RingCentral pricing: Hidden fees + 6 other things to know

RingCentral has been a major business phone provider since the 1990s — but its pricing isn’t as straightforward as it seems.

With five different offers, 12+ add-ons, and sneaky hidden fees, you might end up paying more than you expected.

Before you commit, let’s break down RingCentral’s pricing, fine print, and whether it’s truly worth it — or if there’s a better alternative for your business.

TL;DR

RingCentral looks affordable upfront, but limits on texting, toll-free minutes, and storage make it harder to scale as your business grows.

RingCentral business phone plans and pricing

There are three separate RingEX plans to choose from. Here are the main differences:

Feature	Core	Advanced	Ultra
Price per user per month	$20 annually/$30 monthly	$25 annually/$35 monthly	$35 annually/$45 monthly
Best for	Startups with low or unpredictable text and call volumes	Businesses with automation and CRM integration needs	Businesses with high call volumes and advanced reporting needs
Text messaging	25 SMS/MMS per user per month	100 SMS/MMS per user per month	200 SMS/MMS per user per month
Toll-free minutes	100 pooled	1,000 pooled	10,000 pooled
Storage	Limited	Limited	“Unlimited” excludes video recordings
Call recording	On-demand	Automatic/On-demand	Automatic/On-demand
AI-powered call summaries	X	✓	✓
AI-assisted message writing	X	X	✓
Analytics	Basic reports	Custom analytics	Custom analytics + device alerts
CRM integrations	X	✓	✓

RingEX Core plan

Pricing: $20 per user per month paid annually or $30 per user per month paid monthly

Best for: Businesses that only need the bare minimum and don’t rely on texting or toll-free minutes to communicate.

The Core plan includes basic VoIP features and unlimited calls in the US and Canada. Here’s what you can expect to get:

• 25 SMS and MMS messages per user per month
• Multi-level auto-attendant
• Shared phone lines, calling only
• 100 toll-free minutes
• Caller ID
• Team chat
• Microsoft Teams integration
• AI-powered video meetings with up to 100 participants

Keep in mind that calling is one of the only ‘unlimited’ features you’ll find on this tier. Texts and toll-free minutes come with tight limits — 25 texts per user per month and 100 pooled toll-free minutes. You also won’t get unlimited storage for call recordings and conversation histories.

RingEX Advanced plan

Pricing: $25 per user per month paid annually or $35 per user per month paid monthly

Best for: Teams that want a few more communication tools but don’t need unlimited storage or flexibility.

The Advanced plan unlocks higher limits for texts and toll-free minutes. You’ll get access to the following features.

• 100 SMS and MMS messages per user per month
• 1,000 toll-free minutes
• Automatic call recording
• CRM integrations with the RingCentral app
• Advanced call queues
• AI assistant for call notes and summaries

But the Advanced plan doesn’t offer unlimited storage for files, messaging, and recordings. Plus, many of its advanced features require add-ons to maximize their value. For example, there’s no way to join third-party video meetings in a conference room without purchasing the Rooms add-on. Keep in mind, it costs $49 per room per month.

RingEX Ultra plan

Pricing: $35 per user per month paid annually or $45 per user per month paid monthly

Best for: Call centers that want more toll-free minutes, even if texting is still capped.

RingCentral’s Ultra plan unlocks features best suited to larger organizations. You’ll get access to the following tools. 

• 200 SMS and MMS messages per user per month
• 10,000 toll-free minutes
• Unlimited storage doesn’t include video recordings
• AI-powered video meetings with up to 200 participants
• Device analytics and alerts

However, you should know the ‘unlimited’ storage doesn’t include video meetings, and all your files are subject to time-based deletion policies. Plus, there are still limits on RingCentral SMS and toll-free minutes. This could get frustrating as your business grows.

RingCentral plans add-ons

RingCentral offers a dozen separate add-ons for RingEX plans.

They include:

Add-on option	Cost
Additional vanity phone numbers	$4.99 set up fee plus a $30 one-time fee
Additional international numbers	Starts at $5.99 per user per month
Additional toll-free or local numbers	$5.99 per user per month
Additional international toll-free numbers	$14.99 per user per month plus a $25 one-time fee
High Volume SMS	Starts at $0.01 per message sent and received
RingCentral Room Connector license	$49 per room per month or $468 per year
RingCentral Rooms license	$49 per month per concurrent endpoint or $468 per year
RingCentral Webinar™	$40 per organizer per month
RingSense for Sales	$60 per user
Push to Talk license	$5 per user per month
RingCentral Events	Starts at $1,188 per organizer per year
RingCX AI Contact Center	$65 per user

RingCentral AI Receptionist add-on

Pricing: $59 per account per month with 100 minutes included

RingCentral’s AI receptionist can answer calls 24/7, book appointments, handle FAQs, and send automated texts. Plus, you can customize the AI voice agent’s tone and personality.

But there are a few catches:

• You only get 100 calling minutes per month included and additional minutes cost $0.50 per minute
• AI call summaries aren’t included
• It requires you to forward calls to the AI receptionist. It can’t automatically answer your main business phone number.

RingCentral Contact Center pricing

If you need a more advanced business phone system, you may want a RingCentral Contact Center plan:

RingCX plan

Pricing: $65 per user per month

The RingCX plan includes core phone features, integrations, AI capabilities, and workforce engagement tools.

Here’s a closer look at what you get:

• Call recording
• Predictive dialer
• AI summaries
• CRM integrations like HubSpot and Zendesk
• Surveys
• AI speech analytics requires an additional charge
• Omnichannel routing

Enterprise plan

Pricing: Contact sales for a custom quote

The RingCentral Contact Center plan unlocks advanced features, virtual agents, AI, and workforce engagement tools, including:

• IVA for voice and digital
• CRM integrations, including Salesforce
• Advanced real-time AI agent assist
• 30+ digital channels
• Journey analytics
• Real-time reports

RingCentral Video pricing

If all you need are video conferencing tools, RingCentral offers the following plans:

If all you need are video conferencing tools, RingCentral offers the following plans:

Meetings plan

Meetings is a free plan that unlocks 50-minute video meetings for up to 100 participants on your plan. Keep in mind you have limited storage unless you purchase a RingCentral business communications plan.

Key features include:

• Unlimited 50-minute video meetings for up to 100 participants
• Five hours or seven days of video recordings
• Join from any device, room, or browser
• One click to turn phone calls into video meetings
• AI live transcriptions

Town Halls webinar add-on

Pricing: $30 per organizer per month paid annually or $54 per user per month paid monthly

RingCentral allows you to host webinars with up to 10,000 attendees with the Town Halls add-on. However, each organizer license only includes 500 attendees. This is available on any RingCentral video plan, and its features include:

• AI webinar writing generator
• Registration and branding tools
• Post-event reporting
• Salesforce and Marketo integrations
• Private ‘backstage’ room
• Polling and Q&A tools

Rooms add-on

Pricing: $39 per room per month paid annually or $49 per room per month paid monthly

RingCentral’s Rooms add-on allows you to set up a conference room solution for your existing video plan. Just keep in mind it’s only compatible with enterprise grade hardware from HP Poly and Yealink if you’re using legacy desk phone hardware.

Key features include:

• Wireless proximity sharing
• Rooms as a phone system
• Join third-party meetings
• Mobile-to-room conference calls
• Voice-activated control
• Digital signage solutions
• Background noise reduction

Webinars & Events add-on

Pricing: $99 per organizer per month paid annually or $119 per organizer per month paid monthly

RingCentral Events lets you host unlimited virtual events and webinars with no cap on registrations or attendees.

Features include:

• 40+ engagement apps and more than five CRM integrations
• Detailed event reporting and reusable content
• AI tools like webinar writing, Q&A categorization, and event clip generation
• Caption translation in 40+ languages available as an add-on

RingCentral Events pricing

Thinking about holding events for your business? RingCentral’s Events plans allow you to hold virtual, onsite, or hybrid events with unlimited attendees per event. It offers the following plans:

Events Pro plan

Pricing: $99 per organizer per month paid annually or $119 per organizer per month paid monthly

The Events Pro plan is best for teams running virtual events often and needing essential tools.

Features include:

• Unlimited AI-powered webinars and virtual events
• Unlimited registrations
• Virtual venue with stage sessions, networking, and expo
• Advanced ticketing and attendee management
• Event analytics and reporting
• Studio-quality production tools
• Recording editor
• Standard support

Events Pro+ plan

Pricing: $199 per organizer per month paid annually or $239 per organizer per month paid monthly

The Events Pro+ plan is great for hybrid events and deeper engagement. It includes everything in Pro, plus:

• 40+ engagement apps
• Over five MarTech integrations
• Onsite & hybrid event support
• Single sign-on (SSO)
• Dedicated customer success manager

Events Enterprise plan

Pricing: $299 per organizer per month paid annually or $359 per organizer per month paid monthly

The Events Enterprise plan is built for large-scale, complex events. It includes everything in Pro+, plus:

• Lead retrieval tools
• API access
• Assisted onboarding and implementation
• Content hubs for repurposing event assets

RingCentral Conversation Intelligence pricing

Pricing: $60 per user per month

Conversation Intelligence is essentially RingCentral’s AI platform. It unlocks AI-driven coaching and performance analysis and personalized reporting tools.

Here’s a closer look at what you get:

• Multi-level reporting
• Advanced search and interaction filtering
• Deal and call scoring
• Automated summaries and highlights
• Coaching and performance analysis
• CRM integrations

Hidden fees to know about RingCentral pricing

Here are some additional fees to consider before signing on the dotted line for RingCentral:

• Texting limits: No plan offers unlimited texts. The Core plan is limited to 25 texts per user per month, the Advanced plan offers 100 texts, and the Ultra plan comes with only 200 texts. After that, you’ll need to pay $0.01 per message.
• Toll-free calling limits: Like texting, no RingCentral plan comes with unlimited toll-free minutes. The Core plan gives you 100 minutes pooled across the entire account, followed by the Advanced plan at 1,000 minutes and the Ultra plan at 10,000 minutes. 
• Toll-free SMS charges: You can send up to 40 messages per minute and will be charged $0.01 per message sent or received by your toll-free number.
• Advanced business analytics: You only have access to basic analytics unless you upgrade to the Advanced plan. It costs $25 per user per month.
• Directory assistance, 411: If you need access to National Local Directory Assistance, be prepared to pay $1 per call.
• Number setup fee: Every toll-free vanity number requires a one-time setup fee of $30.
• International calling and SMS: RingCentral lists its international call rates online. But its international SMS rates are only available in the Admin portal. This means there’s no way to know how much you’ll pay for international texts until you sign up for a plan to take the free trial.

What’s missing from RingCentral plans

Here are a few more reasons to consider RingCentral alternatives:

1. Shared numbers for texting

You can use RingCentral to set up shared phone numbers for calling, allowing your team to split responsibility for answering the phone. But there’s no way to share responsibility for incoming texts, which impacts how much your team can collaborate.

You also won’t find many texting automation tools with RingCentral — at least not out of the box. You may need to hire a developer to use RingCentral Automator or upgrade your plan to access third-party integrations.

2. Transparent US texting registration process

If your business plans to send texts through RingCentral, be prepared for a lengthy registration process. Like most providers, RingCentral requires businesses to register with The Campaign Registry (TCR) to comply with carrier regulations. While the $19 one-time TCR fee is standard, the approval timeline is much longer than many competitors.

According to RingCentral’s TCR registration page, the process takes 20-30 business days — but many users report waiting months to get approved. To make matters worse, support is reportedly unhelpful when issues arise.

In contrast, Quo, formerly OpenPhone, has received some approvals in as little as 5-7 business days. This makes it a much smoother option for businesses that rely on texting.

3. Unified team inbox

Every call, text, and voicemail in RingCentral lives in separate inboxes. There’s no way to see all these touchpoints in the same location, which could significantly increase the time it takes to get up to speed on a conversation.

To make matters worse, there’s no single contact thread to house your customer conversations. You may have to jump between tabs or message your teammates if you want the full picture of a customer’s history.

4. Storage for recordings, files, and more

By far, the biggest drawback of how RingCentral works is its lack of unlimited storage. All three plans, even with the ‘unlimited’ storage add-on, come with a strict data cap on:

• Automatic and on-demand call recordings expire after 90 days 
• Faxes expire after 30 days
• Call logs expire after 12 months

You also need to worry about limitations, including the number of files you can store on your account. For example:

• You can only store 5,000 SMS/MMS messages per user per account.
• After 200 unheard voicemails, new messages begin saving over old files.
• You can only have 200 on-demand call recordings per voicemail inbox per user.

Considering most VoIPs don’t impose these limitations, RingCentral’s lack of unlimited storage is a deal breaker for growing brands.

5. Simple user interface

RingCentral’s interface is clunky and outdated, which makes it frustrating and time-consuming to customize it to your liking.

Let’s go back to our auto-replies example. Setting them up requires using the Automator app and then writing message templates for your team to use. It’s similar to how you might create templates in Gmail — and just as clunky and frustrating as you’d think.

Most business platforms, including Quo, make it simple and intuitive to navigate your VoIP phone number. Setting up snippets takes a few minutes or less, and you don’t need to learn how to code or dig through YouTube tutorials to do so.

6. Full access free trial

Although RingCentral does offer a free trial to users, its limits make it almost unusable.

First, you’re limited to five users and two desktop phones, and you won’t be able to send SMS and MMS. 

On top of that, you only get 50 minutes of domestic calls per user. Assuming your calls last four minutes or more, you’ll only get ~12 calls per user to decide if RingCentral’s communications platform is right for your team.

Quo: A better alternative to RingCentral plans

Features	Quo	RingCentral
Starting price per month	$15 per user per month	$20 per user per month
Unlimited calling	✓	✓
Unlimited SMS, MMS to US & Canada	✓	X
Toll-free numbers	Unlimited	Minutes limited
Additional phone numbers	$5 per number	$4.99 - $14.99 per number
Call recording	✓	✓
Shared phone numbers	✓	✓
Auto-replies	✓	Requires Automator
Text message templates	✓	Requires Automator
Slack integration	✓	✓
AI features	✓	Requires upgrade
Gmail integration	✓	✓
Zapier integration	✓	Requires upgrade
Web-based, iOS, and Android apps	✓	✓
Free trial	Unlocks access to all features	Limited to calling, only 50 minutes per user

If you have deep pockets or plenty of patience, you might be able to make RingCentral work for you. However, if you hate the idea of limitations and don’t have the budget for constant add-ons, upgrades, and fees, RingCentral will be more of a liability than a reliable business phone system.

This isn’t just a RingCentral problem — dozens of VoIP service providers don’t make the cut for small business owners. That’s why so many of them turn to a more efficient business phone service — including Quo, the #1 small business phone service on G2.

Take a closer look at Quo vs RingCentral:

1. Transparent pricing 

As you can see on our pricing page, Quo starts at $15 per user per month. Every plan comes with one free — local US or Canadian — or toll-free phone number per user.

As your company grows, you can tap into our Business plan to access group calling, call transfers, CRM integrations, phone menus, and more. When you’re ready for more, our Scale plan can help you keep growing with AI call tags, dedicated onboarding, and priority chat and email support.

There’s no need to buy before you try — we offer a seven-day free trial you can start at any time. Our free trial has no number restrictions, texting limits, or calling caps, so you can sign up today and test our whole platform with your team.

2. Unlimited text messages and toll-free minutes

You need a phone plan that grows alongside you — not one that restricts your ability to scale. That’s why every plan with Quo comes with unlimited text messages and toll-free minutes. And did we mention you can store conversations indefinitely? 

All call recordings and conversations live in our app for as long as you’re a customer. Need to cancel your plan? We’ll store your conversation histories for a few weeks, in case you need them.

3. Shared numbers for calling and texting

Quo makes it a breeze to collaborate with your team. Using shared phone numbers, you can split responsibility for incoming calls and texts. This helps your team share the workload and prevents critical conversations from falling through the cracks.

Shared phone numbers ensure there’s always someone around to pick up the phone or transfer a call to the right team member. You can also create a better customer experience by improving response times.

4. Easy to catch up on conversations with a unified inbox

Unlike RingCentral and many other business phone apps, Quo offers a unified inbox for calls, messages, and voicemails. Every touchpoint appears directly under the contact’s thread, and you can add internal comments and contact notes to keep track of context.

Need to get up to speed as quickly as possible? You can find call transcriptions and summaries in the same efficient thread.

5. Speed up workflows effortlessly with AI

The bigger your business, the less time you’ll have for hands-on tasks. That’s why Quo offers simple workflow automations so you can put repetitive tasks on autopilot.

We make it easy to tap into Zapier from our base plan, unlike RingCentral, where you have to upgrade to the Advanced plan. From here, you can set up automations that push data to critical apps and create simple workflows, such as sending a text once someone fills out a form on your website.

Need to start automating other necessary tasks? Quo can help with AI features, such as:

• AI message responses that help you brainstorm the best answers to tricky questions or comments
• AI contact threads that suggest missing contacts based on your call summaries and voicemails
• AI call summaries and transcripts that automatically transcribe your phone calls and create a list of action items

6. Never miss a call with an AI virtual receptionist

Unlike RingCentral’s AI receptionist, which doesn’t provide call summaries, Quo’s Sona makes sure your team always has the context they need to move faster.

Here’s what sets Sona apart:

• Call transcripts and summaries included: Every call is automatically transcribed and summarized, so your team gets instant visibility into key details and action items right in the customer’s conversation inbox. 
• Transparent pricing: Sona starts at just $49 per month for 50 calls, with no hidden fees or surprises.
• Smarter routing and messaging: Sona can answer FAQs, route calls, and take messages 24/7, helping you stay responsive even when your team is offline.

Should you still use RingCentral?

RingCentral might work for solopreneurs or established businesses with physical locations. But it lacks the flexibility most small businesses need to scale. Plus, it isn’t the best value for your money since many features require upgrades or add-ons.

Pros and cons of RingCentral pricing plans

Here are some of the pros and cons of RingCentral:

Pros

• Web, desktop, and mobile apps for iOS and Android
• Offers VoIP inbound and outbound calls, business texts, and video conferencing
• Team messaging and file-sharing tools are built into every plan

Cons

• Limited business SMS, 25 texts per user per month on the base plan
• Limited toll-free minutes, 10,000 pooled minutes per month max
• Limited storage, even ‘unlimited’ comes with time and account-based retention limits

Final verdict: Choose Quo for better pricing and team collaboration

RingCentral is a decent example of what a VoIP could be. But it’s not a great example of a transparent, accessible, and scalable platform. The good news is that Quo picks up where RingCentral leaves off. Each plan comes with clear prices, scalable features, responsive customer support, and a flexible platform designed to grow alongside you.Curious to see how Quo does things differently? Try Quo today with our seven-day free trial.

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