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8x8 has a solid reputation in the VoIP space.
It's got video conferencing, team messaging, contact center capabilities, and a long list of features that look impressive on paper.
But here's the problem — 8x8 pricing is a black box.
The company doesn't publish its pricing on its website. You can't compare plans, check price points, or estimate your budget without talking to a salesperson first.
And once you do get the costs, that's just the starting point. You'll need to factor in regulatory fees, hidden fees, taxes, and surcharges, which increase your monthly costs.
Businesses that have used 8x8 report paying between $24 and $185 per user per month, depending on the plan. That's a wide range, and it doesn't account for the extras. Besides, for small and growing businesses, that kind of spending can add up quickly.
In this article, we'll double down on 8x8 pricing, hidden fees and other things you should know about the service.
We'll also introduce you to iPlum.
For starters, iPlum is an 8x8 VoIP alternative with publicly available pricing, absorbs taxes and surcharges internally, and offers HIPAA-compliant plans from $14.99 per user per month.
Read on to see exactly what 8x8 charges, what you get for that money, and why iPlum is a solid choice.
Table of Contents
2. What do you get with 8x8 pricing plans?
3. 5 things you need to know about 8x8 pricing
4. iPlum: the best 8x8 alternative for small businesses
5. iPlum pricing plans and what you get
6. How does 8x8 pricing compare to iPlum?
How much does 8x8 cost?
8x8 doesn't publish its prices
So, getting 8x8 pricing isn't straightforward on the website. In other words, there's no direct way to find 8x8 plans or price points, or to estimate your budget.
To get a number, you have to contact the 8x8 sales team. You therefore need to sit through a sales call before you can decide whether 8x8 is affordable for your business.
Of course, that's a problem for growing businesses that need to compare costs quickly and make informed decisions. Most companies evaluating a VoIP service want to know what they'll pay upfront. With 8x8, that information isn't available.
However, based on their last published pricing and user reports, 8x8 pricing ranges from $24 to $185 per user per month.
The lower-level plan starts at $24 per user per month. The top tier climbs to $185 per user per month. For a team of 10 users, that's anywhere from $240 to $1,850 every month — before fees, taxes, or add-ons.
For large businesses with deep pockets, that range might be workable. However, for small and mid-sized businesses watching their budget, it's a steep starting point with no ceiling in sight.
What do you get with 8x8 pricing plans?
8x8 offers four plans. Here's a quick breakdown of what each one covers and who it's built for.
8x8 Contact Center
The Contact Center plan is built for enterprises running high-volume customer operations. It includes omnichannel routing across voice, chat, email, and SMS messaging.
You also get advanced analytics, skills-based routing, and AI-powered self-service tools.
Businesses that need interactive voice response, workforce management, and secure payment processing will find this plan relevant.
It's a heavy-duty plan built for large businesses with complex contact center needs.
Current pricing isn't listed. You'll need to request a custom quote.
8x8 Engage
The Engage plan extends communication beyond the contact center.
It's aimed at customer-facing employees who aren't traditional contact center agents. Think sales reps, account managers, and field teams that need to engage customers across multiple channels.
It comes with advanced queue management, conversational intelligence, and team lead analytics. Companies with large customer-facing workforces across different departments will find this plan useful.
Current pricing isn't listed. You'll need to request a custom quote.
8x8 CPaaS
The CPaaS plan is for organizations that want to build communication workflows into their own applications. It offers high-volume SMS messaging, voice capabilities, video capabilities through Jitsi, and authentication tools.
It's a developer-oriented plan suited for marketing, customer support, and operations teams that want programmable communication without heavy coding.
Current pricing isn't listed. You'll need to request a custom quote.
8x8 Work
8x8 Work is the unified communications plan.
It combines voice, video conferencing, chat, and team messaging into one platform. The plan also comes with auto attendants, a receptionist console, advanced analytics, and AI summaries.
Small to large businesses looking for an integrated VoIP and collaboration platform will find this plan most relevant. It's the closest thing 8x8 has to an everyday business communication plan.
Current pricing isn't listed. You'll need to request a custom quote.
5 things you need to know about 8x8 pricing
The plan price is only part of what you'll pay.
Before you sign a contract with 8x8, here are five things to know about 8xy billing and what it'll cost your business.
The hidden fees can increase your bill significantly
8x8 charges more than just the base plan price. In addition to your monthly rate, you'll incur two fees that apply to every extension on your account.
The first is the Regulatory Recovery Fee.
According to user reports, 8x8 charges $3.49 per extension for this regulatory fee. It covers the costs of regulatory compliance and government mandates.
The second is the E911 service fee, which user reports put at $1.99 per extension. When you add those together, you're looking at $5.48 in fees per extension per month, before you've made a single call.
For a team of 10 users, that's an extra $54.80 every month, or $657.60 per year. For a team of 25, it climbs to $137 per month, or $1,644 annually.
And, for large businesses already paying toward the higher end of the $24–$185 range, these extras make an already expensive service harder to justify.
8x8 taxes and surcharges
On top of regulatory fees, 8x8 passes taxes and surcharges directly to the user.
These aren't fixed amounts. They vary based on your location, the number of extensions on your account, and the plan you're on.
For businesses operating across multiple states, this gets complicated fast. Your monthly bill won't be the same from one month to the next. And that makes budget planning harder than it needs to be.
HIPAA compliance isn't straightforward with 8x8
8x8 does offer HIPAA-compliant configurations, but compliance isn't automatic.
It requires specific setup steps and is more reliable with premium plans. Independent reviewers have flagged that achieving full compliance with 8x8 takes additional configuration work on the user's end.
For businesses in healthcare — medical practices, therapists and virtual assistants — that's an added burden. You're already paying a premium for the plan. You shouldn't have to do extra work to get compliant.
The mobile app has real problems
User reports point to consistent issues with the 8x8 mobile app.
Dropped calls, slow load times, and Wi-Fi crashes occur repeatedly. For employees who depend on mobile communication to serve customers, an unreliable app is a real problem.
Unlimited calling has limits
8x8 markets unlimited calling as a core selling point.
But the fine print tells a different story. Unlimited calling excludes mobile numbers, special numbers, and premium numbers. There are also no toll-free minutes on standard plans.
For businesses whose customers call from mobile phones, those nuances are critical.
iPlum: the best 8x8 alternative for small businesses
If you're a small or mid-sized business looking for a reliable, HIPAA-compliant VoIP service that doesn't hide its pricing, iPlum is worth your attention. F
For starters, iPlum is a mobile-first VoIP app built for professionals and growing businesses in regulated industries.
It's designed for businesses that need a dedicated second business number on their personal phone with full calling, sms messaging, and HIPAA-compliant communication built in.
Unlike 8x8, iPlum publishes its pricing openly on its website. There's no sales call required or a custom quote process. You can see exactly what each plan costs, what features you get, and make a decision on your own terms.
iPlum also absorbs taxes and surcharges internally.
The price listed is the price you pay. That's a meaningful difference for businesses looking for predictable monthly costs and a budget they can rely on.
In addition, the platform runs on iOS and Android, so your employees can take business calls and messages from anywhere.
Furthermore, the system works on Wi-Fi and cellular networks, giving you dual reliability on every call. And with support for 23 languages and access in over 200 countries, it's a flexible option for businesses that operate internationally.
iPlum is particularly well-suited for healthcare professionals, legal practitioners, financial advisors, and other regulated-industry businesses that need HIPAA-compliant communication at a price that makes sense.
iPlum pricing plans and what you get
iPlum offers three straightforward plans:
The Standard plan costs $8.99 per user per month.
It comes with a US or Canada number, unlimited calling, sms messaging, a phone tree, voicemail, spam blocking, business hours setup, and auto-text reply.
It's a solid plan for professionals who need a dedicated business number.
The Professional plan costs $14.99 per user per month.
It adds HIPAA compliance, a Business Associate Agreement, secure, encrypted messaging, voicemail transcription, group and broadcast messaging, text archiving, and web calling and texting.
For healthcare and other regulated-industry businesses, the Professional plan is where the real value is.
The Enterprise plan costs $25.99 per user per month.
It adds call recording, recording consent announcements, and 10-year recording and texting archiving. It's built for businesses in heavily regulated sectors that need long-term compliance documentation.
How does 8x8 pricing compare to iPlum?
iPlum and 8x8 both offer VoIP calling, sms messaging, and mobile apps. But the difference in pricing is hard to ignore.
Based on the last published pricing and user reports, 8x8 starts at $24 per user per month. Meanwhile, iPlum's most affordable plan starts at $8.99 per user per month. That's a $15 difference per user before you add a single fee.
For a team of 10, that's $150 less every month, or $1,800 less per year, just on the base plan.
Add 8x8's regulatory fees and E911 fees, and the gap grows wider. iPlum charges none of those.
And unlike 8x8, iPlum absorbs taxes and surcharges internally, so your monthly bill stays predictable.
Here's a side-by-side look at how the two services compare:
iPlum gives you more for less
For small businesses and professionals in regulated industries, the numbers tell a straightforward story.
iPlum's Professional plan at $14.99 per user per month gives you HIPAA compliance, a BAA, secure, encrypted messaging, voicemail transcription, and unlimited calling, all at nearly half the entry-level price of 8x8.
iPlum's Enterprise plan at $25.99 per user per month adds call recording and 10-year archiving. That's still less than what 8x8 charges for its base plan. And 8x8's base plan doesn't come with call recording or HIPAA compliance out of the gate.
For businesses managing a team of 10, switching from 8x8 to iPlum's Professional plan saves about $1,800 per year on the base plan alone. Factor in regulatory fees, E911 fees, and taxes, and the annual savings climb even higher.
iPlum also doesn't lock you into a long-term contract. You pay month to month, which gives growing businesses the freedom to scale their plans as their needs change.
For enterprises with complex global contact center needs and large budgets, 8x8 has the features to match.
However, for small to mid-sized businesses, solo practitioners, and regulated-industry professionals who need reliable VoIP, HIPAA compliance, and transparent pricing, iPlum is the more affordable and sensible choice.
Wrapping up
Sure, 8x8 is a capable VoIP service.
It's got unified communications, video conferencing, team messaging, contact center capabilities, and a long list of features that suit large businesses and enterprises with complex needs and large budgets.
However, capable doesn't mean affordable.
8x8 pricing starts at $24 per user per month based on the last published rates and increases to $185 per user per month at the top tier.
Add regulatory fees of $3.49 per extension, E911 fees of $1.99 per extension, and taxes and surcharges passed directly to the user, and your actual monthly costs are considerably higher than the base plan price.
On top of that, 8x8 doesn't publish its pricing on its website.
You need to request a custom quote just to find out what you'll pay. For growing businesses that need to make quick, informed decisions, that's a frustrating and time-consuming process.
iPlum takes a different path.
It publishes its pricing openly. In addition, it absorbs taxes and surcharges internally. What’s more, HIPAA compliance is available from $14.99 per user per month, and call recording comes in at $25.99 per user per month, less than 8x8's basic plan.
For small and mid-sized businesses, healthcare professionals, and regulated-industry practitioners who need dependable VoIP, honest billing, and HIPAA-compliant communication, iPlum gives you what you need at a price that makes sense.
8x8 is built for enterprises. iPlum is built for businesses that want to operate efficiently and pay a fair price for a reliable service
Want an affordable mobile-first phone system built for team management, security, and scale?
Click the link below to sign up for iPlum
