How we compare providers
For each country we list business phone systems that sell there and publish a website. For each one we copy the plans and prices from the provider's own pricing page and record the date we checked. We don't use review sites or resellers as a source for prices.
- Unknown means unknown. If a provider doesn't publish a figure in the local currency, we say so. We never convert currencies or fill in a price a provider hasn't published.
- Estimated monthly cost is the per-user price of the cheapest published plan with unlimited UK calls or at least 750 minutes per user, times 5 users, or times the provider's minimum if that's higher. We use the annual billing price when that's the headline the page shows. The tables name the plan used and what it includes.
- Add-ons. Products that need another subscription, such as Teams Phone needing a Microsoft 365 or Teams licence, or an AI receptionist sold on top of a phone plan, are never ranked, estimated or called cheapest on their own. We show the add-on price separately, and the total stays Unknown unless the base price is published. Where both prices are published we may show a combined figure, labelled as combined.
- VAT. We record whether each price includes VAT, excludes it, or doesn't say. Where a provider says VAT is extra we also show the total with VAT at the standard rate. When two providers show the same figure on a different VAT basis, we say so next to the table.
- What's left out. Hardware, number porting, call charges beyond the allowance and one-off setup fees aren't in the monthly figure. Setup fees are shown beside it.
- Local pricing only. We only use prices a provider publishes in the country's own currency. A provider that only shows dollars or euros is listed with its price as Unknown, and we never convert it.
- No quality scores. We don't test call quality or award stars. We compare published prices and terms only.
- Countries. A country goes live only when its listings have been checked, and we never show placeholder listings. United Kingdom is live now.
- Ordering. Tables are alphabetical or sorted by price. Featured listings, when any are sold, sit at the top of each table, stay there under every sort and are labelled 'Featured (paid)'. In cost rankings they sit above the numbered rows and don't take a number, so the numbers count unpaid rows only.
- Updates. We recheck prices monthly and date every page. Providers and readers can report changes to [email protected].