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Telecommunications · head to head

Exotel vs Groove

Exotel logo

Exotel

Telecommunications

Indian cloud telephony and contact centre platform sold as prepaid credit bundles

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Groove logo

Groove

Customer Support

Simple, powerful support for growing businesses

From
$12/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Exotel bundles expire: the 9,999 rupee Dabbler pack has only five months of validity and unused credits are lost at the end, so seasonal or uneven calling volumes waste money that a pay-as-you-go carrier would not.; Groove billed per ticket at $1 rather than per agent, so support cost scales with how many customers get in touch
  • They diverge on capability: Exotel covers Exophones, Groove covers Shared inbox.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Exotel and Groove actually diverge.

Attributes where Exotel and Groove differ
AttributeExotelGroove
Starting priceOn request$12/month
Pricing modelPrepaid credit bundle with a fixed validity periodsubscription
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, APIWeb, Ios, Android
CategoryTelecommunicationsCustomer Support
FoundedUnknown2011

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Exotel

  • Exophones
  • IVR and call flows
  • Number masking
  • Contact centre
  • SMS and WhatsApp
  • Call recording and quality
  • CRM integrations
  • Communication APIs

Only in Groove

  • Shared inbox
  • Knowledge base
  • Live chat
  • Automation rules
  • Reporting
  • Collision detection
  • Slack
  • Salesforce

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Exotel

  • An Indian delivery or marketplace platform that must connect customers and riders without exposing either phone numbernot Groove
  • A lending or insurance business running outbound collections that needs recorded, monitored calls from Indian numbers with DLT compliance handlednot Groove
  • A healthcare aggregator routing patient calls to the right clinic by IVR with fallback to a queue outside working hoursnot Groove
  • A product team that wants to trigger verification calls and SMS from its own application over a REST API rather than buy an agent productnot Groove

Groove

  • Shared inbox and help desk ticketing for small support teamsnot Exotel
  • Handling email, chat and messaging support in one queuenot Exotel

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Exotel

  • Bundles expire: the 9,999 rupee Dabbler pack has only five months of validity and unused credits are lost at the end, so seasonal or uneven calling volumes waste money that a pay-as-you-go carrier would not.
  • Voice, SMS and WhatsApp draw from one shared credit pool, which means a marketing SMS burst can consume the credits your support line needs and force an unplanned top-up.
  • Per-minute billing runs on a pulse of 30 or 60 seconds, so a 61 second call is charged as two full minutes; on high call volumes this materially inflates the effective rate against a per-second competitor.
  • Coverage and pricing are built around India, with a smaller footprint in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, so a business calling mainly North America or Europe gets worse rates and less carrier depth than a global CPaaS provider.
  • The enterprise contact centre tier publishes no pricing at all, so the transparent bundle prices only apply to the small end and larger buyers are back in an opaque sales process.

Groove

  • Billed per ticket at $1 rather than per agent, so support cost scales with how many customers get in touch
  • A minimum of 250 tickets a month applies, which is a $3,000 annual commitment before any usage
  • A quiet month still pays the 250 ticket floor
  • No mailbox limit is published

Pricing, plan by plan

Exotel

On request
  • Dabbler$9999/year
    • Validity is five months, not twelve
    • Rental component of 4,999 rupees included in the price
    • 5,000 shared credits across calls, SMS and WhatsApp
  • Believer$19999/year
    • Validity is eleven months
    • Rental component of 10,499 rupees included
    • 9,500 shared credits
  • Influencer$49499/year
    • Validity is eleven months
    • Rental component of 10,499 rupees included
    • 39,000 shared credits
  • Enterprise Contact Centre$undefined/year
    • Full contact centre with supervisor tooling and AI agents
    • Custom credit and agent volumes
    • Pricing quoted, not published

Groove

$12/month
  • Standard$12/month
    • 1 mailbox
    • Knowledge base
    • Live chat
  • Plus$20/month
    • 5 mailboxes
    • Full reporting
    • Rules
  • Pro$35/month
    • 25 mailboxes
    • Salesforce
    • Enterprise SSO

Which should you pick?

Choose Exotel if

  • You need exophones.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, API.
  • You also want ivr and call flows.
Exotel review

Choose Groove if

  • You need shared inbox.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want knowledge base.
Groove review

Questions people ask

Is Exotel or Groove better?
Neither clearly leads. Exotel starts at On request and Groove at $12/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Exotel or Groove?
Exotel starts at On request and Groove at $12/month.
Does Exotel or Groove run on more platforms?
Exotel runs on Web, iOS, Android, API. Groove runs on Web, Ios, Android.
What is Exotel best used for?
Exotel is most often used for an indian delivery or marketplace platform that must connect customers and riders without exposing either phone number, a lending or insurance business running outbound collections that needs recorded, monitored calls from indian numbers with dlt compliance handled, a healthcare aggregator routing patient calls to the right clinic by ivr with fallback to a queue outside working hours, a product team that wants to trigger verification calls and sms from its own application over a rest api rather than buy an agent product. Of those, an indian delivery or marketplace platform that must connect customers and riders without exposing either phone number and a lending or insurance business running outbound collections that needs recorded, monitored calls from indian numbers with dlt compliance handled are not what Groove is typically brought in for.
What can Exotel do that Groove cannot?
Exotel covers Exophones, IVR and call flows, Number masking, Contact centre. Groove covers Shared inbox, Knowledge base, Live chat, Automation rules.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Exotel: Does Exotel publish prices?

Yes for its business phone system bundles: 9,999 rupees for Dabbler, 19,999 for Believer and 49,499 for Influencer. The enterprise contact centre is quoted.

Groove: How is Helply priced?

Helply uses per-ticket pricing at 1 dollar per ticket. This single price covers all features including resolutions, drafts, churn alerts, upsell flags, feature requests, and documentation.

Source
Exotel: Do unused credits roll over?

No. Credits are tied to the bundles validity period, five months on Dabbler and eleven months on the higher packs, and expire at the end of it.

Groove: Do I need to pay per team member for Helply?

No, Helply charges per ticket, not per seat. You can bring your entire team, AEs, PMs, and integrations without additional per-person charges.

Source
Exotel: Can I use Exotel outside India?

Exotel operates in Southeast Asia and the Middle East as well, but India is where it holds licences, handles DLT registration and has the best rates and carrier relationships.

Groove: What's included in Helply's per-ticket price?

The per-ticket price of 1 dollar includes resolutions, drafts, churn alerts, upsell flags, feature requests, documentation, and all AI capabilities with no separate add-on charges.

Source
Exotel: Is there a free trial?

Yes, a seven-day trial with 500 rupees of credit and no commitment.

Groove: Is there a free trial for Helply?

Helply offers a free 12-minute demo walkthrough. Enterprise plans are also available for larger organizations.

Source
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