I took the “months free” offer. Can I leave?

Bring the agreement to the walk-through. Nextiva’s offer terms extend the contract by the free months, so we read the end date and the early-termination terms with you and time the cutover around them.

Do I need a network administrator with you?

No. We are it. The firewall, switches and Wi-Fi are set up for voice first and run under the same agreement as the phones.

Can we keep our Nextiva desk phones?

Often, yes. If they are standard SIP phones and can be unlocked, we can usually set them up again for you. We check every model at the walk-through and tell you in writing which ones stay.

Compare · Nextiva

Nextiva relies on you for the network. We are the network.

Nextiva’s 2022 implementation guide for mid-market and enterprise customers asks the customer for call-flow use cases, a network admin and greetings recorded in the portal. We walk your office, design the call flow, build the phones and the AI receptionist, and run the network under them.

Book a walk-through Call (631) 446-2600

Facts about Nextiva checked in October 2026, from their published pages and public records; third-party estimates are labelled. Every claim links to its source.

Fit

Who each is for

Nextiva

Businesses that want a public per-user price, an AI receptionist they can buy online and round-the-clock phone support, with someone in-house to supply the call flows and look after the network.

SLINC

Small and midsize businesses that want the call flow, the phones, the AI receptionist and the network fitted to how they work and run by one team, with changes made by a call or an email.

Side by side

Nextiva and SLINC, row by row.

Topic	Nextiva	SLINC
Price you see	Core at $15 per user per month on annual pricing, which requires “a paid 12-month or longer minimum term agreement.” [1]	No price list. After the walk-through you get a written design and a written proposal for one monthly agreement.
Setup	“Set up in minutes, not weeks.” [2]	A walk-through, a written design and a tested build. By the time the phones are plugged in, we have reviewed the routes, the hours and the AI receptionist.
Who supplies the call flow	The customer completes a Data Collection Template and names an Operations Manager “who can provide call flow and feature use cases” (2022 implementation guide). [3]	We do. We walk each location and write the call-flow map, the hours and the holidays, and you approve them.
The network	“We rely on you to account for all network equipment,” with a customer Network Admin who “can access your network equipment and make changes” (2022 implementation guide). [3]	We are the network: the firewall, switches and Wi-Fi, set up for voice first and run under the same agreement.
Phones and on-site help	“Connect your devices to internet and power.” On-site help is an additional fee, with 5 to 10 business days’ lead time (2022 implementation guide). [3]	Phones configured and labeled for each person and checked before handover. The cutover happens after you close.
Advanced call routing	Advanced IVR is a Professional Services configuration at additional cost, and it “is not part of Nextiva’s NextOS Platform” (2022 implementation guide). [3]	The call flow for each location is part of the written design we build from the walk-through.
AI receptionist	XBert: “XBert learns from your website, FAQs, and business details automatically. Just turn it on and start.” $99 a month for 100 interactions, then $0.99 each. [4]	Scripted with you, built into your call flow and tested before handover. Its warm transfer calls the right person, says who is waiting and why, and connects only on a yes.
Contract	Services “automatically renew for subsequent terms of the same length.” [5]	Written into your agreement before you sign. Ask for a copy at the walk-through.

Price you see

Nextiva

Core at $15 per user per month on annual pricing, which requires “a paid 12-month or longer minimum term agreement.” [1]

SLINC

No price list. After the walk-through you get a written design and a written proposal for one monthly agreement.

Setup

Nextiva

“Set up in minutes, not weeks.” [2]

SLINC

A walk-through, a written design and a tested build. By the time the phones are plugged in, we have reviewed the routes, the hours and the AI receptionist.

Who supplies the call flow

Nextiva

The customer completes a Data Collection Template and names an Operations Manager “who can provide call flow and feature use cases” (2022 implementation guide). [3]

SLINC

We do. We walk each location and write the call-flow map, the hours and the holidays, and you approve them.

The network

Nextiva

“We rely on you to account for all network equipment,” with a customer Network Admin who “can access your network equipment and make changes” (2022 implementation guide). [3]

SLINC

We are the network: the firewall, switches and Wi-Fi, set up for voice first and run under the same agreement.

Phones and on-site help

Nextiva

“Connect your devices to internet and power.” On-site help is an additional fee, with 5 to 10 business days’ lead time (2022 implementation guide). [3]

SLINC

Phones configured and labeled for each person and checked before handover. The cutover happens after you close.

Advanced call routing

Nextiva

Advanced IVR is a Professional Services configuration at additional cost, and it “is not part of Nextiva’s NextOS Platform” (2022 implementation guide). [3]

SLINC

The call flow for each location is part of the written design we build from the walk-through.

AI receptionist

Nextiva

XBert: “XBert learns from your website, FAQs, and business details automatically. Just turn it on and start.” $99 a month for 100 interactions, then $0.99 each. [4]

SLINC

Scripted with you, built into your call flow and tested before handover. Its warm transfer calls the right person, says who is waiting and why, and connects only on a yes.

Contract

Nextiva

Services “automatically renew for subsequent terms of the same length.” [5]

SLINC

Written into your agreement before you sign. Ask for a copy at the walk-through.

The setup

The setup: who does the work.

Nextiva’s 2022 Implementation Overview for mid-market and enterprise customers sets out “what part you play.” Here is that list next to ours.

What Nextiva asks of you

Complete the Data Collection Template. [3]
Name a Main Point of Contact, a Network Admin, and an Operations Manager “who can provide call flow and feature use cases.” [3]
Record greetings yourself “using the online portal, through a Nextiva device, or a combination of the two,” or supply audio files. [3]
“Connect your devices to internet and power,” then join the live test calls with your Operations Manager. [3]
Prepare the network: “Nextiva recommends the network administrator disable SIP ALG on the router or firewall.” [6]

What we do instead

We walk each location and learn who answers what, and when.
We write the call-flow map, the hours and holidays, and every desk’s keys. You read it and approve it.
We write the AI receptionist’s script with you, in your business name, and build it into the call flow.
We set up the firewall, switches and Wi-Fi for voice first.
We configure and label the phones, walk every route and test-call every seat before handover.

The network

When calls break up.

“We rely on you to account for all network equipment”

[3] Nextiva Implementation Overview, Mid-Market & Enterprise, Fall 2022 (PDF)

Nextiva’s guide does offer a Network Check appointment to review your office network against its guidelines. We run the firewall, switches and Wi-Fi the phones ride on, so one team answers for the call and the network under it.

Network

Choppy calls, and a switch nobody suspected.

Situation: A client’s calls kept breaking up. Each of their other providers said its side was fine.
What we found: The phones’ own call diagnostics pointed to the PoE switch in the equipment closet, which was producing collisions in its managed configuration.
What we fitted: We corrected the switch configuration and the calls cleared. The phones and the network they ride on are now run by one firm.

Terms

The fine print

What Nextiva’s own terms and pricing pages say.

The $15 Core price requires “a paid 12-month or longer minimum term agreement” and applies to new small business customers with 1 to 100 employees. [1]
Switch and Save: up to twelve free months require a 48-month paid term, and “Free months of service require a corresponding extension to the total contract length,” so 48 paid months can become 60. [7]
Auto-renewal “for subsequent terms of the same length,” with cancellation notice due “at least thirty (30) days prior to the expiration of the current service term.” [5]
Fees “may also include activation fees, porting fees, early termination fees.” [5]
A Regulatory Recovery Fee that the terms describe as “not taxes or charges required or assessed by any government.” [5]
XBert: $99 a month includes 100 interactions, then $0.99 per interaction. A call counts once it passes 30 seconds. [4]

Fair is fair

Where Nextiva is stronger

Honest answers build trust, so here is where they win.

A public per-user price you can see on the website. [1]
“All plans include 24/7 customer support.” [1]
SOC 2 certification, listed on its pricing page. [1]
An AI receptionist you can buy without a sales call, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. [4]
Implementation options ranging “from do-it-yourself with the help of online tutorials to on-site help from our Professional Services team.” [3]

No portal homework

You shouldn’t have to learn a phone system to run one.

“Plenty of technical people don’t want to build their own IVR in a portal. Your front desk shouldn’t have to.”

So we don’t ask you to. Tell us what changed, by a call or an email in plain English, and we make it and confirm it back.

What a change request looks like

Change extension 104 to Maria.
Close at 2 on Christmas Eve.
Send after-hours tow calls to the new driver.
Add the new hire to the front-desk keys.

By a call or an email. We make it and confirm it back.

Switching

Switching from Nextiva

Bring your current bill and your Nextiva agreement to the walk-through. We note the term end date, check which phones can stay, write the new call flow and do the porting paperwork with you. The cutover happens after you close; when you open, the calls already go where they should.

How switching works

Questions

Nextiva or SLINC: questions.

Is XBert like your AI receptionist?: They do a similar job, built differently. Nextiva says XBert learns from your website and business details, and it bills per interaction past the included 100. Ours is scripted with you, built into your call flow and tested before handover. Its warm transfer calls the right person, tells them who is waiting and why, and connects only when they say yes or press 1. Call (631) 237-9590 to hear it.
I took the “months free” offer. Can I leave?: Bring the agreement to the walk-through. Nextiva’s offer terms extend the contract by the free months, so we read the end date and the early-termination terms with you and time the cutover around them.
Do I need a network administrator with you?: No. We are it. The firewall, switches and Wi-Fi are set up for voice first and run under the same agreement as the phones.
Can we keep our Nextiva desk phones?: Often, yes. If they are standard SIP phones and can be unlocked, we can usually set them up again for you. We check every model at the walk-through and tell you in writing which ones stay.

Other comparisons

The online signup SLINC vs Ooma Ooma ships phones and a portal login. We fit the system and run the network it rides on. The online signup SLINC vs RingCentral For under 20 licenses, RingCentral’s onboarding is self-guided. For us, the onboarding is the product. The internet-provider bundle SLINC vs Optimum Optimum sells a line and a portal. We build the system, on whichever circuit you run. The internet-provider bundle SLINC vs Verizon Verizon’s onboarding teaches your administrator the portal. We are the administrator. The Microsoft add-on SLINC vs Teams Phone Keep Teams for chat and meetings. Put the front desk on a phone system built for it. The phone apps SLINC vs Phone apps Fine for one person on a cell phone. A front desk needs a front desk.

All comparisons

Start with a walk-through

Put our design next to their quote.

We walk the office, map how your calls actually flow, and hand you a written design to set beside anything you have been offered.

Book a walk-through Call (631) 446-2600

Hear our AI receptionist: (631) 237-9590

Nextiva and XBert are trademarks of Nextiva, Inc. SLINC is not affiliated with Nextiva. Prices and terms were checked in October 2026 and change often; check the linked source. Spotted something out of date? Email support@slinc.co.