GoTo Connect Review and Pricing

Why We Chose GoTo Connect for Internal IT Services

The internet opened the world to small businesses, allowing them to connect with customers across the globe. But reliance on a cloud phone system and applications mean more time (and money) spent troubleshooting technical issues. We love that GoTo Connect puts voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) services and IT management tools together in a single platform. 

The system’s integrated products and the ability to make unlimited calls worldwide let companies avoid complex integration processes and serve an expansive customer base without sacrificing efficiency or paying steep costs for international calls. We appreciate the unified administrator experience, which shows call quality and device status for on-site and remote teams. We also like that employees needing help with hardware, software or email can submit a request to their IT team without leaving the GoTo Connect application.

Additionally, small to midsize businesses that provide technical assistance for customers can take advantage of GoTo Essentials. This unique subscription bundles GoTo’s feature-rich GoTo Resolve software with VoIP phone services. Other tools like an intuitive visual dial plan editor and smart call routing earn GoTo Connect a spot on our list of the best business phone systems.  

GoTo Connect users can tap “Contact my admin” to request IT support. Source: GoTo 

Ease of Use

GoTo Connect’s desktop and mobile apps are intuitive and visually appealing. The main screen is uncluttered, with one-click access to voice, messaging, meetings, contacts and favorites. On the left sidebar, you can toggle between different GoTo products, but you won’t see these icons if your company doesn’t subscribe to GoTo Contact Center or GoTo Training. [See our GoTo Contact Center review to learn about additional capabilities for business communications.] 

We love GoTo’s new softphone experience for desktop users. It opens a floating window with basic call functions, so you can minimize the GoTo Connect application but still answer incoming calls. Like the vendor’s other apps, this tool is user-friendly with simple icons. Red means stop (or end call), whereas green means go (or answer a call). We appreciate the ability to switch devices without call interruption (call flip) and view timestamps on all interactions, from messages to missed calls.

The admin panel streamlines back-office processes like configuring accounts and viewing open help tickets. The graphics are clear, making it easy to understand call volume and quality at a glance. Overall, we were impressed with how easy it was to use GoTo’s all-in-one phone system, especially in light of its many advanced features. However, if you need fewer tools, see our review of Ooma Office, which costs less and is equally simple to navigate.

You can shift seamlessly between GoTo Connect features and other GoTo products on the desktop app. Source: GoTo 

GoTo Connect Features

GoTo Connect provides plenty of features for IT departments, administrators and employees. Videoconferencing and chat messaging tools also make it an excellent solution for managing remote teams. Here, discover the GoTo Connect features that enhance customer and technical support experiences.  

GoTo Admin

Only a few VoIP providers offer quality of service reports and some, such as RingCentral, give a real-time view of system health. Such admin tools help you optimize networks for VoIP and manage users or devices. Using GoTo Connect’s system health dashboard is particularly convenient since it covers all GoTo products your company subscribes to. It’s easy to monitor each connection or view company-wide stats. We especially like the watchlist, which lets you keep tabs on employees with fair or low call quality. You can also click on individual users to better understand their call quality history.

View call volume, device status and call quality from the GoTo Connect admin panel. Source: GoTo 

Internal Helpdesk Ticketing

This feature is unique to GoTo Connect and invaluable to companies with an IT department. It incorporates helpdesk functionality into the GoTo Connect phone app. Employees can choose from over a dozen support categories and attach a screenshot if desired. IT staff can filter tickets by priority or type. Each submitted form has a quick links section so admins can click to view the employee’s profiles, devices, history and technical health. 

Employees can submit a help ticket from the GoTo Connect phone app. Source: GoTo 

Floating Softphone App

While several business phone systems let users minimize apps, most don’t offer a condensed softphone. We appreciate how GoTo Connect’s app floats above other windows, keeping your communication tools close. It has fewer features than the main desktop application but includes essential ones like mute, transfer, park and hold. Each person can manage up to five simultaneous calls. We like how clicking on the banner shows the number of calls and their status (hold, park or active).

You can keep a condensed softphone app on your screen while multitasking. Source: GoTo 

Videoconferencing

Secure video conferencing is a critical component of a modern business phone system and GoTo Connect offers this feature with all subscriptions. Users can share screens, join via web browsers and chat with meeting attendees. However, GoTo’s offering falls behind other cloud phone services like Zoom, which we found to be the best phone system for video conferencing. If your business depends on video meetings, check out our review of Zoom Phone.

Set up one-time or recurring video meetings from the desktop app. Source: GoTo 

Visual Dial Plan Editor

Many business phone systems have some version of a dial plan editor or phone tree configuration tool. These include drop-down lists for simple call flows in Ooma and graphical dial plan editors for advanced, multilocation call mapping in 8×8. We preferred using GoTo Connect for this task, as it has intuitive drag-and-drop functionality and is helpfully available in the admin dashboard. You can configure the virtual receptionist to support advanced routing options and features like “Find Me/Follow Me.” (Notably, Ooma also has a tool called “Find Me Follow Me.”)

Call Transfer and Parking

This common feature lets an employee send a caller to a co-worker’s phone. Most cloud phone systems and call center software offer this, but we like that GoTo Connect provides three transfer options: direct, warm transfer and voicemail. Direct transfers pass the call right to another person, whereas warm transfers mean the employee can speak to their co-worker before forwarding the call. Users can also transfer a caller to a voicemail box. This utility is valuable on shared lines, such as when an assistant screens calls for an executive. [Related article: Tips to Win Customers Over the Phone]

Park calls from your desktop dashboard or the condensed softphone app. Source: GoTo 

Pricing

GoTo Connect offers two business phone system plans, Basic and Standard, which you can conveniently buy online. A third subscription, Premium, is packed with cloud call center features like social media messaging and SMS queues. Although this option isn’t listed on GoTo Connect’s website, the vendor confirmed to us that companies can pursue this plan by requesting a custom quote. 

We like that GoTo Connect makes providing customer support and collaborating with international clients straightforward and inexpensive. The Standard subscription includes unlimited outgoing calls to 52 countries and costs $25 to $31 less per user with monthly billing than 8×8’s international calling plan, detailed in our 8×8 review. However, GoTo’s Basic plan lacks virtual faxing and limits video meetings to four people and 40 minutes. Zoom and Ooma offer less expensive entry-tier packages with better video features.

That said, we appreciate that GoTo’s Standard package provides 1,000 toll-free minutes, whereas other VoIP phone services charge extra for toll-free minute packages. Plus, all plans work with a desk phone, Android or iOS devices and computers. 

Here’s how the pricing and features compare with plans for two to 10 users.

Besides the packages outlined above, businesses that want to bundle an office phone system with IT support will appreciate GoTo Connect Essentials. This subscription includes all of the features from GoTo Connect Standard, such as SMS, team chat and videoconferencing, but adds GoTo Resolve Standard with remote desktop control and custom device management. Pricing starts at $35 per user, per month, for 20 users. Explore more available features in our GoTo Resolve review.

Implementation/Onboarding

Many small businesses can be up and running with GoTo Connect’s services within a day. The exact time frame will vary based on the number of users, call routing complexity and user settings you need. When you set up a new GoTo Connect seat, the individual receives a welcome email with their account details, a nice touch we appreciate.

However, we were disappointed with GoTo’s training and onboarding materials. They lack interactive training modules and videos. Most documentation doesn’t have screenshots, either. The knowledge base has many articles but refers to different software versions, and we couldn’t find information for some of the newest features. Other competitors offer on-demand webinars and tutorials with screenshots, GIFs and videos.

Customer Support

While GoTo Connect offers 24/7 customer support, the options may differ by your location. During our investigation, which was United States-based, we could only access customer service through email or an online ticketing system. The company responds to emails within 24 hours. This falls short of GoTo Connect alternatives, which provide live chat and phone support. 

We did, however, find it useful that a GoTo manager monitors the vendor’s community forum and answers user questions within a few hours. This is a selling point over rivals as most provider message boards are either inactive or rely on self-help support from peers rather than company employees. 

Limitations

GoTo Connect’s self-service and customer support options lag far behind most other business phone systems we reviewed. This may be fine if most of your team is familiar with web- or app-based calling, but it does make it difficult to train staff quickly and take advantage of all features and tools. Check out the valuable support resources detailed in our RingCentral review if this is an important consideration for your business.

GoTo Connect also lacks the AI-powered tools that many similar products have or are rolling out. The platform doesn’t provide real-time call or meeting transcripts, use speech recognition to automate action items or automate agent coaching. If these features interest you, consider our review of Dialpad for an alternate solution.

Methodology

Our team evaluated dozens of VoIP phone services to identify the best business phone systems. We assessed more than 50 features, from call forwarding and virtual receptionists to video and audio conferencing. After downloading softphone apps, we tested systems for ease of use and overall functionality. In addition, we contacted customer service to assess support availability and quality. GoTo Connect set itself apart as the best solution for businesses needing assistance with internal IT services because of the valuable IT management tools it provides alongside more traditional communications features. Explore more criteria to keep in mind in our guide to choosing a business phone system. 

Bottom Line

We recommend GoTo Connect for …

• Companies looking to save money on international calls.
• Small businesses wanting to bundle IT software and VoIP
• Organizations that want to use their current IP phones.

We don’t recommend GoTo Connect for …

• Businesses that need high-touch customer support and onboarding.  
• Solopreneurs looking for cheap VoIP service. 
• Companies wanting AI-powered tools.