3CX vs Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) | TrustRadius

What users are saying about

Score 7.5 out of 10

Based on 47 reviews and ratings

Score 9 out of 10

Based on 138 reviews and ratings

Feature Rating Comparison

3CX

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)

Hosted PBX

Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

User templates

Call reports

Directory of employee names

3CX

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)

Answering rules

Call recording

Call park

Call screening

Message alerts

3CX

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)

Video conferencing

Audio conferencing

Video screen sharing

Instant messaging

3CX

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)

Mobile app for iOS

Mobile app for Android

Pros

Simplicity: Using a single 3CX interface we can manage every phone and extension used throughout our company.
Flexibility: There are a wide variety of options to configure each extension and phone. Changing anything after the hardware is deployed is very easy.
Portability: Phones with 3CX can be easily moved or repurposed within an office or at remote locations, including users' homes. The mobile app allows users to use their office extension anywhere without exposing their cell number.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Restaurants Company, 501-1000 employees

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This solution is extremely stable and has been running in our environment for several years without (unscheduled) downtime.
The ability to have voicemails automatically sent as an email message is extremely helpful in helping us to keep in touch while away from the desk.
The Call Manager provides us very granular settings to route our calls as we want.

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Verified User

Analyst in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Cons

The set up can seem a little daunting, especially if you plan to take it on internally.
The apps are great, having your extension on your device is great but the desktop/windows app is a little dated, could do with an update.

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Information Technology Officer

National Farmers And General Workers Co-operative Credit Union Society LimitedFinancial Services, 51-200 employees

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Administration web page is little bit hard to understand at the beginning specially if you are not familiar with naming convention and GU Interfaces.
Call Detail Record interface is fine but would be desirable to include more options that fit organization needs in terms of reporting purposes.
Self Care Portal interface could be more useful to the end user if it includes options to manage some features without administrators involving.

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Leonardo Gonzalez

Arquitecto en Soluciones de Colaboracion Cisco

DIRECTV Latin AmericaEntertainment, 1001-5000 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) 10.0

Based on 1 answer

We have been using this product for 20+ years and will continue too. This is a great product and new features are always coming out.

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Network Services Manager

M. J. Electric, LLCConstruction, 1001-5000 employees

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Usability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) 5.6

Based on 3 answers

Although it's very easy to use, once you understand the concepts of IP telephony, as I said before, I think Cisco could have improved the management interface of the platform, adding modern technologies and the design language of the other platforms like DNA Center, etc. This interface hasn't had a substantial improvement for about 10 years

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IT Infrastructure Specialist

RANDON S.AAutomotive, 5001-10,000 employees

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Support Rating

3CX 5.5

Based on 4 answers

The 3CX Phone System is only a five because while they provide set-up/how-to/Q and A documents to help your district or company get started, they do not offer support for free. The documents provided, though, are good enough for you to get you up and running. We also found a good source of help through a sip trunk provider, which was a 3CX reseller provider.

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Laura Steinbrink

HS Teacher/District Tech Integration Specialist

Plato R-V School DistrictEducation Management, 51-200 employees

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Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) 9.2

Based on 16 answers

CUCM is supported by most third-party vendors for related products, so it makes finding solutions to specific needs easy. Also Cisco TAC is very knowledgeable, and we have never run into a problem they have not been able to resolve. Usually they are resolved without the need to escalate tickers either.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Implementation Rating

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) 10.0

Based on 1 answer

This was the first phone system we implemented that could span multiple locations. We were very satisfied once fully implemented

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Network Services Manager

M. J. Electric, LLCConstruction, 1001-5000 employees

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Alternatives Considered

The main differences between 8x8, Inc. and 3CX is pricing and ease of use in my opinion. The 3CX system uses annual based pricing plans based on of simultaneous calls your company needs, not the number of extensions/users and offers a free plan. 8x8, Inc. charges per extension with different plans. We currently have 19 extensions so the 3CX system makes more sense for us, however, if your company only has a few extensions you may want to throughly consider both options. In my experience, it was difficult to add new extensions and phones with 8x8 because at least at that time we had 8x8 I could not add anything on the web admin. I had to call a sales rep which took a lot more time. Also, if you didn't purchase a phone and/or headset directly from 8x8 at a usually higher price than Amazon for example then you would have to spend anywhere from 30 minutes to hours on the phone with 8x8 tech support to program the phone to work with the 8x8 system so adding a new extension could turn into a long ordeal. I can easily add new extensions on 3CX directly in the web cpanel. Granted, if you are actually adding a new phone number you would need to purchase that number from a company like ATT first before adding it to 3CX. The difference between a phone number and an extension would be a phone number allows a customer to call in directly using that number. The extension would require the customer to call the main business number then be transferred to the extension. 3CX provides a list of supported phone models on their website

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Arts and Crafts Company, 11-50 employees

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We have been a Cisco based shop and have looked at other cloud voice options such as MS Teams pbx, and others, but ultimately, the features, endpoints, and reliability of Cisco has been the common factor in staying with them as our voice provider. Their integrations, room systems, and hybrid design allows for us to be flexible and keep a high up time vs reliance on 100% cloud.

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Verified User

Supervisor in Information Technology

Financial Services Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Return on Investment

3CX has a lot to offer for a very low cost as its business model is based on simultaneous calls and not per device. It's very cost effective and very affordable.
As the 3CX server does not require a high-performance server to run, with the Public Cloud option, it might allow even further savings.

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Artur Bittencourt

Information Technology Manager

Corporation of the Township of EsquimaltGovernment Administration, 51-200 employees

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Communication and collaboration - Our offices are able to communicate both internally and externally due to this system.
Down time - Struggles with CUCM has caused a lot of down time due to the instability of the system.
High Costs - the cost of both the license and the maintenance was much higher than other systems.

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Mental Health Care Company, 501-1000 employees

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Screenshots

See All (6) 3CX Screenshots

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

Yes

Free/Freemium Version

Yes

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Yes

Entry-level set up fee?

Optional

3CX Editions & Modules

Edition

Standard	Free
Pro	1.08²
Enterprise	1.31²

none
per user/per month

Additional Pricing Details

Price displayed is based on 25 users. 3CX pricing is based on the number of simultaneous calls your business requires or in other words, how many calls your system needs to support at once. Unlike other PBX vendors there is no per extension cost.

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager) Editions & Modules

—

Additional Pricing Details

Must contact sales team for pricing

Rating Summary

3CX

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)

3CX

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)

3CX

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)

3CX

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)

3CX

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)

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