- The Google Voice free plan is for personal, consumer use. The paid plans are $10 a month (Starter) and $20 a month (Standard), for one user each.
- Quo gives a 7-day trial, and Dialpad Connect and RingCentral give 14 days. All three are priced per user after the trial.
- ExpressNumber is a forwarding number, not a phone system: 7 days free, then $9.99 a month for 5 numbers that ring the mobile you already carry.
Free virtual phone number
You can get a free virtual phone number for a side business, and this is where free ends.
Google Voice has a free plan for personal use, business phone apps give a trial of 7 to 14 days, and ExpressNumber gives a free week. Here is what each one covers and what it costs after.
$0 todayEvery fact about another service was read on that company's own page, linked at the foot of this page.
These are the free virtual phone number options for a business, side by side.
Checked October 2026 on each company's own pages. ExpressNumber is first.
| Service | What is free | Price after | Calls and texts out |
|---|---|---|---|
7 daysA real US number that rings the mobile you already carry. $0 today. | Then $9.99 a month for 5 numbers, or $29.99 a month for 100 numbers on Pro. | No. Receive-only: calls ring your mobile and texts land in a browser inbox. No app. | |
| PlansCompareCalls | No end dateA no-charge plan for personal, consumer use. One user, a personal Gmail account, US only. | Starter $10 a month and Standard $20 a month, one user each. Only the paid plans add call recording and three-way calling. | Yes. Calls, texts and voicemail transcripts in the Voice app. When you call from the US, almost all calls to the US and Canada are free. |
| Pricing | 7 daysA trial for a new account. | Starter is $15 per user per month billed annually, or $19 billed monthly. | Yes. One new or ported number per user, with calling and messaging to US and Canadian numbers. |
| Pricing | 14 daysA free trial of Dialpad Connect. | Connect Standard is from $15 per user per month. | Yes. Unlimited calls, meetings and built-in messaging for teams. |
| Pricing | 14 daysA RingEX trial for new subscribers. SMS is not available in the trial. | Core is from $20 per user per month, paid annually. | Partly. Unlimited domestic calling, and 25 texts per user per month on Core. |
Free trials
How long each free trial lasts.
- ExpressNumber7 days
- Quo7 days
- Dialpad Connect14 days
- RingCentral14 days
- Google Voice free planNo end date
Two different jobs
A forwarding number and a phone system are built for different work.
A forwarding number
A customer calls your business number.
It rings the mobile you already carry.
Priced by numbers
A phone system
Each person gets a line in an app.
They call and text customers from it.
Priced per user
The right free option depends on who has to call out, so pick by the job.
Start from what the business number has to do.
To give a team numbers they call and text from, start a phone system trial.
Quo, Dialpad Connect and RingCentral are priced per user, so each person who needs a line gets one.
To put a business number on a website, an invoice or an ad without giving out your own, a forwarding number is enough.
Calls to an ExpressNumber number ring the mobile you already carry, and texts land in a browser inbox.
To call and text customers from the business number, use a phone app.
A receive-only number cannot do that. Google Voice, Quo and the other services in the table can.
To give every ad, listing or client its own number, pick a plan with many numbers.
Basic has 5 numbers and Pro has 100. Name each one after where it goes, and see which name the calls came to.
To start at $0 with no end date, the Google Voice free plan is a personal plan.
Google describes the no-charge plan as for personal, consumer use, with one user and a personal Gmail account.
A forwarding number and a phone system do different jobs, and they are priced differently.
Most side businesses start with the first and add the second when a team joins.
A forwarding number puts a business number in front of customers and rings the phone you already carry.
It is priced by how many numbers you hand out. It takes calls and texts and never makes them.
A phone system gives each person a line they call and text from.
It is priced by how many people use it, which is why Quo, Dialpad and RingCentral all charge per user.
A free personal plan sits between the two.
Google Voice calls and texts out for $0, for one person, on a personal Gmail account.
These are the questions people ask first.
Yes, in three forms. Google Voice has a no-charge plan for personal use with no end date. Business phone apps give a trial of 7 to 14 days. ExpressNumber is free for the first 7 days.
Quo gives 7 days, and Dialpad Connect and RingCentral give 14. ExpressNumber is free for 7 days. The Google Voice free plan has no trial because it has no end date.
Google describes the no-charge plan as for personal, consumer use. Its paid standalone plans are Starter at $10 a month and Standard at $20 a month, for one user each, and they add features like call recording and three-way calling.
A virtual phone number is a real number that is not tied to a SIM card or to one phone. A call forwarding number is a virtual number whose job is to send calls to the phone you choose. A phone system adds apps, seats and calling out on top.
No. ExpressNumber numbers take calls and texts and never make them: you answer calls on your own phone, and you cannot reply to a text from the inbox. To call and text customers from the business number, use a phone app.
Basic has 5 numbers for $9.99 a month, and Pro has 100 for $29.99 a month. Extra numbers are $1 a month each on Basic and 50 cents on Pro.
ExpressNumber numbers are US numbers only today. The Google Voice single-user plans are US only, and its Workspace add-on lists local numbers in 14 countries and regions.
There are more guides on the same question.
Every fact about another service comes from these pages.
Read October 26, 2026. Prices move: if something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
- Google Voice Help: identify Google Voice subscription types
- Google Workspace: compare Voice subscriptions
- Google Voice Help: calls and costs
- Quo: pricing
- Dialpad: pricing
- RingCentral: plans and pricing
Try it for a week. Judge it yourself.
Hand out a number you can burn. Keep the one your family calls.
Try it free for 7 days