8×8 is a cloud communications company founded in 1987 and headquartered in San Jose, California. The company offers a unified XCaaS (Experience Communications as a Service) platform that combines UCaaS, CCaaS, and CPaaS on a single platform and license. This architectural approach — where the same platform and contract covers both employee communications and customer-facing contact center — is a key differentiator for organizations that don’t want to manage separate UCaaS and CCaaS vendors.
The product line includes the X Series for UCaaS (X2 and X4 plans) and contact center plans (X6, X7, X8). X2, the entry UCaaS plan, covers business phone, video meetings, messaging, and unlimited calling to 14 countries. X4 adds unlimited calling to 48 countries, supervisor analytics, and call recording. Pricing for the X Series is not publicly listed and requires a quote, but third-party sources indicate X2 starts around $15–$28/user/month depending on contract size and term.
8×8’s main competitive advantage is the contact center-UCaaS convergence. Supervisors can monitor both agent and general employee communications from a single dashboard, and all communications data flows into unified analytics. This is particularly valuable for financial services, healthcare, and insurance companies with both large customer service operations and compliance requirements.
The platform has faced criticism for billing complexity — its modular approach means contracts involve multiple SKUs that are difficult to compare against competitors’ simpler structures. Customer support quality on standard tiers is also a recurring complaint. 8×8 has historically targeted mid-market and enterprise buyers rather than SMBs.