Dialpad Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Dialpad alternatives: FreePBX, Asterisk, Google Voice, Linphone and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•3 min read•Team Chat, Meetings & Phone
Verdict:Dialpad Connect Standard is listed at $15 per user per month, with a 14-day trial and no free plan. It is a hosted service that bundles phone numbers, apps and AI features, so leaving it means choosing which part you want to replace. If your team of up to ten already pays for Google Workspace, Google Voice Business Starter at $10 per user per month is the least disruptive swap: you keep hosted calling, though you lose Dialpad's call-centre depth and its AI tools. If you have someone comfortable with Linux and SIP, FreePBX on top of Asterisk is the open-source route: both are free to download, and the real costs become a server, a SIP trunk for incoming and outgoing numbers, and the time to keep it patched and reliable. That trade-off is the whole decision. Hosted calling is dull and reliable because someone else keeps it up, whereas a self-run PBX can be cheaper but is yours to fix when calls drop. Linphone is only a softphone client and does not replace the service, and Jitsi Meet covers only meetings. Stay with Dialpad if you rely on its AI call summaries, contact-centre features or support. Leave if you mainly need a handful of business lines and your staff already live in Google tools. None of these were tested for number porting.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FreePBX | Free (free open-source PBX; you supply the server and a SIP trunk) | Self-hosted | IT-capable teams that want to own their phone system | Docs only |
| Asterisk | Free (free open-source PBX toolkit; you supply the server and a SIP trunk) | Self-hosted | Developers building custom call flows | Docs only |
| Google Voice | Free (Basic personal plan; needs an existing mobile number); paid from $10 per user/month (Workspace Voice Starter, up to 10 users, needs a Google Workspace plan) | Web browser | Small teams already in Google Workspace | Docs only |
| Linphone | Free (free open-source softphone) | Linux, Windows, macOS | Users who already have SIP service | Docs only |
| Jitsi Meet | Free (free; meetings on meet.jit.si limited to 95 minutes from October 9, 2026) | Web browser, Self-hosted | Teams replacing Dialpad's video meetings | Docs only |
| RingCentral | See pricing page | Web, Mobile apps | Communication | Docs only |
| Nextiva | Paid from $15 per user/month, NEXT Core, annual small-business term | Web browser | Business Phone | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You already use Google Workspace and want hosted calling (Google Voice is the pick)
- You can run Linux and want no licence fees (FreePBX is the pick)
- You are building custom call routing (Asterisk is the pick)
- You only need a free video meeting tool (Jitsi Meet is the pick)
- You already have SIP service and need a client (Linphone is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Dialpad features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Dialpad today: Paid from $15 per user/month (Dialpad Connect Standard) (Dialpad pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Dialpad alternatives
Dialpad Connect Standard is $15 per user per month and leaves out key CRM integrations and 24/7 support, which start on Pro at $25. SSO, user access controls and unlimited office locations need Enterprise, priced on request. Support (contact center) starts at $89 per user per month and Sell at $39, and there is no free plan, only a 14-day trial.
FreePBX
Compared with Dialpad: Open-source (GPL-3.0) PBX you host yourself. You lose Dialpad's hosted calling, AI call summaries and apps, but there are no per-user licence fees, though you still need a SIP trunk and someone to run it.
Price: Free (free open-source PBX; you supply the server and a SIP trunk) (FreePBX pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Self-hosted. GPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 75 GitHub stars · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Best for: IT-capable teams that want to own their phone system.
Asterisk
Compared with Dialpad: The GPL-2.0 telephony engine under many PBX products. It is a toolkit rather than a finished product like Dialpad, so you build more yourself, but you get total control and no licence fee.
Price: Free (free open-source PBX toolkit; you supply the server and a SIP trunk) (Asterisk pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Self-hosted. GPL-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 3.6k GitHub stars · latest release certified-22.8-cert5 (Oct 19, 2026) · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Best for: Developers building custom call flows.
Worth knowing: Toolkit rather than a finished phone product; FreePBX is a common web GUI on top.
Google Voice
Compared with Dialpad: Business Voice Starter is $10 per user monthly for up to 10 users and needs Google Workspace, undercutting Dialpad's $15. It has fewer contact-centre and AI features, and a free personal Basic plan exists.
Price: Free (Basic personal plan; needs an existing mobile number); paid from $10 per user/month (Workspace Voice Starter, up to 10 users, needs a Google Workspace plan) (Google Voice pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: Small teams already in Google Workspace.
Worth knowing: Standard is $20 and Premier $30 per user/month.
Linphone
Compared with Dialpad: Free open-source softphone (GPL-3.0, with a paid commercial option) for Linux, Windows and macOS. It is only the client, not a phone system, so you need a SIP server, unlike Dialpad's all-in-one service.
Price: Free (free open-source softphone) (Linphone pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Linux, Windows, macOS. GPL-3.0 (or paid proprietary license) (open source).
Project activity: 512 GitHub stars · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Users who already have SIP service.
Worth knowing: Softphone client only: you still need a SIP server.
Jitsi Meet
Compared with Dialpad: Apache-2.0 video meetings, free and self-hostable. It covers only the meetings part of Dialpad, not phone numbers or calling, and meet.jit.si meetings are limited to 95 minutes from October 9, 2026.
Price: Free (free; meetings on meet.jit.si limited to 95 minutes from October 9, 2026) (Jitsi Meet pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web browser, Self-hosted. Apache-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 30.2k GitHub stars · latest release stable/jitsi-meet_11248 (Sep 14, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Teams replacing Dialpad's video meetings.
Other popular options (paid)
RingCentral
Compared with Dialpad: Offers a 14-day free trial for new subscribers and no free plan. Per-user pricing sits behind its plan pages, so compare a quote against Dialpad's $15 and $25 per user tiers.
Price: See pricing page (RingCentral pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Nextiva
Compared with Dialpad: NEXT Core is $15 per user monthly billed annually ($23 monthly), matching Dialpad Standard, with unlimited voice and video. Engage at $25 adds live chat, SSO and a toll-free number.
Price: Paid from $15 per user/month, NEXT Core, annual small-business term (Nextiva pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Which one to pick
- You already use Google Workspace and want hosted calling: Google Voice
- You can run Linux and want no licence fees: FreePBX
- You are building custom call routing: Asterisk
- You only need a free video meeting tool: Jitsi Meet
- You already have SIP service and need a client: Linphone
Limits of this review
Docs-only for FreePBX, Asterisk, Google Voice, Linphone, Jitsi Meet: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Dialpad. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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- Google Voice alternatives
Sources
Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-25: Dialpad, FreePBX, Asterisk, Google Voice, Linphone, Jitsi Meet, RingCentral, Nextiva. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.