Nextiva Review and Pricing

Why We Chose Nextiva for Customer Support

Reliable, knowledgeable support teams make a huge difference when problems arise. Although several of the best business phone systems offer live chat services, 24/7 phone support is less common. We love that Nextiva provides 24/7 customer service and offers expert-level teams with patient, helpful agents. Whether setting up new phones or configuring call routing, they know what they’re talking about and will walk you through all issues and processes step by step.

Like other Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solutions, Nextiva has plenty of user and administrative documentation. It’s accessible and detailed, making self-service a breeze. However, unlike rivals, you won’t have to jump through hoops to get a live person on the line. 

When testing products for our GoTo Connect review, we found that you must fill out a form to see support options before viewing a support number or requesting a callback. Likewise, we noted in our review of Dialpad that this vendor’s base plan includes live chat, but phone support comes only on higher tiers. 

Aside from 24/7 phone support, Nextiva is available via live chat and help tickets. We appreciate the priority status ticketing option, which tells Nextiva that your service is down. This option is great for small teams that need to handle a crisis, not wait for support to answer. It also provides a status page, and admins can sign up for email alerts.

Head to Nextiva’s support page to search the knowledge base or request assistance. Source: Nextiva

Ease of Use

Nextiva’s software, including its upgraded desktop app, is designed with user-friendliness in mind. It stores all files, conversations, attachments, meeting recordings, notes and links in a single system, eliminating the need to toggle between services. This streamlined approach significantly boosts productivity, making it a breeze to navigate and use. 

We were impressed with NextivaONE’s Threaded Conversations feature. After pulling up a contact, you can view all customer interactions, from phone calls to emails. The Mini View is especially helpful for staff who answer calls while working on other projects. We also liked choosing our call pop location on desktop devices.

Integrate your CRM software to enable call pops and choose the screen position. Source: Nextiva

Nextiva’s Android and iOS mobile apps offer features similar to those of its desktop version. Still, we found issues with both mobile softphone applications that affected our usage. Sometimes, missed calls didn’t appear in the app’s call logs, and we had to reinstall the applications more than once. When comparing RingEX to Nextiva, we felt RingEX’s mobile apps were more reliable. With that said, Nextiva responded to our concerns (and also replies to user reviews). 

Nextiva Features

Aside from unlimited voice and video calling, Nextiva provides numerous features for business phone systems. Here are the tools we found especially valuable for small businesses. 

Threaded Conversations

Threaded Conversations is a standout NextivaONE feature. This function, more commonly found in some of the best call center services than VoIP systems, displays all communications in one place, including emails, text messages and phone calls. Users can add notes and see survey results without switching applications, saving time and improving efficiency.

Nextiva’s Threaded Conversations feature allows you to save time by viewing all interactions from a single view. Source: Nextiva

Call Notes

We love that Nextiva allows employees to attach notes during a conversation. Staff can use this feature to add context to text messages, calls or contact records. When another team member follows up with the client, they can view call notes to learn key details from previous conversations. 

Analog and Virtual Faxing

VoIP technology can support online and analog faxing. Nextiva’s rival RingEX doesn’t offer fax services on its base plan, and Vonage and Dialpad require add-on licenses. In contrast, Nextiva includes complimentary fax services with all business phone plans. Employees can send faxes through email, an online portal (Nextiva vFax) or an analog machine via a Nextiva Fax Bridge. 

Multiple team members can manage faxes from a Nextiva vFax account. Source: Nextiva

With a business associates agreement and Nextiva vFAX account, the fax services comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). We found Nextiva an excellent alternative for medical practices that currently pay for stand-alone HIPAA-compliant fax services. If you don’t handle protected health information but want to connect analog fax machines or overhead paging systems, we recommend looking at our review of Ooma Office. 

Auto Attendant 

Although a virtual receptionist is a standard feature on cloud phone systems, Nextiva’s auto attendant stands out for its ease of use and implementation support. It has a call flow setup wizard, and Nextiva support professionals can assist small business owners in configuring their systems. This ease of use extends to updates, allowing admins to add or remove employees and change permissions from a single screen. 

Collaboration Rooms

Several cloud-based phone systems, including Nextiva, offer remote and hybrid employee spaces. Each user can establish three concurrent collaboration rooms. We like that team members can start an audio or video call with one click. It’s also easy to share files and organize them using folders. 

Nextiva allows you to create public or private rooms for departments and projects. Source: Nextiva 

Video Conferencing

Most modern VoIP phone systems support video conferencing. However, capacity, features and time limits vary. We appreciate that Nextiva’s plans scale from one-to-one calls on the base package to at least 250 attendees on the Enterprise subscription. All plans allow 45-minute video meetings.

NextiveONE has built-in calendaring, screen sharing and meeting recording tools. Staff can send email or text invites with one click. Like 8×8 and RingEX, Nextiva users can share files or chat during video conferences. However, these phone systems and competitors offer longer meetings and more capacity on base plans.

Select Nextiva’s Enterprise plan to increase your video meeting capacity. Source: Nextiva

Integrations

Syncing company calendars and CRM software to your cloud PBX system is becoming essential to everyday business communications. Similar to rivals, Nextiva connects to Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendars. Midlevel and upper-level packages support tools like Zoho, Zendesk, HubSpot and Salesforce. 

Nextiva provides a Go Integrator Cara tool to simplify the process. After speaking with Nextiva support and installing the Go Integrator, users can select and configure third-party connections. We found the integration tool easy to use and liked that it boosted the phone system’s functionality. Syncing a CRM enables call pops, previews for call notifications and call activity logging. 

Nextiva lets you configure each integration to suit personal or company preferences. Source: Nextiva

Call Logs and Analytics

Like rivals, Nextiva makes basic call logs available to all users. If you opt for the Enterprise tier, administrators can see enhanced call logs that show placed, received and missed calls. In addition, the company offers Nextiva Analytics and Voice Analytics licenses. These products include gamification and trend analysis tools. 

See a list of all calls and their durations in Nextiva’s call history logs. Source: Nextiva

Contact Profiles

Although Nextiva no longer offers a CRM system with phone plans, we appreciate its contact profiles. You can import information from third-party software, like Salesforce or Zoho. The profiles show the client’s photo and contact details, and integrations expand the profiles further.

Nextiva Pricing Plans and Subscription Costs

Nextiva pricing ranges from $17.95 to $45.95 per month, depending on user numbers, service plan and contract length. When comparing its costs to other multiline phone systems, we found that Nextiva is comparable to RingEx and 8×8 but higher than Dialpad and Zoom. Even small teams – those with five to 19 users – get a volume-based discount through Nextiva, which isn’t the case with all VoIP providers. 

In addition, the company gives discounts for one-, two- or three-year contracts. Users who prepay for three years receive the best price. Businesses can negotiate desk phones into the service price. However, as with any contract, early-termination fees may apply and could be steep. We like that you can opt for monthly plans at a higher price, whereas Vonage requires a one-year term for new users.

Nextiva offers three subscriptions: Essential, Professional and Enterprise. Unlike competitors, the Essential plan includes online fax and one-to-one video conferencing capabilities with chat service, but it lacks SMS/MMS and voicemail transcription. All accounts include a toll-free number and minutes; each user gets a local VoIP number. 

We looked at Nextiva’s pricing for five to 19 users. Here’s how the three business phone subscriptions compare:

Nextiva offers add-ons that integrate seamlessly with the NextivaONE applications. These include a contact center, customer experience, call analytics, social media and reputation management tools. The additional features improve data analytics and add functionality, such as surveys, sentiment tracking and real-time metrics. 

Implementation and Onboarding

Nextiva provides an excellent onboarding experience because professional implementation services come with all subscriptions, not just the Enterprise plan. The business phone setup guide walks you through four steps: Add employees, create hunt groups, set auto attendants and attach phone numbers. We found each page easy to navigate, and the tool lets you configure one or more auto attendants quickly. 

Alternatively, you can bulk-upload employees from your active directory. If you have just a handful of employees, you can set up the Nextiva phone system and start communicating within minutes. Defining specific user permissions and creating advanced call flows will take a little longer.

While you can handle most tasks online via the self-service portal, you must contact Nextiva to enable end-to-end encryption for its phone system. Like other VoIP services, Nextiva provides onboarding tools for administrators and employees, including training webinars and step-by-step guides. With these materials and the intuitive user interface, your teams can familiarize themselves with the system faster and face fewer barriers. 

Customer Support

Nextiva’s customer support experience is one of the best in the industry. Unlike competitors, Nextiva provides 24/7 customer service for all plan tiers, so even if you’re a small team using the Essential plan, you can still reach the Nextiva team through live chat, phone and email. 

The average response time for online ticketing ranges from one to three days, depending on the security level. However, the company recommends that users call customer support for emergencies. Along with excellent customer service, we like that Nextiva support includes many self-service options. 

It has a searchable knowledge base with quick start guides for the Nextiva app, call flows and VoIP phone setup. Users can view videos to learn about call recording and customer sentiment tools. In addition, Nextiva provides on-demand webinars and provisioning information for phone equipment.

Limitations

Nextiva’s customer service sets it apart from competitors, but the platform is less impressive than other VoIP systems we reviewed. Many vendors offer voicemail transcription on their base packages and have voice, video and messaging features powered by artificial intelligence (AI). RingEX, Zoom and Dialpad stand out for their AI-enabled tools.  

We also found the platform less scalable than other services. For example, in our Nextiva vs. 8×8 comparison, we found that 8×8’s international phone numbers and calling options made it a better choice for businesses expanding globally. Learn more in our full 8×8 review. 

Methodology

Our research and testing for our Nextiva review involved demos and product trials. To determine the best phone system for customer support, we contacted Nextiva through voice, chat and ticketing channels. We received assistance with call routing configuration, troubleshooting mobile apps and related concerns. In addition, we evaluated user feedback and vendor responses across multiple platforms. Use our guide to selecting a business phone system to learn more about what to look for when choosing a service for your business.

Bottom Line

We recommend Nextiva for …

• Companies looking for 24/7 customer support.
• Medical practices wanting HIPAA-compliant fax services.
• Small and midsize businesses with U.S.-based teams.

We don’t recommend Nextiva for …

• Solopreneurs on a tight budget.
• Businesses that want to mix and match service plans.
• Companies that need international phone numbers.