What Is Aircall?
Aircall is a popular VoIP service originally co-founded in 2014 by Jonathan Anguelov, Olivier Pailhès, Xavier Durand and Pierre-Baptiste Béchu after the group successfully raised $2.75 million to bring the company to life. With monthly pricing starting at $30 per user, Aircall provides call center, phone system and AI-based solutions to businesses small and large.
Product features include:
- Unlimited calling in the United States and Canada
- A local or toll-free number
- Business SMS
- Call recording
- Call monitoring
- Shared contacts
Additionally, Aircall provides international calling as an add-on or as an option to upgrade
How Aircall Works
Aircall is a business phone system that completely operates in the cloud. Its software is available for download on desktop or mobile, allowing you to make or receive calls across multiple devices.
Aircall is a cloud-based service because it requires a constant internet connection. As such, service quality will get impacted by your location, internet service and relevant hardware. For instance, for those working out of a home office, Aircall recommends a network connection of at least 100 Kbps, upstream and downstream, for each concurrent call. Meanwhile, Aircall states that an Ethernet connection is preferable to Wi-Fi in the office.
Is Aircall Right for Me?
Aircall offers many standard VoIP features a business needs to create a professional phone system. That said, specific components, such as video conferencing tools, may make it fall short of competitors with a more robust series of collaboration options.
Aircall Is Best For:
- Most small business teams: Small teams of three or more people will likely get the most out of Aircall.
- Adding additional numbers at a low rate: Aircall plans include one local or toll-free number with the ability to add additional business numbers for just $6 per month.
- International calling options: Aircall allows businesses to set up domestic calling plans in various countries, with unlimited calling available throughout the United States and Canada. U.S. and Canadian businesses can also make international calls through an add-on or upgrade to the Custom plan.
- Integration availability: Aircall is compatible with over 100 apps, including popular options such as Slack, Zendesk, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho and more.
Aircall Is Not Recommended For:
- Teams with fewer than three people: Because Aircall requires a minimum of three users, it’s not going to be a good value for the money for a single- or two-person-run team.
- Creating an all-in-one hub: Although Aircall offers some collaboration tools, it’s missing features such as video conferencing and virtual faxing. While it could be possible to make up for these missing tools through compatible integrations, some competitors provide unified communications as a service (UCaaS), enabling collaboration by voice, video, chat, email and fax without requiring other apps.
- Businesses operating on a tight budget: In researching similar business phone system providers, we found that Aircall had one of the highest starting prices paid per month or year. Additionally, it lacks certain tools that competing VoIP services include in their plans, so it may not represent good value for the money.
What Sets Aircall Apart
Aircall allows companies to take or place as many calls as needed on one number. Aircall’s call distribution setup was among the easiest to use that we’ve tested. Even with minimal experience setting up a phone system, one could have multiple systems prepared quickly.
While Aircall offers excellent business VoIP services, including crucial call center features that contribute to a streamlined and useful phone system, we noted that it was one of the most expensive VoIP options available when compared to popular options such as RingCentral and Dialpad, both of which have lower monthly and annual starting prices.
Aircall also insists on at least three users for its service, while some competitors, even those that frequently service enterprise-level companies, have no such requirements.
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Aircall Features
Aircall offers many essential VoIP tools that let businesses quickly and easily set up a professional phone system. While it is expensive compared to other cloud phone options, some positive features make it worth consideration.
Ease of Use
Aircall is easy to use once you have set up your account. You can make adjustments through your dashboard, from which you can quickly port or set up a local or toll-free number. Afterward, you can assign the number to yourself, an agent or a team. After downloading the app, you can begin to make or receive calls.
Hardware
Aircall doesn’t offer hardware for sale. However, the brand does have recommendations concerning the equipment with which its software is most compatible. For instance, Aircall mentions the Jabra Evolve 40 UC Stereo headset while sharing that its software supports physical controls with Jabra and Yealink headsets.
Software
Aircall’s desktop software is available through its website; you can download its mobile apps via the App and Google Play stores. The desktop application is currently not supported on Linux or Chromebooks; you can still use Aircall but will need to use the web-based app.
Call Quality
We found that Aircall had excellent call quality. The automatic greeting was easy to hear when calling the professional number, suggesting that a customer could easily understand and follow directions. When placing an outbound call, the audio was also clear in normal and speaker modes.
Because Aircall relies on an adequate internet connection for calls, it is vital to have an efficient network connection. Our connection speed when using Aircall was 481.7 Mbps download and 18 Mbps upload, with a latency of 9 ms.
Uptime
Aircall customers can expect an uptime of 99.99%, made possible through using seven global data centers and investing in redundancy on every level to prevent single points of failure. Aircall also works with multiple carriers to create dynamic switch capabilities, improving call quality and allowing for dynamic switch capabilities.
Security
Aircall relies on WebRTC Security to protect peer-to-peer connected calls, which can account for up to 80% of all calls made using the service. Aircall protects data through TLS 1.2 and AES 256 encryption methods; information is secure in transit and at rest. Aircall also uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a hosting partner; AWS holds ISO 27001, SOC2, PCI DSS and FedRAMP certifications.
Third-party Integrations
Aircall integrates with more than 100 apps, with the ability to choose integrations best suited for sales or support teams. Options include popular integrations such as HubSpot, Slack, Zapier, Bullhorn and Freshdesk. As there are tools that Aircall lacks, such as video conferencing, it may be possible to make up for missing features with third-party apps.
Aircall Pricing and Plans
Essentials
Aircall’s Essentials plan is its most cost-friendly option, though there are VoIP services that cost less while offering more per user, per month. Still, it is a viable option for unlimited domestic calling and texting, with the option to call internationally through an add-on. This tier provides access to call recordings for six months; you can extend this to a year by request.
Professional
The Professional plan lets you add an unlimited number of users to your account and use features such as call monitoring, whispering and unlimited access to call recordings. This tier also gives your customers the option to get a callback from an agent instead of waiting on hold. Though Essentials had basic analytics, this plan offers advanced analytics and a live feed. Customers with at least 15 team members get a dedicated account manager and personalized onboarding experience.
Custom
The Custom plan, which requires reaching out to the sales team for a quote, offers everything in the other plans and adds unlimited international calls, single sign-on (SSO), customized analytics and access to API developer support. Custom also includes prioritized customer support.
Customer Service and Support
When testing, we reached out to support for assistance in getting our account set up. The professional we talked to was knowledgeable and understanding, quickly answering questions and sending out the information we needed to start using our account. Some answers were also easy to find through the available help knowledge base; the resource provided answers that allowed us to get the most out of testing features.
Aircall Alternatives and How They Compare
Aircall vs. Freshcaller
While Freshcaller does provide a free service plan, after using both Aircall and Freshcaller’s free trials, Aircall made the better impression. Though you have seven days to test Aircall versus three weeks with Freshcaller, Aircaller allows you to use far more features without purchasing a phone number and minutes to sample inbound and outbound calls.
Both providers aim to serve sales and customer support teams, but Aircall is the better solution. Not only is its phone system setup highly customizable and easy to use, but it offers a wide range of call center features, including a business number and unlimited calling, without the extra fees and add-ons found with Freshcaller. Though its starting price is higher than Freshcaller, in the long term, Aircall represents better value for money spent.
Aircall vs. RingCentral
Aircall and RingCentral each have three service plans, though you will need to reach out to Aircall to get a quote with its Custom tier. RingCentral’s most expensive tier, Ultra, starts at $35 monthly per user, falling between Aircall’s Essentials and Professional plans. By opting for RingCentral, you get a far more comprehensive range of communication and collaboration tools without the added expense of upgrades with Aircall.
RingCentral is the far better choice for features, pricing, integrations and the potential for an all-in-one hub for your business. Even for sales and customer support teams, RingCentral will likely be the better long-term solution for your business.
Aircall vs. Grasshopper
Aircall and Grasshopper are about level in providing high-quality phone service, unlimited in the United States and Canada. Grasshopper is the slightly more cost-effective option, especially for businesses that simply want a VoIP phone service and aren’t looking to incorporate too many UCaaS options related to video and chat. If you add additional numbers, Aircall charges $4 less per month than Grasshopper.
The service you prefer will likely come down to the number of users and what you want to achieve. If you have a customer or sales support team of at least three people, Aircall is the better option. However, a sole proprietor wanting to separate their personal and professional contacts would likely prefer Grasshopper to avoid Aircall’s minimum monthly user requirements.
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Our Expert Opinion
We appreciated how many features were available in Aircall’s free trial. Following account setup, we could quickly get and use a number to make and receive calls. The phone system was impressive, and we appreciated how customizable it was, allowing businesses to deviate from a generic script and build a phone system more aligned with their company’s identity and customer needs.
As strictly a VoIP service, Aircall is very impressive. However, it falls behind other services due to being comparatively more expensive while not offering a superior range of cloud communication features, including video conferencing and internet fax capabilities. Many cloud phone service providers combine phone systems with an all-in-one collaboration platform. If you want that, Aircall will likely not offer that experience.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is Aircall used for?
Aircall is a VoIP business phone solution for sales and support teams, providing unlimited inbound and outbound calling and key call center features.
How do I get Aircall?
You can get Aircall by signing up for the Essentials, Professional or Custom plan. You also have the option to get a free trial and sample service features for up to seven days.
Is Aircall expensive?
We found Aircall to have one of the highest starting costs of the services we reviewed when paying per user per month. This was true whether signing up annually or paying month to month.
Does Aircall automatically record calls?
Aircall lets you decide when to enable recording for incoming and outgoing calls by making changes through your dashboard.
