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Updated Sep 26, 2023

Dialpad Review

Jeff Hale, Business Operations Insider and Senior Analyst

Table of Contents

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Editors Score:9.5/10

Dialpad is a modern business phone system with powerful voice intelligence tools. Dialpad helps businesses manage calls, texts, and voicemails with built-in AI to serve as a skilled virtual assistant for notes and post-call summaries.

Plus Sign Pros
  • Dialpad boasts excellent AI-powered note-taking abilities and follow-up summary emails for meetings and calls.
  • You can pay a lower-than-average cost for a well-featured, entry-level business phone plan.
  • Real-time analytics and reporting are included at every subscription level.
Minus Sign Cons
  • Dialpad has limited customer support hours and methods of contact with some plans.
  • Toll-free numbers are considered an add-on with an additional charge.
  • Some plans are restricted by the number of users and office locations.
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  • Dialpad’s AI-powered tools can take notes during meetings and provide post-call summaries with action items.
  • Dialpad has local number support in more than 70 countries.
  • Dialpad offers an entry-level plan at a lower-than-average price with above-average features.
  • This review is for small business owners who are considering implementing a Dialpad business communications phone system.

Dialpad’s business communications solutions cover voice, meetings and messaging with effective artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools to increase efficiency, train your sales and customer support agents and provide better outcomes for your customers. Many of Dialpad’s best features, such as AI-powered transcriptions with post-meeting summaries, are included with each of its three plans: Standard, Pro and Enterprise.

Dialpad’s business communications packages include a limited video tool that can host meetings in high-definition video and audio for up to 150 participants with collaborative features including screen sharing and whiteboard with Miro integration. With Dialpad, you can access your communications data and tools through a web browser, desktop app or mobile app on Android or iOS devices. All businesses get unlimited calling in the United States and Canada, and local number support is available in more than 70 countries.

TipTip

If large video meetings are a regular part of your weekly communications, you should consider our 8×8 review which can facilitate HD video calls with up to 500 participants.

Dialpad Editor's Rating:

9.5 / 10

Pricing
9.7/10
Ease of use
9.6/10
Features
9.7/10
Integrations
9.2/10
Customer support
9.5/10

Why Dialpad Is Best for Voice Intelligence

We love that Dialpad includes many of its best AI-assisted productivity features with every business communications plan it offers. As a modern phone solution, Dialpad excels with time-saving tools and real-time coaching that help users make the most of every sales opportunity and customer service conversation. The transcription service that comes as a standard feature captures everything said on calls and tracks action items, keywords and sentiment in a summary you’ll receive in your inbox after each meeting or call. The software’s live coaching feature provides real-time assistance during calls to point out when you’re speaking too fast, not leaving a long enough gap for your caller to respond or using too many filler words to communicate in a professional manner.

Dialpad further provides real-time analytics and reporting to help you see if you’re missing calls with heat maps for days and times so you know exactly how to adjust your staffing. The reporting tool can also track ongoing calls, average speed to answer and agent availability and provide leaderboards monitoring volume, moments and sentiment to identify which employees are performing the best and who needs more help. All of these features set Dialpad apart from its peers when it comes to voice intelligence.

Usability

Dialpad’s AI-powered tools play a big role in making this communication application easy to use. While competitors like Ooma and Nextiva have incredibly easy and fast implementation processes with features like drag-and-drop call flow builders, Dialpad still impresses over the long run with its ability to transcribe notes and provide follow-up emails at every subscription level. We like that this platform also delivers great phone system insights with a wide variety of call metrics that can be used to improve efficiency in a customer support setting, insert friendly competition in a sales setting and improve the customer experience in any business setting. 

Users can access all of the system’s communications data and features through a web browser, desktop app or mobile app, allowing the flexibility to work from an office, home or on the road. While Dialpad may have a slightly higher learning curve than some of the other user-friendly business phone systems we evaluated, its automated features can offer exceptional productivity over time. This sets the solution apart from others on the market.

Key TakeawayKey takeaway

Dialpad is an industry leader in voice analytics with time-saving AI-powered features and tools you won’t find in other companies’ entry-level plans.

Dialpad Features

Ai Voice

Transcription and automatic note-taking that tracks action items, keywords and sentiment.

Real-time analytics and reporting

Metrics on ongoing calls, average speed to answer, agent availability and more.

Real-time assist speech coaching

Suggestions during calls to remind users to speak clearly and at the proper pace.

100 percent uptime

Industry-leading service-level agreements (SLAs) and a global data footprint.

Dialpad’s voice intelligence features make for an innovative business phone system for companies especially interested in analyzing calls. Here are a few of the functions that stood out most in our investigation.

Ai Voice

We appreciate that Ai Voice, one of Dialpad’s built-in AI features, is available with all subscription levels. This tool goes beyond standard transcription, acting as a digital assistant to take notes and track action items during calls. At the end of your calls, you’ll receive a summary in your inbox with action items, recordings and a transcript of the conversation. You can easily reference past communications at any time with the transcription search function.

Real-time analytics and reporting

All of Dialpad’s business communications solutions are built with call analytics with real-time metrics to help you make informed decisions quickly. Dialpad provides historical data for missed and abandoned calls to quantify lost opportunities and help shift resources appropriately based on the key performance indicators that matter. The program also dives deeper, studying agent availability, average speed to call and consumer sentiment. You can also customize your interactive virtual menu to see which menu options are used most to help optimize your caller experience. Data is presented in easy-to-understand dashboards and heat maps to identify areas for improvement. [Related article: How to Use Key Performance Indicators]

Real-time assist speech coaching

This AI-powered feature, which is available with all Dialpad plans, is an ideal training tool to ensure sales and customer support teams are able to communicate effectively. It’s available for offices in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, in addition to a public beta version accessible in the United Kingdom. Once enabled in the Dialpad Ai menu, the software will begin alerting you if you’re filling natural pauses with words and phrases, such as “um,” “like” and “you know.” This voice intelligence function helps ensure everyone on your team is emphasizing professional phone etiquette during every conversation.

100 percent uptime SLA

Most VoIP business phone services advertise uptimes that exceed 99.9 percent, but Dialpad is the only provider we reviewed with 100 percent uptime. The vendor utilizes data centers around the world and runs on Google’s cloud platform to ensure your communications are never interrupted for scheduled maintenance. Enterprise subscribers even get access to an SLA to back up Dialpad’s commitment to providing uninterrupted service.

Dialpad Cost

Notably, Dialpad’s entry-level plan, the Standard package, is priced below most competitor offerings by about $5. The price of the middle-tier Pro plan is on par with many rivals offering similarly featured plans. However, businesses with more than one office location will not be able to use the Standard plan, and you’ll need to select the Enterprise plan if you have 11 or more offices. 

The Enterprise plan has a 100-seat minimum, and the Pro plan has a minimum of three seats but a limit of 10 offices. Other potential costs include additional local numbers at $5 per month, toll-free numbers at $15 per month and room license fees at $34 per month. The per-user pricing below reflects annual billing.

Plan

Price

Features

Standard

$15

Unlimited calling in the U.S. and Canada, short message service (SMS)/multimedia messaging service, AI-powered call and voice transcription, unlimited video meetings, weekday web and chat support, multilevel auto attendant, call recording and integrations with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.

Pro

$25

Everything in the Standard plan, plus local numbers in more than 70 countries, up to 25 ring groups, customer relationship management integrations, open API, 24/7 live agent support, toll-free number support, multiple phone numbers per account, 10 office locations and global SMS.

Enterprise

Custom quote

Everything in the Pro plan, plus unlimited office locations, unlimited ring groups, dial by extension, single sign-on integration, live priority support, dedicated account manager, dedicated support number, professional installation services and 100 percent uptime.

Business owners who prefer to test products before making a long-term commitment will like that Dialpad offers a 14-day free trial for those interested in the Standard or Pro packages. For the Enterprise level, you must contact the company for a quote before getting started.

Dialpad Setup

Like most cloud-based business phone systems, Dialpad is considered easy to implement without requiring support from an information technology professional. Assigning business phone numbers and mapping out your call flow is usually the most difficult aspect with modern business phone systems, but Dialpad’s interface does a decent job of walking you through each step to ensure calls are routed to the right team at the right time. For some small businesses, the basic setup process will only take a few minutes. However, getting comfortable with some of the more advanced features like the real-time assist speech coaching that can feel like a computer-assisted interruption at times might require a small period of adjustment that adds to the learning curve for Dialpad. New users will want to opt-in to auto-start Dialpad Ai for all calls which can be accomplished through the settings section. This will ensure the feature works automatically without any additional action required. For larger businesses with more complex and time-intensive needs, professional implementation assistance is included in the Enterprise plan. If an easy setup is important to you, check out our review of Ooma instead.

Dialpad Customer Service

Dialpad’s customer support hours and contact methods vary depending on the plan you select. Entry-level Standard subscribers get weekday multilingual web and chat support while Pro subscribers receive 24/7 live agent support, including phone assistance. For Enterprise subscribers, Dialpad adds priority routing, a dedicated account manager, a dedicated support number, professional installation services and an SLA.

That said, Standard and Pro users may still be able to get professional installation assistance for an additional cost, while Pro users may also be able to add-on a dedicated account manager to their package. Regardless of the tier you choose, all subscribers have access to Dialpad’s community forum and online knowledge base with resources that include templates, checklists, playbooks, guides, reports, research and product-focused content to demonstrate the platform’s potential.

Dialpad Drawbacks

Dialpad’s set seat minimums and office location maximums can hamper the ability to choose the ideal communications features and pricing for some businesses. For example, the top-level Enterprise plan has a 100-seat minimum, meaning smaller businesses may not have access to the level of support, features or integrations they need with the Pro or Standard plans. For a provider that lets you mix and match plans for the most cost-effective package with the features you need, check out our review of Nextiva

Dialpad’s customer support hours are limited to weekdays if you sign up for the Standard plan. This, combined with a lack of customer service by phone for entry-level users, may make troubleshooting difficult for some companies. In contrast, rivals Nextiva and Ooma offer the same 24/7 support with their entry-level and top-tier plans. Learn more in our full Ooma review.

Methodology

In searching for the top business phone systems, we investigated more than a dozen platforms. We researched and analyzed each offering, participated in demos whenever possible and tried free and paid plans. We evaluated each solution based on its tools and features, pricing, limitations, ease of use, setup process and customer service options. We determined Dialpad is the best business phone system for voice intelligence thanks to its AI-powered call and voicemail transcription feature that’s available with all service plans, as well as the platform’s AI-driven analytics and coaching functions.

Did You Know?Did you know

Our guide to choosing a business phone system can help you identify the right solution for your company.

Dialpad FAQs

Dialpad is a cloud-based communications service used to facilitate voice calls, messages and meetings with AI-powered tools that increase productivity.

Dialpad does not have a free plan for its business phone system, although it does give 14-day free trials that require a credit card. However, the vendor’s Ai Meetings product (formerly known as UberConference) is a free video conferencing platform. This service is limited to 45-minute meetings, but it does include screen sharing, unlimited audio recordings, virtual backgrounds, integrations and many other useful communications tools.

Dialpad offers unlimited calling to the U.S. and Canada with every business communications plan. International rates vary by a wide margin depending on the country, with different rates for calling and texting.

Overall Value

We recommend Dialpad for: 

  • Small businesses looking for a low-cost entry-level communications solution.
  • Businesses that want help increasing efficiency through AI-powered communications tools.
  • Customer service or sales-focused companies that place a high priority on training their agents.

We don’t recommend Dialpad for:

  • Businesses looking for customer support over the phone or on weekends.
  • Large organizations that want to see transparent pricing for all packages while considering their service options.
  • Companies that don’t want to pay extra for a toll-free number.
Jeff Hale, Business Operations Insider and Senior Analyst
Jeff Hale is a writer and editor based in San Diego with a background in business development and marketing. He has identified new market opportunities for Fortune 500 companies and developed communications strategies and digital branding for tech startups and small businesses. Jeff covers emerging technologies and business solutions with a focus on efficiency and growth. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of California, Irvine, and an MBA from Chapman University.
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