OpenPhone, which rebranded to Quo in 2026, starts at $15 per user per month billed yearly. Google Voice starts at $10. That $5 gap is the whole reason people pick Google Voice, and it is not real: the Google Voice business tiers require a Google Workspace subscription for every user, billed separately on top. Once you add the suite underneath, and once you notice that the $10 plan caps at 10 users and has no phone menu, the two products are much closer than the pricing pages suggest.
Both are legitimate choices and thousands of US businesses run happily on each. But they are built for different situations, and the comparison usually gets made on a headline number that does not survive contact with a real invoice. Every figure below was read from each vendor's own pricing page in August 2026.
OpenPhone vs Google Voice pricing, side by side
| Plan | Per user, billed yearly | Per user, billed monthly | What sits underneath it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Voice Starter | $10.00 | Not published separately | Google Workspace, per user, billed separately |
| Google Voice Standard | $20.00 | Not published separately | Google Workspace, per user, billed separately |
| Google Voice Premier | $30.00 | Not published separately | Google Workspace, per user, billed separately |
| Quo Starter (formerly OpenPhone) | $15.00 | $19.00 | Nothing, sold standalone |
| Quo Business | $23.00 | $33.00 | Nothing, sold standalone |
| Quo Scale | $35.00 | $47.00 | Nothing, sold standalone |
| Phoner Starter | $15.00 | $19.00 | Nothing, sold standalone |
| Phoner Team | $29.00 | $35.00 | Nothing, sold standalone |
One deliberate blank: we are not printing a Google Workspace figure. Google's pricing page did not render its per-user prices as readable text in the view we captured, and a number that central to the comparison is not worth guessing at. Price your own Workspace tier from Google directly and add it to every Google Voice row above. The point stands without the exact figure, because whatever it is, it is greater than zero, and it applies to every seat.
The three things that decide this comparison
Google Voice for business is an add-on, not a standalone product
This is the line that changes the arithmetic and it is missing from most comparisons. The Google Voice business tiers are sold as part of Google Workspace, and each user needs their own Workspace subscription for the phone line to exist. If your company already runs on Workspace, that cost is sunk and Google Voice genuinely is the cheap option. If you do not, you are not comparing $10 against $15, you are comparing $10 plus a productivity suite against $15 for a phone system on its own.
Google does also sell separate individual plans for one person, including a free tier. Those are a different product with a different feature set, and they are not what a business with staff should be pricing. Conflating the two is the single most common error in this comparison.
The $10 plan has a ceiling of 10 users
Most pricing pages in this category have floors, where you must buy a minimum number of seats. Google Voice runs the other way and puts a ceiling on its cheapest tier: Starter covers up to 10 users, full stop. Grow past ten people and you are on Standard at $20 whether you wanted the extra features or not. Quo and Phoner both let you buy a single seat with no minimum and no cap, so headcount never forces a tier change on its own.
Neither one puts the phone menu on its entry plan
An auto attendant, the recorded menu that answers and routes callers without a person picking up, is the feature most small businesses are actually shopping for. Neither product includes it at entry, and the tiers diverge sharply once you require it.
| Vendor | Entry plan | Cheapest plan with an auto attendant and ring groups | Seat limit on the entry plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Voice | $10 Starter | $20 Standard, plus Workspace per user | 10 users |
| Quo (formerly OpenPhone) | $15 Starter | $23 Business, standalone | None |
| Phoner | $15 Starter | $29 Team, standalone | None |
Read that middle column rather than the entry column, because it is the one you will be paying. Google Voice Standard at $20 also adds ring groups, call queuing and eDiscovery. Quo Business at $23 adds phone menus, group calling, custom ring orders, call transfers, automatic recording and the HubSpot and Salesforce integrations. On price alone Google Voice Standard still wins that row, right up until you add the Workspace subscription that has to sit under it.
Where each one is genuinely the better buy
Google Voice is the right answer when your company already pays for Google Workspace, your team is under ten people, and the phone is a convenience rather than the front door to the business. The integration is clean, the spam filtering is strong, and there is no argument to be had with the price when the suite is already on the invoice.
Quo is the right answer when customers text you as much as they call. Its shared inbox is the best in this category: calls and texts land in one thread, teammates can leave internal comments on a conversation, and the whole interface assumes messaging is the main event rather than a bolt-on. Every plan now bundles its Sona AI agent with 1,000 automation credits, which its pricing page equates to roughly 10 AI-handled calls a month, with paid credit tiers past that. If you want AI answering the phone, Quo has it and Phoner does not.
Phoner is worth pricing when the phone is the front door: a published number several people answer, a menu callers navigate, ring groups, business hours, and recording with per-line consent announcements. It is month to month at every tier, which neither of the others matches at their advertised rate, and it needs no suite underneath it. The visual IVR builder is visible on the pricing page before you pay rather than a settings screen you meet after signup.
If you are a solo operator rather than a team, the calculation is different again, and the number you publish matters more than the features behind it. A freelancer putting a phone number on the public profile clients find them through mostly needs that number to not be their personal cell. Any of these three does that job, and at one seat the cheapest one wins.
Questions people ask about OpenPhone and Google Voice
What is the difference between Google Voice and OpenPhone?
Google Voice is a phone feature inside Google Workspace, so every user needs a Workspace subscription underneath it, and it is strongest as a cheap second line for people already in Google's ecosystem. OpenPhone, now Quo, is a standalone product built around a shared inbox where calls and texts from a customer land in one thread that a whole team can see and answer.
Is OpenPhone better than Google Voice?
For a team sharing one number, usually yes. Quo handles shared ownership of a conversation properly, with internal comments and threaded history, while Google Voice treats a line as belonging to a person. For a single user already paying for Google Workspace who just needs a second number, Google Voice is cheaper and perfectly adequate.
Do you need Google Workspace to use Google Voice for business?
Yes. The Starter, Standard and Premier business tiers require a Google Workspace subscription for each user, billed separately from the Google Voice license. Google sells separate individual plans for one person, including a free tier, but those are a different product and are not the business tiers people compare against OpenPhone.
How many users can Google Voice have?
Google Voice Starter covers up to 10 users. Standard and Premier have no published user cap. This is a ceiling rather than a minimum, which is unusual in this category, and it means growing past ten people moves you to the $20 Standard tier regardless of which features you actually need.
Does Google Voice have an auto attendant?
Not on the $10 Starter plan. The auto attendant and ring groups arrive on Standard at $20 per user, which also adds call queuing and eDiscovery. If callers need to hear options and be routed without a person answering first, price Standard, not Starter, and remember the Workspace subscription underneath each seat.
Which is cheaper, OpenPhone or Google Voice?
On the published license fee Google Voice is cheaper at every comparable tier: $10 against $15 at entry, $20 against $23 for the plan that carries a phone menu. Add the required Google Workspace subscription per user and the gap narrows or reverses, depending on which Workspace tier you buy and whether you were paying for it anyway.
Can I port my number away from either of them?
Yes. Under FCC local number portability rules you keep your numbers when you change providers in the same area, and a carrier cannot refuse to release a number over an unpaid balance. Plan on one to two weeks for a standard business port. Porting into Phoner is free and your old line keeps ringing until the cutover completes.
Does OpenPhone still exist?
Yes, under a new name. OpenPhone rebranded to Quo in 2026. The product and existing accounts carried over; the brand and the pricing page changed. Most buyers still search for it as OpenPhone, which is why comparison articles, this one included, use both names.
Before you commit either way
Whichever you pick, do three things first. Document every number you own from a current bill rather than from an admin console, because partial ports, where the main line moves and a few direct dials quietly do not, are the most common unpleasant surprise in this process. Rebuild your menu and call flows in the new system and test them with a real call before you port, not after. And confirm in writing how emergency calling is handled at each of your locations: Google's plan detail did not show emergency calling in the view we captured in August 2026, and it is not a feature to assume.
If neither shape fits, the full field is priced both ways in our business phone system alternatives comparison, the current plan tables sit on the OpenPhone pricing and Google Voice pricing pages, and the matchup people run next is OpenPhone vs RingCentral. Our own plans are on the pricing page: $15 to $59 per user, unlimited US calling, no suite required and no annual contract at any tier.
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