Dialpad stands out with AI-powered collaboration for cloud-native teams. Sangoma offers cloud, hybrid, and on-premises deployments, with full control over the underlying stack. The choice depends on what your organization actually needs.
Why compare Sangoma and Dialpad?
Dialpad and Sangoma both appear on cloud telephony shortlists, but they solve different problems. Dialpad is designed for teams seeking AI-driven collaboration in a pure cloud environment. Sangoma offers cloud, hybrid, and on-premises deployments from the same platform, with AI-powered analytics and transcriptions, full hardware ownership, and a single provider responsible for the entire communications environment.
Three questions guide the rest of this comparison. Can your sites continue operating voice services during an internet outage, or is cloud-only sufficient? Does pricing remain predictable as you add contact center and business dialing, or does the bill fragment across separate products? And when an issue arises, are you in contact with a human or a chatbot?
This guide compares the two on pricing predictability, deployment options, hardware control, support model, and resilience.
Sangoma vs Dialpad: Key Differences at a Glance
Dialpad has a genuine history of AI-powered collaboration. Transcription, post-call summaries, live coaching, and DialpadGPT are real capabilities worth recognizing. The table below presents both platforms fairly.
| Feature / Factor | Sangoma | Dialpad |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment options | Cloud, hybrid, on-premises | Cloud only |
| Local resilience during outages | Yes (StarBox device) | No |
| POTS / 4G failover | Yes | No |
| Pricing model | Per seat, all-inclusive | Tiered; CC and sales are separate products |
| Hardware ownership | Phones, gateways, SBCs manufactured by Sangoma | Depends on Poly, Yealink, third parties |
| AI features | Standard transcription and analytics | Advanced: DialpadGPT, live coaching, sentiment analysis |
| Support model | 24/7 human support, all plans | Chatbot/AI first; 24/7 tied to Enterprise tier |
| Vertical depth | Healthcare, retail, hospitality, manufacturing | Horizontal SaaS |
| Uptime SLA | 99,999% | 99,9% |
Deployment flexibility
Sangoma supports cloud, on-premises, virtual machines (VMware/Hyper‑V/AWS), and hybrid deployments from the same underlying platform. Switching from one model to another does not require retraining staff or rebuilding configurations. Dialpad offers cloud only, which is simple to set up but provides no path to a hybrid or on-premises model for organizations that need one.
| Deployment option | Sangoma | Dialpad |
|---|---|---|
| Cloud-hosted UCaaS | Yes | Yes |
| Hybrid (cloud + on-premises) | Yes | No |
| On-premises | Yes | No |
Reliability and local resilience
The deployment gap has direct implications for reliability. Dialpad is cloud-only, so when the internet goes down, calls go down too. It can reroute calls externally, but it has no mechanism to maintain local communications during a WAN outage: no local PBX continuity, no native POTS failover, no LTE/4G survivability.
Sangoma’s StarBox device addresses this need directly as part of Sangoma’s hybrid UC. It maintains internal calls, provides POTS failover and secondary internet, and supports optional 4G/5G failover. For a healthcare facility, a retail chain, or a distributed business with sites in areas with unstable connectivity, the difference is tangible.
User reviews also report dropped calls, call lag, Bluetooth instability on mobile, and inconsistent voice quality on the Dialpad platform.
| Reliability factor | Sangoma | Dialpad |
|---|---|---|
| Local resilience during WAN outage | Yes | No |
| POTS failover | Yes | No |
| 4G/5G failover | Yes | No |
| Branch survivability architecture | Yes | No |
| Uptime SLA | 99,999% | 99,9% |
How do the prices compare?
Dialpad’s entry price is low, but the total cost of ownership increases significantly once contact center, analytics, or advanced support capabilities come into play. Sangoma’s model is per seat and all-inclusive from the start.
How Dialpad pricing works
Dialpad Connect starts at 15 $/user/month on the Standard plan. The pricing structure then fragments. Contact center (Dialpad Support) costs 80–150 $/user/month. The sales dialer (Dialpad Sell) adds 39–150 $/user/month. CRM integrations are locked behind the Pro tier. Outbound SMS has volume caps on lower plans. International calling is billed by the minute, and per-minute fees apply in the contact center. For a team that starts on Connect and scales to contact center and sales dialing, the renewal bill is very different from the initial quote.
How Sangoma pricing works
Sangoma’s Business Voice and Business Voice Plus plans are priced per seat and include voice, video, messaging, collaboration, and 24/7 support with no add-ons. Contact center capacity is built into the platform without a separate product license. There are no support ticket fees, hosting surcharges, or surprise line items at renewal.
| Pricing factor | Sangoma | Dialpad |
|---|---|---|
| Base UCaaS pricing | Per seat, all-inclusive | Starting at 15 $/user/month (Standard) |
| Contact center | Sangoma CX (separate license) | 80–150 $/user/month (separate product) |
| Sales dialer | Included | 39–150 $/user/month (separate product) |
| 24/7 support | Included on all plans | Enterprise tier only |
| CRM integrations | Included | Pro tier and above |
| Outbound SMS | Included | Volume caps on lower plans |
| International calling | Included | Metered |
| CC per-minute fees | No | Yes |
_Related: _UCaaS Pricing: What You Need to Know in 2026
Hardware and infrastructure
Dialpad’s hardware story depends on third-party manufacturers, primarily Poly and Yealink. Firmware updates, survivability integrations, and hardware roadmap decisions are in the hands of vendors Dialpad does not control. When an issue arises, support responsibility can pass between the UCaaS provider and the hardware manufacturer.
Sangoma manufactures its own phones, gateways, and session border controllers, with firmware aligned directly with the software roadmap. The full-stack vision extends further: managed SD‑WAN, managed firewall, managed Wi‑Fi, native SIP trunking via SIPStation, and survivability devices, all under one vendor and one support line.
| Hardware / Infrastructure | Sangoma | Dialpad |
|---|---|---|
| Desk phones | Manufactured by Sangoma | Poly, Yealink (third-party) |
| Gateways and SBCs | Manufactured by Sangoma, plus Poly and Yealink support | Third-party |
| Survivability device | StarBox | None |
| Managed SD‑WAN | Yes | No |
| Managed firewall | Yes | No |
| Managed Wi‑Fi | Yes | No |
| SIP trunking (native) | Yes (SIPStation) | No |
| Firmware control | Direct | Depends on third parties |
| Vendor relationships | Single vendor | Multiple vendors |
AI features
Both platforms are investing in AI, but their focus differs. Dialpad has built DialpadGPT, a proprietary LLM that transcribes calls in real time, scores sentiment, generates post-call summaries, and coaches agents live with prompts. Inside sales teams and coaching-focused contact centers get the most from DialpadGPT because real-time guidance directly improves reps’ performance on active calls.
Sangoma took a different approach. Instead of coaching agents live, Sangoma AI works in two ways: reducing the number of calls agents handle and speeding up the ones they do handle. CX can run virtual agents and chatbots through a Google Dialogflow integration, allowing callers to manage routine requests themselves instead of waiting for an agent. In hospitality, this means guests book rooms or ask about services; in healthcare, patients get answers without being left on hold. Agents automatically receive the transcript and sentiment score, along with response drafts ready to edit for SMS, WhatsApp, and email. An internal knowledge bot (@ASKSangoma) pulls answers from Sangoma documentation, allowing support teams to spend less time searching product documentation.
| AI Capability | Sangoma | Dialpad |
|---|---|---|
| Real-time transcription | Yes | Yes (DialpadGPT) |
| Post-call summaries | Yes | Yes |
| Live coaching | Standard | Advanced |
| Sentiment analysis | Yes | Yes |
| Conversational IVR | Via Google Dialogflow add-on | Yes |
| Internal knowledge bot | Yes | No |
| Proprietary LLM | No | Yes (DialpadGPT) |
| Agentic AI platform | No | Yes |
| AI replaces survivability | No | No |
Contact Center and Sales Dialer
Both platforms work for basic call queues. For a full contact center or an outbound dialer, Dialpad requires separate products: Dialpad Support for the contact center and Dialpad Sell for the sales dialer, each on its own pricing tier and invoice. Sangoma CX runs on the same platform, licensed separately from UC seats.
| Capability | Sangoma | Dialpad |
|---|---|---|
| Basic call queues | Yes | Yes |
| Full inbound contact center | Sangoma CX (same platform, separate license) | Dialpad Support (separate product) |
| Outbound sales dialer | Click-to-call via Sangoma CX add-on | Dialpad Sell (separate product) |
| Workforce management | Yes | Yes |
| AI coaching and transcription | Yes | Yes (more advanced) |
| Single UC + CC platform | Yes | No |
| CRM call logging | Yes | Pro tier and above |
Compliance and Security for Regulated Industries
Sangoma's cloud runs on a PCI-certified, HIPAA-compliant private network, with 99.999% uptime SLA. Security patching and system updates are managed by Sangoma, making it suitable for healthcare, retail, food services, and any organization where uptime and compliance posture are non-negotiable.
Dialpad documents HIPAA support, but its 99.9% SLA and cloud-only infrastructure increase risk for clinical deployments. A 99.9% SLA allows approximately 8.7 hours of potential downtime per year; 99.999% allows approximately 5 minutes.
| Compliance / Security Factor | Sangoma | Dialpad |
|---|---|---|
| HIPAA compliance | Yes | Yes |
| PCI certification | Yes (native private network) | Via PCI Pal integration (separate account, paid configuration) |
| Uptime SLA | 99.999% | 99.9% |
| Private network | Yes | No |
| Security patches | Managed by Sangoma | Client / platform managed |
Support quality
Dialpad's support model relies on AI chatbots, and user reviews on G2 and Trustpilot cite slow escalations and difficulty reaching knowledgeable humans as recurring frustrations. Porting and billing disputes frequently appear in the same discussion threads. 24/7 human support is tied to the Enterprise tier, meaning smaller accounts operate within a more limited support structure. Customers also remain responsible for their own local network, ISP troubleshooting, and Wi-Fi quality.
Sangoma includes 24/7 human support on every plan, with white-glove onboarding and a local partner ecosystem. The figures behind this commitment are precise: CSAT rose from 73.8% to 94.6% in one year through Sangoma's customer experience initiative, NPS increased by nearly 29 points over the same period, and the number of support agents below the internal 85% CSAT target fell from 56 to 17. Rich Hackel, VP of Global Customer Care at Sangoma, attributes the improvement to daily coaching based on real-time feedback data. Full details are available in this Sangoma case study.
Sangoma takes responsibility for the entire communications environment, not just the application layer. When an issue arises, there is only one call to make.
| Support Factor | Sangoma | Dialpad |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | 24/7, all plans | 24/7 on Enterprise tier only |
| Support model | Human-first | Chatbot/AI-first |
| CSAT score | 94.6% | Not published |
| Onboarding | White-glove, guided | Self-guided |
| Network / ISP | Managed by Sangoma | Customer responsibility |
| Uptime SLA | 99.999% | 99.9% |
| Telecom expertise | 40+ years | SaaS-first |
Integrations and Platform Flexibility
Both platforms cover the major CRMs and productivity tools. The difference lies in the starting point. Dialpad CRM integrations require the Pro tier or higher on Connect. Sangoma includes native Microsoft Teams integration, SIPStation SIP trunking, and full hardware interoperability across its own device range.
| Integration factor | Sangoma | Dialpad |
|---|---|---|
| Salesforce | Yes | Yes (Pro tier) |
| HubSpot / Zendesk | Yes | Yes (Pro tier) |
| Google Workspace / M365 | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Teams | Yes (native) | Yes |
| Open API | Yes | Yes |
| SIP trunking (native) | Yes (SIPStation) | No |
| Hardware SIP support | Full (own devices) | Third-party only |
Why businesses choose Sangoma over Dialpad
Calls continue when the internet goes down. StarBox and local resilience mean a WAN outage does not become a communications outage. Dialpad has no equivalent.
Predictable costs from day one. Contact center, dialer, and UC are not on separate bills. No product fragmentation, no features locked behind an upgrade.
Full features without a scaling bottleneck. Voice, video, messaging, collaboration, and contact center are included with every seat.
One vendor, one point of contact. Phones, gateways, SBCs, software, trunking, and 24/7 support come from Sangoma. Multi-vendor troubleshooting is not a concern.
NetOps operational visibility. Sangoma gives IT teams visibility across the entire communications environment: phones, gateways, network services, and UC analytics. Dialpad monitoring stops at the software.
Built for operational verticals. PCI-certified private network, HIPAA-compliant for healthcare, retail, hospitality, and manufacturing.
Support that takes ownership of the whole problem. Sangoma takes responsibility for the entire communications environment, not just the application layer. 24/7 human support on every plan.
Switching from Dialpad to Sangoma
The transition covers three areas: number porting, hardware, and platform continuity. Sangoma’s white-glove support and partner network handle number porting and deployment configuration, making the process guided rather than self-directed.
For hardware, Dialpad customers generally use Poly and Yealink, which can be evaluated case by case during transition planning. Switchvox Cloud seats include a Sangoma P325 desk phone, offsetting some of the hardware replacement cost.
Because Sangoma runs the same underlying software across cloud, hybrid, and on-premises deployments, organizations that start in the cloud and then move to a hybrid architecture do not need to redeploy or retrain.
The Dialpad alternative built for real operations
Dialpad works well for teams where AI-driven collaboration and simple cloud setup are priorities. For organizations where voice is critical, sites must remain operational during outages, costs need to stay predictable as the business grows, and support must be reachable at any hour, Sangoma is the more complete answer.
To see how Sangoma fits your specific environment, schedule a demo with the team.
Sangoma vs Dialpad FAQ
What happens to phone calls if a site loses its internet connection?
With Dialpad, calls can be redirected externally, but local office communications go down. With Sangoma, the StarBox device maintains internal calls, supports POTS and secondary internet failover, and includes optional 4G/5G failover, so a WAN outage does not become a voice outage.
Does Dialpad offer on-premises or hybrid deployment?
No. Dialpad is cloud-only. Sangoma supports cloud, hybrid, on-premises, and virtual machine deployments from the same platform, with a simple migration path between them.
How does Dialpad pricing compare with Sangoma at scale?
Dialpad starts at 15 $/user/month, but contact center capacity costs 80–150 $/user/month as a separate product. The sales dialer adds 39–150 $/user/month. CRM integrations are locked behind the Pro tier. Sangoma’s per-seat model includes all these capabilities without product fragmentation.
What is the best choice for healthcare or other regulated industries?
Sangoma operates on a PCI-certified, HIPAA-compliant private network, with a 99.999 % uptime SLA. Dialpad documents HIPAA support but has a 99.9 % SLA and a cloud-only infrastructure, which limits its suitability for clinical environments where availability and data residency are compliance requirements.
Does Sangoma have AI features comparable to Dialpad?
Both platforms offer transcription, sentiment analysis, and post-call summaries. Dialpad goes further with live coaching through DialpadGPT, a proprietary LLM that prompts agents in real time. Sangoma goes further with operational automation through a conversational IVR that handles routine incoming calls without human intervention, AI-generated reply drafts for SMS, WhatsApp, and email, and an internal knowledge bot for support teams. Dialpad’s AI requires the cloud; Sangoma’s runs in the cloud, in hybrid deployments, and on premises.
How difficult is it to switch from Dialpad to Sangoma?
Sangoma’s white-glove support and partner network manage the migration, including number porting, hardware transition, and deployment configuration. Every Switchvox Cloud seat includes a free P325 desk phone. The process is guided rather than self-directed.
What is the best choice for multi-site businesses?
Sangoma is designed for multi-site environments. StarBox provides local resilience at each site, 4G/5G and POTS failover keeps branches connected during outages, and Sangoma’s managed network services give IT teams visibility across the entire communications environment. Dialpad’s cloud-only model means each site’s voice reliability depends entirely on its internet connection.
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