RingCentral pros and cons: 7 Strengths & weaknesses

Thinking about trying RingCentral? Or maybe you’re already using it and starting to run into roadblocks.

With phone, text, and video support, it might seem like it has everything you need. RingCentral’s biggest strengths are its desk phone rentals, built-in video conferencing, and international local numbers. But once you start using it, you may quickly bump up against where it falls short. It has limited business texting, call recording storage, and toll-free minutes. It’s a communications platform designed for mid-market and enterprise teams, not for small businesses that need extensive text support.  

In this post, we’ll share RingCentral’s pros and cons in detail so that you can evaluate whether it’s right for you. We’ll also introduce you to a more flexible, modern business phone alternative designed for small and growing teams.

RingCentral pros and cons at a glance

Here’s a quick summary of RingCentral’s pros and cons for your reference. These pros and cons are specific to RingCentral’s business phone system RingEX. We cover each of them in detail below:

RingCentral pros	RingCentral cons
Local numbers in international countries	Texting limits
Built-in video conferencing	Shared texting requires add-on
Desk phone rentals	Texting registration can take months
500+ app integrations	90-day call recording storage limit
Multiple communication add-ons	Limited toll-free call minutes
Advanced multi-level IVR and call routing	Outdated user interface
AI-powered SMS management	Frequent billing issues

Want a full review of RingCentral? See our full RingCentral review for a detailed breakdown of features.

RingCentral pros

If you run a mid-market or enterprise business, RingCentral may work for you. It gives you the ability to add multiple communication modes on top of your phone. It also helps you expand into global territories and manage hundreds of team members in one place. Here are the biggest advantages that RingCentral can offer: 

1. Local numbers in international countries

If you’re planning to expand globally, RingCentral can support you by offering local numbers in new markets. That way, you can use a single phone system to manage communications for teams around the world. 

RingCentral offers local numbers in 45 countries and territories. You’ll be able to build trust with customers outside the US and Canada. You can also deliver local customer support and avoid paying international calling rates. 

2. Built-in video conferencing

RingCentral isn’t just a business phone system. It offers video conferencing in every plan. You can host meetings with up to 200 participants and record meetings, too. You also get end-to-end encryption of your meetings. You don’t need to get an additional Zoom or Google Meet account for your team. 

3. Desk phone rentals

While most modern businesses have moved on from desk phones, RingCentral still supports physical hardware. If your team hasn’t made the switch to softphones, this compatibility makes it easy to keep your current setup. RingCentral also lets you rent desk phones directly from them, but it does come at an additional cost. 

4. 500+ app integrations

RingCentral helps you share your call and text data wherever your team needs it. With hundreds of app integrations, your call logs plug into your existing stack. Keep in mind, RingCentral’s CRM integrations are only available in its Advanced plan and higher. 

Want more control over the data you share with your tools? RingCentral’s API helps you customize your integrations in detail. 

5. Multiple communication add-ons

Similar to its video meeting features, RingCentral offers different add-ons you can use to communicate with your customers. Set up hybrid conferencing options with RingCentral Rooms and create team-wide webinars with RingCentral Events. You don’t need separate software to bridge your physical and virtual meetings or run events across your organization. 

6. Advanced multi-level IVR and call routing

RingCentral supports up to 250 submenus in its auto-attendant and includes call queues with callback options and ring groups. Plus, you can route calls based on unique rules like max callers in queue. These features are best suited for businesses with high inbound call volume and dozens of different departments.

7. AI-powered conversations

RingCentral offers several AI features in its platform, but what makes it unique is its AI-powered SMS capabilities. It offers SMS drafting, editing, and translation in its Advanced plan. It also provides summaries for unread SMS messages to help you catch up on what you may have missed. 

Keep in mind that not all of RingCentral’s AI features offer unlimited usage. For example, its AI receptionist add-on only offers 100 minutes per month to teams. If you exceed this limit, you’ll be charged 50 cents per minute for every call. 

RingCentral cons

While RingCentral is a good option for large teams with global operations, it may not be the best fit if you’re earlier on in your journey. It limits essential communication that can hamper your growth. Here are RingCentral’s biggest drawbacks:

1. Major texting limits

If your team sends a lot of customer texts, RingCentral’s limits can quickly get in the way. On its Core plan, you only get 25 outgoing messages for each user per month. The Advanced plan bumps that up to 100, and the Ultra plan to 200. That includes both SMS and MMS messages.

Once you hit your monthly limit, every additional message costs $0.0119. That might not sound like much, but it adds up fast, especially if your team is in a text-heavy industry like real estate, property management, or healthcare. 

2. Shared texting requires an add-on

The benefit of using VoIP phones is everyone on your team has access to the same number. While this is true of calling in RingCentral, it isn’t the case with texting. You don’t get instant access to a shared team messaging inbox in your RingCentral plan. Without the ability to text as a team, it can be incredibly difficult to stay on top of customer conversations. 

To access shared texting, you need to purchase the Business SMS Booster add-on, which costs an additional $25 per month. Keep this in mind when you’re estimating your monthly RingCentral bill. 

3. Texting registration can take months

Many users have run into months-long delays when trying to complete RingCentral’s TCR registration. Some have had their applications rejected multiple times, each time for a different reason, making the whole process more frustrating than it needs to be. Others have seen their applications sit in the “review in progress” stage for weeks, with few to no updates from support.

These delays can make it tough for teams to stay in touch with customers, leading to missed messages, slower response times, and a frustrating experience for everyone involved.

“TCR registration took months with RingCentral, but my business was approved in just 24 hours to send texts through OpenPhone…” —– Quo user on G2

4. 90-day call recording storage limit

RingCentral only stores call recordings for 90 days. After that, they’re automatically deleted.

That might be fine if you just need to review a recent conversation. But it becomes a problem if you want to save important calls for training new team members, resolving long-term customer issues, or keeping records for legal or compliance reasons.

Most teams don’t want to worry about a countdown every time they record a call. You need the flexibility to keep key conversations on hand for as long as they’re useful, not just for 90 days.

5. Limited toll-free call minutes

At first, 100 toll-free minutes each month might seem like plenty. But with RingCentral’s Core plan, that’s all you get to share across your entire team. Take a few customer calls or leave your number on your website, and suddenly, you’ve hit the limit. After that, you get charged for every additional minute. 

Plus, if you want an additional vanity number that’s easy to remember, there’s a one-time $30 setup fee. Between that and the minute limits, it’s one more cost to factor in as you scale your business.

6. Outdated user interface

RingCentral’s phone app can feel clunky and slow to use. The layout isn’t as clean or intuitive as it could be, making simple tasks more frustrating for your team.

RingCentral separates calls, texts, and voicemails into different folders, making it harder to see full conversations you have with customers. Instead of viewing everything in one thread, your team has to jump between tabs to figure out what was said and when.

Compared to other business phone systems like Quo that provide a modern interface, RingCentral’s design can feel outdated. If you want to prioritize ease of use for your team, you should consider another option. 

7. Frequent billing issues

Past RingCentral users frequently report billing issues with the company. That includes billing for service after cancellation and overcharging customers.

Take these reviews from Quo users who switched from RingCentral:

“RingCentral’s service and billing are a nightmare. Constant errors, unclear charges, and their support team is useless at best. We’ve spent countless hours trying to fix basic billing issues, and it feels like they couldn’t care less.” — RingCentral user on G2

“This company is only interested in ripping you off. They were charging me 950 a month for using 8 lines and would not let me out of the contract as I had sold off a portion of my business and reduced the size of my company! Even though I had been their client for over 10 years – there is no flexibility.” — RingCentral user on G2

How Quo compares to RingCentral

If you’re tired of limitations and outdated features, there’s good news — Quo is the modern business phone system you’ve been looking for.

Here’s a quick look at how Quo offers a better solution to RingCentral’s drawbacks:

RingCentral drawback	Quo’s approach
Texting limits	Unlimited texting to the US and Canada on all plans
Shared texting requires add-on	Shared texting available by default in base plan
Texting registration can take months	Average registration time: 1–3 days
90-day call recording storage limit	No storage limits for recordings
Limited toll-free call minutes	Unlimited toll-free calling to the US and Canada on all plans
Outdated user interface	Modern and intuitive platform design
Frequent billing issues	Clear, transparent pricing

1. Unlimited texting and toll-free calling. Get access to all the SMS and MMS messages and toll-free minutes you need, even in our base plan. We don’t limit teams from using essential features like calls and texts. Communicate with your customers as much as you need. 
2. Shared numbers for calls and texts. Share conversation context for calls and texts with your team. Team members aren’t forced to ask customers repeat questions, and nothing gets lost between inboxes. Shared texting is available by default in every Quo plan for local and toll-free numbers.
3. Smoother texting registration. Getting approved to send business texts shouldn’t take months. With Quo, formerly OpenPhone, you can complete US carrier registration in just 1–3 business days. We guide you through the entire process with clear steps right inside the Quo app, plus we offer additional US carrier registration support in our Resource Center. 
4. Modern user interface. From the moment you launch Quo, the experience is straightforward. The layout is clean, the features are easy to access, and you can start making calls and sending texts without much setup. 
5. No hidden fees or surprises. With its numerous add-ons and overage charges, RingCentral pricing can feel like it has several hidden fees. Quo’s pricing keeps everything straightforward. See what you get in each plan without worrying about keeping track of your usage.

Do RingCentral’s pros outweigh the cons? 

RingCentral’s strengths are real: multiple communication options, global reach, 500+ integrations, and advanced call routing. For large teams with IT support, the cost is justified. 

But if you’re a small and growing business, a lot of those features don’t apply to you. In fact, you won’t just be overpaying for features you don’t need. You’ll be limiting access to essential features, which can hamper your growth. With SMS limits, limited call recording storage, and a clunky user interface, your business growth might stall before you get going. 

If these essential business phone features are important to you, you should consider looking at other platforms. We’ve done the research for you: check out our guide to the top RingCentral alternatives.

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