Top 6 NICE CXone Alternatives for Your Contact Center

NICE has been a go-to name in contact center solutions since the late 1990s, offering its cloud-based CXone platform to businesses worldwide. The platform comes with modern features like AI-powered personalization and agent productivity tools, making it a strong contender for businesses looking to move their contact center operations to the cloud.

However, while NICE CXone brings a lot to the table, it may not be the perfect match for every business. Each organization has its unique requirements, budget constraints, and operational goals. That’s why it’s worth exploring other NICE competitors before choosing your ideal contact center solution.

Strengths of NICE CXone

Understanding NICE CXone’s strengths provides a baseline for evaluating its alternatives. Here are some of its key benefits:

Customization and flexibility

NICE CXone offers extensive customization options so businesses can adapt the platform to their workflows. Users can design custom call scripts, dashboards, reports, and queue routing. For example, a financial services company can customize dashboards to prioritize calls from high-volume customers, while a retail company can focus on tracking customer satisfaction scores.

Omnichannel capabilities

With support for over 30 digital channels including phone, email, live chat, social media, and mobile apps, NICE CXone facilitates communication across different customer touchpoints. Contact centers can easily meet customers where they are, whether through social media for quick questions or email for more complex inquiries.

Advanced AI-powered features

NICE CXone includes AI-driven tools like virtual assistants, interaction summaries, and AI-powered co-pilots. These features can automate routine tasks, provide real-time agent support, and improve customer interactions. Imagine a virtual assistant that handles initial requests and frees human agents to focus on more complex problems.

Competitive pricing

While not the cheapest option, NICE CXone offers competitive pricing and is often considered good value for the features it provides.

Expect to pay $71–209 per user monthly to use NICE CXone. Typically, voice-enabled contact center agents start at $94 monthly. Below is a snapshot from the NICE pricing page: 

Why Customers Look for NICE CXone Alternatives

While NICE CXone has several strong selling points, it’s not perfect. Below are the many reasons customers and businesses might look elsewhere for their contact center needs:

No native UCaaS

NICE CXone is primarily a CCaaS solution and lacks native Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) functionality. This means businesses requiring integrated UCaaS (e.g., team messaging, video conferencing) will need to integrate with a third-party provider. This can introduce complexity and compatibility issues.

Jordan, a NICE CXone user, highlights the lack of nuanced feature recognition:

Complex configuration

Some users report that NICE CXone can be complex to configure and manage, requiring significant time and resources. It’s a barrier for smaller businesses with limited technical expertise. The complexity stems from the initial setup, integration with other systems, and ongoing maintenance.

Another user review underpins this complexity:

Service issues and customer support

NICE also suffers from several technical drawbacks and frequent downtime. Users report experiencing bugs with core functions like logging in, transferring calls, and viewing call history.

A big frustration is the inability to link direct lines or extensions through the MAX agent. Calls routed to cell phones sometimes experience delays. A recurring complaint is the limited call history view, with agents only able to access recent calls, rather than a complete, timestamped log. These technical issues can obstruct efficiency and impact user experience.

Some users have also expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of the customer support they’ve received, with unresolved issues. NICE’s support and assistance aren’t included in their plans. Users have reported high fees for customer support, which can be a challenge for businesses with limited budgets and technical expertise.

Restrictive licensing

NICE CXone’s licensing can be restrictive, limiting how the platform can be used within an organization. Businesses with specific or niche contact center requirements should carefully review the licensing terms to ensure they align with their needs.

Learning curves for reporting and add-ons

CXone has a steep learning curve. The challenges with reporting and using add-on software are particularly noteworthy, with customers pointing the site experiences technical issues often, causing toolbars to not load consistently. Reporting and dashboards can be labor intensive and require a higher learning curve to create custom reports.

Top Competitors and Alternatives to NICE

If NICE CXone contact center isn’t right for you, don’t worry — several other CCaaS options exist. We’ve compiled a list of the top six NICE competitors for your consideration. Here’s an overview and a comparison table of the best alternatives as a starting point.

Feature	Nextiva	CloudTalk	Five9	JustCall	Genesys	Aircall
Omnichannel	Voice, Video, Email, Chat, SMS, Social)	Voice, SMS	Voice, Email, Chat, SMS, Social	Voice, SMS/MMS	Comprehensive across all channels	Voice, Integrations for other channels
AI Features	Virtual assistants, transcripts, summaries	Conversational intelligence	IVR, Agent Assist, analytics	Transcripts, sentiment analysis	Advanced AI, sentiment analysis, predictive engagement	Focus on call routing and analytics
Reporting & Analytics	Real-time dashboards, historical reports	Call statistics, agent performance	Detailed real-time and historical reporting	Call scoring, performance analytics	Comprehensive reporting and analytics	Call center analytics, dashboards
Integrations	CRM, Helpdesk, Productivity apps	CRM integrations	CRM, WFM, other business apps	CRM integrations, APIs	CRM, UCC integrations	CRM integrations, APIs
Workforce Management (WFM)	Native capabilities	Limited	Advanced WFM features	Agent management tools	Advanced WFM features	Limited
Pricing (/user/month)	$20 – $100+	$25 – $65+	$120 – $200+	$19 – $80+	$75 – $155+	$30 – $80+
Ease of Use	Easy to use, intuitive interface	User-friendly	Can be complex for some users	Easy to use	Can be complex, especially for advanced features	Easy to use
Customer Support Rating	Highly rated, known for excellent support	Good support	Varies, some users report challenges	Good support	Can vary depending on support tier	Good support
Target Audience	SMBs, Mid-sized businesses	SMBs, Sales & Customer Service teams	Enterprises, large contact centers	SMBs, Sales & Support teams	Enterprises, large contact centers	SMBs, Startups
Key Differentiator	Ease of use, excellent customer support, combined CCaaS/UCaaS	Stable calling, user-friendly interface, integrations	Advanced AI, sophisticated IVR, detailed analytics	Powerful messaging, agent productivity tools, call scoring	Advanced AI, nuanced sentiment analysis, comprehensive features	Simplicity, ease of use, seamless integrations

1. Nextiva

Nextiva integrates your contact center (CCaaS) and unified communications (UCaaS) into a single, powerful, and intuitive platform. From customer service to internal collaboration, Nextiva simplifies communication, empowering your team and enhancing customer experiences. Its modern interface makes sophisticated features accessible to everyone, regardless of technical expertise.

Nextiva is known for Amazing Service, with a dedicated team that goes above and beyond, proactively resolving issues and ensuring your operations run smoothly.

Key Nextiva features

• AI-powered customer engagement: 24/7 self-service and intelligent call routing with voice bots, chatbots, and IVAs. Automated call transcription and AI-powered interaction summaries streamline agent workflows.
• Unified omnichannel experience: Connect with customers across voice, email, chat, SMS, and social media from a single platform for consistent and personalized interactions.
• Proactive customer outreach: Boost engagement and efficiency with an auto dialer and automated outbound campaign capabilities.
• Actionable insights & analytics: Real-time dashboards, detailed reporting, and AI-powered summaries provide the data you need to optimize customer interactions and agent performance.
• Optimized workforce management: Improve agent effectiveness and staffing levels with integrated WFM tools, including multi-skill forecasting, quality monitoring, and personalized coaching.
• CRM integration: Enhance customer insights and streamline workflows with deep integrations into leading CRM platforms like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zoho.
• Mobile-first productivity: Empower your team to work from anywhere with a dedicated mobile app for accessing essential features and data.

Best for: Growing businesses seeking an all-in-one communication solution without the complexity typically associated with enterprise platforms. Particularly valuable for organizations without dedicated IT teams.

Pricing: Nextiva’s business phone plans start at $20/agent/month. The Core plan starting at $30 per user per month includes all the essentials — unlimited calls, SMS, team chat, video meetings, and a basic IVR. You can also get enterprise plans for large contact centers, which start at $129 per agent per month.

Read more Nextiva reviews on G2.

2. CloudTalk

CloudTalk is a VoIP business calling solution used by customer service and sales teams. The platform offers a stable and reliable calling experience with a user-friendly interface, seamless integration capabilities, and excellent customer support.

Key CloudTalk features

• Advanced dialing automation (smart dialer, power dialer) streamline calling processes by eliminating manual dialing.
• AI-enhanced conversation analysis and insights enhance customer interactions with real-time insights and recommendations.
• CRM integration ecosystem includes apps such as Pipedrive, Zendesk, and Salesforce.
• Real-time monitoring and coaching tools let call center managers keep a pulse on their contact center operations.

Best for

Sales-driven organizations and customer service teams that prioritize voice communication quality and efficiency. Ideal for businesses looking to upgrade from traditional phone systems to a modern, intelligent calling solution.

Pricing: The Starter plan at $25/user/month is a good option for basic calling needs, while the Essential and Expert plans provide more advanced features for growing businesses.

Read CloudTalk’s reviews on G2.

3. Five9

Five9 is a CCaaS provider recognized for its advanced AI capabilities and feature set. It’s a comprehensive platform for larger contact centers with complex needs like sophisticated call routing, automation, and analytics.

Key Five9 features

• Intelligent automation: Advanced AI-powered IVR and natural language processing enable sophisticated self-service options and call routing.
• Predictive engagement: Machine learning-optimized predictive dialing maximizes agent efficiency and contact rates.
• Actionable insights: Interaction analytics and sentiment analysis offer valuable data to understand customer behavior and optimize performance.
• Personalized customer journeys: Sophisticated customer journey mapping allows for personalized interactions and proactive service.

Best for

Large enterprises and high-volume contact centers requiring advanced automation and analytics capabilities. Ideal for organizations with technical resources to fully leverage the platform’s capabilities.

Pricing: The base plans start at $119, requiring a 36-month contract. Contact Five9’s sales for custom and flexible pricing.

Read Five9’s reviews on G2.

4. JustCall

JustCall focuses on phone and SMS/MMS communications, offering AI-powered features to enhance customer interactions. It stands out with its powerful messaging tools, a suite of agent productivity tools, and integrated call scoring and sentiment analysis.

Key JustCall features

• Call transcripts: Convert calls and voice recordings into transcripts (available as part of the JustCall IQ suite).
• Agent management tools: Manage team organization, performance, and scheduling
• Performance analytics: Use call scoring to get insights into how well contact center agents handle calls.
• Sentiment analysis: Get insights into how customers feel during each call. 
• Live call monitoring: Supervisors can monitor their contact centers and step in on a call if needed.
• CRM integrations: Integrate with popular CRMs like Pipedrive, ActiveCampaign, and HubSpot.

Best for

Small to medium-sized businesses seeking a balance of features and affordability. Ideal for teams that heavily utilize both voice and messaging channels.

Pricing: The Base Suite starts at $19/user/month and the AI Suite at $49/user/month. You need to request a custom quote for other JustCall plans.

Read JustCall’s reviews on G2.

5. Genesys

Genesys is an established player in the contact center space, offering a comprehensive omnichannel contact center. It’s ideal for large enterprises requiring advanced AI, nuanced sentiment analysis, and deep interaction analytics. However, its pricing may be prohibitive for smaller businesses.

Key Genesys features

• Omnichannel routing: Reach the right agent no matter which communications channel customers prefer.
• Interaction analytics: Gather new data and insights from customer interactions. 
• Real-time reporting: Keep contact center supervisors up to date on ongoing calls.
• AI-powered features: Get speech and text analytics, Agent Assist, chatbots, and predictive engagement.
• CRM and unified communication and collaboration (UCC) integrations: Integrate with Zendesk, Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom.

Best for

Large enterprises with complex customer service needs and global operations. Ideal for organizations requiring sophisticated customer journey orchestration and advanced analytics.

Pricing: Genesys Cloud CX 1 for voice contact centers starts at $75/user/month. The plans go up to $155/user/month.

Read Genesys Cloud CX’s reviews on G2.

6. Aircall

Aircall is a cloud-based phone system known for its user-friendly interface and seamless integrations. Aircall’s simplicity and ease of use make it a great choice for teams that need a straightforward and efficient contact center system. Its strong integration capabilities allow it to work alongside existing business applications.

Key Aircall features:

• Actionable insights: Intuitive analytics and reporting dashboards to track call activity and measure performance.
• Integrations: One-click integrations with popular business tools (e.g., CRM, helpdesk) optimize workflows and enhance productivity.
• Intelligent call routing: Smart call distribution and routing ensure calls reach the right agent quickly and efficiently.
• Enhanced team collaboration: Built-in collaboration tools facilitate communication and knowledge sharing among team members.
• Virtual call center capabilities: Virtual call center features help distributed teams manage customer interactions effectively.

Best for

Growing businesses and startups seeking a modern, no-fuss phone system with strong integration capabilities. Perfect for teams that value simplicity and quick deployment.

Pricing: The base plan starts at $30/license requiring a minimum of three licenses. Aircall also offers custom pricing with a 25-license minimum.

Read Aircall’s reviews on G2.

Choosing the Right NICE Alternative

Each platform excels in different areas. Here’s how you can quickly find the right NICE CXone alternative for your primary needs:

• For mid-market & growing businesses: Opt for Nextiva if you want exceptional ease of use combined with robust features and reliable support. The unified customer experience management (UCXM) approach works well for businesses looking to streamline their tech stack while enhancing customer experience. CloudTalk is also a good option for teams that prioritize call quality and need strong CRM integration.
• For small businesses & startups: Go with Aircall. It offers a modern, user-friendly solution that’s quick to set up and easy to scale. Great for remote teams and businesses that value simplicity. JustCall is another good option optimal for businesses heavily using voice and messaging channels, offering a good balance of features and affordability.
• For enterprise & complex operations: Choose Five9 or Genesys if you need enterprise-grade capabilities, sophisticated AI, and advanced analytics. These platforms handle complex routing scenarios and high call volumes while providing deep insights into customer interactions.

When choosing a contact center solution, start by understanding your core requirements, including call volumes, necessary integrations, and compliance needs. Research thoroughly by scheduling demos with top contenders and gathering feedback from similar businesses.

Consider the total cost of ownership, including setup, training, and future scaling expenses. Take advantage of free trials to test performance and support quality during peak hours. Remember that the ideal solution shouldn’t only meet your current needs but also support your future growth and align with your existing technology stack. 

Why Nextiva Is the Top Option

Nextiva’s user-friendly interface, excellent customer support, competitive pricing, and robust yet easy-to-understand feature set make it a top alternative to NICE CXone. It’s not just a good option — it’s nicer than NICE.

Nextiva may not be as well-known as some other alternatives, but that’s actually a point in its favor and has contributed to its top-class customer service. Nextiva’s account managers maintain a personal relationship with their customers to provide personalized help based on each user’s needs.

While NICE CXone offers an extensive range of advanced features and AI capabilities, its complexity, occasional service issues, restrictive licensing, and lack of customer support can be detrimental. On the other hand, Nextiva is simple, reliable, and affordable, making it an attractive option.

While there are many great alternatives to NICE on the market, businesses seeking an effective and easy-to-use communications platform with great customer support need look no further than Nextiva.