RingCentral vs Zadarma: Find the Best VoIP Alternative

• What is RingCentral?
• What is Zadarma?
• Feature Comparison: RingCentral vs. Zadarma
• RingCentral Pros and Cons
• Zadarma Pros and Cons
• Final Thoughts
• Frequently Asked Questions

If you are looking for the best VoIP provider, whether for business or personal use, this article can help. It offers a VoIP comparison between two popular providers: RingCentral and Zadarma.

What is RingCentral?

RingCentral is a cloud-based communication platform that combines phone calls, video meetings, and team messaging in one place. Designed for businesses of all sizes, it lets users make VoIP calls, host video conferences, and manage communication. With features like call forwarding, auto-attendants, and integrations with third-party tools, RingCentral offers a unified communication platform.

What is Zadarma?

Zadarma is a global VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) provider that offers affordable VoIP phone services for businesses and individuals. It provides virtual phone numbers, call forwarding, PBX systems, and integrations with popular CRM and AI platforms.

The company offers free internal calls and flexible pricing plans, helping users to set up a professional communication system without breaking the bank. It’s a convenient choice for individuals, remote teams, startups, and international businesses. With Zadarma, reduce call costs and manage communications from anywhere.

Feature Comparison: RingCentral vs. Zadarma

RingCentral Pros and Cons

Best for

RingCentral is suitable for startups, small and medium-sized businesses, and enterprises. It offers a wide range of tools, such as business phone numbers, toll-free numbers, call queueing, call menus, video meetings, unlimited calls to the USA and Canada, SMS and MMS, and more.

The platform supports both local and internationally growing businesses. You can add international VoIP numbers and make international calls for an additional fee. However, if you want to use a local plan for the US or Canada, you must be physically located in the US or Canada and provide local information, such as a billing address, location, and a locally issued bank card. This makes the standard North American plans inaccessible to users in other countries.

Pricing plans

RingCentral offers three pricing plans: Core, Advanced, and Ultra. Pricing for the Core plan starts at $20 per user per month when billed annually. This plan includes business phone numbers, unlimited calling within the US and Canada, video meetings with up to 100 participants, shared voicemail, access to APIs, multilevel IVR and more.

However, the Core plan only offers basic call queueing and does not include call monitoring or automatic call recording (only on-demand recording is available). These features are usually included for free by many VoIP competitors.

The Advanced and Ultra plans are designed for larger teams that require advanced VoIP features. Pricing starts at $25 per user per month for the Advanced plan and $35 per user per month for the Ultra plan, both when billed annually. Monthly billing options are also available. You can compare all the pricing plans in the Plans & Pricing section, on the RingCentral website.

Flexibility and scalability

RingCentral isn’t as flexible as some VoIP alternatives when it comes to feature add-ons. If you want a feature that’s not included in the Core plan, such as call monitoring or an advanced call queueing, you have limited options. Your only choice is to upgrade to a higher plan. The only add-ons available are AI Receptionist, RingSense AI transcription, Beetexting (SMS platform), and an SMS bundle for extra texting capacity.

RingCentral does offer three base plans you can choose from. If your business expands internationally, you can also get VoIP international calling and phone numbers for an additional fee. The RingCentral app can be used from anywhere in the world once you’re signed up, and the same number can be assigned across different users.

However, to activate the account and to use North American calling plan, you must be based in the USA or Canada.

Customer support

RingCentral offers support via website articles, AI-powered chat, and phone. AI can handle common issues, but it often misunderstands more complex questions. This can make getting quick answers frustrating. Reaching a live representative is possible but requires several steps.

The Takeaways

RingCentral is a great choice for startups, small and medium businesses, and enterprises. Its wide set of tools can cover the communication needs of many businesses. However, it lacks flexibility when it comes to add-ons, has more restrictive requirements to activate the account if you are not based in the USA or Canada, and requires going through the AI-powered support agent to reach a human.

Zadarma Pros and Cons

Best for

Zadarma, as a cost-effective alternative to RingCentral, supports individual users, startups, and businesses of all sizes. It can be used from anywhere in the world, and to activate an account for use in the USA or Canada, the company does not require any specific location or data. This makes it an ideal choice for users looking for a flexible, global solution at a fraction of the cost.

All of Zadarma’s pricing plans include region-based calls, as well as additional international VoIP calls to selected countries at no extra charge. The advanced set of tools includes call flow management, multilevel IVR, a built-in CRM, call recording, and much more.

Pricing plans

Zadarma provides multiple pricing plans across eight regions. These include the Economy and Standard plans (pay-as-you-go), as well as the Office and Corporation plans, which can be billed monthly or annually. Pay-as-you-go options start at $5. While the Office and Corporation plans for the US and Canada begin at $39 per plan (not per user) per month when billed annually.

The Office and Corporation plans for the US and Canada include business phone numbers, toll-free numbers, unlimited domestic VoIP calls, extra minutes to selected international destinations, auto-attendant, video calling, a built-in CRM, integrations with major CRM and AI platforms, mobile and desktop apps, and more.

The Economy and Standard plans include 5 users, call recording, call monitoring, advanced call routing, video conferencing, third-party integrations, built-in CRM, among other features.

Flexibility and scalability

Zadarma provides a flexible set of communication tools that can be added as needed, often without the need to upgrade your plan. Pricing is based on the plan, not per user. You can assign separate numbers to each user or have multiple agents share the same number. The system can be accessed and used from anywhere in the world.

All plans include the most advanced tools, and add-ons such as speech recognition can be added to any plan. If you wish for your business to grow internationally, with a single account, you can have phone numbers from over 110 countries and make international VoIP calls worldwide.

Customer support

Zadarma provides 24/7 human support via chat, email, tickets, and phone. There are no AI-powered agents, meaning your inquiries are handled directly by a human representative.

The takeaways

Zadarma, as an alternative to RingCentral, is a reliable and budget-friendly option for both individuals and businesses. The platform is easy to use and packed with useful business communication tools. It’s flexible too, letting you add users, phone numbers, or extra features as your business grows. Many features, like call tracking, monitoring, and CRM integrations, are free, though some services, such as SMS and speech recognition, come with a small extra cost.

Final Thoughts

In this VoIP review, we have compared two service providers.

RingCentral is a great choice for startups, businesses, and enterprises. The company offers a powerful set of tools that can meet the communication needs of many businesses.

However, it is less flexible than some other VoIP platforms. RingCentral requires users to be physically located in the US or Canada when activating the account, and to provide a local address, a locally issued bank card, and other details to activate an account for the North American calling plan.

As a more flexible RingCentral alternative, Zadarma provides services for individual users, startups, and businesses looking for a cost-effective, flexible solution for personal or business use. As the comparison table shows, you can access nearly the same features for much less, without compromising on quality. You can be based anywhere in the world to use the US and Canada calling plan.

Zadarma supports both local and international users, making it easy to scale a business globally.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get unlimited calls to the US and Canada?

Yes. Zadarma includes unlimited domestic calls in the USA/Canada region with the local Office and Corporation plans. RingCentral offers unlimited domestic calls with all plans: Core, Advanced, and Ultra.

Can I use VoIP from anywhere in the world?

RingCentral allows you to use the app from anywhere. However, to access the North American calling plan, you must provide specific local information to activate the account.

As an alternative to RingCentral, you can use Zadarma from anywhere in the world with just an internet connection. For the USA and Canada, there are no specific requirements to activate the account or use the phone numbers and make calls.

Do VoIP providers have mobile and desktop applications?

Both Zadarma and RingCentral offer mobile and desktop applications compatible with Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows. Both service providers also offer the browser-based app.

Can I use VoIP for personal purposes?

RingCentral is designed for businesses. However, it can also be used by individuals. Keep in mind that SMS services are not available for individual users, and the company doesn't offer pay-as-you-go options.

As a RingCentral alternative, Zadarma is designed for both individuals and businesses. With pay-as-you-go plans, you can start with as little as $5. SMS sending to the USA and Canada is only available for businesses. However, you will still be able to receive messages.