Top 19 contact center platforms of 2026

1. 8x8

Founded in 1987, 8x8 has built up its contact center platform over many years, largely through acquisitions. What began as a basic voice calling tool has evolved into a full-fledged platform for multi-channel customer interaction.

Key features

• Analytics. Detailed analytics and reporting provide real-time feedback on customer interactions.
• Intelligent call routing. Interactive voice response and customized call routing help to personalize the customer experience (CX).
• Extensive CRM integration. Integrations with popular CRM platforms make it easy to use CRM data during customer interactions.

Scalability

8x8's cloud-based hosting model allows the platform's software to scale easily. Flexible licensing also helps enable scalability from a purchasing standpoint.

Integrations

8x8 integrates by default with major CRM and communications platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot and Microsoft Teams. An API enables custom integrations.

Pricing

Pricing varies widely depending on feature selection, and 8x8 offers custom quotes rather than publishing pricing details publicly. As a baseline, however, pricing generally starts around $20 per user per month, although it can extend above $100 per user per month for feature-rich plans.

8x8 is most notable for its affordable pricing for basic plans and easy integration with external platforms.

2. Amazon Connect

Introduced in 2017, Amazon Connect offers a centralized hub from which contact center agents can engage with customers across multiple channels, including voice, chat and messaging. It also integrates with other Amazon products and services. In 2023, Amazon Connect incorporated several AI-based capabilities, such as support for creating virtual assistants.

Key features

• Centralized interface. Contact center agents can handle interactions via voice, chat, email and text through a centralized channel.
• No-code flow builder. To configure workflows for different types of interactions or customer needs, businesses can use a visual workflow builder.
• AI-driven automation. Partly via integrations with other Amazon services -- such as Lex, which powers AI chatbots -- Amazon Connect enables the automation of some interactions using AI. For example, users can use Amazon Q in Connect to deploy GenAI chatbots. AI features can also automatically route requests to agents.

Scalability

As a platform hosted across multiple regions in the AWS cloud, Connect is a highly scalable and fault-tolerant service. It can support a virtually unlimited volume of agents or interactions.

Integrations

Connect integrates most closely with other services within the Amazon cloud. However, it supports limited integrations with external platforms, such as Salesforce and Zendesk, which businesses can use to look up or import data during customer interactions.

Pricing

Connect pricing is based mostly on volume usage. It starts at around $0.018 per minute for voice calls and $0.004 per chat message. Additional fees apply for using optional features, like Amazon Q.

Amazon Connect is most notable for hyperscale-level scalability and availability, as well as tight integration with other Amazon services.

3. Avaya

Traditionally, Avaya focused its contact center software on on-premises hosting models. However, it has expanded into cloud-based options that support public and private cloud deployments. Avaya provides all the core capabilities that businesses expect from a modern contact center platform as well as certain innovative features like AI-based virtual assistants.

Key features

• Flexible deployment options. Avaya offers on-premises and cloud-based contact center products. The on-prem offering may be an advantage for organizations that, due to compliance or privacy concerns, can't or don't want to store contact center data on third-party infrastructure.
• Process optimization. Native features assist with the optimization of tasks such as scheduling and agent training.
• Real-time reporting. Continuous analytics further assist with the identification of opportunities to optimize.

Scalability

While the scalability of Avaya's on-premises offering is limited by the scope of the host infrastructure, its cloud-based platform can scale virtually without limit.

Integrations

Avaya integrates with popular CRM platforms like Salesforce, ServiceNow and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Custom integrations are available through an API.

Pricing

The cost of Avaya starts at $20 per user per month for the Core plan. The highest-cost plan is priced at $35 per user per month. These prices reflect a 20% discount for a yearly contractual commitment.

Avaya is most notable for its on-premises deployment option and competitive pricing.

4. Cisco Contact Center

Although Cisco is best known for its networking and communications tools, it has also invested significantly in the contact center space. Its Contact Center product employs Webex, a meeting and collaboration application, as the foundation for omnichannel customer interactions.

Key features

• Security. Cisco Contact Center goes above and beyond in the security realm, offering advanced capabilities like endpoint hardening and data masking.
• Enterprise scalability. While the product can work for small businesses, it's designed especially for large-scale, enterprise-grade communications.
• Customer sentiment analysis. The platform uses AI to assess customer reactions to interactions.

Scalability

Cisco Contact Center scales especially well for large enterprises.

Integrations

Cisco Contact Center integrates tightly with other Cisco tools, particularly the Webex and Jabber communication apps. In fact, to some extent, the contact center service depends on these integrations with other Cisco tools. Integrations are also available for major CRM and IT ticketing platforms.

Pricing

Cisco doesn't publish pricing details for its contact center service, and costs vary depending on features and usage. As a rough baseline, expect to pay anywhere in the range of $30 to $200 per user per month.

Cisco Contact Center is most notable for its security features and enterprise-grade scalability.

5. CloudTalk

CloudTalk is most notable for its heavy focus on automation and analytics features designed to streamline contact center performance and increase operations efficiency. It also offers innovative AI-powered features, such as topic extraction, which automatically monitors conversational topics.

Key features

• Agent collaboration. In addition to supporting multi-channel customer engagement, CloudTalk offers native features for agent collaboration, like internal call conferencing and shared workspaces.
• Advanced analytics. CloudTalk offers particularly detailed reporting on engagement metrics and agent performance.
• Extensive integrations. The platform provides a broad range of integrations that include major CRM platforms and communication and automation tools like Slack and Zapier.

Scalability

As a cloud-based offering, CloudTalk works well at virtually any scale. Flexible pricing terms also enable easy scalability.

Integrations

As noted above, CloudTalk integrates out-of-the-box with a particularly wide range of external platforms. It also provides an API for custom integrations.

Pricing

CloudTalk pricing starts around $25 per user per month. The most feature-rich plan costs about $50 per user per month.

CloudTalk is notable for its advanced analytics and broad integrations.

6. Content Guru

Launched in 2005, Content Guru offers a contact center and customer engagement service tailored for verticals that require high availability and security, like government and finance. Although the service can be and is used by all types of businesses.

Key features

• AI-powered automation. Content Guru makes extensive use of AI to automate tasks like call routing. It also supports AI-powered virtual agents.
• Workforce management. Native capabilities assist with scheduling contact center agents and managing workflows.
• Video call support. Supports customer engagement via video as well as more conventional channels, such as voice and text.

Scalability

Cloud-based deployment enables easy scalability up and down.

Integrations

Content Guru integrates with major CRM platforms out-of-the-box, and an API is available for developing custom integrations.

Pricing

Content Guru pricing varies based on total agent count, type and feature availability. It starts at $22 per digital-only agent per month. Voice agents cost at least $70 per month.

Content Guru is most notable for AI-powered automation and workflow optimization capabilities.

7. Dialpad

Dialpad initially focused on providing internal communications software for businesses and added contact center software capabilities in 2018. Dialpad is most notable for its extensive investment in AI-based capabilities, such as AI-driven voice analysis and call summaries, as well as AI-powered virtual agents.

Key features

• AI capabilities. Dialpad makes especially extensive use of AI to provide capabilities like real-time transcription and sentiment analysis.
• Collaboration. Built-in chat, file sharing and other collaboration tools help agents communicate.
• Broad integrations. Dialpad integrates with external productivity and collaboration platforms like Google Workspace and Microsoft Teams in addition to CRM tools.

Scalability

Cloud-based deployment and multiple pricing plans make Dialpad easy to scale for businesses of virtually all sizes.

Integrations

As mentioned, Dialpad is notable for integrating with popular CRM platforms, like Salesforce and Zendesk, and productivity and collaboration suites, like Google Workspace and Microsoft Teams. Customers can also build custom workflows.

Pricing

Dialpad pricing starts at $15 per user per month for the Standard plan. The Pro plan is $25 per user per month. An Enterprise plan is also available.

Dialpad is most notable for advanced AI features, extensive integrations and competitive entry-level pricing.

8. Five9

Five9 provides a fully cloud-based call and contact center platform. It also places special emphasis on transparency and security for businesses concerned with protecting sensitive customer data or meeting strict compliance mandates related to customer calls.

Key features

• Dynamic routing. Five9 offers a particularly powerful routing tool that can route calls based on a variety of factors, such as priority level, agent expertise and geographical location.
• Workforce management. Built-in capabilities, including forecasting and automated scheduling, assist with agent workforce management.
• AI capabilities. Five9 includes advanced AI features such as speech recognition and predictive dialing.

Scalability

Five9 is highly scalable because of its cloud-based deployment model and its flexible pricing terms and plans, which cater to a wide range of business sizes.

Integrations

Five9 integrates with CRM platforms as well as popular IT management suites, like ServiceNow.

Pricing

Five9 doesn't publish full pricing details of all its plans, but its most basic plan starts at $119 per user per month. Its Core plan, which has more features, is $159 per user per month.

Five9 is most notable for especially efficient and flexible call routing capabilities and advanced AI features.

9. Genesys

Founded in 1990, Genesys has spent decades building a feature-rich contact center and customer engagement platform. The company caters especially to medium-size and large businesses.

Key features

• On-premises option. An on-premises deployment option is available, as well as a cloud-based offering.
• Virtual agents. AI capabilities include virtual agents.
• Collaboration. Internal screen sharing and conferencing capabilities help agents collaborate.

Scalability

Genesys can operate on any scale, but it focuses especially on deployments for midsize and enterprise customers.

Integrations

Out-of-the-box integrations focus mostly on CRM platforms. An API is available for custom integrations.

Pricing

Costs start at $75 per user per month and range up to $240 per user per month.

Genesys is most notable for its on-premises deployment option and extensive collaboration capabilities.

10. Google Cloud Contact Center as a Service

Google Cloud Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) -- also referred to as Google's Contact Center AI Platform (CCAI Platform) -- is among the newer cloud-based contact center products and is focused on AI capabilities such as virtual agents. Behind the scenes, however, Google's contact center offering is powered largely by UJET, an independent contact center platform known for its analytics features and integration with CRM systems.

Key features

• AI capabilities. Advanced AI capabilities include chatbots and virtual agents.
• Speech recognition. AI also enables real-time speech transcription and sentiment analysis.
• Google Cloud integrations. Google's contact center integrates tightly with other Google Cloud services.

Scalability

Although designed especially for large enterprise customers, Google Cloud's CCaaS can also support smaller teams.

Integrations

The contact center integrates most seamlessly with other Google Cloud products and services, as well as popular CRMs like Salesforce. An API is available for developing custom integrations.

Pricing

Pricing is mostly a pay-as-you-go model and starts at around $0.06 per chat session and $0.05 per voice minute. Some capabilities cost extra, like Conversational Insights, which provides engagement analytics.

The CCAI Platform is most notable for its close integration with Google Cloud services and enterprise-grade scalability.

11. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center

Microsoft developed the Microsoft Dynamics contact center platform in-house and released it in July 2024. Microsoft emphasizes self-service on a customer-preferred channel as well as monitoring and reporting features to improve operational efficiency.

Key features

• Workforce management. Built-in tools assist with agent scheduling and performance assessment.
• Microsoft integrations. Dynamics 365 Contact Center connects to other Microsoft tools and platforms, like Teams, Outlook and Power BI.
• AI features. Dynamics 365 Contact Center uses GenAI services hosted on the Microsoft Azure cloud to enable virtual agents and chatbots.

Scalability

As a hyperscale-based service, Dynamics 365 offers immense scalability from an infrastructure perspective. That said, its pricing models are flexible enough to accommodate the needs of smaller teams as well.

Integrations

The contact center service integrates most tightly with other Microsoft products, as well as popular CRM platforms. Custom integrations are possible through an API.

Pricing

Costs begin at $95 per user per month. A free trial is also available.

Dynamics 365 Contact Center is most notable for integration with other Microsoft products, which facilitates integrating contact center capabilities into broader Microsoft software suites.

12. Nextiva

Nextiva offers all the key features that businesses need to operate an effective contact center, such as skills-based call routing and advanced call management. Nextiva has invested in AI-based capabilities and places special emphasis on platform reliability and a fast response to service requests from its customers.

Key features

• Intelligent call routing. Nextiva provides highly flexible and efficient call routing capabilities based on criteria defined by users.
• AI capabilities. The platform uses AI to generate call summaries. An AI answering feature is also available.
• High availability. Nextiva's platform is cloud-based, and the company focuses on achieving particularly high availability through a multi-site hosting model.

Scalability

Multi-site hosting and flexible pricing plans enable a high degree of scalability.

Integrations

Nextiva connects to major CRM platforms. An API supports custom integrations.

Pricing

Costs start at $15 per user per month, and increase to $75 per user per month for more features geared toward small businesses. Larger enterprise plans are also available.

Nextiva is most notable for reliability and affordable entry-level pricing.

13. NiCE CXone Mpower

Launched in 2024, CXone Mpower from NiCE is one of the newest contact center platforms on our list. The company promotes CXone Mpower as a "CX-aware" service because it uses AI to inject context into customer interactions.

Key features

• AI integrations. The platform makes extensive use of AI to help optimize workflows and generate context for customer integrations.
• Chatbots and virtual agents. AI also supports chatbots and virtual agents within CXone Mpower.
• Scalability. The platform is particularly notable for its ability to cater to customers of all types and sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises.

Scalability

As noted above, CXone Mpower is an especially scalable service due to its cloud-based hosting model and the ease of accommodating increased customers or communication channels.

Integrations

Core integrations support major CRM platforms. Custom integrations are possible through an API.

Pricing

Costs range from $110 to $249 per user per month.

NiCE CXone Mpower is most notable for AI-enhanced efficiency capabilities.

14. RingCentral

Founded in 1999, RingCentral originally specialized in on-premises phone connectivity. Since then, it has expanded into a broad set of business communication and collaboration services, including a contact center platform. 

Key features

• Mobile app for agents. A mobile app allows agents to engage with customers from virtually any location.
• Collaboration. Internal video calling, team messaging and file sharing help agents collaborate.
• Analytics. RingCentral supports both real-time and historical reporting on agent performance and service levels.

Scalability

A cloud-based deployment model enables a high degree of scalability.

Integrations

RingCentral integrates with major CRM platforms as well as certain business productivity suites, such as Google Workspace.

Pricing

RingCentral's RingCX product features a Standard plan at $65 per user per month. The Professional plan is $95 per user per month, and the Elite plan is $145 per user per month. An enterprise package is also available.

RingCentral is most notable for its agent mobile app option, collaboration features and scalability.

15. Salesforce Service Cloud Contact Center

Although Salesforce is best known for CRM, its Service Cloud platform includes a contact center offering to pull customer data into contact center engagements and tightly integrate with the Salesforce product ecosystem.

Key features

• AI features. Using Salesforce's Einstein AI tools, Service Cloud uses AI to automate tasks like routing.
• Custom chatbots. Businesses can also use Einstein AI to configure custom AI chatbots to serve as virtual agents.
• Knowledge management. Built-in knowledge management capabilities aim to accelerate the rate at which agents can solve customer requests.

Scalability

Service Cloud can support businesses of all sizes, but it's geared especially toward large, enterprise-scale customers.

Integrations

Salesforce contact center integrates most tightly with other Salesforce products but also provides core integration with certain third-party platforms, such as Zendesk and HubSpot.

Pricing

Salesforce offers one pricing plan, at $150 per user per month, for its contact center software.

The Salesforce contact center is most notable for enterprise-grade scalability and extensive Salesforce integrations.

16. Talkdesk

Talkdesk promotes its CX automation via its AI multi-agent workflows and AI-first customer journey. Talkdesk also emphasizes its capabilities across several vertical industries. The product -- dubbed Customer Experience Automation, or CXA -- is known for its ease of use, intuitive interface and call routing capabilities.

Key features

• Virtual agents. Talkdesk offers GenAI-powered virtual agents to automate customer interactions.
• No-code workflow management. A visual interface enables workflow configuration and modifications.
• Hybrid cloud deployment option. While Talkdesk can't run fully on-premises, a hybrid deployment model is available that allows businesses to route communications through on-prem telephony infrastructure, which can be advantageous from a privacy and compliance standpoint.

Scalability

A flexible deployment architecture enables a high degree of scalability, making Talkdesk appropriate for small businesses and large enterprises.

Integrations

Integrations focus mostly on CRM platforms, but Google Workspace is also supported, and a custom integration API is available.

Pricing

Costs range from $85 to $225 per user per month.

Talkdesk is most notable for its feature-rich virtual agents and hybrid deployment option.

17. Vonage Contact Center

Vonage Contact Center's natively built features, including AI-powered virtual assistants, rely on integrations with external platforms, particularly Salesforce, to power some of its capabilities and access customer data. Vonage also emphasizes video-based customer engagement.

Key features

• AI-based sentiment analysis. Vonage uses AI to evaluate customer interactions across multiple channels, including voice, text and social media.
• Virtual agents. AI also powers virtual agents, which businesses can configure to perform a range of custom tasks.
• Business continuity. Vonage offers business continuity and disaster recovery features, such as emergency call routing options.

Scalability

Cloud-based deployment provides a high degree of scalability.

Integrations

Integrations focus mostly on CRM platforms, with an API available for custom integrations.

Pricing

Vonage does not list pricing information on its website specifically for its contact center plans, which include a Priority plan, Premium plan and add-on options. It offers volume-based API pricing with rates at $0.00809 per SMS and $0.01446 per minute for voice calls. Additional capabilities, like anti-fraud features and customer identification, cost extra.

Vonage is most notable for omnichannel sentiment analysis, affordable volume-based pricing and business continuity features.

18. Zendesk Contact Center

Although primarily a CRM platform, Zendesk also provides a dedicated contact center offering. The company first entered the call center space in 2011, but it completed a major overhaul of its customer communications and engagement platform in 2025, which now features cutting-edge AI capabilities.

Key features

• AI-powered automation. Zendesk contact center makes extensive use of AI to automate virtually all core tasks, from routing to agent response.
• Chatbots. AI-powered chatbots can perform custom tasks.
• Knowledge management. Native knowledge management tools assist agents in finding the information they need to address customer requests.

Scalability

Zendesk contact center can support businesses of all sizes, but it caters especially to midsize and enterprise organizations.

Integrations

Core integrations support other Zendesk products and other popular CRMs, including Salesforce and HubSpot, as well as communications platforms like Slack.

Pricing

Price plans start at $19 per user per month. The Suite Enterprise plan is $169 per user per month for enterprise-grade capabilities. Other plans are priced at $55 and $115 per user per month.

Zendesk is most notable for its AI capabilities and a broad set of pricing options.

19. Zoom Contact Center

Best known for its teleconferencing software, Zoom launched a contact center platform originally called Video Engagement Center and rebranded as Zoom Contact Center. The platform offers all core contact center software features with a focus on video-based customer meetings, while supporting other communications media over multiple channels.

Key features

• AI agent assist. AI capabilities help guide human agents by suggesting actions and providing information during customer interactions.
• Virtual agents. Fully independent, AI-powered agents are also available for engaging customers.
• Video support. Zoom Contact Center supports customer engagement via video as well as more traditional channels.

Scalability

Zoom Contact Center provides a high degree of scalability due to its cloud-based deployment model, although its pricing plans are geared mainly toward midsize and larger organizations.

Integrations

Zoom Contact Center integrates with popular CRM platforms as well as other Zoom software.

Pricing

Pricing ranges from $69 to $149 per user per month.

Zoom is most notable for its video calling support and AI capabilities that can assist human agents as well as power autonomous virtual agents.

Clearly, the contact center market is crowded with many options for contact center buyers and C-suite decision-makers. Many of the platforms have similar and overlapping features, especially around AI capabilities, integrations with adjacent products and scalability performance. Contact center buyers need to evaluate these platforms carefully to find the right one for their organization.

Editor's note: This article was updated to reflect recent developments in contact center platforms and the market in general.

Chris Tozzi is an adjunct research adviser at IDC as well as an adviser for Fixate IO and a professor of IT and society at a polytechnic university in upstate New York.