One of the earmarks of a professional business is a professional telephone communications system. RingCentral and Grasshopper are different types of phone systems that accomplish different solutions for business owners. Your needs and budget will determine which system is the best for you.
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
Grasshopper vs. RingCentral at a Glance
RingCentral is a voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) provider that offers an all-in-one unified communications system complete with video conferencing and messaging. Grasshopper is an incoming call management system that overlays on another phone line to help you organize calls and establish extensions for call-routing purposes.
Both services ranked very well in our analysis of the best business VoIP services but they each best suit the needs of different situations. Whereas RingCentral is best for a business with a team, Grasshopper is better for a solopreneur or microcompany working within a budget.
RingCentral
Voice Mail to Text
Yes
Toll-Free Numbers
Yes
Starting Price
$20 per line per month for up to 20 users
(if billed annually)
Yes
Yes
$20 per line per month for up to 20 users
(if billed annually)
RingCentral has it all. It offers unlimited domestic calls and texts, voice transcription and video conferencing (in higher tiers). Users can set up group chats for team communication and collaboration. RingCentral stands above the competition when it comes to the integrations it has invested in. The App Gallery has more than 200 possible integrations that include Slack and Salesforce, making it the unified communications platform many business owners need.
- More than 200 integrations
- Group messaging
- Document sharing
- Costly for teams
- Unintuitive navigation
- Limited international calling plans
Grasshopper
Voice Mail to Text
Yes
Toll-Free Numbers
Yes
Starting Price
$28 per month
(if billed annually)
Yes
Yes
$28 per month
(if billed annually)
Grasshopper is an overlay phone system that allows you to get one line with phone extensions for $28 per month, billed annually. It’s a no-frills system that enables microbusiness owners to keep personal phone numbers and business phone numbers separate. Grasshopper doesn’t scale well for large enterprises but does have higher tiers for small teams with up to five numbers. The system allows you to screen calls and set up business hours with the help of a virtual receptionist. Grasshopper offers no integrations with other software and isn’t considered a unified communications system.
- Multiple extensions
- Virtual receptionist
- High-quality calls
- Not scalable
- No third-party integrations
- Expensive for limited phone lines
How RingCentral and Grasshopper Stack Up
| RingCentral | Grasshopper | |
|---|---|---|
|
Free Trial
|
15 days
|
7 days
|
|
Unlimited Domestic Calls
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Team Messaging
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Video Conferencing
|
200 participants max
|
None
|
|
Integrations
|
More than 200 integrations
|
None
|
|
Uptime Service Level Agreement
|
99.999%
|
99.999%
|
|
Customer Support
|
24/7 phone and chat support
|
24/7 phone
|
Both RingCentral and Grasshopper will give your business the phone lines necessary to offer a professional profile, but unlimited calling and texting are about the only similarity the two providers share in regard to service offerings. They do each offer a free trial to let you test the system out before making a more significant commitment; RingCentral’s trial is 15 days, while Grasshopper’s trial is seven. But RingCentral offers more than 200 integrations to Grasshopper’s none, and RingCentral can host video conferencing for up to 200 participants, whereas Grasshopper has no video conferencing abilities.
Both providers do offer a 99.999% uptime guarantee in their service-level agreements (SLAs). Also, both providers do have 24/7 customer support, although Grasshopper does have a very large and active user base that it also relies on to help its customers.
Bottom Line
If you’re comparing these two options and looking for a unified communications system, RingCentral is the clear choice. It offers all the necessary communications systems needed by a business that relies on calls, texts, messaging, file sharing and video conferencing. Grasshopper, on the other hand, is a simple phone system that is designed for ease of use by solopreneurs and microbusinesses.
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