RingCentral vs 8×8: Price, Features & What’s Best in 2020

RingCentral and 8×8 are two major names in the VoIP industry, and there are pros and cons to each. Both cloud-based phone services include calling, texting, and voicemail, and both are also suitable for small business or enterprise settings. However, RingCentral is the better option for multichannel communication, while 8×8 better serves international businesses.

When to Use RingCentral

RingCentral is a cloud-based, all-in-one communications system. It comes in enterprise options and in small business packages, so no matter where you stand at the moment, there’s a package for you. Offering such features as video chat, group texting, and speech analytics, it’s a great option for growing businesses needing flexible communications.

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When to Use 8×8

8×8 is a collaboration-based voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) system. The main draw of 8×8, beyond its cloud-based communication capabilities, is that it offers unlimited international calling to up to 47 countries. If you do a lot of business overseas and work with many different countries, 8×8 might be the major draw for you.

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RingCentral vs 8×8 at a Glance

How We Evaluated RingCentral & 8×8

RingCentral and 8×8 are robust business phone systems with features designed to maximize professional communication. However, when comparing the two products, we chose to consider more than basic features like call forwarding and voicemail services. Instead, we evaluated each product’s offerings as well as softer factors like customer reviews and support to determine which product is better for small businesses in a variety of business use cases.

Here’s how we evaluated the best service:

• Price: We considered each product’s entry-level plan as well as those designed for larger teams; we also checked if a product charged by the minute for long distance or international calling.
• Features: Business phone system providers typically offer tiered pricing plans. We compared which features were offered at entry-level plans versus which were only available in the more expensive tiers.
• Ease of use: No one wants a business phone system that is difficult to use, so we read through customer reviews and online forums to determine which product was easier to use and which required minimal training.
• Customer support: We all run into tech snafus from time to time, which is why we compared the level of support offered by each service.
• Desktop and mobile apps: Both products are powered by voice-over-IP, or VoIP, which means that they offer additional controls not found in landline systems. We checked to see how much control either product let you have over your calls in the desktop application or on a mobile phone.
• Syncing and connectivity: We examined what kind of syncing capabilities are available through both systems.

When set against 8×8, it’s clear that RingCentral’s myriad of options (which include open API, a user-friendly interface, and 24/7 customer support) help to seriously streamline your business. Plus, the packages reduce in price the more phones you have, so RingCentral can also be more cost-effective too. However, since 8×8 offers free international calling, this can make a big difference to companies that do a lot of business overseas.

RingCentral vs 8×8: Pricing & Features

RingCentral and 8×8 both offer competitive pricing and exciting features in their plans, but what you can do in each plan differs, which can impact the price you pay in the end. For example, 8×8 has a $12 per user, per month starter plan vs RingCentral’s $19.99 similarly tiered plan. However, the most expensive RingCentral package costs $59.99, making it the more competitive option compared to 8×8’s $175 package.

Ultimately, the lesser cost option will depend on what features you need.

RingCentral Pricing & Features

If you are a single-person operation, RingCentral’s most basic Essentials plan starts at $19.99 (per user, per month) and can serve up to 20 users. It is a very basic, yet intuitive plan that includes features such as 100 toll-free minutes every month, unlimited calls between the U.S. and Canada, and voicemail transcribing capability. Plus the plan includes live support, which 8×8’s entry plan does not.

RingCentral’s higher-tiered packages range in price from $34.99 to $59.99, which can serve up to 99 users. They also include at least 2,500 minutes of toll-free calling, multilevel auto-attendant capabilities, and up to 100 people in any given video or audio conference call.

Some features of RingCentral include:

Call Management

RingCentral is very user-friendly compared to several of its alternatives, no matter what your tech level. Complete with a screen that includes helpful navigation tools and menu buttons, it’s easy for users to understand the functionalities with minimal training.

Voicemail is a breeze with RingCentral; components like voice-to-text and voicemail-to-email make it simple to access any missed messages. These features do not cost an extra fee, and are included in your RingCentral package. For users who are frequently out on the road or work remotely, it’s easy to forward your office phone to your mobile phone, or even your laptop. You also have the option to forward calls sequentially or at the same time.

One particularly helpful feature is the presence capability aspect, which is something 8×8 lacks. This means that you can look at your desk phone’s screen and see whether your colleagues are on a call, on hold, or have an existing call ringing. This gives you quick insight into what your staff is working on before you decide to transfer a phone call or schedule a meeting.

Phone Numbers

Unlike traditional landline setups, RingCentral’s phone numbers are not tied to any specific phone or device. You are offered the freedom to choose from over 200 area codes, which is helpful no matter where you live; you can establish a presence in the community using a local area code.

Mobile Apps

Cloud-based technology lets you communicate anytime, anywhere, and from any device with RingCentral’s mobile app. A built-in text messaging system means that all team members can chat with one another without using cell phone data, and video messaging is just a tap away. Managing calls has never been easier thanks to the app’s ability to sync devices; whether you’re on a phone, laptop, or tablet, you can set calls to ring to one or all of those devices.

It’s also worth mentioning that RingCentral’s app gallery contains over 100 well-known and trusted business apps that you can access. Some names include Salesforce, Google Apps, and Microsoft, but if you don’t see what you need, then the open API lets you build your own custom app. Open API is not something that 8×8 offers without outsourcing.

Advanced Features

Meetings are something that RingCentral has gotten down to a fine art. Video collaboration can serve up to 500 participants at once on the mobile app, also allowing you to share content, files, and screen contents with others during your meeting. If you’re worried about limitations on file sizes, don’t be—unlimited storage is part of the app. It’s also easy to sign up for free guest users who don’t have accounts but need to attend a meeting.

Finally, one unique feature that RingCentral offers that 8×8 doesn’t is the capability to run a free trial on any of the three tiers of service. It is only for 15 days in comparison to 8×8’s 30-day trial, but you can only try 8×8’s most basic plan and none of the others. With RingCentral’s free trial, you can see which services you use the most frequently and which you rarely use.

8×8 Pricing & Features

Small business plans serve one to 99 users, and its basic package starts at $12 per user, per month. Its most expensive package is the Enterprise package, which is $175 per user, per month. However, free international calling is 8×8’s biggest perk. If you have remote workers scattered all over the globe, this is an invaluable tool that helps to keep everybody connected, no matter what their time zone.

Some of 8×8’s features include:

Call Management

8×8’s voicemail services are similar to RingCentral’s, allowing you to manage messages online. That said, one call management feature that is unique to 8×8 is its call info pop-up ability. This is a handy widget, built right into the desktop app, that allows you to enter a web search URL while including a small line-tracking component that automatically finds the phone number of any incoming or outgoing calls.

8×8’s call info tool can also be set to auto-populate every time somebody calls. This allows you to see who is calling you with information like their email address and business name. You can even set this feature for either incoming or outgoing calls instead of both if you prefer.

Phone Numbers

Since collaborating worldwide is such a heavy focus with 8×8, you have the option to use a VoIP number to establish a local presence in up to 47 countries, including the U.S. and Canada. This is great for your business in many ways, one being that your clients won’t be charged for long-distance calling when they want to contact you. However, this is not a free service. For a one-time activation, you will be charged $9.99, and $14.99 a month for unlimited outbound calls.

You also can make use of toll-free numbers with your service. You are charged a flat monthly fee for a fixed (not unlimited, unfortunately) number of toll-free minutes. These prices range anywhere from $4.99 for 150 toll-free monthly minutes to $1,700 for 100,000 minutes.

Mobile Apps

Meetings and staying in constant contact is what 8×8 prides itself on when it comes to the mobile app. Like with RingCentral’s mobile app, you can text and group chat with the ability to @ mention coworkers to quickly grab their attention. Setting up meetings is quick and painless, something you can do within the app either immediately or schedule for later.

Advanced Features

8×8’s speech analytics feature is an interesting one. It is part of the voice recording software and helps you to improve customer service by breaking down recorded conversations into text, then sorting them into topics by keyword. You can quickly navigate to recordings by topic and listen to calls that fall into that category. This is an efficient way to help you see patterns of what your customer service employees are doing right and wrong.

Additionally, 8×8’s help and support sections are quite intuitive and convenient. It offers lots of different support methods, from chatting with a chatbot to linking you to its knowledge base that is offered 24/7.

RingCentral vs 8×8: Ease of Use

When you compare RingCentral and 8×8’s general user-friendliness, RingCentral’s ease of access appeals to more users—even non-tech-savvy people. While there is plenty to appreciate about 8×8’s options and capabilities, RingCentral simply produces an easier product for everyday users.

RingCentral Ease of Use

RingCentral’s clearly labeled menu icons make it easy to start using it. You can see exactly what command you are accessing and which button you are pushing. However, if you find yourself stuck, there are dozens of videos available on the company’s YouTube page that will walk you through the processes. This can be especially helpful if you’re a visual learner.

Some of the topics include:

• Call management tools to help you streamline your workflow
• Ways that Google and Alexa can improve your meetings
• Customer testimonials

8×8 Ease of Use

8×8’s user interface has plenty of buttons and menus, but its design is nowhere near as sleek and user-friendly as RingCentral’s. There are labels to let you know where everything is, but it tends to look cluttered and overwhelming. This can hinder your ability to find the correct buttons for transferring calls, putting clients on hold, and so on. It takes some getting used to and can feel clunky at times, but 8×8’s website has a fantastic learning section called the 8×8 University.

RingCentral vs 8×8: Customer Service

24/7 service is offered through both services, and they each have more than one way to get in touch with a representative. Their online features are comparable in terms of their knowledge base, but the multitude of videos and how-to’s on RingCentral’s website are great visual learning tools.

RingCentral Customer Service

No matter how you’re most comfortable reaching out to someone for help, there’s a way for you to do it on RingCentral’s contact page. You can choose any of the following contact methods:

• Community support: A forum that allows users to ask questions and receive answers from fellow users.
• Live chat: Connect with a live support agent to chat with directly on the website.
• Social media: RingCentral customer service can be reached on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
• Support tickets: For more complex and hard-to-resolve issues that are not time-sensitive, you can open a support case online. You will be given a unique support ID number to track your case’s progress.

8×8 Customer Service

While RingCentral serves all clients, 8×8 limits which packages have access to live support. The most basic of packages, 8×8 Express, does not qualify for live assisted support, which can be a drawback for you depending on the package you purchase.

Additionally, there are fewer support methods with 8×8:

• Submitting a case (as you can with RingCentral)
• Chatbot support within the knowledge base pages, but not live chat
• Contacting via telephone

RingCentral vs 8×8: Customer Reviews

Ultimately, deciding which service is best for an individual business depends on the individual user. Therefore, we paid close attention to what existing customers had to say about each system, and based on reviews provided by other Fit Small Business readers, RingCentral is the clear winner.

RingCentral Customer Reviews

RingCentral has earned 3.6 stars out of 5 with clients saying how they appreciate how intuitive the system is to use. However, users have complained about dropped calls and slow response times for support requests. You can read more about RingCentral’s features, plans, and about what clients love most, by checking out our RingCentral reviews page.

8×8 Customer Reviews

Fit Small Business reviews, unfortunately, give 8×8 poor marks with a score of 1.7 out of 5 stars. Like RingCentral’s users, 8×8’s users state that customer support could be improved. However they do appreciate the service’s low cost of entry and its unified communications app. Check out our 8×8 reviews page to learn more about what other users are saying.

Bottom Line

When you look at each service side by side and compare features, ease of access, and overall customer experience, RingCentral has our vote. Clients can easily learn the system thanks to its clear user interface (UI), and customer support is available to every client regardless of their package.

If you’re thinking about making the VoIP switch in your business, you can trust RingCentral to provide you with a seamless transition. Remote options and in-office options are available for you no matter what kind of business you run. With a 15-day trial for every package and a current markdown off all packages, there’s no better time than now to check out how RingCentral can benefit your business.

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