Cost of Enterprise Phone Systems

FreePBX has always blown me away with how many features it has for an open-source product (much like Dicourse running the FreePBX forum).

For those who have first-hand knowledge, how much do companies pay for equivalent service with systems like Cisco, Avaya, Nortel, etc. I imagine the prices vary wildly depending on particular setups, scale of phones, etc., but I’d like to hear how much people have had to pay for a phone system that probably could have easily been handled by FreePBX.

It’s hard to compare FreePBX to those systems in regards to “Free Open Source” vs “Paid”. One the one hand, FreePBX does have a lot of features in the “Free” version. On the other hand, additional features and functionality are available with Commercial modules. Even third-party add-ons can cost money to get them working on FreePBX.

Vendors like Mitel, Avaya, etc don’t directly deal with the end user (you). They have verified/licensed distributors that sell and support the PBX. Sangoma has direct sales/support. The other PBXes come as an appliance, full hardware (for the most part). FreePBX is an ISO download but they also offer appliances.

So it comes down to the same ole thing as always, which one provides me all the features/functions that I need/want at the most reasonable cost. Because at the end of the day a lot of people end up paying $1,000’s for FreePBX with commercial/third-party modules/hardware/etc.

When my team (I run sales for the Americas region for Sangoma) engages clients comparing Sangoma UC offerings to Cisco, Avaya etc… we will typically will first recommend PBXact, this is a more apples to apples comparison. PBXact which is available as a software only solution to install on your own hardware, and of course is also available preloaded on our appliances. We go this direction because PBXact is a fully ‘commercially’ supported offering. “Commercial Supported” doesn’t mean to imply that we don’t also ‘support’ FreePBX, what this means for PBXact is if you purchase an appliance from us loaded with PBXact you will have a warranty from Sangoma on both the hardware AND the software platform, alternatively if you purchase the same appliance loaded with FreePBX we warranty the hardware, however your software is limited to the terms of the open source distribution, Pretty much ‘as is’ no warranty on the software.

PBXact systems come pre-licensed with additional features that are add-ons for FreePBX, and since the PBXact platform has a tight version control it is much easier for our support technicians to support as we know what’s “under the hood” FreePBX gives you lots of Freedom, but many commercial enterprises want a tighter more controlled setup. In many cases you can deploy a PBXact system quicker and for less money than you can a comparable FreePBX system.

  • Sangoma Phone Apps and auto-provisioning free for Sangoma phones (small add-on for other supported handsets)
  • Zulu is included with PBXact Systems
  • Easy Setup wizards, not available in FreePBX
  • “easy/simple mode” which streamlines the core PBX modules, to make it easier for novice admins to manage the systems. not available in FreePBX

You can find more details here: https://www.sangoma.com/products/pbxact/

For a a quick sample of pricing, as of August 22nd, 2018:
MSRP on PBXact Appliance 25 (licensed for 25 users) is $645 , Annual Gold support is $150 and Platinum Support is $225.00
MSRP on PBXact Software license for 50 users is $800, Annual Gold support is $210 and Platinum support is $315

If you want more specific quotes you can reach out to us here: https://www.sangoma.com/request-a-quote/

Or if you do this for a living, I would suggest you visit and join our partner program, which will provide you discounts when purchasing from us or our distributors:

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