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RingCentral vs. Zoom Phone

RingCentral is a phone-first platform with meetings and a large app catalog. Zoom Phone is an add-on to the Zoom Workplace app, with published month-to-month prices and lower entry costs. The main trade-off is price and flexibility versus RingCentral's broader integration list.

Published by Cannon VoIP, which competes with both. We compare them fairly, call the winner in each category from their own published information, and cite every source at the bottom.

The verdict

Who wins, category by category

Price for 5 users
Zoom Phone
Zoom's US & CA Unlimited plan is $18 per user month to month, $90 for 5 users, or $16 annually; RingCentral Core is reported at $20 per user on annual billing, $100 for 5 users plus regulatory and E911 fees, and its plan page now says to contact sales.
Contract terms
Zoom Phone
Zoom publishes month-to-month rates and cancelling stops renewal at the end of the paid term; RingCentral's annual terms require paying the rest of the term to leave early.
Meetings
Tie
RingCentral includes video meetings on all tiers; Zoom includes full meetings in its Pro Plus bundle at $20.50 per user annually, about the same price as RingCentral Core.
Supervisor tools
Zoom Phone
Zoom includes monitor, whisper and barge with every Phone license, with live queue dashboards in a $25 add-on; RingCentral needs the Advanced tier for whisper and barge plus a $35 add-on for live queue reports.
Integrations
Depends
RingCentral lists 330+ integrations but gates CRM to Advanced; Zoom includes Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft and Google on every Zoom Phone plan with a smaller catalog.
Desktop apps
Zoom Phone
Zoom's desktop app runs on Windows, macOS and Linux; RingCentral's Linux app is an unsupported community project.

Choose RingCentral if...

Choose RingCentral if you rely on a large app catalog or want meetings, phone and a published contact center (RingCX) from one vendor.

RingCentral vs. Cannon VoIP

Choose Zoom Phone if...

Choose Zoom Phone if your team already lives in Zoom, you want published month-to-month pricing, or you need Salesforce integration and supervisor tools on every plan.

Zoom Phone vs. Cannon VoIP

Side by side

RingCentral
Zoom Phone
Pricing & contract
Reported by independent pricing guides at Core $20/user/mo, Advanced $25 and Ultra $35 with annual billing; RingCentral's own plan page now says to contact sales for pricing. Plus separate regulatory and E911 fees. Month-to-month billing costs more; annual contracts carry early termination fees.
Plans start at $10.50/user/mo billed annually with metered (per-minute) calling, or US & CA Unlimited $16/user/mo billed annually ($18 month to month), or bundled with Zoom Workplace as Pro Plus $20.50 or Business Plus $24.50/user/mo billed annually ($24 and $29 month to month).
Add-ons & hidden fees
Compliance/Administrative Cost Recovery Fee and E911 fee on every invoice. AI Receptionist ($39–49/mo) and AI Conversation Expert ($60/user/mo) are separate paid add-ons.
The Metered plan bills every domestic call per minute. Live queue dashboards and shared team texting need the $25/user/month Customer Engagement Pack, and Auto Dialer is a separate paid license.
Contract lock-in & termination fee
Annual and multi-year contracts carry an early termination fee: RingCentral's terms require paying all charges for the rest of the term, with auto-renewal unless cancelled 30+ days before term end.
Billed monthly or annually, with prepaid 1, 2 and 3-year packages through sales. Cancelling stops the auto-renewal at the end of the paid term.
Setup & onboarding
Self-serve admin portal built for IT-staffed organizations; feature access depends on which tier you're on.
Self-serve signup built around the Zoom Workplace app; live phone support is only for accounts with subscriptions over $200 a month.
Customer support & reliability
Reviewers describe inconsistent support quality; RingCentral's terms require paying the rest of the contract term to leave early, and contracts auto-renew unless cancelled 30+ days before term end.
Zoom's pricing page limits live phone support to accounts with subscriptions over $200 a month, so five users on Pro Plus ($120 a month) do not qualify. Live chat support starts at subscriptions over $10 a month.
Integrations
330+ integrations in its app gallery (Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, and more), but CRM integrations require the Advanced tier or higher.
Built-in Salesforce integration with click to dial, screen pops and automatic call logging, plus Slack, Microsoft and Google on every Zoom Phone plan, and a Zoom Phone app for HubSpot.
Built-in CRM
No built-in CRM. CRM integrations require the Advanced tier or higher.
No built-in CRM. Connects to outside CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot instead.
International calling
Not included in RingEX plans: international calls are billed per minute against prepaid calling credits, at rates that vary by destination. Calling credit bundles are sold separately.
Metered per-minute international calling on every plan, with unlimited international calling available as an add-on.
Meetings & messaging
Video meetings with dial-in and team chat on all tiers. Website chat is not part of RingEX: digital channels are in the RingCX contact center, from $65/agent/month.
Team chat included. Full Zoom Meetings comes only in the Workplace bundles. Website chat goes through Zoom Contact Center or Virtual Agent.
Contact center tools
Whisper and barge on Advanced and up. Live queue reports need the Call Queues Booster add-on ($35). No power dialer in RingEX: outbound campaigns use the separate RingCX product.
Monitor, whisper and barge come with a Phone license. Live queue dashboards are in the Customer Engagement Pack add-on, $25/user/month. Auto Dialer is a paid add-on license.
Call screening & 911
Callers can announce their name before the call connects.
Call screening makes callers press a key before the call rings through; spoken caller name screening is not listed on Zoom's phone features page.
Connect your own AI assistant
MCP connectors for ChatGPT, Claude and other AI assistants are included on all tiers.
Has an official Zoom MCP server.
Platform ownership
Builds and runs its own cloud platform (RingEX). It also licenses that platform to other brands, including AT&T Office@Hand, Avaya Cloud Office and RingCentral with Verizon.
Builds and runs its own cloud phone system.
Hardware & BYOD
Supports BYOD and sells desk phones, and also pushes a recurring "Device-as-a-Service" rental subscription where you never own the hardware. Reported mid-range phone rental runs about $15/device/month; renting past ~13 months (198÷15) costs more than buying our VoIP-6 outright ever would, and you still wouldn't own it.
Supports certified desk phones and BYOD, but desk phones are bought, or rented through Zoom's Hardware as a Service program, separately from the subscription.

Where Cannon VoIP fits

Cannon VoIP is $34 per extension per month, all-in and month to month, with unlimited domestic calling and texting, video meetings and team chat included. Every extension also gets a built-in CRM, website chat, a live queue wallboard and a power dialer, which Zoom and RingCentral sell as add-ons or separate products.

See Cannon VoIP pricing · Best business phone systems of 2026

Common questions

Is Zoom Phone cheaper than RingCentral?

At the entry level, yes. Zoom's US & CA Unlimited plan is $16 per user annually or $18 month to month, while RingCentral Core is reported at $20 per user on annual billing plus fees.

Does Zoom Phone include Zoom Meetings?

Only in the Zoom Workplace bundles. Pro Plus ($20.50 per user annually) and Business Plus ($24.50) include full meetings; phone-only plans have meetings capped at 40 minutes.

Can I get live phone support from Zoom Phone with a small team?

Zoom's pricing page limits live phone support to accounts spending over $200 a month, so 5 users on Pro Plus do not qualify. Live chat support is available on subscriptions over $10 a month.

Sources (35)

Each claim about RingCentral, Zoom Phone on this page comes from the public sources below, checked October 2026. Where a provider does not publish a price, we use independent pricing guides and say so. If something has changed, tell us at support@cannonvoip.com and we will correct it.

  1. RingCentral plans and pricing page: Annual billing discount, AI Receptionist from $39, Call Queues Booster $35 add-on, 330+ integrations
  2. RingCentral plan data feed (behind the pricing page): SMS 25/user on Core and 100 on Advanced, CRM integrations and whisper/barge on Advanced and up, live queue reports in Call Queues Booster add-on on Core and Advanced, single sign-on and MCP connectors on all tiers, Slack integration, call transcription on all tiers, Rooms add-on, RingCX from $65, desk phone rentals
  3. UseCarly RingCentral pricing breakdown: Core $20, Advanced $25, Ultra $35 annual; $30/$35/$45 monthly; AI Conversation Expert from $60/user; AI Receptionist $39 add-on or $49 standalone
  4. CloudTalk RingCentral pricing analysis: Plan prices annual vs monthly, Compliance and Administrative Cost Recovery Fee and E911 fee on invoices
  5. Costbench RingCentral hidden costs: Cost recovery and E911 fees adding 20 to 30% above list, about $15/device/month mid-range phone rental
  6. RingCentral RingEX Service Attachment: SMS allotments 25/100/200 by tier, international calls billed against calling credits, calling credit bundles sold separately
  7. RingCentral Terms of Service: Auto-renewal unless notice 30 days before term end, early termination requires paying all charges for the rest of the term, 911 and administrative cost recovery fees
  8. RingCentral Device as a Service Rental Agreement: Desk phone rental with monthly fees, title never transfers to the customer
  9. RingCentral support: desk phones: Phones can be purchased from RingCentral or brought (BYOD)
  10. RingCentral RingCX omnichannel page: Website chat as a RingCX channel, 20+ digital channels including social
  11. RingCentral RingCX general availability blog: RingCX routes social, SMS, email and 20+ digital channels
  12. RingCentral power dialing page: Power dialing comes from RingCX, not RingEX
  13. RingCentral call screening feature page: Callers can announce their name before the call connects
  14. RingCentral Trust Center compliance: SOC 2, ISO 27001 and HITRUST certifications
  15. RingCentral app download page: Official desktop app for Windows and Mac
  16. RingCentral Phone for Linux (Labs): Linux app is a Labs community project, not official, no RingCentral support
  17. RingCentral partner brand guidelines: Sold as AT&T Office@Hand, Avaya Cloud Office and RingCentral with Verizon
  18. Charter and RingCentral press release: Spectrum Business Connect with RingCentral
  19. Brightspeed Voice+ with RingCentral press release: Brightspeed Voice+ runs on RingCentral
  20. Avaya Cloud Office general availability press release: Avaya Cloud Office runs on RingCentral
  21. RingCentral reviews on Trustpilot: Reviewers describe inconsistent support quality
  22. Zoom Phone pricing page: US & CA Unlimited $16, Pro Plus $20.50, Business Plus $24.50 billed annually ($18, $24, $29 month to month); 40-minute meetings on the Unlimited plan and 30 hours on Pro Plus; live phone support only for subscriptions over $200 a month and live chat over $10 a month; metered international calling; unlimited international calling as an add-on; barge, monitor, whisper; Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft and Google integrations; Customer Engagement Pack needed for team SMS features; Windows, macOS and Linux desktop apps; monthly or annual billing with 1, 2 and 3-year prepaid packages and cancel auto-renewal
  23. Zoom Phone product page: Plans starting at $10.50/user/month (annual price from Zoom's price feed), metered or unlimited domestic calling, Customer Engagement Pack at additional cost, Zoom Auto Dialer, AI that answers your questions during a call
  24. Zoom Customer Engagement Pack page: Live queue dashboards and shared team SMS inboxes; $25 per user per month ($300 a year) per Zoom's price feed at https://zoom.us/pricing/planprice.json
  25. Zoom Contact Center pricing page: Contact Center from $69/user/month billed annually; chat, email and social channels; workforce management on Elite
  26. Zoom Contact Center product page: Video, email, social media and WhatsApp channels; workforce engagement management and scheduling
  27. Zoom Auto Dialer guide (Zoom library): Auto Dialer needs its own add-on license on each Zoom Phone user
  28. TechRepublic Zoom Phone review: Metered plan bills domestic calls per minute
  29. Zoom Phone features page: Native Salesforce integration with click to dial, screen pops and call logging; calls from Slack; Elevate to Meeting; certified desk phones and BYOC; no call screening feature described
  30. Zoom Phone for HubSpot (HubSpot Marketplace): Zoom-built HubSpot app
  31. UCSB IT: Enable call screening (Zoom Phone): Zoom Phone call screening asks callers to press a key
  32. Zoom Hardware as a Service announcement: Zoom Phone hardware available by subscription
  33. Zoom developer docs: Zoom MCP servers: Official Zoom MCP servers
  34. Zoom Phone bluepaper overview: Zoom builds and runs its own cloud phone service from its own data centers
  35. Zoom Trust Center: SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, HITRUST, FedRAMP Moderate and PCI DSS attestations

Pricing, plan and feature details reflect each provider's published or independently reported information as of October 2026 and are subject to change. Confirm current pricing directly with each provider.