Unified communications platforms help businesses deal with incoming and outgoing calls, faxes and texts. Robust systems, such as Nextiva and RingCentral, also integrate with other business solutions and allow team messaging and file sharing. While both are popular choices, they are not without their differences. So, Forbes Advisor compared Nextiva vs. RingCentral to help you find out which is the best choice for your business and its unique communications needs.
Featured Partners
1
RingCentral
$20 per user, per month (paid annually)
Yes
Yes
2
Zoom Phone
Starts at $10 per user, per month
Yes
Yes
3
Nextiva
$18.95 per user, per month
Yes
Yes
RingCentral vs. Nextiva: At a Glance
Getting a unified communications system that can grow with your team is important. The good news is that you can’t go wrong with either of these options as they earned the top two spots in our comparison of the best voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) services. Both Nextiva and RingCentral offer tiered plans that grow with your team. We feel that Nextiva is pricey for its low-tiered uses, starting at $23.95 per person per month. This rate drops to $17.95 per person per month for large teams.
RingCentral also grows with your business and is scalable. Plans range from $20 per user, per month, to $35 per user, per month, for the plan with the most advanced features, including call recording and video conferencing.
Nextiva
Starting Price
$17.95
per user per month
Voice Mail to Text
Yes
Toll-Free Numbers
Yes
$17.95
per user per month
Yes
Yes
Nextiva’s plans offer unlimited calls, texts and faxes. It stands out among other unified communications systems with toll-free minutes and video conferencing. It allows 12,500 monthly toll-free minutes and lets companies host video conferences with as many as 250 attendees. These numbers surpass competitors, giving Nextiva an edge there. However, it doesn’t have as many integrations as other unified communications systems. It only pairs up with Microsoft Outlook and Google Contacts on the basic plan and pairs with Salesforce, HubSpot and Zendesk in higher tiers.
- Affordable for small teams
- Unlimited internet fax
- Voice mail to email notifications
- Limited integrations
- Limited call management features
- SMS not available with all plans
RingCentral
Starting Price
$20 per month
(with annual billing)
Voice Mail to Text
Yes
Toll-Free Numbers
Yes
$20 per month
(with annual billing)
Yes
Yes
RingCentral is a comprehensive, unified communications system that offers unlimited calls, texts and faxes. It uses voice transcription to send texts and emails for voice mails and allows users to set up messages and group chats for better communication that includes file sharing. We believe that RingCentral is the best when it comes to integration into other business solutions. It pairs with Slack, Salesforce and over 200 other business software. Higher-level tiers allow up to 200 people in video conferencing, and users can record calls for training and record-keeping.
- More than 200 integrations
- Group messaging
- File sharing
- Expensive
- Difficult navigation and setup
- Limited storage on lower tiers
How Nextiva and RingCentral Stack Up
| Nextiva | RingCentral | |
|---|---|---|
|
Starting Price
|
$17.95 per user, per month
|
$20 per month
|
|
Customer Support
|
24/7 phone, email and chat support
|
24/7 phone and chat support
|
|
Free Trial
|
30 days
|
15 days
|
|
Unlimited Domestic Calls
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
SMS
|
Unlimited with the Professional plan ($20.95 per month)
|
25 per user per month
|
|
Team Messaging
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Video Conferencing
|
250 participants max
|
200 participants max
|
|
Integrations
|
Limited based on tier
|
More than 200 integrations
|
|
Uptime Service Level Agreement
|
100.00%
|
100.00%
|
Nextiva and RingCentral are two comparable unified communications systems. Both offer a free trial, although Nextiva’s is double the time to dig into integrations and use cases. The two providers both have unlimited domestic calls and team messaging. Nextiva gets the edge when it comes to video conferencing, allowing up to 250 users compared to RingCentral’s 200.
RingCentral gets the edge when it comes to integrations. The App Gallery of RingCentral has more than 200 integrations, whereas Nextiva has fewer than 20 integrations, depending on what tier you subscribe to.
Bottom Line
Nextiva and RingCentral are two competent unified communications providers. Both offer unlimited calls that are known for quality and uptime. We give RingCentral a slight edge over Nextiva because it integrates with so many applications used by business owners that it makes communications seamless with business workflows.
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