3CXEnterprise phone system with integrated AI at an unbeatable price
vs
FrontCustomer service platform where teams and AI agents resolve complex customer work together
Comparison · Contact Center · weekly run Nov 3
3CX vs Front
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
Front is the stronger AI pick in Contact Center: it has a visibility score of 0.9 versus 0.4 for 3CX.
Choose 3CX if…
- You want a free plan to start
- You need a self-hosted or on-premises option
- Flat tiers pricing suits your budget better than per seat
- affordable phone system with contact center features
Choose Front if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (0.9 vs 0.4)
- You want a lower entry price ($25 vs $300)
- AI answers describe it more positively (29% vs 12% positive)
- You need SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001 coverage
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | 3CX | Front |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 0.4% | 0.9% |
| Change vs last week | down−0.6% | up+0.9% |
| Rank in Contact Center | #39 | #35 |
| Share of voice | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| Mentions this run | 1 | 1 |
| Positive in AI answers | 12% | 29% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
3CX −0.7000000000000001pp · Front +0.9pp over 1 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Front leads on 2 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
3CXFront
Head to head in AI answers
0 engine answers name both brands
03CX ranked higher
0Front ranked higher
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | 3CX | Front |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat tiers | Per seat |
| Entry price | Free; paid from $300 / mo | $25 per seat / mo |
| Free plan | Yes | No · 14-day trial |
| Deployment | Hosted by 3CX, on-premise, or self-hosted in your own private cloud | Cloud (AWS), with U.S. or EU data hosting |
| Integrations | — | 130+ |
| Compliance | — | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 |
| Support | Free tech support questions via the website, Help forum, Partner network | Help Center, Academy, Community, Developer Portal |
| Founded | 2005 | 2013 |
| Headquarters | Nicosia, Cyprus | San Francisco, CA, United States |
| Employees | 51–200 | 501–1,000 |
| Funding | Latest round listed as Other Investors | Series C · $204M raised |
| Best for | Companies with 25+ users that want a self-managed phone system with integrated AI | B2B customer support, sales, operations and account teams handling complex, multi-team customer requests |
Plans side by side
3CX
Free (StartUP)$0year, up to 10 users incl. hosting
Basic$300year (8 simultaneous calls; scales with SC tier)
Pro$395year (8 simultaneous calls; scales with SC tier)
AI$575year (8 simultaneous calls; scales with SC tier)
Front
Starter$25seat/month, billed annually, up to 10 seats
Professional$65seat/month, billed annually, up to 50 seats
Enterprise$105seat/month, billed annually
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
3CX
- affordable phone system with contact center features
- free edition for up to 10 users
- cost control and deployment flexibility
- good fit for small and midsize businesses
- core omnichannel communications such as live chat and call routing
- suitability depends on business size, budget and IT resources
- may not suit needs for a dedicated enterprise omnichannel contact center
Front
- Best for collaborative customer operations
- Strong shared inbox and email-centric collaboration
- Useful when sales, customer success, and support must collaborate
- Frequently shortlisted for B2B SaaS customer support
- Lower annual rates than many help desk alternatives
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 98.8%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “3CX vs Front”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/3cx-vs-front, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.