Compare · Quo (formerly OpenPhone)
Quo or Cleat? A phone system for customers, or a line for your codes.
Your company runs on Quo, or you're about to set it up. Then Stripe, the bank or an ad platform tries to text a code to the Quo number and nothing arrives. These are different products for different jobs. Here's where each one fits, in Quo's own words where it matters.
By the Cleat team · Updated September 15, 2026
Who this comparison is for
Founders and small teams deciding where the company's login codes should land. If what you need is a business number your customers can call and text, this isn't really a choice: Quo does that and Cleat doesn't.
The one-line difference
Quo describes itself as “the shared business phone and inbox that gives your team one place for every call, text, and customer” (Quo). Its numbers are internet (VoIP) numbers. Cleat is a real US mobile line that only receives, built for the codes that VoIP numbers don't get. How line-type checks work.
What Quo does better
- Calls. Your team answers and places calls, with routing. Cleat Line can't make or answer a call; an incoming call reaches you later as a transcript.
- Texting customers. Quo plans include “Calling and messaging to US and Canadian numbers” (Quo pricing). Nobody can send a text from a Cleat line today.
- A shared number your customers know. In Quo's words: “Share one number and stay aligned with your team” (Quo).
- Porting and choosing numbers. Each Quo user gets “One new or ported phone number (local or toll-free)” (Quo pricing). Cleat assigns a new number, and you can't pick the area code.
- The rest of a phone system: AI answering, analytics and integrations with the tools you already use.
If any of that is what you're buying, buy Quo. Cleat isn't trying to be it.
Where Quo says its numbers fall short
Quo is unusually direct about verification codes, which we respect:
Quo Help Center
“Most 2FA and verification codes are sent from short codes (5–6 digit numbers). Quo numbers can't receive short code SMS.”
https://support.quo.com/troubleshooting/messaging-issuesQuo, on why
“a VoIP limitation that applies across providers, not just Quo”
https://support.quo.com/troubleshooting/messaging-issuesQuo pricing FAQ
“In many cases, services that use 2-factor authentication (2FA) don't allow virtual phone numbers to be used during the registration/verification step”
https://www.quo.com/pricing
That's not a flaw in Quo. It's what every internet number runs into. It just means the number on your website is rarely the right place for your company's bank and payment codes.
Side by side
| Quo | Cleat Line | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | “every call, text, and customer” | Receiving verification codes for the company's accounts |
| Number type | Internet (VoIP), in Quo's words a “VoIP limitation” | Real US mobile line, not VoIP |
| Short-code texts, where most codes come from | “Quo numbers can't receive short code SMS.” | Usually received |
| Calls | Yes, with call routing | No. Incoming calls arrive as transcripts; you can't answer or return them |
| Sending texts | Yes, to US and Canadian numbers | No. Receive-only |
| Price | Per user: $15, $23 or $35 a month billed annually; $19, $33 or $47 month to month | $24.99 a month or $249.90 a year per line |
| Team access | Priced per user; Starter allows “Up to 10 paid users” | Your whole team, free |
| Numbers | “One new or ported phone number (local or toll-free) per user” | One new US number per line; no porting, no choice of area code |
| Owner | Not described on the pages we checked | A person verified with a government ID and a selfie through Stripe, or ID-only reviewed by a person |
| Where texts show up | Quo's apps and its integrations | Live inbox, email, Telegram, a Slack or Teams channel, webhooks and the REST API |
| Emergency calls | See Quo's terms | No 911 or emergency calls |
Why a lot of teams will use both
The setup we'd suggest to a friend: Quo stays the number on your website, your invoices and your Google Business profile. Customers call it, your team texts back. A Cleat line goes on the accounts that send codes: the business bank, Stripe, payroll, the domain registrar, ad platforms. Nobody outside the company ever sees that number.
Codes then land in a shared inbox, or straight in the Slack or Teams channel your team already reads (how). One line covers the whole team, so it costs $24.99 a month whether you're two people or twenty.
And if your Quo number already gets every code you need, you don't need Cleat. Keep the money. Most services that turn away VoIP accept a real mobile line, but no provider can promise that every service accepts every number, Cleat included.
Setting it up next to Quo
- Pick who owns the line: a founder or ops lead who verifies their identity (about two minutes). The number is live once they subscribe.
- Invite the team. Teammates don't verify and don't pay.
- Move one account at a time, starting with the ones whose codes never reached Quo. Change the phone number, then log out and back in to test it.
- Leave everything customer-facing on Quo.
Running a US company from abroad? Read a US phone number for your US company. Sharing codes across a team? See Cleat for teams. Why every line has a verified owner: why verified numbers keep working.
Questions
Can a Quo number receive 2FA codes?
Sometimes. Quo's help centre says most verification codes come from short codes and that Quo numbers can't receive them, and its pricing FAQ says many services don't allow virtual numbers at sign-up.
Can Cleat replace Quo?
Not for talking to customers. Cleat Line only receives: no calls, no outbound texts. Calls and sending texts are coming with Cleat Full; join the waitlist if that's what you're waiting for.
Can I port my Quo number to Cleat?
No, and you probably shouldn't want to. Cleat assigns a new US number, and the point is to keep your codes off the number your customers use.
Does everyone on the team need their own Cleat line?
No. One line, one verified owner, and the whole team invited at no extra cost.
Will our bank accept a Cleat number?
Most services that refuse internet numbers accept a real mobile line. No provider can promise that every one does, so try it in your first month and cancel if it doesn't fit.
Sources
Facts about other companies come from their own pages, checked in September 2026.
- Quo (formerly OpenPhone) https://www.quo.com/
- Quo pricing https://www.quo.com/pricing
- Quo Help Center, messaging issues https://support.quo.com/troubleshooting/messaging-issues