Inbound call center software

Every business needs a way to support its customers, but in today’s marketplace, a simple helpline number isn’t enough. Organizations need a streamlined, process-driven method for handling incoming calls—and that’s where inbound call center software comes in.

In this article, we’ll detail how inbound call center software works, its role in a comprehensive customer experience (CX), and how to select the right software for your operations.

• What is inbound call center software?

• Inbound call center software comparison chart

• The 21 best inbound call center solutions

• Features of inbound call center software

• Benefits of an inbound call center solution

• How to choose the right inbound call center software

• Frequently asked questions

• Try inbound call center software for free

Inbound call center software is a tool that allows you to set up, manage, and optimize your inbound customer support team. With features that make it easy to discover trends and insights, look up customer information, and access support tickets, teams can deliver a more personalized and effective CX.

Depending on the day, businesses could have thousands of customers calling the customer service line. Inbound call center software can distribute those calls to the appropriate customer service representative, record calls, generate reports on your call center’s well-being, and offer a host of other benefits for inbound departments.

Contrary to outbound call center software, inbound software focuses on customers who are reaching out with questions or concerns—and, therefore, needs to have features that aid in delivering an outstanding CX.

Below is a comparison chart of the top 21 inbound call center software options. You’ll find a rough breakdown of each software’s price, free trial options, and features.

Now, let’s jump into an extended breakdown of each software including its pricing and features, so you can invest in the best one for your business.

1. Zendesk

The Zendesk inbound call center software can help teams of any size stay dialed in with their customers. We do this by delivering personalized solutions through robust customer profiles and data-driven insights that give a full view of the customer—resulting in a reliable CX that improves customer loyalty.

Furthermore, Zendesk enhances how businesses interact with their customers by hitting on the concepts that matter most:

• Resiliency and scale: Zendesk can future-proof your business by being a product that grows with you—offering additional features when you see growth or unexpected challenges. We strive to keep your business agile to keep pace with market changes and the evolving preferences of today’s consumers.

• Easy setup: Transitioning to a new inbound product should support your organization—not throw it into disarray. Our cloud-based solution works right out of the box, empowering your team to take calls instantly, resulting in a quicker time to value.

• Low total cost of ownership: There’s more than just purchase price when evaluating the cost of the software. At Zendesk, we offer high ROI and low TCO because of fast integration, improved agent efficiency, cost savings from deflected tickets, and more.

Add the above benefits to our key inbound call center features like interactive voice response (IVR), real-time cross-channel reporting, and an industry-leading omnichannel agent workspace, and you’ll see why Zendesk is a top option for inbound call centers.

Features:

• Industry-leading omnichannel agent workspace

• Routing

• IVR

• Reporting and analytics

• Workforce management (WFM) *feature availability varies by package

• Call recording and monitoring

• Embedded voice

• Customized greetings

• Call quality notifications

Pricing:

• Suite Team: $55 per agent/month

• Suite Growth: $89 per agent/month

• Suite Professional: $115 per agent/month

• Suite Enterprise: Talk to sales

  *Plans are billed annually.

• Start a free trial

• View pricing

• Request a demo

• Take a product tour

• Evaluate the ROI of Zendesk

Free trial:

2. LiveAgent

LiveAgent is a cloud-based call center software solution small and large businesses use. It has capabilities for omnichannel communication, including social media, live chat, and HD video calls, and integrations for gathering all of these interactions in a central location.

LiveAgent’s skill-based routing lets businesses control how incoming customer calls get routed, and unlimited call recording can store and analyze past interactions for training resources. Additionally, the platform has IVR capabilities, automatic call distribution, and knowledge base features.

Features:

• Call monitoring and routing

• Recording

• Reporting/analytics

• Omnichannel capabilities

• IVR

Pricing:

• Small: $9 per agent/month

• Medium: $29 per agent/month

• Large: $49 per agent/month

• Enterprise: $69 per agent/month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

3. HappyFox

HappyFox is a help desk management software that offers inbound call center features through RingCentral. The platform’s Cloud Contact Center includes features, integrations, and automations designed to help support teams with inbound customer requests.

HappyFox’s ticketing system can process incoming calls. With features like IVR support, call notes, and rule-based auto assignments, this platform helps support agents with productivity and customer support. Furthermore, the agent scripts capability allows organizations to develop best practices for their agents.

Features:

• IVR support

• Call notes

• Call routing

• Auto assignments

• Agent scripts

Pricing:

• Mighty: $29 per agent/month

• Fantastic: $49 per agent/month

• Enterprise: $69 per agent/month

• Enterprise Plus: $89 per agent/month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

4. Nextiva

Nextiva is a phone support system that lets businesses collect all of their scattered customer communications onto a single platform. It offers IVR for letting customers help themselves without agent intervention. It also includes skill-based routing and a dedicated agent interface.

One of Nextiva’s most popular features is its Intelligent Virtual Agents—or IVA—which can manage high volumes of calls while handling sensitive data. Some of the most common uses of this feature include multilingual capabilities, appointment scheduling, the ability to answer FAQs, and more. Additionally, Nextiva is cloud-based, which means data updates are typically non-disruptive.

Features:

• IVR

• Voice recognition

• Workforce management and optimization

• Alerts and escalations

• Intelligent virtual agents

Pricing:

• Essential: $18.95 per user/month

• Professional: $22.95 per user/month

• Enterprise: $32.95 per user/month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

5. Freshworks

Freshcaller by Freshworks is a cloud-based contact center solution. Users can bring their own carrier or purchase phone numbers from over 90 countries through the platform.

This platform aims to help remote teams. Managers can monitor call volume and queue times to evaluate remote team performance, while routing capabilities can help customers connect with an appropriate support agent for their query. That said, some reviewers mention difficulty with customization and a lack of training resources, so it could be tough for some users to get up to speed with this product.

Features:

• Call routing

• Omnichannel capabilities

• AI capabilities

• Automated workflows

• Knowledge base

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per agent/month (no free minutes)

• Growth: $15 per agent/month

• Pro: $39 per agent/month

• Enterprise: $69 per agent/month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

6. CloudTalk

CloudTalk’s call center software helps small and medium-sized businesses with customer satisfaction. Businesses can set up a local presence from anywhere worldwide, automatically track and record calls, and receive calls through their browser or mobile device.

CloudTalk tries to maintain good call quality, so outages or poor audio may not be common with this platform. Key features include technical support tool integrations, smart detection of missed calls, a real-time dashboard, and IVR. Furthermore, CloudTalk is only just introducing AI capabilities, so teams with advanced AI might be better suited elsewhere.

Features:

• Call duration and tracking

• IVR

• Call scripting

• Number porting

• Call queuing and recording

Pricing:

• Starter: €25 per user/month

• Essential: €30 per user/month

• Expert: €50 per user/month

• Custom: Contact for pricing

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

7. Nice CXone

Nice CXone is a customer experience software with inbound call center services. It features routing, analytics, and workforce optimization functions that help teams address customer issues.

It features automation capabilities for handling repetitive tasks. CXone’s automation finder allows users to select which automation features are best to implement, while the automation studio offers no-code implementation. Nice CXone also features Enlighten AI, an artificial intelligence feature that helps with customer satisfaction, complaint management, at-risk customers, and sales processes. Enlighten AI can also produce audio transcriptions of meetings and calls.

Features:

• On-demand recording

• Network monitoring

• IVR/voice recognition

• AI routing

• Predictive dialer

Pricing:

• Contact for pricing

Free trial:

8. RingCentral

RingCentral is a customer service software that attempts to make communications simple. It’s designed for businesses in the healthcare, financial services, education, government, and retail industries, and provides multiple options for third-party integrations like Zendesk.

RingCentral blends outbound and inbound features that can aid businesses in creating their agents’ schedules to prevent staffing issues. Skills-based routing ensures that incoming calls get directed to the best qualified available agent for speedier issue resolution. With incentivized gamification, managers can keep agents engaged to continue delivering good customer service.

Features:

• IVR voice recognition

• Alerts/escalation

• Queue management

• AI workforce management

• Business SMS

Pricing:

• Core: $20 per user/month

• Advanced: $25 per user/month

• Ultra: $35 per user/month

  *Plans are billed monthly.

Free trial:

9. Five9

Suitable for a wide range of industries and company sizes, Five9 is a cloud contact center that can help businesses deliver personalized experiences to their customers. The platform’s features are geared towards agents and customers, as gamification, analysis, recording, and performance management are suitable for employee management. Intelligent IVR and easy access to customer information can assist support teams in delivering good customer experiences.

Additionally, Five9’s visualization widgets allow users to customize how they view their most important data. Businesses can also use automation capabilities, which assist them in selecting the right automation opportunities for their operations.

Features:

• Automated routing

• Chatbots

• Call recording

• Gamification

• Workflow automation

Pricing:

• Core: $149 per user/month

• Premium: $169 per user/month

• Optimum: $199 per user/month

• Ultimate: $229 per user/month

Free trial:

10. uContact

Inbound platform uContact by net2phone positions itself as an all-in-one omnichannel contact center supporting outbound call center services. It comes with features like preview dialers, which assist agents in contacting customers. It also has IVR and voice broadcast, which can send automated responses to customers, and automatic call distribution.

The software also offers tools for monitoring performance, like a KPI dashboard, time-stamped recordings, cross-channel interaction recording, and more. Plus, it has a customizable gamification feature that lets managers create games for motivating their teams.

Features:

• Call recording

• AI chatbot

• Real-time chat

• Omnichannel capabilities

• Dashboard and analytics

Pricing:

• Contact for pricing

11. Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is the inbound call center software of Zoho, a CRM platform. This software offers omnichannel communications, workflow automation, and a self-service center.

The platform has features like omnichannel support ticketing systems, self-service capabilities, service-level agreements, and sentiment analysis, which can automatically determine positive and negative messages from customers—and the best way to respond to them.

Features:

• Zia sentiment analysis

• Customer complaint tracking

• Dashboard and analytics

• Response editor

• CRM integration

Pricing:

• Standard: $14 per user/month

• Professional: $23 per user/month

• Enterprise: $40 per user/month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

12. Aircall

Aircall is a call center solution that seeks to help support teams have better conversations with their customers. The platform has various integrations, so companies can implement their current CRM, help desk, or other software they use.

Aircall has features like marketing and analytics so teams can monitor call volume and resolution time, automated workflows to eliminate repetitive tasks, IVR, and call routing. The product also lets users blocklist numbers, so agents don’t have to deal with spam calls and bots, customizable business hours, call conferencing, queueing, and monitoring features.

Features:

• Call tagging

• IVR/voice recognition

• Analytics

• Integrations with tools like Zendesk

• Call routing

Pricing:

• Essentials: $30 per license/month

• Professional: $50 per license/month

• Custom: Call for details

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

13. Genesys Cloud

Genesys Cloud is an inbound call center software that focuses on creating good customer experiences. Suitable for both inbound and outbound operations, the platform prioritizes personalized interactions and real-time support.

Genesys Cloud offers omnichannel communication so businesses can interact with customers on their preferred channels and transition between those channels if issues escalate. It also has features like personalized scripts, predictive routing, workforce management, IVR, and analytics and reporting.

Features:

• Call routing and monitoring

• Predictive routing

• Reporting and analytics

• IVR

• Omnichannel capabilities

Pricing:

• Genesis Cloud CX 1: $75 per month

• Genesis Cloud CX 2 (digital + voice): $115 per month

• Genesis Cloud CX 2 (digital + WEM + voice): $1555 per month

Free trial:

14. Twilio Flex

Twilio Flex is a contact center platform included in a suite of business apps, including products for sales teams, marketing campaigns, inbound calling, outbound calling, and account security. Its inbound call center software offers integrations with tools such as Zendesk.

The software also has customer profiles to help put relevant customer information in front of support agents. Twilio offers omnichannel communication as well, supporting chat over multiple channels like WhatsApp, SMS, and WebChat.

Features:

• Archiving and retention

• Omnichannel capabilities

• Event-triggered actions

• Integration with platforms like Zendesk

• Personalized interactions

Pricing:

• Per-hour: $1 per user/hour

• Per-user: $150 per named user

Free trial:

15. 8x8

8x8 is a cloud contact center offering inbound and outbound capabilities. Its inbound features prioritize flexibility, as users can transition phone calls to chat and vice versa. At the same time, 8x8 offers a number of integrations like Zendesk so teams can stay on the same page while adopting a new product.

8x8 has inbound features like automatic call distribution (ACD), IVR, and digital channels. The platform’s workforce engagement management helps keep teams motivated, and it also has features for gathering customer feedback directly after interactions so managers can get real-time insight into agent performance.

Features:

• VR/voice recognition

• Quality management

• Alerts/escalation

• Personalized self-service

• Omnichannel routing

Pricing:

• X2: Contact sales

• X4: Contact sales

Free trial:

16. Convoso

Convoso is a platform designed for call centers to reach their customers through AI and automation. It offers an outbound dialer feature to help support agents be quicker in their roles and help more customers in a shorter time.

With outbound and inbound capabilities, Convoso features customizable ratios to assist in prioritizing calls and external systems and IVR to help with inbound calls. Additional features like workflow dialing, dynamic scripting, and local caller ID attempt to help agents be more productive.

Features:

• Skills-based routing

• Call blending

• IVR

• Queue position updates

• Dynamic scripting

Pricing:

• Contact for pricing

Free trial:

17. Talkdesk

Talkdesk is an AI-powered cloud contact center platform with various features to provide inbound call center capabilities. This product has capabilities for businesses in several industries like financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, staffing, and more.

With features like AI-powered workflows, synchronized databases, and self-service capabilities, Talkdesk seeks to improve the productivity of support agents to deliver a good customer experience. Available in no-code or custom-code options, this platform does its best to integrate artificial intelligence into a business’ call center.

Features:

• AI-powered workflows

• Synchronized databases

• Self-service capabilities

• Omnichannel communication

• Unified agent interface

Pricing:

• Essentials: $75 per agent/month

• Elevate: $95 per user/month

• Elite: $125 per user/month

• Experience Cloud: Contact for pricing

  *Plans are based on a 3-year commitment.

Free trial:

18. 3CX

3CX is a phone, video, and live chat service that seeks to connect teams and customers. It attempts to make communication easier by offering several call and video chat features so people can interact with each other in their preferred method.

The software is designed for remote workforces and comes with call queuing features, callback options, and call flow design tools to aid support agents over phone calls. Additionally, live chat and messaging capabilities connect customers to businesses through Facebook and WhatsApp.

Features:

• Call queue strategies

• Call recording

• Analytics and reporting

• Live chat

• Messaging and text messages

Pricing:

• Free: $0 per month (up to 10 users)

• Small business: $175 per system

• Professional: $295 per system (with hosting)

• Enterprise: $330 per system (with hosting)

  *Plans are billed annually

Free trial:

19. JustCall

JustCall by SaaS Labs is a cloud and SMS phone system designed to assist customer-facing teams. It emphasizes artificial intelligence to help support agents connect with their customers through voice, SMS, and third-party messaging services like WhatsApp.

JustCall’s virtual call center software offers call routing, IVR, SMS workflows, and other features to promote efficiency. Furthermore, JustCall offers 24/7 assistance to help businesses with onboarding and ongoing product support.

Features:

• Call routing and forwarding

• IVR

• Call recording and notes

• Workflow and analytics

• Call monitoring and barging

Pricing:

• Essentials: $19 per user/month

• Team: $29 per user/month

• Pro: $49 per user/month

• Business: Talk to sales

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

20. CallHippo

CallHippo is a virtual phone system that focuses on helping teams reduce communication costs. It does this with AI routing features, power dialers to help support agents quickly connect with customers, call queueing, and call analytics to get insight into performance and areas of improvement.

Support teams can also sort through calls with features like Smart Switch and Smart Call Forwarding. At the same time, managers can aid in employee training with call barging and call recording capabilities.

Features:

• Call barging

• Call recording

• Analytics

• Smart transfers and forwarding

• Global connect

Pricing:

• Basic: $0 per user/month (for startups)

• Bronze: $16 per user/month

• Silver: $24 per agent/month

• Platinum: $40 per user/month

  *Plans are billed annually.

Free trial:

21. Call Center Studio

Call Center Studio is an inbound and outbound call center software that tries to improve the customer experience. It does this by focusing on features that aid support agents in giving timely support.

Features like agent supervision and unified agent workspaces help teams with connectivity. In contrast, omnichannel capabilities and AI speech recognition can help support agents interacting with consumers in various mediums. An analytics dashboard tracks this so supervisors can monitor team performance and efficiency.

Features:

• Call transfers

• Agent supervision

• CRM and social platform integrations

• Gamification

• Self-service capabilities

Pricing:

• Contact for a quote

Free trial:

Here are key features that inbound call center software solutions should offer.

Interactive voice response system (IVR)

An IVR works like a chatbot over the phone, guiding customers through predetermined scripts to answer questions or transfer them to the appropriate agent. These systems automate the customer experience, providing a solution to route callers, accept payments, schedule callbacks, and more to increase the efficiency of support teams.

Call routing

Companies commonly segment departments based on specialized types of care like IT or payment processing. Call routing features ensure the consumer seamlessly connects to the right department.

Our built-in routing and intelligence capabilities at Zendesk ensure all customer requests have the smoothest path to resolution. You can route calls directly to a specific group of agents or a set of groups in Zendesk or route calls received after business hours or when agents are busy to an alternate phone number—ensuring customers can always connect with a live agent.

Workforce management (WFM)

Workforce management is an inbound call center feature that helps businesses optimize their staffing and scheduling processes.

For call centers, it can be a never-ending battle to match the estimated call volume with the amount of agents scheduled. With this feature, businesses can accurately forecast and monitor labor needs.

Tip: If you want to monitor your current staffing needs, check out the staffing calculator in our instant messaging software writeup.

Omnichannel capabilities

In today’s marketplace, consumers expect to reach your business through your website, social media pages, and anywhere else you have a presence. Omnichannel inbound call center capabilities connect your customers with your team no matter where they come from.

It’s important, however, that the inbound call center solution has the capabilities for agents to access the customer’s information easily. According to the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2023, 70 percent of customers expect anyone they interact with to have the full context of their situation. Selecting a call center software that offers robust customer profiles can be key to giving agents the context that today’s consumer requires.

Real-world example: Liberty, a UK-based premium department store and retailer, uses Zendesk to manage its voice calls from the same software it uses for emails. This means all contact data is captured by the same system, giving customer service agents the flexibility to take calls on various devices.

Reporting and analytics

Reporting and analytics are valuable features for businesses to see how their inbound call center operations perform.

Quality software can track your operation’s call center performance metrics and KPIs, such as average wait times, agent productivity, and areas of improvement. At Zendesk, we offer pre-built and custom dashboards that provide an overview of essential information to keep your inbound center running smoothly.

Here are a few benefits that inbound call center software can bring to your operations.

Improve customer retention and satisfaction

With inbound call center software, businesses can provide an effective CX that customers appreciate. Omnichannel capabilities allow customers to contact an organization on their preferred communication channel. Meanwhile, efficient call routing and IVR systems can ensure these customers connect with the right support agent.

According to our CX Trends Report, 72 percent of customers expect immediate service, and the right solution can ensure you tend to your customers promptly.

Real-world example: Netwealth, an Australian-based financial company, turned to Zendesk after growing call volumes overwhelmed their original phone system. After implementing Zendesk for voice support, they resolved 99 percent of call tickets in one touch—a change that made a big difference for their customers.

Improve agent efficiency

Inbound call center software should have features to improve agent efficiency. For example, internal knowledge bases can help support agents solve pressing issues. Meanwhile, call routing features can help them escalate or transfer calls quickly—providing a seamless handoff for agents and customers. Furthermore, managers can use call recording features for training purposes to help agents perform at their best.

Our help center capabilities at Zendesk allow support agents to quickly pull up relevant articles and information to best assist customers. Another benefit of the help center is that it enables customers to solve common issues independently, resulting in a lower call volume for support teams.

Streamline operations

Efficient operations are the backbone of any successful business, and inbound call center software comes with features to achieve exactly that.

You can use workforce management applications to optimize staffing levels and schedules to meet call volume demands. Meanwhile, support data and actionable insights are crucial for identifying any bottlenecks or areas of improvement in your organization.

Manage more inbound calls

Without software, individual customer service agents can only handle so many customers in a day—and this issue compounds when your business is growing and experiencing higher call volume.

Quality inbound call center software prioritizes scalability while providing capabilities that make agents more efficient, like omnichannel agent workspaces. These features help your reps work as efficiently as possible to deliver a great CX, even in the wake of increased calls.

When deciding which inbound call center software is right for your company, there are some factors to consider. Before making a selection, ask yourself a few questions about your needs.

Will it integrate well with existing applications and processes?

Seamless integration is vital when introducing a new tool into your organization. Make sure the chosen software integrates effortlessly with your existing processes to minimize disruptions and mismanaged data. Easy setup and adaptability should be top priorities to ensure a smooth transition.

At Zendesk, we provide 1,000+ pre-built apps and integrations via the Zendesk Marketplace—meaning your team can seamlessly implement nearly every tool they work with.

What level of security do you need?

In today’s increasingly technological marketplace, data breaches can pose a real threat to businesses and consumers. When selecting an inbound call center software, you must ensure it can keep your and your customer’s data safe.

Check the security measures and encryption of any software you’re considering to ensure it’s safe for your operations. At Zendesk, we have the certifications and memberships to show we are qualified to keep your data safe.

How long will it take team members to get up to speed?

A steep learning curve can cause short-term CX disruption and long-term employee frustration when introducing new software. Prioritize user-friendliness and ease of admin. The quicker your team can get up to speed, the quicker you can see the product's benefits.

What is the total cost of ownership?

Total cost of ownership (TCO) includes all direct and indirect costs, such as maintenance, training, customization, full-scale adoption, and other factors a business may accrue while owning the product.

Zendesk ranks as the #1 software product for 2023 according to G2—and one of the many reasons is that we are the only vendor that delivers a consistently high ROI with a low total cost of ownership. We do this through software that’s fast to set up and easy to make ongoing changes to without large IT or developer teams—learn more in Forrester’s study on the ROI of Zendesk.

How quick will your time to value be?

A quick time to value (TTV) implies a faster return on investment and increased efficiency—and the faster your organization can realize the benefits of a new process or software, the better. Our inbound call center solutions at Zendesk can get your organization up and running rapidly, helping businesses see the value of our product in days, not months.

Here are frequently asked questions about inbound call center software.