Grasshopper is a virtual phone system revered for its affordability. We’ll cover everything you need to know in this Grasshopper review, including its features, pros and cons, pricing, as well as the best alternatives to Grasshopper.
These days, small businesses lack professionalism if they don’t have a separate business phone number. While many business communication tools are out there, many are expensive and not worth it budget-wise for an up-and-coming business.
In 2018, there were over 41.6 million VoIP phone lines in the US, attesting to the benefits businesses experience with these phone systems.
Table of Contents
What is Grasshopper?
Grasshopper is a cloud-based business communication phone system specifically tailored to small businesses. Grasshopper specializes in phone service but doesn’t unify the system with video conferencing or emails.
Grasshopper offers transparent, affordable pricing that smaller businesses can benefit from if they want to exude professionalism.
Why Grasshopper?
Grasshopper is one of the most affordable, no-frills business phone systems available to small businesses today. However, if you use Salesforce as your CRM, you’d be better off with Fastcall, the only Salesforce native app for calling, texting, and video.
Grasshopper Review
According to US News, Grasshopper was tied at the number 1 ranking for “Best Small Business Phone Systems of 2022” and ranked number 6 for both “Best Business Phone Systems of 2022” and “Best VoIP Business Phone Systems of 2022.”
Internationally recognized as the top choice for small businesses, Grasshopper offers an affordable business communication system for smaller operations that might not have the buying power for other bigger brand-name virtual phone systems.
Customers and reviewers particularly appreciate Grasshopper’s easy setup and user-friendly interface on their desktop and mobile apps. They also cite great customer phone support from their 24/7 customer service section.
Its flat monthly fee and free trial make Grasshopper affordable, but its lack of integrations may deter some businesses. Grasshopper doesn’t offer CRM integrations with platforms like Salesforce, missing out on opportunities to make business processes even more streamlined and efficient.
Grasshopper’s features
Here are some of Grasshopper’s top features:
- Desktop/Mobile Apps – Access Grasshopper anywhere, even on iPhone or Android devices.
- Business Text Messages – Provide quick responses to customers with text messages from your business phone.
- Call Forwarding – Route customers to your personal phone or another co-worker.
- Voicemail Transcription – Transcribe voicemails to hear later and maintain better records.
- Virtual Receptionist – Live auto attendant helps answer and route your calls.
- Instant Response – If you can’t pick up all your incoming calls, instant response automatically sends custom text messages to let callers know you’ll get back to them.
- VoIP and WiFi Calling – Conduct your call operations with a simple WiFi connection (no phone lines!), especially great for call centers in basements, remote areas, or other places with poor reception.
- Extensions – Offer extensions to various employees and entire departments.
- Call Transfer/Routing – Route customers to other extensions as needed.
- Reporting – Track analytics with detailed call reports.
- Call Blasting – Ensures businesses never miss a call by having every phone ring concurrently when someone calls.
- International Calls – Scale your business with an internationally distributed team or open your services to cater to the international community with international calls.
- Voice Studio – Professional voice actors speak for custom, polished, and professional greetings for customers, either in English or Spanish.
Best for
Small businesses that want to look more professional at an affordable price
Pros
- Increased site visitor conversion with a business phone
- Smooth call operations despite location or time zone differences across the team
- Affordable
- No CRM integrations
Cons
- No video conference calls
- Not scaled enough for larger businesses or corporations
Pricing
Grasshopper offers three pricing plans with various features:
- Solo Plan: Offers one phone number and three extensions
Price: $29.00 per user, per month
- Partner Plan: Offers three phone numbers and six extensions
Price: $49.00 monthly for each user
- Small Business Plan: Offers five phone numbers and unlimited extensions
Price: $89.00 a month per user
Keep in mind that every plan offers additional phone numbers for an extra $10 per month. The Solo, Partner, and Small Business plans include the following features:
- Desktop/Mobile Apps
- Unlimited Phone Calls
- 24/7 Support and Forums
- Business Phone number
- Business Text Messages
- Call Forwarding
- WiFi Calling and VoIP
- Voicemail Transcription
- Custom Greetings
- Virtual Fax
- Control of Incoming Calls
- Call Transfer
- Call Reporting
Customer reviews cite appreciation for Grasshopper’s limited hidden costs, as the pricing plans are transparent and easily digestible.
Grasshopper is a great way to make small businesses look more professional and efficient in their customer business communications. But what are some other virtual phone systems out there? Let’s get into some of the best alternatives to Grasshopper.
Best Alternatives to Grasshopper
Fastcall
Fastcall is a business phone system that unifies phone calls, text messages, video conferencing, and analytics all into one platform. This platform was designed for Salesforce, offering the most seamless integration of all competitors.
Included features:
- Incoming calls and outbound calls
- Call routing and call transfer
- Customer recognition
- Custom analytics and dashboards
- Business text messages
- Video calls and conferencing
- Information management
- Call recording
- Call routing
- Call integration with Salesforce mobile app
Best for
Large and small businesses
Pros
- Uniquely designed for Salesforce integration
- Improved productivity
- Custom pricing plans to meet specific business needs
- Custom features and dashboards to fit your business’ needs
- #1 Salesforce Native App for Phone, SMS, and Video
- Customer recognition for improved efficiency
- International calls
- Call recording and live listening to improve customer service strategy
Cons
No cons. Customers provide only positive reviews on the Salesforce Appexchange
Pricing
Essential: $24/user/month
Pro: $49/user/month
Custom: to fit varying business needs
Nextiva
Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Nextiva has many branches within the US and in the Ukraine and Mexico. IA business communication system, Nextiva provides virtual phone service to large and small businesses in combination with video conferencing and easy collaboration.
Nextiva offers CRM integrations to Salesforce, Zendesk, and Hubspot, which is great for larger teams that wish to communicate with each other while providing service to customers’ incoming calls.
Included features:
- Unlimited calling
- Call recording
- Video conferencing capabilities
- CRM integrations
- 24/7 phone support and forums
Best for:
Large or scaling businesses that conduct regular video conference calls with many participants.
Pros
- Video conferencing capabilities
- Countless CRM integrations
Cons
- 3-year Commitment required to receive most competitively priced plan
- Many advanced features aren’t available with the basic plan
Pricing
Nextiva offers three main pricing plans that include various features:
Essential: Outlook and Google Contacts integrations, 24/7 phone support
Price: 25.95/user/month
Professional:
Cost: $30.95 per user each month
Enterprise: Video conferencing with unlimited participants, call recording, voicemail transcription, some integrations with Microsoft Teams, Oracle Sales, Cloud, and Service Now
Cost: $40.95
Ultimate: Deep insights with customer analytics, CRM integrations, ticket management, automated surveys
Price: $65.95/month per user
Nextiva offers the above prices for teams with between 20-99 members. The price goes up if you have smaller teams. For example, the essential plan costs an extra $5 per month per user if your business has 1-4 employees, which small businesses might find costly.
RingCentral
RingCentral has over 20 years of experience in the business communication space. Based in California with worldwide offices in Australia, the UK, Canada, China, and other acquisitions, RingCentral is a leading name in the industry.
Included features:
- Caller ID
- Internet fax
- Business text messages
- Call recording and monitoring
- Auto-attendant
- Call routing
- CRM integrations
Best for
Businesses that desire multiple CRM integrations, custom analytics, and tools to manage workload and productivity choose RingCentral.
Pros
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR) with 16 languages
- Easy setup
- Capability to serve large businesses
- Secure
- Automated analytics
Cons
- Pricey for small businesses
- Rigid contracts with high cancellation fees
- Recent reviews cite lack of phone support and incompetent representatives
Pricing
Essential: Text messages and phone calls, voicemail transcription, team messaging, unlimited calls in US and Canada
Price: $29.99/user/month
Standard: Video conferencing, text messages, phone calls, 24/7 support, integrations with Microsoft and Slack, international calling
Cost: $37.99/user/month
Premium: Video conferencing, CRM integrations, phone calls, call recording, open API, Text messages, real-time analytics
Cost: $44.99
Ultimate: Phone calls, video conferencing, text messages, open API, device reports, alerts, unlimited storage
Price: $59.99/month per user
Conclusion
Now that you have a general understanding of our Grasshopper review and alternatives, it’s time to decide on the business phone system that’s most suitable for your business.
Fastcall is the #1 phone system specifically designed for Salesforce. With flexible pricing plans and phone, text messages, and video capabilities, FastCall is an excellent choice for all businesses, big or small. Contact Fastcall today for a free consultation!
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