3CX
Software PBX licensed per simultaneous call, self-hosted or hosted by 3CX — cheap per seat at scale, sold only through partners who increasingly describe it as hard to work with.
How we test3CX V20 is licensed by simultaneous calls rather than users, which makes it the cheapest per-seat option here for larger deployments: an 8-SC Pro licence is £330 a year, a 64-SC licence £2,240, plus a hosting add-on if you don't self-host. It has a full web/desktop/mobile client set, broad SIP desk-phone provisioning, Teams and CRM integrations, and a Configuration REST API plus a Call Control API.
The problems are commercial and trust-related. Since 2025, 3CX has moved to a partner-only model, de-emphasised SMBs, raised the 4-SC price by 43%, deleted and then reintroduced a free edition, imposed extension caps of 5–8× the SC count, and charges per support ticket — "rule changes mid-game" is the recurring partner complaint. The March 2023 supply-chain breach, in which the desktop app was trojanised via a compromised build server, is still the reference case for PBX software security. Trustpilot: 2.5/5 on 175 reviews. We have run 3CX in production; the partner-only model and the difficulty of working with the vendor, as reported by partners, are our direct observation.
Pros
- +Lowest cost per seat at scale
- +Flexible hosting — self-host anywhere, or 3CX-hosted in London
- +Mature client apps and desk-phone provisioning
Cons
- −Partner-only sales, and a vendor partners describe as difficult to work with (our direct observation)
- −Repeated licensing rule changes, extension caps and paid support tickets
- −The 2023 supply-chain breach remains the reference case for PBX software security
Pricing
Minimum commitment: £330 — £330/yr for the entry licence. The least you can spend before walking away; excludes numbers, minutes and add-ons.
Pro — 8 simultaneous calls
£330/yr · annual commitment
Month-to-month: not published
- ✓Basic £250 · AI/Enterprise £480
Pro — 16 SC
£660/yr · annual commitment
Month-to-month: not published
- ✓32 SC £1,125 · 64 SC £2,240
Hosted by 3CX add-on
£245/yr · annual commitment
Month-to-month: not published
- ✓4–8 SC; up to £1,660/yr for 96–256 SC
Specifications
| Rating | 3.3 |
| Month-to-month (entry plan) | Annual only |
| Annual commit, per month | £330/yr |
| Minimum commitment* | £330 |
| Min seats | 4 |
| Deployment | Hybrid |
| Sales model | Partner only |
| Public API | ✓ |
| MCP server | No |
| Emergency 911/999/112 | ✓ |
| Trustpilot (reviews) | 2.5 (175) |
| Integrations | Microsoft 365 / Teams, Salesforce, HubSpot +3 |
| Commitment for annual rate (months) | 12 |
*How we calculate minimum commitment. Headline per-user prices hide the real cost of trying a platform. Total cost of ownership is licence × seats × term, plus usage, add-ons, setup fees and any early-exit charges. Our "minimum commitment" figure is the floor of that: the entry plan's committed rate × the minimum seats the vendor will sell × the months you must commit to (one month at the month-to-month rate where there is no commitment; the licence price where it is sold per year). It deliberately excludes usage, add-ons and prerequisite licences, so your real first bill will be higher — but never lower than this. For Teams Phone the excluded prerequisites are the Microsoft 365 and Teams licences.
Researched and drafted with AI assistance; reviewed and approved by Tim Meredith. How we use AI