# VICIdial vs CallTools

An honest side-by-side. Each is the right answer for someone.

## VICIdial
The open-source predictive dialer that runs a large share of the world’s call-centre floors. Free software, paid everything else.

- Pricing: The software is free under the AGPL. Official VICIhost managed hosting is about $400/month per server after a $1,000 setup, roughly $16 per user at 25 agents. Third-party hosts charge $100-$149 per agent per month.
- Billing: None for the software itself. Hosting and SIP trunking are separate contracts with separate vendors.
- Dialing: Predictive, power, preview and manual, all included. Ratio, drop rate and hopper depth are directly configurable, more control than most commercial products expose.
- Best for: Floors of 30+ agents with a competent telephony administrator on staff who want total control and the lowest possible cost at scale.

**Pros of VICIdial:** Genuinely free software with no per-seat licence, ever; The deepest configurability in outbound dialing: nearly every pacing parameter is exposed; Enormous install base, so almost any problem has already been solved on a forum; Cheapest per-agent cost in the industry once you are past roughly 100 agents; No vendor can raise your price, deprecate your setup, or lock your data in.

**Cons of VICIdial:** Free software is not a free system: published TCO lands at $130-$400+ per agent per month once servers, SIP trunking and administration are counted; A dedicated VICIdial administrator is a real hire; industry salary data puts the median near $97,000 a year; Below about 30 agents the operational overhead eats the savings entirely; Compliance is yours to build: calling windows, DNC scrubbing and abandon-rate control are configuration, not guarantees; You own uptime. A dialer that is down mid-shift is your emergency at 9am.

## CallTools
A predictive-dialing contact-centre platform sold through sales, with setup and integration fees on top of the seat price.

- Pricing: Roughly $119.99 per user per month month-to-month, or about $101.99 annually. Quote-based, so the published figure is a starting point.
- Billing: Month-to-month available; annual pricing is materially cheaper.
- Dialing: Predictive and preview dialing are core to the product.
- Best for: Established outbound teams that want a full contact-centre platform and will absorb onboarding.

**Pros of CallTools:** Mature predictive engine with real contact-centre reporting; Built-in CRM and list management; Month-to-month is genuinely available, not just annual.

**Cons of CallTools:** Setup fees are commonly $500-$1,500 before the first call; Complex CRM integrations are quoted separately, reportedly $2,000-$5,000; Pricing is quote-based, so the real number requires a sales conversation; SMS is billed separately per message.

## Which to pick
- Choose **VICIdial** if you are floors of 30+ agents with a competent telephony administrator on staff who want total control and the lowest possible cost at scale.
- Choose **CallTools** if you are established outbound teams that want a full contact-centre platform and will absorb onboarding.

## Disclosure, DialerSeat is our product
$35 per seat per week on Pro. $75 per week on Manager+, which adds team ownership and white-labeling. Billed weekly from day one: no trial, no contract, no setup fee, cancel any week. Lead data is preserved if a subscription lapses. Preview, power, progressive, and predictive: all four included at the base price, selectable per campaign.

Where we are not the right answer: Newer product with a smaller review footprint than the incumbents; National DNC scrubbing and consent records remain the customer’s responsibility; No built-in lead marketplace: bring your own list.

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