Ooma vs RingCentral: Price, Features & What’s Best in 2019

Ooma and RingCentral are two leading business phone systems that provide unlimited calling, automated attendants, and other features. Most businesses will want to go with Ooma, as it comes at a substantially lower price. However, larger companies looking for advanced features like video conferencing might find RingCentral to be a better fit.

When to Use Ooma

At just $19.99 per user, per month, Ooma serves as a solid entry-level voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) service for most general business users. Ooma is an effective phone service that is best for organizations that don’t need many features, like a 1-800 phone presence or online faxing. While it requires hardware, you are only charged once for the equipment.

Visit Ooma

When to Use RingCentral

Businesses looking for a no-compromises feature set, including a toll-free number, conferencing, and better international calling rates, should choose RingCentral. It has a higher starting price ($29.99 per user, per month), but does not require any additional hardware. It also comes with a toll-free number, which can help your business assume a more respectable business presence.

Visit RingCentral

Ooma vs RingCentral at a Glance

How We Evaluated Ooma & RingCentral

VoIP services are business phone systems that operate over the internet rather than a traditional landline network. When debating between RingCentral and Ooma for your business, it’s important to consider whether your organization needs certain features, like a toll-free phone number, a desktop softphone, and integration with customer relationship management (CRM) software.

We evaluated Ooma and RingCentral based on the following criteria:

• Price: We compared the price of each provider for services offered.
• Ease of use: VoIP services should be easy enough to set up and operate for users of all skill levels.
• Call management: We looked at call management features like call forwarding, screening, and voicemail.
• International calling: We looked at whether each service offers international calling.
• Automated attendant: VoIP systems should offer the ability to build and deploy voice menus for users.
• Software integrations: The ability to connect call data with business software can make VoIP solutions more useful.
• Device support: We examined the types of devices that customers can use each service on.
• Customer service: There should be helpful customer service channels available to assist in customer problems.

When comparing Ooma and RingCentral, Ooma’s affordability, along with its strong core set of features, make it the better choice for most general business users who are simply looking for a VoIP phone service. However, RingCentral’s wealth of functionality, such as CRM integration and a desktop softphone, makes it an appealing option for businesses that can afford it. The fact that it does not require additional hardware as Ooma does is also a plus.

Ooma vs RingCentral: Pricing & Features

Ooma and RingCentral are both small business VoIP systems with some similar features, including a local phone number, voicemail, and call management tools. RingCentral offers more features than Ooma, but has a higher monthly price. Ooma has a lower starting price but charges extra for things like toll-free numbers. It also requires that businesses buy a VoIP hardware box for their office. For more options, check out our article on Ooma alternatives.

Ooma Pricing

Ooma costs $19.95 per user, per month. There is also a one-time hardware charge of $199.99 for a base station and at least two signal extender devices depending on the extensions you need. All accounts include one local phone number, but additional local and toll-free numbers are available for $9.95 per month.

Ooma Features

Ooma offers features like unlimited calling throughout North America, a local phone number, voicemail, conference bridge, and an automated attendant. Ooma is not as feature-rich as other VoIP systems like RingCentral, but it also comes at a price that most organizations will be able to afford.

Ooma’s features include:

Call Management

Ooma provides call management features such as voicemail, call transfer, call forwarding, and call block. It also offers a feature known as “ring group,” which allows multiple phones to ring when one number or extension is dialed. This about matches the call management capabilities offered by RingCentral.

Virtual Receptionist

Ooma comes with a virtual receptionist that can route calls by name or extension. You can even configure business hours for your phone system so that callers will be automatically sent to voicemail after your office has closed. As helpful as this is, the voice menu builder is not as robust as that of RingCentral, which lets you configure temporary greetings to make callers aware of special company events or promotions.

Phone Numbers

When you sign up with a new Ooma account, you can choose a free local telephone number. Unfortunately, 1-800 toll-free numbers are only available for an additional $9.95 per number, per month. RingCentral, on the other hand, offers a toll-free number for free. Therefore, Ooma is best suited for organizations that only have a local business presence.

Software Integrations

Ooma only offers CRM integrations with its Enterprise package, which is only available for larger, more established businesses. As a result, you will not be able to connect phone data with services like Salesforce or Zoho CRM like you can with RingCentral. Ooma is only recommended for small businesses that have no use for such features.

RingCentral Pricing

RingCentral pricing plans are divided into three editions that range from $29.99 to $44.99 per user, per month. All tiers of service come with unlimited nationwide calls and a strong core set of features like CRM integration. It is expensive but provides most features that companies would want in their telephone system.

RingCentral Tiered Features

Essentials

RingCentral’s Essentials package, which starts at $29.99 per user, per month, comes with a toll-free number. It also comes with 100 toll-free minutes, SMS functionality, and voicemail-to-email transcription. It is one of the more basic telephony packages on the market.

Unfortunately, this plan is limited to less than 10 users. It also lacks the auto-attendant and Salesforce integration of more expensive packages. It’s also much more expensive than Ooma, even though it is an entry-level package. This plan is a good fit for very small teams looking for a toll-free number, but no advanced functionality.

Standard

The Standard edition of the service comes with all the features of the Essentials edition as well as more toll-free calling minutes, internet faxing, and an auto-attendant to greet and route callers. Pricing starts at $34.99 per user, per month, but goes down as you add more users.

This plan limits video conferences to just four people. It also lacks unlimited faxing and Salesforce integration modules found in the Premium version. Still, this has many features that Ooma does not, such as unlimited domestic calling and the ability to adopt an international number. It’s a good fit for small businesses that can afford the software and want a professional phone presence.

Premium

RingCentral’s Premium version is the vendor’s most popular package. At a starting price of $44.99 per user, per month, you can hold audio conferences for up to 100 users. You can also connect data with CRM platforms so that you can better convert calls into sales leads. The Premium package also includes automatic call recording on all calls.

Ooma offers no data connectors with outside business software in its small to medium-sized business (SMB) form, so RingCentral Premium is a much better choice for those who need CRM compatibility. However, this tier of service is extraordinarily expensive and probably too costly for most smaller organizations. If you are on a strict budget, you may want to consider a less expensive RingCentral alternative.

Ooma vs RingCentral: Ease of Use

Ooma and RingCentral are designed to make telephony operations easy to use. The setup process should be smooth and features should be intuitive enough for users of all skill levels. The fact that RingCentral’s user interface is so smooth gives it the edge here.

Ooma Ease of Use

Ooma can be a bit confusing to set up because you have to configure its private branch exchange (PBX) box as well as wireless extension devices when you start using the service. This may be confusing for less tech-savvy business users. Ooma’s management software is also far less intuitive than RingCentral’s.

RingCentral Ease of Use

RingCentral provides an interface that is incredibly user-friendly. It provides clear sections, tips that explain each option, and commands that make the system easy to follow. RingCentral does not require users to install any new hardware, so it is easier to set up than Ooma simply because there are fewer steps involved.

Ooma vs RingCentral: Customer Service

The best phone services offer adequate support channels to assist customers when they need help. Both Ooma and RingCentral provide 24/7 customer support. They also offer helpful documentation that can walk you through using system features and configuring options. Both services are evenly matched when it comes to customer service options.

Ooma Customer Service

Ooma provides an online knowledge base with user manuals and video tutorials that provide visualized help. It also includes live chat and 24/7 phone support. Between all of that and a community forum where customers can share ideas, Ooma has its users covered when it comes to customer service.

RingCentral Customer Service

Like Ooma, RingCentral provides 24/7 telephone support. There is also an interactive web program called “RingCentral University” where you can solve problems that you and your team might face when getting set up. There are also online guides for all using the system’s features.

Ooma vs RingCentral: Customer Reviews

When researching Ooma or RingCentral, it can be helpful to learn what customers think of each service. We examined our user review pages for both providers to see what customers think. In general, users are highly satisfied with both systems.

Ooma Customer Reviews

Our readers give Ooma a 4 out of 5-star rating. They say that the system is easy to use and that its customer service is extraordinarily helpful. However, there are several complaints that phone extensions are not portable. For more reviews, visit our Ooma user reviews page.

“I started off with RingCentral but it’s kind of expensive. I had a friend who uses Ooma and he recommended it. It’s about half the price but has great voice quality and a lot of nice features. The virtual receptionist is the first thing people hear when they call in, and it makes it easy for me and my two paralegals, and also the conference server so they can call in.”

– Andy Jacobson, Lawyer at Bay Oak Law

RingCentral Customer Reviews

RingCentral users generally find the service to be effective and intuitive. Our readers particularly like the volume discounts that are available. With that said, some users find the call quality over mobile devices to be unacceptable. For more information, check out our RingCentral user reviews page.

Bottom Line: Ooma vs RingCentral

Ooma and RingCentral both offer internet-based phone technology with features like local phone numbers, voicemail, and domestic calling. These features, along with call management and virtual receptionist features, can help make your telephony workflow efficient and painless.

Businesses that are looking for an affordable VoIP system with a solid range of features should consider Ooma. It comes with basic calling features, a free local business number, and 24/7 customer support to help you with whatever you need. Click here to learn more.

Visit Ooma