RingCentral vs. Nextiva: which is the right VoIP provider for your business?
Landline phones have been an integral part of the business landscape for over a century now, but these analog systems have become increasingly outdated over the past decade. In the modern enterprise, communication has evolved to encompass a variety of channels including email, instant messaging, SMS, and video conferencing. Also, traditional PBX hardware cannot support this kind of diversity. As a result, many businesses are replacing their legacy architecture with cloud-hosted PBX solutions.
Also Read: VoIP Advantages and Disadvantages for Small Business
With a Cloud PBX subscription, users can access a range of communication tools by logging into their PBX application through any connected device. Nextiva and RingCentral are two acknowledged leaders in this space. While both of these Cloud PBX providers are flexible, scalable and cost-effective, they may not be equally well-suited for deployment in your workplace.
In this head to head comparison, we’ll take a look at RingCentral vs. Nextiva and what each of these services has to offer to your business.
Table of Contents
Comparing RingCentral vs. Nextiva Plans
Nextiva and RingCentral are business-specific VoIP solutions. Each company advertises a tiered pricing structure, with different functionalities available at each price point. This makes it easier to decide which plan is most appropriate based on your budget and specific operating environment.
Nextiva’s offers:
- A basic Office Pro package at $19.95 per line/per month.
- An Office Pro Plus package at $20.95 per line/per month.
- An Office Enterprise package at $27.95 per line/per month.
Additional discounts are available with each of these plans based on the number of the number of lines purchased and the length of the contract, all prices are inclusive of set up costs. Nextiva also offers a risk-free 30-day trial for first-time buyers.
RingCentral provides:
- A basic Essentials plan at $39.99 per line/per month.
- A Standard plan at $49.99 per line/per month.
- A Premium plan at $54.99 per line/per month.
- An Ultimate plan at $69.99 per line/per month.
Again, prospective customers can avail additional discounts as they add more users to the service. If you purchase more than one line then the cost of the Essentials package falls to $29.99, while adding more than 1000 users at the Ultimate tier will drop your per line rates to $49.99. Your choice of payment terms will also make a significant impact on your service fees, opting for annual payment will reduce the cost of an Essentials plan all the way down to $19.99 which makes it directly comparable to Nextiva’s Office Pro Package. A similarly drastic reduction can also be seen at the higher tiers. There are no additional set up costs included with a RingCentral subscription, but customers can opt to purchase additional hardware (compatible IP phone).
Unlike Nextiva, RingCentral does not tie customers down to a long-term contract and users are free to terminate their services at any time. Before purchasing, you can opt for a 15-day no risk trial.
Nextiva vs. RingCentral VoIP Features
Nextiva
All of Nextiva’s plans come with a standard set of features which include:
- Flat-rate unlimited local and long-distance calling.
- Unlimited virtual faxes.
- Voicemail-to-email.
- Free toll-free and local numbers.
- Advanced Call Management tools including: automatic call forwarding, anonymous call rejection, an auto attendant greeting, call grouping, direct web calling, call return, caller id, three-way calling, and hold music.
- Shared call appearance (allows you to assign one number to multiple lines)
At the Office Pro Plus tier, Nextiva offers:
- One professionally recorded greeting.
- Multi-user conference calling (users are provided with one conference bridge as part of their package, additional bridges can be purchased)
- A proprietary Nextiva app that offers voice and video conferencing capabilities through any connected device.
At the highest tier users can avail:
- Three professionally recorded greetings.
- Call recording.
- A custom ringtone for callbacks.
- Nextiva Anywhere, a service which allows users to connect their VOIP line to an external phone number. This allows you to use your personal number for both internal and external calls.
- Pre-call announcement.
RingCentral
While RingCentral’s core services also revolve around Internet telephony, the company is also focused on augmenting its VOIP capabilities with Unified Communication tools that offer everything from video conferencing and screen sharing to a workplace IM platform that offers similar functionality to Slack. All of these features can be accessed through the RingCentral’s proprietary app (formerly known as Glip). This app is available to users at all price points on both iOS and Android platforms.
RingCentral Essentials features include:
- Unlimited video conferencing/screen sharing for up to 4 people through the RingCentral app.
- File sharing, IM, and public/private chatrooms are also accessible through the app.
- A variety of call handling features such as call forwarding, call transfer, call flip, call logging, call parking, intercom tools, paging, presence indicators, and call screening.
- Visual Voicemail.
- Voicemail to email.
- Automatic call recording.
- Unlimited business SMS.
- Auto attendant (Interactive IVR), this includes automated reception features for greeting and redirecting customers.
- Hold music.
- Shared line usage.
- Caller ID monitoring and management.
- HD quality voice.
- Virtual numbers
- Choice of local or toll-free numbers.
- 100 toll-free minutes.
- Integrations with Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, and Dropbox.
At the Standard tier the plan adds:
- 1000 toll-free minutes.
- An SLA guarantee of 99.999% uptime.
- Call log reporting.
- A multi-tier auto attendant system.
At the Premium tier additional features include:
- Unlimited users.
- 2500 toll free minutes.
- Automatic call recording.
- Video conferencing for up to 100 users through the RingCentral app.
- Custom app integration.
- Integration with CRM systems and other platforms such as Salesforce, Zendesk and Desk.com
- Voicemail to text transcription.
- Inbound caller ID names.
- Service quality reporting.
- Multi-site support.
At the Ultimate tier:
- Video conferencing for up to 200 people through the RingCentral app.
- 10,000 toll free minutes.
Although RingCentral’s offerings come in at a relatively higher price point, the sheer range of features on offer make it a more attractive choice for growing businesses that want more value for their investment. Again, the biggest advantage RingCentral offers is its customer-built app which truly gives users the tools to collaborate across long distances in a number of different ways.
Customer Service and Coverage
Both RingCentral and Nextiva are US-based companies, so customers in this region generally receive the highest level of service. However, both companies also boast an international network of data centers so call quality should not degrade noticeably during international calls. RingCentral also offers users the option of choosing a virtual number that can be based US, Canada, Mexico, or a number of European and Asian countries. By comparison, Nextiva only offers US and Canadian virtual numbers. RingCentral also provides services to customers in multiple countries across the world, while Nextiva is only available in North America.
In terms of customer support, both of these service providers go above and beyond to ensure user satisfaction. Nextiva and RingCentral boast 24/7 call centers and they each host an extensive online help desk portal that includes knowledge base resources, self-service tools, video tutorials, live chat support, FAQs and callback tickets. While Nextiva does offer additional in-house support, RingCentral balances this out with their comprehensive status check service.
Both Nextiva and RingCentral provide highly dependable service networks, and they engage in Service Level Agreements that guarantee 99.999% uptime. However, RingCentral’s international presence gives them the clear edge in this area.
The Verdict
Nextiva and RingCentral are two closely matched services that each offer different advantages. If you plan on eventually expanding your business and you want to bring more collaboration and connectivity into your enterprise, then RingCentral’s sophisticated enterprise-level offerings come out ahead.
