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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    3CX

    Score8.6 out of 10
    N/ACyprus based company 3CX offers an IP PBX phone system.

    $1.08

    per user/per month

    MaestroConference

    Score7 out of 10
    N/AMaestroConference is a web conferencing platform with the capability to run small break-out sessions within the main group. It incorporates voting and social capabilities.

    $49

    per month

    Pricing
    3CXMaestroConference
    Editions & Modules
    Pro
    $1.08
    per user/per month
    Enterprise
    $1.31
    per user/per month
    Standard
    Free
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    3CXMaestroConference
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
    Additional DetailsPrice displayed is based on 25 users. 3CX pricing is based on the number of simultaneous calls your business requires or in other words, how many calls your system needs to support at once. Unlike other PBX vendors there is no per extension cost.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    3CXMaestroConference
    Considered Both Products
    3CX
    No answer on this topic
    MaestroConference
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    90%
    Would buy again
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    88%
    Delivers good value for the price
    7 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    10 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    83%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    9 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Best Alternatives
    3CXMaestroConference
    Small Businesses
    Sangoma Asterisk
    Score8 out of 10
    ClickMeeting
    Score7.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Sangoma Asterisk
    Score8 out of 10
    JioMeet
    Score10 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Sangoma Asterisk
    Score8 out of 10
    Webex Meetings
    Score8.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    3CXMaestroConference
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.4
    (14 ratings)
    8.3
    (3 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.9
    (3 ratings)
    Support Rating
    5.4
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    3CXMaestroConference
    Likelihood to Recommend
    3CX
    In many scenarios decision is driven by budget and compared to other solutions at the time of purchase [3CX] was simply the cheapest solution for what it has to offer. If you are looking for integrations, extensibility, and advanced functionalities, this might not be a solution for you. At the time of use (and this may have changed by now), there was a lack of APIs, CLI commands, and similar so nothing could be automated with the system. There are ways of importing data through CSV but automation would solve us so much time and support calls if we were able to connect with other systems.
    Incentivized
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    MaestroConference
    This is best suited for webinars where you want increase participant engagement. Maestroconference has helped us avoid the type of webinar where the presenter has no idea if people are listening and participants often lose interest and end up checking email. The interaction level can become extremely high leading to increased engagement, satisfaction and buy-in.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    3CX
    • Simplicity: Using a single 3CX interface we can manage every phone and extension used throughout our company.
    • Flexibility: There are a wide variety of options to configure each extension and phone. Changing anything after the hardware is deployed is very easy.
    • Portability: Phones with 3CX can be easily moved or repurposed within an office or at remote locations, including users' homes. The mobile app allows users to use their office extension anywhere without exposing their cell number.
    Incentivized
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    MaestroConference
    • The number one strength of Maestro Conference is the ability for the host to create "break out" groups where members of the call can interact with each other in smaller groups as if they were in an in-person conference.
    • Another quality of Maestro Conference that I love is the fact that the host can then "weave in and out" of the different break out groups, listening in, providing support and getting feedback. It's an incredibly tool that Maestro offers.
    • Lastly I think Maestro Conference has excellent customer service.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    3CX
    • I would like to be able to see direct-dial numbers on the handsets. Currently that is not possible but that would be a nice feature.
    • You need an SBC per location, which can be a point of failure.
    • You also need a server that might get disconnected, which is another point of failure.
    Incentivized
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    MaestroConference
    • The call sound quality was often pretty poor, and we had a lot of trouble with calls being dropped. Over the years I would periodically throw in the towel and go back to Free Conferencing just to have reliable quality. But they only have 3 of 4 breakout rooms and I couldn't conduct the rooms easily. Then I try MC again to see if the engineering had improved. It was like a wave. Sometimes better, sometimes worse.
    • The conductor interface has an annoying glitch wherein we could not change a persons attribute fields on the fly. I would interview my callers and assign them to one class or another based on their answers, and the partner up people into breakout rooms based on their answers. This meant editing the two attribute fields , and it just plain didn't work 75% of the time.
    • Maestro Conference repositioned its business away from small educators like me, to large organizations like political action committees. The price became too high for me, and it just no longer made sense. I repositioned my product to work with less expensive and less complicated solutions.
    • The add on features, like recording each conference room, were insanely expensive.
    • VOIP and MC didn't mix. The MC dialer never worked. Neither did Skype. This meant that my international callers were out of luck. This was FRUSTRATING to say the least. Now I just use Skype. A picture is worth a thousand words.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    3CX
    No answers on this topic
    MaestroConference
    we have found no other company with the technology that allows us to conduct webinars with this level of interactivity. We've also been watching as the company has added on addtional functionality and are very please with how it is developing.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    3CX
    The 3CX Phone System is only a five because while they provide set-up/how-to/Q and A documents to help your district or company get started, they do not offer support for free. The documents provided, though, are good enough for you to get you up and running. We also found a good source of help through a sip trunk provider, which was a 3CX reseller provider.
    Incentivized
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    MaestroConference
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    3CX
    The main differences between 8x8, Inc. and 3CX is pricing and ease of use in my opinion. The 3CX system uses annual based pricing plans based on of simultaneous calls your company needs, not the number of extensions/users and offers a free plan. 8x8, Inc. charges per extension with different plans. We currently have 19 extensions so the 3CX system makes more sense for us, however, if your company only has a few extensions you may want to throughly consider both options. In my experience, it was difficult to add new extensions and phones with 8x8 because at least at that time we had 8x8 I could not add anything on the web admin. I had to call a sales rep which took a lot more time. Also, if you didn't purchase a phone and/or headset directly from 8x8 at a usually higher price than Amazon for example then you would have to spend anywhere from 30 minutes to hours on the phone with 8x8 tech support to program the phone to work with the 8x8 system so adding a new extension could turn into a long ordeal. I can easily add new extensions on 3CX directly in the web cpanel. Granted, if you are actually adding a new phone number you would need to purchase that number from a company like ATT first before adding it to 3CX. The difference between a phone number and an extension would be a phone number allows a customer to call in directly using that number. The extension would require the customer to call the main business number then be transferred to the extension. 3CX provides a list of supported phone models on their website
    Incentivized
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    MaestroConference
    Maestro Conference is the only service I know that allows you to create break out groups and allow participants to actively engage with each other and with the host. It is the most like an "in-person" event of any service I have used. And the customer service has always been excellent
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    3CX
    • 3CX has a lot to offer for a very low cost as its business model is based on simultaneous calls and not per device. It's very cost effective and very affordable.
    • As the 3CX server does not require a high-performance server to run, with the Public Cloud option, it might allow even further savings.
    Incentivized
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    MaestroConference
    • When the monthly call with breakout rooms was working well I had a lot of good conversion. When it was not, because of sound quality of dropped calls, I was giving people a poor experience. Since I was using MC as the centerpiece of my TRIAL calls, it was a two edged sword.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    3CX Screenshots

    Screenshot of Video ConferencingScreenshot of Advanced Contact Center ReportingScreenshot of Management DashboardScreenshot of Live ChatScreenshot of 3CX AppScreenshot of See the Status of Your Colleagues

    MaestroConference Screenshots

    Screenshot of Social Webinar exampleScreenshot of A "breakout group" discussion - where you can see the faces of the other people you talk with by phone or using VOIP/your computerScreenshot of You can poll your participants with Poll View in Social WebinarScreenshot of Share links with other participants in a Social Webinar chat window, while you talkScreenshot of Crowdsource ideas with Idea Board View in Social Webinar