Softwr

Telecommunications · head to head

Exotel vs Hiver

Exotel logo

Exotel

Telecommunications

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

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Hiver logo

Hiver

Customer Support

Gmail-based help desk

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Hiver has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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.; Hiver hiver tiers as captured 28 December 2023: Lite at $15/user/month capped at 2 shared inboxes (up to 10 users each), Pro at $39/user/month capped at 5 shared inboxes and 50 shared labels, Elite at $59/user/month, all annual pricing with higher month-to-month rates of $19/$49/$69
  • They diverge on capability: Exotel covers Exophones, Hiver covers Shared inbox.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Exotel and Hiver actually diverge.

Attributes where Exotel and Hiver differ
AttributeExotelHiver
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelPrepaid credit bundle with a fixed validity periodsubscription
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, APIWeb, Chrome-extension
CategoryTelecommunicationsCustomer Support
FoundedUnknown2011

Identical on both: 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 Hiver

  • Shared inbox
  • Email assignment
  • Collision detection
  • Email notes
  • Templates
  • Analytics
  • Gmail
  • Google Workspace

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 Hiver
  • A lending or insurance business running outbound collections that needs recorded, monitored calls from Indian numbers with DLT compliance handlednot Hiver
  • A healthcare aggregator routing patient calls to the right clinic by IVR with fallback to a queue outside working hoursnot Hiver
  • 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 Hiver

Hiver

  • Shared inbox managementnot Exotel
  • Customer support via Gmailnot Exotel
  • Team email collaborationnot 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.

Hiver

  • Hiver tiers as captured 28 December 2023: Lite at $15/user/month capped at 2 shared inboxes (up to 10 users each), Pro at $39/user/month capped at 5 shared inboxes and 50 shared labels, Elite at $59/user/month, all annual pricing with higher month-to-month rates of $19/$49/$69

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

Hiver

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 2 users
    • Email management
    • Basic analytics
  • Lite$19/month
    • Unlimited users
    • Email templates
    • Notes & @mentions
  • Pro$49/month
    • CSAT surveys
    • SLA management
    • Custom reports
  • Elite$69/month
    • Round-robin
    • Skill-based routing
    • Okta 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 Hiver if

  • You need shared inbox.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Chrome-extension.
  • You also want email assignment.
Hiver review

Questions people ask

Is Exotel or Hiver better?
Neither clearly leads. Exotel starts at On request and Hiver at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Exotel or Hiver?
Hiver has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Exotel and Free for Hiver.
Does Exotel or Hiver run on more platforms?
Exotel runs on Web, iOS, Android, API. Hiver runs on Web, Chrome-extension.
Can I use Hiver for free?
Yes. Hiver has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Exotel starts at On request.
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 Hiver is typically brought in for.
What can Exotel do that Hiver cannot?
Exotel covers Exophones, IVR and call flows, Number masking, Contact centre. Hiver covers Shared inbox, Email assignment, Collision detection, Email notes.

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.

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.

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.

Exotel: Is there a free trial?

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

Share

Related pages

More on Exotel

More on Hiver

Keep looking

Other head to heads