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Moving from on-premise systems like Avaya is now a necessary step for businesses.

Why? Well, Modern operational needs require the agility, scalability, and AI access that only cloud-based Avaya alternatives can deliver.

But to help you get a better idea, in this article we walk you through the top Avaya alternatives worth considering in 2025.

Why Look for Avaya Alternatives?

The choice to move away from an on-premise Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system from Avaya is a major turning point for any modern business.

For many years, these systems were the foundation of corporate communications. They showed reliability and control inside the physical office. 

However, the current business environment has changed. 

Migrating to the cloud is now a business necessity. Cloud-based Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) and Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) platforms have a different value proposition. 

Cloud based Avaya alternatives give employees accessibility to connect from anywhere. They also act as a direct conduit to new developments in artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and data analytics.

How Thunai Sits on Top of Avaya Alternatives

While the Avaya alternatives listed above are complete solutions for replacing Avaya's system foundation, another type of tool is missing: the AI intelligence layer.
This is where a platform like Thunai fits. 

Instead of being a direct replacement for a CCaaS or UCaaS system, Thunai functions as an AI system that works with and improves these platforms.
Thunai multiplies their value by improving automation and actionable intelligence.

This AI intelligence and automation software connects to your communication sources, like Genesys or NICE, and uses AI to analyze call and meeting transcripts, chats, and documents.

Thunai then automates the time-consuming, post-interaction work that agents dislike. Thunai can also automatically update CRM records, create perfect summaries, make support tickets, and even write follow-up emails. 

This attention to action-oriented AI makes it a powerful addition to any new communications stack.

Features:

• Automated Interaction Intelligence: Automatically captures, transcribes, and summarizes interactions from calls and meetings. This creates a searchable knowledge base of all conversational data.
  
• Actionable AI Agents: Deploys AI agents that can do tasks across applications, like updating Salesforce or Zendesk based on what was said in a customer call.
  
• 100% QA on All Calls: Thunai gives you a full sentiment analysis, and scores calls on parameters you can choose for your business for 100% QA. No need for any more limited random call auditing.
  
• Multilingual Support: The platform supports over 150+ languages. This makes it possible to set up for global businesses.
• True A2A Capability With Your Existing Tools: Our agents don't just work in isolation. Thunai now enables true Agent-to-Agent (A2A) communication, allowing our AI to autonomously collaborate with agents inside your CRM, ERP, and other critical software.
  
• Knowledge-Based Automation: Turns communication insights into actions by creating custom workflows. An example is automatically making a support ticket when a customer mentions a specific problem.
  
• AI Voice and Chat Agents: Lets you build and deploy your own AI agents. They can handle routine customer questions over the phone or by web chat. This frees up human agents for more complex issues.
  

Want to see Thunai in action? Try it out for FREE!

7 Top Avaya Alternatives and Competitors

The main Avaya competitors can be sorted into enterprise specialists built for customer service, or Avaya alternatives that unify all business communication, and developer-centric services that are a set of powerful building blocks. We have analyzed the top Avaya alternatives to assist with this important transition.

1. Genesys Cloud CX

Genesys has a long history in the contact center industry. It has moved from being a top Avaya alternative to a cloud-first company. Its present area of attention is Experience Orchestration. 

This positions it as a top Avaya alternative and and intelligent system. It manages and personalizes the customer and employee journey. The company states that its platform was Born in the cloud. This is meant to show a commitment to the agility and innovation of a modern, cloud-native design.

Genesys Cloud CX Features:

• Omnichannel Engagement: Genesys has a full suite of tools for managing customer interactions. These interactions happen across voice, email, web chat, SMS, and social media. The platform keeps the context of a conversation when a customer moves between channels.
  
• Native AI & Automation: AI is embedded throughout the platform. It is used for predictive routing to match customers with the best agent. It also powers an Agent Copilot that gives real-time guidance to agents during conversations.
  
• Workforce Engagement Management (WEM): The Avaya alternative has a built-in WEM suite. This suite contains tools for quality management, performance analytics, and workforce scheduling to improve the employee experience.
  
• Salesforce Connection: Genesys has a partnership with Salesforce. This results in a product named CX Cloud from Genesys and Salesforce. This product tightly joins Genesys Cloud CX with Salesforce Service Cloud Voice to make a unified agent experience.

Pros:

• Users praise the Avaya alternative’s ease of use and intuitive interface.
• Its stability and all-in-one nature are also frequently mentioned as strengths.
• The vendor is often viewed as a partner. Reviewers note that Genesys gives advice on optimizing usage and even on lowering unnecessary license costs.

Cons:

• The most common complaint is the feature gap between the modern Cloud CX platform and its older on-premise product, Genesys Engage. This can be a challenge for users who depended on specific older functions.
• The standard reporting functions are sometimes considered limited without extra setup.

Pricing:

Starts at $75 (per user/month)

2. NICE CXone

NICE is a major global company in the cloud contact center market. It has built its reputation by delivering an enterprise-grade Avaya competitor. It has a strong emphasis on security, reliability, and compliance. 

CXone, is a Avaya alternative positioned as a CX-aware AI platform. It is designed to intelligently orchestrate all parts of the customer experience in real time. Its architecture and features are made to handle the needs of large, global enterprises.

NICE CXone Features:

• High Reliability: A key selling point for enterprise clients is the platform's 99.99% uptime Service Level Agreement (SLA). This is a contractual guarantee of near-constant availability.
  
  
• Enlighten AI: The platform's AI functions are named Enlighten AI. They are trained on what NICE claims is the industry's largest CX dataset. This powers tools like Copilot for real-time agent guidance, AutoSummary for automated interaction summaries, and Proactive Conversational AI to foresee customer needs.
  
  
• Extensive WEM: CXone contains a powerful, AI-assisted WEM suite. It optimizes agent schedules, automates the quality assurance process, and has a full set of tools for coaching and performance management.
  
  
• Accessible Analytics: A notable feature is Enlighten Actions. It allows business users to query large amounts of interaction data using natural language questions. This removes the need for technical skills like SQL.

Pros:

• The platform's reliability and stability are praised by nearly all users.
• The wide range of features and extensive customization options are a major benefit for large companies with diverse needs.
• Customer support is often called responsive and helpful. Users also appreciate the constant product improvements.

Cons:

• For businesses with simpler needs, the extensive feature set can seem like overkill. This can lead to a steep learning curve.
• The avaya competitor depends heavily on a stable, high-quality internet connection. This can cause performance issues for agents working from home.

Pricing:

it’s contract-based model with varied pricing, with typical terms of 12, 24, or 36 months. A public example on the AWS Marketplace lists a high upfront cost of $150,000 for a 12-month contract. 

3. Dialpad

Dialpad's identity comes from its founders' background with Google Voice. This gives the company a foundation of consumer-grade usability and a cloud-native architecture on the Google Cloud Platform.

The company invested in artificial intelligence early. It acquired TalkIQ in 2017 to create its AI products. Its mission is to supply a truly unified platform. This Avaya alternative joins calls, messages, meetings, and support in a single workspace.

Dialpad Features:

• Voice Intelligence (Vi): This is the name for Dialpad's AI features. These include real-time transcription of calls and meetings. They also include AI-generated post-call summaries, sentiment analysis, and live AI coaching for agents.
  
  
• Unified Application: The main concept is a single application for calls, SMS/MMS messaging, and team chat. It has the ability to switch a live call between devices without interruption.
  
  
• Key Connections: The Avaya alternative has pre-built connections with business tools like Salesforce, Zendesk, and Google Workspace. These allow for workflows like automatic call logging.

Pros:

• The Avaya competitor has a clean, intuitive interface and ease of use get consistent praise.
• AI features, especially automatic transcription and call summaries, are noted as powerful productivity tools.
• Call quality is generally considered excellent and stable.

Cons:

• A major and frequent theme in reviews is unreliable service. Users report buggy applications, dropped calls, and difficult CRM connections that rarely work.
• Customer support is a point of major disagreement. A large number of users call the support terrible, slow, and unhelpful.
• The unified claim is weakened because video conferencing is in a separate application. This makes the user experience disjointed.

Pricing:

• Dialpad uses a hybrid model. Its Business Communications product has clear pricing, starting at $15 per user per month. 

4. 8x8

8x8 has a long history in the communications field. It started with integrated circuits in the 1980s and became an early VoIP market pioneer. The is one of the top Avaya alternatives that has been shaped by a history of growth through acquisition.

This has allowed it to build a very broad feature set. It now works to deliver a single, combined platform for UCaaS and CCaaS. 8x8 calls this XCaaS (Experience Communications as a Service).

8x8 Features:

• High-Reliability SLA: A key selling point is its financially backed 99.999% uptime SLA. This is included in most plans and is one of the highest guarantees in the industry.
  
  
• Global Reach: A key differentiator is its extensive global calling. Higher-tier plans have unlimited voice calling to up to 48 countries. This makes it a cost-effective choice for businesses with international operations.
  
  
• High-Capacity Video: Its high-definition video conferencing can support up to 500 active participants. This is a higher capacity than many other platforms.
  
  
• Advanced Supervisor Tools: The contact center part has important management features on higher-tier plans. These include call barging, monitoring, and whispering.

Pros:

• End-users praise the avaya competitor for its reliability and easy-to-use daily interface. They also praise its excellent call and video quality.
• The all-in-one quality of the platform is seen as a strength for setting up and managing remote teams.

Cons:

• The most significant and often-mentioned weakness is its administrative panel. Administrators call the back-end interface complicated and not intuitive. It requires a lot of training to use. This is probably a result of its acquisition-heavy history.
• Customer support is a polarized topic. Many users complain about slow response times.

Pricing:

Before, the company had clear pricing, like $24 and $44 per user per month for its X2 and X4 plans. In late 2023, 8x8 removed all public pricing from its website. 

5. Five9

Founded in 2001, Five9 was an early pioneer in the cloud contact center industry. It presented an alternative to the capital-intensive on-premise solutions that were common at the time. Its business direction has been very consistent:

it is a pure-play CCaaS provider. Its mission is to change contact centers into customer engagement centers of excellence. This singular area of work allows it to put all its resources into perfecting the contact center experience.

Five9 Features:

• Strong Outbound Functions: The Avaya alternative is known for its strong outbound and blended (inbound/outbound) calling features. These include powerful predictive, progressive, and preview dialers.
  
  
• Five9 Genius AI: Its AI suite has Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVAs) for self-service. It also has Agent Assist for real-time guidance and AI Summaries to shorten wrap-up time. It includes a low-code/no-code GenAI Studio for building custom AI workflows.
  
  
• Full WEM Suite: Five9 has a complete Workforce Engagement Management suite. It includes tools for quality management, scheduling, interaction analytics, and gamification to motivate agents.

Pros:

• Users almost always describe the platform as highly reliable, stable, and feature-rich. Service outages are said to be extremely rare.
• A main theme in reviews is the outstanding quality of its support. Support teams are often described as expert partners who are very important to customer success.

Cons:

• The connection with Salesforce is often criticized as being over-promised and under-delivered. Key functions do not work as smoothly as expected.
• A major frustration is the disjointed administrative experience. Managing the platform requires logging into as many as seven different websites and tools.

Pricing:

Its entry-level Digital and Core bundles begin at $119 per user per month. These bundles require a minimum of 50 seats and a 36-month contract. 

6. Amazon Connect

Launched by AWS in 2017, Amazon Connect is the public version of the same contact center technology that powers Amazon's own large-scale global customer service operations. It is not sold as a ready-to-use application.

It is a highly flexible set of cloud services that are deeply connected to the wider AWS ecosystem. This CCaaS software’s main audience is developers and technical teams. They use it as a set of building blocks to make custom customer experience solutions.

Amazon Connect Features:

• Consumption-Based Pricing: Its most disruptive aspect is its pay-as-you-go pricing model. Instead of per-agent licenses, voice is billed per minute and chat is billed per message. There are no minimum fees or long-term commitments.
  
  
• Limitless Scalability: As a native AWS service, it has virtually limitless scalability. This allows businesses to scale from a few agents to tens of thousands instantly to meet demand.
  
  
• Deep AI Connection: Its biggest strength is its native connection with the full range of AWS's world-class AI services. These include Amazon Lex for chatbots, Contact Lens for conversational analytics, and the new Amazon Q generative AI assistant.
  
  
• Total Customization: The platform is designed to be customized using APIs and services like AWS Lambda. This lets developers extend its functions in almost any way they can imagine.

Pros:

• The pay-per-minute billing model is a huge benefit for businesses with seasonal or changing contact volumes. It removes the cost of idle licenses.
• For existing AWS customers, the smooth connection with the rest of the AWS ecosystem is a major advantage.

Cons:

• The out-of-the-box features are often described as very basic. This is especially true for reporting and the agent interface.
• Building, setting up, and maintaining a sophisticated solution requires deep technical knowledge of the AWS ecosystem. This often means skilled developers or specialized consultants are needed. The list price of usage is only a small part of the true Total Cost of Ownership.

Pricing:

Customers also pay for the usage of any other connected AWS services, such as data storage or telephony. The AWS Free Tier gives a certain amount of usage at no cost for the first 12 months. This permits low-risk testing.

7. Nextiva

Nextiva started as a VoIP supplier for small businesses and has grown into a major player in the cloud communications market. It now positions itself as a Unified Customer Experience Management (CXM) platform.

Its plan is to supply a single, AI-powered platform that manages all customer interactions. It has a specific strength in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market. The main value proposition is vendor consolidation.

It joins communication channels, a lightweight CRM, analytics, and automation in one solution.

Nextiva Features:

• Aggressive Pricing: Nextiva uses a clear, transparent, and highly competitive tiered pricing model. This makes it one of the most affordable choices in the market, especially for the entry-level plan.
• Built-in CRM & Sales Tools: The platform contains built-in, CRM-like functions. These let users manage sales pipelines and track deals directly inside the Nextiva application.
• Customer Service Tools: It also supplies tools for customer support teams. This includes a system for creating, tracking, and managing service tickets across multiple channels.
• Automation: The platform has AI-powered voicemail transcription. It also has a workflow builder for automating repetitive tasks like sending welcome emails and appointment reminders.

Pros:

• The most praised part of Nextiva is its cost-effectiveness. Users note major cost savings compared to other suppliers.
• The platform's ease of use and intuitive user interface are major strengths. They allow users to self-manage many settings.
• For businesses in the healthcare field, the platform's HIPAA compliance is a key benefit.

Cons:

• Customer support is the most polarizing and criticized aspect of the company. It is named as the number one pro and the number one con. This points to a severe and systemic inconsistency in service delivery.
• Many users report very long wait times and unresolved technical issues. Some were forced to switch providers after losing business because of non-working phones. This creates a support lottery and a significant operational risk.

Pricing:

• Core Plan: Starts at $15 per user per month (when billed annually). It contains essential communication features.
• Engage Plan: Starts at $25 per user per month (annually). It adds more advanced functions like SMS messaging and analytics.
• Power Suite CX Plan: Priced at $75 per user per month. This top-tier plan contains omnichannel engagement and AI transcription.

FAQs on Avaya Alternatives

1. What's the main difference between a combined UCaaS/CCaaS platform and a pure-play CCaaS solution?
   A combined UCaaS/CCaaS platform like 8x8 or Dialpad gives the convenience of a single vendor for all of a company's communication needs. It joins internal collaboration tools with external customer service features. A pure-play CCaaS solution like Five9 concentrates only on the contact center.
   
   
2. Why is migrating from a mature system like Avaya a high-risk activity?
   The main risk is the feature parity trap. Businesses often depend on many specific, sometimes obscure, functions inside their Avaya system. These functions have been built into main processes over many years. New cloud platforms may not have a direct one-to-one replacement for every single feature.
   
   
3. Are there any open-source or developer-focused alternatives to Avaya?
   Yes, Amazon Connect is the top example of a developer-centric alternative. It's not a pre-packaged application. It is a set of powerful, scalable communication services built on AWS. It gives unparalleled flexibility and a consumption-based pricing model. However, it needs significant in-house technical skill to build and maintain a complete solution.