10 Best RingCentral Alternatives and Competitors (2026)
Most teams don’t leave RingCentral over call quality. They leave when the renewal notice lands, when the add-ons outnumber the seats, or when the AI receptionist starts billing in 30-second increments.
The quick answer: The best RingCentral alternative for a small or mid-sized business is Carly. Its AI receptionist doesn’t just take a message: it knows the caller’s email and CRM history, qualifies them against your criteria and books them on the right person’s real calendar. The Carly team sets up your number, routing and phone menus with you. If all you want is a cheaper seat, Quo, Dialpad and Nextiva each start at $15 per user per month on annual billing.
RingCentral alternatives compared
| Tool | Best for | Starting price (US) | Billing and terms | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | Teams whose calls should turn into booked meetings | Set on a short call | The Carly team sets it up with you | Book a call first to scope your setup |
| RingCentral RingEX (baseline) | Multi-site teams that want video and chat bundled | $20/user/mo annual, $30 monthly | Contracts auto-renew for the same term | AI Receptionist and shared texting cost extra |
| Quo | Small teams that live in text threads | $15/user/mo annual, $19 monthly | Monthly or annual | Sona calls past about 10 a month use paid credits |
| Dialpad | Sales and support teams that want AI transcripts | $15/user/mo annual, $27 monthly | Monthly or annual | Pro has a 3-user minimum |
| Nextiva | Phone plus live chat and a call center | $15/user/mo annual, $23 monthly | Monthly or annual | Engage doubles to $50 on monthly billing |
| Zoom Phone | Companies already paying for Zoom | $10.50/user/mo (metered) | Billed annually, upfront | Calling included starts at $16 |
| Grasshopper | Solo owners and very small teams | $14/mo per plan annual, $18 monthly | Monthly or annual | $9/mo per extra number, texting fees |
| Google Voice | Teams already on Google Workspace | $10/user/mo (Starter) | Needs a Workspace plan, billed separately | Starter stops at 10 users |
| Vonage | Small offices buying a line per employee | $19.99/line/mo | 12-month promotional pricing | Promo rate ends after a year |
| Aircall | Sales and support call teams | $30/license/mo annual | 3-license minimum | AI Voice Agent sold in minute packs |
| 8x8 | Larger and multi-country organizations | Quote only | Negotiated with sales | No published per-seat price |
Why teams leave RingCentral
The contract renews itself
RingCentral’s terms say recurring services automatically renew for a period the same length as the original term unless either side gives notice at least 30 days before the term ends. Leave early for any reason other than RingCentral’s own material breach and you owe everything remaining for the rest of the term. The same terms let RingCentral raise recurring charges with notice 30 days before a term ends, so one missed email can mean a higher rate for another full term.
Users on RingCentral’s community forum describe what that looks like. One owner who called to cut lines learned the contract had automatically renewed for 3 years the month before. Another asked for any way out of a $1,800+ early termination fee on a contract they hadn’t realized still had a year left. Our guide to cancelling RingCentral walks through the dates, and you can plan the switch around your renewal with the Carly team.
The seat price isn’t the bill
RingEX Core is $20 per user per month on annual billing or $30 monthly, Advanced is $25 or $35, and Ultra is $35 or $45. Texting is capped by plan at 25, 100 and 200 SMS per user per month. The shared SMS inbox with reply templates is the $25 Business SMS Booster, the Call Queues Booster is $35, conversation intelligence starts at $60, and extra local or toll-free numbers are $4.99 a month each. The full breakdown is in RingCentral pricing, or get a walkthrough of what Carly Phone would replace.
The AI is metered by the minute
RingCentral’s AI Receptionist (AIR) is an add-on from $39 a month, or $49 standalone, with 100 minutes included. After that it’s $0.50 a minute, with call time rounded up to 30-second increments. At 100 calls a month averaging two minutes, the $39 add-on becomes $89. More in our RingCentral AI Receptionist breakdown, or see how Carly’s AI receptionist handles the same calls.
Support is the loudest complaint
RingCentral holds a 1.7 out of 5 TrustScore on Trustpilot across nearly 2,000 reviews (September 2026), and Trustpilot’s own summary of recent reviews says customers find support hard to reach by phone and unresponsive to email. RingEX also bundles video, team messaging, fax and webinars into one console, a lot to manage for an office that mostly needs the phones answered. Our RingCentral review covers what the product does well.
The 10 best RingCentral alternatives
1. Carly: best when calls should become booked meetings
Carly is an AI assistant for businesses, and Carly Phone gives it your business line: a new local number, or the number you already have on RingCentral, with calls and texts on the same number.
The difference shows up at 6:45 pm. A new customer calls Josh’s HVAC company after the office has closed. Most phone systems send that call to a voicemail box or a message-taking script. Carly answers, recognizes the caller from last month’s email thread and their CRM record, asks the qualifying questions Josh set, checks his technicians’ real calendars and books the visit. Then it texts the caller a link to the booking page. Josh sees the whole thing, with a summary, in the morning.
What the Carly team sets up with you:
- Your number and routing. Ring the team at once or in order, business-hours and after-hours rules, call flows and phone menus built around how you work.
- An AI receptionist. Picks up when nobody else does, answers questions, qualifies callers and books the right person.
- Business texting. A shared SMS inbox where Carly replies and anyone on the team can take a conversation over, with photos, attachments and opt-out handling.
- One call inbox. Voicemail transcripts, call outcomes and summaries, with resolve and reopen so follow-ups don’t slip.
- CRM logging. Every call lands in Carly’s built-in CRM and in HubSpot, Salesforce or Dynamics 365.
Whatever you rely on RingCentral for today (shared numbers, routing, phone menus, voicemail transcription, call summaries, texting, AI answering, CRM sync, analytics), the Carly team sets it up on Carly. And since Carly already runs your email, calendar and follow-ups, and connects to thousands of apps, the phone stops being a separate system.
Book a call with the Carly team to map your current RingCentral call flows before your renewal date.
Best for: Service businesses, agencies and sales teams where a missed call is a missed booking. Pricing: Carly Phone is an add-on for teams, and pricing is set on a short call. Getting started: The Carly team sets it up with you, and you’re live after one call. Get a walkthrough.
2. Quo
Quo (renamed from OpenPhone in late 2025) gives each user a number, puts calls and texts in shared threads, and includes its Sona AI agent on every plan. Sona runs on credits: 1,000 are included, which covers about 10 calls a month. Phone menus, ring orders, AI summaries on every call and HubSpot or Salesforce sync start on Business.
Best for: Small teams that text customers as often as they call them. Pricing: Starter $15/user/month annual ($19 monthly), Business $23 ($33), Scale $35 ($47). Sona packs run $25, $49, $99 and $199 a month for 40, 100, 250 and 600 calls. Extra numbers are $5 a month. Watch out for: Texting registration costs $19.50 one-time plus $1.50 to $3 a month. See Quo vs RingCentral, Quo pricing and Quo alternatives.
3. Dialpad
Dialpad is built around its own AI: transcription, call recaps, sentiment analysis and live coaching. Its AI Agents are priced per conversation from a pool of credits, and Dialpad says a conversation only bills when the agent looks something up or takes an action such as scheduling or routing.
Best for: Sales and support teams that want transcripts and coaching on every call. Pricing: Standard $15/user/month annual ($27 monthly), Pro $25 ($35). AI Agents are quoted by sales. Watch out for: Pro has a 3-user minimum, and month-to-month Standard costs nearly double the annual rate. Compare in RingCentral vs Dialpad and Dialpad alternatives.
4. Nextiva
Nextiva’s Core plan covers voice, business SMS, video meetings, call routing, team chat and a mobile app. Engage adds a toll-free number and minutes, advanced reporting, an inbound call center, live chat and a chatbot. The XBert AI Receptionist is an add-on on both.
Best for: Teams that want a phone system and a light contact center from one vendor. Pricing: Core $15/user/month annual ($23 monthly), Engage $25 ($50 monthly), Scale $75. Watch out for: Engage doubles on monthly billing, and the AI receptionist is priced separately. See RingCentral vs Nextiva.
5. Zoom Phone
Zoom Phone adds a cloud phone system to your Zoom account, and also comes bundled into some Zoom Workplace plans.
Best for: Companies already standardized on Zoom for meetings. Pricing: $10.50/user/month on the metered plan, or $16 with US and Canada calling included. Watch out for: Zoom bills these plans annually as one upfront charge. The monthly figures are the yearly total divided by 12.
6. Grasshopper
Grasshopper, owned by GoTo, is a virtual phone line priced per plan instead of per user. True Solo includes one extension and Solo Plus includes three, with a shared inbox and no per-user cost.
Best for: Solo owners adding a business number to the cell phone they already carry. Pricing: True Solo $14/month annual ($18 monthly), Solo Plus $25 ($32), Small Business $55 ($70). Watch out for: Extra numbers are $9 a month each, and business texting carries a $19.50 one-time registration fee plus $1.50 a month. More in Grasshopper alternatives.
7. Google Voice
Google Voice adds business calling to Google Workspace. Standard adds auto attendants, ring groups and Gemini call notes, and Premier adds automatic call recording, transcription and advanced reporting.
Best for: Teams already on Google Workspace with simple call flows. Pricing: Starter $10/user/month, Standard $20, Premier $30. Watch out for: Google Voice needs a Google Workspace plan billed separately, and Starter stops at 10 users. See Google Voice for business.
8. Vonage
Vonage Business Communications sells per line in three tiers: Mobile, Premium and Advanced.
Best for: Small offices buying one line per employee. Pricing: Per line per month, by tier. Watch out for: If your quote includes an introductory rate, get the year-two price in writing.
9. Aircall
Aircall is a call platform for sales and support teams, with 100+ CRM and helpdesk integrations. Its AI Voice Agent handles inbound calls with intent detection and is sold in minute packs.
Best for: Sales and support teams of three or more making calls all day. Pricing: Essentials $30/license/month annual, Professional $50. The AI Voice Agent is $175 for 500 minutes. Watch out for: A 3-license minimum on annual billing. See Aircall alternatives.
10. 8x8
8x8 sells 8x8 Work for business communications and 8x8 Contact Center, mixed and matched into a custom plan for large, multi-country deployments.
Best for: Larger and global organizations with a procurement team. Pricing: Quote-based through 8x8’s sales team. Watch out for: With no published per-seat price, comparing it to RingCentral means running two sales processes.
For a wider field, see best small business phone systems and best AI receptionists.
How to switch off RingCentral without paying twice
- Get your term end date in writing. Ask support for the end date and remaining balance first.
- Send non-renewal notice early. RingCentral’s terms need it at least 30 days before the term ends. Keep the confirmation.
- Port the number before you cancel. Keep the RingCentral account active until the port completes, or you risk losing the number.
- Rebuild your call flows first. List every routing rule, phone menu and after-hours setting. The Carly team rebuilds them with you on a call.
If calls to your business should end in a booked appointment, see Carly Phone on a call. More on how that works in AI answering service and SMS appointment booking.
FAQ
What is the best alternative to RingCentral?
For small and mid-sized businesses whose calls should turn into appointments, Carly. It runs your business number, routing and texting, and its AI receptionist qualifies callers and books them on your real calendars, using their email and CRM history. The Carly team sets it up with you, and you can book a call with the Carly team to scope it. For a cheaper seat on a self-serve plan, Quo, Dialpad and Nextiva all start at $15 per user per month on annual billing.
Who are RingCentral’s main competitors?
For larger companies: Dialpad, Nextiva, 8x8, Zoom Phone and Vonage. For small teams: Quo, Grasshopper and Google Voice. Aircall competes for sales and support call teams, and Carly competes on AI answering that books meetings instead of taking messages.
Is there a cheaper alternative to RingCentral?
Yes, on the seat price. RingEX starts at $20 per user per month annual or $30 monthly. Google Voice Starter is $10 per user plus a Workspace plan, Zoom Phone’s metered plan is $10.50, Grasshopper True Solo is $14 per plan, and Quo, Dialpad and Nextiva start at $15 per user annually. Texting registration, extra numbers and AI minutes change the real total.
Can I keep my RingCentral number if I switch?
Yes. Business numbers can be ported to a new provider. Keep your RingCentral account active until the port completes, then cancel. Carly Phone works with the number you already have, and you can book a call to plan the move.
How do I get out of a RingCentral contract?
Send written notice of non-renewal at least 30 days before your term ends, or the contract renews for another term of the same length. Cancelling mid-term means paying the rest of the term unless RingCentral materially breached the agreement. Our cancel RingCentral guide has the full steps.
Does RingCentral have an AI receptionist?
Yes. RingCentral AI Receptionist (AIR) is an add-on to RingEX from $39 a month, or $49 standalone, with 100 minutes included and $0.50 a minute after that, billed in 30-second increments. It comes with a 14-day trial.
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