Business News Daily provides resources, advice and product reviews to drive business growth. Our mission is to equip business owners with the knowledge and confidence to make informed decisions. As part of that, we recommend products and services for their success.
We collaborate with business-to-business vendors, connecting them with potential buyers. In some cases, we earn commissions when sales are made through our referrals. These financial relationships support our content but do not dictate our recommendations. Our editorial team independently evaluates products based on thousands of hours of research. We are committed to providing trustworthy advice for businesses. Learn more about our full process and see who our partners are here.
RingEX and Vonage are top-notch business phone systems but which will suit your small business better?
Businesses are rapidly replacing analog landline phones with cloud-based business phone systems that do much more than make and receive calls. These platforms add extensive calling features, video conferencing capabilities, messaging options and integrations with popular business applications — everything a modern business needs to communicate effectively.
RingEX (formerly RingCentral MVP) and Vonage are two of the most popular unified communications (UC) platforms on the market. Both offer similar features for essential phone, video and messaging across devices. However, they distinguish themselves with features like plan customizability and available artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools. We’ll compare the upsides and downsides of these two robust business phone systems to help you determine which suits your business best.
Criteria | RingEX | Vonage |
|---|---|---|
Price | $20 to $35 per user, per month | $13.99 to $27.99 per user, per month |
Ease of use | Easy to implement and use | Not difficult to implement and use |
Video conferencing | Up to 200 participants | Up to 200 participants |
AI-powered features | Some | Available with add-ons |
Third-party integrations | 300-plus | 20 |
We recommend RingEX for businesses seeking a feature-rich business phone system that fosters better collaboration. This cloud-based business phone system boasts an impressive set of features and software integrations.
We were impressed that the platform features AI meeting transcriptions, more than 300 prebuilt integrations and unlimited calling in the United States and Canada. We also like that you can call, text, fax or chat using the same application across multiple devices. RingEX is affordable, with three service tiers ranging from $20 to $35 per user, per month, including an annual discount.
Some of RingEX’s most impressive features include the following:
Check out our detailed RingEX review for more information about the platform’s features, usability, setup and customer support.
RingEX supports collaborative team meetings with visual cues that encourage participants to interact during calls. Source: RingCentral
We recommend Vonage Businesses Communications for companies that want to pick and choose the individual features they need to create a customized, effective phone system that suits their unique needs. This cloud-based phone system impressed us with its flexible feature list, integrations and add-ons.
The company offers more than 50 voice and UC features with desktop and mobile apps to keep teams connected across devices. Its customer and employee experience features shine with tools like Call Announce, which tells your agents the reason for each call before they answer it. Prices for the smallest businesses range from $13.99 to $27.99 per line per month, depending on the plan and number of licenses you purchase.
Here are some of Vonage’s top features:
Our comprehensive Vonage review explains how well this platform lends itself to customization with numerous available add-on features and application programming interfaces (APIs).
Vonage’s custom caller ID feature helps agents identify inbound callers to prepare responses better. Source: Vonage
RingEX and Vonage are two of the best business phone systems available but they have distinct differences. Here’s how they stack up in head-to-head comparisons of price, ease of use, video conferencing, AI features and third-party integrations.
RingEX
Pricing for RingEX plans starts from $20 to $35 per monthly user with an annual subscription plan. Annual subscribers save up to 33 percent on their total bill. Other discounts are available for companies that need more than 100 user accounts. RingEX customers can pay with Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover credit or debit cards.
Vonage
Vonage service plans start between $13.99 and $27.99 per monthly user with an annual subscription. Annual subscribers save 30 percent on their total bill. Vonage offers discounts for companies purchasing five or more user accounts and accepts all major credit cards, debit cards, electronic payments and checks.
Vonage offers lower prices at all subscription levels. However, given Vonage’s extensive list of paid add-ons, it’s possible to build a far more expensive platform than what you’d find with RingEX.
RingEX
RingEX is easy to set up and implement across all devices. Plus, professional implementation is available to help you design your business phone system and troubleshoot problems as they arise. We also think the training tools provided by RingCentral University are an excellent way to ensure everyone gets up to speed quickly.
RingCentral University provides excellent free training tools to help users and administrators get the most out of their business phone system. Source: RingCentral
Vonage
As with most UC products, installing Vonage on your internet-connected devices is fast and easy. For complex issues, you can add personalized remote information technology support with Vonage Support PLUS powered by Soluto for $9.99 per month.
RingEX’s intuitive drop-down menu options make it easy to add new devices or change other phone system features. Source: RingCentral
We found RingEX to be the more usable, user-friendly platform. While Vonage is far from difficult to use, RingEX’s numerous integrations and educational resources give this business phone system the edge when it comes to ease of use.
RingEX
RingEX’s notable video conferencing features include the following:
RingEX’s AI assistant boosts engagement by taking detailed notes during meetings and providing pertinent action items for everyone on the call. Source: RingCentral
Vonage
Vonage’s video conferencing features include the following:
RingEX and Vonage can support the same number of video participants with their higher-level plans and have similar limitations with their entry-level plans. If price is your most significant factor, Vonage would take a slight edge. If productivity features are your top priority, RingEX would take a slight edge.
RingEX and Vonage offer very similar video conferencing tools with nearly the same core features. You’ll find a bit more AI functionality with RingEX, but you’ll also pay more for it.
RingEX
RingEX launched a handful of new AI-powered features through RingSense AI in 2024. This set of tools is designed to function like an AI assistant during meetings and calls. RingSense AI can increase efficiency and improve customer outcomes with the following features:
We like how RingEX’s AI tools allow meeting participants to stay engaged and focused on the conversation instead of jotting down notes or worrying about forgetting an important detail. Unfortunately, many of RingEX’s AI-powered tools are still in development and may not be available to all subscribers.
RingSense AI for RingEX includes automated note-taking that frees participants to engage and concentrate on the call. Source: RingCentral
Vonage
Vonage’s AI Virtual Assistant add-on utilizes conversational AI to provide voice-enabled self-service and routing capabilities. This tool is designed to function like a digital workforce that enhances your human staff by freeing them from repetitive tasks. It has the potential to do the following:
The highly customizable package includes setup, monitoring and a dedicated conversational designer with pre- and post-sale support. Advanced add-on features include tools that can help you take a conversational approach to voice-enabled customer self-service.
Vonage’s AI Virtual Assistant can be customized to your business’s specific needs, including setting up customer self-service solutions. Source: Vonage
While these tools serve very different functions, Vonage provides far more AI-powered capabilities than RingEX. As a more powerful AI platform, you can also expect to pay more for AI tools with Vonage than RingEX.
Vonage is also among the best phone systems for medical offices, offering tools like short message service and multimedia messaging service messaging, an auto attendant and “follow-me” functionality, which ensures all calls are answered, even if you leave the office.
RingEX
With more than 300 prebuilt integrations available at most subscription levels, RingEX has one of the largest and best app marketplaces of any business phone service provider we’ve reviewed. In addition to all of the best customer relationship management (CRM) software, bots and marketing automations, this app gallery also includes many industry-specific integrations for healthcare, legal and education.
If you have a skilled developer at your disposal, there’s nearly endless potential for more system customization with APIs for voice, video, messaging, faxing and other communications data.
RingEX offers one of the biggest and best third-party app marketplaces with more than 300 easy-to-install integrations. Source: RingCentral
Vonage
Vonage offers 11 free and nine paid integrations for its UC plans. Free integrations cover key platforms like G Suite, Microsoft 365, Zapier, HubSpot and Slack. Paid integrations range from $4.99 per month for Salesforce to $150 per month for VisuWell telemedicine.
Vonage’s Salesforce CRM integration can help you integrate voice interactions into essential Salesforce workflows. Source: Vonage
RingEX offers more pre-built integrations than any business phone system platform we’ve reviewed. It functions incredibly well with hundreds of third-party software applications, making it an excellent solution for businesses that prioritize collaboration.
RingEX is considered among the best restaurant phone systems because it can help employees in multiple locations collaborate on menu changes, supply chain interruptions and marketing campaigns.
Choose RingEX if:
Choose Vonage if:
If you’re looking for alternatives to Vonage or RingEX, check out our Nextiva review, Ooma review, Dialpad review and 8×8 review. These four providers have slightly different features and pricing, but all allow employees to communicate effectively with team members and customers from almost any internet-connected device or location.
Vonage boasts an uptime of 99.999 percent, which is fairly standard among major business phone system providers. Because it’s a cloud-based phone system, its call quality can be affected by a poor internet connection. You can expect high call quality and clarity with Vonage Business Communications if you have a reliable broadband internet connection.
RingEX relies on seven layers of security and redundant data centers. All sensitive customer and call data is protected with industry-leading encryption, standards and protocols. The company’s geographically diverse data centers are monitored to protect against operational errors, cybercrime and natural disasters.
