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The Forbes Advisor Small Business team is committed to bringing you unbiased rankings and information with full editorial independence. We use product data, strategic methodologies and expert insights to inform all of our content and guide you in making the best decisions for your business journey.
We reviewed providers using a detailed scoring process to help you find the five best cell phone services for small businesses. Our ratings consider factors that included pricing, the availability of general and advanced features, customer ratings and an overview by our panel of experts. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.
The Best Mobile VoIP Services of 2025
Forbes Advisor Ratings
Methodology
We compared multiple VoIP services to find the best mobile VoIP apps. At Forbes Advisor, we understand how important pricing and feature balance is for small businesses, so we ranked each mobile VoIP service provider for offering affordable plans, general features that every provider should offer, advanced features that can benefit users, customer reviews on third-party review websites and a final review by our experts. Our methodology looked at several metrics that were weighted to favor features that small business owners find valuable in a provider.
Pricing
For pricing, we considered several factors, focusing on the costs of a provider’s entry-level plan and its highest-tier plan and the benefits a user received by choosing to go with a higher-priced plan. We also gave bonus points to services that offered lower monthly pricing when an annual plan was purchased. Finally, a provider also fared well on our list if it offered a free trial or free version of its VoIP cell phone services. Pricing accounted for 20% of our weighted scoring.
Features
While our reviews mention a variety of features attractive to small businesses, we maintained consistency in our ratings by looking for these general features for each provider and whether they were included automatically as part of a plan or were only included as part of a paid add-on. The features we expected all providers to include were unlimited domestic calling, SMS text messaging, offering both a desktop and a mobile app and having access to an auto attendant.
Then, there are many advanced features that we considered optional but nice-to-have options for users of VoIP cell phone services. These included team messaging, toll-free numbers, call recording, voicemail transcription and unlimited international calling. Again, those that were included with the plan automatically fared better than those that required an additional fee. Features accounted for 50% of our total score.
Third-party Reviews
We wanted to gauge the opinions of real users of VoIP cell phone services, so we turned to third-party review websites VoIPReview, Trustpilot and the BBB. We looked at reviews of providers that scored at least 3.5 out of 5 to get the best view of each provider. These reviews accounted for 10% of the total score.
Expert Analysis
Our experts handled the final scoring section. Looking at customer reviews, we gave points for ease of use, stand-out features, popularity and value for the money. Altogether, this final review made up 20% of the total score.
Learn more about how we review VoIP products and services.
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What Else You Need To Know About Mobile VoIP Services
Using a mobile VoIP app extends the functionality of your mobile device—whether it’s an iOS phone or tablet or an Android. You can make and receive calls when away from your desk regardless of your working arrangement (remotely, at the office or a hybrid of the two). Additionally, you’ll be able to keep your personal phone number private because business calls come through your VoIP business number.
Common features of VoIP apps include multilevel auto attendants, visual voicemail and call management. If you’ve not used these features before, you may not know if you need them. Here’s a breakdown of what they are, so you can decide which mobile VoIP app is best for you and your small business.
Multilevel Auto Attendant
An auto attendant makes it easier to handle an onslaught of incoming calls when you don’t have a live operator or assistant to answer the phone. An auto attendant acts as a virtual receptionist, so callers can get to sales, support or other teams for their needs.
Visual Voicemail
This feature is also known as voicemail-to-text transcription. You may not want to take the time to listen to a voicemail, or you might miss a name or phone number in a recorded voicemail. A transcription can be helpful for grabbing important details.
Call Management
With advanced call management features, you can screen, block and forward incoming calls, as needed. In some cases, you can also hold or route calls to get a customer or lead to the right person or team.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can I use my cell phone as a VoIP phone?
A mobile VoIP app works on most smartphones. It uses your Wi-Fi or cellular data to send and receive calls through a VoIP phone number.
Which app is best for VoIP calling?
The answer to this question depends on your budget and which features you want. RingCentral offers a good balance between affordability and advanced features for small businesses, so employees can use their own devices to make and receive calls, business short message service (SMS) texts and use videoconferencing.
Can VoIP replace cell phones?
It can, but you need to have constant and reliable Wi-Fi. Keeping a cell phone plan is a good idea in case you need to use cellular data if Wi-Fi goes down.
Are VoIP systems like Grasshopper cheaper than regular phones?
They can be. Most small businesses require internet in their offices and VoIP takes advantage of this technology so you can make and receive phone calls over that internet connection. VoIP phone services tend to be more affordable because of this. Hardware is also more affordable—you don’t even need to invest in desk phones—you can use VoIP softphones with a headset to make calls from your PC or use VoIP on your smartphone via an app.
Is there a free VoIP service?
There are a handful of free VoIP phone services available, but not all work for both iOS and Android. You may want to consider using a free videoconferencing app, such as Zoom, to make business communication easy and affordable.
Are VoIP cell phones secure?
In general, using a VoIP cell phone is very secure. However, there are steps that you can take to increase the security levels even more. These include verifying that your VoIP provider offers an encrypted connection, implementing a session initiation protocol (SIP)-capable firewall that filters all incoming calls for any content that puts your system at risk and having your information technology (IT) staff create a virtual local area network (VLAN) for all of your internal calls to take place, keeping them from being put at risk from outside sources. Make sure that your staff remains diligent when using their VoIP phones so that they can avoid risks like voice phishing, also known as vishing.
