The short answer
RingCentral if you want to know what it costs before you talk to anyone. Published plans, a self-serve trial, and a price you can put in a spreadsheet today.
8x8 if you are buying at a scale where you would negotiate anyway. Contact center, customer experience, communications APIs and Teams integration, sold as a custom bundle to an organization with a procurement process.
That is genuinely the fork. It is less about features than about which way your company buys things.
How they compare
Compared against RingCentral's plans and pricing page and 8x8's plans and pricing page, 22 October 2026.
| RingCentral | 8x8 | |
|---|---|---|
| Published entry price | RingEX Core, $20 per user annual, $30 monthly | None published |
| Published mid price | RingEX Advanced, $25 annual, $35 monthly | None published |
| How you learn the price | The pricing page | Request a quote, or chat with sales |
| Free trial | 14 days, up to 20 lines, SMS not available for trial use | Not published |
| Included outbound texting | 25 per user per month on Core, 100 on Advanced | Not published |
| Toll-free minutes | 100 on Core, 1,000 on Advanced | Not published |
| Contact center | RingCX, from $65 per user | Yes, a substantial one |
| Communications APIs | Not on the plans page | Yes |
| Microsoft Teams | Integration available | A named product line |
| Published add-ons | AI Receptionist from $39, Conversational Intelligence from $60, Call Queues Booster $35, Business SMS Booster $25 | Not published |
| In business since | 1999 | Not published on the pages checked |
Half this table is empty and that is the finding, not a failure of research. We will not fill 8x8's column from third-party summaries, because a number in a comparison table has to come from the vendor's own page or it is worth nothing.
What quote-only pricing actually costs you
Not a criticism, a practical point. Quote-based selling is how enterprise software has always worked and it often produces a better price than a published rate card.
What it costs is comparability. You cannot line 8x8 up against RingCentral, Dialpad or anyone else without first running a sales process, which means the evaluation takes weeks rather than an afternoon, and it means you will have invested effort in one vendor before you know whether it is competitive.
For a large organization with a procurement function, that is simply the job. For a small team, it is a reason to look at providers who publish.
Where each is genuinely stronger
8x8 is stronger on contact center depth, communications APIs, international footprint, and Microsoft Teams at scale. These are real products built over decades and RingCentral does not match all of them in the same way.
RingCentral is stronger on transparency and on the self-serve path: you can read the price, start a trial and be running today. Its catalog of webinars, events and rooms is broad, and it publishes what each costs.
The things neither publishes well
Texting allowances. RingCentral publishes its and they are low: 25 outbound per user per month on Core. 8x8 publishes nothing. If texting matters, ask both directly and get the answer in writing.
What happens when the internet drops. Neither page covers it. Ask what the failover behavior is before you sign with either.
A third option, briefly
For completeness, since we make one: SoundLine publishes all of its pricing, from $19.99 per user monthly or $14.99 annually, with a seven-day self-serve trial. It exposes REST APIs and webhooks for messaging, contacts and recordings, but it has no contact center product and nothing resembling an enterprise CPaaS suite, so if those are why 8x8 is on your list, it is not a substitute for either company here.
Questions people ask
How much does 8x8 cost?
8x8 does not publish prices on its plans and pricing page. It offers custom packages and a quote request. Checked 22 October 2026.
Is RingCentral or 8x8 better for a small business?
RingCentral, in most cases, because you can read the price and start a trial without a sales conversation. 8x8's strengths are contact center, APIs and scale, which most small businesses are not buying.
Does 8x8 have a free trial?
Not one published on its plans and pricing page.
Which is bigger, RingCentral or 8x8?
Both are large public companies. 8x8 has been operating since 1987 and RingCentral since 1999. Size is not the useful axis here; how each one sells is.