Dialpad Review (2024): AI-Based VoIP Solution

Dialpad offers a range of business communication tools with a focus on built-in AI. Packed with features for contact centers and internal collaboration, it goes beyond basic inbound call handling and outbound dialing capabilities.

While the basic plan is attractively priced, Dialpad can quickly become expensive, making it prohibitive for businesses on a tight budget.

Dialpad is best suited for call centers and sales teams looking to automate and increase productivity. Small businesses looking for basic calling features will find better value elsewhere.

Price of the dial pad

Dialpad has four main products, each with its own price and plan.

Business Communication

• standard: Starting at $15 per user per month
• approval: Starting at $25 per user per month
• enterprise: Custom pricing

Good points: Small businesses that need phone calls, text messaging, team chat, and video conferencing.

AI conference

• free: 0 dollars
• business: Starting at $15 per user per month

Good points: Host video conferences for up to 5 hours with up to 150 participants (Business Plan). Otherwise, the Business Communications Plan is sufficient for basic video conferencing at the same price.

AI Contact Center

• bone: Starting at $80 per user per month
• Advanced: Starting at $115 per user per month
• premium: Starting at $150 per user per month

Good points: A customer service and support team that handles high volume customer inquiries.

AI Sales Center

• bone: Starting at $60 per user per month
• Advanced: Starting at $95 per user per month
• premium: Starting at $150 per user per month

Good points: Outbound sales teams that need to reach more leads, increase productivity, and maximize efficiency. Also great for sales managers who want to improve agent training and provide live coaching.

Key features of the dial pad

Dialpad offers a variety of basic and advanced features. Most of the platform’s top-tier features are only available on more expensive plans and in contact center and sales center solutions.

Let’s take a look at some of the great features of Dialpad.

Unlimited calls and meetings

Dialpad’s business phone system supports unlimited calling. Make and receive as many domestic calls as you need without worrying about usage fees.

You can also enjoy the following benefits:

• Visual voice message.
• Custom call routing.
• Transfer calls to another device.
• 3-way call.
• Recording calls.
• Ability to transfer calls between devices.

All of these features are standard and included in every plan.

In addition to phone calls, teams can collaborate internally through unlimited meetings.

Unless you add a business video plan, you’re limited to 10 attendees per meeting. However, 10 should be enough to accommodate most teams, especially since team chat and business messaging are also meant for collaboration.

Multi-level automated guide

Dialpad’s automatic call assistant is ideal for handling inbound calls. You can completely customize how calls are routed based on day of the week, time of day, agent skills, caller intent, etc. In this way, automatic call assistant acts like a receptionist who automatically handles and transfers calls.

You can start by customizing your business hours and agent hours, and defining the exact times when you want the auto attendant to be activated. Then you can create custom queues to prioritize calls and route them to specific departments or teams based on your settings.

For example, a 24/7 plumbing business may want to prioritize emergency water leaks. Or, some businesses may choose to prioritize new customer payments and billing over general support questions.

Some Dialpad plans include IVR technology, taking your automated guidance one step further with more advanced options that give callers control over their own routing path.

Built-in currency analysis

All Dialpad plans come with powerful analytics features. Even at the basic level, you can benefit from real-time call recording and reporting.

Easily track your most important metrics on one screen. Get quick access to abandoned call rates, heat maps of peak call times, missed calls, transfers, and more.

At higher tiers, analytics become more powerful. You can unlock advanced reporting for things like live caller sentiment analysis, compliance metrics, and even workforce management capabilities for forecasting and scheduling.

Overall, Dialpad’s analytics are customizable and help you gain a deeper understanding of your team’s performance.

Monitor, Whisper and Barge

These features are only available if you subscribe to the Sales Center or Contact Center plans, but fortunately, call monitoring, whispering, and interrupting are standard features in both products. That means you don’t need to upgrade to a higher plan tier as long as you subscribe within these two categories.

All of these features help managers monitor agents and coach them in real time when needed. Live monitoring allows managers to eavesdrop on calls at any time. It’s an easy way to ensure reps stick to their scripts and support quality assurance efforts.

The whisper feature is great for coaching new agents in real time or helping everyone on your team navigate difficult situations. If necessary, a manager can step in and take over the call. Customers love this feature because it eliminates the need to wait or go through a lengthy transfer process to escalate the call.

Dialpad AI

All Dialpad plans and many features incorporate some level of AI, but the extent of availability will vary depending on the product you choose and the plan tier within that category.

In general, the Contact Center and Sales Center plans have the most powerful AI capabilities, but some of the less expensive plans also offer a taste of Dialpad’s AI and automation capabilities.

Key features of Dialpad AI include:

• Real-time voice conversion.
• AI voice analysis for customer sentiment.
• Automatic call summary.
• QA evaluation sheet.
• Live customer support.
• A playbook for sales reps.

Dialpad Advantages

• A ton of AI-based features.
• Affordable beginner plan.
• An all-in-one communications product family.
• A detailed plan for outbound sales visits.
• Analysis at all levels.
• A modern and clean interface.
• HIPAA, GDPR, ISO and SOC Type 2 compliant.
• Member of the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA).
• Role-based access control.

Dial pad cons

• 24/7 phone support is available only on higher tiers.
• Internet fax costs an additional $10 per month.
• There are a lot of features that you don’t need.
• As the scale grows, it can become expensive.

Alternative to Dialpad

Dialpad offers some of the lowest rates on the market when you look at their entry-level plans, but depending on the size, it can be more expensive than alternatives, especially when you start paying for add-ons and realize that there are no features you can get cheaper elsewhere.

Nextiva offers better value overall. It is easier to set up and deploy, and is a better option for small businesses. RingCentral is more advanced than Nextiva and Dialpad, but is harder to set up.

Let’s take a closer look at the Dialpad and how it compares to its closest competitors.

Nextiva

Dialpad has the edge in AI-based contact center solutions, but Nextiva is more versatile. They have simple, affordable small business plans that have everything you need, and infinitely scalable contact center plans for businesses of all sizes. Plus, they offer 24/7 support, no matter how much you pay.

Ring Central

If you want a solution that has everything under the sun, RingCentral is the way to go. It has similar AI capabilities to Dialpad, but goes a step further with its contact center plans. With RingCentral, you get workforce optimization, agent engagement, scheduling, performance management, and full customer journey mapping.

Oh my

Need something simple and streamlined for your office? Ooma’s DIY plug-and-play setup process is the easiest of the lot. No technical expertise required.

8×8

Dialpad offers local numbers in over 70 countries, while 8×8 offers unlimited international calling to up to 48 countries (depending on your plan). This is a great way to save money if you handle a lot of global communications.

methodology

In writing this review, I relied on my personal experience, customer reviews, and the core criteria I use when reviewing any business communications solution.

Standard and Advanced Features

We’ll look at the basic tools you need for your phone system, plus additional features like video conferencing, voicemail, text messaging, call forwarding, a virtual receptionist, mobile apps, and desktop apps.

Customer Support

I consider how helpful the customer support team actually is based on customer support hours, customer support methods (phone, live chat, knowledge base, etc.), and customer reviews.

Third party integration

Check out each platform’s ability to seamlessly connect with other business tools like CRM software, SMS, fax, cloud storage, ERP, and more.

Security and Privacy

I evaluate the tool’s encryption, redundancy architecture, identity management capabilities, server location, data center auditing, and authentication capabilities via SSO and MFA.

Uptime ratio

This figure is an assessment of SLAs, technical infrastructure, or other causes of downtime that may lead to unexpected outages.

Demo or Free Trial

See if you can test or try the software through a live demo or free trial.

Total cost

This gives you a general overview of the plans, additional costs, add-ons, the difference between monthly and annual billing, user fees and setup fees.