Catch Advisors
Unified Communications

RingCentral vs 8x8 vs Nextiva: UCaaS Comparison for IT Leaders

Choosing a UCaaS platform is one of the most impactful technology decisions an organization can make. It affects every employee, every call, and every collaboration workflow. RingCentral, 8x8, and Nextiva are three of the most evaluated platforms in the market, and each has distinct strengths depending on your organization’s size, industry, and priorities.

This is a vendor-neutral comparison based on our experience deploying all three platforms across clients in healthcare, legal, manufacturing, and financial services.

1. Platform Overview

RingCentral is the largest pure-play UCaaS provider in the market. It offers a comprehensive platform covering voice, video, messaging, fax, and contact center through RingCentral Contact Center (powered by NICE). RingCentral’s ecosystem of integrations is the deepest in the UCaaS space, with over 300 pre-built integrations and an open API platform.

8x8 differentiates itself by combining UCaaS and CCaaS into a single platform (XCaaS). For organizations that need both internal communications and customer-facing contact center capabilities without managing two vendors, 8x8 offers a unified licensing and administration experience.

Nextiva has built its reputation on reliability and customer service, particularly in the small to mid-market segment. Nextiva’s platform includes voice, video, and team messaging, with a growing set of CRM and customer experience features built directly into the platform.

2. Feature Comparison

Voice and Calling

All three platforms deliver enterprise-grade voice with auto-attendants, call queues, ring groups, call recording, and voicemail transcription. The differences show up in the details:

  • RingCentral offers the most granular call management with multi-level IVR, advanced call routing rules, and a mature mobile app experience. Its PSTN coverage spans 45+ countries, making it the strongest option for global deployments.
  • 8x8 provides unlimited calling to 14 or 48 countries depending on the plan, which can be a significant cost advantage for organizations with high international call volume.
  • Nextiva focuses on simplicity and reliability with a clean admin interface that requires less technical expertise to manage. Its call flow builder is the most intuitive of the three.

Video and Collaboration

  • RingCentral supports up to 500 participants per meeting with AI-powered meeting summaries, live transcription, and whiteboarding. It also integrates natively with Microsoft Teams and Google Workspace.
  • 8x8 provides video meetings for up to 500 participants with streaming capabilities. Its video experience is solid but not as feature-rich as RingCentral’s.
  • Nextiva supports video meetings for up to 250 participants. Its video capabilities are improving but remain behind the other two in terms of AI features and meeting size.

Integrations

This is where the platforms diverge most significantly:

  • RingCentral leads with 300+ integrations including Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, ServiceNow, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and dozens of industry-specific tools. Its open API and developer platform make custom integrations feasible.
  • 8x8 offers solid integrations with major CRM and productivity platforms but has a smaller ecosystem. Its strength is the native UCaaS/CCaaS integration, which eliminates the need for third-party contact center connectors.
  • Nextiva has a growing integration library and recently expanded its CRM integration capabilities. It integrates well with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace but has fewer specialized integrations than RingCentral.

3. Contact Center Capabilities

If your organization needs contact center functionality, this is a critical differentiator:

  • RingCentral partners with NICE for its contact center offering (RingCentral Contact Center). This provides a full-featured CCaaS platform but means you are effectively managing two platforms under one roof.
  • 8x8 builds its contact center natively into the same platform as its UCaaS (XCaaS). This means agents and back-office employees share the same directory, presence, and admin console. For organizations that need both, this is 8x8’s strongest selling point.
  • Nextiva offers contact center capabilities through its Nextiva Contact Center product, which is growing but still maturing compared to dedicated CCaaS platforms.

4. Pricing Structure

All three vendors use per-user, per-month pricing with tiered plans. Actual pricing varies significantly based on user count, contract length, and negotiation. Working with an advisor who has volume pricing relationships can save 20-40% compared to going direct.

General positioning:

  • RingCentral is typically the highest list price but offers the most features per tier. Enterprise discounts can be substantial.
  • 8x8 is competitive on pricing, especially when bundling UCaaS and CCaaS together. The international calling inclusion can eliminate the need for separate calling plans.
  • Nextiva is often the most affordable option for small to mid-market organizations, with straightforward pricing and fewer add-on charges.

5. Where Each Platform Fits Best

Choose RingCentral if:

  • You need deep integrations with CRM, ERP, or industry-specific tools
  • You have a global workforce across multiple countries
  • You want the largest feature set and are willing to pay for it
  • You need a mature API platform for custom development

Choose 8x8 if:

  • You need both UCaaS and CCaaS on a single platform
  • International calling is a significant part of your operations
  • You want unified administration across communications and contact center
  • You are cost-conscious but need enterprise-grade features

Choose Nextiva if:

  • You are a small to mid-market organization that values simplicity
  • You do not need extensive third-party integrations
  • Customer support responsiveness is a top priority
  • You want an easy-to-manage platform without a dedicated IT team

6. What We See in the Field

Across our client deployments, we have found that the right platform depends more on the organization’s operational requirements than on feature checklists. A law firm with 16 offices and heavy CRM integration needs is a different evaluation than a healthcare system with 500 contact center agents and HIPAA requirements.

The most common mistake we see is choosing a platform based on a demo rather than a structured evaluation. All three platforms demo well. The differences show up in day-to-day operations, contract terms, support responsiveness, and how well the platform handles your specific workflows.

Making the Right Choice

The platform comparison is just one part of the decision. Contract structure, implementation approach, and ongoing vendor management matter just as much. If you are evaluating UCaaS platforms and want a vendor-neutral perspective, we can help you run a structured evaluation that gets you the right platform at the right price.

Need help evaluating UCaaS platforms? Schedule a free assessment and we will map your requirements to the right solution.