Grasshopper International Calling in 2026: What's Gated, What's Possible, and Who Should Skip It

Grasshopper international calling exists, but it's gated behind three requirements most users don't know about until they try. Your account must be 60+ days old. You must post a $500 prepaid deposit. And you must contact Grasshopper Care to manually enable the capability. Per-minute rates run from single-digit cents to 95¢ depending on destination. Here's what actually works, who it fits, and who should look elsewhere.

What Grasshopper international calling actually requires

Grasshopper requires three things before you can make a single international outbound call: a 60-day-old account, a $500 prepaid deposit, and a manual enablement request to Grasshopper Care.

The official policy on support.grasshopper.com is short and direct: international calling is available to customers with Grasshopper for more than 60 days, and you must review the Terms & Conditions and contact care to enable the capabilities. There's no self-serve toggle in the admin panel. There's no upgrade path that includes it. There's a 60-day clock, a deposit, and a phone call to support.

The gate exists for a reason. Grasshopper is a virtual phone product aimed at US-based solopreneurs and small businesses — exactly the customer profile telecom fraud rings target for international calling abuse. The 60-day rule + $500 deposit is a fraud-prevention design, and it works as designed. It also disqualifies most of the people who land on this page looking for a quick answer.

Grasshopper's plans and what each includes

Grasshopper's three plans — True Solo, Solo Plus, and Small Business — all share the same international calling policy: not included by default, gated behind the 60-day rule and $500 deposit regardless of which tier you pick.

Plan | Pricing (annual / monthly) | What you get

True Solo | $14/mo / $18/mo | 1 number, 1 extension, 1 user

Solo Plus | $25/mo / $32/mo | 1 number, 3 extensions, unlimited users

Small Business | $80/mo / $92/mo | 5 numbers, unlimited extensions, unlimited users

A few details that matter. Additional phone numbers cost $9/month on every plan. Additional extensions on True Solo and Solo Plus run $3/month (annual billing) or $5/month (monthly). The 7-day free trial requires no credit card, but trial accounts can't make international calls — the 60-day rule applies to trial accounts the same as paid ones.

The structural point worth pausing on: paying more doesn't unlock international. There's no "Pro" tier with included international minutes. Small Business at $80/mo and True Solo at $14/mo have the exact same international calling policy. If you came to Grasshopper assuming the higher tier would solve your international use case, it doesn't.

How outbound international calls bill

Once enabled, Grasshopper draws against your prepaid $500 deposit at per-minute rates ranging from single-digit cents to 95¢ depending on destination.

The deposit functions as a prepaid call-credit balance. It's not a one-time fee. Calls bill per minute (not per second) and draw against the balance as you use them. When the balance runs low, you top it up. Some details from the published rate card:

• Alaska: 10¢/minute (treated as "offshore")
• Hawaii: 8¢/minute (also offshore)
• Jamaica: 78¢/minute
• Rates range up to 95¢/minute for the most expensive destinations
• Calls to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands also require international calling enabled

The Alaska-and-Hawaii-as-offshore thing catches people. If you're a US-based solopreneur on the True Solo plan and you have a client in Honolulu, you can't call them until you go through the same 60-day + $500 + manual-enable process as someone calling Mexico. Same gate, same deposit, same per-minute meter.

Full per-country rates live at grasshopper.com/resources/international-rates. The page is searchable by country code, which is the right interface for a per-country pricing model.

Inbound international calls (where Grasshopper actually works for international users)

Grasshopper local numbers accept incoming international calls by default, and the account holder isn't charged when someone abroad dials in — only the international caller pays their own carrier's international rate.

This matters for a specific kind of customer. If you're a US-based business with international clients, suppliers, or family members who call you, your Grasshopper local number works for them out of the box. They dial your number using their own carrier's international plan (or their own VoIP), and the call routes to wherever you've forwarded — your cell, your desktop app, an extension, voicemail.

Toll-free numbers behave a little differently. Inbound to your Grasshopper toll-free number from outside the US is technically possible, but the toll-free benefit only applies to callers within the same country. An international caller dialing your 1-800 number pays their own carrier's international rate, just like they would dialing a regular US number.

Call forwarding TO international destinations is a different shape of problem. Forwarding a US Grasshopper call to your cell phone in Mexico City requires the same $500 deposit + international enablement as making an outbound international call. The forwarded leg bills at per-minute international rates against your deposit.

When Grasshopper international calling makes sense (the honest case)

Grasshopper international calling is a fit for US-based businesses with predictable international call volume to a small set of countries, where the $500 deposit and 60-day waiting period are absorbable as part of normal operations.

The cases where it earns its keep:

• Established US-based business with international suppliers or clients. The 60-day rule is irrelevant for an existing account. The $500 deposit is a one-time setup cost that doesn't recur. Once you're past it, you've got per-minute calling to most countries at competitive rates.
• A few specific destinations, repeat usage. Per-minute math works when you call the same Mexico or UK landline weekly and rates are in the 5-30¢ range. $500 prepaid covers a lot of 8¢ minutes.
• Existing Grasshopper customer adding international as a capability. You already use Grasshopper for receptionist routing, extensions, voicemail transcription, and business hours. International is the marginal addition. The $500 deposit is the only new cost.
• Solo business owner who travels and wants forwarding to a local number abroad. Forwarding-to-international works (same $500 gate), and your US business number stays reachable while you're out of the country. The forwarded leg costs per-minute international rates, but the inbound side is intact.

If you're in this profile, Grasshopper does what it says. The product has solid G2 reviews, the receptionist and extension features are well-built, and the international option once enabled is straightforward.

When Grasshopper is the wrong tool (and what to use instead)

Grasshopper international calling is the wrong tool for three groups: occasional callers who can't justify the $500 deposit, expats outside the US trying to call US numbers, and anyone who needs international calling within the first 60 days.

The mismatches:

1. The occasional international caller. If you call abroad 5-10 times a year, you're posting $500 to make $20-40 of actual calls. That money sits prepaid against future use. Pay-per-use VoIP without a deposit makes the math obvious. See best VoIP for international calling for options that don't require a deposit.

1. The new customer who needs international calls now. The 60-day rule has no workaround on standard plans. If your use case is time-sensitive — a one-off project, a relocation, a 3-month travel period — Grasshopper can't help during the window that matters. A no-deposit VoIP service like Dialpad's metered international calling at least gets you calling on day one, even if the seat license has its own math problems.

1. The expat outside the US trying to call US numbers. This is the structural mismatch. Grasshopper is a US-presence virtual phone product. Its outbound international option is built for calling FROM a US business OUT to international destinations. Calling INTO US numbers FROM abroad is a different shape of call entirely — Grasshopper's outbound international isn't designed for it, and the gate cost ($500 deposit, 60 days waiting) makes it a worse choice than browser-based pay-per-use alternatives built for exactly this use case.

The first two groups are looking for a different US-based product. The third group is looking for a different category entirely.

Calling US Numbers from Abroad? Skip the Receptionist.

If you're outside the US and what you actually need is to dial US numbers — your bank, the IRS, your employer, a hospital — Grasshopper isn't built for that shape of call. No $500 deposit will fix it. No 60-day waiting period will change the answer.

WorldDialer calls US landlines from your browser for a fraction of carrier rates. No deposit. No waiting period. No subscription required. No receptionist, no extensions, no business hours routing — because that's not what you're trying to solve. Open the browser, add credits, make the call. See worlddialer.com for current pricing.

We'll be here next time you need us.

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