FreePBX vs Elastix

General Help
1

I’m pretty sure this has been asked many times before but I just wanted to clarify.

I know both FreePBX and Elastix are feature rich, so my question is not about features, although if there is a significant difference please let me know.

I wanted to ask about their licensing and their limitations. This is important for us while we are still deciding which PBX to choose and stay with for a long term.

For example, apparently Elastix free version can only do 16 simultaneous calls. I know we probably wouldn’t have clients as large but the fact that it has a limitation is already a bummer. Does anyone know what other limitations are there in Elastix? I would ask on their forum but their registration doesn’t even work. The good thing is, there is a lot of functionality that works right out of the box for no extra charge in Elastix where FreePBX charges for a lot of modules.

In comparison, how is FreePBX standing next to Elastix? What about the features and functionality?

Elastix web interface is much more polished I can tell that for sure.

2

You would have to ask Elastix, but I doubt that you will not get an answer, they are no longer in the FreePBX ‘Forking up’ business

3

You mean the new Elastix, that’s now 3cx?

I would say there are pros and cons to both.
In Freepbx you can pretty much do anything. If there is a feature you desire and Freepbx doesn’t support it right or of the box you can write it yourself with some knowledge about Asterisk dial plan scripting. In 3cx you are stuck with what they give you.

Biggest pro for 3cx imo are their built in soft clients for mobile phones. They’re very useful, free and much more convenient to setup than anything you could do on Freepbx with 3 party software.

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4

I would say *Current biggest pro.
Let’s wait for Zulu Mobile apps…

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5

Zulu is unreasonably expensive but no better than Bria paid version.

6

200 bucks a year for 20 users is expensive. Sorry to hear that.

7

Yes, it is. Considering the alternative (3CX) for this feature.

8

So unless you are a very small operation then you are at least at $300 per year.

9

Glad you found a solution that works for you. No need to troll here anymore.

10

Not trolling, as in “The art of deliberately, cleverly, and secretly pissing people off, usually via the internet, using dialogue”.

As representative of your company, I do resent you calling me that. For I was only stating a fact.

Also, as a paying customer of FreePBX and several of your modules, I would think that you would treat your customer right by not calling them out for something they are not.

An apology would be received well.

Thanks.

1 Like
11

I guess i said “too expensive” too early. If you do math, it’s pretty much $10 per user per year. Less than a dollar per month.

12

Well when you come into our forums and promote our users to go somewhere else that is trolling.

13

Tony,

I did not tell anyone to go somewhere else. If anyone fits that description of trolling, it certainly wouldn’t be me in this conversation.

I am appalled at your behavior here when someone happens to mention another product. It shows a sign of immaturity in your thinking. FreePBX does not live in a vacuum, and there will always be other products in which it compares.

14

dicko,

Good point. Except if you happen to be that very small operation.

15

I don’t live in a vacum and these are not public agnostic forums like DSL Reports. These are FreePBX forums and telling people to go to another product on our forums is disrespectful. Plain and simple. I will not comment any further on this dialogue.

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16

You are not listening, Tony. I never told anyone to go to another product. You will just have to get over it somehow, and I hope you figure out a way to understand that from time to time, people will compare FreePBX with competitors.

17

My understanding is that you can get two free Licenses from Sangoma.

True that’s pretty small. how small are you?

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18

I saw that there were 2 free licenses. Actually, very generous.

I would even be willing to pay for those two licenses. However, there are many of the small business that i deal with that are 2, 4, 6, 8 users. Then there are the pro-bono work that I do for churches and for pet shelters. It would be a big strain on them for $200 for a 20 user license every year, especially when the only need 6 or 8.

19

Put them all in the same server and share the cost perhaps ?

(Economy of scale)

20

I agree with @mattbratt on this one.
What he said was far from trolling and nobody told the OP to go elsewhere.
People compare different PBXs, in fact the OP wanted to know which PBX does what better and I offered him my opinion.

We are all FreePBX users and want the brand to thrive but it’s no secret that FreePBX has been and is still at a significant competitive disadvantage in the mobile/soft client area. Other brands like 3CX do well there and I know people who sell that system and the free mobile soft clients are their main selling point.

Mentioning this in this public forum does not imply we want to go elsewhere but we would rather much prefer for FreePBX to catch up in this field, as it’s something we want to offer to our users, which we know they desire.

If someone says Zulu is too expensive for them and their customers, and they would rather have it as an open source module, then this is true for them, and then it’s something Sangoma can accept as a feedback from a user/customer, cause they’re probably not the only ones.

As far as Zulu pricing, if I am doing the math right, the 25yr license version at $400 per 20 users + 18% yearly maintenance seems like a better deal.

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