Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Compare The Best HR Outsourcing Services

Want to jump straight to the answer? The best HR outsourcing service for most people is Paychex or Insperity.

Human resources is a vital part of every company. But not every company has the budget to staff an in-house human resources department.

Compare the Best HR Outsourcing Companies

HR outsourcing allows you to transfer some or all of your HR-related workload to a professional organization. They’ll take care of everything from payroll taxes to benefits administration.

Read on for reviews of each of the services listed below, plus a methodology framework to help you find the service most suited to your business needs.

  • Paychex — Best HR outsourcing for complex payment cycles
  • Insperity — Best HR outsourcing service to set it and forget it
  • ADP — Best HR outsourcing to handle some (or all) of your HR needs
  • TriNet — Best for big business benefits on small business budgets
  • Zenefits — Best HR platform to wrangle your current HR systems together
  • Engage PEO — Best HR outsourcing for unique compliance needs
  • G&A Partners — Best HR outsourcing for employee training and development
  • Tandem HR — Best HR outsourcing for minimizing your risk liability

You’ll find that some of these options allow you to offload HR tasks one by one, whether it is payroll, benefits administration, or something else.

Alternatively, you can outsource all your HR responsibilities to a professional employer organization (PEO). If that sounds like something intriguing, take a look at my recent review of the best PEO service providers.

For the list I’ve compiled here, though, I’ve included a mix of HR outsourcing services, including those that offer PEO-type services. I offer an in-depth reviews of each, covering their features, benefits, and other key considerations.

I also included a summary of the criteria I used to review each product. Read on to find the best service for you.

Best HR Outsourcing Services Reviews

There are a lot of services that will help your organization manage its human resources tasks. I’ve reviewed them all and only included the best of the best. Here’s the skinny on each service that made my list.

Paychex — Best HR Outsourcing for Complex Payment Cycles

  • Wide range of HR services
  • Pricing based on # of employees
  • Great for smaller organizations
  • Knowledgeable HR professionals
Get a Free Quote

Ensuring error-free payrolls for your workers is one of the most important tasks for any HR department. True to their name, Paychex is one of the best online payroll services on the market today.

Paychex excels at this because they offer solutions to handle virtually any payment situation you can think of. Do you have:

A mixed workforce of contractors and full-time employees? Paychex handles that with ease.

A unique payment cycle goes beyond the typical “twice a month paycheck” routine? Paychex can handle that, too.

Employees that want to be paid via prepaid debit cards? Paychex makes it simple to honor those requests.

Paychex homepage.

Beyond payroll processing, Paychex also delivers fantastic HR outsourcing services. So if you’re in need of more than accurate payroll processing, Paychex is also a great option for:

  • Retirement services
  • Insurance services
  • HR professionals
  • Benefits administration
  • Compliance services

Paychex offers a solid mobile app that can be used to track things like hiring, labor costs, and employee turnover. Employees can also easily use the app for self-service and training. For mobile and remote workforces, this is a huge win.

For businesses with an existing HR department in place, Paychex can act as an extension of this department by providing a dedicated outsourced HR manager. This professional can assist with hiring, onboarding, and retaining top-level talent.

They can also manage workforce analytics, benchmarking, corporate culture strategy, benefits, and basic employee training. It’s everything you need in an HR manager, without the overhead of hiring a full-time, in-house employee.

If all this sounds good, you can learn more at Paychex.

Insperity — Best HR Outsourcing Service to Set It and Forget It

  • Full-service HR solution
  • Individual & custom HR packages
  • In business 35 years
  • Best for mid-sized organizations
Get a Free Quote

Insperity offers excellent PEO and HRO services.

While they do offer individual HR offerings like other products covered here, Insperity is a real winner because of their full-service solutions. Their offerings are often bundled, which gives you broader HR services in one package. For example, payroll comes with their human capital management software.

With everything you could need under one umbrella, all your HR tasks will work seamlessly with each other. This bundling of services is what makes Insperity a true “set it and forget it” option for HR task management. It is also what allows you to fully customize your HR package.

Insperity homepage.

Insperity also offers your employees great benefits including medical, vision, and dental coverage and lets you outsource processing payroll, handling W-2s, W-4s, and employment verification.

They’ll also help you with liability insurance, workers’ compensation, and other areas of risk management. This service provider helps with HR-related compliance for things like unemployment claims and government reporting.

Insperity also assists with talent retention, by helping you create recognition programs and an employee handbook, and improving your employee training process.

I recommend Insperity to mid-market organizations. While they have solutions for businesses of five to 149 employees, their main focus and expertise is for companies with 150+ workers.

In addition to the full-service HR packages, you can also use Insperity for individual solutions including:

  • Recruiting
  • HR consulting
  • Retirement
  • Payroll
  • Performance reviews
  • Expense reports
  • Time and attendance
  • Insurance
  • Accounting and bookkeeping

With more than three decades of expertise under its belt and over 70 offices across the country, Insperity is a top consideration for HR outsourcing that your midsize organization will never have to worry about.

ADP — Best HR Outsourcing to Handle Some (or All) of Your HR Needs

  • Full-service HR solutions
  • Flexible plans and services
  • Solutions for any size business
  • Top notch customer service
Get a Free Quote

ADP offers a full-service suite of HR software and solutions.

However, I really like them because they’re also great for companies that need piecemeal HR services.

It is truly an a la carte HR solution. You might not need the full spread of payroll to retirement to insurance—and ADP allows you to choose one service, all of them, or only what you need right now.

This is great for small businesses that might not have the budget for everything under the sun. As you grow, you can add more until it makes sense to go with their PEO arrangements.

ADP homepage.

ADP also offers enterprise plans for companies with more than 1000 employees.

Some of ADPs HR services include:

  • Payroll
  • Time and attendance
  • Retirement plans
  • Insurance
  • Recruitment
  • Consulting
  • Employee management
  • Benefits

ADP offers business insurance as well, along with group health insurance for your employees. Since ADP is such a large company, they have leverage and bargaining power with all major health insurance providers.

I also love ADP’s support team of knowledgeable HR professionals who can be reached via phone, email, or live chat. They can create and distribute all of the necessary forms, policies, and job descriptions for your organization. You can even create a custom employee handbook in compliance with local and federal laws.

They also offer guidance to help you enjoy the optimal HR experience.

From benefits packages to compliance and setting up employee self-service tools, ADP has it all.

Their pricing is not shared on the website, but you can get a free quote from them today.

TriNet — Best for Big Business Benefits on Small Business Budgets

  • Full-service HR solution
  • Wide range of industries
  • Comprehensive HR platform
  • Flexible plans and services
Get a Free Quote

TriNet is another full-service HR outsourcing solution. They provide flexible plans and services to meet the needs of any sized business.

What makes TriNet really stand out though is their ability to provide some of the most competitive benefits on the market. This is a sure-fire way to attract top talent to your business.

TriNet has partnered with some of the biggest health insurance carriers throughout the country to help you get the highest quality coverage to your employees. Some of these top carriers include MetLife, Kaiser Permanente, Transamerica, Aetna, Aflac, MassMutual, and UnitedHealth Group.

TriNet homepage.

They also offer premium benefits for dental, vision, life, disability, retirement, and transit insurance along with a massive list of voluntary benefits like home policies and even pet insurance. That’s right. When you use TriNet, your employees can make sure that Fido is set up, too.

TriNet’s 401k plans are flexible and transferable. TriNet also give you a ton of discounts for computers, books, office supplies, and even services from places like Verizon, AT&T, and AVIS.

And, of course, you get key HR services beyond benefits administration, like HR consulting, benefit options, payroll services, and risk mitigation. You’ll also benefit from TriNet’s comprehensive HR platform. The platform contains tools for employee self-service and mobile access, too.

The best part is that TriNet caters specifically to startups and small businesses. This means your small company gets very competitive rates for very big-league benefits.

If you want to offer your employees the same level of service and convenience that the Fortune 500 workers expect, get started today at TriNet.

Zenefits — Best HR Platform to Wrangle Your Current HR Systems Together

  • Best HR software
  • Built for small businesses
  • Streamline your HR tasks
  • Pricing starts at $8/month

>> Compare Quotes

Zenefits is a bit unique compared to some of the other options on our list.

That’s because, technically, Zenefits is not an outsourcing service—it’s software for human resources.

They offer a way for you to integrate and centralize your HR systems into one intuitive platform. It serves the same purpose as an outsourced service in terms of ease and cost reduction. It’s also a cheaper alternative than a full-service outsourcing firm.

Zenefits homepage.

The best part is that it streamlines everything. You and your employees will be able to take a look at your org chart, access your benefits, request time off, and take care of onboarding all from one easy-to-navigate dashboard.

Zenefits’ software has everything you need to get your HR tasks and administration in order:

  • Creating compensation packages and sending them to new hires
  • Self onboarding for new employees
  • Employee management tools
  • PTO policies and managing time off requests
  • Intelligence reports for your workforce
  • Mobile accessibility (for administration and employees)

They also offer dozens of integrations out-of-the-box. The platform also has options for payroll, employee benefits, employee scheduling, and time tracking.

Most HR outsourcing services require you to get a custom quote from the provider. But, because this is software, Zenefits’ pricing is straightforward and available on the website.

  • Essentials: $8/employee per month. Includes core HR features, time & scheduling, integrations, and a mobile app.
  • Growth: $14/employee per month. Includes all of Essentials, plus compensation and performance management.
  • Zen: $21/employee per month. Includes all of the above, plus engagement surveys, employee well-being, and Zenefits People Hub.

You can also add modules for payroll, HR advisement, and third-party benefits administration separately for monthly fees.

If your small business needs to improve the way you handle HR tasks but don’t have the funds to completely outsource the service, Zenefits is the perfect solution for you.

Engage PEO — Best HR Outsourcing for Unique Compliance Needs

  • Full service PEO provider
  • Manage complex HR legal needs
  • Every consultant is an attorney
  • Strict compliance standards

>> Compare Quotes

Engage PEO is a full-service professional employer organization. They provide a PEO experience that always aims to put the client’s needs first with its innovative business model.

What makes Engage PEO so unique as an HR services provider? It’s the people… who are also all lawyers.

Seriously. Every member of their HR consulting team is an attorney. These legal professionals have significant experience with labor and employment law.

Engage PEO homepage.

It also means that they’ll make all of your nitty gritty compliance headaches disappear like a magical ibuprofen for annoying legal issues.

That makes this a perfect solution for companies with complex HR legal needs. We’re talking about industries with strict compliance like construction, marijuana, healthcare, security, finance, and more. Engage PEO will be a top choice for you to consider.

Here’s a quick overview of some of the top outsourced HR functions offered by this provider:

  • Employee policies
  • Employee handbook
  • EEO, ADA, and FMLA compliance
  • State and US Department of Labor and Hour compliance
  • Administration of unemployment claims
  • Hiring and recruitment assistance
  • Background check and drug screening
  • Employment practices liability insurance
  • Employee training

As a PEO provider, Engage PEO also offers payroll and tax administration, workers’ compensation, risk management, employee benefits, and integrated technology solutions.

Bottom line: If you have complicated compliance matters, Engage PEO is your choice.

G&A Partners — Best HR Outsourcing for Employee Training and Development

  • In business for 20+ years
  • Full-service or รก la cart
  • Payroll, recruitment, & more
  • Best for niche industries

>> Compare Quotes

G&A Partners offers full-service HR outsourcing for things like payroll, benefits, compliance, workplace safety, performance management, and recruitment.

There are two different ways that your company can work with G&A Partners—you can also work with them through a PEO or an ASO (administrative services only) model. So, they offer a little bit of flexibility in terms of what you’d like them to help you out with.

But, what I really like about G&A Partners is that they offer an automated training and development system for all of your employees. They give you access to almost 1,500 training courses that can be scaled and customized to your company’s exact needs and specs.

G&A Partner homepage.

You can assign any number and combination of courses to your employees, and track their progress as they learn. This is a great centralized way to develop and train your employees no matter where they are in their careers.

There are also plenty of reporting tools and dashboards for you and your employees, so you all know exactly what they need to work on.

Training content includes things like quizzes, videos, interactive assignments and AICC and SCORM courses.

Is there something you want that they don’t offer? You can work external training into their programs as well.

Overall, it’s a great option if employee training and development is important to your company (and it should be).

Another unique standout of G&A Partners is its employee development services. This HR function includes candidate sourcing, job description, job postings, resume screening, and pre-hire assessments.

Once an employee is hired, this outsourced firm can handle onboarding, benefits enrollment, and performance management as well.

In addition to human resources, G&A Partners offers payroll services, benefits packages, and HR technology. They’re a particularly great and experienced choice for these types of industries:

  • Nonprofits
  • Health care
  • Manufacturing
  • Professional services
  • Franchises

Boost your employees’ ability from the moment they’re hired by utilizing G&A Partners.

Tandem HR — Best HR Outsourcing for Minimizing Your Risk Liability

  • Fully customized plans
  • Easy to scale
  • Wide range of services
  • Full-service PEO provider

>> Compare Quotes

Tandem HR offers a wide range of human resources solutions for small businesses. This provider has the tools and expertise to help small businesses as they scale.

What sets them apart is their standout risk management solution. They give you solutions such as safety audits, OSHA record keeping, accident investigations, and more to make sure that your company is ready for the worst-case scenario.

Tandem HR homepage.

And if things go bad, they even offer you worker’s compensation conversation and claims resolution services.

Remember: a safer workplace is a better workplace is a cheaper workplace. It benefits not only your employees, you, and your business, but it also helps everyone’s pocketbook. That’s like a quadruple win.

As a full-service PEO provider, Tandem HR also has tools and solutions for:

  • Payroll
  • Human resources
  • Benefits
  • Risk management
  • Technology

These custom HR solutions will help you save time, save money, boost employee productivity, retain talent, and remain compliant at the state and federal level. Get started with Tandem HR here.

How to Choose the Best HR Outsourcing Service For Your Business

With so many options at your disposal, how can you possibly know which HR service is the best?

This is the methodology that we use here at Quick Sprout. You can use it as well to help narrow down your choices.

Compare Quotes From The Best HR Outsourcing Services

Get matched up with a HR outsourcing service that fits your needs.

>> Compare Quotes

A Hands-On vs. Hands-Off HR Partner

Every HR outsourcing company is going to offer fairly similar services: payroll, insurance, worker’s comp, and 401ks, and the like.

Where they often differ is how hands-on they’ll be with your organization and employees.

For example, some of the companies on our list are personal employer organization (PEO) providers such as ADP and Insperity. They provide businesses with HR services like payroll, benefits (such as insurance and 401k), and worker’s comp. They also can go the extra mile and assist with recruiting and onboarding, for example.

However, they’re distinct because PEO providers are considered a “co-employer” of workers. That means if there’s a legal issue with your employees, both you and your PEO provider assume responsibility. You agree beforehand on the liabilities you each assume.

A PEO provider’s hands-on role means it’s more hands-off for you, allowing you to focus your time and energy on other things.

There are also administrative service organization (ASO) services that also provide assistance in payroll and benefits, like G&A Partners. However, they’re not co-employers of your workforce.

An ASO doesn’t typically offer as comprehensive an array of services as a PEO provider—though they’ll still be able to take care of most administrative work and provide benefits like health insurance.

They’re both typically the same in cost. It just comes down to how much responsibility you’d like to assume over administering your employees’ benefits.

Customizable and Sweeping Service Packages 

Of course, not every company is looking for comprehensive medical/dental/vision insurance, with a 401k, and a gym membership to every place in town.

The HR provider you use will determine how many (or how few) services you’ll be able to access and provide for your employees.

For example, ADP TotalSource is great if you’re looking for a comprehensive PEO with payroll, time trackers, recruiting, retirement plans, medical/vision/dental insurance, and more.

G&A Partners offers a great ASO service that allows you to pick-and-choose HR services in an a la carte fashion. That might be great for building out an HR package if you have specific needs you want to home in on.

For example, maybe you own a company in an industry with strict labor compliance laws. In a situation like this, you’d benefit from an outsourced HR service like Engage PEO. They have attorneys that specialize in employment law.

Or, maybe you need an HR service that can improve your payroll process. Paychex would be the best option if you fall into this category.

Whatever unique circumstances your business might have, there is usually a human resource outsourcing service that specializes in it.

Another thing worth noting is how easy the HR service you’re considering is to use. Is it intuitive to new employees being onboarded for the first time? Can you easily approve time off requests? Can everyone find their insurance information quickly?

Make sure to request a demo from a service rep beforehand and play around on the dashboard. Make sure you can access insurance and PTO information easily at a bare minimum. Many of the services above allow you to do so.

Current Level of HR Maturity

The level of HR systems a business currently has in place should play a big role in outsourcing considerations.

Your business might be a startup looking to offer employees medical insurance and 401ks. Or your business could be an enterprise-grade operation looking to supplement (or replace) the HR department with a good third-party solution.

Outsourcing firms typically have experience working with certain types of businesses. It all really boils down to if you have an HR system already and, if you do, how long you have had it in place.

For example, if you’re a small business owner with no HR infrastructure, you want to choose a service that has experience building from the ground up with smaller organizations, such as Tandem HR.

Large companies might not need that type of assistance. Instead, a larger business might just need a certain role or task outsourced. TriNet is a good solution for flexible HR services. ADP is another good one if you already have a few HR systems but just want a platform to manage it all from a single dashboard.

No matter what, decide whether or not you’re looking to simply add onto your current HR infrastructure or if you’re looking to fully outsource it.

Prompt Customer Support 

Like a jumper cable or toilet paper, the worst time to realize you don’t have adequate customer support is when you need it but don’t have it.

Some common headache-inducing examples include:

  • Your employee can’t access their health insurance group ID and policy information—and have a medical emergency they need addressed ASAP.
  • You need to recruit and onboard a new employee to fill a role quickly.
  • There’s an issue with an employee’s or contractor’s recent paycheck.
  • A global pandemic just hit and you need to completely reorganize your employee structure immediately.

That’s why the level of customer support played a large role in determining our list of HR outsourcing services.

Some HR service providers are on hand at all hours to help you at all hours of the day such as ADP. They have live payroll support available 24/7/365 to help answer any questions you might possibly have.

Paychex also has 24/7 customer support along with a massive HR online library that gives you resources and tools for everything you might need related to HR.

Also worth noting is whether the HR service you’re considering gives you a dedicated account manager. If they don’t, who is your point person when issues come up?

Be sure to note how support is doled out throughout each of the HR providers you research. Some of them offer the same level of support no matter what pricing plan you choose. Others, such as Gusto, offer more intensive, hands-on support with more expensive pricing plans.

The Top HR Outsourcing Services in Summary

Paychex, Insperity, and ADP provide the best human resources outsourcing services. Whether you need an entire HR department or just need to outsource a single function, the best HR outsourcing services in this guide have you covered.

From payroll assistance to benefits administration and HR software, there’s an option for every business to lighten its load.

Compare Quotes From The Best HR Outsourcing Services

Get matched up with a HR outsourcing service that fits your needs.

>> Compare Quotes


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Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Compare The Best Free and Paid Conference Call Services

Want to jump straight to the answer? The best conference call service for most people is Nextiva or RingCentral.

The best conference call services support quick calls, video conferences, team collaboration, and even 100-person webinars.

Regardless of your budget or team size, you’ll find a perfect solution below. This guide contains in-depth reviews on the best free and paid conference call services.

The Best Conference Call Services

  • Nextiva — Best Overall
  • RingCentral — Best Video and Phone Conference Call Combo
  • GoToMeeting— Best for Upgrading (or Creating) Your Conference Room
  • Phone.com — Cheapest Options for Routine Small Conference Calls
  • ClickMeeting — Best Tools for Webinars and Presentations
  • Zoom— Best for Large Teams
  • Google Meet (Formerly Google Hangouts) — Easiest to Set Up and Invite
  • Webex — Best for Team Collaboration
How to choose the best conference call services. Quicksprout.com's methodology for reviewing conference call services.

I looked for providers that offered VoIP (voice over internet protocol), which means you can make calls over the internet instead of a landline. This option costs less and is much easier to manage than a traditional phone line.

Still, if you want to use your traditional phone service, most of the options on my list have you covered.

But which is right for your business? I’ve reviewed each service in detail below to help you compare them.

Nextiva — Best Overall

  • Rock-solid reliability
  • Carrier-grade data centers
  • Voice & video conferencing
  • 24/7 support
Get Started Now

If you can’t gamble on conference call audio quality, go with one of the most reliable networks out there—Nextiva.

They offer a complete suite of business communication tools at a competitive price.

For less than $30 per month, you’ll get unlimited voice and video conferencing with HD audio. I like it because you’re getting a full business phone system, complete with the ability to route calls, a mobile app, and voicemail to email.

Even if you are just using Nextiva primarily for conference calls, you’ll appreciate the strength and resilience of using their network. Especially when your conference calls are how your team works together on projects or presents your offerings to potential clients.

Nextiva home page.

Nextiva is a recognizable name in this space. And with that cachet comes technology to match.

With eight points of presence (POPs), you’ll never have to worry about high latency because your VoIP calls are connected to the nearest POP between you and whomever else is on the line with you.

Plus, Nextiva’s infrastructure is carrier grade, meaning its data centers are rated for high availability and built to handle periods of intense usage.

But even that can’t guarantee everything will be perfect 100% of the time. Not to worry—Nextiva’s support is also top-notch.

Their representatives are available 24/7 and go the extra mile to solve emergent problems or help you get the most out of your VoIP system. They can even walk you through extra steps to take with your own tech stack to ensure even better conference call quality.

Nextiva offers video calling and conferencing calling as part of their business phone system. There are several plans to choose from, but you will need to pick the Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate plan in order to access these features.

Below you’ll see the pricing for Nextiva’s phone service, excluding the Essentials plan, which doesn’t offer conference calling.

**Nextiva runs promotions often and you can save even more on the plans below. Click here for the current sale prices.

Nextiva pricing page.

The Professional plan limits your conference calls to 40 people–the other two plans allow unlimited participants. You can, however, have up to 250 participants on a video conference with the Professional plan.

If you don’t want to worry about limits at all, an upgrade to Enterprise allows for any number of participants on either conferencing form. Of course, quality may diminish if your network isn’t up to handle hundreds of people on a single call, so make sure your infrastructure can bear it.

You can run a free speed test on Nextiva’s website to simulate your network’s call quality for up to 200 phones.

Get the best conference call quality and reliability in the biz—get started with Nextiva today.

RingCentral — Best Video and Phone Conference Call Combo

  • Free up to 100 participants
  • Video, screen share, & messaging
  • VoIP phone service plans
  • Small to enterprise solutions
Get Started for Free

RingCentral includes video conferencing all but their most budget-friendly paid phone plans. That’s ideal for any work-from-home business.

There’s free video conferencing software out there that is great for personal stuff, but businesses need a secure connection. RingCentral provides free video conferencing for up to 100 people and unlimited audio conferencing.

Because they are a VoIP phone service, all of this takes no more than an Internet connection. Start conference calls from your phone on the RingCentral app, or from the web app on your computer.

Starting a conference call on the RingCentral dashboard

The free plan competes well with others on this list. While you’re capped at 40 minutes per meeting, you can still have up to 100 participants. That’s great for scrappy startups.

You can easily add-on larger meeting options to your plan if you upgrade to one of their several paid plans that start as low as $19.99/month.

The system offers nearly every calling, collaboration, and mobile feature businesses would want from a phone system. Since it is housed in the cloud, there is no equipment to install, and they take care of all the maintenance and upgrades.

RingCentral also has stout enterprise solutions and you can save some money by bundling RingCentral Meetings with a VoIP business phone plan.

Click here to visit RingCentral and get started for free.


GoToMeeting — Best for Upgrading (or Creating) Your Conference Room

  • Free 14-day trial
  • HD video conferencing
  • No time limits for meetings
  • Mobile app and Slack integration
Get Started for Free

GoToMeeting offers straightforward, high-quality solutions for small business conference calls without a bunch of distracting features.

One standout feature is their all-in-one hardware and software kit. They’ll send you everything you need to transform any physical room into a smart conference room.

It doesn’t matter if you have a home office or a massive 12-person boardroom. You’ll be able to create a video and phone conferencing solution with all the screens and audio tools you need for your business. That makes it perfect for teams of all sizes.

Unlike some of the other paid conference call solutions on the market, GoToMeeting does not have a basic free plan. However, you can still try it out at no cost with a 14-day trial.

GoToMeeting home page.

GoToMeeting has three plans:

  • Professional — Starting at $14 per month
  • Business — Starting at $19 per month
  • Enterprise — Custom pricing

The Professional and Business plans can host conference calls with up to 150 and 250 participants, respectively. The Enterprise plan is for up to 3,000 participants.

All plans come with these basic features:

  • HD video conferencing
  • Screen sharing
  • Dial in conference lines
  • No limits on meetings
  • No time limits for meetings
  • Personal meeting rooms
  • Business messaging
  • Mobile app
  • Slack integration
  • Salesforce integration
  • 24/7 customer support

GoToMeeting also has unlimited recording capabilities and automatic transcriptions of your conference calls.

Performance is where GoToMeeting stands out over the competition. Lots of free and paid conference call services out there fall short with audio quality. But GoToMeeting customers rave about the crystal clear sound and connection of their conference calls.

GoToMeeting does not have some of the more advanced features that we’ve seen from other providers. But, personally, I like the simplicity.

You don’t need bells and whistles to make effective conference calls. Plus, I think the price points for these plans provide a great value for the benefits.

Overall, it’s a great choice for those of you who manage large remote teams or if your team is able to work in a physical location—and want to upgrade your conference room.

Click Here to Try GoToMeeting for Free.

Phone.com — Cheapest Options for Routine Small Conference Calls

  • Best value for small-scale calls
  • Starts at just $10.39/user per month
  • Free and unlimited conferencing on all plans
  • Includes texting & dozens of features
Get Started Now

Phone.com strikes a perfect balance for smaller teams that need always-available voice, video, and messaging. They fill in that much needed “middle-of-the-road” option for most people.

That doesn’t mean they skimp on features. They offer a great balance between value and providing you with the tools you need.

Phone.com's home page.

Phone.com starts at $10.39/user per month for its Basic Users plan. You get 300 pooled minutes, 1,000 pooled text messages, and video conferencing for up to 10 people.

Take just one step up to the Plus Users plan–$19.99/user per month—and you won’t have to worry about limits at all. There, you get unlimited minutes and text messages, plus video conferencing for up to 25 participants and video recording.

Notice that the participant limits are just for video calls. A lot of teams and companies prefer video conferencing, especially now with more remote workers involved. But if you just need voice conference calling some or most of the time, Phone.com is even more appealing.

On every plan, you get a free conference bridge that can handle up to 500 participants. And, audio conferencing doesn’t eat into your monthly minute limits. So, that means if you’re doing a bunch of inbound and outbound calling, you can settle on the lowest Phone.com pricing plan and be just fine for all of your conferencing needs.

That makes Phone.com a steal for smaller teams—especially ones with team members spread all over the map—who lean more heavily on conference calling than any other voice product.

Another nice aspect of choosing Phone.com is that you can mix and match plans. This is a big deal because it allows you to get cheap plans for some users and premium plans for people who need unlimited minutes or advanced features.

With most conference call and phone service providers, you have to select a single plan for your whole company–Phone.com lets you outfit your teams with exactly what they need. You’re never paying for more than people are using.

The Basic Users plan doesn’t skimp on additional features, either. It also comes with:

  • Video screen sharing
  • Document sharing
  • Email notifications for voicemails (transcription only available with Plus Users)
  • iOS and Android mobile apps
  • HD voice and video
  • Call logs
  • Call notifications

And that’s just a sampling of the standard features.

You can get started today stress-free because of Phone.com’s 30-day money back guarantee. Don’t wait any longer searching for a conference calling solution, your smaller team has found your perfect fit in Phone.com.


ClickMeeting — Best Tools for Webinars and Presentations

  • Webinar solution w/ conference calls
  • Highly collaborative & engaging
  • Good for onboarding & training
  • Prices start at $25/month
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ClickMeeting is a bit different from the others on our list. That’s because it’s a webinar solution that gives you a great way to conduct conference calls as well.

It might not seem like a drawback — but it’s actually pretty great if you often hold web events. Not only will you have a way to meet and collaborate with your team, you’ll also have a lead generation engine with webinars.

Their collaboration software is really great for teams and distributed companies. As such, it should stand out to any remote workers out there.

How to record a webinar | Webinar recording with ClickMeeting

When it comes to conference calls, ClickMeeting’s robust set of presenting and agenda tools allows you to conduct highly engaging, fruitful meetings with your team, clients, customers, and more.

It’s a perfect way to let your team walk away with actionable insights as well as easily onboarding and training new employees.

Since it is also a webinar tool, it does come with more features geared towards sharing insights. As such, if you’re looking for a pure conference call tool, you might want to look elsewhere.

However, this is still a fantastic tool if you’re looking for a great conference call solution that’s multifaceted and flexible when it comes to your use.

The customization they offer really facilitates viewer interaction with the material a presenter is discussing. Overall, I’d say it’s great for agencies, teachers and other education professionals.

Their webinar solution also integrates with PayPal, allowing customers to purchase access to your webinars easily and securely.

If you need a highly-customizable webinar and collaboration tool, and also need something that goes beyond conference calling, this is the service for you.

Pricing starts at $25 per month and is billed annually. However, it does come with a free 30-day trial to test it out.



Zoom — Best for Large Teams

  • Free up to 100 participants
  • Pro plan starts at $14.99 mo
  • HD video conferences
  • Cloud recording features

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Zoom shot up in popularity recently—and for good reason. It’s reliable, affordable, and it’s incredibly easy to use.

The company has grown considerably, and now offers some very attractive corporate conference call solutions.

This cloud-based system offers a wide range of free and paid options to accommodate both individuals and businesses of all sizes.

Zoom home page.

That said, Zoom is best for large or enterprise teams. For $199.99 per year, you can have up to 300 participants in a single call. That’s larger than any of the other providers (outside of enterprise-level plans).

You’ll get tools for recording and transcribing conference calls, as well as SSO and managed domains to ensure that calls are secure.

On top of that, you’re going to get world-class performance in audio and video. There’s perhaps no better conference call service out there that offers such sharp image quality with less lag and dropped calls.

There’s a reason they became a major part of society during the pandemic after all.

Their first paid plan should be enough for most of you. You could always upgrade to Zoom Business as your company scales.

Zoom stands out amongst its competitors for video conferencing and cloud conferencing rooms. You’ll definitely want to lean toward this service if you plan to make professional video presentations via conference calls.

While it’s not for everyone, Zoom Enterprise is a top solution for those of you who fall into that category. Big companies like Uber, Zendesk, Ticketmaster, GoDaddy, and Pandora are just a handful of brands that rely on Zoom for conference calling solutions.

Zoom has an extensive knowledge base as well as 24/7 phone support and live training with some of the plans. But the audio quality can be a bit unstable at times.


Google Meet (formerly Google Hangouts) — Easiest to Set Up and Invite

  • Free with your Gmail account
  • Conference with up to 25 people
  • Google Calendar integration
  • Best used with a G Suite account

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Google Meet is a relatively new voice and video conferencing platform that offers the kind of reliable, top-quality service you would expect from a Google product.

You may be familiar with Google Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat. These were formerly two separate services but have been rebranded as Google Meet.

It’s free to use, and a great option for anyone with a Gmail account (which is basically everyone).

It automatically connects with your Gmail account and contacts too — so it can be truly seamless. It has Google Calendar integration as well, which makes it easy to schedule meetings with other users.

To set up a conference call, just use your browser, chrome extension, or mobile app.

While it doesn’t come with all the bells and whistles that some of the other offerings on this list does, it does shine in sheer simplicity. To set up a call, all you need is a Google account— and that’s it. In fact, if you’re reading this right now, you likely can set up a call in less than 10 seconds.

Once you set it up, all you have to do is send the Google Meet link to anyone you want to join the call.

This service is usually used for one-on-one meetings, but can be a viable option for smaller conference calls of up to 25 people. Google Hangouts makes it easy for you to share your screen and facilitate video conference calls as well.

To get the most out of Google Meet, you need to have a G Suite account, which starts at $6 per month. You might already be using G Suite, and if you’re not, you should start.

Google Hangouts home page.

While Google Meet is simple, straightforward, and easy to use, it definitely has a few drawbacks that you should keep in mind.

For starters, there is no customer support if you’re using it for free. So if you have a problem or question, you’ll need to browse through user forums instead. There is no recording feature either, which seems to be standard with most of the other conference call services out there.

Personally, I use Google Meet at least once or twice per month. Most of those meetings are just with a handful of people. Audio quality issues are common. But overall, it’s quick, easy, and free to make conference calls with this service.


Webex — Best for Team Collaboration

  • Free up to 50 participants
  • Cloud collaboration features
  • High-quality audio & video
  • Cloud storage

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I recommend Webex highly for teams, especially those that are wary of using cheap conference call software.

Webex is a Cisco product built on the latest technology. Video and audio quality are exceptional, as are the security and privacy protections. The Basic Webex Suite is HIPAA compliant. Free and HIPAA compliance don’t usually go hand-in-hand, but such are the benefits of going with Cisco.

The Basic Webex Suite is free for up to 100 participants, and comes with a deep feature set for scheduling, team messaging, and in-conference collaboration.

It’s easy to share files, share screens, take polls, or pop into a breakout room. Webex is very user-friendly. This is not a Cisco product from 2002.

Webex home page.

Premium plans include interactive whiteboarding, meeting recordings, and some helpful administrative features for larger orgs. Access controls and integrations allow you to collaborate with clients and stakeholders across a host of third-party applications and software.

Another very helpful collaboration tool is Webex Assistant, an AI digital assistant that takes notes, gives team members reminders, and also provides real-time transcriptions, closed captions, and even translations.

This is great for teams that have folks who speak other languages, are hearing impaired, or would like an accurate record for meeting minutes.

Here’s an overview of the four different plans offered by Webex:

Webex Suite – Free

  • Free
  • Up to 100 participants
  • Calls capped at 50-minutes

Webex Suite – Business

  • Starting at $25/license per month
  • Up to 200 participants
  • Calls capped at 24-hours
  • 10 GB of cloud storage

Webex Suite – Enterprise

  • Contact sales for pricing
  • Calls capped at 24-hours
  • Customizable meeting lengths, storage, features

Webex Meet Plan

  • Starting at $15/license per month
  • Up to 200 participants
  • Calls capped at 24-hours
  • 10 GB of cloud storage
  • Premium meeting features

Webex Call Plan

  • Starting at $17/license per month
  • Up to 100 participants
  • Calls capped at 50 minutes
  • 10 GB of cloud storage
  • Premium calling features

Many companies are going to be fine with the free plan, especially if they are only using conferencing for internal communications. It’s incredibly secure, and surprisingly feature-rich for a freemium product.

The Webex Meet Plan is very attractive if you are looking for a little bit more than what the freemium plan offers. You’ll have the ability to record and store meetings directly to the cloud, run a livestream on Facebook, or hold a full Q&A session with a panel of speakers.

If you are in the market for new conference calling software, it’s worth giving Webex a look. The free plan holds its own with anything else I’ve recommended, and the product only gets more powerful from there.


How to Find the Best Conference Call Service for You

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Get matched up with a conference call service that fits your specific needs.

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To narrow down your choices, you need to know what to look for when you’re evaluating a potential service.

This is the methodology that we used when researching the solutions in this guide. We benchmarked each of the conference call services against these criteria.

Now, you can use it to help inform your choices.

Number of Participants

The maximum amount of participants is a crucial element to keep in mind. In fact, these limits are the most important numbers when it comes to which plan you ultimately choose.

Some free plans will limit you to just 10 participants and 40 minutes per conference call, while other paid options give you up to 1,000 participants with no limits on call duration.

Pick a service based on what you need. If you have a small business with just a handful of remote employees, you probably don’t need to pay for a conference call service with a limit of 250 participants.

Services with unlimited call durations are your best options. It won’t be effective or productive if you’re forced to cut meetings short based on these limitations.

For example, RingCentral and Zoom are great options if you’re a scrappy entrepreneur looking to host smaller conference calls with your clients. They both give you a free plan that allows 40 minutes for up to 100 participants.

Their paid plans give you even more allowed participants (e.g. Zoom gives you up to 300 participants with their Business plan) with longer call durations.

Whereas a service like Google Meet, which is entirely free, gives you just 25 people max—but call times are unlimited.

Video Conferencing

Businesses are turning to video conferencing now more than ever. In the wake of the global pandemic, it’s been an indispensable tool for schools, businesses, families, friends, and more.

That’s why you should put a premium on a conferencing service that includes video. Not just that, but they also need to include tools that help enhance your experience.

This might include collaboration tools such as screen sharing and audio sharing, text chats for collaborative communication, and whiteboard tools like the ability to write on the screen.

Tools like Dialpad Meetings and Zoom (pictured below) all give you those tools for easy collaboration.

Certain conference call services specialize in video calls. So if you’re planning to use video for the majority of your calls, look for an option that specializes in this area.

Many of the options on this list offer one form of video conferencing or another. However, an offering like Grasshopper only focuses on audio calls and conferencing. If you’re looking for video, you’ll have to turn elsewhere.

Video and Audio Quality

If you’re making calls over the internet, you need a strong connection. It’s not that voice calls put a huge strain on the network–they don’t–it’s that any delay or lag in the connection is a big deal.

When you’re downloading a file, a slight lag is no concern. But when you’re trying to have a conversation, the loss of quality leads to miscommunications. It’s frustrating trying to talk to a single person, and nearly impossible to hold a productive conference call.

You can test your connection right on Nextiva’s website, simulating up to 200 phones.

But even if the internet connection is solid, there’s still potential issues with call quality that the best conference call services can help you address.

Some tools and features to keep an eye out for:

  • On-demand mute buttons for both the participant and the host. This gives everyone more control over their sound and can avoid any unwanted, distracting noise.
  • Voice cancellation. Some video conferencing services cut out certain voices if they overlap with one another (e.g. Zoom) while others allow you to hear everyone talking at once (though you might not understand them in the cacophony).
  • Echo prevention. The audio in a cavernous or empty room can be difficult to listen to. Some services are able to limit the amount of echo through their platforms.

The only way to really know how good the call quality will be is to test it out. Take advantage of any free trials offered by a provider and use it as much as possible to see if you’re happy with the results.

In our research, we found that RingCentral offers the best overall quality if you’re looking for a solid UCaaS platform. From phone calls to video conferencing, they offer consistent, HD-quality audio and video services. If you’re looking for one system to handle both your businesses phones and video calls, they’re definitely a top consideration.

When it comes to purely video calls, though, we found that Zoom offered the best overall quality. The picture tended to be the clearest and (depending on your web connection) rarely encountered any lag or dropped calls. The audio was also very clear.

However, they have a feature that automatically mutes certain audio when people talk over each other. That can be good or bad as it helps lessen the chaos of big meetings but can result in dropped dialogue.

Call Recording

The ability to record your conference calls is another big advantage. Not every free service comes with this option.

There are different levels of call recording capability. Some services will record the call and then force you to store it locally on whatever device you’re using. Others have cloud storage options, based on your plan.

Make sure you understand any storage limits before you sign up for a plan. Otherwise, you might be forced to upgrade when you run out of space.

It’s also worth noting that some call recording plans also come with transcription services. This will make it easier for you to go back and find certain points within a call without having to search through the audio.

If you’re going to take advantage of video calling features, see if the service records the videos or if the recording is just limited to audio calls only.

The ability to share the recorded calls later is also crucial. See what file type the recorded calls are downloaded under and make sure they’re easily shared with others.

Good conference call services like Dialpad make it easy to store and share recordings and will even create a transcript of the recording if you need it. Sharing these recordings takes a few clicks.

Zoom, and GoToMeeting also offer great call recording features. Webex doesn’t record your video or audio, but they do offer call transcription services.

Call Scheduling and Setup

Nothing’s worse than a confusing back-and-forth between you and the person you want to talk to about how you’re going to meet. That’s why being able to easily schedule and set up calls is the foundation of any good conference call service.

Good platforms integrate with your favorite calendar app and put the call on your schedule with a few clicks. These integrations are key to simplifying your scheduling processes.

For example, Google Meet does this with its easy Google Calendar integration. It also automatically connects with your Gmail account so you can easily schedule calls with your existing contacts.

Zoom (pictured above) also has integrations with Google Calendar, Office 365, and iCal. You’ll be able to schedule the day, time, and location (e.g. Zoom room link) and then send an invitation to call participants via email.

Adding new users to a call should also be as simple as sending them a link to the conference “room.” If it’s any more complicated than that, you might want to look elsewhere.

It’s worth mentioning that signing up for some conference calling services shouldn’t take more than seconds to complete. For example, if you’re a G Suite user, all you need to do is navigate to Google Meet to use it.

The Top Conference Call Services in Summary

All conference call services offer the same core functions. But the best conference call solutions stand out with collaboration tools, high-quality video, crystal-clear audio, and other valuable features.

Factors like team size, budget, and primary use case should also be taken into consideration here. A startup with five employees won’t need the same solution as a mid-sized company hosting webinars with hundreds of attendees.



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