If you're researching cheap US phone numbers, you've probably seen NumberBarn ($2.99/month), Park My Phone ($3/month), and Tossable Digits ($3.50/month) listed as low-cost options.
They are real and they work — but not for the use case you're trying to solve. If you registered a US LLC or C-Corp through Stripe Atlas, doola, or Firstbase and now need a US phone number on file, none of those three services will sell you one.
This is the article we wish existed when we were comparing options.
The Core Distinction: Port-In vs New Provisioning
The cheap services above are number-parking services. Their entire business model assumes you already have a US phone number that you want to preserve while not paying a full carrier bill. They expect you to:
- Already hold a US phone number from T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, Google Voice, or any US carrier
- Port that number into them (transfer ownership) using a US carrier account PIN and the existing line's billing address
- Pay them a low monthly fee to keep that number alive while you're abroad, between carriers, or not using it daily
They do not sell newly-provisioned US numbers. They cannot, because their pricing model — $2.99 to $3.50/month — is below the wholesale cost of acquiring a new US local DID number from any US telecom provider.
If you're a non-US founder who just incorporated a US LLC and never had a US phone, you have nothing to port in. The number-parking services have no product for you.
Quick Comparison Table
| Service | Monthly | Requires existing US number? | New number provisioned? | SMS forwarded to email? | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NumberBarn | $2.99+ | Yes (port-in required) | No | Optional add-on | US residents preserving an old number |
| Park My Phone | $3 | Yes (port-in required) | No | Voicemail only | Snowbirds, expats with US lines |
| Tossable Digits | $3.50 | Yes (port-in required) | No | Voicemail only | US residents parking spare lines |
| Google Voice | Free | Yes (US Google account + US number for verification) | One free number | In-app | US residents only — non-US use violates ToS |
| Hushed | $4.99+ | No | Yes, but rotating/disposable | In-app | Burner / privacy use cases |
| Skype Number | ~$3 | No | Yes | Unreliable for short codes | Personal Microsoft accounts |
| OpenPhone (Quo) / Grasshopper | $15-$30 | No | Yes | Yes + app | US-based sales teams making 20+ calls/day |
| IncNumber | $7 | No | Yes, new US local DID | Yes (built-in) | Non-US founders of US LLCs / C-Corps |
The cluster you actually belong to — non-US resident, brand-new US LLC, no US carrier history — is its own segment. The "$2.99 services" don't serve it. The "$15+ business phone systems" overshoot it by 3x.
Why the Cheap Services Can't Lower Their Price for New Numbers
This is worth understanding so you don't keep searching for a $3 alternative that doesn't exist.
A newly-provisioned US local phone number from any licensed US carrier costs the provider:
- Upfront: ~$1 one-time number acquisition fee paid to the underlying telecom (Telnyx, Twilio, Bandwidth, etc.)
- Ongoing: ~$1/month per number to keep the number active in the carrier's inventory
- Plus: messaging campaign registration (10DLC fees), SMS delivery costs, voice termination, regulatory fees
That's already $1-$2/month in pure provider cost — before the company providing the service has paid for engineering, billing, support, or a single dollar of margin.
Number-parking services avoid this floor by never acquiring the number themselves. When you port your old T-Mobile number to NumberBarn, T-Mobile transfers the number — NumberBarn just hosts it cheaply because the regulatory and carrier-acquisition work is already done.
If you don't have a number to port in, none of this math works for $3/month.
What About Google Voice?
Google Voice gives US residents a free US number. Some non-US founders try to work around the geographic restriction with a US VPN, a borrowed US friend's mobile number for verification, or paid Fiverr "Google Voice setup" services that resell numbers obtained the same way.
Three problems:
- Terms of Service: Google Voice requires "a phone number from a U.S. service provider" for verification and is intended for users in the US. Using a VPN and a borrowed verification number to bypass this is a ToS violation. Numbers obtained this way can be — and have been — silently reclaimed by Google with no notice, no warning, and no recovery.
- No business legitimacy: Putting a Google Voice number on your W-9, contracts, and invoices works until someone looks it up. Many B2B compliance tools flag Google Voice ranges.
- No SMS-to-email: Google Voice forwards to the Google Voice app, not to your email out of the box. If you're set-and-forget about your business phone, this isn't what you want.
If you do this and your number gets reclaimed mid-year, you have to update your W-9, your website, your invoices, your Stripe account, your bank, your registered agent, and every vendor — for $0/month "savings". The Google Voice route is the silent competitor for non-US founders, and it's the one IncNumber was built against.
Get a real US number that won't get reclaimed
$7/month, newly provisioned, SMS forwarded to email, built for non-US founders of US LLCs. Cancel anytime.
Get your US number →When NumberBarn / Park My Phone / Tossable Digits Are the Right Answer
To be fair to them: if you already have a US number (from a previous US job, prior US residency, or an old US mobile line you still pay for), and you want to preserve it cheaply while abroad, NumberBarn or Park My Phone are excellent. Port the number to them, pay $3/month, keep it forever. That's a legitimately good product for the right person.
That person just isn't a Stripe Atlas / doola / Firstbase founder who never had a US phone.
When IncNumber Is the Right Answer
IncNumber is built for one specific user:
- You incorporated a US LLC or C-Corp from outside the US (Stripe Atlas, doola, Firstbase, or self-filed)
- You need a real US phone number on file — for the W-9, for your website, for invoices, for B2B vendor signups
- You don't want to pick up calls in English
- You don't want a $19/month business phone system designed for sales teams
For that user, $7/month is the lowest sustainable price for a newly-provisioned US local number with SMS-to-email built in. We use it for our own US company. We built it because we needed it and the $3 services couldn't sell us one.
Decision Tree (One Line Each)
- Already have a US number you want to keep cheaply → NumberBarn $2.99 or Park My Phone $3
- Live in the US and want a free secondary line → Google Voice
- Non-US founder with a fresh US LLC and no US carrier history → IncNumber $7
- You need a business phone system for sales / 20+ calls a day → OpenPhone (Quo) $19 or Grasshopper $14
- Burner / one-off privacy number → Hushed
- Bank-grade 2FA / verification → A real US mobile carrier SIM (every VoIP service, including IncNumber, can be blocked by banks)
The Bottom Line
The $2.99 number-parking services are real, work well, and are correctly priced — for users who already own a US number. They cannot provision a new one for you because their pricing is below the wholesale cost of doing so.
If you're a non-US founder whose US LLC just needs a working US phone number on file, the realistic floor is $7/month. IncNumber is built for exactly that user — and only that user. If you're in any of the other rows above, use one of the other services. That's why this article exists.