Nextiva and RingCentral are known as some of the most popular business communications solutions on the market. And rightly so. Both platforms are remarkably feature-rich and offer comparable unified communications capabilities with inbound/ outbound calling, SMS text messaging, video conferencing, team collaboration tools, and omnichannel integrations. But when it comes down to deciding between the two business phone system providers, which one is a better fit for your customer communication needs?
At this point, we’ve already compared RingCentral to Dialpad, Aircall, and OpenPhone. In this blog, RingCentral goes head-to-head with Nextiva. We’ll compare both platforms’ key features, AI tools, integration capabilities, and pricing plans to help you choose the right VoIP phone system for your business. Plus, we’ll show you how VoiceSpin stacks up against both and where it might be an even better choice. Let’s roll in!
Nextiva vs. RingCentral: Comparing Core Offerings
|
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Starting Price | $20 user /month (billed annually) | $20 user /month (billed annually) |
| Free Trial | No free trial | 14-day free trial |
| Key Features |
|
|
| SMS Texting Messaging |
|
|
| Omnichannel Integration | Voice, SMS, live chat, webform, email, social, instant messaging apps | Voice and 20+ digital and social channels |
| AI and Automation |
|
|
| Reporting and Analytics |
|
|
| Third-party Integrations |
|
|
| Reliability and Security |
|
|
| Mobile App | iOS and Android | iOS and Android |
| Customer Support |
|
|
| Best For | SMEs that have an international presence and prioritize voice communications and integrations with third-party apps | Mid-sized businesses to large enterprises with remote and hybrid teams |
| Target Industries |
|
|
What is Nextiva?
Nextiva is a true powerhouse in the VoIP industry, but it’s actually much more than a VoIP service provider. It offers a unified communications platform that combines voice and video calls, SMS text messaging, and digital communication channels – all integrated into one platform. While it’s especially popular among small businesses and growing teams, it can also be a great fit for larger organizations.
Compared to RingCentral and other similar solutions, Nextiva stands out when it comes to managing customer interactions on social media and review platforms. If your business is active on social media or monitors online reviews, Nextiva brings everything together, integrating those channels right into the dashboard alongside calling, texting, and chats.
Nextiva is the Right Fit for:
Nextiva is a strong choice for businesses looking for a truly unified communications solution and digital-first contact centers that primarily engage with customers through website chat, social media, email, and messaging apps like WhatsApp.
Pros
Cons
What is RingCentral?
RingCentral is a pioneer in the business communications space, offering a platform that unifies voice, messaging, and video calling capabilities in a single app accessible from any device. RingCentral’s contact center solutions include an impressive set of call management features for customer service and sales teams, international calling and SMS text messaging, advanced analytics, and the ability to connect 20+ digital communication channels.
But what distinguishes RingCentral as a strong Nextiva alternative and differentiates it from similar solutions is its extensive ecosystem of third-party integrations, which is, in fact, one of the largest in the industry. With over 400 pre-built integrations (including popular CRM systems and industry-specific platforms), you can easily connect RingCentral to your back-end systems and automate your team’s workflows.
RingCentral is the Right Fit for:
While RingCentral does offer omnichannel integration capabilities, it’s best suited for voice-first contact centers as even the entry-level plan includes many advanced calling features (like multi-level IVR, call queueing, call recording, and visual voicemail) that RingCentral competitors usually lock behind top-tier plans.
Pros
Cons
Nextiva vs. RingCentral: Head-to-head Comparison
Nextiva vs. RingCentral: comparing key calling and texting features
To sum it up: Nextiva and RingCentral both offer comparable calling features, including unlimited domestic calling, international calling, toll-free minutes, advanced call management tools, and multiple outbound dialing modes. In terms of text messaging, Nextiva stands out by offering unlimited SMS in top-tier plans and a shared SMS inbox, but unlike RingCentral, it lacks bulk texting, toll-free SMS, and international messaging.
Inbound/ outbound calling
Nextiva: With Nextiva, you get access to unlimited calling in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico, international calling, a toll-free number with up to 10,000 minutes, IVR, skill-based routing, voicemail transcription, call queueing with callbacks, advanced call monitoring, call recording, unlimited audio conferencing, and more. For outbound calling, Nextiva’s features include an auto dialer with quarterback, predictive, and progressive dialing modes.
RingCentral: RingCentral’s offerings include unlimited domestic calling in the US and Canada, a toll-free number with 100-10,000 free minutes based on plan, international calling, and a ton of basic and advanced call management features like multi-level IVR, call routing, call forwarding, audio conferencing, real-time call monitoring, visual voicemail, and more. RingCentral’s features for outbound calling include an outbound dialer that can operate in multiple dialing modes (broadcast, preview, predictive, and progressive).
SMS text messaging
Nextiva: All Nextiva plans (except for the entry-level one) include business SMS messaging, with unlimited texting available in the Power Suite plan. But there are some limitations: bulk SMS isn’t supported (you can only send texts to up to 10 recipients at a time), toll-free numbers can’t be used for texting, and international messaging isn’t available. On the plus side, the shared SMS inbox makes it easy for team members to collaborate on text messages.
RingCentral: With RingCentral, monthly SMS limits vary between 25 and 200 texts per user/ month – and you can purchase additional SMS or take advantage of a high-volume SMS add-on starting at $0.01/message. RingCentral allows sending outbound SMS to toll-free numbers, but unlike Nextiva, it doesn’t support a shared SMS inbox.
Nextiva vs. RingCentral: comparing AI capabilities
To sum it up: Both Nextiva and RingCentral offer a solid range of AI capabilities – and the best choice for your business depends on the specific features you’re looking for. But overall, RingCentral comes out ahead for more advanced voice analytics and the ability to build AI voice agents for customer service automation.
Nextiva: When it comes to AI capabilities, Nextiva offers features like AI voicemail transcription, call transcription and summaries, sentiment analysis, AI classification (smart conversation routing with language detection), gen AI-powered knowledge base creation, advanced IVR with conversational AI, and AI-powered agents (chatbots) that can handle common service requests, book appointments, capture leads, and seamlessly transfer conversations to live agents.
RingCentral: RingCentral’s products include a wider range of AI features, such as an AI assistant for calls (with call transcriptions, summaries, call action items, sentiment tracking, and real-time agent guidance), an AI assistant for video (with real-time video transcriptions, summaries, and conversation highlights), and AI assistants for SMS and team messaging, helping you write, edit, and translate texts. Beyond that, RingCentral offers advanced AI voice analytics and the ability to set up an AI agent for voice and digital channels that can answer FAQs, schedule appointments, and route conversations to human reps.
Nextiva vs. RingCentral: comparing reporting and analytics
To sum it up: Both providers offer real-time and historical reporting tools with customizable reports and dashboards, though Nextiva limits the number of dashboards in lower-tier plans. But while Nextiva provides advanced social media reporting features and competitor tracking, RingCentral offers more advanced AI-powered voice analytics and team coaching tools.
Nextiva: Nextiva provides advanced voice analytics, allowing you to stay on top of your call volume, call duration, and other key call center metrics. And you can customize your dashboard to see the reports you care about and leverage wallboards, scorecards, and gamification features to boost team training. Plus, Nextiva also offers in-depth social media analytics that includes competitor tracking, customer sentiment scoring, customer engagement monitoring across your social media platforms, and trend analysis.
RingCentral: RingCentral’s reporting and analytics tools include basic call logs and live quality-of-service reports, adoption and usage reports, and live call queue management reports. You can also create custom reports with 30+ metrics and KPIs using pre-built custom report templates. In addition, with the RingSense add-on, you’ll get access to advanced conversation analytics with call scoring, call summaries, trending topic detection, conversation highlights, sentiment analysis, and automated coaching tips.
Nextiva vs. RingCentral: comping third-party integration options
To sum it up: Overall, RingCentral integrates with more CRM systems, productivity apps, and industry-specific platforms, while Nextiva offers more integrations with online review sites. With both providers, however, most integrations aren’t included in entry-level plans.
Nextiva: Nextiva’s integration options are far more limited compared to RingCentral. And not only are they restricted to higher-tier plans (except for the Microsoft Teams integration), but they also come as paid add-ons, increasing the overall cost of the platform. But unlike RingCentral, Nextiva also integrates with e-com and online review platforms like Google Store, Amazon, Google Reviews, Yelp, and TripAdvisor.
RingCentral: RingCentral boasts the largest ecosystem of third-party integrations. That includes 400+ direct integrations with popular CRM systems, marketing automation tools, and industry-specific platforms for finance, healthcare, education, legal, and retail sectors. The downside? Integrations with major CRMs like Salesforce, Zendesk, and HubSpot aren’t included in the lowest-tier plan.
Nextiva vs. RingCentral: comparing pricing structure and plans
To sum it up: Both Nextiva and RingCentral offer scalable pricing plans starting from $20
/user/month, but their pricing structures differ significantly. RingCentral’s entry-level plan includes features like multi-level IVR, basic call queueing, on-demand call recording, business SMS, video meetings, and team messaging (none of which is included in Nextiva’s cheapest plan), providing better value for money. However, Nextiva provides more flexible pricing options tailored to digital-only, voice-only, and omnichannel contact centers. Plus, Nextiva offers online reputation management capabilities that aren’t available with RingCentral.
Nextiva pricing plans
Small Business Plans:
- Digital (for startups, digital channels only) – $20 user/month (billed annually)
- Core (for small teams, voice and digital channels) – $30 user/month (billed annually)
- Engage (for growing teams, omnichannel integration) – $40 user/month (billed annually)
- Power Suite (for sales and service teams) – $60 user/month (billed annually)
Enterprise Plans:
- Essential (voice or digital channels) – $129 user/month (billed annually)
- Professional (omnichannel contact center) – $159 user/month (billed annually)
- Premium (workforce management and advanced analytics) – $199 user/month (billed annually)
Nextiva free Trial: no longer available
RingCentral pricing plans
RingEX (for customer service teams):
- Core – $20 user/month (billed annually)
- Advanced – $25 user/month (billed annually)
- Ultra – $35 user/month (billed annually)
RingCX (for contact centers and omnichannel support) – starts at $65 user/month (billed annually)
RingSense (for sales teams) – starts at $60 user/month (billed annually)
RingCentral free Trial: 14 days
RingCentral vs. Nextiva vs. VoiceSpin: What’s the Best Fit for Your Customer Communication Needs?
| International Calling | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Advanced Call Routing | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Interactive Voice Response | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Call Queue Management | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Real-time Call Monitoring | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Call Recording Storage | Unlimited in all plans | Recordings are stored for up to 6 months | Unlimited only in the Ultra plan |
| Outbound Dialer | Power dialer, AI predictive dialer | Quarterback dialer, Predictive dialer, Progressive dialer | Preview dialer, Predictive dialer, Progressive dialer |
| Intelligent Lead Distribution | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ |
| Outbound Voicemail Drop | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| SMS Text Messaging | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Bulk SMS Texting | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ |
| Reporting and Analytics | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Advanced Speech Analytics | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| AI Call Summary and Transcription | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Omnichannel Integration | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| AI Chatbot Integration | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| AI Voice Bot Integration | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ |
| Third-party Integrations | ✔ | Limited | ✔ |
| API Access | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Custom Integrations and Development | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ |
| 24/7 Support | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
While RingCentral and Nextiva are – no doubt – some of the top players in today’s contact center software market, they aren’t ideal for every scenario. And that’s where alternatives like VoiceSpin step in. Though VoiceSpin lacks some features both RingCentral and Nextiva provide (like audio conferencing, video calling, and team messaging), it appears to be a stronger alternative in certain use cases. Let’s take a closer look at where exactly VoiceSpin excels:
- Global coverage in 160+ countries: While Nextiva and RingCentral support international calling, VoiceSpin offers an even wider global reach. With local phone numbers available in over 160 countries all across the globe (and often at more competitive rates), VoiceSpin is a top choice for call centers operating on a truly global scale.
- Advanced AI tools for sales teams: Both Nextiva and RingCentral offer auto dialing tools for outbound sales teams, but VoiceSpin’s AI dialer is a more advanced solution. Backed by predictive and machine learning algorithms, it can intelligently score your leads and connect them to the best-suited sales reps to maximize the efficiency of your outbound calling campaigns and boost conversions – ideal for high-volume sales teams.
- AI-powered speech analytics: With VoiceSpin, you get access to advanced conversation intelligence. Our AI Speech Analyzer can monitor and evaluate 100% of your inbound and outbound calls, measure the quality of interactions and your team’s performance based on custom metrics and KPIs, and help you prevent costly non-compliance issues with real-time keyword detection.
- AI voice bots for call automation: While RingCentral supports AI voice bot integration, VoiceSpin’s AI voice agent goes far beyond customer service automation. In addition to handling inbound customer service calls and resolving customer inquiries independently, it can also automatically handle outbound cold calls, follow-ups, reminders, and lead nurturing campaigns through the dialer integration.
- CRM integrations in every plan: Both Nextiva and RingCentral restrict CRM integrations with platforms like Zoho, Salesforce, and HubSpot to their higher-tier plans. With VoiceSpin, these basic integrations are available with every plan. Plus, we offer custom integration options to align with your unique workflows.
- Simpler pricing structure: Unlike Nextiva and RingCentral, VoiceSpin’s pricing structure is simpler and more transparent. With a Basic plan, you get access to all the essential calling and texting features. An Advanced plan unlocks access to an AI predictive dialer and powerful features for sales teams. And with an Enterprise plan, you can leverage omnichannel integration, AI chat and voice agents, and advanced AI speech analytics.
Book a demo call now to see VoiceSpin’s AI contact center software platform in action and find out whether it’s a better alternative to Nextiva and RingCentral for your specific use case.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the disadvantages of Nextiva?
Nextiva offers a ton of advanced features for calling and texting, but it does come with several notable disadvantages. Firstly, many users report that Nextiva’s interface feels outdated and difficult to navigate, which can slow down workflows and make onboarding more challenging and time-consuming. Secondly, some users have also experienced call quality issues and missed calls. Additionally, customer support has often been criticized for slow response times and ineffective resolution of issues.
Does Nextiva have a CRM?
Not anymore. While Nextiva did offer a built-in CRM system (NextOS) along with its core product, according to Nextiva’s website, the NextOS system has been retired from the Nextiva product offerings and is currently not available to new users.
Is RingCentral the best VoIP provider?
RingCentral is generally considered one of the top VoIP providers due to its robust feature set, reliable performance, enterprise-grade security, and extensive integrations with third-party apps. But whether it’s the ‘best’ heavily depends on your specific business needs. Alternatives like Zoom Phone, 8×8, VoiceSpin, or Dialpad may actually offer better value or more specialized features depending on your use case.
What makes VoiceSpin a better Nextiva alternative?
VoiceSpin stands out as a better alternative to Nextiva for high-volume outbound call center teams due to its AI predictive dialing solution that offers more advanced features Nextiva’s dialer lacks. Moreover, compared to Nextiva’s analytics tools, VoiceSpin’s AI speech analytics solution provides deeper insights into voice interactions with custom call metrics and KPIs. To top it off, with Nextiva, core CRM integrations are locked behind higher-tier plans, while VoiceSpin includes CRM integrations in every plan.
What makes VoiceSpin a better alternative to RingCentral?
With access to local numbers in over 160 countries, VoiceSpin provides wider global coverage, making it a better option for truly international call centers. Better yet, VoiceSpin’s AI predictive dialer appears to be a more advanced solution for outbound sales teams handling high-volume outbound calling campaigns, offering features like AI lead scoring, intelligent lead distribution, and outbound voicemail drop. Plus, with VoiceSpin, you get access to basic CRM integrations with every plan, while RingCentral limits them to its higher-tier plans.
+18889082995
+442036084160
+97237237006
