Dialpad Review
Reviewed by Carlos Gil · Founder & Editor, The Best Network
Updated 8 min readEditorially reviewed
Quick facts
- Starting price
- Standard $15/user/mo billed annually ($27 monthly)
- Free plan
- No
- Best for
- Small and midsize US and Canadian teams that want a cloud phone system with built-in AI transcripts and summaries, and CRM links on Pro
- Platforms
- Web, desktop apps, iOS and Android (CarPlay since May 2026), supported desk phones; APIs and webhooks on Pro and Enterprise
BestStacked Score
Weighted average of 5 categories. Methodology below.
Quick answer
What is Dialpad, and is it worth paying for?
Dialpad Connect is a cloud business phone system: each user gets a local number, unlimited calling within your country, the US and Canada, team and SMS messaging, video meetings, and Dialpad's own AI for real-time transcripts and post-call summaries (AI Recaps). Dialpad also sells contact center (Support), sales dialer (Sell) and AI Agent products. It's worth paying for if your team is mostly in the US or Canada and wants transcripts and summaries without a separate note-taker. Connect Standard starts at $15 per user a month billed annually ($27 monthly), checked on Dialpad's pricing page on October 13, 2026. CRM integrations, hold queues and APIs need Pro ($25 annual, $35 monthly, 3-seat minimum), and Dialpad's terms say fees are non-refundable.
- Best for
- US and Canadian teams of 3 to 100 people who want calls, texts and meetings in one app with AI summaries, and Salesforce or HubSpot logging on Pro.
- Skip it if
- You need a single-user line with CRM sync (Pro requires 3 seats), mostly call abroad without paying for credits, or want refundable monthly billing.
- Strongest capability
- Built-in AI on every Connect tier: real-time call transcription, voicemail transcription and AI Recaps with summaries, outcomes and action items, using Dialpad's own models.
- Biggest limitation
- Plan gates and terms: Standard lacks CRM integrations, hold queues and automatic recording, Enterprise needs 100 seats, and annual plans can't be refunded or ended early without paying the balance.
The Verdict
Dialpad's main selling point is that AI comes standard. Every Connect plan includes real-time transcripts, voicemail transcription and AI Recaps, which Dialpad says run on DialpadGPT, trained on over 6 billion minutes of business conversations (its own figure). The phone basics are covered too: unlimited calling within your country, the US and Canada, a multi-level auto attendant, toll-free support, call recording, spam detection and meetings of up to 150 people. The catch is how much sits on Pro. Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Teams, Zapier and Slack integrations, open APIs, hold queues, automatic recording and more than one office all need Pro, which has a 3-seat minimum, and Enterprise needs 100 seats. International calls run on prepaid credits unless you buy the Global Unlimited add-on. Dialpad's own pages disagree on Pro phone-support hours, Enterprise uptime, SSO and hold queues, and its terms make fees non-refundable with automatic renewal. We score Dialpad 8.3/10.
Best for
US and Canadian teams of three or more that want a cloud phone system with AI transcripts and summaries built in.
Skip if
You're a solo user who needs CRM sync, call mostly outside North America, or need flexible, refundable billing.
The Background
What Is Dialpad?
Dialpad (dialpad.com, headquartered in San Francisco) sells an AI-based customer communications platform in four product lines. Dialpad Connect is the business phone system covered in this review: calling, SMS and MMS, team messaging, Dialpad Meetings and built-in AI, in Standard, Pro and Enterprise plans. Dialpad Support is a contact center product (Essentials, Advanced and Premium), Dialpad Sell is an outbound sales product with a dialer and coaching, and Dialpad AI Agents are autonomous voice and digital agents billed by conversation credits. Dialpad stores permanent customer data in the United States on Google Cloud, according to its trust page.
The Product
Dialpad Features: What You Actually Get
Business calling and numbers
Each Connect user gets one local number and unlimited inbound and outbound calls within your country, the US and Canada. All plans include a multi-level auto attendant, visual voicemail, toll-free number support, custom routing, call forwarding, three-way calling and spam call detection. Departments (ring groups) are capped at 3 on Standard and 25 on Pro, offices at 1 and 10, and extensions are listed for Enterprise only. Extra local and toll-free numbers are paid add-ons and can't be added during the trial.
A 12-person accounting firm moves its main line to Dialpad, sets up an auto attendant with tax, bookkeeping and payroll departments, and gives each accountant a direct local number.
Dialpad AI: transcripts and AI Recaps
Every Connect plan includes real-time call transcription, voicemail transcription, transcript snippets, speech coaching and AI Recaps, which combine a call summary, outcome, purpose and action items and can draft a follow-up email or text. Dialpad added Deep Summaries in August 2026 and AI parity in eight more languages in October 2026. Live sentiment analysis and AI coaching are not part of Connect; they belong to the Support and Sell plans or add-ons. AI must be turned on at the company level first.
A recruiter takes 20 screening calls a day and copies each AI Recap's action items into the applicant tracking notes instead of typing them up.
Messaging and meetings
Connect includes SMS, MMS and team messaging (texting only in the US and Canada), with 250 outbound SMS a month pooled at the account level and $0.008 per message after that, according to Dialpad's rates page. Dialpad Meetings is included on every plan with up to 150 participants and 5-hour meetings; dial-in PSTN, toll-free meeting lines and 1,500-person Large Meetings are paid add-ons.
A property manager texts tenants from the office number and holds a weekly 30-person video call with contractors without a separate meetings subscription.
International calling, porting and add-ons
International calls need prepaid calling credits charged per minute by destination, on all plans. The Global Unlimited Calling add-on covers 65 countries with 8,000 international minutes per license a month (unused minutes don't roll over); its price appears in Admin Settings. Dialpad offers local numbers in over 50 countries. Porting US and Canadian local and toll-free numbers is free but needs a paid subscription; local US ports take about 7 days on average and toll-free 5 to 10 business days, and international ports carry a fee. Internet fax is an add-on.
A US software company with a London sales rep adds a UK local number and the Global Unlimited add-on so calls to UK customers aren't billed per minute.
Integrations, APIs and security
Google Workspace works on every plan. Salesforce (Sales and Service Cloud), HubSpot, Microsoft Teams, ServiceNow, Zendesk, Slack, Zapier and open APIs and webhooks start on Pro, and Okta, Azure and OneLogin SSO is listed for Enterprise. Dialpad says it holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018 certifications, offers a HIPAA BAA on its pricing table for all tiers, and encrypts stored data with AES-256.
A sales team on Pro logs every call and AI Recap to Salesforce automatically and posts missed-call alerts in Slack.
Feature recap
- Unlimited calling within your country, the US and Canada on every Connect plan
- Real-time transcripts, voicemail transcription and AI Recaps on every tier
- Multi-level auto attendant, toll-free support and spam call detection
- SMS, MMS, team messaging and 150-person meetings included
- Hold queues, automatic recording, CRM integrations and APIs from Pro
- International calling on credits or the Global Unlimited add-on (65 countries)
- Free porting of US and Canadian local and toll-free numbers
- Contact center, sales dialer and AI Agent products sold separately
The Numbers
Dialpad Pricing: Every Plan Explained
These Dialpad Connect prices come from Dialpad's pricing page, checked October 13, 2026, in USD per user a month. Annual prices are shown as a monthly figure. Prices exclude taxes, regulatory fees and surcharges, Dialpad says prices can vary by region, and set-up fees apply to additional offices.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Included Features | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connect Standard | $27/user/mo | $15/user/mo | 1-seat minimum, 1 office, 3 departments; unlimited calling in your country, the US and Canada; auto attendant; manual call recording; real-time transcripts and AI Recaps; meetings; Google Workspace. No CRM integrations, hold queues, APIs or automatic recording | Very small teams |
| Connect ProBest value | $35/user/mo | $25/user/mo | 3-seat minimum, up to 10 offices, 25 departments; hold queues, automatic recording, extra local or international numbers, quality-of-service reports; Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Teams, ServiceNow, Zendesk, Slack, Zapier, APIs and webhooks; 24/7 support per the pricing page | Growing teams that use a CRM |
| Connect Enterprise | Custom | Custom (annual only) | 100-seat minimum, unlimited offices and departments, extensions, Okta/Azure/OneLogin SSO, user access controls, uptime SLA (99.9% or 100% depending on the page) | Large organizations |
| Dialpad Support (contact center) | From $109/user/mo | From $89/user/mo | Essentials $89 annual ($109 monthly), Advanced $119 ($145), Premium $149 ($179, annual only); omnichannel routing, power dialer, AI transcripts and sentiment, analytics; Live Coach, Quality Management and WFM by tier | Support teams |
| Dialpad Sell and AI Agent | Sell from $49/user/mo | Sell from $39/user/mo | Sell Essentials $39 annual ($49 monthly), Advanced $59 ($70), Premium $79 ($95). AI Agent uses a pool of conversation credits, billed only when the agent looks up information or takes an action; pricing via sales | Sales teams; high-volume support |
For a team of five, Standard costs $75 a month billed annually and Pro $125 (our arithmetic from Dialpad's listed prices), before taxes, fees, international credits, extra numbers and add-ons such as fax, Global Unlimited calling and meeting dial-in. Pro's 3-seat minimum means a one-person business pays at least $75 a month for CRM integrations. The 14-day free trial asks for a payment method, can only be used in the country where it started, and doesn't allow extra numbers. Dialpad's terms of service (effective August 1, 2023) say all fees are non-refundable unless otherwise agreed, that every term renews automatically for the same length unless you give notice of non-renewal at least 30 days before it ends, and that ending an annual term early leaves you owing the rest of the year. Unused calling credits expire when the account closes. The help center adds a refund if you cancel within 3 days of a paid transaction, and lets month-to-month accounts with 10 or fewer licenses cancel in Admin Settings; annual and larger accounts must contact Customer Success. Late payments carry interest of up to 18% a year.
Read before you buy
Where Dialpad's own pages differ
Pro support hours: the pricing page's Pro card promises "24/7 customer support", and the tech support page says Pro and Enterprise customers get phone support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Dialpad's general FAQ page says Pro plans get 24/5 phone support, while Enterprise plans get 24/7 phone support and an Enterprise SLA.
Enterprise uptime: the pricing page describes Enterprise as having 99.9% uptime, while the enterprise phone system page says all Enterprise plans come with a 100% uptime SLA. Ask for the signed SLA, including service credits and exclusions.
SSO and hold queues: the pricing comparison table lists Okta, Azure and OneLogin SSO for Enterprise only, but the same table's security section marks single sign-on on all three Connect tiers. The pricing table shows hold queues on Pro and Enterprise, while the help center's feature comparison (updated October 13, 2026) marks hold queues as unavailable on Connect.
Refunds and cancellation: the terms of service say fees are non-refundable and that monthly customers cancel by contacting customer service, with 30 days' notice before a term ends to stop renewal. The help center offers refunds within 3 days of a paid transaction and self-serve cancellation in Admin Settings for month-to-month accounts with 10 or fewer licenses.
Data
Security, compliance and AI terms
Dialpad's trust page says it is SOC 2 Type II compliant, certified annually to ISO 27001:2022, ISO 27017:2015 and ISO 27018:2019, and listed in the CSA STAR registry. It calls its products HIPAA-ready with a one-click BAA and offers a GDPR data processing agreement. Permanent customer data, including recordings and transcripts, is stored in the United States on Google Cloud and encrypted with AES-256 at rest. The trust page does not say whether customer data trains Dialpad's AI models.
Dialpad's Agentic AI Terms (effective February 12, 2026) apply to its AI agents and autonomous actions. They provide the features as is, make the customer responsible for reviewing outputs and configuring actions, and note that the features may use third-party language models. Recording-consent rules vary by state and country, and Dialpad lets admins add recording disclosures to the IVR.
The Tradeoffs
Dialpad Pros and Cons
What we love
- Real-time transcripts and AI Recaps included on every Connect plan
- Unlimited calling within your country, the US and Canada
- Multi-level auto attendant and toll-free support from Standard
- Meetings for up to 150 people included at no extra cost
- Free porting of US and Canadian local and toll-free numbers
- SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications, with a HIPAA BAA
What could be better
- CRM integrations, hold queues, APIs and automatic recording need Pro
- Pro has a 3-seat minimum and Enterprise a 100-seat minimum
- International calls need prepaid credits or a paid add-on
- Fees are non-refundable, and annual plans can't be ended early without paying the balance
- Free trial requires a payment method
- Dialpad's pages contradict each other on support hours, uptime, SSO and queues
The Audience
Who Should Use Dialpad?
Best for: small offices that live on the phone
Law firms, clinics, agencies and property managers with 3 to 50 people get direct numbers, an auto attendant, texting and meetings in one app, and AI summaries of every call without buying a note-taker.
Best for: sales and service teams on Salesforce or HubSpot
Teams on Pro can log calls, recordings and AI Recaps to their CRM, use hold queues, and move up to Dialpad Sell or Support later on the same platform.
Skip if: you're a solo user or call mostly abroad
A one-person business that needs CRM sync pays for three Pro seats, and teams calling mainly outside North America pay per-minute credits or an add-on on top of the plan. KrispCall or CallHippo may fit better.
The Methodology
How We Reviewed Dialpad
This is an editorial review, not a documented hands-on test. We didn't use a Dialpad account for this review. It's based on Dialpad's pricing page (including its embedded plan comparison data), FAQ, tech support, enterprise, AI Agent, integrations, trust and rates pages, its What's New release roundups for 2026, its terms of service, MSA terms and Agentic AI Terms, and help-center articles on the feature comparison, sign-up and trial, billing, cancellation and refunds, international calling, Global Unlimited calling, call rates, porting, AI Recaps and AI Agent credits, all checked on October 13, 2026. Where Dialpad's pages differ, we report both statements. No call-quality, uptime or transcription-accuracy results are claimed.
Our editorial evaluation considers product information, official documentation, pricing, features and professional experience. It is not a claim of documented hands-on testing.
Our review methodology →What changed
- : First published. Editorial review based on Dialpad's pricing page and plan comparison data, FAQ, tech support, enterprise, AI Agent, integrations, trust and rates pages, 2026 What's New roundups, terms of service, MSA and Agentic AI Terms, and help-center articles on the feature comparison, trial, billing, cancellation and refunds, international calling, porting, AI Recaps and AI Agent credits, all checked October 13, 2026. Sub-scores are provisional pending editorial approval.
The Field
Dialpad vs The Competition
Dialpad competes with other cloud phone systems for small and midsize teams. Prices below were checked on each vendor's pricing page on October 13, 2026.
| Tool | Starting Price | Free plan | Best Feature | BS Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dialpad | Standard $15/user/mo billed annually ($27 monthly) | No | Business calling and numbers | 8.3/10 |
| CallHippo | Basic $0 (pay for numbers); Starter $19/user/mo billed yearly ($25 monthly) | Yes | Virtual numbers in many countries with a free entry plan | 8.3/10 |
| KrispCall | Starter $12/user/mo billed annually ($15 monthly) | No | Low entry price with US, Canada and UK numbers | 8.2/10 |
| Quo (formerly OpenPhone) | Starter $15/user/mo billed annually ($19 monthly) | No | Shared numbers and an AI call-answering agent for small teams | 8.5/10 |
| RingCentral | Core $20/user/mo paid annually (1-5 users) | No | Large-scale phone system with many add-ons | Not yet reviewed |
CallHippo: CallHippo's pricing page (US/CA numbers, teams of 1 to 4) lists unlimited minutes and 100 SMS on Starter, with a 10-day trial and no card required. It suits teams that need numbers abroad; Dialpad includes more AI on its base plan.Read our CallHippo review →
KrispCall: KrispCall's Starter plan, for up to 5 users, bundles 200 outbound and 200 inbound minutes and 100 SMS segments per user, with a 14-day money-back guarantee. Dialpad offers unlimited domestic calling instead of minute bundles.Read our KrispCall review →
Quo (formerly OpenPhone): Quo includes unlimited US and Canada calling and texting under fair use, one number per user and its Sona AI agent from Starter, with a 7-day trial. AI summaries for all calls start on its Business plan ($23 billed annually).Read our Quo (formerly OpenPhone) review →
RingCentral: RingCentral's RingEX Core plan includes unlimited domestic calling, 100 toll-free minutes and 25 SMS per user, with CRM integrations on Advanced and a 14-day trial. BestStacked hasn't reviewed RingCentral yet.
In The Wild
How People Actually Use Dialpad
A five-person agency replacing a landline
Standard ($15 a user billed annually) covers direct numbers, an auto attendant, texting, meetings and AI Recaps. Port the existing number for free after subscribing, and keep the old service active until the port completes.
A 20-person sales team on HubSpot
Pro ($25 billed annually) adds HubSpot and Salesforce logging, hold queues, automatic recording and webhooks. Move to Dialpad Sell ($39 billed annually) if reps need local-presence dialing and live coaching.
A US company with staff in Europe
Add international local numbers and either prepaid credits or the Global Unlimited add-on (8,000 minutes per license to 65 countries). Check per-minute rates for each destination before enabling international calling.
The Ecosystem
Dialpad Integrations
Dialpad says it offers over 70 integrations. Google Workspace works on every plan; most business-app integrations and the API start on Pro.
- →Google Workspace (all plans)
- →Salesforce Sales and Service Cloud (Pro and up)
- →HubSpot (Pro and up)
- →Microsoft Teams (Pro and up); Google and Microsoft 365 calendar scheduling for meetings
- →Zendesk and ServiceNow (Pro and up)
- →Slack and Zapier (Pro and up)
- →Miro whiteboarding in meetings
- →Open APIs and webhooks (Pro and up); Okta, Azure and OneLogin SSO (Enterprise)
Integration availability above is from Dialpad's pricing comparison table on October 13, 2026. Dialpad's 2026 release notes also list Zoho CRM, Freshdesk, Bullhorn, Greenhouse and athenahealth integrations, some aimed at Support and Sell plans; confirm plan eligibility with Dialpad before buying.
Common Questions
Dialpad FAQ
The Final Word
Should You Use Dialpad?
Dialpad is a solid choice for North American teams that want a cloud phone system with AI transcripts and summaries on every call, plus meetings and messaging in the same app. Budget for Pro if you need CRM sync, hold queues or automatic recording, add international credits if you call abroad, and read the renewal terms closely: fees are non-refundable and annual plans run their full term. We score Dialpad 8.3/10.
Yes, if
Your team of three or more is mostly in the US or Canada and wants AI call summaries, an auto attendant and CRM logging in one phone system.
No, if
You're a solo user needing CRM sync, call mostly outside North America, or need refundable, flexible billing.
About the reviewer
Carlos Gil
Founder & Editor, The Best Network
Carlos Gil is the bestselling author of The End of Marketing, a LinkedIn Top Voice, and founder of The Best Network. He brings 15+ years in marketing to practical reviews of AI, SaaS, email marketing, creator, and ecommerce software.
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