7 Top-Rated Affordable Call Center Software
As a call center or customer service manager, you probably spend hours managing high call volumes, ensuring agents remain productive during shifts, and monitoring and maintaining consistent quality across all customer interactions. What if there was a way to address such challenges without involving too much manual effort?
Investing in an affordable call center solution can help you achieve this. Not only do affordable solutions not severely impact your budgets, but they also help streamline routine business operations, enabling you to focus more on coaching your team and improving the quality of service that you provide.
This article lists seven top-rated affordable call center software solutions based on verified user reviews and pricing found on vendor websites. Per our research, we’ve considered products with base plans priced less than $72.94 per month as affordable software and arranged them in ascending order of their prices.
What is a base software plan?
A base plan is the most affordable pricing tier offered by a software provider. Besides having the lowest price, base plans provide access to all core software features. However, they may have limitations compared to higher-tier plans in terms of the available functionality, storage capacity, number of user seats, support options, etc.
We selected products for this article based on their average ratings between March 2022 - March 2024, which may differ from their current overall average ratings.
1. Acefone
Acefone is a communications and inbound call center solution that helps small businesses improve their customer service quality and improve customer experience. The software improves agent productivity with automated contact center dialers (ratio dialers that dial multiple phone numbers in a predetermined ratio based on agent availability and preview dialers that preview information about the contact to help agents understand the caller’s background and set context during the call). Such dialers enable agents to engage in more productive conversations. You can also use the cloud call center platform to route calls efficiently to all available agents based on set criteria, reducing call wait time and call drop rates.
With the base plan, you get unlimited calling and SMS facilities throughout North America, real-time call monitoring, and a voicemail-to-email feature. Upgrading to the premium plan grants you access to a dedicated account manager, call recording ability, free number porting, and priority 24x7 support.
Base plan features:*
Agent portal: Provide an agent portal for team members to track calls, toggle call administration settings, and define role-based access for team managers.
SMS-based automated notifications: Deliver customizable automated texts to customers for missed and answered inbound or outbound calls and improve customer experience.
Virtual receptionist: Let a virtual receptionist attend incoming customer calls that can answer basic queries and route the call to a specialist once it understands the inquiry.
Starting price: $14.99 per user, per month
Cost to upgrade: $16.99 per user, per month
Billing cycle: Annual
Customer support options: Chat, email, and 24x7 help desk support
Who should consider Acefone?
Small businesses with a limited number of customer support executives can benefit from Acefone’s virtual assistant and interactive voice response features that help create personalized greetings and responses for general queries. Additionally, the software with its automatic call distribution ensures that customer calls are routed to the most relevant agent based on their skills and area of expertise.
Pro tip
Check for support options provided with the base plan. While email support or online documentation may be readily available, access to phone support, dedicated account managers, or priority support queues may be reserved for premium customers. Look for software that offers 24x7 live chat support with their base plan.
2. Squaretalk
Squaretalk is a contact center software solution designed to streamline communication operations and enhance customer interactions. With Squaretalk, businesses can efficiently manage any inbound or outbound call, email, chat, and social media message from a unified platform. Squaretalk empowers inbound and outbound call center managers to optimize agent productivity with the help of a built-in automatic call distribution (ACD) system, intelligently routing incoming calls to the most appropriate agents based on predefined criteria such as skills, availability, and priority.
With Squaretalk’s base plan, you get access to a virtual receptionist, a real-time customer dashboard to monitor incoming queries and custom on-hold music. Upgrading to a premium plan will provide you with smart predictive dialing, which analyzes various factors, such as agent availability, call answer rates, and call abandonment rates, to predict the optimal time to place each call and agent ranking by skills and years of experience.
Base plan features:*
Warm and blind transfers: Route calls to the appropriate personnel or departments, depending on the nature of the call and the expertise required for resolution. The choice between a warm transfer, where an agent gets notified and given context about the transferred call, or a blind transfer without any prior communication depends on factors such as the complexity of the call, the need for additional information, and the relationship between the agent and the recipient.
Unlimited call recording: Record unlimited incoming and outgoing customer calls to understand areas where agents can improve communication and find better solutions for customers with unique queries and increase customer satisfaction.
Intelligent call routing: Leverage advanced algorithms and data-driven decision-making to route incoming calls to the most appropriate agent or department considering the skills, expertise, and proficiency levels of individual agents.
Starting price: $15 per user, per month
Cost to upgrade: $30 per user, per month
Billing cycle: Annual
Customer support options FAQ, live chat, and email support
Who should consider Squaretalk?
Businesses focused on sales and marketing initiatives can benefit from Squaretalk's features for managing outbound calling campaigns, tracking leads, and optimizing sales workflows. With tools for call scripting, lead management, and real-time analytics, Squaretalk helps sales teams maximize conversion rates and drive revenue growth.
3. CallHippo
CallHippo is a business phone system platform with contact center capabilities that helps provide voice-based customer support for business owners. It features a power dialer that automatically dials from an uploaded list of customer and lead numbers for each sales campaign, thereby improving productivity and saving time. You can also use the smart call forwarding feature to forward all incoming calls to an alternate number without customers knowing.
CallHippo’s base plan offers a shared inbox for your team to manage and oversee inbound customer calls and inquiries, and skill-based call routing to help customers connect with the best available agent for their concerns. Upgrading to an advanced plan will grant you role-based access control for the main dashboard, call recording capability, and call tagging, which is crucial to categorize callers if they are part of a campaign.
Base plan features:*
Automated call distribution: Route calls to agents automatically based on their specific skills or areas of expertise, ensuring that customers are connected with the most qualified representatives to handle their inquiries.
Queue management: Manage incoming calls in a queue, providing callers with estimated wait times, position in the queue, and options such as call-back requests or self-service options to minimize hold times.
International dialing: Allow agents to place outbound calls to customers or contacts located in different countries using international dialing capabilities. This ensures that agents can reach customers anywhere in the world without encountering restrictions or limitations based on geographical boundaries.
Starting price: $16 per user, per month
Cost to upgrade: $40 per user, per month
Billing cycle: Annual
Customer support options FAQ, live chat, email support, and a knowledge base
Who should consider CallHippo?
CallHippo is well-suited for sales and customer support teams that rely heavily on phone communication, especially with global customers. Its features such as call recording, call analytics, and call forwarding help sales teams manage leads, track calls, and optimize sales processes. Customer support and sales teams can apply for an internet-based phone number to handle international callers.
4. JustCall
JustCall is another customer communication platform that offers both outbound and inbound calling for businesses. With call recording, you can access a repository of context and understand customer needs and concerns better. You can also use the recordings to train your agents and ensure your team improves the quality of customer support they offer. JustCall also helps you mark the outcome of a call by using preset options known as disposition codes to score a call’s quality.
With the base plan, you get unlimited inbound calls, and core calling features, such as voicemail, call forwarding and transfer, and call tracking. Upgrading to an advanced plan gives you 100+ third-party integrations with a CRM system, help desk, and marketing software, detailed team-level analytics, built-in team chat, video and audio conferencing, and file sharing.
Base plan features:*
Call monitoring: Monitor calls in real-time, speak to your agent during the call, or jump into an ongoing call between your agent and customer. Additionally, you can silently monitor the conversation without the knowledge of either the agent or the caller to assess agent performance, evaluate customer interactions, and ensure quality standards are met.
Call disposition and tags: Mark the outcome of a call by selecting from preset disposition codes. These tags help call center supervisors, managers, and analysts track and analyze call data, monitor agent performance, and make data-driven decisions to improve operations and customer service.
Automated call scoring: Choose a scorecard or build one from scratch and rate calls based on the provided criteria to track conversation performance. Provide feedback to individual agents based on the scores they receive for their calls.
Starting price: $19 per user, per month
Cost to upgrade: $29 per user, per month
Billing cycle: Annual
Customer support options FAQ, live chat, email support, and a knowledge base
Who should consider JustCall?
JustCall provides integrations with 100+ analytics and reporting tools that enable businesses to track key performance metrics, analyze call data, and gain valuable insights into their communication activities. Businesses that already work with a software suite consisting of CRM, HR, and marketing tools can opt for JustCall for its integrational capabilities and simplify contact and lead migration. JustCall also offers advanced call routing and automation features that allow businesses to create custom call flows, set up IVR menus, and automate call distribution based on various criteria such as time of day, caller location, or agent availability.
Pro tip
Determine whether there are hidden charges for third-party integrations. If you’re already using CRM, analytics, and marketing software, chances are, you’d require integrational support for data migration. Therefore, look for products with free integrational support.
5. CloudTalk
CloudTalk is a customer experience platform that helps businesses with customer support and inbound and outbound sales communications. The software helps you create customized caller queues. Inbound calls get sorted in caller queues based on pre-defined rules and steered to available agents within the right group. CloudTalk also offers personalized messages for customers. With number portability, CloudTalk allows you to use your existing phone numbers by simply porting them to CloudTalk.
CloudTalk’s base plan offers free inbound calling, an unlimited caller queue, and a time-based call recording storage that expires after one month. Upgrading to an advanced plan gets you skill-based routing, a real-time client dashboard for monitoring interactions, and smart queuing based on agent availability to minimize queue time.
Base plan features:*
Voicemail management: Review and respond to voicemails directly in-app, through email, or third-party messaging platforms. You can also create customized voicemails for customers and assign incoming voicemails to specific teams and individual agents.
Call flow designer: Create a call flow designer to manage inbound calls with the help of a step-based program. You can create a unique inbound calling journey for customers with more than 20 different routing options. You can also assign a specific call flow to new numbers and route calls to agents based on customer choice, VIP status, CRM, or helpdesk info.
Inbound call management: Shorten response times for your customer support team by assigning inbound calls to multiple agents, and configuring queues to your exact intended customer experience.
Starting price: $25 per user, per month
Cost to upgrade: $30 per user, per month
Billing cycle: Annual
Customer support options FAQ, live chat, and email support
Who should consider CouldTalk?
CloudTalk utilizes intelligent queueing algorithms that prioritize callers based on factors such as their value as customers, urgency of their requests, and previous interaction history. It also offers customizable call routing rules that dynamically adjust based on real-time factors such as agent availability, skill level, and performance metrics. Such features are beneficial for eCommerce and retail stores that sell a variety of products and might face incoming calls for a wide range of queries and issues from customers.
6. Aircall
Aircall is a customer conversation management platform. The software provides toll-free national and international numbers for your business and lets you set customizable business hours for your team and update their availability based on local customs, seasonal changes, and individual preferences. You can set personalized three-digit extensions for individual team members to help teams collaborate and connect with each other seamlessly.
With Aircall’s base plan, you get user access for three team members and a local, toll-free number for business calling purposes. The access to call recordings and call analytics history is limited to one year and six months respectively. Upgrading to an advanced plan gets you call tagging and call and voicemail transcriptions.
Base plan features:*
Pause-resume recordings: Maintain privacy by pausing call recording whenever the situation calls for it. Pausing a recording allows agents to protect sensitive customer information during certain parts of a call, such as when taking payment details or discussing confidential matters. By pausing recordings during these moments, call centers can ensure compliance with data protection regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and maintain customer trust.
Parallel calls: Pause your current call and start a parallel conversation on a separate number. Parallel calls enable agents to multitask effectively, maximizing their productivity by handling multiple inquiries simultaneously. Agents can manage incoming calls more efficiently, reducing wait times for callers and improving overall call center efficiency.
Customizable operating hours: Define the opening hours for each of your phone numbers so that your team only receives calls when you're in a position to respond. Customizable operation hours allow you to align your call center operations with your unique scheduling requirements.
Starting price: $30 per user, per month
Cost to upgrade: $50 per user, per month
Billing cycle: Annual
Customer support options FAQ, live chat, email support, and a knowledge base
Who should consider Aircall?
Aircall is beneficial for businesses that have customer support or sales teams working remotely from various locations. Aircall’s ability to set custom operating hours enables your business to accommodate different time zones, adjust seasonal fluctuations in call volumes, and enable remote agents to adhere to specific business hours. Such flexibility ensures that the call center operates efficiently and effectively.
Pro tip
Base plans may not include options for white labeling or branding the software with your business’s logo, colors, or branding elements. This limitation may restrict the ability to create a fully branded and customized customer experience for end-users. Always look for the availability of brand customization options with a vendor before finalizing a purchase.
7. MyOperator
MyOperator is a cloud-based business phone platform that helps businesses streamline their communication processes, enhance customer interactions, and improve operational efficiency. The software provides businesses with virtual phone numbers that can be easily configured to handle inbound calls from customers, clients, and prospects. MyOperator offers advanced call routing capabilities, including interactive voice response (IVR) menus, skill-based routing, and time-based routing.
With the base plan, you get up to four desk phone numbers and unlimited call data recording storage. Basic functions such as call routing, recording, and forwarding are available too. Upgrading to the advanced plan grants you access to a predictive dialer, real-time reporting, and custom login for teams including two-factor authentication.
Base plan features:*
Call reports: Get insights into your business calls to analyze and optimize them. The reports provide insights into your peak calling hours and the exact number of your incoming, outgoing, and connected business calls. You can use this data to monitor the performance of each team separately.
Live call info widget: Gives you ongoing call details such as caller identity, the duration of a call, and which agent in your organization is attending a call. You can also perform actions such as call hangup and call transfer and add notes while attending a call.
Missed-call marketing: Increase customer interactions and engagement with your product through missed-call marketing which prompts users to call your toll-free numbers to know about discounts and offers of the day.
Starting price: $45 per month
Cost to upgrade: $200 per month
Billing cycle: Annual
Customer support options FAQ, live chat, email support, and a knowledge base
Who should consider MyOperator?
Branding and marketing teams that need to increase customer interactions can use MyOperator to engage them with innovative missed-call marketing. For instance, your customers can give you a missed call to get the offer of the day on an SMS. You can also run automatic outbound voice/SMS campaigns to promote offers and track marketing ROI through call analytics.
Top 4 call center software features users rate as highly important
All the products listed in this article include the key features mentioned below. To identify these, we asked users to rate, on a scale of “low importance” to “critical,” how important different features are for call center software. The features showcased are those that the highest percentage of reviewers rated as “highly important” or “critical” over the past two years (as of March 27, 2024).
Feature name | Criticality rating (%) | Description |
Call logging | 90% | Creates a historical record of all inbound and outbound calls, providing a comprehensive log of customer interactions over time for future reference. |
Call monitoring | 85% | Enables supervisors to evaluate agent performance and ensure adherence to quality standards. Supervisors can monitor calls to assess factors such as call-handling skills, compliance with scripts and protocols, and adherence to customer service standards. |
Call routing
| 84% | Allows businesses to customize the caller's experience by routing an incoming call to an agent who is best equipped to address their specific needs. |
Call recording | 82% | Serves as valuable training resources for new agents and ongoing development for existing staff. Agents can listen to recordings of their own phone calls to learn best practices and enhance their understanding of company policies and procedures. |
How much does call center software cost?
Call center software solutions can cost as low as $14.99 per month or up to $1000+ per month, depending on various factors—features, number of users, infrastructure requirements, business size/type, training availability, deployment options, integrations, and customization options. Most call center solutions typically include the following pricing plans:
Free trials: Range from seven to 30 days and give users access to either all or limited features of the software. These no-cost trial plans are ideal for businesses that wish to try out a tool before purchasing it.
Free versions: Offer perpetual access to limited software features. These free plans are ideal for small businesses or individuals on a budget.
Entry-level plans: Start at $14.99 per month and offer access to standard features. These are suitable for small businesses or teams with basic call center feature requirements, such as call monitoring, call routing, and basic reporting.
Mid-tier plans: Range from $16.99 to $235 per month and offer advanced features such as unlimited call recording, skill-based call routing, SMS/text messaging, and advanced reporting. These are suitable for businesses that have outgrown entry-level call center solutions but don’t require the full range of functionality offered by enterprise-level tools.
High-end plans: Cost more than $1000 per month and offer a range of advanced features, including unlimited access to entry-level and mid-tier features, priority customer support, and integrations with third-party systems. These are suitable for large businesses with multiple team members and departments and extensive call center needs.
Hidden costs associated with call center software
Besides the software license, additional costs can include:
Training expenses: Initial training for new users and ongoing training for updates or new features can lead to additional costs.
Data migration costs: Migrating data from your existing system to the new tool may require expert assistance, adding to the software implementation cost.
Software upgrades: Additional costs may be incurred for software upgrades to access the latest call center features and security patches.
Frequently asked questions when selecting affordable call center software
What features are included in the base plan, and what features are considered add-ons?
Potential customers should understand which features are included in the base plan and which features require additional payment. You can inquire about essential features such as call routing, IVR, call recording, and reporting, as well as advanced features, such as CRM integration or analytics.
What kind of usage caps does the base plan have?
Base plans may impose limitations on usage, such as a maximum number of users, concurrent incoming and outgoing calls, or call minutes per month. Once these limits are reached, additional charges may apply, or users may be required to upgrade to a higher-tier plan to continue using the software.
Are there any data retention limitations?
Base plans may impose restrictions on data retention or storage limits for call recordings, transcripts, or historical reports. Once these limits are reached, older data may be automatically purged or archived, potentially affecting historical analysis and reporting capabilities. If data retention for voice calls is crucial for you, look for software that provides ample data retention and storage with the plan you are purchasing.
Methodology
To be considered for this list, products had to:
Have at least 20 unique product reviews published on Software Advice within the past two years, with an average rating of 3.0 or higher (as of March 27, 2024).
Include the core features of call center software: automatic call distribution, call center management, and computer telephony integration.
Meet our market definition for call center software: “Call center software helps organizations manage inbound and outbound communications with customers and prospects. Also commonly referred to as "contact center".
For products that met the first three criteria, we assessed the monthly subscription price of the base plans and found the average price to be $72.94—we considered only products with publicly available pricing information. We then shortlisted products with a monthly base price lower than $72.94 for this article.
*Our research team identified these features from vendor websites (as of March 27, 2024) based on their analysis of what users find valuable in or expect from call center software. This list is not exhaustive. For additional features, refer to the vendor's website.
We select and rank products based on an objective methodology developed by our research team. While some vendors may pay us when they receive web traffic or leads, this has no influence on our methodology.
Note: Products evaluated for the pricing calculation were taken from Software Advice’s call center software directory. The pricing ranges exclude freemium versions of the products. The features highlighted were identified based on their relevance and the percentage of products in the Software Advice directory that offer them. Only products with publicly available pricing information, as of March 27, 2024, were considered for the pricing calculation.