By Myroslav Orshak · Updated September 2026 · how we test and make money
8x8 does something few competitors match: it runs ordinary office phones and a genuine customer-service contact center on one system, with the reporting to manage both. For a business that needs both, that consolidation is the entire argument and it is a strong one.
The reason it appears on shopping lists is simpler than any feature gap. It retired published plan pricing, so evaluating it means talking to a salesperson and waiting for a custom quote. A small business comparing four providers on a Tuesday afternoon often just moves on, and this page is for people who did.
If you run a support or sales team where callers wait in a queue and supervisors watch service levels, stay. None of the alternatives below is a real contact center, and replacing 8x8 with an office phone system means buying contact-center software separately, which usually costs more and definitely adds a second vendor.
Plans are quoted rather than published. That is normal for enterprise software and genuinely irritating for a twelve-person company that wants to compare four providers in an afternoon and make a decision.
When one provider posts $10.50 per user and another says it depends, you cannot line them up. Buyers cannot tell whether they are getting a good deal, which is uncomfortable regardless of whether the price is fair.
Queue management, agent supervision and service-level reporting are excellent if you run a support team and irrelevant if you run an office where people answer their own phones. Paying for the platform that provides them is the cost of a capability you will not use.
Quoted pricing usually arrives with commitment terms attached. Confirm the contract length and what leaving early costs before signing, because that is where a good price can become an expensive lock-in.
Every one of these is ranked in our main comparison. What follows is why each suits somebody leaving 8x8 specifically — and what you give up by going.
A published price you can act on today
Around $10.50 per user, listed openly, covering auto-receptionist, routing, extensions and texting. For an office that never needed a contact center, this is the whole requirement at a price you can compare without a meeting.
What you give up: No contact-center capability worth the name, and considerably lighter reporting.
The closest match that still publishes prices
Around $20 per user with the integration catalog, administrative depth and multi-site support that 8x8 buyers tend to need. The most comfortable landing spot for a business that wanted 8x8's capabilities without the quote process.
What you give up: Contact-center features sit on higher tiers, so a business that genuinely needs them may not save anything.
For businesses that value getting a human on the phone
$15 per user on annual billing ($23 month-to-month), published openly, with a small-business support reputation built on US-based staff. If part of the appeal of an enterprise vendor was that someone would help you, this delivers that without the sales process.
What you give up: Not a contact center. Nextiva sells that separately, from $75 per agent, so a business replacing 8x8's queues and supervisor tools should price both.
Modern, cheaper, with analytics of a different kind
Around $15 per user with live transcription and automatic summaries included. Not contact-center reporting, but for a sales team it answers questions about calls that traditional reporting cannot.
What you give up: Lighter on administrative controls, and it does not replace queue management or supervisor tooling.
Ask for your contract end date in writing first. Quoted enterprise pricing usually carries commitment terms, and the exit cost decides your timeline.
Write down what your contact center actually does — queues, hours, escalation, reporting — before shopping. This list is what tells you whether an office phone system is enough.
Start number ports while the account is open, and expect a larger business port to take longer than a single line.
Confirm whether desk phones are locked to 8x8 before assuming the hardware moves with you.
Migrate one team first. On a system with queues and supervisors, a big-bang cutover is how a support line goes quiet on a Monday morning.
One rule outranks the rest: never cancel before the numbers have moved. Our guide to number porting covers the paperwork that causes most delays.
Tell us what you need and our team will reply with a shortlist that fits. Free, no obligation.
It moved to a quoted model, which is common for platforms selling to larger organizations where the configuration genuinely varies. It is not evidence the price is bad. It does mean you cannot compare it against published competitors without investing time in a sales conversation.
RingCentral, for a business that needs the depth and multi-site support, and Zoom Phone for one that does not. Neither replaces a genuine contact center, so if callers wait in queues and supervisors watch service levels, price that capability before assuming an office phone system is equivalent.
Numbers, yes — porting is a legal right, and you should start the request while the account is still open. Phones depend on whether they are locked to 8x8 and whether the new provider supports the model. Ask both companies rather than assuming.
Most small businesses need queues, which ordinary phone systems provide. A contact center adds supervisor monitoring, service-level reporting and agent management. If nobody in your business would use those, an office phone system does the job for less.