VoIP & Communications
How much does VoIP cost in the UK? Per-user prices, handsets, porting and the hidden extras
What UK businesses actually pay for VoIP: observed per-user monthly ranges, handset prices, porting fees, call bundles, contract terms and the hidden extras.
By Dig IT SolutionsUpdated 8 September 20266 min read
Short answer
Hosted business VoIP in the UK typically costs between about £5 and £30 per user per month, depending on the call bundle and features. Basic seats sit at the low end, seats with UK call bundles, recording and Teams integration in the middle, and contact-centre seats at the top. Add one-off costs for handsets, porting and network work.
VoIP pricing looks simple on a provider's website and rarely stays that way on the invoice. The per-user figure is real, but it is one of six or seven lines that make up the true cost. This guide sets out what UK businesses actually pay, as observed market ranges rather than any one provider's tariff, so you can budget for the whole project and compare quotes on a like-for-like basis.
Per-user monthly subscription
Hosted VoIP is priced per user (or seat) per month. Observed ranges in the UK market:
| Seat type | Observed range per user per month | What you typically get |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | £5 to £12 | Extension, app, voicemail, limited or pay-as-you-go calls |
| Standard business | £10 to £25 | UK landline and mobile call bundle, auto-attendant, ring groups, voicemail-to-email, mobile and desktop apps, basic reporting |
| Advanced | £20 to £35 | Adds call recording, Microsoft Teams integration, CRM integration, fuller analytics |
| Contact centre | £25 to £40 and above | Queues with wallboards, skills routing, supervisor tools, compliance recording |
Prices at the lower end usually assume a longer contract and a reasonable number of seats. Not every user needs the same seat: a warehouse extension can be basic while sales and reception sit on advanced. Mixed licensing is normal and worth asking for.
Handsets, headsets and adapters
The apps are included, so hardware is a choice rather than a requirement.
- IP desk phones: roughly £60 to £120 for an entry model, £120 to £250 for a mid-range phone with a colour screen and more line keys, and £250 upwards for receptionist consoles and expansion modules. Some providers rent handsets for a few pounds a month or include them on longer contracts.
- Headsets: £30 to £200 depending on wired or wireless and noise cancelling. A decent wired headset around the middle of that range suits most office staff.
- Conference phones: £200 to £600 for a meeting room unit.
- Analogue adapters: £30 to £80 to connect a legacy device, though most businesses replace analogue handsets rather than adapt them.
Reuse is possible where a business already has IP handsets from a previous system, subject to compatibility with the new platform.
Number porting
Porting your existing numbers to the new platform usually carries a small one-off fee per number or per port, and some providers waive it. Multi-line ISDN and DDI range ports cost more than single-line ports. Budget tens of pounds per number rather than hundreds, and treat it as non-negotiable: the alternative is new numbers on every van, sign and invoice.
Call bundles and out-of-bundle calls
Most standard seats include a bundle of UK landline and mobile minutes, often described as unlimited with a fair-use cap. Check the exclusions:
- International calls, priced per destination.
- Non-geographic numbers (084, 087, 09), which can be expensive per minute.
- Calls to some directory and premium services.
- Whether inbound calls to your own non-geographic numbers are charged to you.
A business that regularly calls overseas suppliers or premium-rate numbers should model those calls rather than assume the bundle covers them.
Contract lengths
Twelve, 24 and 36 month terms are all offered. Longer terms bring lower per-user prices and sometimes free handsets, at the cost of flexibility. Monthly rolling plans exist at a premium. Look at what happens if headcount falls: some contracts commit you to a minimum number of seats for the term. A business that expects to grow, shrink or merge should read that clause before the price.
One-off setup and network costs
This is where quotes diverge most. Some providers ship handsets with a setup guide and leave the rest to you. Others include design, configuration, training and the network work. Budget for:
- Professional setup: call flow design, auto-attendant recording, user configuration, porting management, cut-over support.
- Network readiness: quality of service on the router, PoE switches if desk phones need powering, a voice VLAN, cabling to desks. This is often the largest one-off cost and the one that determines whether the phones sound good. See is VoIP reliable for business calls.
- Connectivity: a business-grade fibre or SoGEA service if the current broadband is consumer grade, and a 4G or 5G backup where calls are critical.
- UPS: a small unit for the comms cabinet.
- Training: usually an hour, but it should be planned and paid for rather than skipped.
Dig IT's own indicative managed support figure for desk phones is £16.50 per phone per month (indicative, February 2025 figures, subject to confirmation), which covers support of the device rather than the platform licence, and is shown alongside other per-device figures on the pricing page.
Hidden and ongoing extras
The items that appear on invoices later:
- Additional numbers and DDIs, usually a small monthly charge each.
- Call recording storage beyond an included allowance.
- Fax-to-email or SMS services.
- Integrations that need a higher seat tier.
- Toll fraud, where a compromised account is used to dial premium-rate numbers overnight. Restrict international dialling and enforce multi-factor authentication from day one.
- Early termination fees on the lines and PBX maintenance you are leaving.
- Lines that were never ceased and keep being billed after the migration. Check the first two invoices.
A worked budget for a 20-person firm
An illustration, using mid-range figures, for a single-site business with reception, six desk-based sales and admin staff, and thirteen hybrid or field staff on apps:
| Item | Assumption | Indicative cost |
|---|---|---|
| Seats | 7 advanced at £22, 13 standard at £15 | £349 per month |
| Handsets | 7 mid-range at £160 | £1,120 one-off |
| Headsets | 13 at £60 | £780 one-off |
| Porting | Main number plus 10 DDIs | Tens of pounds, one-off |
| Network | QoS configuration, one PoE switch, UPS | Several hundred to low thousands, one-off |
| Setup and training | Design, configuration, cut-over | Provider dependent, one-off |
Year one therefore combines roughly £4,200 of subscriptions with a few thousand pounds of one-off costs. Year two is the subscription alone. Against a legacy setup with line rental on multiple lines, a maintenance contract and call charges, the subscription is usually lower and the one-off costs are recovered within the first year or two. And the analogue lines have to go before January 2027 in any case, as set out in the PSTN switch-off guide.
How to compare quotes
Ask every provider for the same things: seat prices by tier at your actual headcount, the contract term and minimum seats, exactly what the call bundle excludes, porting charges, handset prices or rental, what setup and network work is included, and what support costs after go-live. A quote that is cheaper per seat but excludes the network work is not cheaper. Dig IT's VoIP and business phone systems service is priced with the network readiness and support included, because that is what determines whether the system works.
What to do next
If you want a budget for your own business rather than an illustration, the IT support cost calculator gives indicative per-device figures, and a short conversation about your headcount, sites and call patterns will produce a proper quote for the platform, hardware and network work together.