Is VoIP cheaper than a landline for a small business?
Summary
Usually, yes, and the comparison is narrower than it sounds. The business phone line that AT&T, Spectrum, Comcast and Verizon sell today runs over their own broadband, not a copper pair. AT&T's page calls Phone for Business "voice service provided over an Internet Protocol (VoIP) digital connection," and Verizon describes Business Digital Voice as cloud-based VoIP. What you are really comparing is a carrier's per-line price, usually conditional on buying its internet, against a cloud provider's per-user price.
The carrier prices, per line and per month: AT&T $15 with new AT&T Business Fiber (up to six lines) or $30 without; Spectrum $20 for the first year when bundled, $50 at the standard rate in its price guide; Comcast $44.95 with another Comcast Business service ($29.95 from the fourth line) or $64.95 on its own, on the California price list; Verizon $20 for the first line and $25 for each additional line with Fios 300/300 or faster, or $35 a line voice-only on a two-year contract.
Three carrier lines cost $45 to $194.85 a month depending on the bundle. Three users on a cloud plan cost $25 at Grasshopper to $90 at Aircall, with a middle value of $51 (Google Voice Starter), across the 17 providers in this site's dataset that publish a price. 16 of them come in under AT&T's unbundled $90 for three lines; 7 match or beat its bundled $45.
Where the answer flips: if you already buy the carrier's internet and only need one or two lines that several people share, the bundled line price can be the cheaper bill. Taxes, regulatory fees and the phone itself are extra on both sides.
What the four largest carriers publish
| Carrier and product | Price per line | What it depends on | Also on the page | Provider |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT&T Phone for Business | $15 a line with new AT&T Business Fiber (up to six lines); $30 without | Bundle with AT&T Business Fiber from $65 a month | Taxes and fees extra; unlimited calling to the US, Canada and Mexico; voicemail-to-text included | |
| Spectrum Business Voice | $20 a line for the first year when bundled; $50 standard rate in the price guide | Bundle with Spectrum Business Internet; new business customers | No contract; $10 a month without Auto Pay and $5 without paperless billing; taxes and fees extra | |
| Comcast Business Voice Mobility | $44.95 a line with another Comcast Business service ($29.95 from the fourth line); $64.95 on its own | Price list for California; other states have their own | Basic Line with local calling only: $24.95 | |
| Verizon Business Digital Voice | $20 for the first line and $25 for each additional line with Fios Business Internet 300/300 Mbps or faster; $35 a line voice-only | Two-year contract; new customers with 100 lines or fewer | Phone purchase from $85; activation fee; taxes and fees extra |
Scroll sideways on a phone.
The pattern is the same at all four: the headline price assumes you also take, or already have, the carrier's business internet. Take the line on its own and the price roughly doubles at Spectrum ($20 to $50), rises by $20 at Comcast ($44.95 to $64.95) and by $15 at Verizon ($20 to $35), and AT&T's $30 "without new fiber" is twice its bundled $15. Where does Comcast Business actually publish its phone prices?, Is Verizon Business Digital Voice really $20 a line? and What does Spectrum Business Voice cost after the $20 first year? go through each page's fine print.
Comcast's $24.95 Basic Line is the closest thing on these pages to an old-style phone line: local calling and caller ID, nothing else. None of the four publishes a price for a copper line; those rates sit in state tariffs, and the FCC has let carriers retire copper where fiber or IP service is available (What do you give up when you swap a landline for a cloud phone system? covers what that means in a power cut).
Three lines against three users
| Service | Kind | 3 lines or 3 users a month |
|---|---|---|
| AT&T Phone for Business, bundled with new fiber | Carrier line | $45 |
| AT&T Phone for Business, without new fiber | Carrier line | $90 |
| Spectrum Business Voice, first-year bundle price | Carrier line | $60 |
| Spectrum Business Voice, standard rate | Carrier line | $150 |
| Comcast Voice Mobility, with another Comcast service (California) | Carrier line | $134.85 |
| Comcast Voice Mobility, on its own (California) | Carrier line | $194.85 |
| Verizon Business Digital Voice, with Fios 300/300 | Carrier line | $70 |
| Verizon Business Digital Voice, voice-only | Carrier line | $105 |
| Grasshopper Solo Plus | Cloud plan | $25 |
| Google Voice Starter | Cloud plan | $51 |
| Aircall Essentials | Cloud plan | $90 |
A line and a user are not the same unit. A carrier line is one simultaneous call: three people can share one line if they rarely talk at the same time, and a business with a shared front-desk phone may genuinely need only one or two. A cloud seat is one person, with their own number or extension, voicemail, mobile and desktop apps, and a share of the auto attendant and routing rules. So a three-person office that needs three separate lines pays for three on both sides, while one that needs a single ringing number could pay for one carrier line or one cloud seat plus whatever that provider charges for extra phones ringing on it. If only a few people are on the phone at once, is it cheaper to pay by the line? works through that case.
With that caveat, the cloud side is cheaper at three for most providers. The $15 seats at Dialpad, Nextiva, Quo and Phone.com come to $45 for three users, the same as AT&T's bundled price and well under every carrier's unbundled or standard rate. For one person the cloud range is $13.99 at Vonage to $90 at Aircall; for five it is $39 at Talkroute to $150 at Aircall (How much does a business phone system cost for 2, 3 or 5 people? has every provider at each size).
What the price does not settle
Contract length differs: Verizon's $20 line needs a two-year agreement with an early-termination charge, Spectrum says no contract, and most cloud providers discount the annual plan but sell month to month (Contract length: 5 of 37 providers say how long you are tied in). Equipment differs: Verizon requires a phone purchase from $85, AT&T says most existing analog phones work, and a cloud plan needs nothing beyond a computer or mobile app unless you want desk phones (How much do desk phones and headsets add to a business phone setup?). And every price here is before taxes and regulatory fees, which the carriers state as extra and the cloud providers mostly do too (What do E911 and regulatory fees add to a business phone bill?).
Sources
Carrier prices were read on October 5, 2026 from the pages below. Cloud prices are from this site's dataset and carry their own check dates on the provider pages.
- business.att.com — AT&T Phone for Business
- spectrum.com/business/phone and Charter Spectrum Business Voice price guide
- Comcast Business Voice Service pricing, California (PDF), reached from Comcast's state pricing index
- verizon.com — Business Digital Voice
Related on this site
- What is VoIP, and how is it different from a regular phone line?
- What do you give up when you swap a landline for a cloud phone system?
- How much does a business phone system cost for 2, 3 or 5 people?
- Where does Comcast Business actually publish its phone prices?
- Is Verizon Business Digital Voice really $20 a line?
- What does Spectrum Business Voice cost after the $20 first year?
- If only a few people are on the phone at once, is it cheaper to pay by the line?
- Compare every US plan at your team size
- Seat cost calculator
Written by Kaz (pen name). Figures are copied from providers' published pricing pages on the dates shown. We have not used these products. Corrections: contact form.