RingCentral’s business phone plan, RingEX, costs $20 per user per month on Core and $25 on Advanced if you pay annually, or $30 and $35 if you pay month to month. That’s the headline. The number you actually pay depends on how many people you seat, whether you add the AI Receptionist or a texting booster, and the taxes and regulatory fees that land on every invoice. This guide walks through every plan, what each one leaves out, and what a real small team ends up paying.
Prices checked September 30, 2026 on RingCentral’s pricing page. Check their site for current pricing.
RingCentral plans at a glance
RingEX is RingCentral’s phone, messaging and video product. Its pricing page lists four options:
- Core: $20/user/month billed annually, $30 billed monthly.
- Advanced: $25/user/month billed annually, $35 billed monthly.
- AI Customer Engagement Bundle with AIR: contact RingCentral for pricing.
- AI Customer Engagement Bundle with AIR and ACE: contact RingCentral for pricing.
RingCentral says you save up to 33% by paying annually. The list price is the same whether you have one user or 100. At one to five users you can buy online; from six to 100 users the page sends you to sales at the same list price, and above 100 users everything is quoted. Ultra, the old top tier, is no longer listed as a self-serve plan.
What each RingCentral plan includes
RingEX Core
Core is the plan most small businesses start on, and it’s a lot of phone system for the money. It includes unlimited domestic calling (US and Canada), on-demand call recording, 100 toll-free minutes, 25 SMS per user per month, HD video meetings for up to 300 participants, and AVA, RingCentral’s AI Virtual Assistant. It also lists LLM plugins and MCP connectors.
What Core leaves out: CRM integrations, multi-site support and reporting all start on Advanced. The AI Receptionist, the piece that actually answers calls for you, is an add-on. And 25 texts per user per month runs out quickly if your team texts customers every day.
RingEX Advanced
Advanced is Core plus CRM integrations, the ability to connect multiple sites, core reporting and insights, 1,000 toll-free minutes and 100 SMS per user per month. If you run more than one location or want calls logged in your CRM, this is the tier you’ll land on. The AI Receptionist is still an add-on here.
AI Customer Engagement Bundles
The two bundles are RingCentral’s answer to “I want AI handling customer calls.” The first includes the AI Receptionist (AIR), 10,000 toll-free minutes, 200 SMS per user per month, RingCentral Webinar, historical and real-time insights, unlimited storage, and both the Business SMS Booster and Call Queues Booster. The second adds AI Conversation Expert (ACE) for coaching, call scoring and automated summaries. Both are priced by quote, so you won’t know the number until you talk to sales.
Add-ons and fees that push the total up
This is where RingCentral bills drift away from the plan price. The add-ons listed on its pricing page:
- AI Receptionist (AIR): starts at $39 a month alongside RingEX, with 100 minutes included. Past that, RingCentral charges $0.50 per minute, billed in 30-second increments. AIR is also sold standalone from $49 a month.
- Business SMS Booster: $25, for a shared text inbox, templates and compliance tools.
- Call Queues Booster: $35.
- Conversational Intelligence: starts at $60.
- Extra local or toll-free numbers: $4.99/month each. Vanity numbers are $30 one-time plus $4.99/month.
- International numbers: from $5.99/user/month. International calls are billed at RingCentral’s published rates.
- High-volume or marketing texts: sold separately as High Volume SMS, from $0.0119 per message.
Then the fees. RingCentral’s disclaimers say taxes and fees such as the Federal Universal Service Recovery Fee, E911 Service Fee, Compliance and Administrative Cost Recovery Fee, 911 Fee, and state and local taxes may apply. They don’t publish one total, because it varies by location. Business texting also requires carrier (TCR) registration, and RingCentral notes additional TCR fees may apply. Plan for your invoice to be higher than seats times list price.
Two smaller traps worth knowing. Desk phone rental is only available with a multi-year contract. And a free Mobile User extension gets billed at the full digital line rate in any month it’s used to make or take calls.
Contract, billing and the free trial
You can pay monthly or annually. Annual is where the advertised $20 and $25 come from; monthly is $30 and $35. There’s a 14-day free trial for new subscribers. SMS isn’t available during the trial, so you can’t test texting before you pay, and any trial hardware has to go back within 21 days of cancelling to avoid charges.
What a 5-person team actually pays for RingCentral
Take a five-person service business on Core:
- Billed annually: 5 × $20 = $100/month, or $1,200 for the year, paid up front.
- Billed monthly: 5 × $30 = $150/month.
Now add the AI Receptionist so missed calls get answered. At its starting price of $39 with 100 minutes, the team is at about $139/month on annual billing or $189/month on monthly, before taxes and fees, and before any AI minutes past 100. If the team texts customers more than 25 times each a month, the SMS Booster or Advanced (5 × $25 = $125 annually) comes next.
None of that is unreasonable for what RingCentral gives you. It’s just more than $20.
Is RingCentral worth it?
For the right business, yes. RingCentral is a mature, full-featured platform. Core alone covers calling, recording, toll-free minutes, team messaging and 300-person video meetings, which is more than most competitors put in their entry tier. If you have several locations, desk phones, or a team that lives in meetings, one vendor for all of it is worth paying for.
It’s a harder sell if your real problem is simpler: calls coming in while everyone’s busy. Then you’re paying per seat for a meetings suite, and the AI that would actually answer those calls is extra.
If you’re weighing RingCentral against its closest rivals, start with our RingCentral alternatives guide, plus the Dialpad and Nextiva alternatives guides.
RingCentral plans compared
| Plan | Billed annually | Billed monthly | What stands out |
|---|---|---|---|
| RingEX Core | $20/user/mo | $30/user/mo | Unlimited US/Canada calling, call recording, 100 toll-free min, 25 SMS per user, 300-person meetings. AI Receptionist is an add-on. |
| RingEX Advanced | $25/user/mo | $35/user/mo | Adds CRM integrations, multi-site, reporting, 1,000 toll-free min, 100 SMS per user. |
| AI Customer Engagement Bundle with AIR | Quote | Quote | AI Receptionist included, 10,000 toll-free min, 200 SMS per user, SMS and Call Queues boosters. |
| AI Customer Engagement Bundle with AIR and ACE | Quote | Quote | Adds AI Conversation Expert: coaching, call scoring, automated summaries. |
| FAST RESPONSE AI | Pro: $790/year for the whole team | Starter $29/mo (1 user); Pro $79/mo for the whole team, no per-seat fees | One business number your team answers first, AI covers missed calls 24/7 in 29+ languages, every call recorded and summarized in one inbox, built-in CRM, automations on Pro. No contract. |
If you mainly need your calls answered
A lot of people pricing RingCentral don’t actually want a phone system. They want the phone answered when they’re on a job, with a customer, or asleep.
That’s what we built Fast Response for. It’s a business phone line where your team picks up from the same number, and an AI answers whatever they miss, 24/7, in 29+ languages. Every call, yours or the AI’s, is recorded, transcribed and summarized in one inbox, with a built-in CRM so the caller’s history is right there. On Pro, automations can text the caller back or push the call details to your other tools. We handle your texting registration so you text from day one.
Starter is $29/month for a single user. Pro is $79/month and covers your whole team with no per-seat fees. Scale is $249/month and adds outbound AI call and text campaigns. No contract, and you can be live in about 5 minutes. If you need meetings or multi-site routing, RingCentral is built for that and we aren’t. If you need every call answered, compare the numbers on our pricing page, read our RingCentral alternative breakdown, or see how it stacks up in our guide to answering service cost. See how the AI receptionist, call inbox and desk phone support work. Comparing AI receptionists too? See our best AI receptionist roundup or work out what missed calls cost you with the missed call cost calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does RingCentral cost per month?
RingEX Core is $20 per user per month billed annually or $30 billed monthly. Advanced is $25 annually or $35 monthly. The AI Customer Engagement Bundles are priced by quote. Taxes and regulatory fees are added on top.
Does RingCentral charge extra fees?
Yes. RingCentral lists fees that may apply, including the Federal Universal Service Recovery Fee, E911 Service Fee, Compliance and Administrative Cost Recovery Fee, 911 Fee and state and local taxes. Texting requires carrier (TCR) registration, which can carry its own fees.
How much is the RingCentral AI Receptionist?
It starts at $39 a month when added to RingEX, with 100 minutes included, then $0.50 per minute billed in 30-second increments. Standalone, it starts at $49 a month. It’s included in the AI Customer Engagement Bundles.
Does RingCentral have a free trial?
Yes, 14 days for new subscribers. SMS isn’t available during the trial, and trial hardware must be returned within 21 days of cancelling.
Is there a cheaper option for a small team that mainly needs calls answered?
If you don’t need meetings or a full phone system, Fast Response gives you one business number your team and an AI both answer. It starts at $29/month for one user, and $79/month covers your whole team with no per-seat fees.
