Best Virtual Office Companies Guide

Last Updated on June 13, 2023 by Ewen Finser

Whether you’re fed up with working from home or wanting to sell your office space due to rising costs, virtual office companies are for you. If you’re looking for the best virtual office company to use for the occasional physical workspace, company phone number, and receptionist, this guide is for you.

I’ve tried and tested many different virtual office companies with my small business team in the past, so I’ve got quite a bit of experience when it comes to virtual offices.

The 5 companies below are my top picks. I’ll weigh up the pros and cons and provide insight on which virtual office is right for what kind of business.

Bottom Line Up Front

Out of all the companies in this guide, I prefer Alliance Virtual Offices. It has all the features I look for in a virtual office as well as multiple accessible work spaces for meetings and co-work spaces.

The plans available with Alliance Virtual Offices are straightforward, allow for add-ons, and are priced flexibly – great for a small business or startup!

My Top Picks

Here are my top three picks:

• Alliance Virtual Offices – a great, flexible virtual office and workspace
• Regus – a good, widely accessible virtual office and workspace
• Opus Virtual Offices – a simple virtual office space with good features

How to Choose the Best Virtual Office for Your Business

What tools are right for you when choosing a virtual office space? Here are mine:

Location

Choosing a virtual office with locations that worked for me, my team, and my business was a high priority.

Making sure there is a central location for everyone to use as a primary base will make access easy for everyone. This allows for any mail to be collected, signed for, and stored securely by the office staff.

More importantly, having a professional registered business address helps to get an LLC.

However, should I need to book a meeting room or use a co-work space when on a business trip in another state or country, the flexible option was there. This was much more beneficial than taking calls or writing reports in noisy coffee shops!

Workspace

It can be hard to concentrate when working from home (not to mention lonely), so I like being able to book a desk in a coworking space whenever it suits me.

This is also helpful to clearly separate work and home life, allowing you not to get distracted by household tasks during the day and to switch off in the evening when it’s time to relax.

Virtual video calls are useful when quickly catching up with a colleague or discussing a topic. Still, nothing can beat a face-to-face meeting to communicate and understand people’s ideas fully.

Our guide on finding the best project management tool for online business will help you streamline your workflow when meeting face-to-face.

Having the flexibility of booking a meeting space only when you need it means you’re not paying to rent a room that might sit empty most days of the week.

As well as this, most of the virtual office companies with workspace locations on my list offer:

• WiFi
• Printers
• Copiers
• Reception areas

Receptionist

A receptionist service isn’t something I’d even thought of when deciding to use a virtual office location, but this has quite quickly become one of the most beneficial tools.

I like the personal touch this service adds to your business, from simply greeting guests that come for face-to-face meetings or as call handlers. Receptionists can offer advice, divert calls and arrange callbacks when the time is right for you.

With some companies, this service can be an add-on or in the more advanced plans but is worth investing in to ensure potential leads are missed and your current customer base is greeted with a friendly touch when contacting.

Company Phone

Linking to the receptionist service is a company phone system that some virtual office companies offer.

Handing out your phone number to every business connection you meet can’t always be avoided, but I try to limit this to reduce the number of people that can contact me at any time of day or night.

However, this isn’t always doable, especially for a small business owner. That’s why making use of a company phone number is great for having calls diverted to your phone via a receptionist without having to disclose your personal number.

You can advertise your company phone number publicly, knowing your privacy is protected.

Support

Almost all of the virtual office locations on my list include support via:

• Online live chat
• Online support ticket submission
• Phone consultation
• FAQs
• Blog

Having an easily accessible support system is reassuring, particularly when using a virtual office location for the first time.

Pricing

The pricing of the virtual offices on my list can verify from a set fee or depend on the different plans and locations each service offers.

You can keep your membership simple by only using the virtual office space as a business address with add-ons such as mail handling or live receptionist services or have the full works with workspace access and all amenities.

Most plans are flexible, allowing you to adapt to your changing business needs. I found it easy to upgrade my plan the more I used the virtual office spaces.

The Best Virtual Office Companies for Business

Now it’s time to get to know and review my favorite virtual office companies. I’ll share my thoughts on each company alongside their pros and cons.

Regus – Best for Workspace Accessibility

Regus is probably one of the most accessible workspace offerings on my list as well as having some of the best features of a virtual office.

The office spaces are found in thousands of cities across the world, which is great for business owners or freelancers with clients in different cities, states, or continents.

The workspaces at Regus vary from private offices to co-working spaces, which are ideal for any business, both big and small. These can be booked by the hour, for a full day or longer, which allows you to be flexible with your office time.

The basic plan simply offers a professional business address for mailing handling, but this can be upgraded to plans with workspace access and live receptionist services.

Regarding pricing, the basic plan, ‘Business Address’ starts at $35 per month, with their most advanced plan, ‘Virtual Office Plus’ starting from $130 per month.

However, you can also choose from three different membership plans: ‘Lounge’, ‘Coworking’, and ‘Office’. The most advanced membership, ‘Office’ offers:

• Secure WiFi
• Access to a printer, scanner & photocopier
• A receptionist to greet guests
• Coworking access
• Private office access

I found that the ‘Office’ membership with private office access is great for business owners with mid-sized businesses as it limits distractions when important projects are being worked on.

Regus offers a professional call answering service as well as a receptionist to greet guests personally. Your queries can be answered almost immediately via phone or web inquiry, but the website has multiple information pages and FAQs.

Pros

• Thousands of locations available
• Private office space available
• A large variety of features

Cons

• Payment increases for features available as standard elsewhere

iPostal1 – Best for Managing Business Mail

iPostal1 has multiple features, almost all related to managing business mail remotely.

Therefore, you cannot book a coworking space with this company, but that’s not to say it’s not beneficial. If you’re a freelancer or travel a lot for business, having a secure, central location your mail can go to can be a game changer.

iPostal1 has locations across all states and even allows you to forward mail to different locations worldwide.

You can view the outside of each mail item your receive via the app or website. The professional staff at each iPostal1 location can then forward, scan, recycle, shred, or securely store your mail, depending on what you want to do with it.

However, their ‘Virtual Office’ plan offers a call forwarding and voicemail service to handle any business calls for you, but this is limited compared to other virtual office companies.

The cost of iPostal1 depends on how much mail you receive this month, whether you want to add the virtual office service, and how you want to pay. The lowest cost is $39.99 per month for 60 mail items, with the highest cost being $69.99 per month for 240 mail items.

Pros

• A large number of US locations available
• Secure management of business mail
• Call forwarding and voicemail available

Cons

• No remote office space available

Alliance Virtual Offices – Best for a Variety of Features

Alliance Virtual Offices is an all-rounder when it comes to virtual office space.

There are multiple locations on offer with Alliance Virtual Offices which offer co-working spaces, meeting rooms, and private offices.

The virtual phone and live receptionist features allow guests to be professionally greeted, queries answered or diverted, and reduced distractions. This will enable you to win and keep more business whilst getting on with your working day.

The only downside is these are add-ons to the two plans from Alliance Virtual Offices: the Premium Plan and the Platinum Plus Plan.

The top features of both plans are:

• Recognized business address
• Unlimited mailbox
• 1000s of meeting rooms globally
• Lobby receptionist to greet visitors

This is great for businesses that already know they’ll benefit from all the features of a virtual office. However, the only difference is the latter plan provides up to 16 hours of meeting room or private office time, unlike the first.

Pricing, on the other hand, isn’t as straightforward. It all depends on the location, time, and any add-ons to your plan, but this does make it personal to you.

They offer an extensive FAQ list, chatbot, and information videos to resolve any queries you might have, which I found reassuring.

Overall, having the flexibility to personalize my plan worked for me and my business as we expanded and required a virtual phone.

Pros

• Almost all features available on both plans
• Accessible meeting rooms
• Useful live receptionist and virtual phone systems

Cons

• Not all features come as standard
• Pricing can vary

Stark Office Suites – Best for Premier Corporate Addresses

If high-end and luxury are important elements of your business, Stark Office Suites is for you. The locations that are available with Stark Office Suites are limited to only spanning New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Connecticut.

That being said, Stark Office Suites, therefore, offers premier corporate addresses across the most prestigious areas. Particularly good for attorneys, financial services, or consultants.

Alongside this, Stark Office Suites pride itself on first-class interiors, but as a whole, the workspace areas offer private offices, meeting rooms, or conference halls.

On the website, you can deep dive into what each office space offers, as well as being able to view multiple images and a floorplan.

The virtual office side of Stark Office Suites is set out into 5 tiered plans with different price points. The most advanced plan, ‘The Professional Office Plus’, offers:

• Business Mailing Address
• Hourly access to office and conference room space
• Virtual phone system (including a dedicated number and call screening)
• Voicemail with remote access or send to email
• Weekly mail forwarding

This is priced at $400 per month (or $450 in New York City) after a $150 set-up charge. You can add additional phone numbers, mailing addresses, or even a file cabinet for extra charges each month.

More information could be given on how the virtual phone system and call screening (receptionist service) works, but the fact they offer this puts Stark Office Suites high in my estimations.

When looking for support, there are multiple contact numbers for the different locations as well as a form submission but more information on how each feature works could be made available.

Pros

• Premier corporate addresses
• Variety of virtual office features available
• First-class office interiors

Cons

• The most expensive company on the list
• Not a lot of online support is provided

Opus Virtual Offices – Best in Terms of Cost

Opus Virtual Offices offers various locations across multiple states, with spaces in Puerto Rico and Canada too. However, this is limited to businesses that travel internationally.

Even more limiting is the lack of in-person workspace for those looking to change up their working environment from their at-home office. But on the other hand, this is beneficial for businesses that only require meeting rooms every so often.

Despite this, the services of Opus Virtual Offices are straight to the point:

• Live receptionist answering calls
• Corporate mailing address
• Company phone number
• Voicemail and faxes converted to email

The cost of using Opus Virtual Offices is a win for me at only $99 per month for all the features listed above.

With regards to support, the website offers multiple articles and informative videos to help you alongside a helpline contact number.

Overall, if you’re happy working from home or from another remote location, Opus Virtual Offices is a good pick when it comes to features and, particularly, the cost.

Pros

• Great virtual office features
• Good consistent price

Cons

• No in-person workspace available
• Lack of international locations

FAQs

Best Virtual Office Companies Guide: My Final Thoughts

The virtual office company I’ve decided to continue using is Alliance Virtual Offices. The company offers multiple locations globally all with co-working spaces, meeting rooms, and private offices.

It provides great virtual phone and live receptionist features at an additional cost to ensure clients, customers, and new leads are communicated with in a friendly, professional manner while minimizing distraction for me.

To learn more about Alliance Virtual Offices, you can read our Alliance Virtual Offices Review.

However, I’d also recommend Opus Virtual Offices if you’re just looking for a virtual office without the workspace. It offers a great range of features for a reasonable cost – great for start-up businesses or those with a small team.

Finally, if you only need a location for a professional business address and mail handling, I’d go with iPostal1. Its simple features are great for freelancers or those never at home as it securely handles your business mail for you.

I hope this article has helped with your decision of which virtual office company to go with!