3CX vs. Cisco VoIP PBX

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
3CX
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Cyprus based company 3CX offers an IP PBX phone system.
$1.08
per user/per month
Cisco VoIP PBX
Score 7.6 out of 10
N/A
Cisco offers VoIP PBX capability.N/A
Pricing
3CXCisco VoIP PBX
Editions & Modules
Pro
$1.08
per user/per month
Enterprise
$1.31
per user/per month
Standard
Free
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
3CXCisco VoIP PBX
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPrice 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.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
3CXCisco VoIP PBX
Considered Both Products
3CX
Chose 3CX
Other phone systems we evaluated were more traditional PBX systems using proprietary hardware servers. We chose 3CX for the flexibility and self-service capabilities. For us this meant being able to replace an aging phone system in one move, then bringing remote locations into …
Cisco VoIP PBX

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
3CXCisco VoIP PBX
Small Businesses
Sangoma Asterisk
Sangoma Asterisk
Score 8.3 out of 10
Sangoma Asterisk
Sangoma Asterisk
Score 8.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Sangoma Asterisk
Sangoma Asterisk
Score 8.3 out of 10
Sangoma Asterisk
Sangoma Asterisk
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Sangoma Asterisk
Sangoma Asterisk
Score 8.3 out of 10
Sangoma Asterisk
Sangoma Asterisk
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
3CXCisco VoIP PBX
Likelihood to Recommend
7.9
(14 ratings)
7.6
(8 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
5.4
(2 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
3CXCisco VoIP PBX
Likelihood to Recommend
3CX
In many scenarios decision is driven by budget and compared to other solutions at the time of purchase [3CX] was simply the cheapest solution for what it has to offer. If you are looking for integrations, extensibility, and advanced functionalities, this might not be a solution for you. At the time of use (and this may have changed by now), there was a lack of APIs, CLI commands, and similar so nothing could be automated with the system. There are ways of importing data through CSV but automation would solve us so much time and support calls if we were able to connect with other systems.
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Cisco
The solution has almost everything I need to do my job, which is to keep in touch with my customers by phone calls and meetings. On the go, the softphone has room to improve user experience (Cisco Jabber), and as far as I know, Webex App should fill the gaps left by Jabber, but it depends to upgrade the system to the last version and that costs. Besides that, the solution is rock solid! Good audio quality in voice and video, integration with MSFT Teams and so reliable.
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Pros
3CX
  • 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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Cisco
  • Local routing on remote branches
  • Telephony features flexibility
  • Different endpoint alternatives for all use cases
  • Real integration with other systems or platforms
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Cons
3CX
  • I would like to be able to see direct-dial numbers on the handsets. Currently that is not possible but that would be a nice feature.
  • You need an SBC per location, which can be a point of failure.
  • You also need a server that might get disconnected, which is another point of failure.
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Cisco
  • The setup flow was limited, unclear, and was not working for a while, IT didn't manage to fix it.
  • The UI looks terribly old, not even a little bit looking like a hardphone.
  • More options during a call.
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Usability
3CX
No answers on this topic
Cisco
All main features is very easy to access and use, only pressing a button or two (when you need to page up or page down the features set!) in the desk phone or a click of the mouse to place a call, start a chat, video call or a meeting. Very straight forward.
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Support Rating
3CX
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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Cisco
Cisco offers online instruction on the use of the VoIP but it has to be sought out. Likely, the do offer additional support but this is managed by our IT department so it is difficult to determine just how accessible Cisco has been regarding the implementation and ongoing support for this product.
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Alternatives Considered
3CX
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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Cisco
As we all know,Cisco is one of the best and trusted companies when it comes to networking,most of our materials were all Cisco,Cisco routers,Cisco IP phones..etc They're more handy and easy to use and don't require an IT experience,I used an IP phone to receive a call,and it was very easy to use and the sound was clear,here it comes the good configuration of a Cisco Voip PBx
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Return on Investment
3CX
  • 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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Cisco
  • Positive impact is users are happy with service provided by Cisco VoIP PBX.
  • End-users are happy by using multiple functions like conferencing, transferring, call park, etc.
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ScreenShots

3CX Screenshots

Screenshot of Video ConferencingScreenshot of Advanced Contact Center ReportingScreenshot of Management DashboardScreenshot of Live ChatScreenshot of 3CX AppScreenshot of See the Status of Your Colleagues