Hey Quad vs Quo for a Florida business
Quo, the product formerly called OpenPhone, is the best-made thing in this comparison and the closest to us in who it is for. Two things are worth knowing before you compare the numbers. The figure they lead with is the annual-prepay rate — Business is $23 a seat only if you pay for twelve months up front, and $33 if you pay monthly. And their AI receptionist is metered in credits at roughly a hundred credits a call, so its cost moves with how busy you are rather than sitting still on your invoice.
Everything in the Quo 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 |  | Quo Business |
|---|---|---|
| Seat price | $30Per seat per month, Florida communications services tax included. That is the invoice, not the starting point. | $33Per seat a month on monthly billing, $23 if you prepay a year. Plus tax and fees. |
| Billing term required | Month-to-month. No contract, no setup fee, no per-line activation. | Month-to-month, or prepay a year for the lower rate. Seven-day free trial. |
| 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. | Applicable taxes and fees added at checkout |
| 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. | One number per user. Additional numbers $5 a month each. |
| 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. | Unlimited calling to US and Canadian numbers on every plan, subject to their fair usage policy. International is a paid add-on. |
| Texting | 250 outbound texts per seat a month, pooled across the team, then 2¢ each. Inbound texts are free and unlimited. | Unlimited messaging to US and Canadian numbers on every plan, subject to fair use, once carrier registration is complete. |
| 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. | Carrier review and setup, $19.50 one-time. Messaging fee $1.50–$3 a month, described as a third-party Campaign Registry charge. |
| 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. | Sona, metered in credits. 1,000 free credits (about 10 calls) on every plan; 1 call = 100 credits. Extra credit tiers run $25, $49, $99 and $199 a month, with per-call overage from $1.00 down to $0.45. |
| 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. | No desk phones. Quo is an app on your computer and your phone. |
| Setup | The founder sets it up with you, on a call, in your own time zone. | Self-serve. Dedicated onboarding support appears only on the top Scale plan. |
| Support | A person in Eastern time who answers the phone, not a ticket queue. It is the same person who builds it. | Email ticket support on Starter, live chat from Business, inbound phone support on Scale only. |
| Florida presence | Tampa Bay. We sell only in Florida, which is why we can quote a Florida price. | None specific to Florida. |
What it actually costs in Tampa
Quo Business advertises $33.00 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. | $33.00 |
|---|---|
| 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. | $4.44 |
| 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 |
| Quo, at leastAdvertised price plus the two statutory lines. The real bill is this or more, never less. | $37.84 |
| 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 $33.00 that line could be anything from nothing to $12.80. Their regulatory-recovery fee is whatever they decide it is. So the range for Quo in Tampa starts at $37.84 and has no published ceiling.
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 Quo is better
Quo is the best-made product in this comparison and it is not close. The app is fast, the shared-inbox model for texts is genuinely better than a threaded SMS list, and unlimited US and Canada calling and messaging beats a pooled allowance for a team that talks all day. They publish their carrier registration fees more clearly than anyone else, ours included, and they run a seven-day free trial so you can find out in a week rather than trusting a demo. If your business is entirely on mobile and you want no desk phones and no onboarding call, Quo is the honest answer.
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 Quo?
- It depends on your address, and that is the honest answer rather than a dodge. Quo 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 Quo?
- 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 Quo $23 or $33 per user?
- Both, depending on how you pay. Their pricing page shows Business at $33 per user a month on monthly billing and $23 per user a month billed annually at $276. Starter is $19 monthly and $15 annually; Scale is $47 and $35. The lower number in each pair requires prepaying a year.
- How much does Quo’s Sona AI receptionist cost?
- Every plan includes 1,000 credits, which their page describes as about ten calls at 100 credits a call. Beyond that you buy a credit tier: $25, $49, $99 or $199 a month for 4,000, 10,000, 25,000 or 60,000 credits, with per-call overage falling from $1.00 to $0.45. So a busy month costs more than a quiet one, and a genuinely busy front desk climbs the tiers fast.
- Does Quo charge extra for text registration?
- Yes, and they disclose it clearly, which is to their credit: $19.50 one-time for the Campaign Registry review and $1.50 to $3 a month to stay registered, labelled as third-party charges. Every provider that lets a business text from a ten-digit number has these fees, ours included. They are a carrier charge, not a margin.
- Does Quo work with desk phones?
- No. Quo is an app on your computer and your phone, and for a lot of businesses that is exactly right. If your front desk needs a physical handset that someone can pick up without unlocking anything, that is a real difference between the two products.
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
- Quo 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.
Quo 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.