Wouldn’t it be great if texting your customers were as easy as texting friends and family? After all, most people are used to how simple and quick texting is — and they expect the same experience when communicating with your business.
RingCentral SMS is one option for providing that experience. But whether you’ve already signed up for RingCentral or you’re considering it, you may find its confusing pricing structure, unclear options, and message limits make texting harder instead of easier.
So how does RingCentral work? This guide will break down RingCentral’s SMS feature, discuss its limitations, and share a better alternative for texting customers.
Can you send text messages with RingCentral?
RingCentral does support texting, but only in certain regions. If your account and phone numbers are based in the US and Canada, you can send and receive SMS and MMS messages.
Outbound texting to international numbers is available, but you have to contact support to enable it.
That means you may not have the text messaging features you need right out of the box, especially if you send texts to a global customer base.
How much does RingCentral charge for SMS?
RingCentral’s pricing starts at $20 per user per month and lets you send SMS and MMS messages to customers. The platform offers three pricing plans, but each puts a monthly limit on the number of texts each user can send without paying extra:
- Core plan: 25 texts for $20 per user per month
- Advanced plan: 100 texts for $25 per user per month
- Ultra plan: 200 texts for $35 per user per month
Rates vary for sending SMS, MMS, and toll-free messages beyond the monthly limit. What you pay depends on whether you’re registered for A2P 10DLC, so costs can get confusing (and expensive) if you’re waiting for one or more numbers to be approved.
Here’s a breakdown of RingCentral pricing for SMS:
| SMS Type | Inbound (Registered) | Outbound (Registered) | Inbound (Unregistered) | Outbound (Unregistered) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMS | $0.01 | $0.01 | $0.01 | $0.01 |
| MMS | $0.01 | $0.01 | $0.02 | $0.02 |
| Toll-free SMS | $0.01 | $0.01 | $0.01 | $0.01 |
International rates are only available in the admin portal, which you need a RingCentral account to access. If you don’t have one, you’ll need to contact their sales team to see what you’d pay. That adds extra steps when all you’re trying to do is compare SMS pricing.
With Quo (formerly OpenPhone), you get unlimited business SMS and MMS messaging to US and Canadian numbers on any plan — including from toll-free numbers — once you complete the required US Carrier Registration. And international texting rates are public, so you’ll always know what you’ll be charged. This makes business texting much more accessible and flexible, especially if you’re trying to scale.
Here’s what users are saying about using RingCentral’s SMS feature and service:
“Phone service seems to work, but have been having serious issues with SMS over the years. Current issue has been ongoing for weeks and we keep getting sent to the next level of tech support who will “call me within 24-48 hours”. Currently SMS isn’t reliably going out and being received by our patients, with very unreliable indicators of which messages are and are not being received. Overall, very frustrated with the tech support. Even had my manager reach out directly to our rep too last week and we’ve yet to hear back from our account rep.” – TrustPilot
“Text messages delete automatically after so many days. This can make it hard if someone reached back out to you since the messages are no longer there to know where in the conversation to pick back up.” – G2
“There are repeated online use cases where users cannot cancel. I have had the same experience. I ultimately reported to [the] State Attorney General and charged back after recording my online and phone events.” – G2
6 RingCentral texting limitations you should keep in mind
If you’re still not sure whether RingCentral is the best option for your SMS campaigns and messaging, here are six limitations to consider.
💡Related: RingCentral pros and cons
1. No shared phone numbers for texting
RingCentral doesn’t support shared numbers, which means only one team member can send and receive texts from each number. This makes it much harder to respond quickly since reps can’t collaborate to solve problems or cover for unavailable teammates. Plus, having to add more phone numbers for every team member will cost you an extra $4.99 per number per month.
A workaround is available through Beetexting, a third-party app you can add to enable a shared SMS inbox for teams. But keep in mind you’ll have to buy Beetexting user licenses, which cost $30 per user per month.
2. Users cite RingCentral’s texting registration process as difficult
Many users report problems with RingCentral’s TCR registration process. The Campaign Registry (TCR) is a third-party organization mobile carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile use to review 10DLC applications. If you use a virtual phone number to text customers, registration is required.
But with RingCentral, users said they are waiting months for approval, getting rejected multiple times, or being declared ineligible based on unexpected policy changes.
Delays in the TCR registration process can lead to issues with messages getting to your customers. Service providers may filter or block your texts, or you could be fined as much as $1,500 per message for violating federal compliance regulations.
“It’s been over a year, and we still cannot text back customers using our toll-free number through RingCentral. Despite multiple support calls, we’re nowhere closer to a solution. Initially, support led us down the wrong SMS registration path for 4–5 months. After that wasted time, they finally said, “Oh, it’s simple—just fill out the Toll-Free SMS form and wait 1–2 months.” We waited 3 months. Nothing. I called again and was told, “We’ll look into it.” I followed up twice over the next few months, only to be told to wait for a call. That call never came. I can’t believe it’s been an entire year. We’ve wasted countless hours, energy, and attention trying to resolve what should be a basic communication feature. This experience has been beyond frustrating and completely unacceptable for a paid service.” – TrustPilot
“I have a Business Account 3 Months and still my TCR is not approved” – TrustPilot
3. RingCentral stores calls and texts separately
The RingCentral app separates calls and texts into different views, making it harder for you and your team to keep conversations in context. You have to click between the “Phone” and “Text” tabs to get a full picture of customer conversations, which means it takes longer to review customer histories — and you could miss important information in the process.
4. You can’t send or receive MMS from toll-free numbers
Having a toll-free number gives your business a more professional look and lets customers text your business for free. RingCentral offers toll-free numbers for calls and SMS, but you can’t use them for MMS messaging.
This limits the functionality of the number in a couple of ways:
- You can’t send PDFs, audio files, or documents, which can be helpful for things like product demos, order confirmations, or onboarding instructions
- Customers aren’t able to send videos, images, or other attachments to troubleshoot problems
If you want to send MMS, you’ll have to use another number, which can get confusing for you, your team, and your customers.
5. RingCentral caps how many messages and recordings you can keep
Calls you save with RingCentral’s automatic call recording can only be stored for 90 days, and the platform caps total recordings at 100,000 calls per account. On-demand recordings are limited to 200 per user.
SMS message storage is also restricted to 5,000 total messages in each user’s SMS inbox. If your business sends high volume SMS, you could hit this limit quickly and lose important customer conversations.
To increase your storage limits, you’ll have to use RingCentral Archiver, which is only available to users on the Ultra plan. It lets you back up your data to a third-party cloud storage service like Dropbox or Google Drive. That means additional setup, extra storage fees, and more time spent searching through archives to find what you need.
6. Vanity phone numbers require an expensive setup fee
Vanity numbers are brandable, memorable, and convenient. If you want to set one up through RingCentral, expect to pay a one-time setup fee of $30 — and a recurring monthly fee of $4.99 after that.
Why Quo is the best alternative to RingCentral
Quo is a business phone system that offers modern texting features. Take a look to see how it compares to RingCentral:
| Feature | OpenPhone | RingCentral |
|---|---|---|
| Unlimited SMS/MMS (US & Canada) | ✅ Included on every plan | ❌ Text caps apply on all plans |
| Toll-free texting | ✅ Supports SMS & MMS | ❌ No MMS support from toll-free numbers |
| Shared numbers for texting | ✅ Multiple teammates can text from the same number | ❌ Only one user per number |
| Internal team comments on texts | ✅ Tag teammates without customers seeing it | ❌ Not supported |
| Easy-to-understand pricing | ✅ Flat monthly fee, unlimited texting (Messages sent via Zapier, Make, the API, or to international numbers cost extra) | ❌ Per-message fees vary by number type and setup |
| Vanity number setup | ✅ Included (no setup fee) | ❌ $30 one-time fee |
| Storage limits | ✅ Unlimited message history | ❌ 5,000 message cap per folder (Inbox, Sent, etc.) |
Signing up with Quo gives you access to a range of other business phone features that make texting your customers easy, convenient, and fast. With Quo (formerly OpenPhone), you can:
- Use local or toll-free phone numbers to make calls and send unlimited SMS and MMS messages to US and Canadian numbers.
- Start texting in as little as five business days after completing TCR registration — instead of waiting weeks or months.
- Never miss a call with shared numbers that allow your whole team to call, text, and review conversations from one phone number and inbox (no third-party app required).
- Tag teammates using internal threads and mentions in real-time on specific messages to collaborate on complex issues.
- Save time with automated SMS features like auto-replies when you can’t pick up the phone, scheduled texts to send appointment reminders, and message templates (or snippets) for answering FAQs.
- Save time with Quo’s HubSpot and Salesforce integrations that let you log calls and messages automatically under the right contacts in your CRM.
- Send and receive texts from the web, desktop, or any mobile device so your team can stay connected anywhere.
💡Related: The best RingCentral alternatives
Quo: The best small business communication tool
RingCentral’s SMS limitations make it difficult for small businesses to reliably send text messages. Without unlimited texting, shared numbers, and long-term storage, users can quickly find themselves struggling to offer the high-quality customer experiences people expect from modern businesses.
Quo offers a RingCentral alternative that supports SMS and MMS texting without limits — all with a clear, understandable pricing structure. You also get unlimited calling to US and Canadian numbers. AI call tags that help your team stay organized by labeling customer conversations automatically after they end. Integrations with tools like Zapier, Make, and the Quo SMS API make it easy to automate repetitive tasks in your workflow. And Sona, Quo’s AI agent, can answer calls automatically, collect key details, and generate summaries your team can review in seconds. You can also send voicemail transcripts to any email address. And set up automated messages during and after business hours so your customers always get a response.
Try it free for seven days to see how these features can simplify your business texting.
