Here is the short version. A hosted business phone system in Australia usually costs from around $20 to $40 per user each month for a standard plan. On top of that you pay a one-off setup fee and the cost of any desk phones. 3CX pricing works a little differently, because 3CX charges by the number of calls happening at once, not by the number of staff. This guide breaks down 3CX cost and every other part, so you can budget before you call anyone.
Sixfam is a business phone and IT provider in Keysborough, in south-east Melbourne. We have set up phone systems for businesses across Melbourne and regional Victoria for more than 15 years. Below, in plain English, is how the pricing works.
A business phone system is not one cost. It is six smaller costs bundled together, and providers split them up in different ways. That is why two quotes are so hard to compare. Once you can see the parts, the rest of this guide makes sense.
Two terms are worth knowing up front. A SIP trunk is the line that carries your calls over the internet instead of an old copper phone line. A softphone is an app that turns your computer or mobile into a desk phone.
| Part | What it is | How you pay |
|---|---|---|
| The licence | The software that runs your phone system, such as 3CX | Yearly or monthly |
| Hosting | The server your system runs on, in the cloud or on site | Monthly, or built into the licence |
| Handsets | Desk phones, or a softphone app on your computer or mobile | One-off, or rented |
| SIP trunk and calls | The line that carries calls over the internet, plus call charges | Monthly per channel, plus call rates |
| Setup | Installing, configuring and moving your numbers across | One-off |
| Support | Help when something breaks, and ongoing changes | Monthly, or per ticket |
3CX is phone system software that runs your calls over the internet. It is one of the most common systems for Australian small and medium businesses, and Sixfam is a 3CX Platinum Partner, so we set it up regularly.
The part that surprises buyers is how 3CX charges. 3CX pricing is based on simultaneous calls, not on the number of staff. A simultaneous call, also called a concurrent call, is one phone call happening at a single moment. If eight staff share four phone lines, and only four people are ever on a call at once, you licence four simultaneous calls, even if you have twenty extensions.
This changes the maths. A team of twenty with light phone use can run on a small licence. A ten-person reception desk that is always on the phone needs a bigger one. So the price tracks how much you call, not how many desks you have.
3CX sells a few licence tiers, from a basic edition up to enterprise, plus a newer AI edition that adds call transcription and call summaries. 3CX changed its pricing model and tiers during 2026, and the figures move with promotions and the exchange rate. For that reason we do not quote a fixed 3CX licence price in a guide like this. The honest answer is to get a current quote for your exact simultaneous-call count.
For a small Australian business, a hosted phone system usually lands between roughly $20 and $40 per user each month once it is running, plus one-off costs to get started. The table below shows the going rates for each part in 2026.
| Cost | Typical range (AUD) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hosted plan, per user | $10 to $40 per user / month | Entry plans start near $10; full-featured plans cost more. |
| 3CX licence | Charged by simultaneous calls, not per user | Get a current quote; tiers and prices change. |
| SIP trunk channel | $5 to $20 per channel / month | One channel carries one call at a time. |
| Call charges | About 2 to 3 cents per local minute, or capped | Many plans include standard local and national calls. |
| Desk handset | $100 to $500+ each | Basic desk phone up to an executive video phone. |
| Softphone app | Usually included | Turns a computer or mobile into a phone. |
| Setup | A few hundred to a few thousand dollars | Simple softphone setup is cheap; on-site work costs more. |
Put together, a ten-person Melbourne office on a standard hosted plan often budgets around $250 to $400 a month, once calls and a handful of desk phones are spread across the team, plus a one-off setup. A softphone-only team pays less. A busy contact centre pays more. These are ranges, not quotes, because your call pattern moves the final number.
Two businesses with the same staff count can pay very different amounts. The features you choose, and the way your team works, move the price more than the headline rate.
What pushes the price up:
What keeps the price down:
The licence and the handsets are the easy numbers to see. The cost that catches people out is what they pay month after month for support, and what happens when the system goes down.
Support is priced in two main ways. Some providers bundle support into a monthly fee. Others charge per ticket, often around $75 each time you need help. A per-ticket model looks cheaper on paper, then adds up in a bad month.
Contracts matter too. A locked two- or three-year contract can buy you a lower monthly rate and fixed pricing. The trade-off is that you are stuck if the service slips. Monthly billing with no lock-in costs a little more each month, but you can leave if you are not happy, and the provider has to keep earning your business. Neither model is wrong. It depends on how much certainty you want, and how much you trust the provider.
Sixfam bills monthly with no lock-in contract, and about 600 business customers are on that arrangement. Our support is Australian and local, and we can come on site when a problem needs hands on a cable, not just a remote login. That matters most when the phones are down and you are losing calls.
Cheap is not automatically bad. The smart move is to ask what the support covers, and how fast it responds, before you compare prices. A low monthly rate with slow support can cost you more in downtime than you saved.
A real number comes from a real sizing conversation, not a brochure. Before you book a meeting, you can get most of the way there yourself by working out two things.
First, count your busy-hour calls. Stand at the busiest point of your day and count how many people are on the phone at once. That number, plus a small buffer, is your simultaneous-call count, and it drives both the licence and the SIP channels. Second, split your team into desk-phone users and app-only users. That tells you the handset cost.
With those two numbers, any provider can give you a fixed written quote instead of an ‘it depends’. If a provider cannot, that tells you something.
When you are ready, call Sixfam on 03 9200 2800 and we will size it with you and put a fixed price in writing.
A 3CX phone system is priced by the number of simultaneous calls, plus hosting, handsets and setup. The licence cost depends on your call volume, so the best figure comes from a quote for your exact setup. A small business often budgets a few hundred dollars a month all up.
3CX usually costs less than a traditional on-site phone system over time. A PBX, the hardware that ran older office phone systems, can cost $5,000 to $20,000 upfront. 3CX runs over the internet, so you avoid most of that and pay a smaller yearly licence instead.
A SIP trunk is the line that carries your calls over the internet instead of a copper phone line. Yes, it is a separate cost, usually $5 to $20 per channel each month. One channel carries one call at a time.
Desk phones are optional with a modern phone system. You can use a softphone instead, which is an app on your computer or mobile. Many teams mix the two, with desk phones at reception and apps for staff who move around.
Setup is the one-off cost to install your system, configure it, and move your numbers across. A simple softphone setup can be a few hundred dollars. A larger on-site install with cabling and many handsets runs into the thousands.
Lock-in contracts depend on the provider, not on 3CX itself. Some providers lock you in for two or three years. Sixfam bills monthly with no lock-in, so you can leave if the service does not suit you.
Designed & Developed by CJ Digital