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12 best toll-free number service providers in 2022

Looking for the best fit toll-free number service for your business? One of these 12 might be what you’re looking for.

The post 12 best toll-free number service providers in 2022 appeared first on OpenPhone Blog.

If you’re looking to keep your business number independent of any specific area and provide callers with a better experience, using a toll-free phone number is a no-brainer. And with modern technology and internet access, just about anyone can get a toll-free number of their own — even small business owners. Dozens of online platforms provide access to 855, 866, 888, and more, offering all the tools you need to take your business to the next level.

Of course, not every phone system has what it takes to meet your business needs. Apart from the toll-free number itself, you’ll want to access various tools and tech that help you streamline your communication. So you may be asking yourself: which platforms have the best plans and features, and how do they stack up to one another?

Let’s take a deep dive into 12 of the best toll-free telephone number providers of 2022, including their fees, functions, and limitations. We’re also dropping some helpful tips and FAQs below so you can make the best decision about your next toll-free number service.

Best toll-free number providers

Whether you’re a brand-new startup or a well-established enterprise, a simple toll-free number can meet and exceed your business expectations. Here are the top business phone services offering toll-free numbers — starting with the best of the best. ⬇

1. OpenPhone

OpenPhone: toll-free number service provider

At OpenPhone, we help thousands of businesses communicate more efficiently with the rest of the world. That’s why we offer some of the most intuitive toll-free number services on the market today.

With OpenPhone, you’ll never pay extra for inbound calls on a toll-free number. Just download the mobile app or use the browser or desktop app to start receiving calls and texts in seconds. 

Then share access to the number with your team to split responsibility for incoming messages and calls. You can also plug into automated texting features (like snippets and auto-replies) or phone menus (aka auto-attendants) to save time on incoming communication. You’ll always look professional and responsive to callers, even as a small team.

Get as many local (US or Canadian numbers) or toll-free numbers as your team needs with OpenPhone.

Ready to get started? You can get a toll-free phone number with OpenPhone in less than 10 minutes. Sign up for our free trial to pick the perfect number today.

Price

OpenPhone pricing
  • Standard: $10 per user per month for call recording, voicemail to text, and IVR
  • Premium: $20 per user per month for call transfers, group calling, and analytics
  • Enterprise: Prices customized to your business for a dedicated account manager, audit logs, and priority support

If the amount of numbers on your account exceeds the total users, you pay only $5 per month for each additional number. It’s just that easy.

International call and text rates can be found on our pricing page.

Key features

  • Unlimited calls in the US and Canada
  • Speech-to-text voicemail transcriptions
  • Call recordings
  • SMS and MMS business texting with auto-replies and snippets
  • Shared toll-free phone numbers work for teams of any size
  • Integrations with a wide variety of tools (Slack, HubSpot, Zapier, Gong, etc.)

2. Grasshopper

Grasshopper: toll-free number service provider

In the market since 2003, legacy VoIP provider Grasshopper offers toll-free, local, and vanity numbers. All their plans provide the same features: call analytics and support, instant text responses, and unlimited call minutes. These apply to all the toll-free prefixes available, which include 833, 844, 855, 866, 877, 888, and 800.

But Grasshopper isn’t necessarily a one-stop shop for toll-free number features. There’s no call recording (even as a paid add-on). Plus, a lack of automated call routing can limit growing teams. Grasshopper also doesn’t provide MMS support for toll-free numbers, which prevents customers and teams from sending multimedia.

Grasshopper is best for small businesses not looking for many features. If you need more than just a toll-free phone number, this isn’t the platform for you.

Pricing

Grasshopper pricing
  • Solo: $29 per month for one phone number and three extensions
  • Partner: $49 per month for three phone numbers and six extensions
  • Small Business: $89 per month for five phone numbers and unlimited extensions

Key features

  • Desktop and mobile apps for number management
  • Unlimited toll-free call and text support
  • Custom greetings with vanity numbers

3. 800.com

800.com toll-free number service provider

If you’ve ever searched ‘toll-free number for sale,’ you’ve likely seen 800.com somewhere in your ad results. This legacy provider focuses on nothing but toll-free numbers, including prefixes like 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, and 833. They also offer custom vanity numbers such as 888-60-CAR-50 (and so on).

800.com supports inbound calls and SMS with their toll-free numbers, although SMS support is somewhat limited. An article hidden on their support page shows that only 120 SMS messages are free with the Personal Plan, with a max of 10,000 on the Pro Plan. Any additional SMS messages cost extra per message.

Unfortunately, 800.com also has extremely confusing price plans. You’ll have to choose between unlimited minutes or unlimited users — with no wiggle room. There’s no way to mix and match, which can become a problem as your company grows. Worst of all, the lack of call recording and IVR can keep your business from managing higher daily call volumes.

Pricing

800.com pricing
  • Personal Monthly: $29 per month for 1,000 minutes and one toll-free phone number
  • Unlimited Monthly: $75 per month for unlimited minutes and one toll-free phone number
  • Pro Monthly: $149 per month for 5,000 minutes and five toll-free phone numbers

Note the Unlimited Monthly plan is intended to forward calls to a single person only (multiple users or call centers are not supported).

Key features

  • Toll-free SMS texting
  • Sequential call forwarding
  • Voicemail transcriptions

4. Phone.com

Phone.com toll-free number service provider

Toll-free numbers from Phone.com work on nearly any device, from softphones and mobile devices to old-school landlines. There are three primary prefixes supported: 800, 888, and 877.

Despite its cross-functionality, Phone.com pales in comparison to many of its contemporaries. There’s no access to call analytics (except for on the highest plan). Call recording also costs an extra $8 per user per month. If you’re on the basic plan, you’ll be stuck with just one phone number per account — if you need a toll-free number alongside another line, you’ll need to upgrade.

Factor in you only get 500 pooled call minutes and 1,000 pooled text segments with Phone.com’s Basic plan. Plus, bulk business SMS isn’t available at the Basic level. 

Pricing

Phone.com pricing
  • Basic: $14.99 per user per month for mobile phone apps, standard features, and pooled minutes
  • Plus: $19.99 per user per month for unlimited minutes, IP desk phone compatibility, and business toll-free number SMS
  • Pro: $29.99 per user per month for call recording, call analytics, and voicemail transcriptions

Key features

  • HIPAA compliance
  • Voice tagging features
  • Caller queues

5. RingCentral

RingCentral: best toll-free number service providers

As one of the most recognizable providers on the market, vanity and toll-free numbers are available under RingCentral’s VoIP plan. Currently, their prefixes include 888, 877, 866, 855, and 844. There are also true 800 vanity numbers available at this time. Users can purchase minute bundles of up to 100,000 per month with automatic billing for overages.

However, RingCentral’s Essentials plan is relatively limited. The tools that businesses need — including integrations and call recording — are locked behind more expensive tiers. And if you do go over your bundled minute limit, you’ll be paying up to $0.04 extra per minute (a serious budget buster).

Pricing

RingCentral pricing

With a team of up to 20 users on the monthly plan, here’s what you can expect to pay:

  • Essentials: $19.99 per month for voicemail to text, team messaging, and document sharing
  • Standard: $27.99 per month for integrations, 24/7 support, and audio conferencing
  • Premium: $34.99 per month for auto call recording, hot desking, and video conferencing
  • Ultimate: $49.99 per month for status alerts, reports, and unlimited storage

Key features

  • Screensharing
  • Call logs
  • Unlimited calls in the US and Canada

6. Ooma

Ooma: best toll-free number service providers

Providers like Ooma specialize in toll-free numbers for small businesses and startups. Offering prefixes like 855, 844, 833, 877, 888, and 866, they provide a complimentary toll-free number with every account.

But Ooma’s limitations are highly problematic for small business owners. There are no unlimited call or texting plans offered. You also can’t access their desktop app without upgrading to the second price tier.

Worse still, there are only 500 minutes of inbound calls offered per month. You’ll have to pay an extra $15 per month for an additional 1,000 minutes or $30 for 2,500 more minutes. Any more than that, and you’ll have to pay overage fees.

Pricing

Ooma pricing
  • Ooma Office Essentials: $19.95 per user per month for ring groups, virtual receptionists, and the mobile app
  • Ooma Office Pro: $24.95 per user per month for desktop apps, dynamic caller ID, and analytics
  • Ooma Office Pro Plus: $29.95 per user per month for call queuing, Salesforce integrations, and hot desking

Key features

  • Music on hold
  • Digital fax
  • Email audio attachments

7. FreedomVoice

FreedomVoice: best toll-free number service providers

FreedomVoice is touted as ‘the voice of small business,’ offering nothing but toll-free and local numbers to startups around the country. You can access one of their CloudNumbers (AKA toll-free numbers) in seconds; no worries about contracts or hidden fees. Virtual faxing is always available, along with the mobile app.

Current toll-free prefixes include:

  • 800
  • 888
  • 877
  • 866
  • 855
  • 844
  • 833

However, FreedomVoice wasn’t built for teams greater than four users (and it shows). The offered features are extremely sparse, and many of them are attached to add-on costs not listed on the website. As a legacy provider since 1996, many users complain that the interface is old, outdated, and hard to use — not great for businesses looking to scale up.

Pricing

FreedomVoice pricing
  • Start: $9.95 per month for 400 included minutes (3.9¢ for additional minutes)
  • Edge: $19.95 per month for 1200 included minutes (3.9¢ for additional minutes)
  • Max: $29.95 per month for unlimited minutes (0.0¢ for additional minutes)

Key features

  • Virtual attendant
  • Custom greetings
  • SMS messaging

8. eVoice

eVoice: best toll-free number service providers

Established in 1999, eVoice is one of the oldest toll-free providers on this list. Their prefixes are relatively diversified, with options that include 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, and 844. All numbers have access to 30 included features, such as sequential ringing, call routing, and business texting.

However, vanity numbers on eVoice are treated separately from toll-free numbers. You’ll have to upgrade to access this premium feature and pay an additional monthly charge as well. Many of the tools your business needs to succeed are locked behind additional fees with eVoice — including call recording.

No matter the plan you choose, eVoice provides 30,000 minutes per month. Unlimited calls and texts aren’t provided at all.

Keep in mind that eVoice is very strict about its user limits. A max of 11 users is all you get, even on the most expensive plan. If you have more members than this, you might want to look elsewhere for a toll-free number service.

Pricing

eVoice pricing
  • Elite 11 Monthly: $13.50 per user per month for 33 toll-free numbers and 11 users
  • Elite Monthly: $14.00 per user per month for three toll-free numbers and one user
  • Elite 6 Monthly: $13.00 per user per month for 18 toll-free numbers and six users
  • Elite 10 Monthly: $10.00 per user per month for 30 toll-free numbers and 10 users

Key features

  • Virtual receptionists
  • Call forwarding
  • Audio to email voicemails

9. MightyCall

MightyCall: best toll-free number service providers

MightyCall’s claim to fame as a toll-free number provider stems from its support to small businesses. While they don’t have a detailed list of prefixes on their website, MightyCall does offer 855 numbers to a variety of businesses.

But MightyCall doesn’t offer many toll-free features. Apart from bare-bones functions like call forwarding and analytics, you can only access custom greetings, basic call routing, and call histories. And when you consider the fact that this platform lacks integrations and advanced call routing, it’s hard to justify the price when compared to other competitors.

Upgrading plans is also a problem. MightyCall sets minimum user limits on every plan. Even if your team needs a specific feature or upgrade, you can’t access it without hiring more people first. There’s also no solo plan; just one for two users only. And unless you upgrade to the second tier, you’ll be limited to 1,000 texts and 1,000 minutes only — not a lot for a growing brand.

Pricing

MightyCall pricing
  • Small Team: $9 per user per month (two user minimum)
  • Business: $15 per user per month (three user minimum)
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing (10 user minimum)

Key features

  • Blacklisting / VIP
  • Texting on desktop and mobile
  • Call forwarding software

10. Dialpad

Dialpad: best toll-free number service providers

One of the biggest benefits of using Dialpad as a toll-free number service is its wide variety of integrations. Prefixes like 888, 877, 855, 866, and 844 allow you to access a unified communications platform across a variety of devices. However, toll-free numbers cost an additional $17 per month in addition to your Dialpad plan.

Unfortunately, you won’t be getting much functionality from said monthly plan. You’ll have to upgrade to the Enterprise plan to access all integrations, while the base plan lacks some of the features provided by established services. There’s no hold queue, no international SMS support, and limited support coverage without upgrading to the highest tier.

Pricing

Dialpad pricing

If billed monthly, here’s what you can expect to pay:

  • Standard: $15 per user per month (one user minimum)
  • Pro: $25 per user per month (three user minimum)
  • Enterprise: Custom price (100 user license minimum)

Key features

  • Integrations
  • Speech coaching
  • Switch calls between devices

11. Vonage

Vonage: best toll-free number service providers

The toll-free area codes provided by Vonage (888, 877, and 866) come with unlimited calls to the US and Canada. That’s about where the benefits stop.

Although Vonage touts itself as an unlimited provider, this is not strictly true. There is no SMS available in Mexico. Unlimited calls are for “reasonable and acceptable usage” only, with no other context provided. If you do a lot of toll-free calling, you might end up with some calling limitations. Plus, only customers in the US can currently purchase toll-free numbers.

Note that Vonage is also one of the most expensive providers on this list. The cost of a toll-free number is $39.99 per month, which doesn’t include the price of the actual plan. If you expect to have multiple toll-free numbers on their platform, Vonage has the potential to charge a hefty bill.

Pricing

Vonage pricing

Here’s what you’ll pay for a team of up to four people (not including taxes or fees):

  • Mobile: $19.99 per line per month for mobile and desktop apps, unlimited calls and texts, and the Vonage app center
  • Premium: $29.99 per line per month for auto attendants, CRM integrations, and IP desk phone compatibility
  • Advanced: $39.99 per line per month for call recording, call groups, and visual voicemail

Key features

  • Business message inboxes
  • Video collaborations
  • Blocking caller IDs

12. Nextiva 

Nextiva: best toll-free number service providers

Last but not least, Nextiva is a VoIP solution that offers local and toll-free number options. Their current prefixes include 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, and 833 — plenty to choose from for small businesses. Users can employ Nextiva’s toll-free numbers for country-wide calling, as well as virtual faxing services.

Of course, Nextiva isn’t without its flaws. You can’t access IVR or business texting on the basic plan (you’ll need to pay for the second-highest plan). You also can’t text from your computer without upgrading. Pricing plans are affected by the number of users on your team. The fewer employees you manage, the more you’ll pay in the long run.

Pricing

Nextiva pricing

Since Nextiva’s pricing plans change according to the number of users, the cost of the plans below applies to teams of one to four people on the monthly plan.

  • Essential: $23.95 per user per month for unlimited calls, internet faxing, and voicemail
  • Professional: $27.95 per user per month for auto attendants, conference calling, and mobile and desktop SMS
  • Enterprise: $37.95 per user per month for integrations, call recording, and professional custom greetings

Key features

  • Call recording
  • Conference calling
  • Business SMS texting

How we ranked the best toll-free service providers

We chose to rank these toll-free business platforms according to four critical factors:

  1. Functionality: How many features will you get from the service provider in question? More importantly, does their basic plan have everything you need to get started? Rather than focusing on just premium add-ons, we want to dial in on platforms with the greatest number of features at the lowest possible price point.
  2. Price: What’s the basic cost of each toll-free number? Does the platform charge any hefty fees or hidden costs? Knowing exactly what to expect before investing in a toll-free service provider is best. Keep in mind that while budgets matter, so does the power of your dollar. In this list, we rank services based on value for your money rather than just the price tag alone.
  3. Support: Will you have access to help desks or call center hotlines? Your teams should find answers to their questions fast — without wasting precious time on inefficient or slow support calls. The toll-free providers on this list factor in their ease of support and customer service availability.
  4. Quality: Can your business expect great call quality and 100% uptime from the toll-free number provider? The platform you choose should always provide an outstanding on-call experience to callers, clients, and internal teams. Without great quality to back you up, your company’s professionalism and reputation may suffer as a result.

Tips for getting a vanity toll-free number 

It’s one thing to pick a random toll-free number, but quite another to build a memorable vanity number with specific words. Knowing the ins and outs of vanity numbers helps you stand out better in the marketplace and pick the best phrases for your business needs.

Here are a few tips for picking a vanity toll-free number for commercial use:

  • Don’t worry so much about 800 prefixes. Newer strings like 833 and 888 are just as popular and perform extremely well for any business.
  • Try not to limit yourself to traditional vanity numbers managed by contemporary carriers. These tend to be more limited and more expensive, which is why numbers on VoIP platforms are far more useful to the modern business.
  • As you consider possible vanity numbers, think about keywords your website is already ranking for online. For example, 1 (888) BEACHES, 800-Giant-Men, and 800-IGo-HoJo are three great examples of keywords used in vanity numbers.
  • Be sure you’ll be regularly using your vanity toll-free number. The FCC ensures that companies can’t horde phrases without the intent to use them frequently.
  • If a vanity phrase you want is already taken, try using some alternative spelling patterns. For example, you might want to write 888-TOP-KARS rather than 888-TOP-CARS.

Acquiring a vanity number isn’t nearly as difficult as it sounds. Armed with the right tools and res, you’ll be well on your way to managing a successful toll-free hotline for customers, clients, and future prospects.

And at OpenPhone, we’ll help you do it even faster.

Can I port my existing toll-free number to another provider?

If you live in the United States, the FCC dictates that all toll-free and vanity numbers be portable to other providers. This includes traditional providers and virtual phone systems like OpenPhone.

And speaking of OpenPhone, it just takes two steps to port your toll-free number to our platform:

  1. Sign up for an OpenPhone account
  2. Complete the porting number typeform

Remember that the FCC doesn’t assign any toll-free numbers; they just ensure all best practices are followed. If you have any questions about the porting process of another provider, be sure to reach out to them directly.

Can I still receive international calls on a US toll-free number?

Businesses can use toll-free numbers to receive some international calls (depending on compatibility). However, keep in mind that only calls made in the US and other regions in the North American Number plan will be actually toll-free. International callers will be charged for their time plus any international fees, which defeats the purpose of a toll-free number in the first place.

If you get lots of international calls to your business, consider getting a toll-free number for the area you’re trying to reach.

OpenPhone is the platform of choice for toll-free business numbers

OpenPhone desktop and mobile apps in light mode

If you’re looking for a toll-free number service that can scale with your business as your team grows, OpenPhone may be the best platform for you.

We offer plenty of easily customizable features to help you deliver a professional phone presence, including custom greetings and call routing software that sets expectations and gets callers where they need to go. You can also enjoy unlimited calling and texting plans so that your team can access OpenPhone anywhere that has WiFi. Best of all, our price points always scale alongside you — no hidden expectations and no sneaky fees.

Try out OpenPhone today with a free one-week trial.

The post 12 best toll-free number service providers in 2022 appeared first on OpenPhone Blog.

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