If you've incorporated a US company from outside the US, you've probably gone through the same search: which virtual US phone service should I use? The top results lump together products that aren't actually competing for the same user. This article cuts through that.
We compare the four services a non-resident founder realistically considers — Quo (formerly OpenPhone), Grasshopper, Google Voice, and IncNumber — by what they're built for, not by their pricing pages. Then we map them to specific founder scenarios.
The Short Version
| Service | Monthly Price | Built For | Friction for Non-US Founders |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quo (OpenPhone) | $19 (monthly) / $15 (annual) | Founders and small teams who actively call and text | Low — accepts non-US billing addresses, Stripe Atlas has a public discount partnership |
| Grasshopper | $14 (Solo) – $80 (multi-extension) | Solo founders who want a separate business line with extensions | Low — US-only marketing but signs up non-US founders |
| Google Voice | Free (personal) / $10 (Workspace) | US residents who want a free secondary line | High — verification effectively requires a US-based account and number |
| IncNumber | $7 | Non-US founders who only need a US number on file for their LLC/C-Corp, with SMS forwarded to email | Built for this user — UI in English, no calls to pick up |
A virtual US phone service is the cheapest part of running a US company from abroad. Picking the wrong one wastes $100-$200/year on features you'll never use, or leaves you fighting with a verification flow you can't pass. Here's the comparison.
Quo (Formerly OpenPhone)
Quo is the rebranded name for what used to be OpenPhone. Same company, same product, same Stripe Atlas partnership — they renamed in 2025. If you read an article from 2024 talking about OpenPhone, it's talking about Quo.
What it is: A modern business phone system. Web app, iOS/Android apps, browser calling. Real US local numbers, real US toll-free numbers, multi-user shared inboxes, integrations with Slack and HubSpot and Zapier.
Pricing (2026): Starter plan at $19/month per user (monthly billing) or $15/month per user (annual billing). Includes one US number, unlimited calling/texting in US+CA, voicemail transcription. Add users for the same per-user price.
Strengths:
- Genuinely good call experience — works from a browser, no SIM needed.
- Cross-platform: apps on Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, web.
- Integrations: Slack notifications, HubSpot CRM sync, Zapier, Webhook out.
- Multi-user from day one if your co-founder also needs the line.
- Stripe Atlas users get a public discount link.
Limitations for a non-US founder who never calls:
- $19/month per user is the right price for someone who picks up calls. If you never call and never answer, you're paying for the apps, not using them.
- Adding the second user doubles the bill ($38/month) even if you're a 2-person founding team that both just wants the company number visible in their phone.
- Phone verification at certain banks and identity-verification platforms can still flag Quo numbers as VoIP (this is true of every virtual provider — see the "What this number is for" section below).
When Quo is right: You're actually going to make and receive business calls. You want to call US suppliers, talk to US customers, or have a real business line that rings on your phone. The $19/month buys you a working product.
Grasshopper
What it is: A virtual business phone system from a much earlier generation than Quo. Founded in 2003, now part of GoTo. Built around the concept of "professional business presence" — extensions, name directories, an auto-attendant, separate business and personal lines on the same physical phone.
Pricing (2026): Solo plan at $14/month (one number, three extensions). Partner plan at $25/month (three numbers, six extensions). Small Business at $80/month.
Strengths:
- Extensions and auto-attendant out of the box ("Press 1 for sales").
- US toll-free numbers and vanity numbers are easy.
- Stable product — they've been doing this for over twenty years.
- Plays well with people who genuinely want their company to "sound like a company" on the phone.
Limitations:
- The product is dated compared to Quo — the apps feel older, integrations are thinner.
- $14/month for the Solo plan is competitive but you're paying for extensions and the auto-attendant. If you don't use them, you're paying for sales-team features you'll never touch.
- Same VoIP-classification limitations on certain bank verifications as any other virtual provider.
When Grasshopper is right: You want the small-business-with-extensions feel ("Sales: extension 1, Support: extension 2"), and you'll route calls through an auto-attendant. If you're a one-person company that doesn't need extensions, Grasshopper is overpaying for a feature you won't use.
Google Voice
What it is: Google's free secondary-line product for US residents. One free US number, free calling/SMS within the US, integrated with Gmail.
Pricing: Free for personal Google accounts. $10/user/month for Google Workspace's business version.
Why it shows up in every comparison article: It's free, it's Google, and on the personal version you get a working US number. So why isn't this just the answer?
Why it isn't, for non-US founders:
- Verification effectively requires a US phone number to begin with. Google Voice's verification flow checks that you have access to a US-based mobile or landline. Non-US founders without a US number can't complete it directly.
- The common workarounds — using a US VPN, borrowing a friend's US mobile number for the verification SMS, or paying a Fiverr-style "Google Voice setup" service — all sit somewhere between Google's terms-of-service edge and clearly outside it.
- Google has been known to silently reclaim numbers obtained this way. If your company's W-9, website, and contracts are all using that number when it gets reclaimed, the cleanup is painful.
- Google Voice does not forward SMS to email by default. Messages stay inside the Google Voice app, which a non-US founder may not check daily.
- Many B2B compliance and KYC tools maintain ranges of Google Voice numbers and flag them on signup.
The Google Voice route is the most common silent competitor for non-US founders — and the riskiest. It works until it doesn't, and when it doesn't, the unwind is expensive.
When Google Voice is right: You live in the US, you already have a US mobile line, and you want a free second number. That's not most readers of this article.
IncNumber
What it is: A US phone number maintained on your behalf, for $7/month. Newly provisioned US local DID. Inbound calls play a recorded greeting telling the caller this number accepts SMS only, then hangs up. Inbound SMS is forwarded to your email instantly. No app, no calling features, no English-language phone calls to answer.
Pricing: $7/month, single plan. No tiers, no setup fee.
Strengths:
- Built specifically for the "I just need a real US number on file" use case — the LLC's W-9, the business website, Stripe Atlas's company-info form, customer-support callback fields, professional directories, your business email signature.
- SMS forwarded to email — you can register for US-facing services that send a confirmation code and read it in your inbox.
- No app. No browser tab. The number exists; if anyone texts it, you see the text in Gmail.
- Built and operated by a non-US founder of a US C-Corp who needed exactly this.
- $7/month is the realistic floor for newly provisioned US local numbers — anything below that is either a port-in-only service (NumberBarn, Park My Phone) that requires you to already own a US number, or it's free at the cost of taking on Google Voice's ToS risk.
Limitations (stated honestly):
- IncNumber is not a phone you can call from. There is no dialer, no app, no outbound calling.
- It does not answer inbound calls — callers hear a recorded message and hang up. This is intentional. You will not be picking up calls in English at 3am.
- Like every virtual phone provider (including Quo, Grasshopper, and Google Voice), the underlying number is a VoIP DID. Some identity-verification, bank-account-opening, or rideshare-driver flows specifically reject VoIP numbers — this is at the carrier-classification layer (Telesign, Twilio Lookup), not in IncNumber's control. There is no virtual provider that passes 100% of these checks.
When IncNumber is right: You incorporated a US company (Stripe Atlas, doola, Firstbase, or self-filed). You need a US number on the W-9, on the website, on the Stripe Atlas dashboard, and on directory listings. You don't want to make calls, you don't want extensions, you don't want a multi-user team product. You want the smallest, cheapest way to have a real US number that won't get reclaimed and won't be on a B2B-compliance blocklist as "free Google Voice".
The Scenario Matrix
| Scenario | Best Fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You'll call US suppliers and customers from your laptop | Quo (OpenPhone) | Best modern calling product, multi-user, integrations |
| You want a "1 for sales / 2 for support" feel | Grasshopper | Extensions and auto-attendant are its core product |
| You live in the US and want a free second line | Google Voice | Free, made for this user |
| You just incorporated a US LLC and need a number on file — no calls, no team, no extensions | IncNumber | Built for exactly this user, $7/month |
| You want US toll-free vanity numbers | Quo or Grasshopper | Both support toll-free; IncNumber is local only |
| You want browser-based calling and team inboxes | Quo | The most modern team-phone product |
| You want to send marketing SMS at scale | None of these | Use Postscript / Klaviyo SMS / Attentive instead |
| You need bank-grade 2FA that always passes | A real US mobile carrier SIM | Every virtual provider, including all four above, can be flagged by carrier classification |
Decision in One Line
- Will you actually use it as a phone? → Quo or Grasshopper.
- Do you live in the US? → Google Voice.
- Do you need a US number on file for a US LLC you incorporated from outside the US? → IncNumber.
A US number on file for your US LLC
IncNumber is $7/month, no app, no English-language calls to pick up. SMS forwarded to your email. Built specifically for non-US founders.
Get your US number →What This Article Won't Do
We won't tell you "service X works with bank Y" or "Quo passes Mercury / Wise / Apple Developer / Plaid". Whether a US virtual number passes a given third party's verification depends on the carrier-classification database that third party uses (Telesign, Twilio Lookup, NetNumber), not on the brand of the virtual provider. Some Quo numbers pass some bank flows; some don't. Some IncNumber numbers pass some bank flows; some don't. Any article claiming an unconditional "use service X for bank Y" is overselling.
The honest framing: pick the service that fits your use case from this article, accept that any virtual number can be carrier-flagged on some flows, and use a real mobile-carrier SIM for the small number of verification flows that genuinely need it.
Bottom Line
These four services don't compete for the same user. Quo (OpenPhone) is the right modern team phone. Grasshopper is the right small-business extensions product. Google Voice is the right answer for US residents. IncNumber is the right answer for non-US founders who only need a US number to exist, not to ring.
If you're in our segment — incorporated abroad, US LLC or C-Corp, no team, no calling, just need a number on the company's paperwork — IncNumber is the cheapest realistic option. If you're in any of the other three rows, use one of the other three services. That's what this article is for.