Microsoft Teams vs 3cx

Microsoft Teams Voice or 3CX: which phone system fits your business?

If your phone contract is up for renewal, this matters.

If your team spends the day in Microsoft Teams, this matters.

If you have desk phones you would rather keep than replace, this matters.

If you need call recording for compliance or training, this matters.

Most of the businesses I speak to have already decided they want to move their phones to the cloud. The harder question is which platform. Two come up in almost every conversation: Microsoft Teams Voice and 3CX. Both are proper business phone systems. They just suit different businesses, and the wrong choice often shows up on the invoice a year later.

Here’s how they differ, and how we help clients decide.

What Microsoft Teams Voice is

Teams Voice turns the Teams app your people already have open into their phone system. Calls sit alongside chat, meetings and files. Nothing new to learn, nothing new to install. Your team clicks a contact, and the call connects, whether they are on a laptop, a mobile or a Teams-certified desk phone.

Licensing runs through Microsoft 365. Every active user needs a Microsoft Teams Phone licence, and Microsoft sets that price. The calling itself, the routing and the number porting- that is the bit we handle.

Where it fits: businesses that already live in Microsoft 365, want one login for everything and have fairly simple call handling.

Where to be careful: if you need queue managers or real-time visibility of who is waiting, that needs extra licensing on top. Automatic call recording on queues is coming, but it isn’t available yet for individual user calls. If either of those is a must-have for you today, keep reading.

What 3CX is

3CX is a dedicated phone platform. It does one job, and it does it fully. Call recording and AI transcription are built in as standard. Queues, auto-attendants, call control and reporting are all there out of the box. It also plugs into a wide range of CRMs, so calls are logged automatically, and AI can write up the summary for you.

The pricing model is the biggest difference. 3CX charges for how many calls you make at once, not how many people you employ. If you have a big team but only a handful of calls running at any moment, you pay for that handful. Add a new starter, and the cost doesn’t change.

It will also reuse most existing desk phones, so moving to 3CX does not automatically mean a hardware bill.

Where it fits: larger teams, businesses with complex routing across departments or sites, and anyone who needs recording and reporting as standard rather than as an add-on.

Where to be careful: it is a separate platform. Your team will use a 3CX app or a handset alongside Teams rather than inside it. For some businesses that is fine. For others it is one app too many.

The honest comparison

 

Ask yourself these questions.

 

Does your team already spend the whole day in Teams? If yes, Teams Voice removes friction.
Would you rather pay per user, or per concurrent call? Per user is simpler to understand. Per concurrent call usually works out cheaper once your team gets past a certain size.
Do you need call recording today? 3CX has it as standard. Teams Voice is catching up.
Do you have desk phones you want to keep? 3CX will reuse most of them. Teams Voice needs Teams-certified handsets.
Do you have complex routing, multiple sites or a proper call centre function? 3CX gives you more control without extra licences.
One thing worth knowing about how we price it. Most providers charge for calling per user. We price call channels per concurrent line on both platforms, so you don’t pay for capacity nobody is using. Teams Voice still needs Microsoft’s per-user Phone licence, because that is Microsoft’s rule, not ours.

 

What moving over involves

 

Whichever platform you choose, the migration follows the same path.
First we audit your setup. Current numbers, call flows, hardware and how your teams actually use the phone.
Then we design your call flow. Auto-attendants, queues and routing built around your business, and agreed with you before anything changes.
Then we port your numbers. Existing numbers move across with no downtime. Calls keep arriving.
Finally, cutover and training. A short walkthrough for your team, then it is supported the same way as the rest of your IT.
Your lines stay live throughout. There is no window where the phones just stop.

 

Which one is right for you?

 

There is no default answer. We have clients on both, and a few running Teams for internal calling with 3CX handling the front desk. What matters is how your team takes calls, how many of you there are, and what you need to record and report on.

 

If you want a quick steer, the Find your fit tool on our telephony page asks a handful of questions and points you in the right direction. If you would rather talk it through, tell us how your team takes calls and we will tell you honestly which platform fits, what it costs and what moving over involves.

 

Read more about our telephony service or give us a ring to speak with the same team that would design, migrate, and support your phone system.