twilio’s workflow builder, Twilio Studio. While you don’t need to know how to code to use Twilio Studio, there is a learning curve. Nevertheless, Twilio publishes guides on how to set up some of the most popular call center features, including how to build an IVR tree.

While you can certainly build the perfect call center software for your business with Twilio Flex, you can’t necessarily expect it right out of the box. Another aspect of Twilio Flex that allows for customizability is its pricing model. In addition to its standard $150 per month per user plan, Twilio Flex offers an alternative pricing structure of $1 per user per hour, a great option for seasonal businesses.

Most call center software require you to pay per month for a certain number of users or “seats,” which is fine if your business maintains a steady rhythm throughout the year. But if your business is heavily affected by seasonality, you may end up paying for more seats than you need during slower seasons or not having enough seats during busier seasons. If your business is heavily seasonal, or you rely on multiple part-time agents, Twilio Flex’s $1-per-user-hour pricing plan can be just what you need.

Twilio Flex also offers a free plan with up to 5,000 active user hours — more of a free trial than anything — but since the company has a different underlying framework than other competitors, the opportunity to try before you buy is still advantageous.

Other companies we considered

We have high standards for the products that made our list of the best call center software. This means that some fine call center software products we looked at didn’t make the cut but may still be a good choice for your business. Here they are.

Avaya Experience Platform

Avaya Experience Platform is a call center software that, like Hubspot Service Hub and Zendesk Suite, is built specifically for customer service contact centers.

However, if you want something as simple as inbound voice — that is, the ability to take calls from your customers — you’ll need to upgrade from its $48 per user per month Digital plan to its $83 per user, per month Voice plan. This seems quite steep compared to other companies. Avaya also offers an All Media plan for $125 per user per month.

CloudTalk

CloudTalk’s call center software is fairly basic, and its main selling point is the fact that it gives you access to numbers with foreign area codes so that when your sales team makes outbound calls, the phone number will look like a local’s. This may increase pickup rates on the sales floor, but it's not a feature that merits the inclusion of CloudTalk among the best call center software. CloudTalk is also short on omnichannel features.

Nextiva

Nextiva offers a solid VoIP call center solution that comes with IVR, call routing, call recording and reporting dashboards. It has two plan options: Pro, priced “as low as” $50 per month per user and Enterprise, priced “as low as” $100 per month per user. Apart from a handful of features, Nextiva doesn’t make it very clear which features come with each plan, and to get started, you will have to fill out a form and speak with a sales representative who will quote you based on your business.

Call Center Software Guide

In this quick guide, we tell you what you need to know when selecting a call center software and answer common questions business owners have when comparing different call center software.

Main things to know before choosing call center software

Call center software providers often sell a variety of plans or pricing tiers, all with different features and functionalities. But determining which software and specific plan are best for your business can be straightforward if you know exactly what you need.

Before committing to a particular provider, have a clear idea of the features you need, those that would be nice to have but aren't essential and those you don’t care about. To do that, first determine whether you want to prioritize inbound call management (incoming calls from customers or leads) or outbound call management (where your agents make those calls).

The purpose or focus of your call center will determine what features you need to look for in call center software. For example, if your call center is largely or exclusively inbound, make sure your call center software has powerful call routing and interactive voice response (IVR) systems. But if your call center is largely or exclusively outbound, prioritize features like call masking and auto dialer or predictive dialer functionality.

Other essential features may include omnichannel support for companies with a strong social media presence and phone number location detection for international businesses.

Lastly, the size of your business — specifically the size of its call center staff — will impact your decision as well. Compare features and pricing against the number of seats included with each plan.

What is the average cost of call center software?

For baseline needs, the average cost of basic call center software is $30 to $50 per user per month. Note that this fee is generally in addition to the cost of the actual usage-driven fees based on your monthly call volume. There may also be setup or activation fees, though many providers no longer charge these.

How does call center software work?

In an inbound context, call center software routes customers or leads who call your physical phone system or VoIP system to an available agent or salesperson. This is called automatic call distribution (ACD).

In an outbound context, call center software assists your salespeople by rapidly calling leads and live connecting to a sales agent when a lead picks up.

Beyond these basic automatic call distribution functions, call center software can also offer automation and other enhancements to maximize your call center’s productivity and efficiency.

For example, before transferring a call to an agent, the software may utilize an interactive voice response (IVR) system to prompt the caller to supply some information about themselves and why they’re calling so the software knows the correct department to route the caller to.

The software may instruct the user to press “1” for technical support, “2” for sales, or “3” for billing. If the caller presses “3” to be connected to the billing department, the software may ask the customer to input their account number, so the agent doesn’t have to ask for this customer information when the call is connected. Advanced IVR technology can even allow a customer to, say, pay their bill by inputting their payment information using their phone’s keypad.

Call center software also typically integrates with other tools you use, such as your CRM, email marketing software and even billing tools.

Note that you may see the phrase “contact center software” used around the web or on companies’ websites. That refers to software products that provide support for over-the-phone interactions and interactions via other communication channels such as text, social media messaging, chatbots, etc. This is referred to as “multi-channel” or “omnichannel” support.

Why should you use call center software?

Here are some benefits of using call center software:

• Automation: If your business fields hundreds of customer support calls per day, it would be very difficult and costly to hire multiple receptionists to answer all the phone calls, determine which agent is available and better suited to take each one, and route them accordingly. A call center software can do this for you.

• Customer satisfaction: The right call center software can make the difference between happy customers who get their support questions answered promptly and unhappy customers who don’t feel valued and eventually prefer your competitors. And even if your call queues are long and calls can’t be answered right away, providing customers a callback feature so they don’t have to wait any longer than they need to can improve their experience.

• Live monitoring: Your call center software may be able to give you metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) on how your agents are taking and handling calls, allowing you to provide coaching or other direction to improve your call center’s performance. Many call center software products also offer real-time call monitoring and the ability for sales managers to enter a call when it seems the front-line agent needs some help.

How We Found the Best Call Center Software

We used the following factors to pick the best call center software:

• Features: Features like IVR, ticketing, call recording, call monitoring and omnichannel support, either natively or via third-party integrations, were important to us as we put together our list of the best call center software.

• Price: Many call center software products are priced, at least partly, based on the number of agents on your plan. This can get quite costly with multiple agents, so we looked for call center software options that have reasonable, packaged pricing, with some exceptions for products that only offer custom pricing but checked other boxes.

• Integrations: When your business relies on multiple software products to keep it running, it’s nice when those products work together, so we kept an eye out for products that integrate smoothly with other non-call-center software such as marketing or invoicing software.

Summary of the Best Call Center Software of 2023

• Hubspot Service Hub — Best for Small Businesses
• Zendesk Suite — Best for Startups
• RingCentral Contact Center — Best for Growing Business
• Freshdesk — Most Affordable
• Dialpad — Best for AI-Enhanced Tools
• LiveAgent — Best for Third-Party Integrations
• Five9 — Best for Large Business
• AirCall — Best for Sales Floors
• Twilio Flex — Best for Customization