Hosted PBX Pricing Australia: What You'll Actually Pay Per User (2026)

Hosted PBX pricing in Australia ranges from around $15 to $60+ per user per month, but the number providers advertise almost never reflects what you will actually pay. This guide breaks down real per-user costs for Australian businesses in 2026: what is included at each price tier, what gets added on, setup and hardware costs, and total-cost-of-ownership examples for 5, 10, and 20 seat deployments. By the end, you will know exactly what budget to set and what questions to ask any provider before you sign. Before diving into numbers: most small businesses in Australia are still running on the green phone port on their ISP modem. That is an analog telephone adapter supplied and controlled by your NBN provider. It is not a business phone system. You have no call queuing, no hold, no auto-attendant, and no visibility into missed calls. If you have ever been quoted $20/user/month for a hosted PBX and thought "that seems expensive compared to what I have now", factor in that what you have now is costing you in lost leads and customer friction. The pricing below reflects what a real business phone system actually costs.

Hosted PBX Per-User Pricing Tiers in Australia

Australian hosted PBX providers generally structure pricing across three broad tiers. The labels vary (Starter, Business, Enterprise; Basic, Standard, Premium) but the capability breakpoints are consistent across the market. The Standard tier is where most Australian SMBs land. At $25-$40/user/month with unlimited local and national calls included, it replaces a traditional landline at comparable or lower cost while adding features that a landline never had. If your business makes regular calls and needs a professional call experience, budget for the Standard tier rather than trying to make Entry work.

What Is and Is Not Included: The Real List

Provider marketing pages list features in ways designed to look comprehensive. The honest breakdown is: the base plan covers the core call-handling capability. Anything that generates incremental revenue for the provider is almost always an add-on. Here is what to check line by line before comparing providers.

Setup and Provisioning Costs

Monthly per-user pricing is only part of the equation. Setup costs can add several hundred dollars to the first-year total for a small business. What you will actually encounter:**Provisioning or activation fee:** $0-$200 depending on the provider. Some providers waive this entirely for self-provisioned setups. Others charge it as a flat business account setup fee regardless of seat count. Always ask before signing.**Per-seat setup fee:** Some providers charge $5-$20 per seat for provisioning. On a 10-seat deployment that is an additional $50-$200 on day one.**Number porting fee:** If you are bringing an existing business number across, budget $20-$80 per number. This is a one-off fee covering the porting administration. Some providers absorb this fee as part of a sign-up incentive.**Configuration and onboarding:** Self-service provisioning is free. Managed onboarding (where the provider configures your call flows, ring groups, and auto-attendant) is sometimes included at Standard tier and above, sometimes charged separately at $100-$500 for complex setups. If your call flow has multiple departments, after-hours routing, and a 1300 number routing through an IVR, a managed onboarding package is worth paying for.**Contract terms:** Month-to-month plans exist across all tiers. Annual contracts typically reduce the monthly rate by 10-20%. Under Australian Consumer Law, telco contracts must include a Critical Information Summary clearly disclosing exit fees and minimum monthly charges. Read it before signing. Exit fees on a 24-month contract for a 10-seat system can reach $500-$1,500 if you cancel early.

Hardware Costs: Desk Phones, Headsets, and Adapters

Hosted PBX does not require on-site hardware beyond the phones themselves. If you are new to hosted PBX and want a primer on what a PBX actually is before working through the hardware costs, see our what is a PBX guide. Handset costs are a significant part of the first-year total cost that providers do not include in their per-user pricing. For most Australian SMBs, the Yealink T31P or equivalent entry phone handles the majority of staff needs. An office of 10 staff might use 6-8 desk phones at $100-$130 each plus 2-4 softphone-only licences for remote workers. That puts handset hardware in the $600-$1,000 range for a 10-seat deployment. See our SIP desk phone guide for specific model recommendations and our best VoIP phone system guide for provider recommendations alongside hardware options.Some providers offer phone rental or lease programs at $5-$15/phone/month. On a 24-month contract this often costs more than buying outright, but removes the upfront capital cost and includes warranty replacement. For cash-flow-constrained businesses, rental can be worth it. Do the maths: a $120 phone rented at $8/month over 24 months costs $192.

1300 and 1800 Number Costs

1300 and 1800 numbers are never included in a hosted PBX base plan. They are always priced as a separate service with a monthly service fee plus per-minute inbound charges. Here is the structure:**Monthly service fee:** $10-$30/month to maintain the number. Some providers charge a one-off connection fee of $50-$150 on top.**Inbound call charges (1300):** The business pays for calls to a 1300 number when received from a mobile phone, typically $0.08-$0.12 per minute. Calls from landlines are usually free to the caller and low-cost to the business. Always check the inbound rate schedule.**Inbound call charges (1800):** 1800 is free for the caller regardless of the calling device. The business pays all inbound call costs, typically $0.03-$0.08 per minute from landlines and $0.08-$0.15 per minute from mobiles.For a business receiving 500 minutes of inbound calls per month on a 1300 number (about 25 calls per day at 4 minutes average), the monthly call cost runs $40-$60 on top of the service fee. For detailed 1300 cost structures, see our 1300 number guide.

Total Cost of Ownership: Real Examples

Per-user monthly pricing is useful for comparison, but TCO is what you actually pay. These examples use Standard tier pricing ($30/user/month) with typical Australian SMB configurations. The 5-seat example is where most early-stage Australian SMBs sit. Year 1 total cost under $2,500 with no ongoing hardware cost from year 2. That is comparable to what many businesses paid annually for a legacy PABX maintenance contract, with substantially more capability.The 10-seat example reflects a realistic trade services or professional services business: 8 office staff on desk phones, 2 remote workers on softphones, a 1300 number for national presence. Year 1 under $6,000 all-in is achievable. Use our VoIP Cost Calculator to run your own numbers.

Australian Businesses: What You Need to Know

Hosted PBX pricing in Australia is shaped by NBN realities, regulatory requirements, and contract protections that do not apply in other markets. Here is the AU-specific layer.

NBN Connection Quality and Call Costs

Hosted PBX runs over your NBN connection. The quality of your NBN connection directly affects call quality, and poor call quality is a hidden cost that does not appear on any provider invoice. Each concurrent VoIP call requires 80-100 kbps of upload bandwidth and is highly sensitive to jitter (packet delay variation above 30ms causes audible distortion) and packet loss (above 1% causes clipping and dropouts).If your NBN plan delivers poor upload performance during business hours (FTTN and FTTC connections are most at risk), you may need to upgrade your NBN plan before a hosted PBX will work reliably. An FTTP or HFC connection at NBN 50 or above is generally sufficient for 5-10 concurrent calls. Budget $10-$20/month more for a business-grade NBN plan with guaranteed bandwidth if call quality matters to your business. Use our VoIP Bandwidth Calculator to check if your connection can handle your call volume.

PSTN Copper Shutdown

Australia's copper PSTN network was switched off in 2025. If your business still has a physical landline on copper, it has already been migrated to the NBN network, likely via your ISP's ATA adapter. That adapter is controlled by your ISP: you cannot take the phone number and plug in a SIP phone. Moving to a hosted PBX means porting your existing number to the new provider and exiting the ISP's ATA service. See our hosted vs on-premise PBX guide for the full migration picture.

Number Porting Timelines

Porting an existing business number to a hosted PBX provider takes 5-10 business days under ACMA rules. During the porting window you are responsible for ensuring business continuity: your existing number will stop working on the old provider before it is fully live on the new one. Most providers handle a simultaneous ring or forwarding arrangement to bridge the gap. Always confirm the porting handover procedure with your new provider before you submit the port request.

Australian Consumer Law and Telco Contracts

Under Australian Consumer Law and the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code (TCP Code), all telco providers must provide a Critical Information Summary (CIS) before you sign a contract. The CIS must disclose: minimum monthly charges, contract term, early termination fees, and what happens to pricing after any promotional period. Read the CIS, not the marketing page. If a provider cannot or will not provide a CIS before you sign, that is a red flag.

000 Emergency Calling

VoIP systems (including hosted PBX) must support 000 emergency calling under ACMA requirements. However, if your NBN connection or power fails, VoIP calls including 000 calls will not connect. If your business has staff on site when the building is unmanned, or operates in environments where a 000 call during a power failure is a real scenario, you need a mobile phone as a backup for emergency calls. This is not unique to hosted PBX, but it is a regulatory and safety reality worth noting.

Sizing Your System: How to Right-Size Your Plan

Most businesses overpay on their hosted PBX because they size the system for worst-case assumptions rather than real call patterns. Here is a practical sizing framework.**Concurrent call capacity:** You do not need one seat per staff member unless every staff member is on a call at the same time. In a 10-person office, if 4-5 people are ever on calls simultaneously, 5-6 seats with call queuing covers your needs. The remaining staff can have extension-only seats at a lower tier. Use our Phone System Sizing Wizard to work out the right seat count.**Call volume vs minutes:** If your team makes short, frequent outbound calls (e.g. a trade business scheduling jobs), you may burn through a capped minutes plan faster than you expect. Move to unlimited local/national calling (Standard tier) if your team makes more than 50-100 outbound calls per day.**Remote workers:** Staff working from home or on mobile using a softphone app consume a licence but do not need a desk phone. This is the cheapest seat type. A hybrid office with 5 desk-based staff and 3 remote workers might need 5 Standard licences plus 3 entry/softphone licences.**Feature creep:** Call recording, advanced reporting, and CRM integration are worth paying for if your team actually uses them. If you are adding them because they sound useful, they will sit unused and inflate your monthly cost. Start at Standard and add features after a 90-day review.

Common Mistakes Australian Businesses Make with Hosted PBX Pricing

Buying a hosted PBX system is a 1-3 year commitment for most businesses. These are the mistakes that cost the most.**Mistake 1: Comparing headline per-user rates without checking what is included.** A $15/user/month plan sounds cheaper than $30/user/month until you discover the $15 plan caps call minutes, charges separately for voicemail to email, does not include the mobile app, and requires a $150 setup fee. The all-in cost of the $30 plan is often lower over 12 months. Always model the monthly spend including your actual expected add-ons before comparing providers.**Mistake 2: Ignoring hardware costs in the budget.** Providers do not include handset hardware in their pricing. A business owner who budgets $300/month for a 10-seat system and then discovers they need $900 in desk phones on day one is not happy. Hardware is a legitimate first-year cost that should be in the budget from the start. Phone rental programs exist precisely for businesses caught by this.**Mistake 3: Signing a 24-month contract before testing the service.** NBN call quality varies enormously by connection type and ISP. Before committing to a long-term contract, run a month-to-month trial. Most providers offer month-to-month plans. The rate difference between month-to-month and annual contract is typically 10-20%. That is cheap insurance against a service that does not perform on your specific connection.**Mistake 4: Choosing the wrong seat count.** Oversizing means paying for licences that sit unused. Undersizing means callers hit a queue when all lines are busy and you have no visibility into it. Do a quick call audit: how many concurrent inbound calls does your business actually receive at peak? That number, plus one or two, is your seat count baseline.

Your Next Steps: How to Budget for Hosted PBX

Follow this checklist before you request quotes or sign anything.1. **Count your seats correctly.** How many staff need to make or receive calls? Of those, how many are office-based (desk phone) vs remote (softphone app)? Separate the two groups. This is your licence count.2. **Check your NBN connection.** Run a speed test during business hours. Upload speed above 5 Mbps is the minimum for reliable VoIP. Check jitter and packet loss (use tools like PingPlotter or Fast.com). If your upload speed is consistently below 5 Mbps or jitter above 30ms, address the NBN issue before or alongside the PBX decision.3. **List your required features.** Auto-attendant? Call recording? 1300 number? CRM integration? Be specific. Match required features to the tier that includes them and use that tier for all pricing comparisons.4. **Get the all-in monthly cost.** Ask providers for: base plan monthly fee, all add-ons you need, estimated call costs, and a 12-month projection. Then add hardware and setup as a one-off. That is your Year 1 cost.5. **Read the Critical Information Summary before signing.** Confirm exit fees, minimum charges, and what happens to pricing after any promotional period.6. **Start month-to-month if you are unsure about your NBN connection quality.** Move to annual after 90 days of reliable performance.For a recommendation matched to your business size and requirements, see Get a Recommendation. For a full look at the system types available, see our business phone system guide and our VoIP vs traditional phone comparison.

If you are not yet clear on what cloud PBX (or hosted PBX) actually is and how it differs from what you might have now, see Cloud PBX Australia: What It Is and Who Needs It before diving into pricing.

If your team already uses Microsoft 365 and you are weighing hosted VOIP against Teams Phone, see Microsoft Teams Phone vs Hosted VOIP Australia for a direct comparison.

Hosted PBX pricing often looks straightforward until you factor in setup costs, provisioning fees, and whether IT support is included or billed separately. Our Do I Need an IT Company for My Phones? quiz helps you assess whether DIY provisioning is realistic for your specific setup.

How much does hosted PBX cost per user per month in Australia?

Hosted PBX pricing in Australia ranges from around $15/user/month at entry tier to $60+/user/month at advanced tier. Most small and medium businesses land on a Standard tier plan at $25-$40/user/month, which includes unlimited local and national calls, voicemail to email, auto-attendant, ring groups, and a mobile softphone app. Entry tier plans at $15-$25 typically cap call minutes and exclude some features. Always check what is included at each tier and model the total monthly cost including add-ons, not just the headline rate.

Is call recording included in the base plan?

Call recording is almost always an add-on rather than a base plan inclusion. It is typically included in Advanced or Premium tier plans ($40-$60/user/month) and charged as an add-on at Standard tier, usually $5-$15/user/month extra. If call recording is a compliance requirement for your business (financial services, medical, legal), budget for it explicitly and confirm the retention period the provider offers before signing.

What does a 1300 number cost on a hosted PBX system?

A 1300 number is always priced separately from the hosted PBX base plan. Typical costs are: $10-$30/month service fee, $0-$150 one-off connection fee, and inbound call charges of $0.08-$0.12 per minute for calls received from mobiles (landline calls are usually low-cost or free to the business). For a business receiving 500 inbound minutes per month, total 1300 costs typically run $50-$80/month on top of the PBX plan. For full details on 1300 number costs and regulations, see our 1300 number Australia guide.

Are there setup fees for hosted PBX in Australia?

Setup fees vary significantly by provider. Some charge nothing for self-provisioned setups. Others charge $50-$200 activation fee, $5-$20 per seat for provisioning, and $20-$80 per number for porting. Complex setups requiring managed onboarding (multi-level IVR, multiple ring groups, 1300 routing) may attract $100-$500 in configuration fees. Always ask for a complete first-invoice estimate that includes all setup charges, not just the monthly recurring cost.

Can I keep my existing business phone number?

Yes. Number porting allows you to bring your existing landline, mobile, or 1300 number to a new hosted PBX provider. The porting process takes 5-10 business days under ACMA rules and typically costs $20-$80 per number. During the port, your provider should arrange call forwarding from your old number to maintain business continuity. Some providers absorb the porting fee as a sign-up incentive. Confirm the porting handover procedure before you submit the port request to avoid a gap in service.

How does hosted PBX pricing compare to on-premise PBX?

Hosted PBX has lower upfront cost and higher ongoing monthly cost. On-premise PBX has higher upfront cost (hardware, installation, configuration: typically $2,000-$15,000 depending on seat count) and lower ongoing cost once deployed. For businesses under 20 seats, hosted PBX is almost always the better financial choice over a 3-year period: there is no capital outlay, maintenance is handled by the provider, and the system scales without hardware upgrades. See our hosted vs on-premise PBX comparison for a full cost analysis.

What is the cheapest hosted PBX option for a very small business?

For a 1-3 seat business in Australia, an entry tier hosted PBX plan at $15-$25/user/month plus a single desk phone ($100-$130 for a Yealink T31P) is the lowest-cost starting point. Total Year 1 cost for a 2-seat setup with one desk phone and one softphone licence: approximately $500-$700 all in. That gives you two simultaneous inbound lines, voicemail, and the ability to answer calls from mobile. If you are currently running on your ISP's ATA port and losing calls because a second caller hits an engaged tone, this is the most direct fix.

Do hosted PBX providers offer month-to-month plans?

Yes, most Australian hosted PBX providers offer month-to-month plans alongside annual contracts. Month-to-month plans typically cost 10-20% more per user per month than an equivalent annual contract. The trade-off is flexibility: you can exit without penalty if the service does not meet your expectations. If you are uncertain about your NBN connection quality or are trialling a provider for the first time, start on month-to-month and switch to annual after 90 days of confirmed performance.

Related reading:

• hosted vs on-premise PBX
• VoIP costs explained
• hidden costs of VoIP