How to Get a Business Phone Number
What a business number costs, what the free route gives up, and the FCC rules behind every 800 number.
In This Article
- Quick Answer
- Top Pick: Google Voice
- Side-by-Side
- Full Reviews
- How to Choose
- How We Picked
- How we picked and what we actually checked
- Who Needs This
- Who needs a separate number and who can wait
- Deep Dive
- The free route and what it costs you
- What a toll free number really is
- Vanity numbers, and why nothing good is left
- What to Avoid
- What to avoid
- Alternatives
- The two big names we could not price
- Our Methodology
- FAQ
- Google Voice starts at $10 per user a month, Grasshopper at $14 on the annual rate, Quo at $15 per user and Ooma Office at $19.95 before taxes. All four publish that price. Every figure came off the provider's own pricing page in August 2026.
- The free option people mean is consumer Google Voice, a personal product with no business support attached. It works. It is not the same thing you are being sold at $10.
- Nobody can sell you a toll free number. That is an FCC rule. The FCC assigns them first come first served through certified Responsible Organizations, and offering one for sale is brokering.
- 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844 and 833 are seven separate numbers, not one number with seven doors. The prefixes are not interchangeable. The same seven digits on a different prefix reaches a different business.
- Your number goes on the same public surfaces your address does. Both leak. If you kept your home address off the record, the personal mobile is the hole you left open.
Pick a virtual provider. Choose a local or toll free number, then point it at the phone you already carry. Google Voice is the cheapest plan actually sold to businesses at $10 per user a month. Grasshopper is $14 a month on the annual rate and does not charge per head. Quo, which was OpenPhone until the rename, is $15 per user. Ooma Office starts at $19.95 per user plus taxes and is the only one here built around desk phones.
Want a toll free number? You still go through one of these providers. The FCC does not sell numbers to the public, and under its rules nobody else may legally sell you one either.
Every founder hits the same small decision. You need a number for the website, the invoices and the Google Business Profile. Your mobile is right there, so you use it. Two years later that number sits in a dozen lead databases, you cannot hand it to a bookkeeper, and you cannot take it back.
The fix is cheap. It costs between nothing and about twenty dollars a month. This page prices the four routes genuinely sold to small businesses. It says what the free one gives up. And it explains the toll free rules that decide whether the 800 number you want is even available. Every price came off the provider''s own page in August 2026. Where a provider would not publish a readable price, we say so rather than guess.
Google Voice
$10
<p>At $10 per user a month it is the cheapest plan here actually sold to businesses. Unlimited domestic calling, unlimited US texting and voicemail transcription all sit in that entry tier. Nothing here does the job for less. Two things to know first. Starter caps at ten users. Auto attendants and ring groups start on Standard at $20.</p>
See plansSide-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry Price | $10 per user / month | $14 / month on the annual rate | $15 per user / month | $19.95 per user / month |
| What the Price Covers | One user | The account, extensions included | One user | One user |
| Higher Tiers Published | Yes, $20 Standard and $30 Premier | No, only the entry price renders as text | No, only the entry price renders as text | Yes, $24.95 Pro and $29.95 Pro Plus |
| Taxes and Fees On Top | Not stated on the pricing page | Not stated on the pricing page | Not stated on the pricing page | Yes, Ooma says taxes and fees still apply |
| Free Trial | Not offered on paid Voice plans | 7 days, no card | Free trial offered | Not advertised on the pricing page |
| Where We Read the Price | workspace.google.com/products/voice | grasshopper.com/pricing | quo.com/pricing | ooma.com small business pricing |
| Best For | The cheapest way to stop giving out your mobile | Solo owners who refuse per seat pricing | Teams sharing one number as an inbox | A business with a front desk |
Full Reviews
Google's business phone line, ten dollars a user a month, running through the Workspace account a lot of founders already pay for.
Pros
- Starter is $10 per user a month and covers unlimited domestic calling and unlimited US texting.
- The number rings the Voice app on any device, so there is no second handset and no second SIM.
- Voicemail transcription sits in the entry tier rather than one step up.
Cons
- Starter caps at 10 users, and auto attendants and ring groups only start on Standard at $20 per user.
- The free Google Voice everyone recommends is the consumer product, not this one, and it carries no business support.
- Voice is normally added to a Google Workspace plan, so for most buyers there are two subscriptions to budget for.
A virtual business line priced by the account rather than by the head, from fourteen dollars a month on the annual rate.
Pros
- Pricing starts at $14 a month and covers the account rather than one seat.
- Extensions come with the plan, so a second person answering does not double the bill.
- A 7 day free trial runs with no card, by Grasshopper's own pricing page.
Cons
- The $14 headline is the annual rate. Grasshopper's own page puts annual savings at over 20 percent, so monthly billing costs meaningfully more.
- It layers a business number over phones you already own rather than replacing a phone system.
- Only the entry price is published in plain text, the rest of the ladder loads behind a billing toggle.
OpenPhone renamed itself Quo, and the same shared inbox for calls and texts now starts at fifteen dollars a user a month.
Pros
- Calls, texts and voicemail for one contact land in a single thread the whole team can see.
- Numbers are shared, so a customer texting the business number reaches whoever is on.
Cons
- The rename from OpenPhone means older bookmarks, help articles and reviews all sit under the former name.
- At $15 per user a month it is the highest entry price of the app first options here.
A small business phone system that still supports handsets on desks, from $19.95 a user a month before taxes.
Pros
- It supports real desk phones and analogue adapters, which the app first options here mostly do not.
- Ooma publishes all three tier prices in plain text on its own site, $19.95, $24.95 and $29.95 per user a month.
Cons
- Ooma states on its own site that taxes and fees apply on top of the subscription, so $19.95 is not the bill.
- It is the most expensive entry point on this page, and the extra buys hardware support a solo founder may never use.
How to Choose
You just formed an LLC and only want customers to stop calling your mobile.
Ten dollars a user a month is the lowest price here. Support comes attached. Unlimited domestic calling and US texting sit in the entry tier rather than one step up.
You are the only person in the business and you do not want to be charged per seat.
Grasshopper prices the account, not the head. Extensions come with the plan, so the bill does not move the day a partner or an assistant starts answering.
Two or three of you answer the same customers and messages keep getting lost between you.
Quo was OpenPhone until the rename. It puts calls, texts and voicemail for one contact in a single shared thread the whole team can see.
You have a shop, a clinic or an office where a phone physically sits on a desk.
Ooma supports handsets and analogue adapters, which the app first providers here mostly do not. Budget above the headline. Ooma says taxes and fees apply on top of the $19.95.
How We Picked
How we picked and what we actually checked
We did not open accounts. What we did was read every price off the provider''s own published pricing page in August 2026 and record where we read it. Then we checked the toll free rules at the FCC rather than at a vendor blog. Several vendors ranking for this query sell numbers, and they have an interest in how the rules get described.
That method produced the finding that shaped the table. Two of the four publish their whole price ladder in plain readable text. Those are Google Voice and Ooma Office. Grasshopper publishes an entry price of $14 and loads the rest behind a billing toggle. RingCentral and Dialpad publish no readable business phone price at all, only a plan grid that appears after a script runs and a number for sales. We left both out of the table.
Google''s own top of page bid range puts advertisers at up to about $80 a click on the phrase business phone number. That is a lot. On a query that expensive, which companies will tell you a price before you hand over a number of your own is worth knowing.
Who Needs This
Who needs a separate number and who can wait
Nobody is legally required to put a phone number on an LLC. No state asks for one. The articles of organization have no field for it, and the IRS does not need one to issue an EIN. The real reason to get one is narrower than the vendor blogs suggest.
Get one if the number will be published, on a website, on invoices or on a Google Business Profile. Get one if somebody other than you will answer, now or in a year. Get one if you want the number to survive a carrier change. A family plan mobile will not.
You can wait if you are pre revenue, selling to people who already know you, and reachable by email. Wait, then. A second number that rings nobody is a subscription, not an asset.
One argument gets skipped. We spend a lot of words on keeping a home address off the public record and almost none on the number that goes on the same forms. If the address matters, the number does too. Once a personal mobile is on a Google Business Profile it gets scraped, resold and dialled by lead generators for years. There is no recalling it, and no $10 plan undoes it.
In-Depth Comparison
The free route and what it costs you
The free business phone number in every YouTube tutorial is consumer Google Voice. It is real and it works. It is also a different product from the $10 plan in the table above. You sign up with a personal Google account, pick a US number, and calls and texts route to your phone. There is no monthly bill.
What you give up is worth pricing. No business support line. No auto attendant. No ring group, and no second person who can pick up. The number is attached to a personal Google account, so if that account is suspended or you lose access, the business number goes with it.
The honest read is simple. It is fine while you are still testing whether the business exists. Move off it before the number is printed on anything you cannot reprint.
What a toll free number really is
Most pages on this search result get this part wrong or skip it. What follows comes straight from the FCC.
There are seven live toll free codes. They are 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844 and 833, and the FCC says plainly that they are not interchangeable. The same seven digits behind 1-800 and behind 1-888 reach two different businesses. That is why the 800 version of a memorable number is worth what it is, and why you will almost certainly not be getting one.
The FCC does not sell numbers. It cannot even tell you the status of one. Numbers are assigned first come first served through companies called Responsible Organizations, or RespOrgs, which reserve numbers on a subscriber''s behalf and keep the records. Somos, Inc. administers the toll free database and certifies the RespOrgs. Your provider either is a RespOrg or works through one. Somos runs a public help desk on 1-844-439-7666 if you want to find one yourself.
Three practices are banned outright. A RespOrg may not reserve numbers with no real subscriber behind them, which the FCC calls warehousing. A subscriber may not take more numbers than they intend to use, which is hoarding. Selling or offering to sell a toll free number is brokering, which counts as hoarding and is prohibited. One carve out exists, for numbers assigned by competitive bidding such as the 833 auction. So when a site offers to sell you a premium 800 number, hold the offer up against the rule.
One rule works in your favour. The FCC requires toll free numbers to be portable, so you can move yours to a new RespOrg when you switch providers. That is the difference between renting a number and being stuck with a vendor.
Vanity numbers, and why nothing good is left
A vanity number is a toll free number that spells something. Think 1-800-FLOWERS. The FCC''s definition is exactly that and nothing more, a toll free number that spells a name, word or acronym chosen by the subscriber. It is not a separate product with its own rules. It goes through the same first come first served assignment as every other toll free number, which is why the short memorable words on 800 were gone decades ago. If you want a word, you are shopping on 844 and 833.
What to Avoid
What to avoid
Buying a toll free number from a broker. The FCC''s hoarding rules prohibit offering a toll free number for sale, with an exception only for numbers assigned by auction. So the seller is either breaking the rule or selling something they do not control. Walk away.
Reading $14 or $19.95 as your bill. Grasshopper''s $14 is the annual rate, and its own page puts annual savings at over 20 percent, so monthly billing costs more. Ooma says taxes and fees apply on top of the $19.95. Neither number is the bill.
Putting a personal mobile on a Google Business Profile because it is quick. Do not. It is the one decision on this page you cannot reverse.
Assuming the free Google Voice number carries the paid plan''s support. It does not. The first time you need a human at Google to unlock an account is a bad moment to find that out.
Alternatives Worth Considering
The two big names we could not price
RingCentral and Dialpad both rank for this query. Both advertise on it. Neither publishes a business phone price we could read at the source. RingCentral''s plans page loads its RingEX tiers after a script runs and offers a sales line instead, though it does publish add on prices in plain text, an AI Receptionist from $39 and a Business SMS Booster at $25. Dialpad''s pricing page leads with conversation based credits for its AI agent product and routes the rest to sales.
We are not calling either expensive. That is not the point. The point is what you can find out before you give a salesperson a number of your own, and on a query where advertisers pay near $80 a click that is worth weighing.
Our Methodology
Frequently Asked Questions
About the Author
Digital Marketing Expert
Sofía cut her teeth working at a mid-sized digital marketing agency in Miami, managing multi-channel campaigns for local e-commerce and service businesses. She speaks the language of customer acquisition costs, conversion rates, and SEO optimization fluently.
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Pricing on this page was read from each provider''s own published pricing page in August 2026 and can change without notice. StartupOwl has no affiliate relationship with any provider named on this page. The toll free number rules are summarised from the FCC''s consumer guide and are general information, not legal advice.
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