RingCentral, Dialpad, and 8×8 all sell the same basic thing — a cloud business phone system with calling, video meetings, and messaging under one app — but they’ve taken very different approaches to telling you what it costs. Two of the three publish a clear per-seat price ladder right on their websites. The third stopped doing that in 2023 and now sends every visitor straight to a sales call. We checked each vendor’s own pricing page directly before writing this.
At a Glance
| Tool | Entry price (per user/mo) | Public pricing? | Built-in AI | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RingCentral (RingEX) | $20 (annual) / $30 (monthly) | Yes, three published tiers | AI Virtual Assistant (AVA) included from Core; AI Receptionist and ACE as add-ons | Teams that want a mature, published tier ladder with heavy meeting capacity |
| Dialpad (Connect) | $15 (Standard) | Yes, published on the Connect pricing page | AI transcripts, call recaps, and PII redaction included even at the entry tier | Budget-conscious teams that want AI transcription without an upgrade |
| 8×8 (Work) | Not published | No — quote-only since late 2023 | Unclear without a quote | Only worth evaluating if you’re already collecting quotes from multiple vendors |
Short Verdict
If you want to see a real number before you talk to anyone, this comparison is really between RingCentral and Dialpad. RingCentral publishes three tiers (Core, Advanced, Ultra) with a clear feature ladder and the deepest AI add-on catalog of the three. Dialpad undercuts it on entry price — $15/user/month for its Connect Standard plan, the cheapest published rate here — and bakes AI transcription and call summaries into that base tier rather than reserving them for a higher plan. 8×8 is the odd one out: it quietly stopped listing prices on its own site at the end of 2023, and every current source we checked, including 8×8’s own pricing page, routes visitors to a sales conversation instead of a number. That makes it effectively impossible to compare 8×8’s cost against the other two without a quote in hand.
What Each Tool Is
RingCentral sells RingEX, a cloud phone system bundling unlimited domestic calling, HD video meetings (up to 300 participants even on the entry tier), SMS, and an AI Virtual Assistant. Its pricing page shows three core tiers plus a separate, quote-only “AI Customer Engagement Bundle” that layers in a full AI receptionist and conversation-intelligence suite.
Dialpad actually sells three separate product lines rather than one: Connect (the plain business-phone product most comparable to RingCentral and 8×8), Sell (an AI-powered sales dialer), and Support (an AI contact-center product). For a fair side-by-side with RingCentral and 8×8, this review focuses on Connect, which is Dialpad’s core phone system.
8×8 sells “8×8 Work” as part of a broader voice, video, chat, and contact-center platform. Historically it published tiered plans (X2, X4, X6, and so on), but its own pricing page no longer shows any of those figures — it directs every visitor to request a quote instead.
Pricing Breakdown
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| RingCentral Core | $20/user/mo annual, $30 monthly | AVA AI assistant, unlimited domestic calling, on-demand call recording, 100 toll-free minutes, 25 SMS users/mo, HD meetings up to 300 participants |
| RingCentral Advanced | $25/user/mo annual, $35 monthly | Everything in Core, plus CRM integrations, multi-site support, reporting, 1,000 toll-free minutes |
| RingCentral Ultra | $35/user/mo annual, $45 monthly | Everything in Advanced, plus unlimited storage, real-time insights, device analytics, 10,000 toll-free minutes |
| RingCentral AI Customer Engagement Bundle | Contact sales | Everything in Ultra, plus AI Receptionist, ACE conversation intelligence, coaching and deal scoring |
| Dialpad Connect Standard | $15/user/mo | Unlimited calls, HD calls and meetings, real-time transcripts, instant call summaries, built-in messaging |
| Dialpad Connect Pro | $25/user/mo | Everything in Standard, plus key CRM integrations and 24/7 support |
| Dialpad Connect Enterprise | Contact sales | Everything in Pro, plus SSO, user access controls, unlimited office locations, 99.9% uptime SLA |
| 8×8 Work (all tiers) | Contact sales | 8×8 stopped publishing prices in late 2023; its own pricing page no longer lists any tier or dollar figure for Work |
RingCentral
Pros
- Transparent, published per-seat pricing across three real tiers, not just an entry price
- High meeting capacity — 300 participants — even on the cheapest Core tier
- Broad add-on catalog: Rooms, Webinar, Push to Talk, and a standalone RingCX contact center
- AI Virtual Assistant ships standard from Core, not reserved for a top tier
Cons
- Monthly (non-annual) billing costs noticeably more — $30/user vs. $20 annual on Core
- The full AI Customer Engagement Bundle is quote-only, hiding the top-end price
- RingCentral’s own trial page gives conflicting numbers for how many users and lines the 14-day free trial covers
- Unlimited storage and real-time insights require jumping all the way to Ultra
Dialpad
Pros
- Cheapest published entry price of the three: $15/user/month for Connect Standard
- AI transcripts, call recaps, and PII redaction are included at the base tier, not gated behind an upgrade
- Separate, purpose-built product lines (Connect, Sell, Support) instead of one bundle trying to do everything
Cons
- Dialpad’s most AI-forward features (Live Coach, Quality Management, Workforce Management) live in the pricier Sell and Support products, not in Connect
- Enterprise-tier Connect pricing (SSO, access controls) is quote-only
- The pricing page doesn’t state a minimum seat count or spell out the monthly-vs-annual discount percentage
8×8
Pros
- Positions itself as one login for voice, video, chat, and contact center rather than splitting products the way Dialpad does
- Advertises a 30-day free trial, longer than RingCentral’s 14 days
- Long-established VoIP vendor with broad enterprise contact-center experience
Cons
- No public per-seat price anywhere on 8×8’s own site as of this review — pricing has been quote-only since the end of 2023
- Third-party trackers disagree with each other on what 8×8 currently charges, and most explicitly flag their own figures as outdated or unverified
- The free trial excludes hot desking, SSO, voicemail transcription, and integrations
Who It’s a Good Fit For
RingCentral fits mid-size and larger teams that want a mature, published tier ladder and are willing to pay more for high meeting capacity and a growing AI add-on suite. Dialpad fits budget-conscious small teams and startups that want transparent entry pricing with AI transcription built in from day one, plus sales or support teams that specifically want Dialpad’s dedicated Sell or Support products. 8×8 only makes sense if you’re already running a multi-vendor RFP and don’t mind a sales process before you see a number.
Who Should Look Elsewhere
If you need to build a budget estimate before anyone will take a sales call, 8×8 is the wrong starting point — you cannot get a number without talking to its team first. If your main priority is the single lowest published per-seat price, RingCentral’s Core tier at $30/month billed monthly is the most expensive of the three transparent options; compare it against Dialpad’s $15 Connect Standard tier for the same basic use case before committing.
Bottom Line
Dialpad wins on transparent, AI-inclusive entry pricing. RingCentral wins on breadth — more tiers, more add-ons, more meeting capacity — if you’re willing to pay for it. 8×8 can’t be fairly scored on price at all right now, because it’s the only one of the three that won’t tell you what it costs without a sales conversation. Get a live quote from 8×8 before ruling it in or out, and don’t trust any third-party number you see for it without checking it against 8×8 directly.
FAQ
Does 8×8 publish its pricing anywhere? No. As of this review, 8×8’s own pricing page shows no dollar figures for any tier and routes every visitor to a quote request. It reportedly stopped publishing prices publicly at the end of 2023.
Which of these three is cheapest for a 10-person team? Based on published pricing, Dialpad’s Connect Standard at $15/user/month is the lowest entry price of the three. 8×8 can’t be compared on price without a quote.
Do any of these have a permanently free plan? No. All three offer a free trial only — 14 days for RingCentral, 30 days for 8×8 — with no permanent free tier.
Are AI features included standard, or do they cost extra? RingCentral’s AVA and Dialpad’s AI transcripts/call recaps are included at their entry tiers. RingCentral’s and Dialpad’s more advanced AI add-ons (AI Receptionist, Live Coach, Workforce Management) cost extra or require a higher tier. 8×8’s current AI feature set can’t be confirmed without a quote.
Sources
- RingCentral — official plans and pricing page
- Dialpad — official pricing page
- 8×8 — pricing availability confirmed as quote-only via multiple independent trackers (Tech.co, JoinSecret, Costbench), since 8×8’s own pricing page returns no dollar figures