Grasshopper alternative: screen the calls to your own cell number

Grasshopper gives your business a separate phone number that runs from an app on the phone you already carry. VettedCalls leaves your number alone: your cell forwards every call to us, and unknown callers say who they are and why they're calling before your phone rings. If you want a line to call and text customers from, that's Grasshopper's job and not ours. If customers already dial your cell and the trouble is who's on the other end, we're the closer fit. The rest of this page lays out both, with Grasshopper's plans and prices as listed on October 10, 2026.

Follow one call through each

Say a stranger sees your truck and dials the number on the door.

With Grasshopper, the number on the door is your Grasshopper number: a local, toll-free or vanity number you picked, or one you already owned and moved over. Its call forwarding feature redirects incoming business calls to a number you choose, your mobile included, and can ring several phones at once or follow a schedule by time of day. You make calls and send texts from the business number in Grasshopper's app, while your personal calls and texts stay separate on the same phone. Voicemail arrives transcribed. Which plans include call forwarding, and how many extensions each plan gets, are worth confirming on Grasshopper's pricing page before you pick one.

With VettedCalls, the stranger dials your cell, and your cell hands the call to us. We check the number first. One you've marked as spam is blocked, and so is one on the registry we share across every customer. Contacts you've saved, and anyone who got through in the past 60 days, are put straight through to you. A stranger hears a greeting in your business name, says who they are and what they need, and presses 1 or 2. A robocall that never presses a key hears that the number doesn't take unsolicited calls, and the call ends. The call that makes it through shows up in the Cloud Softphone app with the caller's number on it, and when you pick up, their name and reason play first and a beep puts them through.

Urgent calls get their own lane. Priority Passthrough lets customers who say one of your selected priority words ring straight through to you, regardless of the time of day. They skip the press 1 step, and your phone rings for up to 40 seconds.

Side by side

Where Grasshopper is the better tool

Three jobs a second-number service does and we don't.

• A business line you can call and text from. Grasshopper lists unlimited calls and business texting on every plan, with a mobile app and a desktop app. We can't do that: our number takes calls in and sends only automatic notices, so you call and text customers back from your own cell, and calls out, 911 included, go through your phone's own dialer.
• Moving a number you already own. Grasshopper ports one over at no extra fee and gives you a temporary number while the transfer is processed. We don't port numbers, and there's nothing to move: your cell stays where it is and forwards its calls to us.
• A receptionist you can add. Grasshopper's add-ons page describes virtual receptionists that answer calls, qualify leads, book appointments and transfer calls, with a choice of AI, human or a hybrid. Our AI receptionist belongs to the Receptionist plan (coming soon). It takes the caller's name, what they need and the days that work, and you confirm the appointment when you call back.

Plans and prices, as listed October 10, 2026

Grasshopper sells three plans:

• True Solo: $14 a month with annual billing
• Solo Plus: $25 a month with annual billing, or $32 a month billed monthly
• Small Business: $55 a month with annual billing

Paying month to month costs more. Grasshopper advertises annual savings of over 20%, so check its pricing page for the month-to-month price of the plan you want. Business texting has fees of its own, a one-time $19.50 registration and $1.50 a month. The pricing page also lists each plan's limits on users, numbers and extensions, so read those for the plan you're eyeing.

Pro, the plan we sell today, is $29.99 a month with 800 voice minutes, and each extra minute is $0.07. Every call we answer counts toward those minutes, spam we block included, and each call rounds up to the next whole minute. Paying for a year up front costs 11 months' worth. Receptionist is $99.99 a month (coming soon) and adds the AI receptionist. If more than one person answers the line, Team answering adds up to 4 more people to Pro at $10 a month each, and every login rings at once. There's no free trial at signup, only the 14-day money-back guarantee.

Which one to pick

• Choose Grasshopper if you want a separate number for the business, you need to call and text customers from it, or you may want a receptionist add-on down the road.
• Choose VettedCalls if customers already dial your cell, that number is on your truck and your invoices, and you'd rather strangers explain themselves before your phone rings. Forwarding has to work on your carrier first: setup covers 16 carriers, some prepaid and MVNO plans can't forward, and if yours can't, you get a full refund in the first 14 days.

Looking at other second-number apps? Our comparisons with Quo, formerly OpenPhone, and Google Voice cover two more. If you're weighing receptionists, human or AI, our virtual receptionist guide and the answering service guide sort out the options. To see what the screening does call by call, read about call screening, and our guide to forwarding calls covers the setup step. The pricing page has the minutes and overage rates on every plan.

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