Written by Claude Quiba Reviewed by James Macey Updated on June 21, 2023 On this page Google Voice's Pros & Cons How Much Does Google Voice Cost? Google Voice's Standout Features What Kind of Business is Google Voice Best For? How Does Google Voice Compare With Other Phone Systems? Does Google Voice Have Good Customer Reviews? How We Reviewed Google Voice Verdict FAQs Expand Our site is reader-supported – by clicking our links, we can match you with a potential supplier, and we may earn a small commission for this referral. We’ve compared 12 of the best small business phone systems in the US, and our research hails Google Voice as the best for security features. This is because Google Voice offers robust security measures so you can enjoy its services without worrying about your privacy. We measured Google Voice’s functionalities against its competitors using four key factors: inbound and outbound communications features, integrability (external connections), scalability, pricing, and customer support. Find out exactly how we rate it in our full Google Voice review below.Expert Market’s team of experienced researchers has been reviewing the top business services and products in the market for years. So if you want to find out which business phone system best fits your organization’s needs, try our free quote comparison tool. Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Expert Rating 3.5 Price from $10/user/month Compare multiple phone systems against Google Voice to find the right system for your business. Get free quotes Google Voice’s Pros and Cons Pros Reinforced security features Terrific customer satisfaction rate An affordable choice Cons Limited features Few external connections Low scalability ✓ Reinforced Security FeaturesYou won’t be disappointed with Google Voice’s security! Of the business phone system providers we tested, we gave Google Voice the highest points for security features: a perfect 5/5.Having it under Google’s belt, Google Voice doubled down on its security measures, starting with complete compliance certificates to conform to various information security and data privacy laws. This means your phone system won’t be collecting, using, and sharing information without your consent.Moreover, Google Voice employs multi-factor authentication, strict password rules, and user permissions, protecting your organization’s personal, intellectual, and operational information. Likewise, it provides robust TLS/SRTP (Transport Layer Security/ Secure Real-time Transport Protocol) encryption, securing your calls and protecting you from potential hackers and eavesdropping.✓ Terrific Customer Satisfaction RateReal customer experience and insights help pace your expectations and help reduce your risk when making buying decisions. Earning an overall 4.4/5 score across G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, and TrustRadius tells us Google Voice is doing a lot of things right! Scroll down below to see reviews from actual clients.✓ An Affordable ChoiceWith a price starting at $10 per user, per month, Google Voice is definitely on the low-cost side of the spectrum. It’s way more affordable than many business phone system providers, hence it receives a pricing score of 4/5 in our research. With the current economic slowdown in the US, businesses are looking for various ways to cut costs, and choosing affordable software is one way. Read our pricing section below for more information.✘ Limited FeaturesThat said, there’s a reason why Google Voice is much more affordable than the other providers. Google Voice has limited capabilities when compared with its competitors, earning a low feature score of 2.6/5. For example, it doesn’t have customizable hold music and call queue features.You can only get localized and toll-free numbers with a Premier price, and Google Voice requires you to have a genuine presence in that location. In comparison, other business phone systems, such as 8×8 and RingCentral, let you set up a number whether you’re based in that location or not.Google Voice also doesn’t have call flip, barge, and whisper features, but it does have call forwarding across all pricing plans. The only management feature it offers, besides analytics/reporting is customizable call routing, which you can only get on its Standard and Premier plans. ✘ Few External ConnectionsUnlike some phone business providers, Google Voice doesn’t come with a desk phone. However, you can still connect third-party handsets from Poly, Cisco, Yealink, and Unify to maximize its services. Likewise, you can access Google Voice on your smartphone using the Google Voice app. As for software integrations, Google Voice can’t integrate with chat and analytics platforms outside Google. But the biggest letdown would be Google Voice’s closed API. This means you can’t customize its software to integrate external applications, pulling the score for integrability down to 2.8/5. However, Google Voice has the smoothest integrations with Google’s broad list of products, including Google Meet, Google Chat, and Google Workspace. Moreover, Google Voice has ready-made Zoho Desk integration and various CRM integrations (Zoho CRM, Copper, Pipedrive, Salesforce, Freshsales, Agile CRM, Hubspot, MiniCRM, Apptivo) to help you gain and manage clients. ✘ Low ScalabilityUnfortunately, the absence of advanced features, sees it score an above average 2.9/5 score for scalability in our research. It doesn’t include call queueing, ring groups, local numbers, call barge, call whisper, and major management and collaborative features. This takes a toll on its ability to scale alongside a growing organization.However, it does offer some inbound and outbound features, management and collaboration capabilities, software integrations, as well as security features. Save by comparing bespoke quotes from the best phone systems for you Do You Already Have a Business VoIP System? Yes No Simply answer a few questions – it only takes a minute How Much Does Google Voice Cost Swipe right to see more 0 out of 0 backward forward Google Voice Starter Google Voice Standard Google Voice Premier Price $10/user/month Price $16/user/month Price $24 Key Features 10 user limitsUnlimited domestic minutesFree calls to US from any countryFree calls to Canada from USAnalytics/reporting Key Features Everything in the Starter planUnlimited usersVirtual receptionistRing groupsCustomizable call routingThird-party deskphones integration Key Features Everything in the Standard planLocalized + toll-free numbers Compare phone system pricing to get the best deal for your pricing with our free quote comparison tool! Get free quotes Before we start discussing the cost, you should note that Google Voice is only available to Google Workspace users. Nonetheless, Google Voice will be a good fit for your business if you want something easy on the budget and gets the job done. Along with Zoom Phone, Google Voice offers the lowest plan at $10 per user, per month, earning a good score of 4/5 in our pricing analysis. Unfortunately, Zoom Phone provides a better list of features at the same price. In other words, Google Voice is very affordable but doesn’t offer the best value for money, ranking fourth of the 12 providers in pricing. Zoom Phone, Net2Phone, and GoTo will give you a higher return on investment — with Zoom Phone leading the pack with a 5/5 pricing score. Dialpad also scores 4/5 for pricing. Despite its higher pricing plans, it offers better functionalities than Google Voice. If you want more bang for your buck, you should check out Zoom Phone. Like Google Voice, Zoom Phone provides the cheapest plan at $10 per user per month. What makes Zoom Phone more economical is its unlimited user limit on its lowest (Metered) plan, whereas Google Voice only has 10 (Starter plan). Likewise, Zoom Phone becomes cheaper as the plans go higher. Zoom Phone’s Unlimited plan is $15 per user per month, while Google Voice’s Standard is $16 — making it $1 cheaper. Even with a slightly lower price, Zoom Phone offers more functionalities, such as a localized toll-free number. On the plus side, Google Voice provides free calls to the US from any country and free calls to Canada from the US. Whereas, Zoom Phone only offers unlimited minutes within the US. Moving on to their highest pricing tiers, Zoom Phone’s Select plan is $20 per user per month, while Google Voice’s Premier plan is $24. With this upgrade, Google Voice users get a localized toll-free number. Meanwhile, Zoom Phone users get unlimited inbound calls to more than 40 countries. That’s a huge difference.But the biggest point of contention is that Zoom Phone offers a wider variety of features than Google Voice for a lower price. As an example, Zoom Phone provides customizable hold music, call queue, call flip, call barge, and call whisper, whereas Zoom Phone doesn’t. If you’d like to find out how much your ideal VoIP system is going to cost, try our free quote matching tool. Simply answer a few questions about what you need, and we’ll match you up with phone systems that can provide what you want. They’ll then be in touch with tailored, no-obligation quotes for you to compare. It’s a quick and easy way to compare prices from the best options for you. Google Voice’s Standout FeaturesAlthough it doesn’t score well for its features in our research, lacking management, conversation, and calling tools, it does offer some redeeming integrations:Google Optimized Google Voice is offered as part of Google Workspace, that’s why it perfectly integrates with its apps and features. Since Google Workspace is one of the most used platforms for cloud computing, productivity, and collaboration tools, you’ll get to make the most of these features to boost your team’s productivity. Connect and collaborate with your team, clients, and suppliers with Gmail and Google Chat. Share important files through Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Spreadsheet. You can even make calls straight from Gmail. It also integrates smoothly with Google Meet, which means you can easily jump into a meeting on the go. BigQuery Get advanced reporting with BigQuery when you upgrade to Google Voice’s Premium plan. BigQuery is Google’s serverless multi-cloud enterprise data warehouse. With built-in machine learning and business intelligence (BI), BigQuery will analyze your data and make insightful reports in real-time. This includes user information, call logs, and features, making it highly valuable for collecting information from your large number of callers. In other words, BigQuery allows you to manage complex data and run interactive queries quickly. This is most useful for large businesses with high call volume, storing extensive and detailed information about their clients. Since our last update Since we wrote this review, Google Voice have introduced the following changes:Flexible availability – you can now indicate your availability on Google Voice with more options. These include choosing to allow all calls, direct calls only, and calls from specific ring groups.New design – Google Voice is often considered a neglected Google app but it’s recent design overhaul pulls it almost in line with modern apps. Google has modernised the shapes inside Google Voice and you can pull in colors from your wallpaper, just like with so many other Google apps. What Kind of Business is Google Voice Best For?The best part about Google Voice is its top-of-the-line security system, making it the best business phone system for security features. Hence, we recommend Google Voice to businesses that prioritize security, particularly those that deal with a lot of sensitive information. Google Voice offers all the basic features you need from a phone system, making it an affordable choice for small start-ups and businesses, especially for those that already use Google’s platforms. With affordable plans and user-friendly features, you’ll get a phone system with limited capital. Because it has the smoothest integration with Google Workspace, it’s the best business phone system for Google users. If you have an international presence, Google Voice allows you to make calls from anywhere. In addition to this, Google Voice can route all calls from your team using a single number, making it practical for remote and hybrid teams. If you want to scale internationally, upgrading to the Premier plan for only $24 will allow you to make affordable international calls. This makes reaching out to your global clients and team much easier. On the other hand, Google Voice will not be a good fit for organizations that require advanced call features. Its limited call features and software integrations will block your team from incorporating helpful business solutions outside Google. Save by comparing bespoke quotes from the best phone systems for you Do You Already Have a Business VoIP System? Yes No Simply answer a few questions – it only takes a minute How Does Google Voice Compare With Other Phone Systems?We compared Google Voice with its top competitors: 8×8, RingCentral, Vonage, Zoom Phone, Ooma, Nextiva, Goto Connect, N2P US, Dialpad, and Nuacom. We rated these 12 business phone system providers using four key factors: inbound and outbound communications features, integrability and scalability, pricing, and customer support.PlatformsGoogle Voice8×8Ring CentralVonageZoom PhoneOomaNextivaGoto ConnectN2P USDialpadNuacomInbound & Outbound Communications Features2.64.84.24.54.04.13.93.43.64.43.3Pricing4.02.53.53.85.03.53.84.34.543.5External Connections + Scalability3.64.94.54.54.24.13.43.93.42.83.9Customer Support3.1553.43.34.54.53.43.94.53.51. Google Voice’s Inbound and Outbound Communication FeaturesWhen ranking the inbound and outbound features of business phone systems’, Google Voice takes 11th place of the 12 we looked at, with a low 2.6/5 features score. Google Voice lacks some features that many of its competitors provide, such as 8×8, which scores 4.8/5 in our research. It offers customizable greetings, a virtual receptionist, company hours, and local toll-free numbers across all of its plans, whereas Google Voice only provides these features on its Standard and Premier plans. Moreover, you can only set up localized and toll-free numbers on Google Voice’s highest plan, which also requires you to have a genuine presence in that location. Google Voice does not offer inbound communication features, including customizable hold music and call queue, which is offered by 8×8. These nifty additions will help you manage high call volumes. Concerning outbound communication features, Google Voice also lacks 8×8’s power dialer, predictive dialing, auto dialers, and e-fax. Even call conferencing, a highly-useful feature all 11 competitors offer, is missing across all Google Voice plans. 2. Google Voice Integrability and ScalabilityAnother drawback is Google Voice’s inability to integrate software and scale, seeing it score a low 2.8/5 for integrability in our research. Google Voice relies solely on Google Workspace for most of its features. While Google Workspace offers a wide variety of functionalities, most companies still use other collaborative and management applications to work.Having a closed API makes it difficult for Google Voice to integrate with other software. It’s a good thing it has ready-made integrations with CRM systems Salesforce, Hubspot, Zendesk, MS Dynamics, Oracle Salescloud, Sugar CRM, Act!, Goldmine, and Workbooks. If you run your business with various apps and software, consider RingCentral because it has the most ready-made integrations of all 12 providers, with up to 97 CRM and 57 analytics platform integrations. Like Google Voice, RingCentral also connects with your helpdesk software, such as SalesForce, Zendesk, Freshdesk, and Hubspot. For team collaborations, 8×8 is another great option as it integrates with Microsoft Teams, Whatsapp, and Facebook.Although Google Voice offers the best security out of all 12 competitors, its scalability score is only 2.9/5, ranking ninth against 12 competitors. Its low scores for -insert the areas that these fall into – affects its ability to scale.. If you want scalability in your phone system, 8×8 and RingCentral score the highest, with 4.9/5, respectively. Both providers have an extensive list of features, allowing them to handle high call volumes, manage a team, and foster collaborations. 3. Google Voice’s Customer Support Channel When it comes to customer support channels, Google Voice earns an above average score of 3.1/5. While it has 24/7 live support, a user forum and knowledge-base, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee, it doesn’t have email and live chat functions. This means you can only reach its customer support team through a phone line. It also lacks onboarding support, making it quite tricky to configure Google Voice’s system to match your business processes.If you’re looking for better customer support, 8×8 and RingCentral both provide top-notch customer service, scoring 5/5 in our research. Both provide 24/7 customer support through various channels, such as live chat, email, and phone. Like Google Voice, 8×8 and RingCentral have a 99.9% uptime guarantee, so you know you’ll be using a reliable system. Best of all, they can provide onboarding support to help you go live with your phone system. Save by comparing bespoke quotes from the best phone systems for you Do You Already Have a Business VoIP System? Yes No Simply answer a few questions – it only takes a minute Does Google Voice Have Good Customer Reviews?Customer reviews help you hear honest insights from real world users. Earning an overall score of 4.4/5 across G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, and TrustRadius, shows that its customers have had great experiences with Google Voice. Customer review “This line is used by my private law practice as the primary office phone. It is listed as my office number because I utilize a virtual office and this permits calls to go directly to my mobile phone instead of a remote receptionist who would take a message or attempt to transfer the call. This allows calls to come directly to me and generally permits a quicker response. It’s convenient for both me and my clients.” (sic) Loren Piel, Google Voice user - November 4, 2021 Customer review “I use google voice personally when traveling abroad and have limited service or would not want to use data roaming fees I would route my calls to my Google Voice number. It is not used from an enterprise-level more of a personal choice. I find it very convenient since I am always traveling.” (sic) Roberto Abreu, Google Voice user - August 23, 2021 Customer review It’s very useful that it’s both free and easy to setup. All you need is a US phone number and boom you have a 2nd phone number that has no ads. It’s limited in both features and what you can do. You can’t setup caller ID and there is no support. It was the only free solution that was great for starting out. The fact I can have another phone number just for clients and customers made it easy. (sic) Nathan H., Google Voice user - Aug 02, 2022 How We Reviewed Google VoiceWe've researched and tested 10 market-leading VoIP phone systems, evaluating them in terms of functionality, usability, cost and security options, so we can make the most useful recommendations to US businesses.Using our in-house research framework and ranking process, we evaluated each VoIP system across seven core categories of interest, each weighted differently, and then combined the results to come up with a final score.Our main testing categories for VoIP products and services are:Cost: The pricing structure associated with the VoIP service, such as monthly subscription fees, call rates, setup fees, hardware costs, and any additional charges for add-on features or services.Call features: The functionalities and capabilities offered by the VoIP service, including basic features such as call forwarding and voicemail, as well as advanced features like auto-attendant and conference calling.External connections: The VoIP service's ability to connect and integrate with external systems or devices, such as compatibility with existing phone systems or integration with mobile devices.Customer support: The assistance and resources provided by the VoIP service provider to customers, including technical support, online resources, and access to customer support representatives.Security options: The measures and features implemented by the VoIP service to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and protection of voice communications and data.Scalability: The ability of the VoIP service to accommodate the growth and changing needs of an organization, e.g. capacity to handle a growing number of users or support multiple locations.Reputation: External customer opinion; the feedback and ratings given by customers who have used a particular VoIP product – the market position and reputation a VoIP software holds. Verdict Google Voice offers one of the most affordable plans, scoring a solid /5 in our research. Its seamless Google Workspace integration provides a beginner-friendly interface that anyone can adapt to quickly. In addition, it provides all the essential features a business phone system can offer, making Google Voice suitable for Google users starting a small business. It also enforces high-level security, so you can sleep in peace knowing your information is protected.Unfortunately, Google Voice has a limited list of features and scalability. So, if you’re planning to expand your business in the future, Google Voice’s restrictions may hinder you. If you’re looking for better features and higher scalability, 8×8 can meet your demands. 8×8 provides feature-packed plans that fit every business size. But, if you want a simple and affordable business phone system that’s secure, easy to use, and has all the basic features you need, Google Voice will be valuable to your business. Need a business phone system for your team? Our free quote comparison tool will help you find the best business phone system for you. Just fill in a few answers about your business, and we’ll give you quotes customized to suit the needs of your business. Save by comparing bespoke quotes from the best phone systems for you Do You Already Have a Business VoIP System? Yes No Simply answer a few questions – it only takes a minute FAQs What are the main features of Google Voice? Google Voice offers call forwarding, call screening, spam filtering, voicemail transcription, text messaging, and group messaging.It also offers integration with other Google services. Is Google Voice free to use? No, you’ll need to purchase a plan which starts from $10 per user per month to use it as a phone system. You can use providers like Zoom for a free VoIP option. Can I use Google Voice for international calls? Yes, you can make both domestic and international calls on Google Voice on all of their plans, starting from $10. Can I use Google Voice on my mobile device? Yes, you can use Google Voice on your mobile device. You can use it on your smartphone, desktop, or tablet and it syncs across all these devices so you can seamlessly use it on the go or in the office. Are there any limitations or restrictions with Google Voice? Google Voice lacks scalability features and doesn’t offer a call queue, call conferencing, or a predictive dialer. This makes it less suitable for larger enterprises but still well-suited to small businesses as its affordable and contains basic phone features. Can I send and receive text messages with Google Voice? Yes, you can send and receive text messages with Google Voice but only within the US. How secure is Google Voice for calls and messages? Google Voice is pretty secure, holding a large number of compliance certificates, multi-factor authentication, and encryption. Written by: Claude Quiba Content Writer If you want insights into the best phone systems for your business, Claude Quiba will give you the lowdown on the latest in the industry. She's also a dreamer, a writer, and an autism advocate. Talk to her about art, coffee, or anything under the sun. But mostly, she's your go-to person when it comes to finding the best solutions for your team. Reviewed by: James Macey Senior Business Software Researcher James draws on his 4+ years experience as a researcher to offer specialized advice on a wide range of categories from CRM to Fleet Management. He believes all businesses can grow if they use the right tools and services.