If you run a business of 10 to 50 people, the phones are probably not something you think about until the bill arrives or a line goes down. But with traditional landlines being retired, a lot of owners are now asking the same question: what is the real VoIP vs landline cost for a small business, and is switching worth it? This guide walks through what you pay for each, where the hidden costs sit, and how to budget for the move without surprises.
VoIP vs landline cost: the short answer
With a traditional landline, you pay for each physical line, plus call charges, plus the upkeep of an on-site phone system if you have one. With VoIP (a hosted or “cloud” phone system), you pay a monthly fee per user, your calls travel over your internet connection, and the system itself is run and updated for you.
For most offices, the per-user model is easier to predict and easier to scale. Add a new starter and you add one user; nobody needs to install a new line. Lose a member of staff and you can drop a licence rather than paying for a line that sits unused.
What you pay for with a traditional landline
Landline costs tend to be spread across several bills, which is why they are easy to underestimate:
- Line rental for each line, whether or not it is busy.
- Call charges, especially to mobiles and non-geographic numbers, unless you are on a bundle.
- On-site PBX hardware (the box in the cupboard), plus maintenance contracts and call-out fees when it needs attention.
- Moves and changes, such as adding extensions or moving desks, which often need an engineer.
- Extra kit for remote working, because a landline does not follow staff home.
There is also a bigger issue: the traditional copper phone network (the PSTN) is being switched off in the UK. Openreach stopped selling new PSTN-based lines in September 2023 and is retiring the network, with 31 January 2027 as the deadline. Paying to keep or extend an old landline set-up now means spending money on something with a fixed end date. Our PSTN switch-off guide explains what that means for your business.
What you pay for with VoIP
A hosted VoIP phone system turns most of those separate costs into one predictable monthly charge per user. At Simplify Networks, plans start from £14.99 per user per month:
- Basic User, £14.99: a desk phone with all the phone system features.
- Business User, £19.99: softphone on desktop, mobile and web, SMS, voicemail, call transfer, chat and Microsoft Teams integration.
- Call centre agent, £29.99: for teams handling higher call volumes.
Alongside the monthly fee, budget for a few one-off items:
- Installation and setup. There is a setup fee to configure your system, call flows and users properly.
- Handsets, if you want desk phones. Many staff are happy with the softphone app on their laptop or mobile.
- A reliable internet connection. Calls run over your broadband, so it is worth checking it has enough capacity for the number of people on the phone at once.
Moving your existing numbers across is free, so customers keep calling the numbers they already know. Our guide on how to port a business phone number in the UK covers how that works.
The costs people forget to compare
When you put VoIP and landline side by side, the line rental is only part of the story. These are the areas where the difference usually shows up.
Remote and hybrid working
With a landline, calls arrive at the office. With VoIP, staff can answer the business number on a mobile or laptop app wherever they are, so you are not paying for call forwarding or missing calls when people work from home. See how the mobile and desktop app works.
Features you would otherwise pay extra for
Auto attendants (“press 1 for sales”), call queues, ring groups, voicemail to email, call recording and business hours routing are typically part of a hosted system rather than add-ons. On an older on-site system, getting these can mean upgrades or engineer visits.
Growth and changes
Adding a user on VoIP is a change in a portal, not a new line. Opening a second site or letting someone work from another city does not mean new wiring either.
Maintenance and downtime
A hosted system is updated centrally, so you are not paying to maintain ageing hardware in a cupboard. If the office is closed for any reason, calls can be routed straight to mobiles.
Is VoIP always cheaper than a landline?
Not in every single case. A very small business with one line, almost no calls and no plans to change might see little difference on the monthly bill. But for a typical office of 10 to 50 people, VoIP usually comes out ahead once you count everything a landline set-up needs, and it removes the risk of being caught out by the switch-off.
The fairest way to compare is to add up what you pay now across every bill (line rental, calls, maintenance, any forwarding or remote-working costs) and set it against the per-user price for the number of people who actually make and take calls.
How to budget for the switch
- Count your users, not your lines. Who needs a desk phone, and who would be happy with an app?
- List what is plugged into your phone lines today. Alarms, card machines, lift lines and door entry systems may also need attention before the switch-off. Our post on alarms and card machines after the switch-off covers this.
- Check your internet connection can handle your busiest call times.
- Pick the right plan per person. You can mix Basic, Business and Call centre users.
- Plan the move so numbers transfer with minimal disruption. We handle phone system migrations from older on-site systems.
For a fuller breakdown of prices, read our guide to how much a business phone system costs in the UK.
New customers who sign up by 30 November 2026 get 2 months for the price of 1.
Find out what VoIP would cost your business
Tell us how many people you have and what is plugged into your lines today, and we will show you what a hosted phone system would cost, plus a free switch-off check. New customers who sign up by 30 November 2026 get 2 months for the price of 1.