This may be a surprise, but there are some good free autodialer software options out there if you are technically competent. These free autodialers are open source autodialers. While the autodialer software is free, remember that you will have costs associated with any telephony provider you need to use to make the calls as well as any computer servers or hosting expenses.
The free ICTDialer autodialer
First up in our list of free autodialer software is the ICTDialer. You can grab the code on github. This free autodialer has a fairly actively maintained codebase. The autodialer code is written in AngularJS and is provided free using the MIT open source license. You can read the license terms here to see if it suits your needs.
The ICTDialer autodialer software is fairly limited in function, but it allows you to run a few different types of autodial campaigns, including voice, SMS, email, fax and IVR autodial campaigns (also known as voice broadcast campaigns). The autodialer has a contact list function that allows you to upload your contacts to be autodialed.
The ICTDialer is based on the open source freeSWITCH platform, and multiple autodial campaigns can be run in parallel.
A sample screen of the ICTDialer is shown below.
The ICTDialer may be a decent option for companies that need a free and opensource autodialer.
Free Twilio Autodialer
A number of developers have created free autodialers for use with Twilio. One of the better maintained repositories for a free autodialer is provided by github user “sloan58”. The free autodialer is called the twilio-autodialer. It is unclear what the open source license terms for this dialer are, so please contact the author before using the autodialer software.
This free autodialer is written in laravel and it works with Twilio phone numbers to place automated calls or send automated SMS messages to lists of phone numbers. The autodialer allows you to use text to speech to create messages to be read over the phone. Alternatively the dialer accepts custom audio files.
This autodialer may be the least expensive free autodialer to operate, as you could conceivably deploy the autodialer on a free hosting service. The only costs you will incur are the Twilio telephony and SMS fees based on your usage of the autodialer.
The OSDial free autodialer
Another free and opensource autodialer is the OSDial opensource dialer. This open source autodialer is based on the Asterisk telephony platform and has been around for years.
While the dialer is available in a free open source version, the company behind the autodialer also provides hosting and sys admin services if you are not technical.
This autodialer is a full featured ACD and also includes predictive or adaptive dial capabilities. A screenshot of an administration screen showing some of the autodial settings is shown below.
The freePBX autodialer (add-on)
FreePBX is a very popular opensource PBX (basically a phone system that you could run a small to mid-sized business on). FreePBX is, well, free. But there are some paid add ons that you can add to the free software to add functionality. You can download the software here.
One of the paid add ons is an autodialer. The combination of the free software with the autodialer results in a very inexpensive autodialing system.
As with any free or opensource autodialer software, make sure that you have the technical skills to install and maintain this autodialer. Also, while the software may be free, you will still need to pay for the hosting as well as any telco (and SMS, etc) that you use with the autodialer.
The FreePBX autodialer add on is called the Xact Dialer. You can read more about the autodialer here. This autodialer adds sophisticated broadcast autodialing capabilities to freePBX. You can see some of the autodialer configuration settings in the screenshot below.
Summary of free autodialer software
Using free or open source autodialer software is not for everyone. While you may save money upfront, you may pay more down the road based on the need to have technical support and skills to maintain the software.