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Day-to-day business is, well, busy. In order to conduct business efficiently no matter where your office is located, you need reliable communication tools to get work done. If you are in an office setting, hybrid, or permanently working remote, there are great options for audio and visual communications for your team no matter where they are located.
What is RingCentral?
When it comes to a comprehensive communications solution, RingCentral is practically a household name in the VoIP (voice over IP) world. The RingCentral desktop system covers you for voice, text, fax, web conferencing, and web meetings, and nicely ties it all together in one system so you can easily work and effectively run a business from anywhere.
The RingCentral Alternatives
Not all VoIP platforms are created equal. RingCentral is a good choice for VoIP, but there are other just as good alternatives that might fit your custom needs and budget better.
- Ooma
Ooma is used by both business and residential customers. It is a low cost VoIP service that offers added features like HD calling. Users can get a new number or use an existing one and receive basic nationwide phone services including call waiting, caller ID, and voicemail.
Pro: Keeps things simple by offering only two pricing plans, making it affordable and quick to set up for small businesses.
Con: This option does not include team messaging capability, where everyone with the app can start or join group chats, share files, and participate in video and voice calls.
- Vonage
Vonage is a powerhouse with a million+ customers and 99.9% reliability, making it one of the biggest alternatives on the market. A robust business phone solution offers unlimited calls, SMS messages, team collaboration tools, and over 50 different phone features. It offers everything RingCentral offers and more, although at a higher price point.
Pro: Best RingCentral alternative for businesses that want the flexibility to add on features at will and a per-user price that decreases with more users
Con: It uses a third-party video conferencing software, Amazon Chime Pro Tier, instead of its own built in version.
- Phone.com
Phone.com only requires a stable internet connection for businesses and individuals to take advantage of cloud-based service. Over 40 different features make it easy to get the most out of this robust service.
Pro: Best RingCentral alternative for businesses that just need the basics and want to be able to choose only the features they want with their plan.
Con: Great if you just want a better phone, but not so great if you don’t just make phone calls but also use other methods of communication.
- Grasshopper
Grasshopper has been around for about as long as RingCentral and serves a similar market. It’s great for small businesses and individuals desiring a more professional appearance online. Grasshopper also provides unlimited texts, domestic calls and voicemail managed through both desktop and a mobile app.
Pro: Best RingCentral alternative for smaller businesses that are looking for affordability over functionality and desire to have a more professional appearance online.
Con: Requires an existing line to forward calls from and you don’t get a phone number assigned unless you upgrade.
- 8×8
8×8 has been around the longest but has only been in the VoIP arena for the past twenty years. It offers unlimited international calls in all of its plans. And it includes the option of local presence and numbers for over 50 countries.
Pro: Best RingCentral alternative for businesses needing longer meetings with more participant capacity and international access.
Con: The user interface is not intuitive and it offers fewer communication methods than competitors, and no live chat option.
- Ringblaze
Ringblaze is a phone support providing multiple phone numbers for small and medium businesses with an international need. Its easy-to-use dashboard makes for easy set up at a minimal cost. This is a newer solution that has only been on the market for a short time.
Pro: Best RingCentral alternative for sales and support collaboration.
Con: Target market is niche – small and medium businesses that have a strong need for phone support.
- Nextiva
Nextiva is a well-known name used by small business and enterprise companies alike. They offer a Business Communication Suite, Customer Relationship Suite, and Team Communication Suite. They are known as a unified communications platform that is designed for remote teams. There are dozens of integrations available to enhance your experience.
Pro: Best overall RingCentral alternative because it has a similar four-tiered plan structure, embraces VoIP and unified communications (UC), and costs less than RingCentral.
Con: Uses third-party software, which can make things like integrations and getting customer support challenging.
- VirtualPBX
VirtualPBX is a comprehensive VoIP service that also offers 800 numbers. A combination of standard and enhanced features make this a seamless integration into any business infrastructure needing reliability and 24/7 support.
Pro: Best RingCentral alternative with an iOS and Android app that is easy to use and includes different features such as mobile fax signatures, voicemail transcriptions copied to email, and faxes converted to PDFs and emailed.
Con: The user interface could be improved, and the Mobile app does not have all features in the dashboard.
- Mighty Call
Mighty Call is a VoIP choice for small businesses looking for specialized features like toll free numbers, high-quality audio, call queues, and hold music. This is a fast, easy, secure, and affordable virtual phone system designed specifically with the small business in mind.
Pro: Best RingCentral alternative for businesses looking for a reliable and comprehensive business phone system that gives customers high-quality audio and a laundry list of useful features.
Con: Reviewers complain that the service is sometimes spotty and of less than stellar customer service.
- Google Meet
Google Meet is a basic and free service that only requires reliable internet connection and a smartphone application. It assigns a number to an account that can be used on any device anywhere in the world. It works with various platforms and includes features like video conferencing, text chatting, and call blocking.
Pro: Best RingCentral alternative that is free and accessible from all available mobile application stores, and that works with US phone numbers for each user account.
Con: Requires a reliable Internet connection and a smartphone application to be able to make free calls.
Choosing the right alternative to RingCentral
The decision on which RingCentral alternative is best for you and your team should be based on how you prefer to communicate with each other. At a minimum, investigate functionality, pricing and ease of use. Diving deeper you can get great information regarding call quality, limitations, integrations, help and customer support through customer reviews and articles.
To begin, simply determine if phone calls, online meetings, messaging, or a mix of features is the right solution for you and choose accordingly.
