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The Top 5 RingCentral Alternatives For Small Businesses

the-top-5-ringcentral-alternatives-for-small-businesses

Whether you’re a business owner or team manager, having the right features on your cloud-based business phone is crucial to your organization’s success. You may have an existing phone solution like RingCentral, but is it really delivering the value you need? And is it equipped to tackle your business’s growth as your team scales and expands? 

As your goals and objectives evolve, so do your business requirements. This is why it’s essential to look at alternatives to RingCentral to make sure you are getting everything you need from your cloud-based business phone system.

In this article, we will look at RingCentral alternatives that sales and support teams should consider before committing to a new service provider. 

RingCentral Overview 

RingCentral is a unified communication platform that uses VoIP to connect customer-facing team members with each other and their customers. It offers clear, delineated features and support packages for enterprises, small businesses, and startups. 

Pricing

RingCentral offers four different pricing plans, and you have the option to be billed monthly or annually:

  • Essential: $29.99 per month per user
  • Standard: $37.99 per month per user
  • Premium: $44.99 per month per user
  • Ultimate: $59.99 per month per user

It’s important to note that support and integrations are not offered on the Essential plan. 

Why You Should Consider RingCentral Alternatives

While RingCentral might offer numerous solutions tailored for small and large enterprises, its pricing packages are fairly rigid with fixed features and capabilities. If you’re a small business that’s rapidly scaling, opting for these fixed pricing plans with an inflexible set of features and integrations might not accommodate your requirements, especially as they evolve over time. For this reason, it’s worth considering whether opting for a RingCentral alternative might be a better long-term solution for your business. 

Here are a few essential considerations to keep in mind before you look at other vendors. 

Simplicity and ease of use

The ideal cloud-based business phone software should come with industry-leading features and capabilities, require minimal setup and installation, and have an extremely user-friendly interface, allowing you to resume your operations as quickly as possible.

Integration ecosystem

As a small business, it’s important to consider your existing tech stack before selecting a new cloud-based business phone system. Integrations should be included and not only available on more expensive pricing packages tailored to larger enterprises.

Value for money

Pricing is important to think about, but you also need to consider what you’re getting for the price you pay. The phone solution you choose should allow you to select a service bundle that caters to your unique requirements, instead of making you pay for services you might not use to access the ones you need.

What to Look for in a RingCentral Alternative

When looking for the best RingCentral alternative and the most suitable VoIP provider for your small business, here are some must-have features any good provider should offer. 

Cloud-based software capabilities

With a cloud-based business phone system, you won’t have to deal with hardware, which is simpler, faster, and—ultimately—more cost-effective. With just one click, your sales and support teams should be ready to start making and receiving calls.

Responsive Analytics 

Identifying gaps in performance and highlighting areas that need improvement are integral for driving growth and revenue. Having access to analytics based on real-time data ensures that you’re interpreting invaluable customer data, translating it into actionable insights to inform your strategies and exceed set performance targets.

Extensive integrations

Integrations can make or break a cloud-based business phone system. Opting for a solution that connects to your existing tech stack means you can stick to the tools you’re already using and leverage valuable call insights at the same time.

Usually, integration options are reserved for mid- to top-tier plans and can be a costly addition to your existing plan. As a team manager, you know efficiency is the name of the game, and you can’t waste time or money on services and features you don’t need or are unnecessary.  

The Top RingCentral Alternatives

Let’s take a look at the top RingCentral alternatives.

Aircall

  • Integrations: 100+
  • Entry-Level Features: Instant numbers; custom music and messages; business hours; IVR; softphone for desktop, Android, and iOS; enjoy 50+ features in the Essentials package alone
  • Pricing: $30 per user per month

Nextiva

  • Integrations: 2
  • Entry-Level Features: Unlimited voice and calling, toll-free numbers, voicemail, unlimited internet fax
  • Pricing: Starting from $25.95 per user per month

8×8

  • Integrations: 50+ 
  • Entry-Level Features: Auto-attendant, team messaging, voicemail to email, call management
  • Pricing: Starting from $15 per user per month

Grasshopper

  • Integrations: 15
  • Entry-Level Features: Desktop and mobile apps, business texting, call forwarding
  • Pricing: Starting from $26 per account per month

Google Voice

  • Integrations: 4
  • Entry-Level Features: Voicemail transcription, call screening, protection from spam calls and messages
  • Pricing: Starting at $10 per user per month

With these features and capabilities in mind, it’s time to unpack which vendor is the ideal RingCentral alternative.

Features

RingCentral has a limited number of features compared to its alternatives. The alternative that offers the most entry-level features is Aircall. Aircall is the only alternative that offers in-house support and training as part of its basic package. And with other features like warm transfers and click-to-dial, Aircall offers what other alternatives offer in their mid- to top-tier plans. 

Integrations

Only offering integrations in its mid- to top-tier plans, RingCentral offers integrations for Zendesk, Salesforce, and CRM tools. This type of billing structure is common among the alternatives to RingCentral. Aircall is the only alternative that offers 100+ integrations to all of its customers. 

Pricing

Google Voice has the lowest starting price, but this plan does not offer the features, services, and integrations that other alternatives have to offer. RingCentral and Aircall are on par with each of its basic plan pricing, however, there’s a vast difference between what each provider offers. Aircall offers features and services that are not included in RingCentral’s basic plan. In terms of features, integrations, and pricing, Aircall provides the best value for money compared to the other alternatives. 

Why Aircall Stands Out From the Other RingCentral Alternatives

Aircall is a VoIP platform that boosts collaboration while scaling your ability to build valuable customer relationships. What sets Aircall apart is its ability to leverage the power of conversation to build a powerful cloud-based call center software that features real-time analytics, sales and support-specific features, and industry-leading integrations.

Unlike RingCentral, Aircall helps you win efficiency gains from day one by streamlining your existing processes, boosting collaborative capabilities, and enhancing the quality of your customer-facing conversations. 

Find Out How Aircall Can Add Value to Your Business

When selecting the right RingCentral alternative for your business, there’s a lot to consider. And committing to a solution without trying it first is not ideal. 

Book a demo today to find out how Aircall can help your small business boost productivity and reach targets while remaining cost-effective. 

Special thanks to our friends at Aircall for their insights on this topic.
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