RingCentral vs Mitel MiCloud Connect: Which Is Better?

RingCentral and Mitel MiCloud Connect are both leading unified communication solutions. However, MiCloud offers more advanced collaboration tools and the ability to create, track, and manage projects from end to end. On the other hand, RingCentral’s plans are more affordable and it offers more robust call management tools.

Based on our comparison, the best use cases for RingCentral vs MiCloud Connect are as follows:

• RingCentral: Better for small to mid-sized businesses in need of large video conferencing capacity, extensive third-party integrations, real-time analytics, and developer-friendly application programming interfaces (APIs)
• MiCloud Connect: Better for mid-sized businesses with distributed workforces that prioritize advanced team collaboration and built-in project management tools

It is worth noting that while RingCentral offers superior video conferencing features, MiCloud customers may gain access to these tools for even more robust collaboration going forward. This is because Mitel announced in November 2021 that they would be integrating their proprietary CloudLink technology with RingCentral’s MVP communications platform. For more details about what this means for Mitel MiCloud customers, visit Mitel’s newsroom.

RingCentral vs Mitel MiCloud Connect at a Glance

Price	Starting at $19.99 per user, per month*	Starting at $25.49 per user, per month**
Free Trial	30-day free trial	✕
Video Conferencing	200-participant cap	100-participant cap
Business SMS	✓	✓
Third-party Integrations	279+ listed integrations	22+ listed integrations
Open API	✓	✓
PBX Features	✓	✓
Desk Phone Compatibility	Cisco, Polycom, Yealink, and Unify phones	Limited to Mitel phones and some Polycom models
Contact Center	✓	✓
For More Information	Visit RingCentral	Visit MiCloud Connect

*Pricing based on an estimated one to 20 users with a 33% annual subscription discount.

**Pricing based on an estimated 50 to 100 users.

Best for Pricing: RingCentral

RingCentral Pricing* Essentials: $19.99 per user, per month for unlimited domestic calling and SMS texting, team messaging, and document sharing Standard: $27.99 per user, per month for video conferencing, third-party integrations, and internet fax Premium: $34.99 per user, per month for advanced call management, real-time analytics, and open API access Ultimate: $49.99 per user, per month for device status reports, device status alerts, and unlimited storage

MiCloud Connect Pricing** Essentials: $25.49 per user, per month for unlimited domestic calling, public branch exchange (PBX) features, team messaging, and video conferencing Premier: $32.29 per user, per month for CRM integrations, voicemail transcriptions, and on-demand call recording Elite: $46.74 per user, per month for automatic call recording, archiving, and advanced dashboards and analytics

*Pricing based on an estimated one to 20 users with a 33% annual subscription discount.

**Pricing based on an estimated 50 to 100 users.

RingCentral is the better unified communications as a service (UCaaS) platform when it comes to pricing. You can get started for a lower per-user monthly rate, and you can also take advantage of greater annual and volume discounts. RingCentral also offers a 30-day free trial, whereas Mitel MiCloud Connect does not.

MiCloud Connect offers video conferencing functionality as part of its entry-level plan, while RingCentral locks this feature behind the slightly more expensive Standard plan. However, RingCentral’s Standard plan is comparable in price to MiCloud Connect’s Essentials plan, making it a bit more difficult to do an apples-to-apples comparison of the base level plans of RingCentral vs Mitel MiCloud Connect.

Best for Video Conferencing: RingCentral

RingCentral offers high-definition (HD) audio and visual video conferencing with 200-participant caps and 24-hour meeting durations.	MiCloud Connect provides HD video conferencing with 100-participant caps and 20-hour meeting durations.

RingCentral and MiCloud Connect’s video conferencing functionality is fairly similar. However, when comparing RingCentral vs Mitel MiCloud Connect, RingCentral takes a slight edge thanks to its higher participant caps and longer meeting durations. Plus, RingCentral promises HD audio and video during conferencing meetings, while MiCloud Connect only mentions HD video.

However, it’s important to note that MiCloud Connect’s 100-participant cap is only temporarily available on all plans—this is a coronavirus pandemic offering. Mitel states: “During the Coronavirus pandemic, Mitel is allowing all of the above profiles to start MiTeam Meetings that have a maximum of 100 participants including 16 video tiles.”

Once this offering is over, MiCloud Connect may return to the previous capacity limits. This means the Essentials plan would only offer eight total participants with eight video tiles, and the Premier plan would have 50 total participants with 16 video tiles.

Best for Team Collaboration: Mitel MiCloud Connect

MiCloud Connect offers instant messaging, video conferencing, file sharing, desktop sharing, multiple device continuity, and project management functionality.	RingCentral provides instant messaging, video conferencing, file sharing, hotdesking, and advanced call handling features including monitor, whisper, barge, and takeover.

MiCloud Connect is the better platform for team collaboration, especially for hybrid teams with a remote and in-office presence. While both providers offer instant messaging, video conferencing, and file sharing, MiCloud Connect provides project management functionality. Create projects, assign tasks, establish deadlines, and track progress all within a single application.

On the other hand, RingCentral provides more collaborative mentoring opportunities. RingCentral’s advanced call handling features let supervisors monitor agent calls in real time. This gives them the opportunity to assist and train by whispering in the agent’s ear or entering the conversation if an employee needs help.

Best for Integrations: RingCentral

RingCentral provides nearly 300 listed third-party integrations.	MiCloud Connect provides just over 22 listed integrations.

RingCentral is the leading business phone system when it comes to third-party integrations, hands down. Businesses can connect to over 290 apps with RingCentral, making it a good fit for any business tech stack. RingCentral also provides developers with API access and robust documentation, empowering technical users to include RingCentral integrations in their custom applications.

MiCloud Connect doesn’t come close to offering the extensive list of integrations when it comes to RingCentral vs Mitel MiCloud Connect. However, MiCloud Connect still offers integrations with key software applications, such as Salesforce, Zendesk, Microsoft Teams and Outlook, and Google Chrome.

Best for Contact Center Features: RingCentral

RingCentral’s contact center provides omnichannel support, real-time insights, skills-based routing, and robust agent management.	MiCloud Connect’s contact center offers phone, email, and chat support, skills-based routing, and agent status control.

RingCentral’s contact center is a real-time communications powerhouse. Supervisors get access to dashboards with insights into call analytics, agent performance, user presence, and call queues to keep an up-to-date pulse on all inbound and outbound calls. RingCentral even offers tools for team gamification to keep your call center employees engaged.

Mitel MiCloud Connect’scontact center is simpler and less cluttered, but it lacks essential channel support. For example, with RingCentral’s contact center, you can connect with customers via phone call, SMS, email, live chat, and social media. With MiCloud Connect, you only get support for phone, email, and chat.

Best for Hardware Compatibility: RingCentral

RingCentral works with Cisco, Polycom, Yealink, and Unify phones.	MiCloud Connect only works with Mitel phones and select Polycom models.

When it comes to hardware compatibility, RingCentral takes the edge. RingCentral supports many of the best VoIP phones, such as Cisco, Polycom, Yealink, and Unify, and they help provision these phones as well. However, RingCentral’s system does not support proprietary phones like Mitel, ShoreTel, NEC, or 3Com phones.

MiCloud Connect is more limited when it comes to desk phone selection. You can choose from Mitel’s catalog of desk phones and a few select models of Polycom phones, but that’s the extent of your options.

How We Evaluated RingCentral vs Mitel MiCloud Connect

At first glance, it can be hard to fully differentiate between RingCentral and Mitel MiCloud Connect’s unified communications as a service (UCaaS) platforms. We dug deeper into the pricing, features, hardware compatibility, scalability, and ease of use to discover the key nuances that inform which platform your business should use.

Here’s a complete breakdown of the factors we used to compare RingCentral to Mitel MiCloud Connect:

Best Alternatives

While a quick comparison or Mitel MiCloud Connect vs RingCentral shows that both provide robust unified communication solutions, they might not be the right fit for your business. Whether you need something more basic, budget-friendly, or an international-friendly calling plan, you have plenty of great MiCloud Connect and RingCentral alternatives.

A few recommended alternatives include:

• 8×8: 8×8 offers many of the same features and functionality as RingCentral and MiCloud Connect, but it provides better international calling plans. Businesses can upgrade to 8×8’s X4 plan to unlock unlimited calling to over 47 countries. Read our full 8×8 review to learn more.
• Grasshopper: If MiCloud Connect and RingCentral feel like overkill for your small business, we recommend Grasshopper. Our Grasshopper phone system review shows that it’s an easy-to-use, budget-friendly virtual phone number service that essentially adds a business number to your mobile phone along with basic call handling features.
• Phone.com: Phone.com is another virtual phone option for businesses that want pay-as-you-go metered pricing combined with industry-leading features and channel support. It provides video conferencing, SMS, phone calling, and fax at competitive price points. See how Grasshopper and Phone.com compare.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is ShoreTel Connect?

You will likely stumble upon the name ShoreTel Connect quite a bit while researching MiCloud Connect. Mitel acquired ShoreTel Connect in 2017 and rebranded the service to MiCloud Connect.

Does MiCloud Connect offer a free trial?

Not at this time. However, you can talk to the Mitel sales team to get a demo of the product.

What CRM integrations are available on RingCentral vs Mitel MiCloud Connect?

Both MiCloud Connect and RingCentral have built-in integration, at least on some tiers, for Salesforce. This solution is the industry leader for customer relationship management, but both also provide integrations for Microsoft Dynamics and SugarCRM as well.

Bottom Line

When it comes to Mitel MiCloud Connect vs RingCentral, both share a lot in common, but RingCentral is the overall better unified communications provider for small businesses. Its pricing, call management features, video conferencing, hardware compatibility, and integrations make it the go-to solution. However, if team collaboration is your priority, the project and task management capabilities in MiCloud Connect might make it the best choice for your business.