8x8 Work vs Bria Comparison: Everything You Need to Know Before Choosing

Bria is CounterPath's softphone application, a software-based telephone that turns a desktop computer, laptop, tablet or mobile device into a fully featured business phone endpoint registered against an organisation's SIP-based telephone system or hosted voice service. It removes the requirement for a physical desk handset, which matters most for distributed, hybrid and mobile workforces: a member of staff working from home, travelling or moving between sites keeps the same business number, extension, directory and call handling behaviour on whatever device they happen to have, and calls route to them rather than to an empty desk. Call handling covers the functions business users expect from a desk phone — placing and receiving calls, hold, mute, transfer both blind and attended, conferencing, call recording, voicemail access, do not disturb, call forwarding, multiple line appearance and presence indication. Contact management integrates the local address book, corporate directories via LDAP or Active Directory, and CRM contacts, with click-to-call from within those systems reducing dialling errors and saving time across high-volume calling roles. Beyond voice, the application supports instant messaging with presence, video calling and screen sharing, so it functions as a unified communications client rather than solely a dialler. Audio quality is managed through wideband codec support, echo cancellation, noise reduction and adaptive jitter handling, with encryption available for both signalling and media to protect calls traversing public networks. Provisioning and central management allow administrators to deploy settings and credentials across a fleet of users without configuring each client individually, and the software is interoperable with a broad range of PBX platforms and service providers rather than being tied to one. Bria is used by businesses replacing legacy handsets, contact centre and remote agents, and service providers offering branded softphone clients. A free version is available alongside a free trial, with paid plans from around USD 2.95 per month.