1:1 comparison · Verified August 27, 2026 If you’re weighing DialPhone vs Five9 for your business phone system in 2026, the choice usually comes down to three factors: real total cost over 36 months, whether AI receptionist is included or addon, and how the platform handles US/Canada cross-border seats.
Every competitor figure below is taken from the vendor’s own published pages and is listed with its source and check date at the end of this page. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, this page says so instead of estimating.
TL;DR: at a glance
- Best for contact centers of 50 concurrent agents or more that want named-agent workforce engagement and concurrent-seat licensing: Five9
- Best for teams under 50 agents, or teams that want business phone and contact center billed by one vendor on published per-agent tiers: DialPhone
- Critical 2026 difference: Five9 is a contact-center platform sold per concurrent user with a published 50-seat minimum. DialPhone sells business phone per user and contact center per agent, with no published seat minimum. Below 50 agents the two are not comparable at list price.
Quick comparison table
| Feature | DialPhone | Five9 |
|---|---|---|
| Category | UCaaS + CCaaS in one platform | CCaaS platform (contact centre only) |
| Comparable entry price | $65/agent/mo (Contact Center Standard) | $119/seat/mo (Digital, per concurrent user) |
| Second tier | $95/agent/mo (Professional) | $159/seat/mo (Core, per concurrent user) |
| Higher tiers | $145/agent/mo (Elite); Enterprise quote-only | Plus, Pro and Enterprise: contact sales |
| Licensing unit | Per agent | Per concurrent user; usage-based charges may apply |
| Published seat minimum | None published | 50 seats |
| Bundled AI allowance | Not published per seat | 3,000 AI minutes per bundled seat, then usage |
| Business-phone entry price | $24/user/mo (Core) | Not a business-phone product; Five9 lists UC adapters for Microsoft Teams, Zoom, RingCentral and AT&T Office@hand |
| Setup fee | $0 | Not publicly listed |
| AI receptionist | Add-on ($59/mo) | Add-on |
| Published uptime SLA | 99.999% monthly uptime target with service credits (Terms §6) | No public SLA located |
| HIPAA BAA | BAA offered on Advanced and higher (HIPAA) — a contract, not a certification | Not publicly confirmed |
| SOC 2 | Contact DialPhone for current status, scope and documentation (SOC 2) | Not publicly confirmed |
| GDPR | DPA and EU data residency (GDPR) — not a certification | Not publicly confirmed |
| PCI DSS | Contact DialPhone for current status, scope and documentation (PCI) | Not publicly confirmed |
| Founded | 2024 | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Hong Kong | San Ramon, CA |
| 36-month cost, 50 agents (Five9’s published minimum) | $117,000 (50 x $65 x 36, Contact Center Standard) | $214,200 (50 x $119 x 36, Digital) before usage |
Pricing breakdown
DialPhone
- Core ($24/user/mo, annual): unlimited US/Canada calling, SMS, HD video meetings up to 200 participants, AI live captions and transcription
- Advanced ($34, annual): adds AI SMS drafting, Proactive Workflow Automation, integrations and a HIPAA BAA
- Ultra ($54, annual): adds advanced analytics
- Contact Center (separate CCaaS plans from $65/agent/mo): omnichannel routing, AI quality management, workforce management
- Smart Virtual Concierge (AI Receptionist): separate $59/month add-on, or $69/month in the AI Pro Bundle
All plans are billed annually and include a 14-day free trial with no card required. A HIPAA Business Associate Agreement is available on Advanced and higher. The AI Receptionist is a separate add-on, not part of Core, Advanced or Ultra.
Five9
Five9 publishes two of its five tiers. Digital, which is digital channels only, is $119 per seat per month. Core, all channels with essential AI, is $159 per seat per month. Plus, Pro and Enterprise are listed as contact sales for flexible pricing.
Five9’s own pricing page states that the published prices are per concurrent user, that usage-based pricing may apply, and that there is a minimum of 50 seats. AI is bundled at 3,000 minutes per seat and charged on usage beyond that. Workforce engagement is licensed on a named-agent basis, and where named seats exceed concurrent seats sold the difference is sold as add-ons. Five9 does not publish implementation pricing.
The 36-month figures above count subscription seats only, at 50 agents, and exclude taxes, telecom fees, usage charges, workforce-engagement add-ons, hardware and implementation. Model your own configuration with the VoIP TCO calculator.
Feature parity
Where Five9 is the better fit
Five9 publishes a choice of workforce engagement vendor (Five9, Verint or Calabrio) and a choice of CRM adapter (Salesforce, ServiceNow, Dynamics, Zendesk, Oracle) on its own pricing page. Concurrent-user licensing suits multi-shift operations that would otherwise buy one named seat per person. Geo-redundancy, blended inbound and outbound, dialler and 24/7 support are listed on every published tier.
Where DialPhone is the better fit
DialPhone publishes per-agent contact-center pricing at three tiers with no seat minimum, so teams below 50 agents can buy at list price. Business phone and contact center are billed by one vendor on one agreement.
Five9’s limitation
The published 50-seat minimum puts Five9 out of reach at list price for smaller teams, three of the five tiers are quote-only, and usage-based charges sit on top of the published seat price, so the published number is a floor rather than a total.
DialPhone’s limitation
DialPhone was founded in 2024 and does not publish the depth of workforce engagement, outbound dialling and analytics tooling that Five9 documents. DialPhone also publishes no concurrent-user licensing option, so a three-shift operation pays per named agent.
When to pick Five9
Choose Five9 if:
- You are buying 50 or more concurrent agent seats, which is Five9’s published minimum
- You want concurrent-user licensing so multi-shift teams share seats rather than buying one per person
- You need Five9’s published choice of workforce engagement vendor (Five9, Verint or Calabrio) on a named-agent basis
- You need the published CRM adapters for Salesforce, ServiceNow, Dynamics, Zendesk or Oracle
When to pick DialPhone
Choose DialPhone if:
- You are below Five9’s published 50-seat minimum and want contact center at list price
- You want an AI receptionist from the same vendor as your phone system (Smart Virtual Concierge, $59/month add-on)
- You want unlimited US and Canada calling in the base plan without an enterprise agreement
- You want a contractual 99.999% monthly uptime target with service credits (Terms section 6)
- You need a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement (available on Advanced and higher)
What’s NOT in the comparison
Some features that don’t differ meaningfully between the two for SMB use cases:
- Mobile apps (both have iOS/Android)
- Standard VoIP features (call forwarding, voicemail, hold music)
- Number porting (both support; timelines depend on the losing carrier, number type and documentation)
If a comparison post tells you “DialPhone has voicemail and Five9 has voicemail”, yes, every vendor does. The differences that matter are above.
How we built this comparison
Competitor pricing, plan names and feature availability are taken from the vendor’s own current pricing, product, security and legal pages. Every figure used is listed with its source, publisher and check date in the Sources section of this page. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, this page says so rather than estimating one.
DialPhone figures come from the DialPhone pricing page and the Terms of Service. If you find a discrepancy, tell us and we will correct it.
Verdict
There is no automatic winner here. DialPhone fits teams that want business phone and contact center from one vendor with published per-seat pricing and an AI receptionist available as a paid add-on. Five9 fits teams that match its own strengths (enterprise contact-center cloud). Price both at your real seat count against each vendor’s current pricing page before deciding.
The honest test: run both through the TCO calculator at your actual seat count + use case. Whichever lands lower for your spec is the right answer.
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Compiled by Darshan M, Growth Operations · DialPhone. The 2026 SMB VoIP pricing dataset cited above is published openly at dialphone.com/data/voip-pricing-2026.json under CC BY 4.0.