The Top RingCentral Alternatives for Business Phone Service

It’s impossible to talk about a business phone service without mentioning RingCentral.



RingCentral has a noteworthy market presence worldwide, but its capabilities can be overwhelming and expensive for small businesses.



Is there a better alternative to RingCentral that has similar features, flexible pricing, and a simpler setup?



We’ll see how six popular RingCentral competitors stack up against it.



What Users Typically Like About RingCentral



Here’s why top companies choose RingCentral as their business communication platform.



Extensive feature set



RingCentral provides a wide range of communication tools, including phone systems, video conferencing, and collaboration platforms, suitable for various business needs. Unlimited calling and team conference calls are common features included across RingCentral’s pricing plans.



The company also offers a contact center solution that enhances agent efficiency and customer experience for larger teams.



RingCentral’s communication solutions allow for the centralized management of multiple communication channels, such as voice, email, fax, and SMS, supporting remote team collaboration.



Global footprint



RingCentral supports companies with rigorous international calling demands:




Local PSTN support is available in 46 countries, including the U.S. and Canada.



Toll-free numbers and local numbers are available in over 100 countries.



Eighteen languages are supported across the organization’s desktop and mobile apps.




Integration capabilities



RingCentral supports numerous third-party integrations, enhancing its business communication system. A couple of examples include Salesforce integration for data-driven customer personalization and Microsoft Teams integration for in-app cloud calling.



Scalability



RingCentral offers several solutions to fit your business needs, avoiding the need for frequent service changes. Its various pricing plans cater to different business sizes and growth stages.



Source: GetVoIP


Why Businesses May Seek an Alternative to RingCentral



Despite its market presence, RingCentral might not be the right VoIP phone system for many organizations.



1. Cost



With annual prepaid pricing plans becoming the standard, RingCentral might be too expensive for many small businesses. RingCentral’s monthly cost ranges from $30 to $45 per user per month.



The monthly cost of RingCentral is between $30–45 per user.


The toll-free number inbound minutes feature is limited to 100 minutes on the Core plan, while on the Advanced plan, you only get 1,000 minutes.



As a small business, you’ll likely have no use for most of RingCentral’s features beyond phone calls — for instance, analytics for IT administrators, international calling, and access to its APIs. In other words, you’re spending money on features you don’t need.



And, over time, there are a lot more add-ons. Additional local numbers will cost $4.99/month, webinar licenses $40/month, and vanity numbers $30/month — you get the idea.



2. Reliability & usability



The company has a pretty decent network, but it’s not flawless. Throughout the U.S., it has two data centers for its users to share. This can result in higher call latency and reduced redundancy.



Additionally, some users may find the user interface challenging, especially when they’re new to the platform. According to reviews  posted on G2, a number of critical customer reviews noted the difficulties of the administrative features and maneuvering between the web and desktop apps.



3. Customer service



When you look through reviews about RingCentral, you’ll find that the company has many frustrated customers. From account managers who are hard to reach and billing or renewal concerns to slow support response times, service quality remains a top reason why people seek out a RingCentral alternative.



Unfortunately, RingCentral drops the ball here.  Some users  report wait times as long as multiple weeks:




“Customer service was atrocious. You had to make a request and wait for a callback from a person in a totally different time zone. If you missed the call, you had to wait for that agent to call you back, nobody else. When I canceled and wanted to port my numbers, it was a multi-week saga where I could not get a response from anyone.”

Stephanie Y.
Attorney (Law Practice)






The good news is that you have many options for business communication tools.



Let’s take a look at some potential RingCentral competitors worth checking out.



Top 6 Alternatives to RingCentral



Want to switch from RingCentral to another VoIP phone service? Here are the best RingCentral alternatives to consider.



1. Nextiva






Nextiva is one of the most well-rounded business phone systems you’ll find on the market. It provides business VoIP phone services, video conferencing, team messaging, and unified communications capabilities. On top of those, it offers both inbound and outbound contact center solutions.



What makes Nextiva stand out is its exceptional customer service, which is pretty rare in the business communications world. Issues are resolved on time, and the support team is always patient with users.



Here’s how  one user  described their support experience with Nextiva:




“No more robo calls, great auto attendants, lots of extra features, Customer support is 24/7, easy to use and I use it all the time. Nextiva keeps all of my calls from 12 different numbers well organized. They have it set up where I see the caller’s ID and also see from which auto attendant they are calling. This is vital.”


Robert H.
G2 Review






Nextiva is also more affordable than RingCentral for small and growing businesses. It starts at $18.95 per user per month for 20–99 users. Finally, Nextiva has a reliable service with 99.999% uptime from its eight redundant data centers across the U.S.



In addition to a lower cost, Nextiva offers many advanced phone features included with each plan at no additional charge. We’ll get to that in a moment.



2. Vonage







Vonage is the preferred business phone system for organizations that want to customize their communication workflows extensively. It has a wide range of custom APIs you can use to connect your VoIP phone system to different native and third-party applications.



Despite its extensive integration capabilities, Vonage is easy to set up and use.  One user  said they didn’t require any training to use the phone system: “My experience with Vonage was good because their app is user-friendly and visually appealing. It was simple to use and didn’t require any training from what I recall.”



Vonage also provides a robust suite of features, including voice calling, SMS, team messaging, and video conferencing. If you’re looking for an easy-to-use business phone system with extensive features and great call quality, you should definitely check it out.















Related Article
Top 10 Vonage Alternatives & Competitors for Businesses to Try

















3. Ooma







Ooma is a great VoIP phone service for small businesses on a budget. It provides all the essential features you’ll need to get your business communication needs off the ground — CRM integrations, hot desking, and call management capabilities such as call routing.



Here’s how one user described their experience with Ooma:



“I am now saving hundreds of dollars per year! The quality of the VoIP service is outstanding, and no one would be able to tell the difference between this digital system and an analog system. It has an app that is feature-rich and is an excellent backup to have in the event of an internet failure. I can also modify account settings from right within the app.”



If you’re looking for a straightforward solution without the complexity of more extensive phone systems, Ooma is definitely one to try.















Related Article
Nextiva vs. Ooma: Which VoIP Provider Is Better?

















4. Aircall







Aircall’s cloud-based call center software works best for small and mid-sized businesses. You get essential features and capabilities such as call queuing, analytics, and integrations to help you administer a lean call center.



What users love best is Aircall’s data analytics feature, which allows you to view data sets per user for more granular insights. The integration capabilities also work well, especially in how Aircall syncs with HubSpot. You can make calls to customers directly from your CRM.



Overall, Aircall is particularly appealing for teams looking for a simple yet powerful call center solution with a strong emphasis on collaboration and integration.















Related Article
Top 10 Aircall Alternatives & Competitors in 2024

















5. Dialpad







​​Dialpad is a budget-friendly, AI-powered contact center solution. It offers a range of AI-driven capabilities, such as transcriptions and real-time analytics.



Dialpad’s interface and user experience stand out. For example, you can organize call centers by teams and track callbacks using voice AI.



If you’re a tech-savvy small team looking for a sleek and modern VoIP service, you’ll likely find Dialpad attractive.















Related Article
Nextiva vs. Dialpad: Which VoIP Provider Is Best? 

















6. Grasshopper







Grasshopper is ideal for solopreneurs and small businesses that don’t want to be held back by a complex VoIP phone with extensive features they don’t need. It has features such as virtual phone numbers, call forwarding , and voicemail transcription.



Here’s how  one user  described their experience with this virtual phone system :



“Grasshopper was very user-friendly. It was easy to use, and we never really had a need to contact customer support. The implementation was easy, and we loved that we could use it on a line/VOIP or also log into the Grasshopper app and answer on the go.”



If you need a simple, no-frills virtual phone system that’s easy to set up and manage, Grasshopper is worth checking out.















Related Article
Top 10 Grasshopper Alternatives & Competitors in 2024

















Why Nextiva Is the Best Alternative to RingCentral



Nextiva offers more affordable pricing, excellent customer support, and extensive VoIP capabilities, making it the best alternative to RingCentral.



Flexible pricing plans



Nextiva has more flexible pricing plans than RingCentral.



Nextiva’s standard plan, the Essential bundle, starts at $18.95 per user per month. On the other hand, RingCentral’s Core package costs $20 per user per month.



In addition, you can customize your plan based on the number of users. The more users you have, the lower the price. Nextiva also offers more toll-free minutes and includes unlimited online fax in all plans.



Core features such as call recording and auto-attendant are not on RingCentral’s basic plan, so you’ll have to upgrade to access them. This makes the business phone system even more expensive for smaller teams.



Superior ease of use and setup



A handful of our customers made the switch from RingCentral to Nextiva because of how easy Nextiva is to use. In one user’s words:



“I recently changed from RingCentral to Nextiva for several reasons, one of which was to make things SIMPLER. So far, using Nextiva has been remarkable. It’s everything and more than I previously imagined. If you are looking into a VoIP provider, I highly suggest you take a close look at Nextiva.”



Nextiva offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to set up and manage your VoIP system, including complex tasks such as call flows and voicemail workflows. The platform is intuitive and easy to navigate, allowing you to quickly make changes to your system and add new users as needed.



Nextiva also provides comprehensive training and support materials to onboard you quickly, and the support team is always on deck to answer your questions and resolve any issues.



Amazing customer support



Nextiva has a stellar 9.0 customer support rating on G2 compared to RingCentral’s 7.6 rating. Our support team is available 24/7 across multiple channels to help customers resolve issues.



One user said Nextiva’s support function beats that of most of the other VoIP phone services on the market:



“I’ve used many VOIP service providers over the years. It always seems like they overpromise and underdeliver, and the customer service is terrible if you’re a small account. With Nextiva, it has been the opposite. The setup was easy. The tech support through chat is responsive and knowledgeable. Short wait times and the IT support knows the product well.”



Stellar performance and reliability



Nextiva’s cloud architecture guarantees 99.999% uptime. In other words, you’ll only experience, on average, six minutes of service downtime in an entire year. RingCentral users reported, on average,  43 minutes of downtime  in 2023.



Unlike RingCentral, which is built around two data centers in the U.S., Nextiva has a redundant data architecture across eight North American locations. This spreads the data service bandwidth evenly, limiting congestion and latency.



Robust unified communications features



Beyond core VoIP features, Nextiva has additional unified communication capabilities to improve your overall experience.



Call Pop , for example, lets contact center agents see callers’ customer data, such as account value and customer experience score, before and during the conversation. This helps them personalize interactions for a better customer experience.



That’s not all. Nextiva offers a comprehensive business intelligence add-on tool that provides insights into call performance for data-driven decision-making. It lets you track advanced metrics, such as call volume and total talk time, and generate reports to give you a bird’s-eye view of your business communication status.



Overall customer satisfaction



A VoIP comparison survey by GetVoIP found that Nextiva is the best-rated VoIP phone service when compared with alternatives, including RingCentral.



Nextiva outperformed RingCentral in six core categories, namely quality, installation, support, reliability, features, and price.



Level Up Your Business Communications



While you can enjoy an extensive range of capabilities and features with RingCentral, upgrading to Nextiva will give you access to a more comprehensive suite of features, better customer support, and more reliable performance.



Still not convinced? Check out our extensive comparison page to see  how Nextiva stacks up against RingCentral .















The phone system your business needs

Get the support, reliability, and flexibility your team needs from Nextiva.






See the differences
















The post The Top RingCentral Alternatives for Business Phone Service appeared first on Nextiva Blog .