How much should a business phone system cost in 2026?

Most telecoms companies will not tell you a price until you have sat through a call with a salesperson. That is a choice they make, and it is worth understanding why: the headline number is rarely the number you end up paying, so it is easier to explain in person.

Here is what a small business phone system actually costs, and where the extras hide.

The monthly cost, per person

For a hosted phone system in the UK, expect somewhere between £8 and £25 per user per month. The spread is that wide because different providers include wildly different amounts in it.

Ours is £10 per phone per month, or £15 if you want unlimited calls to UK landlines and mobiles included. Both prices are published here with what is in them.

The cheaper end of the market often looks cheaper because features are unbundled. Call recording is extra, the auto attendant is extra, the mobile app is extra. By the time you have switched on what you assumed was included, a £9 plan is a £19 plan.

The one-off cost: handsets

Desk phones run from about £30 for a basic model to £60 for one with a colour screen and busy lamp fields, which show you who is free before you transfer a call. Cordless handsets are around £60. Conference phones for a boardroom are the expensive item at around £350, and most small businesses do not need one.

Two things worth knowing:

You may not need handsets at all. A decent hosted system includes mobile and desktop apps that work as full extensions. For staff who are rarely at a desk, that is better than a handset and it costs nothing.

Handset charges are often negotiable. Basic desk phone fees in particular tend to be a lever suppliers use to close a deal. Ours are free at five or more phones and we will say so up front rather than making you extract it.

Where the money actually leaks

The monthly per-user price is the number everyone compares. It is rarely where the difference is. Ask about these:

• Maintenance or support fees. A separate monthly charge to be allowed to ring for help.
• Moves, adds and changes. Charges every time you want an extension moved to a different desk, a new starter added, or your opening hours changed. This one is the quiet killer, because it happens constantly.
• Call-out charges. Whether an engineer visit costs, and how much.
• Feature licences. Per-user charges for recording, reporting, or the mobile app.
• Number porting fees. Charges to bring your existing numbers with you.
• Contract length and exit terms. A very low monthly price attached to a five-year contract is a different product to the same price on sensible terms.

We charge for none of the above. Changes are made remotely by our team at no cost, which is deliberately the thing that proves the rest of it.

How to compare two quotes properly

Do not compare monthly per-user figures. Compare the total you will pay over three years, including:

1. Monthly cost, multiplied by users, multiplied by 36.
2. Handsets, once.
3. Any support or maintenance fee, multiplied by 36.
4. A realistic guess at changes. Most small businesses make six to twelve a year. Multiply by whatever they charge.
5. Call charges, if outbound calls are not included.

The gap between two quotes usually appears in lines three and four, not line one.

What you should be paying today, roughly

A four-person office wanting a proper phone system, with unlimited calls and no charges for changes, should be paying around £60 a month plus a one-off handset cost, and the handsets should probably be free at that size.

If you are paying meaningfully more than that for something with fewer features, it is worth asking why. If you are on an old on-site system with a maintenance contract, add up the line rental, the maintenance and the calls before you assume it is cheaper. It usually is not.

The 2027 factor

The copper phone network switches off on 31 January 2027, so most businesses on a traditional landline or an old on-site system are going to be having this conversation anyway. Prices on legacy lines have been rising through 2026 specifically to push people off them.

Which means the cost comparison for a lot of businesses is not “new system versus current system”. It is “new system versus a rising bill for something that stops working”. More on that here.

If you want a second opinion on a quote you have been given, ring us. We will tell you if it is a good one.