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RingCentral is a top VoIP phone system provider and business communications company that offers a wide range of tools and services for staying in touch with your team and your clients. During testing, we found it to be a fairly intuitive platform, particularly when it comes to setting up. The wide range of third-party integrations available really sped up the process, too.
Perhaps more importantly – depending on your business’s needs – RingCentral also offers its VoIP users access to its video conferencing platform, which we found to be one of the best options available. That, combined with the competitive starting price of $20 per user, per month, makes RingCentral a clear choice for any business that wants a central platform for internal and external communications.
In this review, you’ll learn about the features, pricing, pros, cons, and competitors of RingCentral, so you can make the right decision for your business.
Pros
- Highly scalable thanks to lots of team management features
- Lots of integrations, which make setup very easy
- Both sales and customer service functionality for all teams
Cons
- Limited inclusive toll-free minutes, and you'll have to pay extra if you need more
- Not as popular with its users as some of the other providers on this list
- Core plan: $20/user/month
- Advanced plan: $25/user/month
- Ultra plan: $35/user/month
RingCentral Review: Quick Fact File
Before we dig into the nitty-gritty details of what kind of VoIP provider RingCentral is, let’s get some of the basics out of the way. After all, you don’t want to spend half an hour on this review only to discover there’s a key dealbreaker right under your nose.
Here are some quick facts about RingCentral to get you started:
- RingCentral pricing starts at $20 per user, per month billed annually, and $30 per user, per month billed monthly.
- RingCentral provides a wide range of third-party integrations that make setting up the provider very easy.
- RingCentral offers no hardware options but is compatible with phones from Poly, Cisco, Yealink, and Unify.
- RingCentral is very scalable, offering team infrastructure features like task management and analytics on its more expensive plans.
- RingCentral is also equipped with one of the best video conferencing platforms in our research.
Who is RingCentral best for?
In addition to testing out RingCentral, we’ve also done extensive research on other VoIP providers to get a better understanding of how they match up against each other. Subsequently, we can provide some unique insights into who RingCentral might be best for, as well as what some viable RingCentral alternatives might be.
Our research found that RingCentral is ideal for businesses in a variety of industries. It’s ideal for those in healthcare thanks to its robust security features like third-party certifications and end-to-end encryption, retail, thanks to its functionality across other channels like video conferencing and email, and customer services, thanks to its decidedly accurate AI transcription functionality.
Only interested in the provider’s video service? Check out how much it could cost you in our RingCentral Video pricing guide.
RingCentral Test Summary (2024)
We had the pleasure of testing out the Advanced plan from RingCentral, getting a hands-on look at how the platform performs when put through an array of standardized tests to evaluate how easy it was to use and navigate for first-time users.
Right out of the gate, RingCentral impressed thanks to the simple and intuitive setup process. Thanks to a third-party integration with Google, we were able to get our contacts set up almost immediately by simply signing in. Beyond that, adding other information like contacts or meetings was simple, with clear icons in the sidebar to take you where you need to go.
Perhaps one of the most valuable features of RingCentral that impressed me the most was the audio transcription for meetings and voicemails. These AI-powered services were nearly perfect every time, mixing up some simple names here and there with the occasional punctuation mistake. The downside, though, was that saving and sharing transcriptions was a bit messy and not as intuitive as the rest of the platform.
Still, RingCentral was overall a pleasant experience, providing a clear, navigable platform that makes it easy to integrate the VoIP system with other services like CRM and video conferencing.
RingCentral Features
Now that you know some basics about RingCentral, it’s time to get a bit deeper into what this VoIP provider actually offers. Below, we’ve outlined some of the key features that we found useful while testing RingCentral, making it one of our top picks for businesses looking for a VoIP phone system.
Call features
RingCentral is first and foremost a VoIP provider, so having an understanding of what kind of call features are available is likely at the top of your mind. Here are some of the key functionalities available in all RingCentral plans that deal with actually making a call.
- Unlimited domestic calling
- Incoming caller ID
- HD voice
- AI noise cancellation
- Multi-level auto attendant
- Call queues
- Shared lines
- Enhanced business SMS
- Admin console
- Call log reports
When we placed a call, the pop-up dial-pad made it easy to interact with the interface. Source: Tech.co testing
Team infrastructure
We found that RingCentral is primed for growing and larger businesses because it offers a wide range of team infrastructure features that can help you manage your team more effectively. More specifically, the VoIP system offers a Workspace tool that can house tasks and events in calendar and list formats. You can also save files and take notes directly in the platform, which, unlike the analytics tool, does exist directly in the RingCentral app.
Even better, we found that the Advanced plan from RingCentral allows for CRM integration with Salesforce, Zendesk, Microsoft Dynamics, and HubSpot, so you can turn the VoIP platform into an all-in-one hub for your business operations.
RingCentral also offers task management functionality in more expensive plans for easy scalability. Source: Tech.co testing
Analytics & reporting
For businesses that want to be able to track how their team is making calls, RingCentral provides a robust analytics and reporting tool that can help you monitor it all. Most notably, Quality of Service reports are available, even in the cheapest pricing plan. For the more expensive plans, we were able to get performance reports, adoption and usage data, room and device analytics, and company number details.
One aspect of the analytics functionality from RingCentral that we didn’t love, however, is that it lives on a different platform to the actual RingCentral app. When you click on the Analytics tab in the sidebar, it opens a new browser window that houses all of the reports, somewhat slowing down the overall process, but it’s certainly not a dealbreaker.
We found the quality-of-service reports in RingCentral easy to understand, providing helpful information about your calls. Source: Tech.co testing
AI features
Nearly every business software in the world is adding some kind of AI functionality to its platform, and RingCentral is no different. This comes in the form of RingSense AI, the service from RingCentral that powers all of its audio transcription functionality.
We found this to be quite impressive in video meetings and audio voicemails, getting nearly perfect results for complex requests and long discussions. Even better, you were able to save transcriptions directly to your computer, although you will have to select that option before you exit your meeting.
We used RingCentral’s audio transcription services in a video meeting, and it was nearly perfect. Source: Tech.co testing
RingCentral Plans
RingCentral’s offers three different pricing plans for its VoIP service: Core, Advanced, and Ultra. Check out how the plans match up against each other on price and features below or learn more in our RingCentral pricing guide.
| Price | Unlimited calls in US | Team messaging | Document sharing | Video conferencing | 24/7 support | Call recording | Analytics | Single sign-on | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | | | ||||||||
| Core | Advanced | Ultra | ||||||||
| | | | ||||||||
| | | | ||||||||
| | | | ||||||||
| 100 participants | 100 participants | 200 participants | ||||||||
| | | | ||||||||
| On-demand | On-demand/Automatic | On-demand/Automatic | ||||||||
| | | | ||||||||
| | | |
RingCentral Core plan
The Core plan from RingCentral costs $20 per user, per month and it’s your basic phone system offering. This plan is ideal for businesses that are looking for a phone system, nothing more and nothing less. It offers all the standard features you’d need from a phone system but doesn’t have anything flashy like CRM integration or advanced analytics. You will be able to integrate your contacts with Google and Microsoft, though, which will speed up your setup process.
All RingCentral pricing plans allowed us to connect with Google or Microsoft to easily integrate your calendar. Source: Tech.co testing
RingCentral Advanced plan
The Advanced plan from RingCentral costs $25 per user, per month, and it’s our most recommended plan from the VoIP provider. The main reason being that this plan unlocks CRM integration, advanced analytics, custom roles, and a wide range of other features that can help you manage a larger team without losing track of anything.
RingCentral Ultra plan
The Ultra plan from RingCentral costs $30 per user, per month, and it’s really just reserved for those much larger teams that need a little extra functionality to get the job done. This plan doubles the number of video conferencing guests allowed from 100 to 200 and offers unlimited storage for files and recordings. You’ll also get device analytics, which can be helpful for larger teams that need to keep track of all their electronics.
RingCentral Review: How It Compares to Other VoIP Providers
RingCentral was one of the better VoIP providers that we’ve tested over the years, but it might not be the right fit for your business. In that case, we’ve done plenty of research on other top VoIP providers to get you a bit of context on the market, so you can make the best decision for your particular team.
For example, 8×8 might be a better VoIP system if you prioritize security for your business, as it provides a more robust offering for protecting data. Zoom Phone is another excellent choice, particularly if you’re looking for an affordable option that can get you by. If ease of use is a necessity for your VoIP system, Ooma was one of the most intuitive platforms across our research.
Below, we’ve included a table matching up some of the best VoIP providers in our research to give you a clear picture of what you’re working with when it comes to phone systems.
| Price from The typical lowest starting price. The lowest price available for your business will depend on your needs. | Best For | Core Benefit | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| RingCentral | Zoom Phone | 8×8 | Ooma | Vonage | GoTo Connect | Nextiva | Net2Phone | NUACOM | Dialpad | Google Voice |
| Integrations | Value for money | Security | Overall customer experience. Also great for retailers, due to strong inbound and outbound communication tools. | Customer service industries, due to impressive training features | Managing large volumes of inbound calls | Professional services | Great for international businesses | Great customer satisfaction | Startups on tight budgets | Small businesses that prioritize security |
| Large variety of Helpdesk and CRM integrations | Affordable pricing | Integrates with various other communication tools | Flexibility: No contracts, keep your number, and work from anywhere. | Staff improve on the job, due to top training and management tools. | Provides call management features at low cost | Unlimited Calls in U.S. & Canada | Integrates with Microsoft Office, Google and others | Great automation and analytics tools. | High customer satisfaction at low prices | Integration with the Google platform |
We take our hands-on testing and impartial analysis seriously, so you can have complete confidence that we're giving you the clearest, most useful recommendations.
After conducting an initial exploration to identify the most relevant, popular, and established business phone platforms on the market, we assessed ten of the top VoIP systems across 78 areas of investigation.
Based on years of market research, product testing, and user needs analysis, we've established a VoIP system testing methodology that scores each product in seven main categories of investigation and 16 subcategories. This covers everything from the features and security options available to the product's value for money and customer score, as well as much more.
Our main testing categories for VoIP phone systems are:
- Customer Score: the feedback and ratings given by customers who have used a particular VoIP system, as well as the wider reputation a VoIP software holds.
- Cost: the pricing structure associated with the VoIP service, including factors such as monthly subscription fees, domestic and international call rates, setup fees, hardware costs, and extra costs like add-on features or services.
- Features: the functionalities and capabilities offered by the VoIP service, including basic features such as call forwarding, and voicemail, as well as more advanced features like auto-attendant, conference calling, and interactive voice response (IVR).
- External Connections: the VoIP service's ability to connect and integrate with external systems or devices. This can include compatibility with existing phone systems, mobile devices, or other third-party software.
- Customer Support: the assistance and resources provided by the VoIP service provider to customers, including online resources, knowledge bases, and access to customer support representatives and AI chatbots.
- Security Options: Security options refer to the measures and features implemented by the VoIP service to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and protection of voice communications and data.
- Scalability: the ability of the VoIP service to accommodate the growth and changing needs of an organization, including its capacity to handle a growing number of users, support multiple locations or offices, and scale up or down.
When it comes to calculating a product's final score, not all testing areas are weighted evenly, as we know some aspects matter more to our readers than others, which are merely "nice to have." After hundreds of hours, our process is complete, and the results should ensure you can find the best solution for your needs.
Verdict: Is RingCentral Worth It?
After all our research, we feel more than comfortable recommending RingCentral for the majority of businesses. The VoIP system is easy to set up thanks to third-party integrations and offers a lot of scalability thanks to robust team infrastructure features.
On top of that, the starting price of only $20 per user, per month is friendly to those trying to stick to a budget, although there are certainly cheaper options out there, like Zoom Phone. It’s also worth remembering that RingCentral is our top choice for video conferencing software, which is included in the VoIP system, so you’re getting a real 2-for-1 situation when you opt for RingCentral.
If you want to get started with a VoIP system today, feel free to fill out this quick form that will allow you to compare VoIP prices and find a provider that fits your particular needs.
Our content is funded in part by commercial partnerships, at no extra cost to you and without impact to our editorial impartiality. Click to Learn More