Zoom vs RingCentral (2024): Which VoIP Solution is Better?

In our RingCentral vs Zoom comparison, we found that RingCentral RingEX is a better VoIP system than Zoom Phone, with our team finding more collaboration and outbound communication features, as well as a larger library of third-party integrations. Zoom is more affordable, though, making it one of the cheapest VoIP solutions in our research.

Zoom and RingCentral were also some of the easiest to use platforms, with our researchers consistently noting the easy-to-understand interface with clear navigation points. It’s also worth noting that, in addition to offering VoIP services, both Zoom and RingCentral have top tier video conferencing platforms that are built into the system, so you can conduct video meetings as necessary with reliable, easy to use tools with both providers.

In this guide, we’ll breakdown the primary differences between RingCentral and Zoom, focusing on features, pricing, integrations, customer support, and security, so you can make the right decision for your business communication needs.

In this guide:

• RingCentral vs Zoom: Key Differences
• RingCentral vs Zoom: Head-to-Head
• How RingCentral and Zoom Compare to Other VoIP Providers
• How We Evaluate VoIP Providers
• Verdict: Which VoIP System Is Better?

RingCentral vs Zoom: Key Differences

While Zoom Phone and RingCentral RingEX are indeed two of the best VoIP systems across our research, there are some key differences between the two that could help you make the decision here and now. Here are some quick facts about Zoom and RingCentral:

• Pricing: Zoom is more affordable than RingCentral, with a starting price of only $10 per user, per month, the lowest in our research.
• Features: RingCentral has more outbound features, like power dialer and custom call lists, and more collaboration features, like document sharing and task management, than Zoom Phone.
• Integrations: RingCentral gives users access to more third-party integrations than Zoom Phone.
• Support: Both RingCentral and Zoom offer 24/7 live chat and phone customer service options.
• Security: RingCentral has slightly better security protocols, as it offers user permissions in its more expensive plans, whereas Zoom Phone doesn’t offer it in any.

RingCentral overview

With a vast selection of specialized business features and moderately affordable pricing tiers, RingCentral is a VoIP solution with a very competitive offering. In fact, according to our research, it’s the best business VoIP services on the market right now, providing the most scalable base for growing businesses, excellent customer support options, and features to support teams in all sorts of industries.

One of the biggest perks of RingCentral is the extensive app library, allowing users to integrate the service with more than 400 third-party tools, including Salesforce, Microsoft 365, Slack, and Google Workspace.

We used RingCentral’s audio transcription services in a video meeting, and it was nearly perfect. Source: Tech.co testing

What’s more, we’ve also ranked the provider #1 for customer support, because its live chat and support options are open 24/7 and its support team goes above and beyond to answer customer queries.

Compared to Zoom Phone, though, the price is definitely a bit high, and you’ll have to pay more if you only want to be billed monthly, so if cost is a concern, keep reading.

Check out our in-depth RingCentral review to learn more

Zoom Phone overview

Throughout the pandemic, Zoom helped to connect millions around the globe, but it didn’t just become a hero in the consumer market. Zoom’s use among businesses also rose exponentially — and for good reason.

The combination of affordable premium plans and a quality free offering means Zoom’s web conferencing solution appeals to businesses of all sizes and budgets. Boasting HD video and audio, video webinars, and private rooms and workspaces, its strengths naturally lie in video communication.

Zoom Phone has a simple interface that’s easy to get started on, especially if you’re already familiar with its video conferencing software. Source: Tech.co user testing

Yet, with the recent introduction of Zoom Workplace — an all-in-one business VoIP and video service — the tool is also becoming increasingly popular among enterprises looking to replace their legacy phone systems. Unlike RingCentral, however, which offers more of a robust VoIP system, Zoom Workplace isn’t likely to be the top pick for businesses after specialized calling features.

Learn how to record your Zoom meetings here

While Zoom is normally the top choice among smaller businesses, its scalable plans, Basic, Pro, Business, Business Plus, and Enterprise, can also fit the needs of large and growing teams.

Check out our in-depth Zoom Phone review to learn more

Zoom Pricing vs RingCentral Pricing

If you’re looking for a great value VoIP system that doesn’t sacrifice quality, we would go for Zoom. It can’t be questioned on its affordability, and its service is solid enough for most businesses while undercutting every other big-name competitor bar Google Voice. However, with RingCentral offering advanced features like call transcription, call routing, and task management for as little as $20 per user, per month, we think it also offers pretty good bang for your buck.

We break down RingCentral’s pricing plans below:

RingCentral pricing

RingCentral Core is available for $20 per month per user billed annually, or $30 when paid monthly. Core users can expect unlimited calls within the US/Canada, unlimited SMS messages, document sharing, and call log features, as well as 24/7 customer support.

RingCentral Advanced costs $25 per user per month billed annually, or $35 when paid monthly. This package contains everything included in the Core plan plus a few additional features, such as automatic call recording, call monitoring tools, unlimited audio conferencing, and multi-level IVR tools.

RingCentral Ultra is available at $35 per user, per month billed annually, or $45 per user, per month when paid monthly. On this tier, you get everything included in RingCentral Advanced, plus access to RingCentral Business Analytics, additional admin management features, and functions larger businesses in particular will find useful.

RingCentral also offers a free trial for 14 days, for businesses looking to try before they buy.

Check out our RingCentral pricing guide for more information.

Zoom Phone pricing

There are two options when it comes to Zoom Phone pricing. For starters, you can go with the basic Zoom Phone plans, which simply provide the VoIP service.

Zoom Phone offers three different pricing plans, which come in at $10 per user, per month, $15 per user, per month, and $20 per user, per month. Each one offers different options for where you can get unlimited calls to and from. Here’s how those plans match up against each other:

However, Zoom Workplace, the provider’s all-in-one software for VoIP, meetings, and team chat, offers five main pricing tiers. We discuss them below.

Zoom Basic is free to use and offers businesses a pretty generous range of features, considering it costs nothing. It lets users host meetings with up to 100 attendees for up to 40 minutes and provides automatic captions and messaging, as well as an online whiteboard for making discussions more interactive and engaging.

Zoom Pro costs users $13.32 per user, per month. Zoom Pro users can host meetings without time limits, store up to 5GB of cloud recordings, access live chat support options, and benefit from all the features in the Standard plan.

For slightly larger ventures, Zoom Business is available at $18.32 per user, per month. Its offering isn’t remarkably different from Zoom Pro, but it does provide secure login options like single sign-on and lets companies include their own branding inside the software.

Then there’s the Zoom Pro Plus plan, which will cost you $21.99 per user, per month. This is where you get the Zoom Workplace and Zoom Phone functionality in the same package, allowing you to integrate with video conferencing and business phone system platforms together.

Next up, we have Zoom Business Plus. Zoom Plus retails for $26.99 per user, per month. Advertised as Zoom’s ‘best value’ plan, the tier lets users set up meetings with up to 300 attendees and store up to 10 GB of cloud recordings. You’ll also get visitor management, translated captions, and workspace reservations features.

Finally, Zoom Enterprise is the provider’s most exhaustive package. It offers Zoom’s full feature set, including everything in the former plans, advanced VoIP tools, unlimited editable whiteboard, automated and translated captions, and unlimited cloud recording storage. Prices for Zoom Enterprise are available on request.

To learn more, check out our Zoom pricing guide today

RingCentral vs Zoom: Head-to-Head

Now that we understand the basics about RingCentral vs Zoom, let’s dive in a bit deeper. Below, we’ll explore more specific features and functionality for RingCentral and Zoom, so you know exactly what you’re getting into with each VoIP provider. Click the links below or keep scrolling to learn more about these two options for your business.

• Business Features
• Integrations
• Customer Service
• Customer Satisfaction
• Security

Best for business features: RingCentral

Unlike traditional phone lines, VoIP systems allow you to carry out a wide range of functions. Fortunately, both RingCentral and Zoom offer sterling features, so businesses won’t lose out either way. Below we compare the provider’s feature set side by side.

RingCentral top features

• Global coverage with 80+ countries
• Video calling with up to 200 participants
• Specialist VoIP features include call whisper, barge, monitoring, and transcript tools
• Automatic call recording
• Android and Apple apps
• No add-on for desktop phones

Zoom Workplace top features

• Unlimited Domestic Calls
• Video calling with up to 1000 participants
• Background blurring
• Immersive view
• Android, iOS, and desktop apps
• VoIP features such as call queue, business SMSs, and caller ID are available but at a premium 

All RingCentral pricing plans allowed us to connect with Google or Microsoft to easily integrate your calendar. Source: Tech.co testing

Clearly, RingCentral takes the edge on business features. Thanks to the tandem functionality with RingCentral Engage, you can get far more outbound calling features with RingCentral than Zoom Phone, like autodialer, custom call lists, and predictive dialing. On top of that, we found that RingCentral offers a lot more collaboration features, like task management and document sharing, which allowed us to do a lot more when communicating with our team internally.

Plus, considering RingCentral was our top pick as the best video conferencing platform in our research, it’s really an all-around win for the VoIP provider over Zoom Phone when it comes to business features.

To discover more business telephone options, use our specialist VoIP comparison tool.

Best for integrations: tie

If you’re in the market for a VoIP solution that can integrate with other communication tools and business software, you are in luck. Both Zoom and RingCentral offer a vast selection of third-party app integrations that allowed us to build an all-in-one communication hub for our business.

The Zoom App Marketplace and the RingCentral App Gallery both offer a lot of options. When we did a bit of digging, though, it was clear RingCentral comes out on top, with more than 400 third-party integrations compared to Zoom Phone offering around 100.

Still, most big-name services are covered by both. Here is a list of some of the popular integrations available with both RingCentral and Zoom Phone:

• Google Workspace
• Microsoft Dynamics 365
• Microsoft Teams
• Salesforce
• HubSpot
• Slack
• monday.com

Both RingCentral and Zoom Phone offer a lot of integrations, but it’s worth checking out whether your particular business software is available before making a decision. Check out each provider’s app libraries before committing to ensure you can take advantage of a fully integrated VoIP solution.

RingCentral and Zoom Phone have large app libraries, but RingCentral’s is clearly bigger. Source: Tech.co testing

Best for customer service: RingCentral

If you’re switching to a new VoIP system, chances are you’ll need a little assistance when learning the ropes. This is why a provider’s customer support options are so important.

When it comes to customer service, our research suggests RingCentral is second to none, here’s why:

RingCentral customer service

Live chat, user forums, and round-the-clock support are available to users on all plans, meaning that queries don’t need to remain unanswered for long. However, the real gem in RingCentral’s crown lies in its unique knowledge base, RingCentral University.

RingCentral University is a jam-packed resource center that contains everything you need to help you make the most of the VoIP system. It even grants users access to online courses and webinars on a range of themes from onboarding and remote working through to call queue management and business faxing.

With so much practical guidance and support available to RingCentral users, the provider’s customer service is simply unmatched.

Support options

• Phone: 1-888-528-7464
• Community-led support
• Live chat support
• 24-hour support line

Training options

• Central training resource
• Webinars
• Drop in sessions
• Online courses

Zoom customer service

While Zoom’s support options aren’t quite as fleshed out as RingCentral’s, they’re still pretty impressive.

Like RingCentral, Zoom’s in-house teams of experts are also available 24/7, making the service especially useful for businesses operating outside standard working hours.

Zoom packages also give users access to robust onboarding support and a bespoke learning center with a dedicated Zoom Phone section. Here, users of the VoIP service can learn more about setting up their accounts, organizing their features, and adjusting their settings, among other topics.

Finally, if users have more complex queries, Zoom Community is an open forum where you’re able to connect with other Zoom users by asking questions and seeking targeted advice.

Support options

• Phone: 1-888-799-9666
• Live chat support
• Knowledge forum
• 24-hour support line

Training options

• Online training sessions
• Specialized security training
• Virtual live courses

Best for customer satisfaction: Zoom

Customer satisfaction essentially reflects how happy you’re likely to be with the product. It’s an important metric to consider when deciding which VoIP service to opt for because it takes into account the reputation of the brand, the ease of use of the product, and how successful it is in pleasing its customer base.

According to our research, we think Zoom narrowly wins this time — but it’s a close call.

Zoom customer satisfaction

One of Zoom’s greatest selling points is its accessibility. We found the platform to be noticeably streamlined, intuitive, and incredibly easy to set up, making it ideal for first-time users or those looking for a shallow learning curve. Once Zoom is up and running, the software was easy to navigate for our team, too. Its settings were well-labeled, and its layout is user-friendly so getting to grips with the product is light work.

With over 300 million active users, worldwide, it’s clear that the provider knows how to satisfy its customers. This suggests that whether you’re using Zoom Workplace for video conferencing, live chats, or calls — you’re likely to be satisfied with the overall experience.

It was easy to leave voicemails with Zoom Phone and I could even leave a note alongside the message. Source: Tech.co testing

RingCentral customer satisfaction

Similarly to Zoom, when we used RingCentral, it was notably easy to use, and everything on the platform was clearly labeled and served a distinct purpose. Thanks to the system’s stripped, uncluttered back design, it’s also a solid option for VoIP newbies.

Unfortunately, RingCentral’s offering isn’t faultless. Despite claiming to have an uptime of 99.99%, some customer reviews suggest that calls can drop frequently and for extended periods of time. What’s more, the service has also been criticized for its inadequate handling of customer queries, so users should bear this feedback in mind before moving forward with the service.

It took me a couple of taps to check my voicemail with Zoom Phone. Source: Tech.co user testing

Best for security: tie

Unfortunately, due to their reliance on the internet, business telephone systems are becoming increasingly common targets for cybercriminals. This is why VoIP security should be a top concern for businesses searching for new software.

According to our research, both RingCentral and Zoom offer sterling security features. Below we stack the providers up side by side to explain why.

Zoom security

While Zoom hasn’t always been renowned for its world-class security, the provider has recently updated its defenses in response to some serious security flaws that came to light throughout the pandemic. Since the rollout of Zoom 5.0, the software has been secure by enhanced end-to-end encryption (E2EE), stringent password controls, and solid staff training options to keep its user base safe from threats.

There are also multi-factor authentication options for all users and enforced password rules to make sure no one is generating weak login credentials. This renewed commitment to security means that Zoom is one of the best business phone options for ventures that prioritize data privacy, scoring 4/5 for security overall on our recent tests.

RingCentral security

RingCentral users benefit from an extensive security package, including multifactor authentication tools, E2EE, secure password controls, and compliance certifications. Premium and Ultimate customers also have access to role-based user permissions which give select individuals access to different areas of the system.

We found the quality-of-service reports in RingCentral easy to understand, providing helpful information about your calls. Source: Tech.co testing

How Do RingCentral and Zoom Compare with Other VoIP Providers?

RingCentral is one of the best specialist VoIP services we found in our research, and for a video-first platform, Zoom also provides excellent business call features. However, while these providers are some of the best in the game, they won’t fit the needs of every business.

At Tech.co, we spend weeks researching and comparing business call services, including all the best Zoom alternatives, against hundreds of metrics so you don’t have to. If you’re curious about what other options could offer you, here’s a summary of how some other VoIP providers compare.

How We Rank VoIP Providers