- Plivo: Best for Scaling Teams
- OnSIP: Best for IVR Menus
- Twilio: Best for Call Quality Monitoring
- Bandwidth: Best for Designing Call Flows
- AVOXI: Best for Global DID Numbers and Coverage
- 8×8: Best for Custom Call Forwarding
- CallHippo: Best for Sales Teams
- Nextiva: Best for Toll-Free Calling
- SIP.US: Best for Faxing or SMS Add-Ons
- AstraQom: Cost-Effective Option for Large Teams
SIP trunking connects your PBX phone system to the cloud for internet-based calling. This benefits your business by lowering monthly calling costs and reducing your hardware maintenance needs. With SIP, you can purchase new phone numbers based around the globe and scale more easily—all managed from a cloud-based virtual dashboard.
To determine the top SIP trunk services of 2025, we evaluated and compared 15 popular providers. Our research found Plivo to be the top choice due to its flexible pricing and wide global coverage—though services such as Twilio, OnSIP and others offer distinct benefits and use cases. Check out our rankings to choose the best SIP trunk provider for your business.
The Best SIP Trunk Providers of 2025
Forbes Advisor Ratings
Methodology
Our scores and rankings are the product of careful research, testing and comparison of 15 SIP services that businesses use today. We evaluated each SIP provider using our rubric, containing 26 data points spread across five categories, which we weighed according to their importance.
Here’s a breakdown of our scoring rubric’s general categories:
Decision Factor | Scoring Weight | Description |
---|---|---|
General Features | 25% | We confirmed and tested the most essential SIP features, including BYOC integrations, international calling coverage, call forwarding, etc. |
Expert Score | 23% | Our subject matter expert tested and scored each service across four key areas: features, popularity, ease of use and overall value. |
Value | 19.5% | We considered each product’s pricing—including monthly and per-minute rates—in relation to its features, evaluating the service’s overall value for the money. |
Additional Features | 20% | Beyond the regular SIP features, we looked for “extra,” but still important, SIP features such as local and international numbers, number porting and call analytics. |
Customer Service and Support | 12.5% | We tested and compared each provider’s customer support offerings, considering the support channels offered and the ability to reach a live human anytime. |
Read more: How we test VoIP and SIP providers
What Is SIP Trunking?
SIP trunking is a communication technology that connects your PBX system to the cloud, enabling you to transmit audio over the internet. It permits your PBX system to use Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), a software protocol that facilitates real-time audio, video and data transmission between endpoints.
Most on-site PBX systems have IP capabilities that connect to the internet. SIP trunk providers give you credentials that configure SIP service for your PBX system. Once you enter these credentials, your PBX system can make and receive calls digitally over the web—without involving a landline.
Since SIP is cloud-based, administrators use a virtual dashboard to manage everything: call logs, voicemail, provisioning user phone numbers, inbound call routing, interactive voice response (IVR) menus and ring groups. SIP doesn’t require hardware such as physical phone lines, so you can get set up in minutes just by subscribing to a SIP trunk provider.
How To Choose the Best SIP Trunk Provider
When choosing a SIP trunk provider, it’s important to consider your company’s current infrastructure, as well as your anticipated monthly call volumes and destinations. You should anticipate what phone system features you’ll want—such as ring groups, IVR and analytics. Consider your company’s scaling expectations and, if you have remote workers, where they’re located.
Here’s a more elaborate breakdown of what to look for and consider when choosing a SIP trunk provider.
Essential SIP Trunk Provider Features
When evaluating a SIP trunk provider’s features, first consider its global coverage and virtual phone number offering. Then consider aspects such as the virtual dashboard, call routing features, call logs and voicemail.
Here’s a closer look at what features to compare.
- Global coverage: Each SIP trunk provider offers distinct global coverage options—allowing you to call certain countries and have service around the globe. Before signing up with a provider, ensure its network covers the countries you call most often—and supports connectivity where your team is based.
- Phone number offering: Some SIP providers only offer phone numbers from across the U.S., while some provide virtual numbers from over 100 countries. Ensure your SIP provider offers virtual numbers from the countries where you want to establish a business presence.
- Virtual dashboard: A SIP trunk service’s admin dashboard lets managers purchase and assign phone numbers, manage billing and track call logs. Check out each provider’s dashboard to ensure it feels simple and intuitive.
- Voicemail: Some SIP trunking providers let you set up voicemail messages directly within the virtual dashboard, while some do not. Voicemail is a critical feature for retaining customers who call when you’re unavailable.
- Call routing and forwarding features: Many SIP providers offer call management features such as automated call forwarding during particular business hours or when you miss a call. This capability improves your customer support by ensuring that more calls get answered by a live agent.
- Call records and analytics: Most SIP services track basic call records and display them in the virtual dashboard. However, some SIP providers offer more detailed analytics about each call’s connection quality. Further, some display call data in visual formats such as graphs or charts.
- Ring groups: Some SIP providers let you bundle phone numbers or users together so their phones ring in unison. This feature works well for creating intracompany departments and ensuring that all calls are handled by the right representative.
Pricing
Evaluating a SIP trunk service’s pricing model is an essential part of your selection process because pricing amounts and structures vary significantly between providers. Some providers offer “elastic” pricing, which means they charge your calling by the minute, while others charge a flat monthly rate.
Here are the primary pricing models that SIP providers offer.
- Elastic pricing: Elastic, or usage-based, pricing charges you by the minute, varying rates depending on where you call. Some providers charge as much as 3 cents per minute, while others charge as little as 0.5 cent per minute. Elastic SIP providers, such as Plivo and Twilio, often offer volume-based discounts and a good deal for teams with low or high call volumes.
- Monthly cost pricing: Many SIP providers charge a flat monthly rate—either for the user/channel or the SIP trunk itself. Often, providers charging per user offer unlimited calling in the U.S., which can be cost-effective for companies with high domestic call volumes.
- Combination: Some providers charge a monthly rate for your SIP trunk plus a metered per-minute price beyond that. In most cases, this pricing structure offers the worst overall value—though some providers with this model make up for it with excellent coverage or features.
Integrations and BYOC Connections
One of SIP’s main benefits as a cloud-based technology is that it can integrate your phone system with other digital data sources such as CRM systems, unified communications and messaging platforms, and contact centers.
Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC) integrations refer to a platform’s ability to support you in integrating your own phone system into its service. For example, Microsoft Teams’ BYOC capability lets you bring your own phone system—including SIP trunk service—and use it within the Teams dashboard. Many contact centers and unified communications platforms offer this same capability, but it depends on your SIP trunking provider’s available and pre-built integrations.
Before choosing a SIP trunking service, check its pre-built integrations and BYOC connections to see if you can enhance your phone system by connecting it to other communication platforms.
Customer Support
Since your phone system is an integral part of your business’s daily functions, it’s important that your SIP trunk provider is available to provide service when you need it. Unfortunately, many SIP trunk providers only offer customer service through support tickets—which can take up to 24 hours to receive a reply.
Customer service can be even harder to reach for companies based outside the U.S., since most SIP providers staff their support teams during U.S. working hours. However, some SIP providers—such as Nextiva—offer 24/7 live support through phone, live chat and email.
Before deciding on a SIP trunking service, confirm the provider’s customer service availability and make sure it will accommodate your needs.
How Much Does SIP Trunking Cost?
Provider | Starting Monthly Price (Monthly Plan) | Usage-Based Costs | Phone Number Costs | Total Monthly Expense (25 Users, One Hour of Phone Time per Day) | Volume Discounts? |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plivo | None | 0.65 cent per minute outbound, 0.25 cent per minute inbound | 50 cents to $1.00 per month | Around $170.00 | Yes |
OnSIP | $49.95 monthly per account | 3.2 cents per minute | $2.00 per month | Around $1,120.00 | No |
Twilio | 0.53 cent per minute outbound, 0.34 cent per minute inbound | $1.15 to $2.15 per month | Around $180.00 | Yes | |
Bandwidth | Custom pricing | 0.55 cent per minute inbound, 1 cent per minute outbound | (Estimated $1.00 per month) | Around $270.00 | Yes |
AVOXI | $19.99 monthly per trunk | 1 cent per minute | (Estimated $1.00 per month) | Around $370.00 | No |
8x8 | $25.00 monthly per channel | 2 cents per minute | Included | Around $1,285.00 | No |
CallHippo | $25.00 monthly per channel | International calling only | Included | Around $625.00 | No |
Nextiva | $24.95 per channel | International calling only | Included | Around $625.00 | Yes |
SIP.US | $24.95 monthly per channel | International calling only | $1.00 per month | Around $650.00 | No |
AstraQom | $71.00 monthly for six phone numbers | International calling only | Included | Around $285.00 | No |
SIP trunking pricing varies greatly depending on the provider’s model, the number of users you have, your calling destinations and your inbound vs. outbound call distribution. In most cases, you’ll save money choosing a SIP trunking provider that offers elastic, usage-based pricing that averages below 1 cent per minute. Plivo and Twilio are two such examples and are the cheapest options on our list. Elastic-based SIP pricing usually costs under $8 monthly per user when averaging one hour of talk time per day—including the cost of a phone number—which is a great deal.
The low cost of elastic SIP trunking makes it hard to justify the subscription-based pricing model. Most subscription-based SIP providers charge $25 monthly per user. While this includes a phone number, it’s really only a good value for teams with very high call volumes. Further, some subscription-based providers such as CallHippo and AVOXI add unique features or extensive global coverage, which can justify the higher price in some cases.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the benefits of SIP trunking?
SIP trunking connects your PBX system to the cloud, enabling you to save money and expand your calling network by making audio calls over the internet.
What are the disadvantages of SIP trunking?
SIP trunking shifts your landline system to the internet, so it requires you to have stable bandwidth. Compared to hosted PBX, SIP trunking still requires you to manage a physical PBX system—while a hosted PBX system is entirely cloud-based.
What is the difference between VoIP and SIP trunking?
SIP Trunking is the technology that connects your PBX system to the internet in order to make calls. Voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) is the technology of making calls over the internet.
How much does a SIP trunk cost?
SIP trunks can cost up to $25 monthly per user or as little as 0.5 cent per minute with free setup. Pricing varies by provider.
Do I need a SIP trunk?
No, you don’t need a SIP trunk. Hosted PBX solutions offer fully cloud-based phone systems that only require an internet connection. However, if you have a PBX system on-site, SIP trunking is an effective way to enable calling over the cloud.