Beside offers two subscription plans: 👤 Starter and 👥 Business.
The number of phone lines you can use, whether you can share inboxes with a team, and which advanced features are available all depend on the plan you’re on.
Below is a breakdown of what’s included in the Starter plan versus the Business plan, to help you choose what’s right for your needs.
Starter plan (1 phone line)
👤 The Starter plan lets you set up your personal AI Receptionist on your main business line, so you never miss a call and can focus on the interactions and tasks that matter most to you and your business.
✨ What's included in Starter
✨ What's included in Starter
On the Starter plan, you get:
A Beside phone number with you preferred area code
The ability to forward your existing business number to Beside and set up Caller ID, so you can keep using it for incoming and outgoing calls.
Unlimited calls and texts (US & Canada)
An AI Receptionist that answers calls and texts when you’re unavailable
Appointment booking directly into your calendar
AI-generated call summaries after each call, plus a daily recap
AI-powered search across calls, texts, and notes
Call recording and transcripts
🚫 Limitations on the Starter plan
🚫 Limitations on the Starter plan
On the Starter plan, you cannot:
Add additional phone lines
Create multiple inboxes
Share inboxes with teammates
Access certain advanced features that are now Business-only (see below)
👉 If you need more than one phone line, want to share your inbox with your team, or need access to advanced features, you’ll need to upgrade to the Business plan. (see how to upgrade below)
Business plan (multiple lines, team access & advanced features)
👥 The Business plan lets you scale beyond a single line, unlock team collaboration and access advanced call handling and automation features.
The Business plan includes everything in Starter, plus:
📞 Add multiple phone lines
📞 Add multiple phone lines
Add up to 5 phone lines under one account
Get a Beside number for each line
Optionally forward a different primary number to each line
Configure Caller ID independently per line
Set up an independent AI Receptionist for each line, with its own settings, including:
Channels (calls, texts, emails)
Call handling scope (all missed calls vs known/unknown contacts)
Preferences (contact exclusions, greetings, voice)
Knowledge (FAQs, products, services)
👥 Share inboxes with your team
👥 Share inboxes with your team
Each phone line comes with its own dedicated inbox
You can share each inbox with up to 15 team members
Teammates access shared inboxes from their own Beside accounts
⚙️ Access Business-only features
⚙️ Access Business-only features
CRM & app integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier etc.)
Call transfer & advanced call routing
Email call summaries
These features features are exclusive to the Business plan, and are not available on the Starter plan.
Which plan should I choose?
Choose Starter if you only need one phone line for yourself
Choose Business if you need:
multiple phone numbers
shared inboxes and team collaboration
advanced call handling
integrations and automation
💳 Pricing & billing
To see the current pricing, billing options (monthly or yearly), and platform-specific details (iOS, Android, or web), check out our pricing page: See Beside pricing. 📚
💻 Beside Desktop (macOS)
If you’re on a Starter or Business plan on mobile, you get complimentary access to the Starter plan on Beside Desktop (macOS).
Beside Desktop focuses on meeting intelligence (meeting recordings, summaries, and memory).
Phone lines, call handling, and inbox management (adding lines, forwarding numbers, sharing inboxes) are managed from the mobile app.
📚 Learn more: What’s Beside Desktop for macOS?
How do I upgrade?
➡️ Steps to switch from Starter to Business (iPhone + Android)
Open Beside → go to Settings
Tap Manage Plan → select Business plan
Once upgraded, you can:
add up to 5 phone lines
invite up to 15 team members per inbox
at no additional cost. ✔️
ℹ️ Important:
You can only upgrade or modify your plan from the platform where you originally subscribed. This prevents you from being charged twice.
Starter plan purchased on Apple Store → upgrade must be done on Apple Store
Starter plan purchased on Google Play Store → upgrade must be done on Google Play Store
❗️ Google cannot modify an Apple subscription, Apple cannot modify a Google subscription.
• Starter plan purchased on Web → Open your Beside mobile app → Settings → Your Account/Manage Plan → Current plan → You'll receive an email → open it and click Manage subscription.
How do I add phones lines and invite my team?
📚 For step-by-step instructions, see: