GBPN vs Grasshopper

Grasshopper sells Solo Plus as the plan for “sharing a single inbox among your whole team.” But ringing several phones at the same time is a separate feature called call blasting, and Grasshopper says it “is a paid add-on feature to your account.” It’s $9 a month.

Texting adds $19.50 to register and $1.50 every month. Sales tax and telecom surcharges come on top. So a team on Solo Plus pays $42.50 a month before taxes, not $32.

Grasshopper’s help center says call recordings “will be stored for 30 days and then automatically deleted.” A dispute, a warranty question, or a job you quoted six weeks ago won’t have a recording anymore.

Texts are harder to keep too. Grasshopper says “You cannot download or export text messages,” and “All SMS history is deleted when you port your number to another service.” If you ever leave, years of customer conversations stay behind.

Grasshopper’s pricing page says it’s “Backed by a 7-day money-back guarantee.” The terms of service from GoTo, Grasshopper’s parent company, say payments are “final and non-refundable,” except where the terms or service descriptions allow.

Those terms renew plans automatically unless you give notice “at least 30 days before the current term expires.” If you leave early without cause, the remaining fees for the term “become immediately due and payable.” That matters most on a yearly plan, which is how Grasshopper’s lowest prices are sold.

You can’t text during Grasshopper’s free trial: “you must purchase Grasshopper before starting SMS registration,” and carriers then take 3 to 10 business days. Owners describe paying again each time a registration is rejected.

Citrix bought Grasshopper in 2015, and it moved to LogMeIn, now called GoTo, in 2017. In 2020, private equity firms Francisco Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital, an affiliate of Elliott Management, took LogMeIn private in a deal valued at about $4.3 billion.

In December 2023, Fitch downgraded GoTo’s credit rating to CCC+. In February 2024, GoTo completed a private debt exchange with its lenders, who put in $100 million and got stronger security.