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RingRx markets itself as an advanced phone system built for the healthcare industry.
The pitch is clean: HIPAA-compliant calling, fax, text, and routing for practices of every size. But the advertised pricing is hardly the final amount on your bill.
Your invoice includes taxes, surcharges, and add-ons that significantly increase your bill.
Thus, a plan that looks affordable at first glance can cost a bit more by the time it hits your account. And for solo practitioners or small front office operations watching every dollar, that difference is crucial.
In this article, we break down what RingRx charges and show where the costs pile up. We’ll also introduce you to iPlum, a more affordable, fully HIPAA-compliant RingRx alternative.
Let’s get after it.
Also read: iPlum vs RingRx—Which is Better for Patient Communication?
Table of Contents
1. What RingRx charges per plan
2. The add-ons that quietly raise your bill
3. RingRx taxes and surcharges
5. iPlum: the best RingRx alternative
6. iPlum pricing: what you see is what you pay
7. RingRx pricing vs. iPlum: a direct cost comparison
8. Why you should switch to iPlum
What RingRx charges per plan
RingRx offers three pricing tiers: Lite, Grow, and Clinic.
Each plan targets a different stage of practice growth. But as you move up the tiers, the gap between what's advertised and what you actually pay becomes more apparent.
Lite — $15 per user per month
The Lite plan is RingRx's base plan.
For $15 per user, you get core business voice features: a business phone number, unlimited inbound and outbound communication, a virtual receptionist, and HIPAA-compliant voicemail. There's one HIPAA-secure voicemail box per user.
That said, the Lite plan doesn't include text, fax, or voicemail transcription. Sure, it offers routing, but there’s no call recording unless you pay an extra $5 per user per month. In addition, you don’t get a toll-free phone number unless you add another $5.
For a front office that needs more than basic calling, Lite runs out of room fast.
Grow — $19 per user per month.
The Grow plan adds web-based faxing, voicemail transcription, text messaging for both patients and teams, and RingRx OnCall routing. Each user also gets one voice and one fax phone number.
At $19 per user, it looks reasonable on paper. But patient texting through the Grow plan comes with mandatory TCR registration, and RingRx passes those fees directly to you. More on that shortly.
Call recording still costs an extra $5 per user. Toll-free numbers add another $5. And if your front office needs RingRx Outreach, that's an additional $29-$49 per month on top of everything else.
Clinic — $ 25 per user per month.
The Clinic plan is RingRx's most feature-complete tier. For $25 per user, you get everything in Grow, plus a free desk phone, two HIPAA-secure voicemail boxes, web and machine faxing, and virtual conference rooms for video calls.
The virtual receptionist upgrades to an enterprise-level configuration. Call routing becomes more advanced, with unlimited ring groups and anti-spam privacy features.
At $25, it's the closest thing RingRx has to an all-in-one system. But call recording still costs extra. So does toll-free. And the taxes and surcharges haven't touched your bill yet.
The add-ons that quietly raise your bill
RingRx presents its pricing tiers as complete communication packages. They're not.
Several features that healthcare professionals consider standard are sold separately.
Here's what the base plans leave out and what you'll pay to add them.
Call recording costs $5 per user per month across all plans. The Lite, Grow, and Clinic tiers all charge the same add-on rate. For a practice with five users, that's an extra $25 per month, $300 per year just for recording.
Toll-free phone numbers cost an additional $5 per user per month. If your front office uses a toll-free number for patient calls, those costs are added to your base plan fee.
RingRx Outreach, the platform's outbound patient engagement tool, runs $29 to $49 per month, depending on the tier. For practices that use automated reminders or outbound text campaigns, this is a non-negotiable add-on.
Call center queues cost $65 per queue per month. For hospitals or larger practices running dedicated call center operations, this number climbs quickly.
Now add those figures to your base plan. A five-user Grow plan at $19 per user is $95 per month. Add call recording ($25), a toll-free phone number ($25), and RingRx Outreach ($29), and you're at $174 per month before a single tax or surcharge hits your bill.
RingRx taxes and surcharges
Every RingRx plan page carries an asterisk next to the pricing. The fine print reads: "Does not include applicable taxes and fees."
That's not a minor disclaimer. It's a significant cost addition that varies depending on where your practice operates.
RingRx calculates telecom taxes under the "safe harbor" rule. The formula assumes 64.9% of your traffic is interstate (federal) and 35.1% is intrastate (state and local). Federal and state tax agencies then apply their respective rates to those portions of your bill.
Here's what that looks like on a single-user clinic plan at $25 per month.
Federal charges hit first. The Federal Universal Service Fund (FUSF) alone accounts for 37% of your bill, applied to the interstate portion, roughly $16.23 of the $25 base. That adds approximately $6.00 per month.
Small federal pooling fees for TRS, NANP, LNP, and FCC regulatory costs add another $0.08 to $0.15.
State and local charges vary significantly by location. A California-based practice on a $25 plan pays an estimated $32.69 to $33.81 per month after all state surcharges, local utility taxes, and E911 fees are applied.
The table below shows how that number shifts across five states:
A $25 plan in Texas can cost up to $35.15 per user per month. In Oregon, the same plan runs as low as $31.65.
TCR texting fees
Text messaging in healthcare isn't as straightforward as it looks.
Before a phone system can send patient texts at scale, it must register with The Campaign Registry (TCR). TCR is an industry body that mobile carriers use to verify legitimate business texting and control spam.
RingRx is upfront about this on its pricing page. For Grow and Clinic plans, the fine print reads: "Pricing does not include monthly fees set by TCR for patient texting. These fees are collected by RingRx and remitted to TCR on your behalf."
In plain language, RingRx collects TCR fees from you every month and passes them along. The exact amount depends on your messaging volume and campaign type, but it's an ongoing monthly cost in addition to your base plan fee.
For a practice that sends regular patient reminders, appointment confirmations, or follow-up texts, the charges add up over a calendar year.
iPlum: the best RingRx alternative
iPlum is a cloud-based phone system built for healthcare professionals who need reliable, HIPAA-compliant communication without paying a premium.
The app works on iOS and Android, turning any personal smartphone into a dedicated business line.
With iPlum, Healthcare professionals get a separate phone number for calls, texts, and voicemail all running through the iPlum app on the same device they already use. There’s no desk phone required, hardware to lease or buy.
Security is built into the system.
iPlum uses encrypted texting to protect patient data, and every Professional and Enterprise plan comes with a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), a legal requirement for HIPAA-compliant communication with patients.
iPlum also handles TCR registration differently from RingRx. There's a one-time $20 fee per business. There are no per-user remittances, and practices pay once.
Taxes and surcharges don't appear as separate line items either. iPlum absorbs them internally, so the price listed on the plan page is the price on your invoice.
For solo practitioners, small practices, and growing front-office operations, iPlum offers a straightforward proposition with more features, stronger privacy protections, and a lower total cost than RingRx at every comparable tier.
iPlum pricing: what you see is what you pay
iPlum offers three pricing tiers. Every plan comes with a clear, flat monthly rate as follows:
Standard — $8.99 per user per month
The Standard plan is iPlum's base plan for mobile healthcare professionals who need a dedicated business line.
For $8.99 per user, you get a US or Canada phone number, unlimited calling, texting and a phone tree.
For solo practitioners who need a professional, separate business line without a large monthly commitment, Standard covers the basics at a price RingRx can't match, even before taxes.
Professional — $14.99 per user per month
The Professional plan is where iPlum earns its reputation as a HIPAA-compliant communication tool for healthcare professionals.
For $14.99 per user, you get everything in Standard, plus encrypted texting, voicemail transcription, group and broadcast text, text-to-email, scheduled texting, text templates, business contacts, and text archiving for 1 year.
The plan also adds web calling and texting, number sharing, and a free iPlum account for your patients.
Most importantly, the Professional plan includes full HIPAA compliance and a Business Associate Agreement (BAA).
For healthcare professionals managing patient communication, the BAA alone makes this plan worth the price.
At $14.99, iPlum's Professional plan costs less than RingRx's base Lite plan at $15, and delivers significantly more.
Enterprise — $25.99 per user per month
The Enterprise plan adds call recording, recording consent announcements, and 10-year archiving for both recordings and texts, a critical feature for regulated healthcare environments and hospitals that must adhere to strict security standards.
For practices in highly regulated sectors, long-term archiving isn't optional. The Enterprise plan includes it as standard for $25.99 per user, comparable to RingRx's Clinic plan at $25, but with archiving built in and no separate call recording add-on fee.
RingRx pricing vs. iPlum: a direct cost comparison
Numbers tell the story better than any sales pitch. Here's how RingRx and iPlum compare at equivalent tiers.
Entry level: RingRx Lite ($15) vs. iPlum Professional ($14.99)
RingRx's cheapest plan costs $15 per user per month. For that, you get basic calling, a virtual receptionist, and one HIPAA-secure voicemail box. However, there's no texting, no fax, no voicemail transcription, and no call recording unless you pay extra.
iPlum's Professional plan costs $14.99 per user per month, one cent less than RingRx Lite. For that, you get encrypted texting, voicemail transcription, group text, broadcast text, scheduled texting, text templates, web calling, a BAA, and full HIPAA compliance.
While the pricing is nearly identical, the feature differences are not.
Mid-tier: RingRx Grow ($19) vs. iPlum Professional ($14.99)
The Grow plan adds patient texting, web-based faxing, and voicemail transcription to RingRx's offering.
At $19 per user, it's $4 more per user per month than iPlum's Professional plan, which already includes all those features plus HIPAA compliance and a BAA.
For a five-user practice, that's $20 more per month, $240 more per year before taxes, surcharges, or TCR fees.
Top tier: RingRx Clinic ($25) vs. iPlum Enterprise ($25.99)
At the top tier, RingRx charges $25 per user for its Clinic plan. Call recording costs an extra $5 per user. That brings the real per-user cost to $30 for a fully loaded Clinic plan.
iPlum's Enterprise plan costs $25.99 per user and includes call recording, recording consent announcements, and 10-year archiving.
Add RingRx's taxes, surcharges, and ongoing TCR fees, and the gap widens further with every billing cycle.
Why you should switch to iPlum
RingRx isn't a bad phone system. However, the advertised pricing doesn't reflect what you actually pay.
The add-ons, taxes, surcharges, and monthly TCR fees turn a $19 or $25 base plan into a significantly larger monthly expense. For solo practitioners and small practices watching their overhead, that difference compounds over a full year.
iPlum charges a flat monthly rate. Taxes are absorbed. It offers call recording and 10-year archiving, which are included in the Enterprise plan with no add-ons required. And HIPAA compliance with a BAA is included with the Professional plan at $14.99 per user.
For healthcare professionals who need a reliable, secure, HIPAA-compliant communication tool that won't inflate their monthly bill, iPlum is the more transparent choice.
Get started with iPlum
iPlum offers a straightforward path for healthcare professionals ready to make the switch.
To get started, all you need to do is sign up, pick a plan, and get a dedicated business phone number running on the device you already use.
Click the link below to get your HIPAA-compliant, iPlum number built for security and scale.
