Keypad Virtual Phone System vs. CloudPhone: Business Phone Service Comparison

As of February 8, 2020, Keypad is no longer accepting new clients. Instead, check out our Virtual Receptionist, Outreach Campaign, and Chat services.

Thanks to modern technology, costs for phone systems have dropped substantially as available feature sets have expanded. A cloud phone system is a great choice for businesses that need a more affordable and efficient way to route calls, but it can be overwhelming to choose the best provider for your needs. Here's a comparison between the Smith.ai VOIP phone system, Keypad, and CloudPhone from VoxOx.

Setup Fees & Trials

Keypad:

• Free setup
• No contract or cancellation penalties
• 14-day money-back guarantee

CloudPhone:

• Free setup
• 30-day trial period
• Easy cancellation if dissatisfied

Discussion: Both Keypad and CloudPhone anchor around the most essential communication services of calling and texting while furnishing the ability to utilize a highly desirable service. Smith.ai's plan includes unlimited menu options, greetings, and voicemail boxes. Each service offers a different take on phone capabilities between core services and overlapping add-ons, making each solution desirable for business communication.

Monthly Plans

Keypad:

• $25 per month for 1,000 minutes, 250 text messages, 1 number or toll-free number and unlimited extensions and auto-attendant greetings

CloudPhone:

• $24.99 per month for unlimited minutes, 1 number, 2 extensions
• $34.99 per month for unlimited minutes, 3 numbers, 6 extensions, 2 auto attendants
• $64.99 per month for unlimited minutes, 10 numbers, unlimited extensions, unlimited auto attendants

Add-ons

Keypad:

• Extra numbers: $5/number/month
• Voicemail transcription: $5/month for 100 minutes. 5¢ per additional minute
• Call recording: $10/month for 1,000 minutes. 1¢ per additional minute
• Online fax: $10/month for 1 fax number and 200 pages. 5¢ per additional page

CloudPhone:

• Extra numbers: $5/number/month
• Call recording: Requires $64.99/month "Small Business" plan
• Online fax: Incoming only
• Mobile-only SMS messaging on all plans

Discussion: Keypad offers a more affordable solution for business owners that want features including call recording and full-featured online fax. At only $25 per month, Keypad lets you forward calls to as many destination numbers as your business needs, plus you can also text from your business line at no additional charge. Many features on CloudPhone, including conference calling and call recording, are only included on their more expensive plans.

Overages

Keypad:

• $0.03 per additional minute
• $0.02 per additional message

CloudPhone:

Because CloudPhone currently offers unlimited minutes and SMS messages for each plan, there are no overage fees.

Discussion: Depending on your business' call volume, you can pay a lot less with Keypad. While we do not offer unlimited minutes like CloudPhone, since an average business call lasts about five minutes (according to the 2015 Invoca Call Intelligence Report), 1,000 minutes is more than enough for the vast majority of small businesses.

Features

Both Keypad and CloudPhone offer the following similar features:

• Voice calling
• SMS messaging
• Voicemail and transcription capabilities
• Call recording
• Call forwarding
• Number porting
• Auto attendant
• Adaptive routing based on time, day of the week, or a custom schedule
• Call blasting
• Optional faxing package
• Integration with Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists

Keypad:

Keypad offers the following additional features:

• Performance metrics and an intuitive dashboard
• Spam filtering
• VIP call routing
• Live U.S. based support, Monday through Friday from 5am – 6pm PT

CloudPhone:

CloudPhone offers the following additional features:

• Unlimited calling
• Built-in, automated virtual receptionist

Key differences between services:

Keypad and CloudPhone offer some similar features. Both can be affordable solutions for small businesses, but CloudPhone requires an upgrade to much more expensive plans to access all of their features. Keypad's system is also more advanced and helps you filter out spam and unsolicited sales calls, which ensures that your phone lines remain open for calls that are important to your business.

There are also significant differences in the pricing structure. With Keypad you receive the standard calling and messaging allotment for $25 a month with low-cost a la carte options that can be added for voicemail transcription, call recording, and faxing. Smith.ai's virtual receptionist services and staff who are skilled, expertly trained and then distributed vs. an automated attendant with limited ability on call volume. The important thing to remember is that the Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists work with any cloud phone service. This added benefit of a live virtual receptionist vs. an automated bot, many customers find, substantially reduces overhead compared to paying for an in-house receptionist.

CloudPhone packages do offer the ability to make and receive unlimited calls from your business phone service. This can mainly benefit smaller businesses where there is constant need for staff members (or yourself) to man the phones to reach out to clients and prospects or take incoming calls. CloudPhone's virtual reception service is quite different from the optional Smith.ai virtual receptionist service and is much more similar to an automated interactive phone menu that allows incoming callers to select their intended call destination from a menu with button prompts.

Summary

Keypad and CloudPhone are affordable communications solutions that help solo professionals and small businesses route, track and monitor their calls. Both services provide options for local and toll-free calls, as well as the ability to route calls to multiple extensions. Keypad offers more affordable pricing for most business needs, includes and option for full-featured fax service. Both services offer seamless integration with Smith.ai virtual receptionists.

For business owners and operators who want to implement efficient call flows, adjust call handling procedures based on time and day, track call performance, record calls and manage other detailed aspects of their phone, text and fax communications, Keypad is the ideal solution.

Get Started with Keypad Now, Risk-Free

Sign up to Keypad today! It's just $25/month and totally risk-free with our 14 day trial.

(Want to keep your existing phone and fax numbers? Sign up, pick a temporary number, and then follow the porting directions here.)

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Questions?

If you have questions about Keypad's features and compatibility with your business, our support team would be happy to assist and advise you. Contact us Monday through Friday, 5am – 6pm PT at (650) 727-6484 or keypad@smith.ai.