FreePBX

What FreePBX does

FreePBX is the world's most widely deployed open-source IP PBX platform, providing a web-based graphical interface that sits atop the Asterisk communications engine to manage business telephone systems. The core software is freely downloadable as a Debian-based distribution (FreePBX 17, released August 2024) and supports features including unlimited extensions, IVRs, call queues, conference bridges, call recording, voicemail-to-email, fax, WebRTC softphones, and integration with over 150 IP phone models from manufacturers including Cisco, Polycom, Yealink, and Grandstream. The platform serves more than 2 million installations across small and mid-sized businesses, hospitality, K-12 education, service providers, and technical self-hosters, with a 22-language localized interface.

The company is sponsored and maintained by Sangoma Technologies, a private Canadian/American telecommunications vendor, which also offers the commercially supported PBXact edition, the PBXact Cloud UCaaS offering, certified hardware appliances (FreePBX 40 through FreePBX 1200), Sangoma P-Series IP phones, Vega VoIP gateways, and the SIPStation SIP trunking service. FreePBX is monetized primarily through commercial module bundles (Starter, Advanced, Call Center, Everything), tiered support packages, hardware sales, SIP trunking usage, professional services, and an OEM white-label program. Distribution is omnichannel, combining self-serve download, the Sangoma Portal e-commerce store, direct enterprise sales, a global reseller Partner Program, third-party hosting partners, and an OEM skinning program.

Sangoma's commercial product roadmap through 2024–2025 has emphasized platform modernization (CentOS to Debian migration), enterprise-readiness (PBX SAML SSO with Azure AD, Okta, and Google Workspace), and AI-augmented communications (Scribe AI for transcription, conversation summaries, sentiment analysis, and Text-to-Speech). In parallel, the company undertook accelerated security remediation in late 2025 in response to critical CVEs (CVSS 8.6–9.3) discovered by Horizon3.ai, indicating heightened focus on platform trust as it moves upmarket.

Name

FreePBX

Legal name

Sangoma Technologies

Website

https://freepbx.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

FreePBX is the open-source web-based IP PBX platform with over 2 million installations, sponsored by Sangoma Technologies and monetized via commercial modules, certified appliances, support packages, SIP trunking, and PBXact Cloud for SMBs, hospitality, education, and service providers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

IP PBX / Unified Communications Software

NAICS

Wired Telecommunications Carriers (517111)

SIC

Services-Telephone Interconnect Systems (7385), Telephone Communications (No Radiotelephone) (4813)

akta.pro primary industry

Cloud PBX & Hosted Telephony (HDAIAHAB)

Keywords

• Open source IP PBX
• Unified communications software
• SIP trunking services
• VoIP business telephony
• IP phone systems

Headquarters

HQ city

Markham

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Commercial Modules and Add-ons: Sangoma sells commercial add-on modules for FreePBX including feature bundles (Starter $169-349/yr, Advanced $579-1,149/yr, Call Center $1,149-2,299/yr, Everything $1,729-3,449/yr) and individual modules like Scribe AI, Endpoint Manager, CRM Link, and more. Licenses available as 1-year or 25-year terms.
2. Support Packages (POMPs): Peace of Mind Packages providing technical support with SLA guarantees. Gold package at $399/year includes 60 minutes support credits. Platinum package at $900/year includes 120 minutes support credits, priority support, and 24/7 emergency response for Level 1 issues.
3. Certified Appliances: Sangoma sells purpose-built FreePBX appliances including FreePBX 40 ($695), FreePBX 60 ($845), FreePBX 100 ($1,195), FreePBX 400, and FreePBX 1200 ($5,995). Pre-loaded with FreePBX Distro and 25-year SysAdmin Pro license.
4. PBXact Commercial UC System: PBXact is the commercially supported version of FreePBX with bundled commercial modules, UC features, and Sangoma support. Sold as software, appliances, or cloud-hosted PBXact Cloud subscription.
5. SIPStation SIP Trunking: Sangoma's own SIP trunking service built into FreePBX with full auto-provisioning. Offers cost savings, dual-redundant locations, bursting capabilities, fraud protection, and trunk groups. 21-day free trial available.
6. Training and Certification: Sangoma offers professional FreePBX training both online and in class from industry experts, including certification programs. Advanced training covers marketing, sales, deployment, troubleshooting, customization, and administration.
7. OEM Custom Skinning Program: Custom OEM program allowing partners to skin the FreePBX GUI with custom logos, landing pages, menus, and footers. One-time entry fee plus annual renewal. Advanced changes billed at engineering rates.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

FreePBX is an open-source web-based IP PBX (Private Branch Exchange) platform providing a graphical user interface for managing Asterisk-based business telephone systems. It enables organizations to deploy scalable phone systems with features including unlimited extensions, IVRs, call queues, conference bridges, call recording, voicemail, and follow-me/find-me calling, with commercial extensions provided by Sangoma through paid modules, hardware appliances, IP phones, SIP trunking, and the commercially supported PBXact variant.

Product overview

FreePBX is an open source IP PBX platform providing web-based GUI management for Asterisk, enabling scalable business phone systems. The product portfolio centers on the FreePBX core platform (freely downloadable) and its commercial counterpart PBXact (supported by Sangoma), available as software, cloud-hosted (PBXact Cloud), or certified hardware appliances. Sangoma offers a comprehensive ecosystem including commercial add-on modules organized in bundles (Starter, Advanced, Call Center, Everything), IP phones (P-Series, DECT), VoIP gateways (Vega), telephony cards, and SIP trunking (SIPStation). The platform supports 2+ million installations and extends functionality through commercial modules for contact centers, hospitality, CRM integration, security (MFA, SAML SSO), and AI-powered transcription (Scribe).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• PBXact: Commercially supported Unified Communications IP PBX solution based on FreePBX with built-in contact center features, offered as software, cloud, or appliance deployment.
• SIPStation
• Scribe AI
• Sangoma IP Phones
• PBX SAML
• OEM Program

Products and services

• FreePBX (Core Platform) World's most popular open source IP PBX platform providing web-based GUI management for Asterisk, enabling scalable business phone systems with extensions, IVRs, call queues, conference bridges, voicemail, and more.
• PBXact Commercially supported Unified Communications IP PBX based on FreePBX, developed and maintained by Sangoma engineers with bundled commercial modules, UC features, and included Sangoma support.
• PBXact Cloud
• FreePBX Distro Pre-packaged ISO installation of FreePBX bundled with Asterisk and Linux OS for easy deployment on physical hardware or virtual machines.
• FreePBX Appliances Sangoma-certified hardware appliances (FreePBX 40, 60, 100, 400, 1200) pre-loaded with FreePBX Distro, designed and tested for optimal performance with user capacities from 40 to 1200 extensions.
• PBXact Appliances Purpose-built hardware platforms (PBXact 25, 40, 60, 100, 400, 1200) certified by Sangoma QA for optimal performance, supporting 15-350 simultaneous calls.
• Sangoma P-Series IP Phones P-Series (P310, P315, P320, P325, P330, P370) IP phones with ZeroTouch auto-provisioning, built-in VPN, TLS/SRTP encryption, programmable buttons, and PhoneApps integration for FreePBX.
• SIPStation SIP Trunking Sangoma's award-winning SIP trunking service built into every FreePBX system with full auto-provisioning, dual-redundant locations, fraud protection, and 21-day free trial.
• Scribe AI Transcription AI-powered transcription service for FreePBX and PBXact providing call transcripts, conversation summaries, sentiment analysis, Text-to-Speech generation, color-coded playback, and Scribe Tags for keyword-based notifications.
• PBX SAML Module Security Assertion Markup Language module providing Single Sign-On for FreePBX and PBXact with built-in support for Azure AD, Okta, and Google Workspace Identity Providers.
• Sangoma Talk Mobile App Mobile softphone client for iOS and Android enabling staff to work remotely with business extension calling while keeping personal device information private.
• Sangoma Phone Desktop Client Desktop softphone combining calling and collaboration features for Windows and MacOS, providing communications experience for calling and working with coworkers.
• Vega VoIP Gateways Analog and PRI VoIP gateways from Sangoma enabling connection of legacy equipment including analog phones, fax machines, and PRI lines to FreePBX.
• EndPoint Manager Module for auto-provisioning and configuring over 150 desk phones, wireless phones, door phones, and gateways from various manufacturers. Free for Sangoma phones, license required for third-party phones.
• SysAdmin Pro Advanced PBX management module adding DDNS tracking, SMTP email setup, UPS management, support VPN tunnel, VPN server, and FTP server functionality.
• Sangoma Property Manager (SPM) Hospitality module allowing small properties to manage rooms, guests, restaurants, and mini-bars while integrating with PBX for front desk services, wake-up calls, and billing.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 2 million active FreePBX installations globally
• +3 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

AI capability7 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Sangoma TechnologiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSangoma Technologies is the primary sponsor, maintainer, and commercial entity behind FreePBX. Sangoma develops, supports, and commercializes FreePBX through commercial modules, appliances, support services, and PBXact. The company employs the core development team and funds ongoing development and security maintenance.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• 3CX: 3CX is a commercial software-based IP PBX (now owned by Daniel Zheng / PBX customers globally), sold as on-prem, cloud-hosted, and free-tier editions with similar SMB and contact-center positioning. It is the most direct commercial competitor to FreePBX/PBXact with overlapping feature set, channel-reseller model, and pricing structure.
• VitalPBX: VitalPBX is an open-source IP PBX built on Asterisk with a web GUI, commercial modules, and an appliance-style distribution model. It competes head-to-head with FreePBX for the same self-hosted SMB buyer looking for an Asterisk-based alternative.
• Issabel: Issabel is an open-source unified communications platform derived from the Elastix codebase, providing IP PBX, call center, and reporting features on top of Asterisk. It targets the same cost-sensitive, self-hosted SMB market that FreePBX pioneered.
• Grandstream UCM Series: Grandstream's UCM6200 and UCM6300 series are hardware IP PBX appliances with built-in SIP trunking, call routing, and ZeroTouch-like provisioning. They compete directly with Sangoma FreePBX/PBXact appliances at the same SMB and small-mid-market price points.
• Yeastar: Yeastar provides on-prem and cloud IP PBX products (P-Series, S-Series, Linkus UC clients) aimed at SMBs with similar contact-center, hospitality, and multi-site use cases as FreePBX. It is a comparable alternative for resellers and end customers evaluating FreePBX/PBXact.

Broad incumbents

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager: Cisco's UCM (CallManager) is the enterprise incumbent for IP PBX and unified communications, offering deep integration with Cisco networking, collaboration, and contact-center portfolios. It is the broad alternative enterprise buyers consider alongside FreePBX for larger deployments.
• Avaya: Avaya (and Avaya IP Office) provides on-premises and hybrid IP PBX and contact-center solutions for mid-market and enterprise customers. It competes with FreePBX in the SMB-to-mid-market segment where IT teams are still attached to traditional PBX vendors.
• Mitel: Mitel offers on-premises and cloud PBX/UC solutions (MiVoice Business, MiCloud) targeting mid-market and enterprise customers. It overlaps with FreePBX in the SIP/UC-enabled mid-market and provides a comparable upgrade path for legacy PBX buyers.
• RingCentral: RingCentral is a leading cloud UCaaS and contact-center-as-a-service provider displacing on-prem PBX deployments at the same SMB and mid-market buyers FreePBX targets. It is the most consequential indirect competitor as the market shifts to hosted telephony.
• 8x8: 8x8 provides cloud UCaaS and contact-center solutions, including its XCaaS platform, competing with PBXact Cloud and PBXact UC bundles for the same mid-market and SMB segments. It represents the cloud migration threat to FreePBX's on-prem install base.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/freepbx
• GitHubgithub.com/FreePBX
• YouTubevimeo.com/sangoma
• Facebookfacebook.com/freepbx
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/freepbx

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about FreePBX