10 Best Cloud Communication Platforms for Business

The 10 Best Cloud Communication Platforms of 2024

1. Connecteam — Best all-in-one cloud communication platform for business

   Available on

   • Web
   • iOS
   • Android

   Start for free

   

   At the very top of our list is Connecteam’s all-in-one employee communication app. This cloud-based software gives you everything you need to communicate with your non-desk and frontline employees, keep everyone engaged and informed, and ensure they read your messages – all from a single platform.

   Here’s an overview of Connecteam’s communication features and how they help optimize communication for your business.

   In-app chat

   With Connecteam’s chat, you can instantly communicate with your staff in secure private, group, and company-wide chats. This way, your entire team stays connected wherever you’re working from. As the same time, they can stay productive, collaborate, and focused on the job with messaging that is entirely work-dedicated. 

   As an admin, you can monitor group chats and remove any inappropriate messages. You can also set what employees can download, share, and forward.

   Updates

   Share company news, announcements, and shout-outs with your employees through your company’s social feed and allow users to comment and react – just like on social media. This is a great way to keep your entire workforce up-to-date and engaged. 

   Admins have a clear overview of who viewed and read updates. You can guarantee your message reaches all the right people with notifications, pop-up updates, and reading confirmations.

   Employee directory

   With this digital phonebook, users can look up and contact colleagues and external business contacts through the app without first having to save their contact details on their mobile phones. You can quickly search contacts by name, position, department, location, or custom field and add notes with additional information, such as preferred calling hours.

   As an admin, you can choose which contact information users can see, such as the CEO’s phone number. It also allows you to ensure contact information stays safe within the company, as only current employees can access your directory.

   Knowledge base

   You can create, organize, and share all company knowledge in one central location. This way, your staff knows exactly where they can find and access company information, such as policies, manuals, and training material. The app automatically updates content across everyone’s devices, putting all the latest information at your team’s fingertips.

   From your admin dashboard, you can oversee and keep a record of which employees viewed each document and when. This allows you to ensure everyone’s knowledge stays up-to-date and no critical information goes unseen.

   Surveys & live polls

   Create fully customizable surveys and live polls on any topic and share these for your employees to compete right from the app. Optimize response rates with a simple and engaging user experience, an auto-save functionality, notifications, and an anonymity option. 

   From your admin dashboard, you can instantly receive and view your employees’ submitted responses and feedback. This allows you to gather valuable insights, make informed and timely decisions, and give your team a voice.

   And so much more…

   Beyond robust communication capabilities, Connecteam has outstanding customer service, an intuitive user interface, powerful employee management features, and complete customizability, allowing you to make the platform work precisely for your business needs. All of these functionalities make Connecteam the bets cloud communication platform for business.

   Connecteam also offers a free for life plan – Join Connecteam!

   Key Features

   • In-app chat

   • Employee directory

   • Company social feed

   • Surveys & live polls

   • Knowledge base

   • Events

   Pros

   • Intuitive and easy to use

   • All-in-one solution

   • Great customer support

   • Budget-friendly

   Cons

   • Needs internet or wifi access to work

   Pricing

   Free-for-life plan availablePremium plans start at $29/month for 30 users

   14-day free trial, no credit card required

   Start your free trial
2. 

   Plivo — Good for: Engaging with customers

   Available on

   • Web
   • iOS
   • Android
   • Windows
   • Mac

   

   Plivo is a cloud communication platform for business built for connecting with your customers. The company offers a contact center platform called Contacto that supports voice calling, live chat, and SMS messaging. It’s primarily designed for customer service, but can also be used for sales in conjunction with a CRM or contact management software.

   One of the best features within Contacto is its drag-and-drop workflow builder. Your customer service team can easily create automated pipelines that route customers to the right agent to answer their questions.

   Agents can take notes within Contacto, so your service team always knows a customer’s full history with your company. Supervisors can monitor customer feedback through a wide range of customizable reports. You can get even more out of Contacto by pairing it with a call center scheduling software.

   Learn more about Plivo

   Key Features

   • Automated customer service workflows
   • Log of all interactions with a customer
   • Supports call recording and call whispering
   • Customizable reports

   Pros

   • Integrates with Salesforce and Zendesk
   • Very user-friendly interface

   Cons

   • Enterprise plan not available yet
   • Does not include free calling minutes within the US

   Pricing

   Starts at $35/user/month Trial: Yes Free Plan: No

3. 

   Vonage — Good for: Business phone service

   Available on

   • iOS
   • Android
   • Windows
   • Mac

   

   Vonage is a unified business communications provider that offers VoIP phone service, messaging, and video conferencing. You get free unlimited calling in the US and Canada plus support for conferences with up to 100 participants.

   Vonage also offers a number of handy add-ons for businesses. These include toll-free numbers, call recording, and voicemail-to-email transcription. International calling is also supported at cheap rates for businesses that have customers overseas.

   Desktop and mobile apps support horizontal communication within your business. However, the messaging apps are limited in features, particularly when it comes to organizing conversations. Most businesses will want to take advantage of the Microsoft Teams and Slack integrations, which move chat onto these platforms while routing calls through Vonage.

   Learn more about Vonage

   Key Features

   • Unlimited calling in the US and Canada
   • Inexpensive international calling
   • Voice & video conferencing for up to 100 participants
   • Support for call recording and toll-free numbers

   Pros

   • Bring your own VoIP phone hardware
   • Includes unlimited SMS messaging

   Cons

   • Limited internal messaging platform
   • Many features cost extra

   Pricing

   Starts at $14.99/line/month Trial: No Free Plan: No

4. 

   Twilio — Good for: SMS marketing

   Available on

   • Web
   • Windows

   

   Twilio is designed as a cloud communication platform for business to help your marketing team engage customers with personalized SMS campaigns. The company offers several different services, including an SMS marketing platform and Twilio Engage, a data-driven campaign builder.

   Twilio Engage is unique in that it captures data about your customers from across the web. It then uses this data to send customers targeted offers and reminders. The goal is to increase customer conversions by reaching out via a trusted channel—SMS messaging—at the most opportune time.

   Businesses can also use Twilio to build their own custom campaigns. The platform charges on a per-message basis, so you only pay for the marketing volume you need.

   Learn more about Twilio

   Key Features

   • Supports SMS marketing campaigns
   • Twilio Engage automates targeted marketing messages
   • More than 400 integrations available
   • Build profiles for each of your customers

   Pros

   • Pay-as-you-go model for SMS messages
   • Pulls customer data from many different sources

   Cons

   • Steep learning curve
   • Complicated pricing for combining multiple services

   Pricing

   Starts at $120/month Trial: Yes Free Plan: Yes

5. 

   Bandwidth — Good for: Voice and messaging APIs

   Available on

   • Web

   

   Bandwidth offers voice and messaging APIs that enable businesses to create their own communications solutions. The advantage to this approach is that businesses can choose their own voice and SMS carriers. They can also customize their communications capabilities for different channels or countries.

   Bandwidth supports a wide range of features, such as customizable notifications, SMS to email, and call analytics. You can also use Bandwidth to launch SMS marketing campaigns or integrate voice bots into your customer communications.

   Bandwidth’s APIs are designed to be easy to use, but they do require coding experience. This is not out-of-the-box communication software like most of the other services on our list. Businesses that want to use Bandwidth should plan to have a team of developers dedicated to getting their communications system up and running.

   Learn more about Bandwidth

   Key Features

   • Highly customizable APIs for voice and messaging
   • Bring your own carriers
   • Supports customizable analytics and reporting
   • Voice coverage in 60+ countries

   Pros

   • Flexible enough to build a fully custom voice platform
   • Choose your own carrier for each application

   Cons

   • Requires a dedicated development team
   • Can be pricey for businesses with high call volumes

   Pricing

   Starts at $0.010/minute Trial: Yes Free Plan: No

6. 

   Telnyx — Good for: Low-cost global calling

   Available on

   • Web
   • Windows
   • Mac

   

   Telnyx is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking service that offers low calling rates and support for high call volumes. With SIP trunking from Telnyx, companies can make and receive unlimited concurrent calls. You can also get phone numbers for your business in more than 100 countries around the world.

   Telnyx offers high-definition audio quality and encryption for every call to keep your communication secure. The platform also offers features like call recording and customizable call-routing schemes.

   You can use Telnyx with any VoIP phone hardware and combine it with a VoIP service for mix-and-match calling rates. The company offers 24/7 customer support, which is a major plus for businesses that operate globally.

   Learn more about Telnyx

   Key Features

   • Low rates for domestic and international calling
   • Local phone numbers in 100+ countries
   • All calls are encrypted
   • Can be used alongside any VoIP service

   Pros

   • Supports unlimited concurrent phone calls
   • 24/7 customer support

   Cons

   • Call recording costs extra
   • Does not support SMS messaging

   Pricing

   Starts at $0.0050/minute Trial: No Free Plan: No

7. 

   TextUs — Good for: Enabling text messaging for landlines

   Available on

   • Web
   • iOS
   • Android

   

   TextUs is a unique cloud communication platform for business that enables any landline phone number to be used for texting. TextUs is a great option for businesses that still rely on physical phone lines rather than a VoIP phone service.

   Customers can text your business phone number and messages will appear in the TextUs web app or mobile app. When you send a text, it will come from your business’s phone number. TextUs operates alongside your current phone service and won’t affect your calling capabilities. 

   You can use TextUs for one-on-one messaging as well as bulk SMS campaigns. Your business can send up to 2,000 messages per month with the entry-level Professional plan.

   Learn more about TextUs

   Key Features

   • Enables texting from a landline phone number
   • Supports one-on-one conversations and bulk messaging
   • Offers SMS templates and scheduled messages
   • Includes reporting tools

   Pros

   • Works with numbers from any phone provider
   • Supports group and bulk messaging

   Cons

   • Only supports one phone number per subscription
   • Limited number of monthly messages

   Pricing

   Contact vendor for price Trial: No Free Plan: No

8. 

   Botmaker — Good for: Creating chatbots

   Available on

   • Web
   • iOS
   • Android

   

   Botmaker is an easy-to-use cloud communication platform for business for adding chatbots into your business’s customer service workflows.

   You can create an unlimited number of AI-powered chatbots and customize them so that they’re specialized in different topic areas. This specialization makes it easier to deploy the right bot to answer customer questions. Botmaker also offers premade chatbots for online retail.

   Botmaker is designed to keep human agents in the loop. They can take over chats at any time or elevate conversations to a phone or video call with one click. In addition, Botmaker offers in-depth analytics so customer service agents can keep an eye on whether customers are getting the answers they need.

   Learn more about Botmaker

   Key Features

   • Create unlimited AI-powered chatbots
   • Bots can be specialized for specific topics
   • Supports agent takeovers with one click
   • Includes conversation analytics

   Pros

   • Works with websites and social media channels
   • Excellent control over automated conversation flows

   Cons

   • Expensive compared to other chatbot platforms
   • Limited number of conversations included with each plan

   Pricing

   Starts at $149/month Trial: Yes Free Plan: No

9. 

   Infobip — Good for: Global customer communications

   Available on

   • Web

   

   Infobip is an omnichannel cloud communication platform for business that enables you to build personalized customer experiences. The platform first collects customer data and helps you segment customers into groups. It then automates the process of sending out personalized SMS and email campaigns.

   Infobip provides detailed analytics on your campaigns so you can improve them over time. The software also tracks which customers have opened which messages and whether your communications resulted in sales.

   A comprehensive customer contact center lets you talk with customers directly over any channel. You can hold conversations on social media or messaging apps, by email or live chat, or by video call. Plus, all of Infobip’s tools are packed with automations to make it easier to stay engaged.

   Learn more about Infobip

   Key Features

   • Automated marketing campaigns
   • Communicate over social media, email, live chat, and more
   • Track every customer interaction with your business
   • Support for video calling

   Pros

   • Very wide range of messaging platform integrations
   • Automated workflows for marketing and customer support

   Cons

   • Multiple overlapping platforms and tools
   • Limited voice calling capabilities

   Pricing

   Contact vendor for price Trial: Yes Free Plan: No

10. 

    ThinQ — Good for: Using multiple phone providers

    Available on

    • Web

    

    ThinQ is a cloud communication platform for business focused on enterprise-scale businesses with offices around the country. This platform enables businesses to use multiple phone carriers instead of relying on a single provider. Businesses can port or provision numbers from multiple carriers and route calls through the carrier that offers the lowest rate. This is a simple way to reduce business costs.

    ThinQ supports both voice calling and SMS messaging. You can monitor your call routing and phone bill through the platform to make sure you’re consistently paying the lowest rates. ThinQ also offers useful features like robocall filtering.

    In the event a phone carrier goes offline temporarily, ThinQ ensures that your calls automatically route through another carrier. So, your business is never out of communication.

    Learn more about ThinQ

    Key Features

    • Automatically routes calls to get the lowest carrier rates
    • Works with dozens of carriers
    • Supports SMS messaging
    • Automatic failover to keep your business communications running

    Pros

    • Create customized rules for call routing
    • APIs for advanced users

    Cons

    • Most carriers are in the US and Canada
    • Much more complex than using a single carrier

    Pricing

    Contact vendor for price Trial: Yes Free Plan: No