RingCentral alternative
The RingCentral alternative for teams that dial and text
RingCentral and smrtPhone are built for different jobs. RingEX is a business phone system: it replaces the PBX across an office, bundles meetings and video, and includes unlimited domestic calling from $20 a user. smrtPhone is built for teams whose work is the outbound conversation. Three numbers from RingCentral's own pricing page show where that split lands: its entry plan includes 25 text segments a user a month against our 1,000 a seat, CRM integrations do not start until the $25 Advanced plan, and RingEX has no multi-line dialer at all - dialing lives in RingCX, a separate product from $65 a user.
No card required. No seat minimum.
The short version
- RingEX Core includes 25 SMS a user a month, Advanced 100 and Ultra 200. A smrtPhone seat includes 1,000 text segments, then $0.02 each.
- CRM integrations are not in RingCentral's entry plan. They begin on Advanced, at $25 a user a month billed annually. Every smrtPhone seat has them.
- RingEX has no power dialer. Preview, progressive and predictive dialing are in RingCX, which starts at $65 a user a month.
- RingEX includes unlimited domestic calling on every plan. smrtPhone includes 500 minutes a seat and charges $0.03 a minute after that, or $99 a seat for unlimited.
- RingCentral publishes its prices: Core $20, Advanced $25, Ultra $35 a user a month billed annually, or $30, $35 and $45 monthly.
smrtPhone vs RingCentral
The RingCentral alternative, feature by feature
Every RingCentral figure below was taken from RingCentral’s own public pricing pages . Prices change; check theirs before you decide.
| What matters when you dial |
|
smrtPhone |
|---|---|---|
| What it is built for | Replacing a business phone system across an office, with meetings and video in one app | Teams whose work is the outbound conversation, inside a CRM |
| Starting price | Core $20 a user billed annually, $30 monthly | $29 a seat a month, or $24 billed yearly |
| Plan where CRM integrations start | Partly. Advanced, $25 a user billed annually. Not in Core | Yes. Every seat, including the entry one |
| Text segments included | No. 25 a user on Core, 100 on Advanced, 200 on Ultra | Yes. 1,000 a seat a month, then $0.02 |
| Domestic calling | Unlimited on every plan | 500 minutes a seat, then $0.03. Unlimited at $99 a seat |
| Toll-free minutes | 100 on Core, 1,000 on Advanced, 10,000 on Ultra | Sold per number |
| Multi-line dialing | No. Not part of RingEX. Dialers are in RingCX, from $65 a user | Yes. smrtDialer, up to 4 lines. $50 a seat single line, $90 up to four |
| Conversation intelligence | Conversational Intelligence add-on, from $60 | Recording and transcription included. Keywords, sentiment and summaries $10 a seat |
| Investor CRM stack | Partly. A 500+ app gallery built around the mainstream business stack | Yes. Podio, HighLevel, Left Main REI, InvestorFuse, DataSift, Realeflow, Invelo, Carrot and Tape, all native |
| AI agents that take calls | AI Receptionist add-on, from $39 | smrtAgents answer, qualify and hand off with context |
| Outbound list compliance | No. Not positioned for outbound list compliance | Yes. DNC and DNT lists, DNC applet, DNC API, A2P 10DLC and automatic opt-out, in the base seat |
| Meetings, video and webinars | Yes. Included, with RingCentral Webinar on Ultra | Video add-on at $10 a seat |
| Free trial | Offered, limited to five users and two desk phones, and SMS is excluded | 14 days |
What it actually costs, with the arithmetic shown
One person whose calls and texts have to land on the CRM record, on annual billing. Only the per-user plan prices are used: RingCentral prices its add-ons without stating the unit, so putting them in a total would be guesswork.
| Line item | RingCentral | smrtPhone |
|---|---|---|
| Plan where CRM integrations start | Advanced, $25 a user | Standard, $29 a seat |
| The cheaper plan below it | Core, $20, no CRM integrations | No cheaper tier. CRM is in the seat |
| Text segments included | 100 a user on Advanced | 1,000 a seat |
| Domestic calling | Unlimited | 500 minutes, then $0.03 |
| A multi-line dialer | Not available on any RingEX plan | smrtDialer from $50 a seat |
| Monthly total, one CRM-logged seat | $25 | $29 |
RingCentral is the cheaper seat here, by four dollars. What that difference buys is ten times the texting allowance and a dialer in the same product rather than a separate one. It reads the other way too: if you do not need calls logged to a CRM, do not text much, and want unlimited domestic minutes, Core at $20 is cheaper than anything on this page.
Both columns are list prices published by each vendor on annual billing. RingCentral monthly rates are $30, $35 and $45; ours is $29 monthly and $24 yearly. RingCentral's add-ons - AI Receptionist from $39, Conversational Intelligence from $60, Call Queues Booster $35, Business SMS Booster $25 - are excluded because the pricing page does not state whether they are per user or per account.
The other side
When RingCentral is the better choice
RingEX is a business phone system and smrtPhone is not. If the job is replacing a PBX across offices, handing out desk phones and extensions, and putting meetings, video and webinars in the same app as the calls, that is what RingEX is for. Unlimited domestic calling is included on every one of its plans, where smrtPhone includes 500 minutes a seat and meters the rest at $0.03. And Core at $20 a user is below our entry seat.
- You are replacing an office phone system, not building an outbound desk.
- You need desk phones, extensions and multi-site routing.
- Meetings, video and webinars matter as much as the calls.
- Your calling is high-volume and domestic, and you barely text.
If you are replacing an office phone system
A lot of people searching for a RingCentral alternative want what RingCentral is: a phone system for a whole company, with desk phones, extensions across sites, meetings and video in the same app, and global coverage. smrtPhone is not that product and will not pretend to be. If that is the job, the closer swaps are 8x8, Nextiva, Dialpad and Zoom Phone.
We are the alternative for the other half of the people who end up on RingCentral: teams who bought a phone system because they needed to call and text a list all day, and found the texting capped at 25 messages, the CRM integration one tier up, and no dialer anywhere in the product.
Straight from the reviews
What RingCentral users complain about
Recurring themes across RingCentral’s own public review profiles, each one set against what smrtPhone does about it.
- 4.2/5
- 1.7/5
|
What reviewers report
|
What we do about it
|
|---|---|
| A multi-year contract with a short window to leave | Month to month at a published price, after a 14-day trial |
| Cancellation requests that do not take | Month to month, so leaving is a billing change rather than a negotiation |
| Billing corrections that take months | Every price published: the seat, the add-ons, and the per-minute and per-segment rate |
| Support you cannot reach through the phone menu | Live chat to a person on every plan, including the free one |
| An AI receptionist that lost them calls | You can call a smrtAgent from our site and hear how it handles a call before you buy one |
Why outbound teams move off RingCentral
-
The texting allowance ran out in a week
Core includes 25 text segments a user a month and Advanced 100. A team that texts leads back will pass that in days, and texting is the add-on RingCentral sells to fix it. A smrtPhone seat includes 1,000 segments, then $0.02 each.
1,000 segments in every seat -
There was no dialer to move up to
No RingEX plan dials a list. Preview, progressive and predictive dialing are in RingCX, a separate contact-centre product that starts at $65 a user a month - more than twice the RingEX seat it replaces.
smrtDialer, up to 4 lines, from $50 a seat -
The CRM integration was a tier up
CRM integrations start on Advanced, so the $20 entry plan cannot log a call to a record. Every smrtPhone seat integrates with the CRM, including the investor stack RingCentral does not cover: InvestorFuse, Left Main REI, DataSift, Realeflow, Invelo, Carrot and Tape.
CRM integrations in every seat
Built into the CRM you already run
Calls, texts, recordings and dispositions land on the record they belong to, with no connector in between.
Verified reviews
What smrtPhone users say
Everything above is our claim. This is not: these are reviews left on Capterra, where most reviewers are real estate investors.
- 4.7/5
-
5 out of 5. Under 6 months in
Its ability to dial on 4 different lines simultaneously that no other dialer in the market has.
Chad F. Founder, real estate -
5 out of 5. 2+ years in
Integration with Podio and the ability to customize every aspect.
Ryan J. Founder, real estate -
5 out of 5. Under 6 months in
What I like most about SmrtPhone is how responsive and helpful their support team is. In fact, there have been instances during my onboarding that they have proactively reached out. They make the learning curve very easy to overcome.
Brendan P. CEO, real estate
What switching actually involves
Numbers port out of RingCentral, and it takes one to three weeks once the paperwork clears. Check your contract end date before you start: RingCentral reviewers report long terms with a short cancellation window, and the port is easier to plan around than the billing is.
- Port your numbers. They move with you. Nobody has to learn a new number.
- Connect the CRM. Calls, texts, recordings and dispositions start writing to the record.
- Rebuild your call flows. Routing, ring groups, business hours and the DNC applet.
- Run both for a few days. Then move the dialing over once the logging looks right.
How long the port really takes
- Porting takes one to three weeks once the paperwork is in and confirmed. It is faster when your current provider sits on the same underlying carrier we do, and slower if the paperwork comes back rejected over a detail that does not match your carrier record.
- Support does the work. You start it from live chat and the team handles the submission.
- Do not cancel your old provider until the port completes. Your number keeps working throughout.
- Occasionally voice ports a few hours before texting does. It settles by itself.
Questions people ask before switching
How much does RingCentral cost?
RingEX publishes three plans: Core at $20 a user a month, Advanced at $25 and Ultra at $35, all billed annually. Paying monthly makes them $30, $35 and $45. Add-ons are priced separately - AI Receptionist from $39, Conversational Intelligence from $60, Call Queues Booster $35 and Business SMS Booster $25 - though the pricing page does not say whether those are per user or per account. smrtPhone is $29 a seat a month, or $24 billed yearly, with every add-on priced individually.
How many texts does RingCentral include?
Twenty-five segments a user a month on Core, 100 on Advanced and 200 on Ultra, according to its own pricing page. A smrtPhone seat includes 1,000 text segments a month and charges $0.02 a segment after that. For a team that texts leads back, that is the single biggest difference between the two products.
Does RingCentral have a power dialer?
Not in RingEX, the business phone product. Preview, progressive, predictive and voice-broadcast dialing are features of RingCX, RingCentral's contact-centre product, which starts at $65 a user a month with unlimited minutes. smrtDialer runs 1 to 4 lines with AI voice detection at $50 a seat for a single line and $90 for up to four, on top of a $29 seat.
Does RingCentral integrate with my CRM?
It depends which plan you buy. CRM integrations are not included in the Core plan at all - they start on Advanced at $25 a user a month. RingCentral publishes an app gallery of more than 500 integrations built around the mainstream business stack. smrtPhone puts CRM integration in every seat and is native to the investor stack: Podio, HighLevel, Left Main REI, InvestorFuse, DataSift, Realeflow, Invelo, Carrot and Tape.
Is smrtPhone cheaper than RingCentral?
Not on the seat. RingCentral Core is $20 a user a month billed annually against our $29, and unlimited domestic calling is included where we meter after 500 minutes. The comparison changes once the work is outbound: the plan that logs to a CRM is $25, texting is capped at 100 segments a user, and dialing a list means RingCX at $65 a user instead. A smrtPhone seat at $29 covers the CRM logging and 1,000 segments, with the dialer a $50 add-on for the people who need it.
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