8x8 vs Aircall vs OpenPhone

All three are cloud business phone systems, but they diverge in scope and buyer size. 8x8 is the broadest, bundling UCaaS, CCaaS, and CPaaS for large or…

8x8

Subscription (per user/month, tiered plans + custom enterprise quotes) · From $15/user/month (Express plan, approximate)

Best for: Organizations that want one vendor for phone, video, a full contact center, and communications APIs rather than stitching together separate point solutions.

Aircall

Subscription · From $30/user/month (billed annually, 3-license minimum)

Best for: Sales and support teams that live inside a CRM or help desk and want deep native integrations plus AI-assisted call coaching.

OpenPhone

Subscription · From $15/user/month (billed annually) or $19/user/month (billed monthly)

Best for: Startups and small teams that want a modern, shared-inbox phone system with simple per-user pricing and no contact-center complexity.

At a Glance

	8x8	Aircall	OpenPhone
Primary category	Communication	Communication	Communication
Rating	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
Pricing model	Subscription (per user/month, tiered plans + custom enterprise quotes)	Subscription	Subscription
Starting price	$15/user/month (Express plan, approximate)	$30/user/month (billed annually, 3-license minimum)	$15/user/month (billed annually) or $19/user/month (billed monthly)
Free plan	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
Free trial	Yes	Yes	Yes
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Web, iOS, Android	Web, iOS, Android
Team collaboration	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
AI features	Not documented	Yes	Yes
Public API	Yes	Yes	Not documented

Standout Differences

One vendor, three product lines

8x8 combines phone, contact center, video meetings, and developer communication APIs under a single platform, unlike Aircall and OpenPhone which focus specifically on business phone and calling.

8x8

Built for CRM-centric sales and support teams

Aircall's 250+ integrations and live AI call coaching and sentiment analysis are aimed at teams that spend their day working inside a CRM or help desk.

Aircall

Shared inbox for small teams

OpenPhone's collaborative shared number model and low published starting price make it the most startup-friendly of the three.

OpenPhone

AI is now standard across all three

8x8's AI-assisted contact-center agent tools, Aircall's live coaching and autonomous AI-led voice agents, and OpenPhone's Sona AI agent all layer AI onto core calling.

8x8, Aircall, OpenPhone

Minimum license counts differ

Aircall requires a 3-license minimum on Essentials (25 for its Custom tier), while 8x8 and OpenPhone publish per-user pricing without a stated seat minimum.

Aircall

Feature-by-Feature

Core Phone Features

Feature	8x8	Aircall	OpenPhone
Unlimited US and Canada calling	Available	Available	Available
Native video meetings	Available	Not documented	Not documented
Shared collaborative team inbox	Limited	Available	Available

AI Capabilities

Feature	8x8	Aircall	OpenPhone
AI voice agent for inbound calls	Limited	Available	Available
Automatic call transcription and summaries	Not documented	Available	Available

Platform Scope

Feature	8x8	Aircall	OpenPhone
Dedicated contact center (CCaaS) product	Available	Unavailable	Unavailable
Developer communications APIs (CPaaS)	Available	Unavailable	Unavailable

Integrations

Feature	8x8	Aircall	OpenPhone
Native CRM and help desk integrations	Available	Available	Available

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

8x8

Express — ~$15/user/month per month

X2 — ~$24/user/month (annual) or ~$28/user/month (monthly) per month

X4 — ~$44/user/month (annual) or ~$57/user/month (monthly) per month

Aircall

Essentials — $30/user/month (annual) / $40/user/month (monthly) monthly or annual, 3-license minimum

Professional — $50/user/month (annual) / $70/user/month (monthly) monthly or annual, 3-license minimum

Custom — Custom custom, 25-license minimum

OpenPhone

Starter — $15/user/month (annual) or $19/user/month (monthly) Monthly or annual

Business — $23/user/month (annual) or $33/user/month (monthly) Monthly or annual

Scale — $35/user/month (annual) or $47/user/month (monthly) Monthly or annual

Pros & Cons

8x8

Pros

Combines phone system, contact center, video, and APIs under one vendor
Global calling coverage that expands with higher-tier plans
Established, publicly traded company (Nasdaq: EGHT) with decades of telecom experience
Strong ecosystem of CRM and helpdesk integrations

Cons

Much of current pricing, especially for contact-center and enterprise tiers, is quote-based rather than published
Multiple overlapping product tiers (X Series levels) can make plan selection more complex
Best value likely requires annual billing and negotiation rather than accepting list pricing

Aircall

Pros

Wide range of native CRM and help desk integrations
Combines traditional telephony with modern AI coaching and automation
SOC2 Type II, GDPR, and HIPAA compliant
Softphone apps across multiple platforms

Cons

3-license minimum raises the effective entry price above the advertised per-user rate
Advanced AI and analytics features are gated to higher-priced plans
Custom/Enterprise plan requires a 25-license minimum

OpenPhone

Pros

Modern shared-inbox model makes team texting and calling collaborative
Strong AI features, including summaries, transcripts, and an AI agent, built into core plans
Fast setup with no phone hardware required
Native CRM integrations with HubSpot and Salesforce
Transparent per-user pricing with a free trial

Cons

Recent rebrand to Quo has caused some confusion among existing customers
Higher-tier AI features require the Business or Scale plan
International calling coverage is more limited than legacy telecom providers
No permanent free plan
Advanced call-center features trail dedicated contact-center software

Use Cases

Choose 8x8: Organizations that want one vendor for phone, video, a full contact center, and communications APIs rather than stitching together separate point solutions.

Choose Aircall: Sales and support teams that live inside a CRM or help desk and want deep native integrations plus AI-assisted call coaching.

Choose OpenPhone: Startups and small teams that want a modern, shared-inbox phone system with simple per-user pricing and no contact-center complexity.

8x8

Replacing on-premise phone systems — Moving from a legacy PBX to a cloud-hosted business phone system.
Running omnichannel contact centers — Managing customer support across voice, chat, and other channels with AI-assisted agent tools.
Embedding communications in apps — Adding SMS, voice, or video capabilities to custom applications via CPaaS APIs.
Consolidating communications vendors — Combining phone, video, and contact-center software under a single platform contract.

Aircall

Sales team calling — Equip sales reps with a cloud phone system, power dialer, and CRM logging.
Customer support — Run a support call center with IVR, coaching, and AI-assisted or AI-led inquiry resolution.

OpenPhone

Startup sales team phone line — A sales team shares a business number to call and text leads while syncing activity to their CRM.
Customer support shared inbox — A support team uses a shared number and inbox to manage customer calls and texts collaboratively.
Distributed remote team business line — A remote team gives every employee a professional business number without provisioning physical phones.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which of these three has the lowest starting price?

Both 8x8's Express plan and OpenPhone's Starter plan list around $15 per user per month, while Aircall's Essentials plan starts around $30 per user per month with a 3-license minimum, making it the priciest entry point of the three.

Which tool is best if I need a full contact center, not just a phone system?

8x8 is the only one of the three offering a dedicated Contact Center as a Service product alongside its phone system, plus a Communications Platform as a Service for building custom messaging and voice features.

Does OpenPhone still exist, or has it become Quo?

OpenPhone rebranded to Quo in late 2025, but it is the same company and underlying phone-system technology; the OpenPhone name and product line continue to be referenced as OpenPhone and Quo interchangeably.

Which tool has the deepest CRM integrations?

Aircall lists 250+ integrations including Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Shopify, and Microsoft Teams, the widest published integration count among the three.

Are these tools suitable for very small teams?

OpenPhone is the most startup-friendly, with no stated seat minimum and a 7-day free trial. Aircall requires a 3-license minimum on Essentials, and 8x8's most flexible pricing generally favors teams large enough to negotiate directly with sales.

Which tool offers AI-assisted calling features?

All three now include some AI layer: 8x8 has AI-assisted agent tools within its contact center, Aircall offers live call coaching, sentiment analysis, and autonomous AI-led voice agents, and OpenPhone has its Sona AI agent plus AI-generated call summaries.

Read the full 8x8 review · Read the full Aircall review · Read the full OpenPhone review

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