RingCentral Video vs Microsoft Teams

High definition (HD) video quality
Video meetings up for up to 100 participants
Free unlimited document storage and file sharing
Get started
Group of people using RingCentral Video during video meeting

The business world is constantly growing and evolving. Where we once relied on the clunky fax machine for “speedy” communication, email is now the traditional form of business correspondence. And, while email is still commonly used in most workplaces, employers are looking for faster and more evolved ways to communicate, such as team chats, video meetings, and other communication software. What will be next?

We can’t predict the future, but it’s clear that changes will be constant in the coming business years. So, it’s important that your company adopts the right collaboration tool. Teams need to be able to overcome any barriers in internal communications to ensure they keep up with new trends and work to the best of their ability.

RingCentral Video and Microsoft Teams are two leading contenders in team communication. As they both have many similar features, it can be difficult to know which one to go for. However, with some in-depth analysis, it’s clear that one of the two is pushing ahead in terms of functionalities, usability, and pricing. Let’s look at RingCentral Video and Microsoft in more detail.

RingCentral Video vs Microsoft: An overview

There are many similarities between RingCentral Video and Microsoft Teams. Both make life easier for team collaboration and support the use of:

  • Messaging
  • Video conferencing
  • Screen sharing

However, there’s a little more to both of them than that. What exactly are RingCentral Video and Microsoft Teams, and what do they both do?

RingCentral Video

RingCentral Video is a team collaboration solution provided by RingCentral and is quickly becoming popular among hardworking teams. It’s free to use and has a smart user interface designed to help teams communicate. By combining video meetings and audio conferencing with team messaging, RingCentral Video provides seamless communication anytime, any place. 

RingCentral Video works as well on smartphones as it does on computers, making it favorable for teams with remote and field employees or those who work in numerous workspaces. Whether you have an iPhone or Android device, with RingCentral Video, you can communicate with your colleagues from the office, at home, or while sitting on the train. 

Unlike many similar solutions, RingCentral Video doesn’t lure you in with a free trial. RingCentral Video pricing starts at free, with no time constraints or irritating limitations. The $11.99 a month paid version unlocks the following features:

  • Access to priority support
  • Advanced administrative features

The free version of RingCentral Video provides users with most of the collaboration features they require, like unlimited minutes for video chat along with screen sharing features, making it an extremely popular choice.

Remote employee using RingCentral Video to collaborate with his colleagues while on a train station

Microsoft Teams

Announced back in 2016, Microsoft Teams is a proprietary business communication platform developed by Microsoft as part of its 365 family of products. As such, it’s easy for teams who already use Microsoft Office regularly to pick it up. 

Teams is a chat-based collaboration platform that allows users to communicate with their team via text, voice conversation, or video meeting. With video conferencing, screen sharing, and full telephony, teams can easily stay connected.

In terms of pricing, Microsoft Teams is a little more complex. Unlike RingCentral Video, Microsoft offers a free 30-day trial. There is also a free version, but this offers limited features.As a result, users often end up finding themselves needing to pay for Microsoft Teams. There’s a starting price of $5 per month, subject to an annual commitment.

What’s the difference?

Both RingCentral Video and Microsoft Teams do what they say on the tin: they help teams to collaborate and communicate, no matter the workspace. But which does it better?

While Microsoft Teams may still have more name recognition, RingCentral Video is quickly becoming the superior alternative. This is because it does more for free. While some added features can be unlocked with the paid version, RingCentral Video users are provided with most of the features they need without paying.

RingCentral Video vs Microsoft Teams: Features

Both RingCentral Video and Microsoft Teams have a number of great features, most of which fall into the category of:

  • Video calls
  • Group chats 
  • File sharing

Let's take a look at the difference between the free version of RingCentral Video and the free version of Microsoft Teams in terms of features and functionalities.

Video calls

RingCentral Video and Microsoft Teams both have the following video calling functions. But what are the limitations? Which allows you to do more for less?
Features comparison between RingCentral Video vs. Microsoft Team's free plan
RingCentral Video Microsoft Teams

Video call length

 24 hrs 60 minutes

Number of meeting participants

 100 (Free) 200 (Pro+) 100

Screen recording

 Unlimited Unlimited
It’s clear from the table that RingCentral Video has more advanced video calling functionalities, making it the more sophisticated choice. Some of the benefits of these superior features include the ability to:
  • Host webinars - With an unlimited video call length and a number of meeting participants, RingCentral Video excels as a great place to host webinars and go live online. Webinars help to connect with your customers and raise your business profile. 
  • Create social media content - Your social media channels require plenty of video content to keep your followers engaged and convert them to customers.

    RingCentral Video’s screen recording function allows you to record all video meetings and use any material to post on your social media pages, making content management a breeze. Use it alongside your marketing software for the best results, and even create user reviews in conjunction with customers. 
  • Connect with more colleagues - RingCentral Video’s means that you can use it to connect with more colleagues and employees at once. This makes it a great place for employers to host all-team meetings and make announcements. 
  • Provide better training - The screen recording function allows employers to save training videos and use these for training purposes, saving time and energy. Employees can also save their training videos and refer back to them at any time.
Manager training a group of new hires using video conferencing

Group chats

Teams are increasingly looking for modern ways to communicate. As such, solutions like RingCentral Video and Microsoft Teams are great. They have team messaging functions, which allow colleagues to message in real-time. Many organizations are starting to favor a more informal means of inter-team communication. 

Check out the following analysis of Microsoft Teams vs RingCentral Video, in terms of group chats and messaging.

The difference between RingCentral Video and Microsoft Group Chats
RingCentral Video Microsoft Teams
Emojis? Yes Yes
Number of chats Unlimited Unlimited
Max number of people in a private chat Unlimited 250

RingCentral Video and Microsoft Teams have an unlimited number of chats in common. However, RingCentral Video allows for more people in a private chat, making it a better choice. Some of the benefits of these great features include the ability to:

  • Share information quicker - By having all the relevant people in one group, you never need to worry about the information not getting to the right people. This means you can share information quicker. 
  • Stop worrying about CC’ing the right people - When everyone’s in one private chat, you don’t need to worry about writing the email, attaching the documents, and CC’ing all the relevant people. With unlimited numbers in your private chats, everyone’s already there.
  • Create an inclusive workplace - An unlimited number of people in a private chat means that you can create an inclusive business where no one feels left out. This boosts employee morale and enables smoother task management.

File sharing

One of the biggest differences between RingCentral Video and Microsoft is file sharing and storage. 

RingCentral Video provides more storage and grows with your team—no matter how many new members you add or files you want to share. These are all included for free. Check out the following comparison.

The difference between RingCentral Video and Microsoft File Sharing capabilities
RingCentral Video Microsoft Teams
File upload limit Unlimited 100GB
Max number of teams a user can create Unlimited 250
Number of file attachments Unlimited 10

RingCentral Video’s superior storage makes for a more flexible and sophisticated management system, enabling you to:

  • Access the information you need - Being able to send and receive files (e.g. documents, images, videos, screenshots) as necessary ensures that you always get the information you need. This means that all team members have the tools, files, and documents relevant to do their job properly.   
  • Control document management - Unlike on Zoom or Skype, RingCentral Video keeps all your information in one place. Being able to upload and download as many files as you need on RingCentral Video means that you can track all your documents and keep them in one knowledge base. Essentially, it keeps you organized—there’s no more need to lean on other services like Dropbox. You can keep your documents accessible from one place. 
  • Save time - Attaching files to emails and sending them to the correct email address with relevant subject lines can take time. With RingCentral Video, attaching and sending a file is quick and simple, meaning that the information gets to the right people as quickly as possible.
  • Work from anywhere - When you can send as many files as you need to, working from anywhere becomes a lot more possible. That means working from home more regularly, hiring employees from different countries, and making the most of your business hours. What’s not to like?
Remote employee on a video call with her supervisor

RingCentral Video vs Microsoft Teams: User experience

Microsoft Teams is used by a lot of organizations, meaning that they work hard to create a good user experience. Here are some of the reasons people like Microsoft Teams:

  • Integrations - Microsoft Teams offers plenty of integration and API options, allowing it to connect with many software categories and apps. 
  • They already know it - The main reason people continue to use Microsoft is that it’s what they already know. It works alongside their Microsoft Office programs and may not offer too many challenges in terms of adoption.

    However, RingCentral Video comparisons show that Microsoft has fewer free features, making RingCentral Video the better choice. If more organizations made the change, collaborations would be more streamlined.

While it’s clear that RingCentral Video offers better functionality, it’s important to measure customer experiences. So, what makes RingCentral Video a user favorite?

  • Flexibility - Unlike Microsoft, RingCentral Video works on docs other than Word, meaning that teams using Google Docs or PDFs can still use it just as easily. With RingCentral Video, use real-time editing and version control on these documents for ultimate team collaboration. Users like flexibility when working with different clients who may favor a different type of document. 
  • Seamless transitions - RingCentral Video allows users to transition seamlessly between team messages and video meetings. It has a smart user interface, which keeps communication in real time and doesn’t become overwhelmed by too much activity, whether you’re using a desktop or mobile app.
  • HD video quality - Users want to see their colleagues in clear definition. RingCentral Video allows for team communications in HD, ensuring that everyone can see what’s going on. This makes it a great place to hold meetings, interviews, and team events without the worry of glitching or freezing. You can also lower distracting background noise to ensure video chatting has minimal distractions. 
  • Integrations - RingCentral Video works well and runs seamlessly side by side with other programs, such as automation software, CRM software, task management software, or project management software.

    RingCentral Video also integrates with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, making it easy to connect the team with just one click. Don’t forget about RingEX, RingCentral Video (formerly, RingCentral Meetings), and Gmail, too.

RingCentral Video vs Microsoft Teams: Support

Support is a key feature in any app, software, or function. When a customer chooses to use collaboration software, the support from the provider needs to be quick, efficient, and helpful. As such, Microsoft and RingCentral should provide excellent support and software advice for any user. 

With RingCentral Video by RingCentral, this is certainly the case. RingCentral is RingCentral Video’s parent company, and it has award-winning customer service. This includes free, 24/7 access to the support team online or by phone. Whenever you have questions about RingCentral Video, RingCentral is available to help. 

Unlike RingCentral Video, Microsoft is a bigger service, which means that customer support is often less thorough at an individual user level. RingCentral strives to ensure everyone has the best user experience, no matter their concern.

RingCentral employee providing customer support via phone

Which is better for your team?

Okay, so we might be just a little biased here, but we think RingCentral Video by RingCentral is the better team collaboration tool. It has more features and offers better value for money. 

We work hard to ensure all users are happy and pride ourselves on cloud-based solutions that work. With video calling and team messaging more important now than ever, RingCentral Video will keep your team collaborating without glitches, lagging, or freezing.

For happy teams all-round, choose RingCentral Video. Give this collaboration software a try by viewing our demo.

Get Started