Bandwidth and Twilio are two cloud communication platforms that provide features like text messaging and voice calling, with each offering SIP trunking and VoIP systems. They’re both reliable communications platforms, though each has its distinct pros and cons. 

Here, we’ll break down Twilio vs. Bandwidth’s VoIP services with detailed comparisons to help you determine which may be better for you.

Bandwidth vs. Twilio: The Pros

Bandwidth and Twilio are both communication platform as a service (CPaaS) providers with comparable services and functions. Let’s take stock of each platform’s most significant strengths.

Pros of Bandwidth

These are Bandwidth’s advantages that small businesses, enterprise companies, and contact centers can benefit from:

• Global reach: Services cover a wide range of VoIP phone services globally, offering the potential for international scalability, with porting currently available in 65+ countries. 
• Retail and wholesale services: Bandwidth’s VoIP services cater to enterprises with both wholesale and retail solutions.
• Comprehensive and versatile features: Functions include cloud-ready voice, messaging, and E911 APIs to maximize versatility, making it a strong choice for businesses or call centers that want a broad set of communication tools.
• User-friendly dashboard: Customers can take advantage of an intuitive interface for improved ease of use, even when managing, ordering, and configuring several phone numbers and line options.
• Strong customer support: Some reviews mention strong customer support overall, with clients confident that Bandwidth can resolve issues that may arise.

Pros of Twilio

Twilio’s most significant advantages include the following:

• Extensive documentation: All Twilio products come with extensive documentation that makes it easy for businesses to customize workflows, set up integrations, and use various product or service features effectively.
• Ease of use when setting up complex workflows: Twilio’s documentation and UI-based tools allow brands to set up complex workflows without needing to code extensively, making initial and ongoing setup easier.
• Support for diverse channels: Twilio’s Programmable Messaging API specifically supports a wide range of channels that include SMS, MMS, OTT, and email to provide global engagement with customers through redundant carrier connections and multiple phone number types.
• Comprehensive sets of applications: Tools like Flex, Segment, and Frontline are designed to enhance customer engagement across different channels and leverage data to improve personalized interactions.
• Diverse and expansive features: Standout features include Voice API for customized voice experiences with features like interactive voice response, speech recognition, and high-quality connections through the Twilio Super Network.
• Flexible and transparent pricing models: Twilio’s pricing is relatively simple, allowing businesses to choose whether they want to only pay for what they use or opt for committed-use pricing. 

Bandwidth vs. Twilio: The Cons

Just as Bandwidth and Twilio each have distinct advantages, there are a few potential weaknesses to consider.

Cons of Bandwidth

These are the potential cons of Bandwidth:

• Some users find the process for porting telephone numbers cumbersome and time-consuming, as there’s no direct way to add or remove numbers without canceling and re-entering them.
• Adjusting settings on multiple DID numbers can be unintuitive and slow, impacting the efficiency of managing communications.
• Some customers felt that the setup wasn’t intuitive, and the need for developers to set up complex workflows or integrations was cumbersome.
• Some customers were unhappy with the contract pricing and felt like they were overpaying compared to the services used or that there was a lack of flexibility or transparent pricing.  

Cons of Twilio

These are the potential cons of Twilio:

• Specific functions within Twilio can be challenging to set up, even with the available thorough documentation.
• The setup for routing multiple channels to the same agents has been noted as particularly difficult for customers, which can directly impact businesses and call centers trying to streamline their communication channels.
• Some user reviews noted delayed customer support response times, with assistance for their plans only available through email.
• The software and the setup process have steep learning curves for many users, requiring developer work to set up API integrations and complex workflows.

Comparing Bandwidth and Twilio vs. Nextiva

Twilio and Bandwidth are both good options for businesses looking for CPaaS providers, but it’s also important to compare them to additional services.

Nextiva offers many similar functionalities as Bandwidth and Twilio through individual products (like VoIP or SIP trunking services), in addition to a full unified communications as a service platform.

Let’s discuss how Nextiva’s VoIP solution compares to Bandwidth and Twilio.

Cost efficiency

Nextiva offers significant savings on call expenses compared to both Bandwidth and Twilio, potentially reducing your overall phone bills by up to 60% for small businesses.

Nextiva’s pricing model is also transparent, allowing businesses to pay a flat fee per user per month, depending on their plan of choice. Plans start at $18.95 per user per month when paid annually. This includes unlimited voice and video calling.

Twilio and Bandwidth both break down pricing by usage. For example:

• Twilio has prices starting at $0.0085 per minute to receive a call and $0.014  per minute to make a call.
• Bandwidth pricing starts at $0.010 per minute for domestic outbound calls and $0.0055 per minute for domestic inbound calls.

Enhanced accessibility

Nextiva users can make and receive calls from anywhere in the world as long as they have a data connection, offering complete portability and flexibility. This is increasingly essential for a mobile workforce, as workers can access their work phone line through the Nextiva mobile app or the Nextiva desktop app on an existing phone in or out of the office.

Advanced features and scalability

Nextiva offers advanced features that lend themselves to high scalability potential, which can be useful for both growing businesses and call centers.

Some of Nextiva’s most useful features include:

• Visual call flow designer and auto-attendants
• Advanced call routing and call transferring
• Call center analytics, including agent performance data
• Simple setup for small and large teams alike
• No requirement for additional hardware as the business scales
• Easy addition of new business lines
• Local phone numbers in any area code
• Complimentary toll-free phone number included with each account
• Video, voice, and SMS functionality
• VoIP and SIP trunking
• Integrations with tools like Outlook, Gmail, Salesforce, and more

Unique collaboration tools

We know that collaboration is a critical part of being able to reliably deliver strong customer experiences, so Nextiva offers collaboration tools designed to improve communication within teams that include the following:

• Threaded conversations across different communication channels
• Video meetings
• Integrated calendars

These features can enhance teamwork and productivity.

Comprehensive communication solutions

Nextiva’s communication solutions vary depending on the plan you choose, with available solutions potentially including the following:

• Unlimited calling within the U.S. and Canada
• Toll-free minutes
• Integrations with major CRM and customer-facing apps

High reliability and security

Some VoIP platforms don’t have the best reputations when it comes to reliability, with customers frequently citing deliverability issues, dropped calls, or poor call quality.

Both Twilio and Bandwidth had multiple customer reviews complaining about the reliability of the platforms, including message deliverability concerns.

As a result, choosing your provider carefully and considering performance consistency are essential.

Nextiva prides itself on offering both high reliability and security, knowing that these are essential for a customer’s communication channel.

Nextiva promises a 99.999% uptime with our secure network, which is protected by features like call encryption and third-party audits to ensure reliable and secure communications.

Strong customer support

Many customer reviews for Twilio and Bandwidth note negative customer service experiences, including delayed responses or limited options for customer support channels.

All of Nextiva’s plans include 24/7 customer support, with customer service channels for email, chat, and phone. We also offer multisite support and real-time system status alerts for all customers, regardless of plan.

Get the Best Value in VoIP With Nextiva

While Bandwidth and Twilio both offer robust VoIP, SIP trunking, and communication solutions with distinct features, many businesses find that they get more by opting for Nextiva as their communications provider instead.

Where Nextiva lags in open APIs and developer communities, it excels in a flexible and ready-to-use communications platform. You won’t ever need developers or engineers just to get your team talking.

Nextiva’s VoIP service emphasizes cost savings, an extensive feature set, collaboration tools, and exceptional reliability, making it an appealing choice for businesses looking for a comprehensive communication tool.

All our products were designed with ongoing performance in mind, and that includes ease of use to ensure that you can set up and adopt our software as quickly and efficiently as possible — even if your team members aren’t necessarily tech-savvy.

Whether you’re looking for a virtual phone system for your small business or advanced contact center solutions, across diverse channels.

There are many great cloud-based contact center platforms on the market today — so many that it can be hard to find the right one for your business. With all the various vendors, packages, features, and pricing plans out there, finding the right one can feel overwhelming. 

Perhaps the best way to pick a platform is to compare the options and see which ones come out on top. With that in mind, let’s look at the pros and cons of Talkdesk and Five9, what features each one provides, and how they compare to each other.

Talkdesk vs Five9: The Pros

Both Talkdesk and Five9 are popular Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) platforms and for good reason. Both provide several features designed to improve agent productivity and customer satisfaction, but which one has the right tools for your contact center?

Pros of Talkdesk

Talkdesk is a contact center platform praised for its ease of use, customization, and robust functionality. Its platform and agent desktop are very intuitive, which makes Talkdesk easy to learn and allows agents to get right to work without any difficulty.

Talkdesk’s platform is also designed for collaboration, as it features communication tools for both customer support and internal teams. Agents and reps can seamlessly work together, consult experts, and help customers as a team without leaving the Talkdesk platform.

Additionally, Talkdesk uses artificial intelligence (AI) to empower agents and assist customers. This includes AI-powered self-service tools, customer insights, and a suite of customer experience (CX) applications.

Other popular Talkdesk features include:

• Digital engagement tools across SMS, chat, email, and social messaging
• Data-driven analytics on a customizable dashboard
• 70+ pre-built integrations with apps such as Salesforce, Zendesk, and Slack
• 30+ security certifications, including SOC 2 and 3, HIPAA, and GDPR

Talkdesk has four subscription options:

• CX Cloud Essentials and Digital Essentials, each of which costs $85 per user per month
• CX Cloud Elevate, which costs $115 per user per month
• CX Cloud Elite, which costs $145 per user per month

Pros of Five9

Five9 is a leading cloud contact center software provider that offers a comprehensive package, which includes an integrated dialer, lead management, and reporting tools.

Five9 also has a strong focus on employee engagement, as its CCaaS platform includes tools for workflow optimization, workforce management, and quality management. These tools help keep agents organized, scheduled properly, and equipped to provide the best service possible.

Additionally, Five9 uses task automation and multi-channel orchestration to optimize and automate support. These features can help companies maximize revenue and improve customer loyalty.

Five9 supports customers across channels, including SMS, phone calls, messages, email, social media, and video calls.

A few extra Five9 features include:

• AI-powered customer insights, agent assist, and call summaries
• Contact center supervisor tools that help managers monitor and assist agents
• Reporting and analytics tools that provide actionable insights in real-time
• Integrations with other customer relationship management (CRM) and communications platforms, including Salesforce, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics 365

Five9 offers five different packages, all of which are priced per user:

• Digital and Core packages, which each cost $175 monthly
• Premium at $235 a month
• Optimum at $290 per month
• Ultimate at $325 per month

Talkdesk vs Five9: The Cons

While Talkdesk and Five9 each have plenty of benefits, they still fall short in certain areas. Here are some of the downsides of each:

Cons of Talkdesk

Users looking for a more customizable contact center platform might be frustrated with Talkdesk. User reviews have stated that certain features can’t be customized on the user end, so users need to contact Talkdesk to make any changes, but support is not always responsive.

Additionally, although Talkdesk offers call recordings, the audio quality could be better. A common complaint is that recordings don’t balance the caller’s and agent’s voices.

This means that if you’re listening to a call, the volume and audio quality can shift dramatically whenever someone speaks, which is not only annoying but also impacts the quality of the review process.

While Talkdesk’s integration library is a point in its favor, setting up and customizing the integrations is another story. Getting integrations to work seamlessly with existing systems can be a complex and time-consuming process.

Cons of Five9

Five9 offers comprehensive and powerful features, but that makes for a steep learning curve. New users often struggle with the complexity, so it can take a while to really see benefits from the platform.

This is made even more difficult when there are technical issues, and some users have reported intermittent login problems where they couldn’t log in for a time. 

Needless to say, being unable to access the contact center makes it impossible for agents to work, so there were operational disruptions any time they couldn’t log in.

Additionally, some Five9 customers have reported connectivity delays in which calls lag for a few seconds before they connect to an agent. Not only are these delays off-putting for customers but those few seconds can add up over time and end up costing hours of productivity.

Nextiva vs. Talkdesk and Five9

After going through the pros and cons of Talkdesk and Five9, you might be uncertain. Perhaps Five9 is out of your price range, and its learning curve and technical issues are putting you off. Or maybe you need more customization than Talkdesk offers.

Fortunately, there is another option: Nextiva.

Nextiva’s AI-powered contact center platform is a flexible, scalable, enterprise-grade contact center solution built for omnichannel communications.

Nextiva users save time and money on every customer interaction when compared to alternative platforms. According to customer reviews, Nextiva is also rated higher overall than Talkdesk and Five9.

In addition, Nextiva offers a wide range of contact center and telephony features, including:

• Inbound and outbound omnichannel communications, including multi-channel conversational history
• Native workforce optimization
• Customizable call routing and auto attendant features, including skills-based routing
• A built-in predictive auto dialer system to optimize outbound calls
• Unified reporting and analytics to track your APIs and key metrics across channels
• Virtual and visual voicemail

So, why should you choose Nextiva? Let’s look at what it brings to the table.

Versatility

Nextiva provides more than just call center software. It provides unified communications and omnichannel contact center capabilities, giving users a broader range of business communication tools.

Organizations looking for an all-in-one VoIP communications solution for their teams and contact centers will find everything they need with Nextiva.

CX focus

Nextiva is dedicated to creating a great CX and user experience. So, not only does Nextiva’s contact center enable users to provide a quality CX, but its own customer support is also awesome.

Nextiva uses AI-driven data and analytics to manage and enhance the CX. It can identify trends, analyze customer sentiment, and improve first-call resolution rates, all of which are great for businesses that prioritize customer satisfaction and engagement.

Nextiva itself also has a quality CX, as Nextiva’s customer support is highly regarded. Anyone contacting Nextiva for support will quickly get firsthand experience of how well their contact center solution works.

Customizable solutions

A contact center is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Every business will have different communication and contact center needs based on its size, industry, and more. That’s why customizable and scalable solutions are so important. 

Nextiva is known for its scalability. Users can add seats as needed so their contact center system can grow with their business. 

Additionally, the Nextiva contact center solution is highly customizable, so organizations can add any apps, CRM integrations, and capabilities they need.

AI

Nextiva also has several AI-powered tools and features to enhance agent productivity and customer satisfaction.

These include customer self-service tools, such as an AI-powered chatbot and speech-enabled IVR, and tools to assist agents with their everyday tasks.

Nextiva’s AI-powered features include:

• Automated outbound campaigns
• Workforce optimization tools to improve first-contact resolution and conversion rates
• Automatic call transcriptions and summaries
• Dynamic scripting
• Task automation
• Virtual assistants for voice, chat, and text channels

Nextiva: There’s Something for Every Business

Talkdesk and Five9 are fine contact center solutions, and each has plenty of features and benefits to offer organizations. They specialize in providing robust contact center software with a focus on AI, automation, and omnichannel support and are well-regarded by their users.

However, Nextiva stands out with its broader focus on wrangling multiple business communication channels, optimizing CX management, and providing versatile solutions that can be tailored to a wide range of business needs.

Now that you know what Five9, Talkdesk, and Nextiva can offer a business, the choice is clear: when you need a robust contact center platform, you can’t go wrong with Nextiva.

Comparing Cisco vs. Avaya contact centers means you’re putting two telecom heavyweights up against each other.

Who comes out on top in this title fight?

Read on to see the pros and cons of each contact center solution to discover which best suits your unique business needs and find out whether there’s a third option worth considering in this battle.

Cisco vs. Avaya Contact Center: The Pros

To make this a fair test, we’re going to break down the pros and cons of both Cisco and Avaya.

In the past, both Cisco and Avaya have provided on-premises and hosted contact centers.

Today’s modern offerings take the shape of virtual call centers and omnichannel contact centers. This means you get channels like voice, SMS, email, web chat, and social media as standard.

You also get a wide range of calling features, like call queueing, auto attendants, and interactive voice response systems.

These are table stakes.

But there are some neat new features you might not be aware of — and they just might make your decision for you.

Pros of Cisco

Administration and customization

By handling incoming calls, providing comprehensive reports and dashboards, and integrating with other collaboration solutions​​, Cisco helps transform contact center efficiency holistically rather than app-by-app.

This is thanks, in part, to its integration into the Webex portfolio (Cisco bought Webex back in 2007 and drip-fed functionality into its unified communications (UC) and video conferencing products over time).

Upon deciding to incorporate all communications into a single stack, an interface refresh and focus on usability began. This overhaul signified a major brand and usability refresh compared to traditional Cisco Systems UC solutions. This change coincides with Gartner’s inclusion of Cisco as a Niche Player in its Magic Quadrant for contact center as a service.

The number of integrations seems to be growing every day at Cisco, making it a flexible solution with a large partner base. This stems from a move away from on-premises Communications Manager setups, favoring web-based SaaS.

There are also several Cisco products that you can integrate with Webex. If you’re a Cisco customer for networking, security, or voice, everything can now live under one roof, with a global admin center for all moves, adds, and changes.

Advanced features

Features include intelligent routing and customizable contact flows, as well as queue management, wrap-up codes for tracking reasons for call ends, and options for callbacks to reduce wait times and provide a better overall customer experience.

Stand-out features of the Webex Contact Center include:

• Queue callback
• Intelligent virtual agents (IVAs)
• Drag-and-drop call flow builder
• Remote agent support (PSTN/mobile)
• Advanced skills-based routing

Cisco’s Webex Contact Center is built for scalability and flexibility, with cloud technology allowing easy deployment and omnichannel support. It includes 360-degree customer journey analytics and predictive analytics for call routing, as well as integration with CRM systems for a comprehensive customer view​​.

Webex offers staff scheduling, as well as efficient and customizable call reports and call flows. This combination helps both agents and customers become more productive.

AI capabilities

Building on an already impressive feature set, AI opens the door to even more functionality designed to make agents more productive and less stressed.

As an example, take the agent-break feature, Thrive Reset, which is focused on user experience. By detecting burnout or stress, Webex will now prompt agents to take breaks so they don’t continue putting themselves under pressure.

By prioritizing agents’ well-being, Webex has a rather nice differentiator when comparing Cisco to Avaya.

That said, when mentioning this feature over dinner the other day, a friend and industry analyst with EnableUC, Kevin Kieller, pondered the repercussions of such a feature. What happens when certain agents keep needing more breaks? Are they the first out the door if downsizing needs to happen?

In the same conversation, Dom Black, Research Director at Cavell, said this would be a good thing for contact center management. Having access to this unique data presents an opportunity for training and better resource planning.

Pros of Avaya Contact Center

Digital and blended interaction capabilities

Avaya’s platform supports digital interactions and blends agents effectively, facilitating seamless transitions between different communication mediums​​.

This encourages the cross-skilling of agents, leading to a more efficient use of your workforce. When agents can tend to both inbound inquiries and outbound calls, there is less dead time when they aren’t contributing to your business. Everything becomes one workflow instead of disjointed departments.

Customer prioritization and skills-based routing

Intelligent algorithms ensure customers get routed to the most appropriate agents, enhancing personalized service delivery and managing queues efficiently​​.

This reduces the customer’s hassle of getting through to the wrong person, repeating their inquiry, and then getting transferred again.

Once a customer interaction is complete, Avaya’s powerful suite of analytics translates data and customer outcomes into trend analysis and graphical displays of your business’s performance.

Comprehensive contact management

Avaya has come a long way since being thought of as a phone system with some call queue treatment. Back in the on-premises days, Avaya was in danger of losing out in the cloud-contact center market.

Now we see key contact center features like:

• Call monitoring
• Real-time reporting
• Historical reporting and analytics
• Skills-based routing
• Predictive and auto dialer
• Omnichannel support, including social media, SMS, email, and chat​​

With a renewed focus on contact management, Avaya has stepped into the 21st century, enabling the service of your customers on their channel of choice.

Cisco vs. Avaya Contact Center: The Cons

It’s only right to also point out the weakness of contact centers. Let’s take a look at what real users report as the cons of both Cisco and Avaya.

Cons of Cisco

SMS limitations

While Cisco’s acquisition of IMImobile in 2021 added SMS messaging to its omnichannel roster, business texting remains one-to-one and text-based only. As of early 2024, there is no support for MMS or group chat.

The alternative is to use an app in the Webex store, but this creates a disjointed reporting experience as information gets siloed.

Reporting limitations

There’s no denying Webex has a ton of reports available. But some users find challenges in obtaining detailed reports for specific call scenarios and integrating with recording and other communication solutions​​.

When using multiple platforms for different calling components, some admins report that it’s challenging to find what they need to piece together a full customer journey.

Complex licensing and upgrades

Licensing can be complex, and provisioning specific features may take time. That’s the feedback from those outside the Cisco community.

Rob Harris, an independent technical consultant, scores Cisco 10/10 but still points out, “Licensing is complex, and to get certain things provisioned takes a little bit longer than it probably could.”

If you’re an insider with connections and a dedicated resource, this problem disappears. But new customers getting set up for the first time cite the initial implementation of new features to be problematic.

Even the biggest fans of Webex report that there should be more testing before releasing new features into the wild:

“Upgrades can be problematic, Cisco should do more testing before releasing updates and new versions of software.”

~Verified TrustRadius user

Cons of Avaya Contact Center

Reporting and launch latency

Some users experience delays in reporting and system launching, affecting operational efficiency​​. When considering Avaya alternatives, cloud-native platforms like Five9 and Nextiva tend to get the nod.

App and dashboard limitations

The mobile app can be slow, and TrustRadius reviewers have noted a desire for dashboards that are more customizable to better suit individual needs​​.

In a market that must be highly responsive to demand and fulfill customer satisfaction, taking customer considerations and deploying new features and iterations is a must if Avaya wishes to remain competitive.

Integration and usability challenges

While Avaya integrates well with CRM systems, there can be challenges in streamlining these integrations and ensuring ease of use​​. Often, you need the help of an Avaya support rep when setting up third-party integrations. This potentially lengthens implementation and drives up unexpected costs.

This problem appears to extend to overall implementation and onboarding. Ethan, a writer for SYSGeeker, concludes the following:

“Due to its extensive features and functionalities, Avaya Call Center Elite may require some time and resources for proper implementation and training. Some businesses may find the learning curve a bit steep initially.”

Comparing Cisco and Avaya Contact Center vs. Nextiva

When comparing Cisco vs. Avaya, there’s a third name you need to know about.

Here’s where Nextiva excels when standing next to these old heads.

Ease of use

Nextiva is known for its user-friendly interface, making it accessible even to those who aren’t technologically savvy.

If you have a team of agents who need to get up and running fast, Nextiva makes it possible to turn up to work and learn on the go. The learning curve is minimal, taking UI inspiration from familiar apps agents already have at hand.

This simplicity extends to the setup process and ongoing management of the system​​​​. As a cloud-only solution and SaaS model, you can provision licenses at the click of a button and make changes on the fly in Nextiva’s admin portal.

Cost-effectiveness

Nextiva offers competitive pricing, often coming in as a more affordable option compared to other solutions, without sacrificing features or performance​​.

With the essential package starting at just $99 per user monthly, you can turn on inbound and outbound capabilities, access advanced analytics and reporting, and use its API, if desired.

Upgrading to omnichannel starts at just $20 more.

That means you get web chat, email, SMS, and social media for a few dollars per channel.

Robust features and flexibility

From auto attendant menus, call routing, and supervisor monitoring to advanced reporting and call recording options, Nextiva provides a wide array of functionalities.

As a cloud-native platform, Nextiva customers benefit from new features as soon as they come to market.

There’s no legacy-on-premises hangover, and the culture is very much that of innovation and customer empowerment. You don’t need to be a premium-rate customer, and there’s no waiting list.

If there’s new functionality, like call center automation, you too can start benefiting from 30% cost elimination while automating up to 90% of your routine customer interactions.

High-quality support

Nextiva boasts a 99.999% uptime and is backed by a 24/7 support team and world-class monitoring. The company recognizes the importance of having both self-service customer support and someone on the end of the phone for you.

Nextiva’s technical support is frequently praised for its helpfulness and effectiveness in resolving issues and assisting with system setup and optimization​​.

“We made a phone call to Nextiva and they were able to switch us over immediately, so we had no downtime. The temporary numbers Nextiva gave us rolled in, and it was seamless.”

~Jeff Bratschie, Franchise Director of Operations, Stanley Steemer

Nextiva: There’s Something for Every Business

Nextiva offers the advanced features, flexibility, and support needed to scale your contact center affordably.

That’s why this newcomer always sneaks into the conversation when comparing Cisco vs Avaya contact centers.

While there are use cases for both Cisco and Avaya, unless you’re an existing customer, there’s little drawing you to each vendor when compared to an agile contact center provider like Nextiva.

If your priority list includes:

• Ease of use
• Cost-effectiveness
• Robust features
• Quality of support

Then you need Nextiva.

Don’t just take our word for it, either. We won Best in Show at Channel Partners Expo 2024!

To find out why customers choose Nextiva, check out our customer stories library. It really is a library. There’s that many.

RingCentral is a cloud-based communication platform offering a suite of business solutions. As a cloud phone system, it lets businesses ditch traditional landlines in favor of a more flexible and scalable solution. But how much does it all cost? And is it worth it?

In this guide, we’ll explore RingCentral’s pricing structure and help you decide if it’s the right fit for your business communication needs. We’ll also discuss scenarios where alternative solutions might be a better match.

RingCentral Plans and Pricing

RingCentral offers VoIP services, virtual meetings, call centers, and AI solutions. It’s a common choice for organizations looking for a business phone system, particularly mid-sized businesses and enterprises.

RingCentral’s phone system offering, RingEX, has three core plans: Core, Advanced, and Ultra. Earlier these plans were part of RingCentral’s MVP offerings, but are now rebranded under RingEX.

Here’s a quick comparison chart of RingEX’s main plans.

Note: These are starting prices, and the exact cost may vary depending on the number of users and specific features you choose. RingCentral also offers a discount for annual billing, so you can save money by paying for a year upfront.

All three plans add or upgrade features from the prior tier.

While this structure enables organizations to purchase a plan that best meets their size and business needs, there are some features only available as add-ons for an extra charge, regardless of the plan.

Let’s look at each plan in detail:

Core plan

RingCentral’s Core plan begins at $30/user/month if paid monthly or $20/user/month when paid annually. This is their most standard offering, including basic call features, limited team messaging, and file-sharing capabilities, as well as:

• Unlimited domestic phone calls in the US and Canada
• 100 toll-free minutes
• Call queues with basic rules and routing
• Voicemail to email
• AI-powered noise cancellation
• 24/7 phone support and professional implementation
• Integrations with Google and Microsoft apps
• Access to APIs

RingCentral’s first pricing tier covers the basics for a small business just getting started. However, it’s pretty limited when it comes to functionalities that allow businesses to be flexible in today’s work environment, including hot desking, custom roles and permissions, and advanced analytics.

Related Article

Nextiva vs. RingCentral: Which Business VoIP Provider Is Best?

Advanced plan

Moving beyond the Core plan, RingCentral’s Advanced plan adds features and upgrades such as enhancements to its team messaging and file-sharing capabilities. This comes at a higher cost, with a price tag of $35/user/month if paid monthly or $25/user/month when paid annually.

RingCentral’s Advanced plan includes everything in the Core plan, plus:

• Advanced call handling features, including automatic call recording and advanced call monitoring
• 1,000 toll-free minutes
• Enhanced administration and analytics features
• Integrations with popular apps and CRM platforms such as Salesforce and Zendesk
• Video meetings for up to 100 participants

RingCentral’s middle tier is the most popular plan according to their website. This plan is built for established companies that are looking for a solution to grow and scale their business, as it includes more features focused on system management and admin.

There are a few notable downsides to the Advanced plan, including the lack of device-specific analytics and limited storage for files, messages, and recordings.

Ultra plan

RingCentral’s third tier has the most features but is also the most expensive. The Ultra plan is available at $45/user/month if paid monthly or $35/user/month when paid annually. 

This tier includes everything from the Advanced plan, plus:

• Unlimited internet fax
• Unlimited storage for files, messages, and recordings
• Unlimited HD video, whiteboards, and messaging
• 10,000 toll-free minutes
• Up to 200 video-meeting participants
• Enhanced business analytics
• Device analytics and alerts
• Customizable business insights

RingCentral’s highest tier includes all the advanced features you would need to implement and manage a communication system for a large business. The biggest advantage for businesses using the Ultra plan is the ability to centralize communications, including phone calls, video, chat, SMS, and fax, into one app.

Options and add-ons

Given the price of the Ultra plan, you might assume that it includes everything RingCentral has to offer, but that’s not actually the case. RingCentral has options that are available as add-on features to any plan, albeit at a higher price.

These add-ons include:

• RingCentral Webinar for hosting online presentations and seminars, starting at $40/host/month
• Additional vanity phone numbers for a one-time fee of $30/number
• Additional international numbers, starting at $5.99/user/month
• RingCentral Rooms licenses, available at $49/room/month or for an annual cost of $468
• Push-to-talk license for $5/user/month
• High-volume SMS for organizations sending a large number of messages, starting at $0.01 per message sent or received

While it’s convenient to add these features to any plan, it can quickly push you over budget. With add-ons, you need to make sure you have a process for license and seat management so you’re not overpaying for users who don’t need these features.

Notable exclusions per plan

While each RingCentral plan offers a respectable number of features, there are still some key capabilities they lack. Organizations looking for these specific features may have to either spend extra for a higher tier or look elsewhere.

For the Core plan, there’s no access to advanced business analytics. This is an important feature for business communications platforms, and its exclusion is worth noting.

Additionally, this plan only offers limited team messaging and file sharing, so collaboration may be challenging. Automatic call recording is also only available as an on-demand feature.

While the Advanced plan has more features than the Core plan, it still only offers limited storage for team messaging and file sharing. And while there are business analytics capabilities, they’re not as comprehensive as those in the Ultra plan, making it hard to fully manage your business communications system at this middle tier.

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RingCentral Contact Center Plans and Pricing

RingCentral Contact Center (RingCX) is an omnichannel contact center that allows customers to connect with a business across voice and over multiple digital touchpoints.

It offers features such as workforce engagement management, which includes quality management, conversation analytics, and workforce management. It can also be used for outbound sales, collections, and proactive support.

The plans start at $65, but no clear pricing structure is available on RingCentral’s site. You need to contact their sales team for a custom quote.

RingCentral’s Pricing Compared To Competitors

Now that we understand what RingCentral’s plans provide, it’s time to explore some RingCentral alternatives and glean how much value RingCentral provides compared to its competitors.

We’ll take a look at Nextiva’s business plans — RingCentral’s top competitor — and see how they compare.

Note that what’s shown below is the monthly price — you can save even more on annual plans.

“I recently changed from RingCentral to Nextiva for several reasons, one of which was to make things SIMPLER. So far using Nextiva, it has been remarkable. It’s everything, and more than I previously imagined. If one is looking into a VoIP Provider, I highly suggest you take a deep look at Nextiva.”

~ Miranda S, Nextiva customer since 2022, G2 Reviews

Essential plan

Nextiva’s Essential plan offers business communications necessities for $25.95/user/month if paid monthly or $18.95/user/month when paid annually. This includes a wide array of important features for VoIP calling and omnichannel communications:

• Unlimited calling and fax within the US and Canada
• Voicemail-to-email services
• 1,000 toll-free minutes per month
• Free number porting
• Auto attendant for basic call routing
• Integrations with Outlook and Google Contacts
• 24/7 customer support for any troubleshooting or questions

Professional plan

One tier up from the Essential plan is the Professional plan, which is ideal for growing companies with larger business communications needs. This plan is available at $30.95/user/month if paid monthly or $22.95/user/month when paid annually.

The Nextiva Professional plan includes everything in the Essential plan plus:

• Unlimited audio conferencing and business SMS messaging
• 2,500 toll-free minutes per month
• One free professionally recorded greeting
• Team presence visibility
• Advanced integrations, including Salesforce and other CRM platforms
• A mobile app for iOS and Android devices, which includes cloud communications features

Enterprise plan

Last but certainly not least, Nextiva’s Enterprise plan is aimed at big businesses with big communication requirements. This plan, available at $40.95/user/month if paid monthly or $32.95/user/month when paid annually, provides the most features, toll-free minutes, and integrations, making it a great choice for larger organizations. 

The Nextiva Enterprise plan includes everything in the Professional plan plus:

• 10,000 toll-free minutes per month
• Unlimited video conference participants
• Call recording
• Voice analytics to provide deeper insight into agent/rep performance and customer satisfaction
• Advanced call flows with more customization options to direct calls to the right person each time
• Additional integrations, including Zendesk and HubSpot
• Single sign-on to make accessing everything simple and convenient

Common features across all plans

While each tier adds and improves upon the last, some features are universal. Whether you only want the essentials or are looking for enterprise communications, you’ll find these in every plan:

• Call pop with customer information, providing key context about the caller at a glance
• Customizable call routes to direct inbound calls to the right place or person
• Advanced call management features, including call forwarding, call transfers, call waiting, and call hold
• Voicemail-to-text service, turning voice messages into easily accessible text messages
• Unlimited virtual faxing
• 24/7 customer support via chat or phone

With Nextiva, there are several features you can always expect. All users across every plan have access to amazing service 24/7, making sure Nextiva is easy to use and stress-free so you can focus on your business. 

Notable exclusions per plan

Nextiva’s plans are packaged based on common business scenarios and use cases. Some features are saved for higher tiers, so customers looking for specific features might want to consider upgrading.

The Essential plan doesn’t include conference calls, SMS, or CRM integrations (although it does integrate with Outlook and Google Contacts). It also has fewer toll-free minutes than the higher tiers.

The Professional plan doesn’t include call recording or voice analytics, which are reserved for the Enterprise plan. It also has fewer toll-free minutes than the Enterprise Plan, although it has more than the Essential plan.

Top Features of RingCentral and Nextiva

Now that we understand what RingCentral and Nextiva offer, we can break their plans down into their top features and see what value each can bring to businesses, teams, and employees working in the office or on the go.

“We had RingCentral and changed to Nextiva. Nextiva’s service has been top-notch so far compared to RingCentral. It’s made our business so much easier, and we look forward to growing our business with them. Before, we were always scared of our service going down and being stuck again.” 

~ Tom W, TrustPilot review

RingCentral

The most important features of RingCentral’s communication solution include:

• Unlimited enterprise-grade HD video: RingCentral’s unlimited HD conferencing capabilities are a good fit for larger businesses that need video conferencing, as they enable high-quality communication and collaboration across enterprises and organizations with remote locations.
• Advanced call management: RingCentral offers call management features such as call routing, call monitoring, call whisper, and call barge as part of RingCentral Contact Center, providing organizations with sophisticated tools for handling customer service and internal communications.
• Integration capabilities: RingCentral’s UCaaS platform can integrate with a wide array of applications, including Salesforce, Zendesk, and several other apps and platforms. This allows businesses to connect their VoIP phone systems with their CRM and other business tools.
• Analytics and insights: RingCentral provides comprehensive analytics and reporting tools, which businesses can use to gain insights into their communications, manage training and compliance, and make data-driven decisions.
• Customizability and API access: Businesses in need of a tailored solution can access RingCentral’s developer platform and APIs to create custom integrations and workflows.

Nextiva

Nextiva’s top features are quite impressive, with an array of tools to improve business communications and the customer experience. These include:

• Voice analytics: Nextiva’s Enterprise plan includes voice analytics, providing businesses with deeper insights into their call data. This helps create new strategies to optimize customer interactions as well as improve internal communications.
• Unlimited participants in video conferences: The ability to allow unlimited participants is vital for companies that conduct large-scale meetings, webinars, or training sessions.
• Call recording: Nextiva offers call recording — an important tool for organizations of all sizes. Recordings can be used for quality assurance, compliance, training, and dispute resolution, making them vital for contact centers, sales teams, and more.
• CRM integrations: Nextiva’s integrations with major CRM systems, such as Salesforce, let employees easily create call logs and access customer information. This is essential for organizations that rely on CRM data for their sales, marketing, and customer service.
• Unlimited SMS and conference calling: For businesses with large workforces, unlimited SMS and conference calling can ensure that communications remain uninterrupted, no matter how many conferences or text messages they require.

Nextiva vs. RingCentral Comparison Table

Key findings:

• Cost: Nextiva offers a slight edge on price, with their Essential plan starting at $18.95 per user per month compared to RingCentral’s Core at $20 per user per month.
• Video conferencing: Nextiva allows for more participants in video meetings across all plans (250 vs 100 for RingCentral on most plans).
• Call recording: Nextiva includes call recording in all tiers, whereas RingCentral requires an additional fee for this feature on most plans.
• Toll-free minutes: Nextiva offers a significantly higher number of free toll minutes in their basic plans (1500 vs 100 for RingCentral).

Which Provider Is Right for Your Business?

Now that it’s clear what RingCentral and Nextiva have to offer, we can weigh the pros and cons for each to see what they bring to businesses.

RingCentral

RingCentral provides a good selection of features for businesses looking for:

• Advanced features and integrations: RingCentral has an extensive list of integrations, including over 300 apps, which can be beneficial for businesses that need a wider range of integrations with other software and services.
• International presence: RingCentral has a broad scope of international calling and office locations, which larger enterprises with a global footprint might find preferable.
• High-volume communications: RingCentral’s plans offer a high number of toll-free minutes and call-handling features, which are useful for businesses with high call volumes.
• Comprehensive analytics: RingCentral’s advanced analytics capabilities can provide valuable insights into communications performance and customer interactions.

Nextiva

Nextiva is an excellent choice for organizations that want:

• Cost-effectiveness: Nextiva’s competitive pricing (particularly for the entry-level Essential plan) provides a budget-friendly option for businesses keeping an eye on their bottom line.
• Simplicity and user-friendly service: Nextiva’s Essential plan offers a straightforward feature set, including unlimited calling, faxing, and voicemail to email, which is great for businesses looking for ease of use.
• Scalability: Nextiva offers a scalable cloud communications platform, so businesses can move to new plans with more advanced features (such as CRM integrations and voice analytics) as they grow.
• Reliability and customer support: With 24/7 customer support and a reputation for high reliability and quality of service, Nextiva customers can rest assured that they don’t have to worry about downtime and can reach customer service whenever they need it.
• Integrated communications: Nextiva’s Enterprise plan offers extensive CRM integrations, making it a great choice for sales-driven organizations that rely on CRM solutions and need to tie their communications tools to their customer data.

Final Verdict on RingCentral Pricing

RingCentral offers a feature-rich cloud communication platform with various plans to suit different business needs. Here’s a breakdown of the key points:

Pros:

• Wide range of features, including video conferencing, call management, integrations with many CRMs, and analytics.
• Scalable plans for businesses of all sizes.
• Strong international presence for global enterprises.
• High volume communication capabilities.

Cons:

• Can be expensive compared to competitors like Nextiva, especially with add-on features.
• Some core features like call recording require extra fees on lower tiers.
• Limited storage space for messaging and files on some plans.

RingCentral vs. Nextiva: Nextiva Edges Out on Price

While both RingCentral and Nextiva offer competitive services…

Nextiva is the best choice for both growing small businesses and larger organizations that are looking for a cost-effective solution to scale.

And with Nextiva’s recent expansion in the contact center software space, you’re sure to have everything your company needs to stay connected, serve customers, and scale faster. 

Nextiva’s Essential plan provides all the necessary tools and features businesses need for excellent communication and collaboration, with an intuitive user interface.

Learn more about Nextiva’s enterprise communications platform and what it brings to your business.

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.

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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.

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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: 

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.

Genesys and NICE are two of the most popular contact center solutions on the market. But how do they stack up against each other? 

Depending on the size of your business and your budget, one might be a better option than the other: Do you need advanced integrations? Do you need a cloud-based service?

Let’s compare their features, pricing plans, and capabilities to see which contact center software comes out on top. As a third option, we’ll also discuss how Nextiva measures up to these platforms.

NICE CXone vs. Genesys Cloud CX: The Pros

Let’s take a quick look at the key benefits of each platform.

Pros of NICE

NICE is a leader in AI-powered self-service and human agent–assisted contact center platforms.

1. Omnichannel customer engagement

NICE serves as an all-in-one contact center software to deliver omnichannel customer experiences. It integrates over 30 digital channels, including email, live chat, social media, and mobile apps. 

This allows you to coordinate customer interactions from one central platform. Things are less likely to slip through the cracks this way, and you’ll get 360-degree data to personalize inbound and outbound interactions throughout the customer journey.

2. Extensive features 

NICE offers robust features, such as advanced call routing, interactive voice response (IVR), and advanced analytics, to boost your contact center’s efficiency. 

For example, you can set up NICE to route customer calls to the best-fit agent using skills-based criteria. This reduces wait times and eliminates the hassle of manually assigning calls to agents.

3. AI integrations

Keeping up with the latest technological advancements, NICE integrates AI into different contact center functions for a more efficient workflow. Specifically, it offers AI-powered virtual assistants and employee virtual attendants to automate customer service and improve agent performance.

Pros of Genesys

Genesys offers a robust customer experience platform, combining several digital channels in one app.

1. Intuitive user interface

Several customer reviews suggest that Genesys Cloud CX has a sleek interface that’s easy to understand and navigate. This makes agent onboarding a breeze on the platform.

You can also deploy the cloud contact center software independently without any technical oversight from the support team. This is very useful for customers, as it might take some time to receive a response from the support team.

2. AI integration

The platform offers extensive AI tools for automation, including predictive engagement, routing, scheduling, workforce management, and outbound campaigns. It also has advanced features for self-service through IVR, voicebots, and chatbots​.

3. Open cloud-based contact center 

Rather than relying on traditional on-premises infrastructure, Genesys uses cloud computing to handle customer interactions across various channels, such as phone calls, emails, chats, social media, and more.

This has several benefits. First, your agents can access the contact center from anywhere with an internet connection, allowing them to work from different locations. Cloud contact centers also offer built-in redundancy and data backups, reducing the risk of downtime due to hardware failures or natural disasters.

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NICE vs. Genesys Cloud CX: The Cons

Here’s why users might start looking for an alternative to NICE and Genesys.

Cons of NICE CXone

Some of the challenges users face with NICE include:

• Cost: User reviews suggest that pricing can be an issue for NICE customers. The platform’s cheapest plan costs $71 per user per month. So, if you have a mid-sized call center with 200 agents, you’ll spend $14,200 per month, not including ad-hoc costs like set-up fees and annual recurring charges. This makes the annual cost of running your contact center very high.
• Poor user experience: NICE’s user experience isn’t the best on the market. Some users find it difficult to navigate through the platform due to its complex user interface. It also has limited integration capabilities. Although it is compatible with multiple CRM tools, it doesn’t integrate with third-party systems like customer data platforms.

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Cons of Genesys Cloud Cx

Some of the drawbacks users face with Genesys include:

• Poor user interface: While the agent interface is generally well-liked, some aspects of the platform are less intuitive. Take, for example, the email client. It sometimes blocks valuable information, which can be frustrating for agents who need to refer to hidden information while speaking to a customer. 
• Limited capabilities: While Genesys offers many features, some of them aren’t fully developed, limiting users’ actual capabilities on the platform. For example, its reporting feature is missing key functionalities like the longest wait time, unlimited rows for historical data, and customization options.

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Comparing NICE and Genesys vs. Nextiva

Now that you have a good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of NICE and Genesys, let’s look at how Nextiva compares.

1. Pricing

NICE and Genesys target larger enterprises with higher prices per feature, so costs quickly rack up for smaller businesses. 

Nextiva, on the other hand, offers competitive, transparent pricing that scales with features and users, making it more accessible to a range of businesses. 

Say you’re a small business with 20 agents. If you opt for Nextiva’s Essential plan, you’ll only pay $18.95 per user per month (billed annually) to access core contact center capabilities like toll-free numbers and voicemail. This is a steal compared to NICE’s cheapest plan, which costs $71 per agent per month.

2. Ease of use and integrations

You don’t need advanced technical skills to deploy and work with Nextiva because it’s easy to use. 

As one customer explains:

“I love that Nextiva’s administrator portal is so easy to use. You can make changes on your own with ease if you feel comfortable. The system we used before Nextiva required a lot of calling in, and we couldn’t make many changes ourselves.”

Genesys, on the other hand, can be complex and has a significant learning curve. Users often require lengthy training sessions to grasp the tool’s core features and use it independently.

Nextiva also has a robust third-party ecosystem comprising numerous apps you already use for your business. For example, it integrates with CRM software like Salesforce, allowing you to deliver real-time customer data to contact center agents for personalized communication.

3. Scalability

Nextiva scales quickly to match your changing business needs. Let’s say you started with the Essential plan for 20 agents, but your contact center has now grown to 50 agents. 

In that case, you can pay for more seats on your plan and enjoy a discount per agent (the more seats you purchase, the less you pay). You can also upgrade to the Professional or Enterprise plans to access advanced contact center features like a multi-level auto attendant and voicemail transcriptions.

4. Customer support

Nextiva is known for its excellent customer support and extensive resources, effectively catering to businesses of all sizes. Its support team is available via phone, email, and an in-app chat. The company also provides a comprehensive knowledge base with self-service resources to troubleshoot issues independently. 

But don’t just take their word for it. See what one of users have to say: 

“It is very quick and easy to get in touch with the customer support team at Nextiva. I had an issue with one of the new desktop phones I set up in my office, so I called Nextiva, and they fixed the issue within 15 minutes. The service rep I spoke with, Dillon, was very friendly, courteous, and knowledgeable about how to address our problem.”

5. Product offerings

Nextiva provides a comprehensive suite of straightforward and adaptable communication solutions, making it a well-rounded choice. From VoIP and SIP trunking to intelligent cloud contact center capabilities, you get everything you need for omnichannel engagement to deliver top-notch customer experiences.

Make the Switch: Get It all With Nextiva 

NICE and Genesys are both solid contact center solutions. But when you weigh their features, usability, and pricing against Nextiva’s offerings, the winner is clear. 

What makes Nextiva stand out is its affordable plans, which cater to businesses of all sizes, ease of integration, and stellar customer support.