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

After putting RingCentral vs Zoom head to head, our research found that RingCentral is better than Zoom for businesses with specific voice over internet protocol (VoIP) needs. The system is packed with every business call feature imaginable, and its price point is slightly fairer than Zoom’s, too.

This doesn’t mean Zoom doesn’t put up a good fight though. Zoom will be a safer bet for businesses that need strong video calling features. With a super user-friendly interface and a generous free plan, the software is also an ideal candidate for VoIP newbies.  Luckily, both Zoom and RingCentral are considered among the best cheap VoIP providers available, so either way, you’ll be able to keep costs low.

In this guide, you’ll learn about how Zoom and RingCentral match up on features, integrations, customer support, security, and pricing, so you can make the right decision for your team.

In this guide:

• RingCentral vs Zoom: Key Differences
• RingCentral vs Zoom: Head-to-Head
• How RingCentral and Zoom Compare to Other VoIP Providers
• How Did We Choose a Winner?
• Verdict: RingCentral or Zoom?

RingCentral vs Zoom: Key Differences

While Zoom is a well-known video call platform, RingCentral’s niche lies in VoIP communication. This means that your ideal match will ultimately depend on which service you need more. This being said, both providers offer lots of quality voice calling and web conferencing features, so comparisons can still be made between the two. Here’s how they compare:

RingCentral overview

With specialized business features and 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.

Unlike Zoom, RingCentral is primarily known for its voice-calling features and offers unlimited calls and business SMSs within the US. However, most of its plans also facilitate video conferencing and instant messaging too – enabling its users to communicate in whichever way suits them.

Thanks to RingCentral’s extensive App Gallery, users can also integrate the service with 96 third-party tools, including Salesforce, Microsoft, Slack, and Gmail. 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.

Despite RingCentral’s accolades, its cheapest plan offers fairly basic features, and its customer score isn’t as high as its competitors. This suggests it won’t be a shoo-in for every type of business.

RingCentral is available in three main packages: Core, Advanced, and Ultra.

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.

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.

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.

• Value for Money
• Business Features
• Integrations
• Customer Service
• Customer Satisfaction
• Security

Best for value: Zoom

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 $30 per month per user, or $20 when paid annually. 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 $35 per user per month, or $25 when paid annually. 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 $45 per user, per month, or $35 per user, per month when paid annually. 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.

Next up, we have Zoom Business Plus. Zoom Plus retails for $22.49 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. The plan also offers business phone capability, making it the cheapest option for businesses looking for VoIP technology.

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

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 

Access your call history and call previous contacts with RingCentral.
Source: RingCentral

With a Tech.co rating of 4.4/5 for VoIP features, we think RingCentral takes the edge this round. From automatic call recording to call transcripts, motoring, and whispering, the provider offers just about every business call feature possible. The system also offers excellent software integrations and doesn’t charge extra for desktop phone add-ons – making it easier to incorporate into your business’s existing tech.

However, RingCentral doesn’t offer as many advanced video calling features as Zoom, and its cheapest plan misses out on the function altogether. Therefore, if you’re looking for a versatile solution with top-notch web conferencing features, Zoom Workplace will be a safer bet.

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 can give you that all-in-one hub experience that businesses are after in the modern era.

The Zoom App Marketplace and the RingCentral App Gallery both offer more than 100 services that can integrate with their respective VoIP solutions, enabling everything from calendar invites with phone links to contact cards with easy dialing. 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.

The Zoom App Marketplace is filled with third-party integrations. Source: Zoom

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 unmatched. In fact, after reviewing their support options and comparing them to similar options on the market, we awarded their support options a 5/5 — the highest score possible.

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 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. The platform is 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 is easy to navigate, too. Its settings are 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.

The Zoom Phone interface in action.
Source: Zoom

RingCentral customer satisfaction

Boasting a customer satisfaction score of 3.5/5, RingCentral isn’t leading the pack when it comes to user experience, but it doesn’t fall too far behind Zoom either.

Similarly to Zoom, RingCentral is very easy to use, and everything on the platform is clearly labeled and serves 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

Securing an impressive Tech.co score of 4/5 for security, RingCentral isn’t far behind when it comes to security features.

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.

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