8×8 is a cloud-based business phone system that helps enterprises manage communication and team collaboration efficiently. 

It offers voice, video, and messaging capabilities that can be accessed through desktop and mobile applications, as well as through traditional desk phones.

Despite these features, 8×8 might not be the right phone system for you, especially if your business is growing. In that case, you’ll need an alternative, such as Nextiva, to cater to your communication and collaboration needs. 

This article discusses 8×8’s features and pricing plans to help you make an informed decision. 

8×8 Pricing and Plans

8×8 offers five Unified Communications (UC) and contact center packages for businesses. The pricing isn’t publicly available, so you’ll need to contact sales to know how much your preferred plan will cost.

UC plans

These plans are best for hybrid teams looking to power communication from a central hub to simplify collaboration between in-office and offsite employees.

X2 plan: All-in-one voice, video, and chat UC software

This plan has the following basic features: 

• Unlimited voice calling to 14 countries
• HD video and audio conferencing for up to 500 participants
• Microsoft Teams integration
• 24/7 support channels 
• SMS, MMS, voicemail, and team messaging 

X4 plan: Advanced call handling and analytics

This plan has all the X2 features plus the following: 

• Unlimited calling to 48 countries
• Media cold storage
• Secure payments
• Front desk for receptionists and operators
• Supervisor analytics
• Barge, whisper, and monitor

Contact center core features

These plans are suitable for mid-sized and enterprise businesses looking to streamline incoming and outbound customer communications.  

X6 plan: Voice contact center

The X6 plan comes with all of X4’s UC features, but it also supports the following: 

• Customer experience journey mapping
• Reporting and analytics
• Hot desking 
• Skills-based routing using interactive voice response (IVR), call recording, and CRM integrations
• Call handling and queuing
• HD voice for improved call quality 

X7 plan: One interface for voice and digital interactions

Purchasing the X7 Plan gives you access to all of the X6’s features plus the following: 

• Co-browsing
• Omnichannel support, including social media, chat, SMS, and video
• Advanced meeting features, integrations, and analytics
• Live streaming and video conferencing 

X8 plan: Advanced contact center 

The X8 package is perfect for enterprises that need to power customer communications at scale. It combines X7’s features with the following advanced capabilities: 

• Speech and text analytics
• Quality management
• App integrations and certifications
• Auto dialer 

How Do Nextiva’s Pricing and Plans Compare? 

Nextiva is a popular alternative to 8×8. It has two package tiers: Business communications and contact center.

The contact center solutions help midsize and enterprise businesses efficiently manage large-scale customer communications. You can find more information about pricing and plans here. 

Business communications

Tired of coordinating communication across multiple applications? Choose one of Nextiva’s business communication plans to streamline team collaboration. 

Unlike 8×8, you can see what each plan costs on the website to help you quickly make an informed decision. Typically, the higher the number of users, the lower the price per user. 

For example, in the Essential Plan, you pay $21.95 per user monthly (billed annually) for 5–19 users. If you onboard 100+ users, you pay $17.95 per user monthly (billed annually).

On the pricing page, you can check the exact amount you’ll be charged for the number of users you require.  

Here’s what each Nextiva plan would cost per user for 20–99 users with annual billing. 

Essential plan: $18.95/user monthly

We created this plan for solopreneurs and small businesses with limited budgets that were looking for a tool with core Unified Communications capabilities. 

It has the following features: 

• Unlimited internet fax
• Voicemail
• Unlimited voice and video calling within the U.S and Canada
• App integrations, including Outlook and Google Contacts
• Toll-free local and international numbers
• Support for up to 1,000 SMS/MMS per user 
• 24/7 customer support

Professional plan: $22.95/user monthly

As your business scales, your cloud communication and collaboration needs will expand beyond what a basic tool can offer. That’s when it’s time to upgrade to Nextiva’s Professional plan. 

The Professional plan has all the features of the Essential plan plus the following:

• Unlimited conference calls for up to 40 participants
• Unlimited video meetings
• Screen sharing
• Multi-level auto attendant
• Mobile and desktop SMS/MMS
• Salesforce and HubSpot integrations

Enterprise plan: $32.95/user monthly

This plan is best for midsize and large businesses with complex communication requirements. These large businesses need business communication software to manage advanced collaboration workflows at scale. 

The Enterprise plan has all of the features of the Professional plan plus the following:

• Unlimited participants in voice and video conferencing calls
• Call recording
• Up to 12,500 toll-free minutes
• Unlimited video conference recording
• Voicemail transcription
• Microsoft Teams and enterprise integrations
• Single sign-on

Core Features of 8×8 and Nextiva

Now that you know what each provider offers, let’s delve deeper into their core features. 

8×8 phone system and contact center features

With 8×8 business communications software, you get the following: 

• Omnichannel routing: Automatically track and assign inbound and outbound communications across multiple channels — calls, chats, and emails — to the best-fit agents based on preset rules, such as agent skill and availability.
• Skills-based routing: Assign agents to customer tickets that match their skills and experiences to reduce issue resolution times. 
• Queued and web callbacks: Reduce hold times with automatic callbacks when agents are free.
• Post-call surveys: Administer Net Promoter Score and Customer Satisfaction Score surveys to gather real-time customer feedback after an interaction and improve your customer success workflow. 
• Team collaboration: Beyond call features, 8×8 has collaboration tools, such as in-app messaging and document sharing, to improve internal communication. 
• HD video and audio conferencing: Host meetings on any desktop or mobile device for up to 500 participants. Schedule meetings in one click via 8×8’s Google and Outlook calendar integrations. Record and share meetings with participants and non-attendees
• Interactive meetings: Keep participants engaged with polls, reactions, and breakout rooms.
• Detailed analytics: Dig into real-time and historical data about call activities, agent performance, and customer satisfaction. Skip the guesswork; power your contact center decision-making with accurate data.  
• Quality management: If you sign up for the X8 plan, you can access 8×8’s advanced quality management capabilities to help you monitor and evaluate agent interactions for optimal service.
• Speech and text analytics: The X8 plan gives you access to speech and text analytics features like automatic transcriptions and emotion detection. You can conduct context-based speech analytics and extract valuable data. 

Nextiva phone system and contact center features

With Nextiva’s business communications software, you get the following:

• Omnichannel support: Stop coordinating communications across multiple apps. Nextiva brings all your communications channels — from calls to emails and social media — into a central platform. 
• Advanced IVR: Access multiple self-service options — from cloud-based agents to voice command call flows and intelligent call routing — for faster resolutions.
• Post-call surveys: Administer post-call surveys to customers. 
• Efficient call management: Access multiple call management features — call queuing, call routing, and voicemail management — to help you control inbound and outbound interactions. 
• Right agent; right time: Direct inbound calls, emails, and texts to the right agent using skills-based rules. 
• Smarter interactions: Bridge the information gap between your CRM and phone system. Draw customer journey insights from your CRM and use this data to personalize customer communications. 
• Quality and insights: Use call recording and detailed analytics for continuous improvement
• Never miss a message: Receive voicemail messages in your inbox so you never miss a message. You’ll get a summary of each message with the audio file attached to make communication more efficient.
• Connect anywhere: Use voice and video conferencing for internal and external communication. You can host up to 25 active video participants and 250 audio participants on a call. 
• Mobile workforce: Stay productive on the go with the NextivaOne business collaboration and communication software. Your team members can download the app to their iOS and Android devices to stay connected no matter where they are.
• Seamless setup: Receive support from Nextiva’s support team, which is on deck to help you set up your business phone system quickly and get acquainted with its extensive features. 
• Always there: Access 24/7 customer support across all plans for your peace of mind and business continuity. You can troubleshoot issues using the resources in Nextiva’s support center, submit a ticket, or chat with the support team via in-app messaging. 

Comprehensive Feature Comparison

Let’s see how the communication platforms stack up against each other. 

Which Provider Is Right for Your Business?

Both Nextiva and 8×8 offer a wide range of business communications features. Ultimately, the best one for your business comes down to budget, team size, and scalability. 

Choose 8×8 if…

Your business is large with substantial global calling needs, you have a generous budget, and you are looking for an advanced business communication platform to support your complex workflows. 

With 8×8’s international calling, omnichannel support, advanced analytics, and AI-powered features, it’s a worthwhile investment for enterprises with plenty of monetary resources that are looking to boost call center efficiency at scale.

Choose Nextiva if…

Your high-growth business needs a phone system that caters to your collaboration needs but is robust enough to scale with you. Also, if you want to make the most of your budget by investing in a business phone service with the core UC and contact center capabilities, and you’re looking for something easy to set up and use. 

Nextiva offers competitive pricing plans, scalability, generous toll-free minutes, solid CRM integrations, and 24/7 customer support, making it a great choice for small and medium-sized businesses. 

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The Verdict?

Nextiva is the best choice for growing businesses. While 8×8 has extensive business voice capabilities, its structure and setup can be overwhelming. 

Nextiva, on the other hand, provides ultimate business communication flexibility for growing businesses.

With Nextiva, you get the following: 

• Transparent pricing: Has no hidden fees — unlike 8×8’s opaque structure
• Scalability: Grows with your business without significant infrastructure changes
• Mobile-ready: Supports your remote and hybrid workforce
• 24/7 customer support: Provides the help you need when you need it