When evaluating contact center solutions for your business, it’s important to do your research and match available product features to your specific needs — current and future.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all contact center provider, but some options are more flexible than others.
Perhaps you’ve heard good things about Aircall and RingCentral but aren’t sure which one is the best fit. Here, we’ll break down the features each service provider offers to help you make an informed decision that best suits your business needs.
Let’s dive in and explore their pros and cons and see how they stack up against an alternative contact center platform like Nextiva.
Aircall vs. RingCentral: The Pros
Both Aircall and RingCentral bring a compelling feature set to the table, catering to diverse business needs. Let’s examine their standout advantages.
Pros of Aircall
Aircall has gained popularity as a business communications and call center software solution thanks to its user-friendly design and versatile feature set.
Its key advantages include:
- Simplicity and flexibility: Aircall is widely praised for its ease of use and adaptability to various business requirements. Its intuitive interface streamlines navigation and enhances usability for agents and administrators.
- Over 100 integrations: Aircall boasts extensive collaboration features with popular business tools, from CRMs to helpdesks, ensuring seamless workflows and data synchronization across platforms.
- Advanced analytics: Aircall provides detailed insights into call handling and agent performance metrics, empowering businesses to optimize operations and drive productivity improvements.
- Comprehensive call center tools: Aircall offers a robust feature set, including customizable interactive voice response (IVR) menus, call queuing, tagging, call whispering, and real-time call center analytics to enhance team efficiency and customer satisfaction.
- Minimal setup and dedicated support: Aircall’s strengths include an easy onboarding process with minimal setup requirements complemented by dedicated account managers who provide personalized support.
Pros of RingCentral
While Aircall focuses on core contact center capabilities, RingCentral distinguishes itself as a comprehensive unified communications platform.
Its strengths include:
- Comprehensive UCaaS features: RingCentral offers excellent unified communications as a service (UCaaS) offerings and provides a comprehensive suite of tools for document sharing, team messaging, and high-definition voice calls.
- Extensive integrations: With support for over 200 platforms and API access for custom integrations, RingCentral seamlessly blends into a company’s existing technology stack.
- Seamless video conferencing: RingCentral supports enterprise-level virtual meetings with a wide range of video conferencing capabilities, ensuring high-quality audio and video experiences.
Both Aircall and RingCentral offer compelling solutions tailored to the diverse needs of modern businesses. However, it’s essential to consider potential drawbacks.
Aircall vs. RingCentral: The Cons
While each phone system has some compelling advantages, they each have some drawbacks.
Cons of Aircall
Despite the strengths we just discussed, some users look for alternatives to Aircall because of its drawbacks.
Common Aircall complaints include the following:
- Aircall has a slight learning curve, as new users may initially find the call log system confusing.
- Aircall’s customization options are limited, report some users, particularly when it comes to tailoring features to their business processes.
- Numerous Aircall users have reported inconsistent call quality, including dropped calls and poor clarity. In fact, many contact center platforms have this problem, which can negatively affect your customer communications. Using an analytics tool, such as Nextiva Voice Analytics, can give you an instant overview of your call quality.
- As businesses grow or their needs evolve, they may find Aircall lacks some of the advanced features found in more comprehensive UCaaS platforms, such as those offered by Nextiva.
Cons of RingCentral
Similarly, RingCentral users have also reported a number of issues with the platform.
Common RingCentral complaints include the following:
- While RingCentral offers a robust set of features, smaller businesses or those with strict budgetary constraints may need to consider its higher pricing. These businesses might benefit from a scalable price structure, such as that offered by Nextiva.
- Some user reviews have reported user experience issues, such as delays between dialing and the information being displayed on their computers, which impacts call handling efficiency.
- Frequent software update notifications have also been mentioned as a minor inconvenience, potentially disrupting workflows.
Aircall & Ringcentral vs. Nextiva
Having discussed the strengths and limitations of Aircall and RingCentral, we should consider how these two popular choices compare to a third option, one with all the strengths but none of the limitations — Nextiva.
Nextiva is a comprehensive UCaaS solution that offers scalable pricing, an outstanding user experience, and one of the best, if not the best, customer support service from any contact center platform on the market.
Comparison Table
Here’s a comparison chart for all three solutions to make it easy to review features and see which is best:
| Feature | Nextiva | RingCentral | Aircall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price (20–99 users) | Starts at $18.95 per user | Starts at $20.00 per user | Starts at $30.00 per user |
| Ease of use (G2) | 8.7 out of 10 | 8.3 out of 10 | 9.0 out of 10 |
| Ease of setup (G2) | 8.3 out of 10 | 7.5 out of 10 | – |
| Quality of support (G2) | 9.0 out of 10 | 7.7 out of 10 | 9.0 out of 10 |
| Video conferencing | Up to 250 participants per meeting | Up to 100 participants per meeting | 5 participants per conversation |
| Communication channels | Voice, SMS, video conferencing, team messaging, internet fax, social media, voicemail | Voice, SMS, video conferencing, team messaging, internet fax, voicemail | Voice, email, web chat, MMS, SMS, team messaging, voicemail |
| Annual discount | Yes, approximately 27%. | Yes, approximately 33%. | Yes, approximately 25%. |
| Reliability | 99.999% uptime | 99.999% uptime | 99.95% uptime |
| Unlimited online fax | Included on all plans | Available on Advanced and Ultra plans | N/A |
| Included monthly toll-free minutes | 1,500+ | 100 | Unlimited within the US and Canada* |
| Screen pops | Advanced: caller ID and multiple fields | Basic: caller ID | Customer details and relevant call context |
| Customer support | 24/7 email, chat, and phone support | Phone and live chat support | Email, phone, and non-personalized onboarding sessions |
Features
Aircall offers many call center tools and easy integrations, but it falls short of being a comprehensive solution for large businesses with mature needs. While RingCentral is an extensive UCaaS platform, its higher cost — with potential call quality and user experience issues — makes it a tough choice.
Nextiva, on the other hand, delivers comprehensive features for businesses of all sizes, maintaining high quality and an exceptional user experience. From advanced call routing and IVR systems to seamless CRM integrations and video conferencing capabilities, Nextiva provides a one-stop shop for all your business phone system needs.
Reliability
Aircall users have reported occasional call quality issues and challenges with integrations. Similarly, RingCentral users have expressed concerns about software updates and delays between dialing and information display.
In contrast, Nextiva excels in reliability and user satisfaction, consistently earning high praise for call quality and ease of use. Its robust infrastructure ensures minimal downtime and seamless communication even during high call volume periods.
Support
Where Aircall’s support receives mixed reviews, and RingCentral users experience challenges receiving timely support, Nextiva stands out for exceptional customer service. With a dedicated team of experts available 24/7, Nextiva ensures quick issue resolution and maintains high customer satisfaction rates.
Scalability
Aircall and RingCentral are scalable solutions, but as businesses grow, these platforms may present challenges, or customers may incur additional costs to accommodate evolving requirements.
Nextiva shines in its scalability. It is designed from the ground up to effortlessly grow with businesses of all sizes. Its robust infrastructure and flexible pricing plans ensure a seamless transition as your communication needs expand, backed by reliable service and unwavering support.
You Get It all With Nextiva
While Aircall and RingCentral are solid solutions with their own strengths, Nextiva builds upon their weak spots by offering its customers a complete UCaaS and VoIP solution with exceptional functionality, key features, and excellent customer support when needed.
With Nextiva, you get a feature-rich contact center platform that includes powerful tools like:
- Advanced call routing: Ensures optimal call management and directs calls to the right agent or department, thus reducing wait times, improving customer satisfaction, and ultimately leading to loyal, profitable customers.
- IVR: Customize your phone menus and greetings to provide callers a professional, automated experience.
- Call recording, call monitoring, and whisper coaching: Enhance agent training and quality assurance by allowing supervisors to listen in on calls and provide real-time coaching.
- CRM integrations: Seamlessly connect your contact center with popular CRM platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zendesk to ensure customer data is always at your agents’ fingertips.
- Video conferencing and screen sharing: Facilitate remote collaboration and virtual meetings with high-quality video and screen-sharing capabilities.
Nextiva’s reliable infrastructure and dedicated customer support teams ensure your communication needs are always met no matter how rapidly your business grows.
Whether you’re a startup, a small business, or an enterprise-level organization, Nextiva provides a scalable, feature-rich, user-friendly solution that streamlines your communications and enhances customer experiences.
While Aircall and RingCentral offer compelling features, Nextiva’s comprehensive approach, exceptional reliability, and outstanding customer support make it the best choice for businesses seeking a truly unified communications platform.
