Hey Quad vs Nextiva for a Florida business
Nextiva’s pricing page leads with $15 a seat, which is the lowest headline number on this site and comes with the most conditions attached. Their own fine print sets out the first one: the annual small-business rate is for new customers with 1 to 100 employees "signing a paid 12-month or longer minimum term agreement". Monthly billing on the same Core tier is $23. The second condition is what is missing — the page says nothing whatsoever about tax or fees, which for a Florida buyer is the largest unstated number on it.
Everything in the Nextiva column was read at their own pages on September 8, 2026 and is quoted rather than summarised. Our column comes from our live rate card, not from this file, so it cannot disagree with an invoice.
Side by side
| What is being compared |  | Nextiva Core |
|---|---|---|
| Seat price | $30Per seat per month, Florida communications services tax included. That is the invoice, not the starting point. | $23Per seat a month on monthly billing, $15 if you prepay a year. Plus tax and fees. |
| Billing term required | Month-to-month. No contract, no setup fee, no per-line activation. | Eligibility for annual Small Business pricing: new small business customers with 1–100 employees signing a paid 12-month or longer minimum term agreement. |
| Taxes and fees | Florida communications services tax is inside the seat price, and the invoice itemizes it as the law requires. Usage past your pool is billed at the listed rate plus applicable tax. | Not published on their pricing page. |
| Phone numbers | One local number per seat, pooled across the org — five seats means five numbers. Beyond that, $1 a month each. E911 is included per number. | A toll-free number is an add-on on Core and included from Engage. The pricing page does not state a per-user direct-dial allowance. |
| Calling minutes | 3,000 minutes per seat a month, pooled across the team, then 3¢ a minute. International is one flat 15¢ a minute wherever you call. | The pricing page states no calling-minute allowance. Free toll-free minutes are capped: none on Core, up to 2,000 on Engage, up to 10,000 on Scale. |
| Texting | 250 outbound texts per seat a month, pooled across the team, then 2¢ each. Inbound texts are free and unlimited. | 100 text messages per user per month on Core, 500 on Engage, unlimited on Scale. |
| Text registration fees | $5 to register your business and $15 for the carrier review, once each, then $2 a month to stay registered — carrier cost plus a small fee. We fill in the paperwork. | Not published on their pricing page. |
| AI receptionist | Optional add-on from $49 a month, with its own pool of 200 AI minutes that does not eat your calling allowance. Priced by tier, not metered per call. | XBert, the AI receptionist, is listed as an add-on on all three plans. No price is published. |
| Desk phones | We ship desk phones pre-configured, and they stay ours — cancel and we send a prepaid box. Or use the softphone on your computer and mobile, or both at once on one seat. | Desk phones are sold through Nextiva; the pricing page prices service only. |
| Setup | The founder sets it up with you, on a call, in your own time zone. | "Hands-on setup assistance" is listed as a feature, without saying on which plans or at what cost. |
| Support | A person in Eastern time who answers the phone, not a ticket queue. It is the same person who builds it. | 24/7 support by phone, email and chat. Sales line (800) 799-0600. |
| Florida presence | Tampa Bay. We sell only in Florida, which is why we can quote a Florida price. | None specific to Florida. Nextiva is based in Scottsdale, Arizona. |
What it actually costs in Tampa
Nextiva Core advertises $23.00 a seat. Tampa’s local communications services tax rate is 6.02%, so with the 7.44% state portion the combined rate is 13.46%. One seat, one number, one month:
| Advertised price, one seatThe number on the pricing page. | $23.00 |
|---|---|
| Florida communications services tax, 13.46%7.44% state and gross receipts tax plus 6.02% for Tampa. Set by statute and published per jurisdiction, so this one is exact. | $3.10 |
| Florida E911 fee, $0.40 per numberCharged per phone number, not per seat, and state and local taxes do not apply to it — so it lands outside the tax above. | $0.40 |
| Federal Universal Service Fund pass-throughA percentage of the provider's interstate end-user revenue — 38.8% for the third quarter of 2026. How much of a bundled bill counts as interstate is the provider's own allocation, and none of them publish it. | not published |
| The provider’s own "regulatory recovery" feeNot a tax and not remitted to anyone. Every national provider names one; not one publishes the amount. | not published |
| Nextiva, at leastAdvertised price plus the two statutory lines. The real bill is this or more, never less. | $26.50 |
| Hey Quad, exactlyFlorida communications services tax and E911 are already inside this number. There is no second line. | $30 |
The two unpublished lines are not us being coy. The federal Universal Service charge is a percentage — 38.8% for the third quarter of 2026 — of the provider’s interstate end-user revenue, and how much of a bundled seat counts as interstate is their own allocation, which nobody publishes. On $23.00 that line could be anything from nothing to $8.92. Their regulatory-recovery fee is whatever they decide it is. So the range for Nextiva in Tampa starts at $26.50 and has no published ceiling.
Read that honestly and it says Nextiva starts lower than we do, even after Florida tax. So the question is not which number is smaller, it is what each number buys — and that is the table above, not this one. Compare the calling and texting allowances line by line, check whether the advertised rate needs a term commitment, and note which of the two totals is a floor and which is the whole bill. If the allowances suit you and you are content to sign for a year, theirs is the better buy and you should take it.
Statutory figures from the Florida Department of Revenue, the FCC and Fla. Stat. § 365.172, read September 8, 2026. The full workings, including the $0.40 per-number E911 fee and why it sits outside the tax base, are on the Florida phone tax page.
Where Nextiva is better
Nextiva is a real customer-experience platform, not just a phone system. If you need a blended inbound and outbound contact centre, social and review management, a shared team email inbox and journey orchestration under one login, their Engage and Scale tiers do things we do not do at all and are not trying to. Their published trust signals are also in a different league: SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications, 24/7 phone support, and a support organisation that exists at three in the morning. For a business with twenty agents and a formal queue, Nextiva is a serious answer and we are not.
We would rather you read that here than find it out in month two. If it describes your business, buy theirs.
Questions people ask
- Is Hey Quad cheaper than Nextiva?
- It depends on your address, and that is the honest answer rather than a dodge. Nextiva advertises a price before Florida communications services tax, which runs 7.74% to 15.14% depending on your jurisdiction, and before the federal Universal Service charge and their own fee lines. Our seat price already includes the Florida tax. Compare the number on the invoice, not the number on the pricing page — the arithmetic is on this page and on our Florida phone tax page.
- Do you serve businesses outside Florida?
- Not yet. Selling phone service in a state means dealing with that state’s communications tax properly, and we do one state well rather than five badly. Tell us where you are and we will let you know when we open your state.
- Can I keep my number if I move from Nextiva?
- Yes. Your number is yours, and porting it to us is free. We handle the paperwork with the losing carrier and schedule the switch so your phones do not go quiet in the middle of a workday.
- Is Nextiva really $15 per user?
- Only on a twelve-month minimum term. Their eligibility note reads: "Eligibility for annual Small Business pricing: new small business customers with 1–100 employees signing a paid 12-month or longer minimum term agreement." On monthly billing the same Core plan is $23 a user. Engage is $25 annual and $50 monthly.
- Does Nextiva say anything about taxes and fees?
- Not on the pricing page. We read it in a browser and there is no tax or fee disclosure anywhere on it — no note that taxes apply, no fee explainer, nothing. Ooma, Quo and RingCentral all say something. For a Florida business the communications services tax alone runs 7.74% to 15.14% depending on the address, so the silence is significant.
- How many text messages does Nextiva include?
- Their feature comparison lists 100 text messages per user per month on Core, 500 on Engage and unlimited on Scale. Core is the $15 annual tier, so the cheapest Nextiva seat is a hundred texts a month for that user, not pooled across the team.
- What does Nextiva’s AI receptionist cost?
- XBert, their AI receptionist, is listed as an add-on on all three plans and no price is published for it. Ours is a named monthly tier with its own pool of AI minutes, listed on the pricing page.
See what your seat would cost
We sell in Florida today, which is why we can quote a Florida number. One question and you get an answer, not a callback.
Tell us about the business
Sources
- Nextiva pricing, read September 8, 2026.
- Florida Department of Revenue, the FCC and Fla. Stat. § 365.172 — all linked and quoted on the Florida phone tax page.
Nextiva is a trademark of its owner and has nothing to do with us. We are not affiliated with them, and nothing here is a quote on their behalf. Prices move, and the date above is when we last checked; if you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.