Aircall vs RingCentral: which is right for you?
Features, pricing and fit, compared from a cold calling point of view. Not affiliated with either tool.
Aircall and RingCentral are both cloud phone systems that sales teams can call from, and both record calls and connect to a CRM. They differ in how they treat outbound prospecting. Aircall lists a Power Dialer and outbound campaigns on its Professional plan, while RingCentral is a general business phone first and lists outbound dialing under RingCX, a separate contact center product. This page sets out what each vendor says on its own site, and where a page is thin we say so.
- From
- $30 per license per month
- Tiered plans
- Free plan
- Yes
- Yes
The short answer
Here is who each of Aircall and RingCentral suits best, from what each vendor says on its own site.
- You want a dialer inside the phone system, since Aircall lists the Power Dialer and outbound campaigns on its Professional plan at $50 per license per month.
- You want published prices, with Essentials at $30 per license per month and a 3-license minimum on the two lower plans.
- You work from a CRM such as Salesforce, HubSpot or Pipedrive, or a sales tool such as Outreach, Salesloft or Gong, which its integrations page lists.
- You want one system for the whole company, with a business phone, business SMS, team chat and video meetings in RingEX.
- You need a contact center product, since RingCX lists outbound dialing, omnichannel routing and AI quality management.
- You want a longer trial, with 14 days for new subscribers and up to 20 phone lines, and you can wait for a quote because the pricing page text shows no per-plan prices.
Side by side
| FEATURE | Aircall | RingCentral |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Not listed | SMBs, Enterprise |
| Starting price | $30 per license per month | Tiered plans |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Per seat | Tiered plans |
| Works with | Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zendesk CTI, Bullhorn | Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, Google Workspace, ChatGPT, Claude |
Key features
- Power Dialer and outbound campaigns
- Call recording and transcripts
- AI coaching and summaries
- SMS, MMS and shared inbox
- CRM and app integrations
- Business phone and SMS
- Call recording
- RingCX contact center
- AI helpers
- Integrations and API
Pricing
Per-license plans billed monthly or annually (annual saves 25%): Essentials at $30 per license per month and Professional at $50, each with a 3-license minimum. Enterprise is custom with a 25-license minimum. Add-ons and extra numbers cost more.
See Aircall pricingPer-user RingEX plans with an annual billing discount of up to 33 percent. The pricing page text shows no per-plan dollar prices. Add-ons start at $25 for the Business SMS Booster, $35 for the Call Queues Booster, $39 for AI Receptionist and $60 for Conversational Intelligence.
See RingCentral pricingWhere each fits in your calling
Aircall and RingCentral sit at the same step of a calling day, so most teams choose one rather than both.
- STEP 1Find the numberBuild the list and fill in mobiles
- STEP 2See who will pick upCheck the list before you dial
Will This Person Answer - STEP 3DialCall the high chance contactsAircallRingCentral
- STEP 4Log the callRecord the outcome and follow up
Frequently asked questions
Aircall publishes its prices, with Essentials at $30 and Professional at $50 per license per month. RingCentral's pricing page text showed no per-plan dollar prices when we checked, only add-ons from $25 to $60 and a discount of up to 33 percent for annual billing. You need a RingCentral quote to compare cost.
Aircall lists a Power Dialer and outbound campaigns on its Professional plan, so it is the closer fit for working a lead list. RingCentral's standard business phone is not a prospecting dialer, and its outbound dialing sits in RingCX. Confirm with the vendor which product covers your dialing needs.
RingCentral lists a 14-day trial for new subscribers with up to 20 phone lines, and SMS is not available during it. Aircall's pricing page says new accounts get free access to test the platform but gives no length, so ask Aircall before you plan around it.
Aircall requires at least 3 licenses on Essentials and Professional, and 25 on Enterprise. The RingCentral pages we read do not state a seat minimum, but without published plan prices a small team should still ask for a quote from each before deciding.
Both record calls. Aircall lists recording and AI transcripts from Essentials. RingCentral lets users record on demand or turns on automatic recording for chosen users or departments, and says recordings are kept up to 90 days. Its pricing page does not say which plans include recording.
RingCentral says it has over 600 pre-built integrations plus open APIs, naming Microsoft Teams, Salesforce and Google Workspace. Aircall lists a long catalog too, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zendesk, Outreach, Salesloft and Gong. Check each integration page for what syncs back to the record.
Aircall adds SMS, MMS, a shared inbox, AI summaries, coaching and voice agents. RingCentral adds team chat, video meetings, an AI Receptionist, meeting summaries and conversation analytics. RingCentral is the wider company-wide system, and Aircall is the narrower sales and support tool.
Aircall's pricing page lists unlimited domestic outbound calling in the US and Canada, and says international calling is a quote. RingCentral lists unlimited external calls within the US and Canada in RingEX. Neither page gave us enough detail on other countries, so ask each vendor.
No. Neither has a native link, so you export a CSV, check it, and load the High chance contacts into your calling workflow. Will This Person Answer checks US phone numbers only, and the first 250 contacts are free with no card required.
Move Low chance contacts to a text or an email instead of a call, since both Aircall and RingCentral include SMS. Leave Bad data contacts out of the campaign or calling session so no line or rep time is spent on them.
Know who’ll answer
before you call.
Ask your AI tool who on your list will pick up. Every contact comes back High chance, Low chance or Bad data, with the best way to reach them.
No card required. US phone numbers only.