Nextiva vs RingCentral: Which Is Better for Small Businesses in 2023?

When searching for an office-based communications system, two names always appear: Nextiva and RingCentral. They are two of the best voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) solutions, so determining a winner in the Nextiva vs RingCentral head-to-head comparison can be difficult. RingCentral offers robust integrations and boasts powerful call management, while Nextiva has dynamic pricing that gets more affordable as you add more users and switch to an annual plan.

Choosing the best provider for your business comes down to both your needs and communications budget. Based on our comparison, the best use cases for Nextiva vs RingCentral are as follows:

• Nextiva: Best for businesses planning on adding users over time
• RingCentral: Better for companies slowly adopting features as needed

Nextiva vs RingCentral at a Glance

Monthly Starting Price	$28.95 per user	$29.99 per user
Free Trial	✓	✓
Free Trial Duration	7 days	15 days
Annual Discount	✓	✓
Volume Discounts	✓	✓
Communication Channels	Voice, text messaging, video conferencing, team messaging, internet fax, voicemail	Voice, text messaging, video conferencing, team messaging, internet fax, voicemail
Uptime Guarantee	99.999%	99.999%
Video Conferencing	Up to 250 participants	Up to 200 participants
Monthly Toll-free Minutes	Up to 12,500	Up to 10,500
For More Information	Visit Nextiva	Visit RingCentral

Best Alternatives

While Nextiva and RingCentral are solid choices, they aren’t your only options. Both providers might be overkill for some who might not need unified communications (UC) features, and neither are equipped with features for frequent international communications. A few alternatives to consider for both Nextiva and RingCentral include:

Best For	Newer businesses looking for a simplified calling system without many unified communications features. Check out our Grasshopper review for more info.	Businesses building an international presence. 8x8 has unlimited international calling plans and international numbers in 100+ countries. We cover this provider in our 8x8 review.	Businesses seeking an easy-to-set-up VoIP solution. Ooma has two dedicated pricing tiers that simplify the process of configuring business calling. Read our Ooma review for a more in-depth look.
Monthly Starting Price	$31	$15	$19.95
Learn More	Visit Grasshopper	Visit 8x8	Visit Ooma

Best for Pricing: RingCentral

Essentials: $29.99 per user for unlimited calls in the U.S./Canada, enhanced short message service (SMS), voicemail-to-text, team messaging, and document sharing for up to 20 users. Standard: $37.99 per user for business phone numbers in 100+ countries, unlimited internet faxing, video meetings with up to 100 participants, 24-hour meeting durations, and 24/7 support for unlimited users. Premium: $44.99 per user for automatic call recording, multisite admin, advanced call handling features, video meetings with up to 200 participants, and real-time analytics. Ultimate: $59.99 per user for device status reports, status alerts, and unlimited storage. Pricing is based on monthly billing for 1 to 20 users. Save up to 33% with annual payments.

Essential: $30.95 per user for unlimited calling, video meetings up to 45 minutes long with 250 participants, team chat messaging, toll-free numbers, and unlimited internet faxing. Professional: $35.95 per user for unlimited conference calls for up to 40 participants, multilevel auto-attendant, voicemail and SMS notifications, and one professionally recorded greeting. Enterprise: $45.95 per user for unlimited participants in conference calls, call recording, single sign-on, and three professionally recorded greetings. Pricing is based on monthly billing for 1 to 4 users. Save up to 27% with annual payments.

When it comes to overall pricing, the RingCentral vs Nextiva conversation is a contentious one. Both providers deliver annual and volume-based pricing, and their price points are similar. Additionally, you pay for a base-level plan for both providers, so you get unlimited U.S. and Canada-based calling, rated international calling, and SMS.

Despite their similarities, RingCentral comes out ahead thanks to more pricing tiers, better annual discount rates, and slightly cheaper pricing. To put this in perspective, more tiers equate to more options for businesses. This means RingCentral customers can gradually scale up tiers as they grow. With Nextiva, there are only three tiers to choose from with steeper pricing increases.

In addition, the annual pricing is also somewhat more affordable with RingCentral. When you switch to annual billing, you save 33% compared to Nextiva’s 27%, 25%, and 19% per plan. Finally, for smaller businesses paying month-to-month, RingCentral comes out cheaper. With one to five users, you’ll pay $29.99 for this provider and $30.95 per month for Nextiva. Not a huge difference, but something to consider for smaller businesses with tighter budgets.

Best for Video Conferencing: Nextiva

Accommodates 250 participants, but meetings are limited to 45-minute sessions for all plans.	Lower tier plans accommodate 100 participants, while higher tiers allow for 200 participants. Meetings have a 24-hour duration.

In today’s world of work-from-home, video conferencing has become critical technology. As we cover in our video conferencing statistics article, by utilization, this communication system is leading over other business technologies. As VoIP and unified communications as a service (UCaaS) providers, Nextiva and RingCentral both offer video conferencing.

While these aren’t available at the base tier, having video conferencing as an option allows users to communicate without leaving the platform and using another provider like Zoom. Both providers deliver video calling for hundreds of participants, but Nextiva edges RingCentral out with its ability to host an additional 250 attendees compared to RingCentral’s 200.

A look at Nextiva’s video conferencing profile (Source: Nextiva)

It’s worth noting that RingCentral is the provider with a free tier of video conferencing with longer durations. Still, the ability to host more attendees helps Nextiva grab the win. We cover more about Nextiva’s video conferencing features in our Nextiva review.

Best for Call Management Features: RingCentral

RingCentral offers a set of robust tools for call management, which is ideal for handling a large number of calls.	Nextiva has a complete set of the most useful call management features. It also has unique features like Call Pop, which makes it easier to see caller information.

RingCentral and Nextiva both have a full set of call management tools. However, RingCentral’s tools are more advanced, with call control features like call screening, call flip, call log, and presence available at all tiers. As you move up to the Premium tier, hotdesking, call whisper, and call barge become available.

If you don’t need these advanced features, Nextiva is not without its own unique functionalities. It offers a unique feature called Call Pop that instantly shows important caller details on your agent’s screen before answering the phone.

Best for Integrations: RingCentral

RingCentral integrates with an extensive list of 200+ third-party applications.	Nextiva integrates with 19 popular third-party applications.

Third-party app integrations allow users to connect their existing tools to another platform to streamline their work processes or add functionalities. While Nextiva integrates with popular apps, like HubSpot, Zendesk, Salesforce, and Zoho, RingCentral is unbeatable in this area. RingCentral integrates with more than 200 third-party apps. It also allows users to build their own integrations on RingCentral through its application programming interfaces (APIs).

A quick glimpse at RingCentral’s add-ins and integrations page (Source: RingCentral)

Best for Building an International Presence: RingCentral

RingCentral offers international phone numbers and metered international calls to hundreds of countries.	Nextiva offers metered rates to hundreds of international locations.

Nextiva and RingCentral offer international calls at rates much cheaper than what you’d find using a landline phone provider. While both lack unlimited calling to certain countries, you’ll typically pay less than a cent per minute with both providers.

For this battle, RingCentral is the undisputed leader. It’s a global company with headquarters in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Asia, and Europe. Nextiva, on the other hand, is purely U.S.-based and lacks international numbers for global customers and colleagues to reach U.S. businesses. RingCentral provides local numbers in over 100 countries, a major feather in the company’s cap.

Best for Customer Support: Nextiva

Nextiva comes with 24/7 chat, email, and phone support in every plan.	RingCentral offers 24/7 chat and phone support in its higher-tier plans.

VoIP and unified communications (UC) systems seem complex if you’re not used to working with them. For this reason, a strong support system is valuable when you’re investing in a VoIP or UCaaS provider. If you’re looking for a provider with a responsive support setup, Nextiva wins in this category. Not only does the provider have more channels to reach them, but its support is available at every plan tier.

RingCentral, on the other hand, has its best support tiers locked behind higher plan levels. Still, there’s the option for social media channels as well as a community that can typically answer most questions around provider functionality.

How We Evaluated Nextiva vs RingCentral

RingCentral and Nextiva are both robust cloud-based communications platforms for small businesses. They allow users to manage messages across channels like voice, texts, team messages, video conferences, and faxes.

However, some slight differences between the two providers can make one more suitable for small businesses. We analyzed their products based on some of the most critical criteria users are looking at, including price, customer support, and ease of use.

Here’s a complete breakdown of these factors:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Which provider, RingCentral or Nextiva, is more reliable?

Both RingCentral and Nextiva provide users with a 99.999% uptime service level agreement (SLA). This uptime equates to less than 26 seconds of downtime each month.

What devices are RingCentral & Nextiva apps compatible with?

The applications for both of these providers are available on Android and iOS devices. Desktop apps are also available on Mac and Windows computers.

Is a VoIP phone required to use RingCentral & Nextiva?

No, users are able to use both services without the use of a dedicated VoIP phone. Both desktop and mobile phones work well for these services.

Bottom Line

Nextiva and RingCentral are two of the best business phone systems currently on the market, and both deliver when it comes to business-friendly communications channels. For the purpose of this head-to-head comparison, RingCentral wins thanks to its strong integrations, powerful international options, feature-rich call management, and pricing. Still, both are close enough that either is suitable for growing businesses.

Want to know a little more about RingCentral? We have a dedicated review to help you understand some of the deep-dive features of the provider.