RingCentral Alternative

Tired of RingCentral? There’s a Better Way.

Stop renting your phone system. Own it outright, save thousands, and talk to real people when you need help.

RingCentral
★★☆☆☆
1.9 / 5
VS
VoIP PBX Express
★★★★★
4.9 / 5
Get a Custom Proposal Call 844-486-4766
Head-to-Head

VoIP PBX Express vs RingCentral

The side-by-side comparison RingCentral doesn’t want you to see.

FeatureVoIP PBX ExpressRingCentral
Trustpilot Rating ★ 4.9 / 5 ★ 1.9 / 5
Pricing Model ✓ One-time purchase Per-user / month
5-Year Cost (20 users) $12,690 $36,000
Contracts ✓ None Auto-renewing
Cancellation ✓ Unplug it “Good luck”
Support ✓ Scot, Jane, Jacob Offshore call center
Call Quality ✓ LAN-based HD Internet-dependent
Internet Required ✓ External calls only All calls
Ownership ✓ You own it You rent it
Trustpilot Reviews

What RingCentral Customers Are Saying

Real reviews from real businesses. We didn’t write these — RingCentral’s own customers did.

🚨 Cancellation Nightmares

“They kept charging us $1,500 a month even after we canceled. We sent emails, called multiple times, and were told it was ‘being processed.’ Six months later, still being charged.”
— Trustpilot review, verified business owner
“Our contract auto-renewed without any notification. When we tried to cancel, they said we missed the 30-day window and owe the full year. That’s another $12,000 we didn’t budget for.”
— Trustpilot review, office manager
“I have been trying to cancel for 3 months. Every time I call, I get transferred to someone new who says they’ll ‘escalate it.’ Meanwhile, auto-payments keep going through. This is borderline fraud.”
— Trustpilot review, small business owner

📞 Unreachable Support

“Tried calling support and was on hold for over an hour. Finally got connected to someone overseas who couldn’t resolve my issue. They said a ‘specialist’ would call back. Never happened.”
— Trustpilot review, IT administrator
“I’ve submitted 4 support tickets in the last month. Not a single reply. Our phones were down for two days and no one at RingCentral seemed to care.”
— Trustpilot review, dental practice owner

🔈 Call Quality Issues

“Calls drop constantly. Our clients complain they can’t reach us. For a phone company, you’d think they could get the actual phone calls right.”
— Trustpilot review, law firm partner
“Audio quality is terrible — echoing, delays, and robotic voices. We switched from a landline and immediately regretted it. Our clients think we’re unprofessional now.”
— Trustpilot review, real estate broker

💰 Hidden Pricing

“The price they quoted us was completely different from what showed up on the bill. Extra fees for ‘compliance,’ ‘admin,’ and features we were told were included. Classic bait and switch.”
— Trustpilot review, accounting firm
“They advertise $20/user but our actual cost came out to over $45/user when you add all the required add-ons. Nothing is truly ‘included’ — it’s all upsells.”
— Trustpilot review, operations director
The VPE Difference

How VoIP PBX Express Is Different

Every pain point RingCentral creates, we’ve built the opposite solution.

RingCentral Problem

Auto-Renewing Contracts

Locked into annual contracts that silently renew. Miss the cancellation window by one day and you owe another full year.

VPE Solution

Zero Contracts, Ever

Buy your system once. No contracts to sign, no auto-renewals, no cancellation hoops. Want to stop? Unplug it. Done.

RingCentral Problem

Per-User Monthly Fees

$30–45/user/month adds up fast. A 20-person team spends $600+/month — $36,000 over 5 years — and never owns a thing.

VPE Solution

One-Time Purchase + Cheap SIP

Pay once for the hardware and system. SIP trunking runs ~$145/month for unlimited calling. Total 5-year cost: $12,690.

RingCentral Problem

Offshore Call Center Support

Scripted responses, long hold times, and agents who can’t actually fix your issue. Tickets go unanswered for weeks.

VPE Solution

Scot, Jane, and Jacob

Call us and talk to a real person who knows your system by name. Our team is small on purpose — so every customer actually matters.

RingCentral Problem

Internet-Dependent Calls

Every call goes through the internet. When your connection hiccups, so do your calls. Dropped calls, lag, and choppy audio.

VPE Solution

LAN-Based HD Audio

Internal calls stay on your local network — no internet required. Only external calls use your connection. Crystal-clear quality guaranteed.

RingCentral Problem

You’re Renting, Not Owning

Stop paying and you lose everything — your phone numbers, call history, system configuration. You’re just a tenant.

VPE Solution

It’s Your System, Forever

The PBX sits in your office. The phones are on your desks. You own the hardware, the configuration, and the control. Period.

The Real Cost

5-Year Cost Comparison

The math doesn’t lie. Here’s what 20 users actually costs over 5 years.

RingCentral
$36,000
$30/user/month × 20 users
= $600/month × 60 months
VoIP PBX Express
$12,690
$3,990 system (one-time)
+ $145/mo SIP × 60 months
YOU SAVE $23,310

That’s enough to hire a part-time employee for a full year.

How every major provider stacks up

RingCentral
$36,000
Vonage
$37,200
Nextiva
$30,000
Ooma
$29,940
8x8
$28,800
VPE
$12,690
Customer Reviews

What VPE Customers Say

Real businesses. Real results. Real people picking up the phone.

★★★★★
“We switched from RingCentral 2 years ago and haven’t looked back. The call quality is night-and-day better, and we’re saving over $400/month. Scot set everything up in one afternoon.”
MK
Mike K.
Insurance Agency Owner, FL
★★★★★
“After 3 months of trying to cancel Vonage, I found VPE. One phone call, one invoice, and we owned our system outright. No more monthly surprises on our credit card.”
LD
Lisa D.
Dental Practice Manager, TX
★★★★★
“I called at 7:30 AM with a question and Scot personally answered. Try getting that from RingCentral. The level of service here is what business phone support should be.”
JR
James R.
Law Firm Administrator, CA
★★★★★
“Our old cloud phone system would drop calls during busy hours. Since switching to VPE, zero dropped calls. The on-premise system just works — every single time.”
SP
Sarah P.
Medical Office Manager, NY
Being Honest

Where RingCentral May Be the Better Fit

We’re not for everyone. Here are a few scenarios where RingCentral might actually make more sense.

🔗

Deep CRM Integrations

If your business relies heavily on native Salesforce or HubSpot phone integration with click-to-dial and auto-logging, RingCentral has more built-in connectors.

🤖

AI-Powered Transcription

RingCentral offers AI call summaries, real-time transcription, and sentiment analysis. If those are must-haves, they’re ahead on the AI front.

🏠

Fully Remote Teams (No Office)

If your team is 100% remote with no physical office, a cloud system may make more sense. VPE works best when you have at least one office location.

🎥

Native Video Conferencing

RingCentral includes built-in video meetings. VPE focuses on voice communication — for video, most of our customers use Zoom or Teams alongside their phone system.

Make the Switch

How to Switch from RingCentral to VPE

It’s easier than you think. Most businesses are up and running in under a week.

1

Request a Proposal

Tell us your team size, office setup, and what features matter most. We’ll send a custom quote within 24 hours.

2

We Build Your System

We pre-configure your PBX, extensions, call routing, hold music, and voicemail — all before it ships.

3

Port Your Numbers

We handle the number porting from RingCentral. Your customers won’t even know you switched.

4

Plug In & Go

Connect phones to your network. We guide you through setup over the phone. Most installs take under 2 hours.

5

Cancel RingCentral

Once your VPE system is live and verified, cancel RingCentral. We can even help you navigate their cancellation process.

FAQ

Common Questions About Switching

Yes, absolutely. We handle the entire number porting process for you. Your existing phone numbers transfer to our SIP trunking service, so your customers, vendors, and marketing materials all stay the same. The porting process typically takes 7–14 business days, and we keep your RingCentral service active until the port is complete so you never miss a call.
With VPE, you make a one-time purchase of the PBX system and phones (around $3,990 for a 20-phone system). Your only ongoing cost is SIP trunking for external calls, which runs approximately $145/month for unlimited calling. Over 60 months, that totals $12,690. RingCentral charges $30/user/month — for 20 users, that’s $600/month or $36,000 over the same period. And with RingCentral, you never own anything.
This is one of VPE’s biggest advantages. Internal calls between extensions in your office travel over your local network (LAN) — no internet required. So your team can still call each other even during an internet outage. External calls do require internet, but we can set up failover routing to mobile phones so incoming calls are never missed.
Not at all. We pre-configure 90% of your system before it ships. When it arrives, you plug the PBX into your network, connect the phones, and call us. We walk you through the final setup over the phone. Most businesses are fully operational in under 2 hours. No IT team needed — if you can plug in an Ethernet cable, you can set up a VPE system.
Easy. Just buy additional phones and we’ll configure them remotely. There’s no per-user monthly fee increase like with RingCentral. You pay for the phone hardware once, and it’s part of your system. Our PBX systems support scaling from a handful of phones to over 100.
Yes. Our systems support softphone apps that let remote workers use their extension from a laptop or mobile phone. They connect back to your office PBX over the internet. It works best as a supplement for a team that’s primarily office-based. If your entire team is fully remote with no office at all, a cloud solution may be a better fit — and we’ll tell you that honestly.
You get direct access to our team — Scot, Jane, and Jacob. No ticket systems, no offshore call centers, no chatbots. Call us and a real person answers. We provide ongoing support for configuration changes, troubleshooting, and system questions. Our customers regularly tell us the support alone is worth the switch from RingCentral.

Ready to Break Up with RingCentral?

Get a custom proposal for your business. No contracts, no commitments — just a straightforward quote from real people.

Get a Custom Proposal Call 844-486-4766 View Phone Systems
Or call us directly: 844-486-4766 (Mon–Fri, 8am–6pm EST)
All Trustpilot reviews cited are publicly available and reflect the experiences of individual users. RingCentral is a registered trademark of RingCentral, Inc. VoIP PBX Express is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by RingCentral, Inc. All pricing comparisons are based on publicly available pricing as of 2024 and may vary. Five-year cost calculations assume 20 users on standard business plans.
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