Remote conferencing had gone mainstream years before the pandemic, but the technology exploded during the worldwide shutdown, and it shows no signs of slowing as the products continue to be enhanced with easier operation and smarter tools. The best conference call services work so smoothly that participants are barely aware of the distance that separates them from their fellow attendees.
The variety of options available to SMBs looking to bring their teams closer together despite any distance means there’s a solution for every need. Our choices as the best conference call solutions include a full-featured product that’s available for free, and services that apply AI to enhance the benefits your business realizes from its remote conferences and meetings.
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Best conference call services
Why trust our small business experts
Our team of experts evaluates hundreds of business products and analyzes thousands of data points to help you find the best product for your situation. We use a data-driven methodology to determine each rating. Advertisers do not influence our editorial content. You can read more about our methodology below.
- 14 companies reviewed.
- 1,332 data points analyzed.
- 100+ hours of research.
Best for remote collaboration
GoTo Connect
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Best for Microsoft Office 365 users
Microsoft Teams
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Best for streaming live on YouTube
Google Meet
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Most affordable
FreeConferenceCall.com
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Best for webinars and events
ClickMeeting
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Best for HIPAA compliance
Phone.com
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Easiest to use
Zoom
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Best for AI-based communication analysis
Dialpad
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Best for meetings on the go
Best for operator-assisted conferences
Vast Conference
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Best conference call services comparison
| MEETING PARTICIPANTS | MAXIMUM MEETING DURATION | MEETING TRANSCRIPTIONS | LIVE CAPTIONS | BREAKOUT ROOMS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 GoTo Connect |
250 | Unlimited | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||||
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 Microsoft Teams |
300 | 30 hours | Business Basic and Business Standard | Yes | Business Basic and Business Standard | |||||||
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 Google Meet |
100 | 24 hours | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||||
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 FreeConferenceCall.com |
1,000 | Unlimited | Yes | No | Yes | |||||||
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 ClickMeeting |
1,000 | Unlimited | Yes | No | Yes | |||||||
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 Phone.com |
100 | Unlimited | Pro only | Google Chrome only | Pro only | |||||||
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 Zoom |
1,000 | 30 hours | Business and Enterprise | Yes | Yes | |||||||
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 Dialpad |
10 | Five hours | Added fee | No | No | |||||||
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 RingCentral |
1,000 audio, 200 video | 24 hours | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||||
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 Vast Conference |
500 | Unlimited | Added fee | No | No | |||||||
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We extensively research the key competitors within an industry to determine the best products and services for your business. Our experts identify the factors that matter most to business owners, including pricing, features and customer support, to ensure that our recommendations offer well-rounded products that will meet the needs of various small businesses.
We collect extensive data to narrow our best list to reputable, easy-to-use products with stand-out features at a reasonable price point. And we look at user reviews to ensure that business owners like you are satisfied with our top picks’ services. We use the same rubric to assess companies within a particular space so you can confidently follow our blueprint to the best conference call services in 2024.
Expert score (10%): Four features are weighted evenly in this category: the quality and uniqueness of the service’s conferencing features, the product’s overall value, its popularity and how easy it is to use.
Value (25%): Factors that contribute to a conference call service’s value include whether its price is posted publicly, the monthly price per seat (when purchased by the month or annually), whether the price decreases with the number of users and whether caps are applied to meeting lengths or the number of attendees.
Features (46%): Among the most important conferencing features for small businesses are the products’ video and audio conferencing capabilities and provision of local and toll-free phone numbers. Other important capabilities include access to conferences by phone, conference recording, integrated chat and the ability to share screens and documents. Ancillary features are third-party integrations, the provision of meeting transcripts and whether the company offers desktop and mobile apps.
Service and support (7%): The four characteristics we consider in this category are whether the vendor offers a telephone support line, access to support using live chat, the ability to contact support using email and the provision of a knowledge base and other self-help resources.
Security features (12%): Frontline security functions include password and PIN access controls, encryption of calls and meetings, meeting locks and auto-locks, HIPAA compliance and the ability to remove participants.
What is a conference call service, and how does it work?
Conference call services allow businesses to conduct meetings with a few or hundreds of participants over telephone lines. They typically operate by having the meeting host send invitations to participants that include links and other instructions for calling in or logging into the conference. The calls are received by a conference bridge that serves as a virtual meeting room and as a gateway for admitting only invitees.
Conference calls can be operator-assisted or reservationless. The former is managed by an operator who is trained in handling the logistics of the meeting, such as ensuring all attendees are present and recording the proceedings. Most conferences are reservation-less and managed by the meeting host or another designated person. These conferences tend to be less expensive and quicker to arrange.
How to choose the best conference call service
Audio and video conference calls are intended to bring people together, whether formally or informally, for a specific purpose, the same as in-person meetings. The difference, of course, is the lack of personal contact in virtual meeting rooms, although the high-definition audio and video of modern conferencing solutions can replicate some of the benefits of in-person interactions.
Factors to consider when choosing a conference call service include its cost, features, customer support and any third-party integrations your business requires. Other considerations include the ability to encrypt the meeting’s audio and video from end to end, the scalability of the solution to meet your business’s changing needs, and the ability to customize the product, such as by adding your company’s brand.
Key features to look for
Standard features of the best conference call services are call recording, screen sharing, whiteboarding and high-definition audio and video streams. Most also provide integrated chat and SMS messaging, breakout rooms, meeting transcripts and live captions for video streams.
- Call recording: While many conference call services provide the ability to record meetings automatically, others let the meeting host decide when to start and stop recording.
- Screen sharing: In addition to meeting hosts sharing their screens with participants, the services allow individuals to share their screens during the meeting with one person or several.
- Whiteboarding: Interactive whiteboards are used by meeting attendees to collaborate in real time by sharing a “surface” for annotating images, documents and other material.
- HD audio and video: The quality of the conference’s audio and video streams makes a huge difference in the effectiveness of the meeting. There’s less chance of miscommunication, and clear sound and images enhance the experience for all attendees.
- Integrated chat and messaging: Rather than being a distraction, giving your meeting participants the ability to chat and send texts during the presentation adds a dynamic aspect to the interaction that helps keep everyone engaged.
- Breakout rooms: One common application of meeting breakout rooms is when conducting training. For example, after presenting material in lecture format, small groups can break out to review exercises that reinforce the material.
- Meeting transcripts: A trend in conferencing is the application of AI to analyze transcripts from past meetings to identify the most productive and least productive aspects.
- Live captions: AI also powers tools that generate captions in real-time during video meetings, often in multiple languages. The appearance, size, color and layout of the captions can often be adjusted by viewers.
Add-ons and extras
Common add-on services sold by conference call vendors include complete video conference room systems such as RingCentral Rooms that create an in-room experience for attendees, and support services that provide a dedicated account representative such as with ClickMeeting.
It’s common for conference call services to sell international calling and local numbers for other countries as extras. They may also apply added fees for inbound faxing, conference room lines, and additional local and toll-free phone numbers.
Customer service
Only one of the conference call services we examined offers 24/7 telephone support for all plans: Phone.com. Most rely on live chat and email for direct support and limit the hours that chat support is available. All of the services we reviewed provide self-help resources in the form of knowledge bases, getting-started guides and video tutorials. Several also offer “universities” where customers can pick up new skills in an educational setting.
How much does a conference call service cost?
The average per-user, per-month price for conference call services is between $15 and $30 for entry-level plans, and between $20 and $45 for high-end packages (many vendors also sell enterprise solutions that are priced based on a custom quote from the company).
Most conference call providers offer discounts for purchasing annual service rather than month-to-month. The exceptions are Microsoft Teams, which requires an annual contract, and Google Meet, which is sold by the month only.
The free conference call services offered by the vendors in our review lack the capabilities most SMBs require to meet their conferencing needs. The exception is FreeConferenceCall.com, which operates on a donation basis. Paid packages typically come with all the functionality required to plan and conduct meetings, and review and analyze their results.
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Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
How do I set up a conference call?
FreeConferenceCall.com describes a five-step process for setting up a conference call:
- Determine the time and date of the call and send the information to all participants along with a meeting agenda or conference outline. Set a time limit for the meeting, and keep in mind that attendees may reside in different time zones. Depending on the type of meeting, the host may also send attendees documents related to the activity.
- Make the meeting sign-in information available to participants. This may be a dial-in number or link, and it might include an access code.
- Provide a list of action items and goals that the meeting will cover and work them into the meeting agenda. In general, the most productive meetings are those that stick to an agenda.
- When the meeting time arrives, participants sign in using the access information provided beforehand.
- In addition to being an active participant in the meeting, hosts should encourage other attendees to join in discussions and collaborative activities.
Can you do a conference call on an iPhone?
Apple Support explains how to use the conferencing feature built into iPhones:
- Dial the first participant and wait to establish a connection.
- Tap the Add button at the bottom of the iPhone screen.
- Dial the second participant, and after that call connects, choose Merge Calls at the bottom of the screen.
- Repeat the process to add other participants individually.
The iPhone lets you add a person to a conference call in progress when they dial your number by tapping Hold & Accept, waiting for the call to connect and pressing Merge Calls. Similarly, you can remove a caller by tapping the info button at the top of the screen and pressing End next to the person you want to remove.
Conference call services generally provide apps for accessing the meetings they host using an iPhone or Android phone or other mobile device.
Is there a free conference call service?
FreeConferenceCall.com lets individuals and organizations use the company’s audio and video conferencing service for free, although the company requests a donation of $4 a month. Its average donation is $8.21 a month, and the company quotes a market rate for its services of $15 a month, which is in the range of the per-user, per-month price of market leaders Zoom and GoToMeeting for comparable services.
Several conference call services offer free versions of their products, including RingCentral’s free service that supports high-definition video meetings for as long as 50 minutes and with as many as 100 participants. Similarly, Google Meet is a free conferencing service for meetings up to one hour. It requires only a Google account and works with Android and iOS mobile devices.