Business phone pricing comes in two shapes, and the difference decides what you actually pay. Per-seat plans charge for each person and usually include one number with each seat. Package plans bundle a set number of users and numbers into a single monthly price and charge for anything above that bundle. Ringlite is the second kind. The two are easy to compare once you know your team size, so this guide puts real numbers side by side for teams of three, five, ten and fifteen people.
Per-seat pricing and package pricing
With per-seat pricing, the monthly cost is the seat price multiplied by the number of people. Extra numbers beyond the ones the seats include cost more, and some vendors set a minimum number of seats. Cost scales in a straight line: more people, more money, every month, with no bundle to absorb growth.
Package pricing bundles users and numbers into a plan and charges for the extras over the bundle. Ringlite's Team and Business plans include a pool of call minutes the whole workspace shares, Starter is pay as you go, and calls past the pool are billed per minute. For a team that fits a bundle, the monthly figure stays put as the team grows inside it.
What the same team pays
| People and numbers | Ringlite | Quo Business | CallHippo Professional | Aircall Essentials | KrispCall Starter | RingCentral Core | JustCall Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Team at $45 | Quo Business at $99 | CallHippo Professional at $90 | Aircall Essentials at $120 | KrispCall Starter at $45 | RingCentral Core at $90 | JustCall Team at $117 |
| 5 | Team at $85 | Quo Business at $165 | CallHippo Professional at $150 | Aircall Essentials at $200 | KrispCall Starter at $75 | RingCentral Core at $150 | JustCall Team at $195 |
| 10 | Business at $130 | Quo Business at $330 | CallHippo Professional at $300 | Aircall Essentials at $400 | KrispCall Advance at $400 | RingCentral Core at $300 | JustCall Team at $390 |
| 15 | Business at $215 | Quo Business at $495 | CallHippo Professional at $450 | Aircall Essentials at $600 | KrispCall Advance at $600 | RingCentral Core at $450 | JustCall Team at $585 |
Ringlite figures are the recommended package for that many people and numbers, before usage and taxes. Competitor figures use each vendor's published monthly seat price, include the numbers their seats carry, and add extra numbers only where the vendor publishes a price for them.
Ringlite's packages
- Starter: $15 a month for 1 user and 1 number.
- Team: $45 a month for 3 users and 3 numbers.
- Business: $130 a month for 10 users and 10 numbers.
Extra users and extra numbers are monthly add-ons on the paid plans, and paying yearly bills 10 months instead of twelve (2 months free).
What the headline price leaves out
The number on a pricing page is rarely the whole bill. These are the lines to look for.
- Call usage past the included pool. Ringlite bills 1.2¢ a minute after the pool, and a bundle of 1,000 minutes costs $10.
- Texts. Ringlite bills 1.5¢ per segment, 3.5¢ for a picture message and 10¢ a page for fax, with a 1,000-text bundle at $13.
- Extra numbers. One number per seat runs out as soon as you want a line for the front desk and another for the field, and extra numbers are billed every month.
- Texting registration. 10DLC registration carries a one-time charge plus a small monthly carrier fee, shown as one total at checkout.
- Taxes and fees, which vary by where you are and are added on top of the price you see.
- "Unlimited" calling. Where a plan advertises unlimited minutes, that promise sits under a fair use policy, and the real limits are in the policy rather than on the pricing page.
Where Ringlite is not the cheapest
Two honest notes before you decide. First, KrispCall Starter costs the same as Ringlite or less for a team of five or fewer, so if that is your size and the lowest monthly number is what matters, compare it directly. Second, coverage. Ringlite does US calling and texting to the 48 contiguous states and nothing else, so if you call or text Canada, Alaska, Hawaii or international numbers, it will not do the job and a provider with wider coverage will.
Each Ringlite number carries up to 2 live calls at once and about 150 outbound calls a day. Heavy outbound teams give each caller their own number rather than sharing one line, and that is a cost to plan for.
Open the calculator Put in your team size and number count and see the monthly total, before usage and taxes.