Complete CallHippo Review — Is It a Value VoIP in 2024?

In this CallHippo review, we take a deep dive into its 20+ features and the value they offer to businesses like yours. We discuss our hands-on experience with the CallHippo interface and its pricing models for office phone systems and call centers.

A good Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) app will let you make crystal-clear phone calls over the internet. It’ll also allow you to manage calls better, such as routing calls to the most appropriate agent or transcribing calls for analysis. CallHippo is one of the best tools for this purpose.

Currently starting at $16/month/per user for call centers, is CallHippo worth it? Read on for our detailed insights.

CallHippo Pros and Cons

CallHippo is a business-grade VoIP service that offers office telephony and call center solutions. It has a free forever version that supports unlimited users, and paid plans start at an affordable $16/month/user. Here are its pros and cons:

What Is CallHippo – History and Overview

CallHippo’s parent company is Appitsimple, a software firm based in India. Appitsimple has several software offerings, including its flagship VoIP product, Hippo, and the online media platform, Software Suggest.

CallHippo offers multi-faceted cloud-based communication solutions, covering VoIP and WhatsApp Business services. Organizations can use the software to streamline their internal communications systems, upgrading from landlines.

CallHippo also provides the tools to upgrade your call center. The software lets you automate routing and call distribution, manage business hours, record calls for compliance, and collect feedback. It launched a unique feature called Global Connect in 2020 to tailor calls for foreign customers in different time zones.

In 2024, it is among the handful of VoIP providers offering a free call center solution. We were also impressed by its international calling capabilities and large partner ecosystem, which lets you integrate CallHippo with most business apps.

How Does CallHippo Work?

CallHippo is a cloud-based calling solution, which means that it lets you make and receive phone calls over the internet. The software converts analog voice signals into digital signals to be transmitted over 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi, broadband, and other types of networks.

The call recipient can respond to the call just like a regular telephone interaction from their cell phones or landlines.

To support this, CallHippo relies on ‘7+ telephony networks and 5+ global servers’ as the company’s website explains, but the location and ownership of these servers aren’t disclosed. Owing to its global servers, CallHippo can assure 99.9% uptime.

In addition to telephony, CallHippo has two more offerings:

CallHippo Key Features – What’s Included?

CallHippo’s VoIP software includes all the features you need for an office phone system and your contact center. If you’re wondering, ‘Is CallHippo good?’ check out the features below to evaluate if they align with your requirements.

1. Power Dialer

Power dialers are a staple in business VoIP software, and CallHippo has designed this feature to be intuitive and easy to use. It automatically dials customers’ numbers for outbound teams so your sales agents are free to focus on the conversations.

2. Smart Switch

Smart Switch is meant for CallHippo customers who bring their own carrier (BYOC). Suppose you use the CallHippo call center app with two local telephony providers. You can switch between the two to make the most of available network conditions and rates.

3. Global Connect

If your contact center regularly interacts with customers in different time zones, Global Connect can be very helpful. It automatically dials a contact’s number based on their time zone, when they are most likely to pick up.

International contact centers can combine the Global Connect feature with the unlimited global calling plan. For $80/month/user (annual contract), you get unlimited minutes to 48 countries, one of the few providers to offer this feature apart from Voiply.

4. Sticky Agent

Too often, we call customer support multiple times for the same issue, and with every call, we have to explain our problem from scratch. The Sticky Agent feature helps address this by connecting customers to the same agent automatically, so you can pick the conversation up where you left off.

5. Call Transfer and Call Conferencing

You can transfer calls or convert them into a conference using CallHippo. The call transfer feature integrates with other communication channels so you can switch from chat to email, to voice. Or, you can convert one-on-one calls into a conference for better collaboration.

6. Call Queuing

CallHippo supports virtual queues so you can organize waiting customers according to priority. The software will inform the caller of the expected wait time and read out pre-recorded messages. You can monitor the total calls waiting in the queue through the CallHippo dashboard.

7. Auto Rotate

Sometimes, a customer’s spam filters will block calls if it receives too many from the same number. To prevent this, CallHippo offers the auto-rotate feature. It displays a different number each time you call, avoiding spam filters. You can also customize the total call limit from each number per day.

8. Call Barging

Call barging is a quality control feature in call center VoIP software. It lets supervisors join a live call, monitor agents, and intervene if necessary. CallHippo allows supervisors to listen in silently, ‘whisper’ their advice, or take over the call if an issue escalates.

9. Call Recording

You can record and store important conversations on CallHippo. The admin needs to enable the recording feature on specific numbers. The user can then record any conversation they want when making calls from that number.

10. Voicemail

Voicemail allows callers to leave an audio message if no one is available to pick up. CallHippo’s text-to-speech technology converts your written voicemail greetings into natural-sounding speech so you sound authentic to your customers.

11. Answering Machine Detection

What happens when you dial a customer’s number but reach their machine instead? CallHippo’s VoIP software can distinguish between live calls and answering machines. It then immediately calls the next contact without wasting time leaving voicemails.

12. Call Analytics

The software’s dashboards collect and visualize detailed information regarding past and current calls. Our CallHippo review found that you can analyze calling trends per day, week, or month. You can also view the top performers and keep an eye on ongoing call volumes.

13. Automatic Call Distribution

Automatic call distribution (ACD) is a call center must-have, and we were impressed by CallHippo’s simple distribution system. You can select the order in which you want to distribute the incoming calls. This ensures that agents aren’t overburdened, but at the same time, no one is sitting idle.

14. Smart Direct Inward Dialing Routing

Direct inward dialing (DID) routing lets businesses route calls through local numbers. Using smart DID routing, a local number will show up when you call your foreign customers. This establishes trust and credibility. It also prevents your number from being flagged as spam.

15. Agent Performance Management

CallHippo has several features to help improve how call center agents perform. You can monitor calls in real time and provide immediate feedback. Gamification lets you motivate agents through leaderboards and points. Agent analytics helps analyze performance levels, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

16. Multi-Line Phone System

CallHippo is a multi-line phone system, meaning users can manage multiple calls at once. They can juggle customer calls and business calls, or put calls on hold while dialing a new number. This allows you to maximize your resources without setting up multiple phone lines.

17. Number Masking

Call center agents may need to handle confidential customer information like social security numbers and payment card details. CallHippo’s number masking feature redacts numerical characters from call recordings and other records to reduce the risk of a data breach.

18. Post-Call Surveys

You can use CallHippo to send surveys via email, SMS, or a follow-up call. It gives you near-real-time feedback right after an interaction so you can correlate the data with agent performance. In our CallHippo review, we found surveys easy to design, and engaging for customers.

19. Voice Broadcasting System

Voice broadcasting is a unique CallHippo feature that lets you broadcast audio messages to multiple numbers. Broadcast messages can communicate company announcements, notifications, promotions, offers, and new services.

You can integrate voice broadcasts with interactive voice response (IVR), so customers can choose an action by pressing a number on their keypad. The IVR records customer responses and sends them back to your business so the appropriate agents can follow up.

The voice broadcasting feature starts at $0.015/call plus regular calling charges.

20. Shared Inbox

The shared inbox on CallHippo is a centralized collaboration hub where agents can view their calls, voicemails, and SMS conversations. The software also has a WhatsApp inbox feature where companies using WhatsApp for Business can manage all of their lifecycle messaging communications.

21. Add-on Features for Sales Teams and Call Centers

CallHippo allows you to add on several features and functionalities, depending on your needs. These are available at an added cost:

CallHippo Ease of Use

From our CallHippo testing experience, the best way to use this VoIP service is through its web-based application. Simply visit the company’s website and sign in using the top right button. You’ll be redirected to the dashboard, or you can directly open the dialer.

The web app approach makes CallHippo easy to use since you don’t have to download or install any software. However, it also means that you won’t be able to access the app or retrieve any data when offline.

To address this, you can download a version of CallHippo on your desktop PC. The desktop app is available via WebCatalog Desktop, a third-party service that converts web applications into installable files. Bear in mind that the web catalog isn’t an official partner of CallHippo.

For mobile usage, CallHippo is available on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

The mobile interface focuses on user experience. You can access your contacts, view call records, make notes, change your availability status, and send text messages from the mobile apps.

CallHippo is among the few VoIP services to offer a dedicated app for iPad users. This means that you can enjoy the convenience of a bigger screen, even with a mobile device.

However, unlike other VoIP apps such as MightyCall, CallHippo doesn’t offer sufficient feature parity across its mobile and web application interfaces. To use its advanced features like analytics, integrations, and number management, you will have to rely on the web app.

On the other hand, we were impressed by CallHippo’s simple design and intuitive user interface (UI). The web interface stacks all the functionalities on the left-hand side, and you can manage or configure them from the central pane. Its data dashboards present the information visually, in a clear and easy-to-understand format.

CallHippo Pricing – Is It Expensive?

CallHippo is a cost-effective VoIP service with plans for every budget. Its calling solutions for offices and contact centers start at $16/month/user and go up $42/user/month. You can choose from four plan tiers – Basic, Starter, Professional, and Ultimate.

1. Basic

The Basic plan is free for an unlimited number of users but doesn’t include any built-in VoIP numbers or prepaid minutes. It’s ideal for startups and small teams that need to make calls occasionally and don’t need a full-fledged call center.

As part of the Basic plan, you get features like team organization, voicemail, SMS, and click-to-dial. Your domestic outgoing call charges are extra, costing between $0.014/minute and $0.115/minute, depending on which state you call.

2. Starter

The Starter plan costs $18/month/user if you sign up for a one-year contract. This includes everything in Basic, plus a free standard number (not toll-free) and 1,000 calling minutes, within the US and Canada. The plan allows you to set business hours, forward your calls to a different device, and maintain call records for up to one year.

It has a few value-adding features, such as two-factor authentication (2FA) for security and a shared inbox for collaboration. You also get basic analytics, but advanced reports are available only in the Professional and Ultimate plans.

There’s a call center version of the same solution, called CallHippo Bronze. The Bronze plan includes a few special features, such as skill-based routing and call target vs achievement monitoring, and costs $16/month/user.

3. Professional

The Professional plan costs $30/month/user for a one-year contract. This is the cheapest CallHippo plan with unlimited calling minutes – for perspective, Vonage offers unlimited domestic calls for $13.99/month/user.

In addition to unlimited minutes, you can set up routing systems for the holiday season. The plan includes call recordings, voicemail notifications via email, call reminders, and the ability to pause and resume your recordings. It also offers IVR to help guide callers.

With the Professional plan, you can block certain countries from your calling system. It also enforces role-based access control for security, on top of 2FA. Like the Starter plan, this plan, too, has a call center equivalent, named Silver.

CallHippo Silver is suitable for mid-sized customer support teams. You can use gamification to motivate your agents, assign after-call work (for example, taking notes), tag calls to make them referenceable, and collect feedback.

4. Ultimate

The Ultimate plan costs $42/month/user for a one-year contract. It is a comprehensive plan with all the features a large business might need to support its business communications. Unlike the other plans, Ultimate includes pre-built and custom integrations.

The IVR system is more advanced here, with multiple levels of navigation. You can also set up multi-level call transfers to ensure customer queries are resolved at the first call. This plan’s call center equivalent is CallHippo Platinum.

In our CallHippo review, security and customer support emerged as the two highlights of the Ultimate plan. The company offers 24/7 support and a dedicated account manager. The plan includes single sign-on (SSO) to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the VoIP system.

As you explore CallHippo’s many pricing options, here are a few of our other observations:

Pricing for CallHippo Call Tracking Software

Call tracking software is a tool that lets you correlate incoming calls with any ongoing marketing campaigns, such as SEO articles, Google ads, or even offline magazine advertisements. It helps you track which campaigns bring in the most calls and if these calls lead to greater revenues.

CallHippo’s call-tracking software doesn’t just monitor call volumes from ads; it also captures details like the caller’s location, the time and duration of calls, the devices that callers use, and the details of new or repeat callers.

This software costs $30/month or $25/month if billed annually. If you receive incoming calls from outside the US and Canada, it will cost you $50/month. For this price, you get ten free trackable numbers, 100 SMS messages, and 500 calling minutes.

The software also supports call center features, like compliance recordings, ACD, IVR, and software integrations.

CallHippo Integrations and Scalability

Unlike some other VoIP services that integrate via APIs – such as Nextiva – CallHippo’s custom integrations are built using webhooks. Webhooks are an API-like technology that allows two web-based apps to exchange data using a remote server.

Webhooks are significantly easier to set up than APIs. All you need to do is copy-paste the webhook URL from one app to another and configure the webhook settings to allow users data access. No coding is involved, making CallHippo easy to integrate, even if you can’t find a pre-built integration.

Check out this example of CallHippo’s webhook-based integration with the Intercom app:

Apart from this, CallHippo has an app marketplace with 80+ pre-built integrations.

This includes:

Of course, like all efficient VoIP services, CallHippo integrates with numerous CRM software apps. You can use CallHippo to interact with customers based on data from Salesforce, Hubspot, Microsoft Dynamics, Zoho, Greenhouse, and several other apps.

Is CallHippo Easy to Scale?

CallHippo is easy to scale if you opt for the call center solution. Its Bronze, Silver, and Platinum plans support unlimited concurrent calls. You can even add a dashboard user (who can access management features but not the dialer) if you want to bring in an external consultant or IT expert.

The office phone system, on the other hand, is slightly different. It supports a maximum of 50 users, which can be unsuitable for large companies. However, it does offer unlimited calling to 48 countries to help scale your international business for $80/month/user.

As companies grow, it becomes necessary to connect calling capabilities with other business processes. Bear in mind that only the Ultimate plan for business phone systems lets you access integrations, while they are available with all paid call center solutions.

CallHippo vs Leading VoIP Services

The global VoIP market was worth over $129 million in 2023 and will exceed $400 million in the next ten years. Knowing where to begin your search for the best VoIP service can be difficult. That’s why, in our tests, we compared CallHippo with some of the leading telephony providers.

Here’s how it stacks up:

CallHippo is ideal for mid-sized companies, especially if they want to build a cloud-enabled call center from the ground up. However, if you’re looking for powerful APIs or don’t need international calling, consider alternatives like Ooma, Vonage, Nextiva, and Phone.com.

CallHippo vs RingCentral – Side-by-Side Comparison

CallHippo and RingCentral are both powerful VoIP solutions in their own right. RingCentral has a more extensive integration marketplace and a robust developer platform (beta). However, CallHippo is significantly cheaper and offers impressive features like unlimited international calling.

When searching for the best VoIP provider for your business, you’ve probably come across RingCentral, a business communication company founded in 1995. Ever since the rise of the cloud in the mid-2000s, it’s been building popular cloud-based communication and collaboration products.

RingCentral is publicly traded on the NYSE. Its technology partners include Avaya and Mitel, ideal for large companies and enterprise customers. In contrast, CallHippo is better suited to small teams and solopreneurs, owing to its free-forever VoIP offering.

Here are the key differences between CallHippo and RingCentral according to our exhaustive CallHippo review.

From our review, it’s clear that both RingCentral and CallHippo are impressive VoIP apps, each with its own use case.

Small to mid-sized businesses looking to support foreign customers should consider CallHippo. Enterprises that need a full-featured collaboration platform and an extensive range of integrations can consider RingCentral, although it is more expensive.

What Do Other CallHippo Reviews Say?

CallHippo has a 4.4/5 rating on G2, based on 280+ reviews.

On Capterra, it has a similar rating of 4.3/5, based on 540 user reviews.

Users on TrustRadius rate CallHippo 6.7 out of 10 on average.

Good CallHippo Alternatives

Selecting a VoIP service is an important investment. If you’re still wondering, ‘Is CallHippo legit?’ check out our in-depth reviews of comparable alternatives:

Why You Can Trust Our CallHippo Review

The insights from our CallHippo review and tests are based on extensive hands-on experience. We signed up for the starter plan and took the software for a test drive on multiple platforms, including mobile, desktop, and the web.

Our team has also tested popular VoIP products like Nextiva, Vonage, RingCentral, and Ooma. Our insights from these reviews inform our understanding of CallHippo’s value proposition. This allows us to give you a detailed comparative analysis free of bias.

We also refer to trusted user review forums as part of our tests. This allows us to glean an objective picture of how CallHippo performs in daily operations and, therefore, what our readers can expect. Through this 360-degree approach, TechReport is committed to bringing you the latest, reliable insights from the world of technology.

How to Use CallHippo Step-By-Step

The setup process was straightforward. However, it doesn’t support personal email IDs, which makes it unsuitable for residential VoIP use. To use CallHippo, you need to sign up with your company’s email ID.

Also remember that some of its features, like integrations and call tracking, can be difficult to navigate and use. That said, here is a step-by-step explanation of how to use CallHippo.

1. Sign Up for CallHippo

CallHippo is one of the few VoIP apps to offer a free trial, with no credit card information needed. This means you can sign up right away without being charged. Visit the website and choose a plan that works for you. All paid plans come with a free trial of 10 days.

After you enter your work email ID, CallHippo will send you a verification message. In our tests, it took a few minutes for the email to arrive, so you may need to be patient. Once you receive the verification message, you’ll need to upload a few documents to show why you want to use CallHippo.

Once you share the documents via email, your account will be verified and ready to use. Return to the CallHippo website and sign in.

2. Get to Know the CallHippo Interface

When you sign into CallHippo with your email ID, you’ll have two options – start from the dashboard or start making calls using the dialer. The dashboard is your primary UI where you can view phone numbers, manage users, set up integrations, and generate reports.

Navigate to the left pane to find your required functionality. For example, if you’re a marketing manager, scroll down to the campaign management section to set up outbound calling campaigns. Call center managers can add or modify scripts in the call scripts section.

3. Configure VoIP Phone Numbers

One of the first things you need to do when you set up CallHippo is configure each number to optimize the agent and customer experience.

Click on the ‘Numbers’ tab below ‘Dashboard’ and choose the blue settings button next to the number you want to configure. This opens an additional pane where you can modify every number’s detail, from its availability hours to recorded messages.

Configure the IVR and voicemail options, as these are business telephony essentials. You canalso set up recordings and transcriptions.

4. Make a Call using CallHippo

As mentioned, when you sign into CallHippo, you can open the dashboard or the dialer. If you’ve started from the dashboard, click the ‘Open Dialer’ button on the top right to navigate to the app’s keypad.

The dialer opens as a separate pop-up with mobile-like dimensions. Here, you will see your current location and time zone, as well as the business number the call recipient sees. You can change your availability status from the top of the dialer.

Once the call begins, use the dialer’s call management features as needed. You can record the call if an admin has already enabled the feature. You can make notes, transfer the call, put it on hold, or mute it. If any scripts are associated with the number, they will turn up in an adjacent pop-up.

We were happy to see that CallHippo alerts users if they need consent to record calls in a specific state or country.

Is CallHippo the Right Call for Your Business?

CallHippo is a competitively priced tool for unlimited domestic and international calling. It has a powerful web interface and a competent app marketplace. Call center users can benefit from its smart routing and call management features, not to mention a starting price of just $16/month/user.

On the other hand, its API capabilities aren’t the best we’ve seen, and there’s a 50-user limit on office phone system subscriptions. AI features, too, cost extra.

Solopreneurs and small to mid-sized businesses looking to grow their customer support function can definitely consider CallHippo. You get one free number for every user, and tools like campaign management, gamification, and broadcasting can help you reach your outbound goals.

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