10 Best Free Open Source PBX Software Solutions - GetVoIP

SIP Foundry · Elastix · FreeSWITCH · OpenPBX by Voicetronix · PBXInAFlash · FreePBX · OpenSIPs · Kamailio. September23,2016 ByMattGrech 10BestFreeOpenSourcePBXSoftwareSolutions FeaturedIn WhileadoptinganexistingHostedPBXservicefromoneofthetophostedPBX providerswillcertainlygetthejobdoneforthevastmajorityofbusinesses,fromsmalltoenterprise-level,theshoeisnotnecessarilyonesizefitsall.Ofcourse,providersdotheirbesttotailorservicesandpackagestotrulyfittheneedsofeachbusinessonacase-by-casebasis.However,withdifferencesinusecases,industries,teamsizes,requiredfeaturesorsecurity,itcanbealmostimpossibletodotevery“i”andcrossevery“t.” Forthosespecificcaseswhereacookie-cutterservicejustwon’tfillinthegaps,businessescanturntoanopen-sourceplatform,andyesthereareopensourcePBXsoftwaresolutionsavailable.WiththerightteamofdevelopersandIT,anybusinesscandevelopandtailortheirowninhousePBXsoftware,orevenUnifiedCommunicationssuite.Becausetheseplatformsareopensource,allofthesourcecodingisavailableforfreeonlineandcanbecustom-tailoredforeachspecificscenario. Asterisk Asteriskisessentiallythegrand-daddyofallopen-sourceVoIPandPBXsolutionsandcontinuestooperateasthegoldstandard. Astheleadingopensourcetelephonyplatformandamassivefeatureliststhatonlycontinuestogroweveryyear,theAsterisktoolkitisutilizedbynotonlyamassamountofsetupsaroundtheworld,manyoftheprovidersonourlisthaveeitherstartedwithorarebasedfullyoffoftheAsteriskengine. PackedwiththestandardPBXfeaturesincludinganinteractivevoiceresponsemenu,automaticcalldistribution,conferencecalling,andtheusualvoicemail,Asteriskmakesitpossibletoturnanycomputerintoacommunicationsserver.SupportedbyDigium,thesoftwareiscompletelyfreeandopensource.Tohelpgetyoustarted,Asterisksupplieslivewebclasses,onlinetrainingcourses,andevenanAsteriskDefinitiveGuidemanualfromO’ReillyPress.Asteriskcanalmostbeconsideredthego-toplatformwhenitcomestodevelopingyourVoIP,PBXorUCsystem. SIPFoundry OftenconsideredoneofthemaincompetitorstotheAsteriskplatform,SIPFoundrywasestablishedin2004andoffersmuchofthesamesolutionsthattheAsteriskenginecanpower.SIPFoundrymakesitpossibletobuildyourvoiceandvideocommunications,aswellasconferencing,unifiedmessaging,IMandchatwithpresenceindications,andevenamobileclient.JustlikewithAsterisk,theplatformincludeseverythingyouneedtobuildyourownUnifiedCommunicationssolution. However,whileAsteriskis100%freeandopen-source,SIPFoundryhasaslightlydifferentspin,andsellsprofessionalsupporttousersbasedondifferentrates,startingat$495permonthfor100users,upto20,000userstobechargedonacase-by-casebasis.Whileanextracosttoconsider,adoptingadedicatedsupportteammightbeanecessarystepforsomebusinesseslookingtobuildtheirsystem. Elastix OriginallybasedofftheAsteriskplatform,ElastixoffersopensourceunifiedcommunicationsserversoftwareincludinganIPPBX,email,IM,faxingandevencollaborationfunctionality.Withastrongfocusontheentrepreneurialmarket,thetooliscompletelyfreeforcommercialorpersonaluse.Theprojecthasalsobroughtinfeaturesfromotheropen-sourceprojectsincludingFreePBX,HylaFAX,Openfire,andPostfixtoroundoutalloftheUCofferingsavailable. Overall,ElastixaimstobringinthegreatestfeaturesofAsteriskandotherprojects,allunderoneeasy-to-useinterface.ElastixboastssupportforawiderangeofhardwareincludingDigium,Dinstar,Yeastar,Yealink,andSnom.Elastixwasoneofthefirstdistributionsthatincludedacallcentermodulewithapredictivedialerandcontinuestoofferarobustsolution,againfreeundertheGNUGeneralPublicLicense. Sincewritingthispost,ithascometoourattentionthatElastixonlyseemstoofferupto8freeSIMcallsforabout25users. FreeSWITCH FreeSWITCHwasalsooriginallybasedontheAsteriskplatformandwascreatedanddevelopedbythreeoftheoriginaldevelopersoftheAsteriskplatform,AnthonyMinessaleII,BrianWest,andMichaelJerris.Withafocusonmodulatory,cross-platformsupport,scalabilityandstability,FreeSWITCHoffersoneofthemostflexibleplatformstobuildyourownUCsuitearound.FreeSWITCHsupportsSIP,H.323andevenWebRTCtoleveragethelatestadvancementsinthetechnology,andeasilyintegrateandinterfacewithotheranyoftheotherpopularopen-sourcePBXplatformsavailable. Toreducethecomplexityofasystem,FreeSWITCHutilizesfreelyavailablesoftwarelibrariesthatwillperformthenecessaryfunctionsforyoursystemtowork.FreeSWITCHofferstheusualcallingfeaturesandevenaddssomeextraslikespeechrecognitionandsynthesisandevenPSTNinterfacesforanaloganddigitalcircuits. OpenPBXbyVoicetronix VoicetronixisatelephonysolutionsandequipmentproviderthatoffersnotonlyarangeofhardwarebutalsoanOpenPBXopen-sourceplatform.Voicetronix’sdo-it-yourselfOpenPBXisaweb-enabledPBXapplicationthatfeaturesaweb-basedusermanagementportal,aswellasamanagementGUIforquickandsimpleconfiguration.Thenormalfeaturesofanauto-attendant,automaticcalldistribution,leastcallroutinghuntgroupsandevenunlimitedvoicemailmaketheplatformareincluded. Uniquefeatureslikeunlimitedcallhuntgroups,musiconholdandtheabilitytodisplaycallrecordsmaketheplatformaverystrongsolutionforbusinessesinneedofabasiccallorcontactcentersoftware.WithbasicCRMalreadyenabledandbakedintotheplatform,usersmaynotneedtoadoptaseparateCRMsolution,savingtimeandmoney.Voicetronix’sOpenPBXevenallowsforvoicemailtoemail,clicktodialandcalltransfers. PBXInAFlash PBXInAFlashaimstomakeitpossibletosetupyourPBXserver,asthenameputsit,inaflash.TheprojecthascollectedeverythinginoneplacethatuserswillneedtocreatetheirPBXsystemwithinunderanhour,onethatutilizestheCentOSLinuxoperatingsystem,includinganApachewebserver,SendMailserver,andMySQLdatabaseserveraswellasfirewallsandnecessaryprotocols.ThesystemalsogivesusersthechoiceofAsterisk1.8,10,11orFreePBX2.9,2.10or2.11. Usersalsohavetheoptiontochoosefromdozensofadd-onstotrulycustomtailorthesystemwithhelpfulfeatureslikeautomaticbackups,CallerIDlookupservices,SSLkeys,GoogleVoiceintegration,text-to-speechfunctionality,andfaxsupportjusttonameafew.Everythingisdesignedtobesimple,andadd-onscanbeinstalledwithoneclickinunderaminute.Withthenumberonegoalofnobloatandnobugs,PBXInAFlashseemstobethequickestandeasiestsolutiontoadopt. FreePBX Combiningthebestofbothworlds,andlookingtoleveragethegreatworkalreadydonebytheAsteriskproject, FreePBXisaweb-based,open-sourcegraphicaluserinterface(GUI)tohelpusersbettermanageandconfiguretheirAsteriskbasedsystem.WhiletheprojectutilizestheAsterisksystem,userscandownloadeitherjusttheGUItoaddontotheirexistingsystem,ortheentirepackageincludingapre-configuredsystemOS,Asterisk,andtheFreePBXGUIontopaswellasallofthenecessarydependencies.SowhileadoptingjustAsteriskmayrequiresomemoretechnicalknowledgetotakefulladvantageof,ortocreateyourownGUI,FreePBXbringsitalltogether. FreePBXalsomakesitpossibletoestablishyourunlimitedSIPTrunksthankstoSIPSTationintegrationdirectlyintotheplatform.FreePBXalsoincludesalonglistofcommercialmodulesandadd-onstoenhanceyoursystemwithevenmorefeatures,andaresellerprogramtoensurepropertraining,quality,andstabilitytoresellersandend-users.Essentially,theprogramwilltrainandeducateyoursalesandsupportteamifyouarelookingtorepackageandsellyourproduct. OpenSIPs Withastrongerfocusonopen-sourceimplementationofaSIPserver,OpenSIPsstillmakesitpossibletoestablishyourindependent,customUnifiedCommunicationspackageaswellasaPBX.Theplatformsupportsvoice,video,IMandpresenceserviceswithascalableandmodulardesign,solikeanyotherplatform,itshouldbeascustomizableasyouneedittobe.OpenSIPsislabeledasoneofthefastestSIPserversandoffersarobustsolutionatanenterpriseorcarrier-gradeclass. OpenSIPsevenprovidesanongoinglistofbenchmarksandperformanceteststobackuptheirclaim.InasimilarfashiontoAsterisk,OpenSIPsprovidesrecordedwebinarsandin-depthmanualsforeveryversionandconfigurationoftheOpenSIPsplatform.Aweb-basedconfigurationportalshouldmakeitsimpletogatherdataandstatisticsofyourservice,aswellasontheflyconfigurations. Kamailio With15yearsofdevelopmentundertheirbelt,Kamailiocontinuestobuildonandexpanditsopen-sourceSIPserver.WithpowerfulfeatureslikeasynchronousTCP,UDPandSCTP,TLStoensuresecurecommunicationsforyourVoIPdataincludingvoicevideoandtext,andevenWebRTCsupportthehardworkshows.Kamailioalsosupportsinstantmessagingandpresence,alongwithmorebehindthescenesfeatureslikeleastcostrouting,loadbalancing,routingfail-overandevenauthenticationandauthorizationforenhancedsecurity. Kamailiooffersoneofthestrongestlevelofsecuritywe’veseenonthislistandwouldbeasolidrecommendationforanyteamorbusinessthatneedstokeepeverythingaslockeddownandsecureaspossiblethankstothelevelofencryptiontheplatformprovides.Ontheflipside,Kamailiomightbeabitmoredifficulttoadopt,requiringmorein-depthknowledgeoftheSIPprotocolitselftofullyleveragetheplatform. 3CX The3CXPhoneSystemisanothersoftware-based,open-sourcePBXthatisbasedontheSIPstandard.ThesolutionmakesitpossibletoenableextensionstomakecallsonboththePSTNorjuststandardVoIPservices.Theplatformalsooffersaneasytounderstandweb-basedGUI,andtheprocesstoinstallshouldbearathersimpleonejustbyrunninganexecutablefileonaWindows-basedmachine.3CXseemstotakeoutthehassleanddevelopmentneededtoestablishyourPBXserverandevenoffersbothiOSandAndroidmobileclients,aswellasWindowsandMacsoftphones.WebconferencingisalsomadepossiblethankstoWebRTCadoption. 3CXalsomakesitpossibletodrasticallyimproveyourcustomerexperiencewithClick2Callforyourwebsiteorapps,andCRMintegrationsoagentsarealwaysprepared.Anonlinetrainingacademyisalwaysavailableforuserstolearnhowtofullyleveragetheir3CXplatform.   Asterisk SIPFoundry Elastix FreeSWITCH OpenPBX PBXInAFlash FreePBX OpenSIPs Kamailio FreeToUse Yes Yes No Yes Yes(Advancedavailableforpurchase) Yes Yes Yes Yes Web-basedGUI/Config Yes Yes Yes No(Third-partyadd-ons) Yes Yes Yes No No(Third-partyadd-ons) VideoSupport Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes IM/Chat Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Presence Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes AutoAttendant/IVR Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No IntegrationSupport Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes MobileApps Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No WebRTCSupport Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes   Join100kreadersandgetexclusiveVoIPindustryheadlinesdeliveredtoyourinbox. 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