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3CX Live Chat vs Digium Asterisk comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

3CX Live Chat
Ranking in Unified Communications
2nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Meetings (6th), IP PBX (1st), Live Chat (4th), Hosted and Cloud Based VoIP (4th)
Digium Asterisk
Ranking in Unified Communications
3rd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
IP Telephony & Unified Communications (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Unified Communications category, the mindshare of 3CX Live Chat is 7.8%, down from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Digium Asterisk is 7.1%, down from 8.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Unified Communications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
3CX Live Chat7.8%
Digium Asterisk7.1%
Other85.1%
Unified Communications
 

Featured Reviews

Ram Maruboina - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Engineer – Rust Systems & AI Evaluation at Turing
Real-time chat has boosted customer satisfaction and improves team efficiency and lead conversion
We could improve with better advanced chatbot customization, stronger AI-powered conversations, automatic deep CRM and third-party integration, more detailed analytics and reporting, additional customization options for chats, and improvements to mobile app performance and workflow automation. Regarding security, it is essential for customer-facing interactions. I would point out the real-time data lag, which is a significant gap, and enhancements in system reporting and live data update metrics are necessary. We also miss deep customer journey insights, along with user interface improvements, mobile widgets, and agent experience enhancements, especially with security and privacy configurations. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate 3CX Live Chat as an 8 because it has excellent control over the PBX license while enabling instant transitions from chat to voice and video calls. The reasons for losing those two points include basic analytics, widget customization options, and limited standalone chat tools compared to its competitors, which have higher market shares. With the right developers, they could excel in this area. The reason I chose the number eight is not only about analytics or customization but due to reliability bugs and agent workflow frictions, which affect the overall reporting coherence. Reliability and security glitches are significant drawbacks.
AK
Technical Lead at a marketing services firm with 11-50 employees
Call recording, call logging, and the stability are pivotal features for our clients
We mainly replace old telephony equipment. If, for instance, there is an old Alcatel telephone system (digital or analog), and the customer asks us for a new option for IP telephony, then we offer both the Cisco- and Asterisk-based systems. We know the billing, we know the pricing of the items and what we can offer with both solutions. There are multiple factors involved when selecting a vendor * stability * support * features. If the product is stable, the product has good support, and it has enough features which we can offer to our clients, then the product is under our consideration.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable features of 3CX include meetings, IVR, and the workflow personalization of the service desk activity."
"Customer Service: Great - the national distributor is really good at showing us love, and works with us to resolve problems that we encounter."
"With the reporting feature you can get all the incoming and outgoing call details."
"Our company has saved a lot of money from using 3CX Live Chat."
"Simplified deployment of hosted voice, and the use of a session border controller which can be deployed cheaply on a Raspberry Pi makes port handling easier and more stable."
"The management interface is hands-down the easiest I've ever had to use."
"3CX is my best PBX offering because it is a third of the cost and provides a full set of professional features, especially for call centers."
"The dashboards and interface of the solution are very good, they have covered most of the main features needed for our needs."
"Highly customizable for customer needs"
"With the passage of time I am sure that these cons will be solved, particularly because it has added a lot savings for communication needs."
"Best Telecommunication solution in the world."
"If the client requires an economical solution with many features, we can offer them Digium Asterisk, where there is no licensing, and it is a good, economical solution."
"The most valuable features are call recording, call logging, and the stability."
 

Cons

"Message management in 3CX Live Chat is a little tricky. You can transfer a conversation to someone else if it comes into a group, but it isn't always easy to return the conversation to the group."
"The current solution requires different ports for each instance and is not allowing for SIP trunk sharing between them."
"There should be an option to save some extensions."
"The outbound call reporting and wall board could be improved for the outbound call centers functions."
"Its features for scheduling and generating reports need improvement."
"The solution was simple to install, but the configuration was not as simple. The full installation process took a few days."
"Would be great to see the ability to break office hours down beyond single days. For example, we have clients that have standing meetings on Monday from 11:00a to 12:00p."
"It is not supported by Linux versions. This product is also not open source, which is not much appreciated by the guys like me, who love experimenting with the codes of any product they receive."
"Difficult to configure and maintain."
"The asterisk VoIP has a delay of about 400 milliseconds."
"CTI, computer telephony integration, is a necessary component. It must be a part of the basic code. Currently, we need to use external connectors for call centers."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There aren't any additional costs. With the license I purchased, I have all features that I need. I don't have to buy an add-on or another license."
"The price of the solution is reasonable. There are a few license options and we are using an enterprise license."
"We have purchased an annual license to use 3CX Live Chat. There are different options available, you can pay monthly or yearly. I am completely satisfied with the pricing of 3CX Live Chat, it is cheaper than competitors and it is a better solution."
"The price of the solution is in the middle range compared to other solutions. There are different license options available. For example, there is a professional version and an enterprise version, and with the enterprise version, you have the ability to modify the dashboards. You can purchase a license at many different time frame increments, such as monthly, yearly, or two years."
"We used a yearly license depending on the customer's requirements, and the customers did not complain about the pricing."
"Switching from POTS or PRI to SIP Trunk save the customer real costs. ROI is seen in less than a year."
"3CX sells an annual subscription, but we usually split it out monthly for clients, so they don't see an annual bill for the 3CX licensing, it's just part of their monthly phone bill. As they're paying us for carrier service anyway, we just roll it all together. Your standard phone service would be an additional cost, you either need to maintain a local carrier with POTS lines or PRI or a SIP, or you have to go with a cloud-based SIP."
"There is no add-on costing on the standard fees."
"If the client requires an economical solution with many features, we can offer them Digium Asterisk, where there is no licensing. It is a good, economical solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Outsourcing Company
19%
Healthcare Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business41
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise3
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for 3CX Live Chat?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for 3CX Live Chat is generally positive. The pricing structure is straightforward, and the licensing models are user-friendly, leading to a smo...
What needs improvement with 3CX Live Chat?
We could improve with better advanced chatbot customization, stronger AI-powered conversations, automatic deep CRM and third-party integration, more detailed analytics and reporting, additional cus...
What is your primary use case for 3CX Live Chat?
My main use case for 3CX Live Chat is customer support, website live chat, and lead generation. For my customer support and lead generation use, I worked with 3CX Live Chat for customer inquiries i...
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Also Known As

3CX PBX
Asterisk
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Yahoo, Penn Univeristy of Pennsylvania, US Army, Google, eBay
Find out what your peers are saying about 3CX Live Chat vs. Digium Asterisk and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.