The 3CX phone system, explained

3CX replaces the PABX box in your server room with a system your team reaches through apps on their computers and phones, or through ordinary desk phones. It carries calls, website chat, WhatsApp, SMS and video meetings in one place, and it connects to Kenyan phone numbers through a SIP trunk.

Because it is software, the question "where does it run?" has more than one answer. You choose: we host it on a server of ours in Nairobi, or it runs on a server of your own, at your site or in your own AWS or Kenyan cloud account. The system is the same either way; what changes is whose machine it runs on.

Four things carry a cost: the licence each year, somewhere to run it, the setup, and support afterwards if you want it. We quote all of it in KES, and prices exclude vat at 16%. Your numbers and calls are billed by your phone line provider.

What surprises people is how little the cost moves as the business grows, because what you buy is conversations at once rather than seats. It does move eventually: each tier covers a maximum number of users as well as a maximum number of calls, so there is a point where hiring pushes you up a tier even if your call volume has not. We will show you where your own boundary sits rather than let you find it later.