How We Compared SIP Trunk Providers
A SIP trunk is a commodity until something breaks or the bill arrives. So we scored providers on the things that actually differ between them:
- Pricing model and transparency. Published rates or quotes? Per minute, per channel, or per user? Any setup fees, minimums or surcharges?
- Channel fees and capacity. Do you pay for concurrent-call paths whether you use them or not, and what happens on your busiest day?
- Contracts. Month-to-month, or a term that outlives your needs (see what happened to Lumen customers below).
- Support model. Phone with a human, ticket queue, or wiki and forums. This decides how long an outage lasts.
- PBX fit. Registration and IP authentication, TLS/SRTP, STIR/SHAKEN attestation, E911 with dispatchable location, documented configs for Asterisk, FreePBX, 3CX, Cisco and Avaya.
- Track record. Years in the business and whether voice is the core product or a side line that could be discontinued.
SIP Trunk Providers Compared (2026)
| Provider | Inbound (US) | Outbound (US) | Local number | Channel fees | Contract | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. IPComms | $0.009/min | $0.010/min | $1.50/mo | $0 per channel | None | US phone + email, all customers |
| 2. Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking | $0.0085/min | $0.014/min | $1.00/mo | $0 per channel | None | Ticket; phone on enterprise tiers |
| 3. Telnyx | ~$0.005-0.01/min | ~$0.005-0.01/min | ~$1.00/mo | $8-12/mo per channel option | None | Ticket and docs |
| 4. Bandwidth | Custom quote | Custom quote | Custom quote | Custom quote | Annual commitments typical | Tiered by contract |
| 5. Flowroute | ~$0.012/min | ~$0.0098/min | ~$1.39/mo | $0 per channel | None | Ticket-based |
| 6. VoIP.ms | ~$0.009/min | ~$0.009/min | $0.85/mo | $0 per channel | None | Wiki, forums, email ticket |
| 7. SIP.US | Included in channel fee | Included in channel fee | $1.00/mo | $24.95/channel (unlimited) | None | Email and portal |
| 8. ClearlyIP | ~$0.009/min | ~$0.010/min | ~$1.00/mo | $0 per channel | None | Ticket-based |
| 9. Vonage Business | Included (bundled) | Included (bundled) | Included in plan | Per line/user | 1-3 year contracts | Varies by tier |
| 10. Nextiva | Metered or bundled | Metered or bundled | 1 per user, extras cost | Per user (UCaaS) | Annual/multi-year for best price | All plans |
Where a provider quotes rather than publishes, the table says so. Approximate figures (~) are the ranges published for typical US domestic traffic.
The 10 Best SIP Trunk Providers, Reviewed
1. IPComms — Best overall for PBX trunking
Established 2002 · Inbound $0.009/min · Outbound $0.010/min · Numbers $1.50/mo · Channels: $0 per channel · Contract: NoneIPComms has sold SIP trunking to US and Canadian businesses since 2002 and still does only that: trunks, numbers, toll-free and hosted PBX on its own carrier-grade switching with East and West points of presence. Pricing is published and simple: $0.009/min inbound, $0.010/min outbound, local numbers $1.50/mo, $0 per channel with no set concurrent-call limit, no contract. TLS/SRTP, STIR/SHAKEN signing, E911 with dispatchable location and failover routing are included; porting is handled for you at $5 per number.
Trade-offs: it is a specialist, not a CPaaS, so there is no programmable-voice API on the scale of Twilio, and international coverage is narrower than the carriers built for it. If you run Asterisk, FreePBX, 3CX, Cisco or Avaya and want a human on the phone, it is the one to test first.
- $0 per channel, no set call limits
- Published per-minute pricing, no contracts
- US-based support from SIP engineers, every plan
- Since 2002; TLS/SRTP, STIR/SHAKEN, E911 included
- No programmable-voice API platform
- Smaller international footprint than the CPaaS carriers
2. Twilio Elastic SIP Trunking — Best for developers
Established 2008 · Inbound $0.0085/min · Outbound $0.014/min · Numbers $1.00/mo · Channels: $0 per channel · Contract: NoneTwilio's trunking product sits on the same platform as its voice, messaging and video APIs, which is the point: if your team writes code, you can build IVRs, call flows and recording pipelines around the trunk. Elastic capacity scales automatically and coverage is global.
For a plain PBX trunk it is expensive per outbound minute and the support model assumes you read docs and open tickets. Choose it when the trunk is one part of a software product, not when you need someone to talk a phone-system admin through a registration problem.
- Best-in-class APIs and documentation
- Elastic capacity, global reach
- No contracts
- Highest outbound rate on this list
- Support is ticket-based unless you are enterprise
- Configuration assumes technical staff
3. Telnyx — Best API + SIP hybrid
Established 2013 · Inbound ~$0.005-0.01/min · Outbound ~$0.005-0.01/min · Numbers ~$1.00/mo · Channels: $8-12/mo per channel option · Contract: NoneTelnyx owns a private global IP network and offers both classic SIP trunks and programmable voice from one Mission Control portal. Per-minute rates are among the lowest published, and channel-based plans exist for predictable bills.
The portal can overwhelm non-technical admins and support is primarily ticket-driven. A strong choice for tech-savvy companies and MSPs that want API control alongside conventional trunks.
- Own private network
- Low per-minute rates, both usage and channel models
- API and portal in one place
- Steep learning curve for PBX-only admins
- Support mostly asynchronous
4. Bandwidth — Best for enterprise wholesale
Established 1999 · Inbound Custom quote · Outbound Custom quote · Numbers Custom quote · Channels: Custom quote · Contract: Annual commitments typicalBandwidth is a Tier 1 CLEC that owns its network and quietly carries traffic for many well-known UCaaS brands. Enterprises with very high volumes get direct carrier access, aggressive negotiated rates and real SLAs.
Nothing is self-service: pricing is quote-only, onboarding runs weeks, and minimum volumes are typical. Small and mid-size businesses generally cannot get an account, and should not try.
- Tier 1 carrier, owns the network
- Enterprise SLAs and number-management APIs
- No published pricing, sales-led
- Annual commitments and volume minimums
- Not practical below enterprise scale
5. Flowroute — Best for pure usage billing
Established 2007 (Intrado) · Inbound ~$0.012/min · Outbound ~$0.0098/min · Numbers ~$1.39/mo · Channels: $0 per channel · Contract: NoneFlowroute pioneered no-channel, pay-per-minute trunking and still does it well, with a clean portal, good documentation and a solid record with Asterisk and FreePBX deployments. It is now part of Intrado.
Inbound is pricier than most on this list and support is ticket-only, so budget time for self-service troubleshooting.
- No channel fees, usage-only billing
- Mature portal and docs
- Strong PBX compatibility
- Higher inbound rate
- No phone support
6. VoIP.ms — Best budget option for technical users
Established 2007 · Inbound ~$0.009/min · Outbound ~$0.009/min · Numbers $0.85/mo · Channels: $0 per channel · Contract: NoneVoIP.ms is the hobbyist-turned-small-business favourite: very low rates, numbers from under a dollar, dozens of points of presence and a wiki that documents every PBX ever made. Prepaid, no contracts.
There is no phone support at all, and outages are handled through status pages and forums. Fine for a technical owner-operator; risky for a business that needs someone to call when the phones stop.
- Lowest number and minute prices here
- Huge community documentation
- Many PoPs
- No phone support
- Self-serve troubleshooting only
- Prepaid balance management
7. SIP.US — Best flat-rate channel pricing
Established 2005 · Inbound Included in channel fee · Outbound Included in channel fee · Numbers $1.00/mo · Channels: $24.95/channel (unlimited) · Contract: NoneSIP.US sells unlimited-calling channels at a flat monthly fee, which makes budgeting trivial for offices with steady, heavy calling on a known number of concurrent lines.
Flat channels cost more than usage billing once you size for peak hour, and adding capacity means buying another channel. Good for predictable, high-utilisation lines; poor value for bursty or light traffic.
- Predictable flat bill
- Unlimited domestic calling per channel
- No contracts
- Pay for peak capacity every month
- Capacity changes are a purchase, not automatic
8. ClearlyIP — Best for FreePBX shops
Established 2019 · Inbound ~$0.009/min · Outbound ~$0.010/min · Numbers ~$1.00/mo · Channels: $0 per channel · Contract: NoneFounded by former Sangoma/FreePBX people, ClearlyIP sells trunks that are tightly integrated with FreePBX through its own module, plus phones and hosted PBX. Rates are competitive and there are no channel fees.
It is a young company with ticket-based support, and the integration advantage only matters if you run FreePBX.
- FreePBX module integration
- Competitive usage pricing
- No contracts
- Newer company
- Ticket support only
9. Vonage Business — Best if you already run Vonage UCaaS
Established 2001 (Ericsson) · Inbound Included (bundled) · Outbound Included (bundled) · Numbers Included in plan · Channels: Per line/user · Contract: 1-3 year contractsVonage offers SIP trunking as an adjunct to its unified-communications suite. If your seats, meetings and messaging already live there, the trunk integrates cleanly.
As a standalone trunk it is per-line pricing with multi-year contracts, which is the model SIP trunking was supposed to replace. Support quality has been uneven since the Ericsson acquisition.
- Fits an existing Vonage UCaaS deployment
- Enterprise brand recognition
- Per-line pricing, 1-3 year terms
- SIP trunking is not the core product
10. Nextiva — Best all-in-one for non-technical teams
Established 2006 · Inbound Metered or bundled · Outbound Metered or bundled · Numbers 1 per user, extras cost · Channels: Per user (UCaaS) · Contract: Annual/multi-year for best priceNextiva is a UCaaS provider first: phones, apps, meetings and a support team on every plan. SIP trunking is available for customers who keep their own PBX, priced per user rather than per minute.
You pay for a bundle whether or not you use it, and the best prices require annual or multi-year terms. Pick it for the whole package, not for the trunk.
- Phone support on all plans
- Complete UCaaS bundle
- Per-user pricing, contracts for best rates
- Trunking is a side product