7 Best Virtual Business Phone Number Apps in 2023 (w/ Free Options)

Managing business phone calls from your personal phone number can become very annoying, and it takes away your privacy. Not to mention it doesn’t scale as you hire more people.

This is why many new and established business owners use virtual business phone number apps to get a custom phone number for their business.

A virtual business phone number allows you to use the same number on laptops, mobile phone, desktop handsets, and more. You can easily answer calls, forward calls, record voice messages, and share the same number among employees.

You can quickly and easily set up a virtual business phone number without any technical knowledge. All you have to do is download the app on your phone or computer, and you can get started.

In this article, we’ll share our pick of the best virtual business phone number apps for small businesses (including free and unlimited options).

When Do You Need a Virtual Business Phone Number?

Whether you run a small business website or an eCommerce store, offering customers a fast way to contact you will help you grow your business.

Most businesses now have an online presence, and customers need multiple ways to reach out.

While communication tools like business email, live chat, or text messages (SMS) can be useful, nothing beats the personal human connection of hearing an actual human on the other end of the line.

Normally, businesses believe that having a landline number is quite enough. However, they soon realize how ineffective the traditional landlines are when it comes to handling calls and providing a superior customer experience.

And you definitely don’t want to make the mistake of using your personal phone number for business.

This is where a virtual business phone number app can help. It gives you the following benefits over the traditional landline phone and mobile phone numbers.

• You can use it on your personal cell phone with mobile apps, your laptop computer, existing desk phone, and other devices. Instead of only relying on a physical phone line, you can handle calls from anywhere with an internet connection.
• One number can be shared by different employees at the same time. You can also assign a personal number or phone extensions for individual team members.
• Call routing, call recording, waiting, ringtones, vacation responses, business hours, caller id, and all other business communication functionality can all be managed via the app.
• Voice messages, text messaging, video conferencing, call to email transcription, and cheaper local/international calls are just the cherry on top.

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the best virtual business phone apps that you can use.

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1. Nextiva

Nextiva is the top virtual business phone number service provider on the market. They make it super easy to manage your virtual phone number using their app on your desktop / laptop computer, smartphone, tablets, or a desk phone.

You can even keep your local phone number and use it with Nextiva to get HD voice calling over VoIP. They also allow you to get virtual business phone numbers for different geographic locations.

In other words, you can get local area code phone numbers for different US states to improve your local presence and better appeal to business owners and your target customers.

Nextiva has a powerful set of telephony features included in each plan like call forwarding/routing, auto attendant, receptionist, voicemail transcription, voice mail to email, call queuing, unlimited calls, and call analytics.

Nextiva also allows you to get vanity phone numbers for your business line, and they have an auto dialer feature to help you save time.

Their virtual phone system app works on both iPhone (iOS) and Android phones, so you can receive all inbound business calls on your personal mobile device.

Plus, Nextiva has CRM integrations for apps like HubSpot and Salesforce, as well as integrations with tools like Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, and more.

For call centers and enterprise businesses, you can also use Nextiva to transition your Avaya private branch exchange (PBX system) into a powerful cloud-based phone system with SIP trunking.

Pricing: Starting from $18.95 per user each month.

2. Ooma Office Phone

Ooma is another popular business VoIP phone provider that offers 1-800 toll free numbers at affordable prices. You can add a toll free virtual phone number to any Ooma office plan. By default, they will pre-select a toll-free phone number for you, but you also have the option to choose a new free business phone number.

Ooma Office platform comes with many advanced features that you would expect from a VOIP service such as a virtual receptionist, extension dialing, music-on-hold, smart mobile phone apps, ring groups, and more.

Best of all the setup is very easy, and you can do it within minutes.

Pricing: Their plan starts at $19.95 per month which comes with a free toll-free number and 35+ business phone features.

3. Zoom Phone

Zoom Phone is a great VoIP provider for businesses of all sizes. They offer a cloud business phone system, virtual telephone numbers, U.S. and Canada-based numbers, and toll-free numbers.

With Zoom Phone, you’ll get all of the features you need like call management tools, virtual receptionist, conference calling, call forwarding, call queues, voicemail transcription, call monitoring, advanced analytics, and more.

Since it’s built on top of the Zoom platform, you’ll also get video conferencing and team chat.

Zoom Phone is super easy to set up too. Simply choose a plan and add the number of users / phone numbers that you need. Then, you can start making calls immediately using the Zoom mobile or desktop app.

Pricing: Starts from $10 per user per month for unlimited internal calling. To get unlimited outbound calling, plans start at $15 per user per month.

4. Grasshopper

Grasshopper is an easy virtual phone number provider for startups and small businesses. It comes with a mobile app that allows you to manage your business phone system on any device and from any location.

They offer virtual business numbers, vanity numbers, local numbers for different regions, and 800 and 833 toll-free numbers to choose from.

You can keep business and personal calls separate with the same device and never miss a call. Grasshopper combines all essential features in one package with call forwarding, call transfer, voice mail, business texting, business VoIP and WiFi calling, automated greeting, and more.

A lot of small business owners use Grasshopper to receive incoming calls on their personal phone plans.

Pricing: Starting from $26 per month for 1 number and 3 extensions.

5. Google Voice (Free)

If you are looking for a free virtual business phone app, then Google Voice would be the best option for you. If you are already using G Suite, then you can integrate it with all other Google Apps you are already using for your business.

Individual users and solopreneurs can use the personal plan to get a virtual phone number and call anywhere in the US and Canada for free.

However, the personal plan does not give you access to many of the business phone features included in their business plan such as auto-attendant, desk phone support, etc.

Pricing: Free for personal use. Pro plans start from $10 per user/per month.

6. Phone.com

Phone.com is another great option to get a virtual business phone system. They offer affordable business phone services for startups, solopreneurs, and small businesses.

They also offer cheaper call rates to some European countries and Canada by counting those as local call minutes. From a features perspective, you get mobile apps, call forwarding/routing, virtual assistant, IVR menus, text messaging, online fax, and more.

They offer pay-per-minute plans which allow you to pay less based on your usage. However, it can easily get very expensive as your business needs grow.

Pricing: Pay-per-minute plans start from $12.99 per month. Unlimited plans start from $29.99 / month per extension.

7. Freshdesk Contact Center

Freshdesk Contact Center (formerly Freshcaller) is an easy to use virtual business phone app provider. Suitable for small and growing businesses, they offer reasonably priced plans to fit all budgets including a pay per minute plan with unlimited agents.

You can get international numbers, toll-free numbers, use the existing number, mask local number with a virtual number, or choose a vanity number.

It includes all the usual features you need like call management tools, business hours, mobile apps, shared lines, call waiting, SIP connections, and more. Some plans allow you to keep using your local carrier which is useful if you cannot port your local number or the local carrier offers better call rates.

Pricing: Pay Per Minute or $19 per agent per month.

What is the Best Virtual Phone Number App?

In our expert opinion, the best virtual business phone number app on the market is Nextiva.

Nextiva is super easy to set up and use on any device including desktops / laptops, smartphones, tablets, and desk phones, which allows you to provide excellent customer support from anywhere.

Plus, it offers all of the powerful features your business needs including call forwarding/routing, auto attendant, virtual voicemail, voicemail transcription, 1-click conference calling, and more.

If you’re looking for an alternative, Ooma and Zoom Phone are also great options, with both making the top 3 providers on our list.

Note: We also looked into many other virtual phone number apps that are not listed in this article like RingCentral, 8×8, eVoice, and others. However, we decided it wasn’t best to include them because we don’t want to cause choice paralysis.

We hope this article helped you find the best virtual business phone app for your business. You may also want to see our guide on how to get a free business email address, and our expert picks of the best email marketing services for small business.

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