Choosing the Right TelBuddy Plan

Every TelBuddy plan includes the exact same feature set: the shared inbox, IVR builder, call forwarding, voicemail, business hours routing, contacts, and the in-app dialer are identical whether you are on the smallest or largest plan. The only thing that changes as you move up is how many phone numbers and team seats are included.

Sizing by numbers, not features. Start by counting how many phone lines you actually need connected: not team members, phone numbers. A single-location business with one or two lines rarely needs more than the smallest plan. A business running several departments or locations, each with its own number, needs a plan with more numbers included even if the team answering them is small.

Sizing by seats. A "seat" is a teammate with their own login (Admin or Agent) who can access the shared inbox, dialer, and other features. If several people need individual accounts, count how many logins you will actually create and compare that against each plan's seat limit.

Sharing one login between people is not recommended. It costs you per-person accountability in the inbox, so you lose the ability to see who replied to a customer, and it makes the Admin and Agent roles meaningless.

Why some plans have more seats than numbers. Commercial, for example, includes more seats than numbers relative to the plans below it. That is intentional, aimed at businesses with a bigger team working a smaller set of shared lines rather than a large number of individual lines.

Usage is not part of this decision. None of the four plans meter your actual texting or calling volume. That is billed separately and directly by your carrier (Twilio or Telnyx) at their own rates, identically regardless of which TelBuddy plan you are on. Choosing a plan is purely about how many numbers and seats you need, not how much you will use them.

Changing plans later. Plan changes are handled directly from the Membership page in your dashboard. There is no need to cancel and start over with a new subscription if you outgrow your current plan or want to scale down.

Plan comparison

• Starter: $19/mo: 2 numbers, 2 seats, a single office line or two, with room for one or two teammates
• Growth: $39/mo: 5 numbers, 5 seats, the most common starting point for a small team running a handful of lines
• Commercial: $79/mo: 10 numbers, 15 seats, more team seats than numbers, suited to a bigger team sharing fewer lines
• Enterprise: $149/mo: 50 numbers, 50 seats, multi-location businesses or agencies running many numbers at once

Sub-accounts share your limits

This is the part most likely to catch you out when sizing, and it is worth being explicit about.

If you run several businesses through sub-accounts, the numbers and seats are one shared pool across all of them. Sub-accounts do not get their own separate allowances. A Growth plan with five numbers means five numbers in total across your main account and every sub-account beneath it, not five each.

So an agency running three client businesses on one plan should size against the combined total, not the largest single one. If those three clients need two numbers each, that is six numbers, which needs Commercial rather than Growth.

A quick way to pick

Count two things and take whichever answer is larger:

1. How many phone numbers will be connected, across your main account and any sub-accounts.
2. How many people need their own login.

Then pick the smallest plan that covers both. There is no advantage to over-buying, because the features are identical and usage is billed by your carrier either way. Moving up later takes a moment on the Membership page.

Worked example. A two-location restaurant with one number per location and four staff who each need a login: two numbers, four seats. Numbers fit Starter, but seats do not, so Growth is the answer. The larger of the two counts decides.

What's identical on every plan

• Full feature set: shared inbox, IVR builder, forwarding, voicemail, business hours, dialer, contacts
• Same availability of the optional AI add-on (AI SMS, AI Voice Receptionist, AI Appointment Setting)
• Same carrier billing model: usage billed separately and directly by Twilio/Telnyx, with no TelBuddy markup
• Same support, and the same access to both carriers

Annual billing

• Any core plan, billed annually, costs 10x the monthly price: 2 months free compared to paying month to month all year
• The optional AI add-on can also be billed annually on the same terms: 10x its monthly price, so 2 months free
• The two are independent. A monthly core plan can carry an annual AI add-on, or the other way round, and each renews on its own date
• Annual core subscribers also get 50% off every professional setup service

Still not sure

Start on Growth. It is the most common starting point, covers five numbers and five seats, and is the plan most small teams settle on anyway.

If you outgrow it, moving up is a couple of clicks on the Membership page and takes effect immediately. If you find you needed less, moving down works the same way. Neither requires cancelling or resubscribing, so starting in roughly the right place costs you nothing if you guess slightly wrong.