Most people searching for an Avaya alternative run an Aura or IP Office system on their own premises and have watched the company go through two Chapter 11 cases. They want a phone system whose roadmap and support they can read in public, and they split between hosted PBX vendors, the Microsoft or Cisco platforms they already pay for, and PBX software they can still run themselves.
Sebastiaan SmitsFounderShort answer: 3CX, STARFACE and Wildix head the list of Avaya alternatives drawn from our business phone system ranking. Smaller vendors fill the top three places where the category offers them, and the household names start at place 4. 3CX is the one to try if you still want to run the PBX yourself and prefer a licence sized by call volume. Each of the 14 alternatives sits in Best Business Phone Systems in 2026 and is described against Avaya.
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Avaya's own site now leads with Avaya Infinity, described as an enterprise CX platform, and with Avaya Nexus for mission-critical voice. Aura and IP Office sit in a separate unified communications group. A buyer who only needs desk phones, queues and voicemail may find the current messaging aimed at larger contact centre programmes.
Avaya's investor site carries the 2017 announcement that it emerged from Chapter 11. On 1 May 2023 it announced a second emergence, with about $650 million in liquidity and a board that includes representatives of Apollo and Brigade. The legal entity named in the 2026 site footer is Avaya LLC. Procurement teams often ask for continuity language because of this history.
The Aura page cites up to 300,000 users and 1 million devices per instance, run on premises or connected to selected cloud services. The Aura Private Cloud page mentions pay-per-user pricing on a dedicated Microsoft Azure instance but gives no figures, and the IP Office page lists none either. A small site cannot compare cost without a quote.
| Alternative | Headquarters | Free option | Pricing model | Switch if | Our rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3CX | Cyprus | No free tier | Published | you still want to run the PBX yourself and prefer a licence sized by call volume | #5 |
| STARFACE | Germany | No free tier | On request | you want to keep an on-premises box or virtual machine under a German supplier | #17 |
| Wildix | Estonia | No free tier | On request | your Avaya estate mixes warehouse phones with a few agent seats and you want different levels per user | #6 |
| Microsoft Teams Phone | Not stated by the vendor | No free tier | See profile | every employee already has a Microsoft 365 licence and you want telephony inside the Teams client | #15 |
| Webex Calling | Not stated by the vendor | No free tier | See profile | your sites already use Cisco phones or network gear and you want a single vendor relationship | #16 |
| Yeastar P-Series | China | No free tier | On request | you want appliance, software or hosted options from one vendor and accept a China-registered company | #19 |
| NFON Cloudya | Germany | No free tier | On request | you operate in several European countries and want hosting that stays in Europe | #18 |
| RingCentral | United States | No free tier | See profile | you run several offices and want admin roles, cost-centre reporting and many app connections | #11 |
| sipgate | Germany | No free tier | Published | your sites are small, calls stay inside Germany and you want to cancel month by month | #1 |
| GoTo Connect | Not stated by the vendor | No free tier | On request | you accept quote-based buying and may later add agent seats to the same platform | #10 |
| 8x8 | United States | No free tier | On request | you want phones and queues from one supplier and can live with a fixed 12-month term | #13 |
| Zoom Phone | United States | No free tier | See profile | your staff already live in Zoom meetings and want the handset in the same account | #12 |
| Dialpad | United States | No free tier | Published | call summaries and transcripts matter more to you than owning the PBX hardware | #9 |
| Nextiva | United States | No free tier | Published | you run a small office and want texting and team chat bundled into per-user phones | #8 |
Cyprus · Published
Charges one annual licence per system, sized by how many calls run at once (8 to 1,024 simultaneous calls), so a large extension count does not set the price. A free 4-call edition exists for self-hosting up to 10 users. Hosting by 3CX costs extra, and the vendor is based in Cyprus.
Switch from Avaya if you still want to run the PBX yourself and prefer a licence sized by call volume.
Germany · On request
Karlsruhe vendor selling the same PBX as a German-hosted cloud, a virtual-machine edition for your own hypervisor, or a hardware appliance. Teams integration is switched on per user. Its pages publish no prices and say nothing about a contact centre module, so both need a conversation with sales.
Switch from Avaya if you want to keep an on-premises box or virtual machine under a German supplier.
#17 out of 19 business phone system products: read the STARFACE review →
Estonia · On request
Four subscription levels can coexist in one installation: a basic PBX seat with one device, then UC levels that add meetings, AI transcripts, reporting and contact centre dashboards. Billing runs monthly, yearly or over five years, with no public price. The holding company is registered in Estonia.
Switch from Avaya if your Avaya estate mixes warehouse phones with a few agent seats and you want different levels per user.
Our business phone system guide puts Wildix at 6 of 19; read why →
Not stated by the vendor · See profile
Sold as an add-on licence on top of Teams, not as a separate PBX. Number connectivity comes from a Microsoft Calling Plan, a certified Operator Connect carrier or your own session border controller. Auto attendants and call queues are included, and an existing phone system can run next to it during migration.
Switch from Avaya if every employee already has a Microsoft 365 licence and you want telephony inside the Teams client.
Full verdict on Microsoft Teams Phone, which sits at number 15 of 19 for business phone system →
Not stated by the vendor · See profile
Cisco's help centre splits licences into Professional, Standard and Workspace, with different device and feature rights. Its Dedicated Instance option moves an existing Unified CM deployment into a Cisco-run private cloud, which keeps Cisco endpoints useful. It suits Cisco estates more than Avaya ones.
Switch from Avaya if your sites already use Cisco phones or network gear and you want a single vendor relationship.
See the full Webex Calling entry, ranked 16 of 19 among business phone system products →
China · On request
Xiamen-based vendor offering its PBX as an appliance, as software for your own private or public cloud, or hosted by Yeastar on AWS. Pages show over 150 features and a contact centre with chat, WhatsApp and SMS without per-agent fees. No price is published, but a free trial exists.
Switch from Avaya if you want appliance, software or hosted options from one vendor and accept a China-registered company.
Why Yeastar P-Series is #19 among 19 business phone system products →
Germany · On request
Munich vendor whose telephony runs on European servers, with country sites for Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Poland, Portugal and the UK. It reports more than 54,000 customers and 3,000 partners. The contact centre is a separate product, and the telephony pages show no price.
Switch from Avaya if you operate in several European countries and want hosting that stays in Europe.
#18 out of 19 business phone system products: read the NFON Cloudya review →
United States · See profile
Sold per user with a discount for paying annually, and it lists more than 330 integrations. Unlimited calling is stated for the US and Canada, and other destinations use plans or bundles. A 21-day return window applies to trial hardware. The base per-seat price did not render in the text we read.
Switch from Avaya if you run several offices and want admin roles, cost-centre reporting and many app connections.
RingCentral, #11 of 19 in our business phone system ranking →
Germany · Published
A German provider with three public per-user tiers, a two-user minimum and monthly cancellation. Call recording is billed per minute on top of the tier. Queues and voice menus arrive from the middle tier, Teams integration and single sign-on only in the quoted Enterprise tier, and the commercial pages are in German.
Switch from Avaya if your sites are small, calls stay inside Germany and you want to cancel month by month.
Not stated by the vendor · On request
Five packages climb from phone system to a contact centre tier with agent dashboards and an auto-dialer, each behind a contact-sales button. Auto attendants and ring groups are listed as unlimited, and calling covers more than 50 countries. The page we read gives no country of establishment.
Switch from Avaya if you accept quote-based buying and may later add agent seats to the same platform.
More on GoTo Connect: ranked 10 of 19 in business phone system →
United States · On request
X Series licences run X1 to X8, where business telephony and contact centre users share one contract. There is no month-to-month option: terms renew for 12 months, with 30 days' written notice to stop and 45 days to cut licences. Contact centre users get a pooled 4,000 minutes each.
Switch from Avaya if you want phones and queues from one supplier and can live with a fixed 12-month term.
See the full 8x8 entry, ranked 13 of 19 among business phone system products →
United States · See profile
Each plan pairs a Phone tier with a Workplace tier, so calling is bought together with meetings and chat. Unlimited domestic calling covers the US and Canada only, and PSTN coverage is stated for 49 or more countries. The trial is limited to existing Phone customers, so evaluation needs a contact with Zoom.
Switch from Avaya if your staff already live in Zoom meetings and want the handset in the same account.
#12 out of 19 business phone system products: read the Zoom Phone review →
United States · Published
Standard already includes unlimited calling, AI meetings and live transcripts with summaries, and Pro adds CRM integrations and multi-office management. Single sign-on starts at the quoted Enterprise tier, which also states a 99.9 percent uptime figure. The per-user prices are public, but their billing period is not stated.
Switch from Avaya if call summaries and transcripts matter more to you than owning the PBX hardware.
Read our review of Dialpad (position 9 of 19 on the business phone system list) →
United States · Published
Core, Engage and Scale raise texts per user from 100 to 500 to unlimited and toll-free minutes from none to 10,000. Scale adds skills-based routing. The annual discount covers only new customers with 1 to 100 employees on a twelve-month term, and no trial is shown.
Switch from Avaya if you run a small office and want texting and team chat bundled into per-user phones.
Read our review of Nextiva (position 8 of 19 on the business phone system list) →
Staying on Avaya is defensible when the system carries thousands of users on one Aura instance, when regulated sites need the dedicated Azure-based Private Cloud, or when contact centre routing in Call Center Elite is tied to dozens of integrations that a rewrite would put at risk. In those cases the better move is often a priced support renewal and a staged plan, not a cutover, and a quote is the only way to compare cost.
Aura exposes REST APIs and connects to Microsoft Teams and Zoom, and IP Office includes call recording and reporting through Avaya Call Reporting. List which of these your users touch every day, then check each candidate for the same item. Handset compatibility differs sharply: Webex states that some Cisco phones cannot take the firmware it needs.
Teams Phone documents coexistence with another phone system or contact centre, and Webex describes users split between its Dedicated Instance and multi-tenant calling. Move one site or department first, port numbers last, and keep the old trunk until the first month of billing is checked against the carrier statement.
Avaya's website is live, shows a 2026 copyright for Avaya LLC and lists Avaya Infinity, Nexus, Aura and IP Office as current products.
The vendor's 2023 press release states that it emerged from Chapter 11 on 1 May 2023. We found no later insolvency notice on the vendor's own pages.
The vendor's page says it is a dedicated instance of Microsoft Azure, for one organisation, with pay-per-user pricing and no stated limit on users. It covers telephony and collaboration, while contact centre capability is directed to Avaya Infinity.
The IP Office page describes a system implemented and managed on the customer's premises and mentions no cloud deployment. It lists call recording, reporting and real-time contact centre seats. Check with Avaya or a partner for current cloud routes.
Number portability is handled by the carrier of the new system, not by the phone vendor. Teams Phone lets you choose Microsoft as carrier, a certified Operator Connect partner or your own carrier, so the porting request goes to that operator.
Dialpad, Nextiva, sipgate and Zoom Phone publish per-user figures, though not every tier is priced. RingCentral base seat prices did not render in the text we read.
Wildix, Starface, NFON, Yeastar, GoTo Connect and 8x8 route price questions through sales, and 3CX prices by simultaneous calls.
3CX, Starface (virtual-machine edition and appliance) and Yeastar (appliance or software) can be self-hosted. The others in this list are hosted services, although Webex offers a Cisco-run Dedicated Instance for Unified CM customers.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Checked and edited by Sebastiaan Smits, last on 31 October 2026. The editorial process explains the method.
