Custom Proposal Call: 844-486-4766

8x8 Makes It Hard to Leave. We Make It Easy to Stay.

8x8 won’t print a price — their pricing page says “contact sales” — and leaving means the full contract remainder charged to your card. We print ours: Cloud Express hosted at $15.75 per user with the Cisco phone included, or a SIP Express system you own from $975. No contracts either way.

8x8
★★★☆☆
3.1 / 5
VS
VoIP PBX Express
★★★★★
4.9 / 5

Cloud Express hosted: $15.75/user, phone included · Or own it: SIP systems from $975 — save up to 79%.

VoIP PBX Express vs 8x8

Two published VPE prices vs a quote-only sales process. 8x8 feature and pricing status verified August 2026.

Feature VPE Cloud Express ($15.75/user, phone incl.) VPE SIP Express (own it) 8x8
Published price $15.75/user/mo — printed right here $4,950 $1,275 for 20 phones + from $161/mo base None. Quote-only — “contact sales”
Monthly price (20 users) $315/mo — phone on every desk included From $161/mo base after the one-time system You find out after the sales call
Cisco desk phones Included for every user — free advance replacement Included in the system price Extra
Call analytics Arthur Igloo call analytics — included Available Gated to the upgrade — “No call analytics with the standard package,” per their own customer
AI receptionist Arthur Igloo — included Arthur Igloo — available Quote-gated
Who runs it for you A US-based Cisco engineer — unlimited moves, adds & changes done for you Our Certified Network Specialists manage it end to end Self-service portal
Support US-based Cisco-certified engineers US-based Cisco-certified engineers “Abandons after sale” — their reviews below
Contracts None — month-to-month None Auto-renewing; can’t downgrade users mid-term
Cancellation No cancellation department; free port-out help Unplug it — it’s yours Full contract remainder charged to your card
Trustpilot rating ★ 4.9 / 5 ★ 4.9 / 5 ★ 3.1 / 5
5-year cost (20 users) $18,900 $10,935 ($1,275 + $161 × 60) Unpublished — bring us their quote

VPE monthly rates are base rates — plus taxes & fees, itemized on every invoice.

8x8 pricing status and review quotes verified August 2026 — their pricing page publishes no dollar figures.

SIP Express note: calls between desks stay on your office network — an on-premise perk for in-building call quality.

What 8x8 Customers Are Saying

Real reviews from real businesses. We didn’t write these — 8x8’s own customers did.

🚨 Contract Traps

“Do not use this company. They will lock you into a contract and you cannot downgrade users. If you cancel, they will charge your credit card for the entire remainder of the contract term in full!”
— Trustpilot review, verified business owner
“They auto-renewed our contract without notification and now we’re stuck for another year.”
— Trustpilot review, office manager
“Cancellation is nearly impossible. We’ve been trying for months.”
— Trustpilot review, small business owner
“They lock you into a contract and then charge the full remainder if you try to get out. We were stuck paying for a service we weren’t even using.”
— 8x8 customer, Trustpilot

📞 Unreachable Support

“It’s absurd that a company offering phone service makes it so difficult to reach a live person.”
— Trustpilot review, verified customer
“The WORST company I have ever worked with. No one on support can solve anything, everything is flagged for another team.”
— Trustpilot review, IT administrator
“Sales, Customer Service, and Tech Support will abandon you the second the check clears.”
— Trustpilot review, business owner
“It is absurd that a phone company can’t be reached by phone. We waited over 2 hours on hold, got disconnected, and had to start over.”
— 8x8 customer, Trustpilot

🔈 Platform Issues

“Constant outages. When the system goes down, ALL our locations go down at the same time.”
— Trustpilot review, multi-location business owner
“Call quality is inconsistent. Some days crystal clear, other days we sound like we’re underwater.”
— Trustpilot review, operations manager

How VoIP PBX Express Is Different

Every pain point 8x8 creates, we solve two ways — hosted or owned.

8x8 Problem

Contract Lock-In

Auto-renewing contracts you can’t escape. Cancel early and they charge the full remainder to your card. You can’t even downgrade users mid-term.

VPE Solution

No Contracts on Either Line

Cloud Express is month-to-month — scale users down anytime, cancel anytime, free port-out help. Own a SIP Express system instead and there’s nothing to cancel at all.

8x8 Problem

Unreachable Support

A phone company that makes it nearly impossible to reach a live person. Tickets get flagged endlessly between teams. No one can actually solve anything.

VPE Solution

US-Based Cisco-Certified Engineers

Call 844-486-4766 and you reach a US-based Cisco-certified engineer who knows your system — admin help AND tech support, hosted or owned. No team-to-team runaround.

8x8 Problem

A Price They Won’t Print

8x8’s pricing page publishes no dollar figures — every plan is “contact sales.” You can’t comparison-shop a number they won’t show you, and their own customers report the basics gated behind upgrades.

VPE Solution

Both of Our Prices, In Print

Cloud Express: $15.75 per user, phone included — $315/mo for a 20-person office. SIP Express: $4,950 $1,275 for 20 phones (save up to 79%) plus SIP Express Plus from $161/mo — $10,935 over five years. Bring us any written 8x8 quote and we’ll put ours next to it.

8x8 Problem

When 8x8 Goes Down, Everything Goes Down

“Constant outages. When the system goes down, ALL our locations go down at the same time” — that’s a multi-location 8x8 customer, above. Their platform record is the reliability story here.

VPE Solution

Options 8x8 Can’t Offer

Run every branch on Cloud Express with an engineer watching it — or put your HQ on an owned Cisco system (desk-to-desk calls stay on your own office network) and host the branches. Hybrid runs on one bill, with one engineer who knows the whole setup.

8x8 Problem

Leaving 8x8 Costs the Full Remainder

Cancel mid-term and 8x8 charges the entire remaining contract to your card — their customers’ reviews above spell it out. The exit is priced to keep you.

VPE Solution

You’re Never Starting Over

Your numbers port out with engineer-managed transfers and temporary numbers, so you’re never phoneless. Start hosted and convert to an owned system whenever the math favors it — a free, engineer-performed cutover either direction. No monthly rent on the owned line — that’s why it costs less.

5-Year Cost, 20 Users — Two Numbers vs a Sales Call

8x8
Unpublished
Their pricing page has no dollar figures; you get a number after a salesperson gets you. Bring us any written 8x8 quote and our Certified Network Specialists will put both of our published prices next to it, line by line.
VPE Cloud Express
$18,900
$15.75 × 20 users × 60 months
Cisco phones, Arthur Igloo, queues, and recording included. $0 upfront.
VPE SIP Express
$10,935
$4,950 $1,275 one-time system (save up to 79%)
+ $161/mo × 60 months
The lowest 5-year cost on this page.

How the big names stack up — 5 years, 20 users, published month-to-month rates

$42,000
$35/user
~$36,000
$29.99/line, desk-phone tier
$29,940
$24.95 Pro
$27,600
$23/user
Unpublished
$18,900
phone included
$10,935
own it

Published month-to-month rate × 20 users × 60 months, before add-ons, taxes, and phones — verified from each provider’s pricing page, August 2026. 8x8 and GoTo publish no pricing.

What VPE Customers Say

Real businesses. Real results. Real people picking up the phone.

★★★★★
“Working with Jane and Scot was a pleasure. They walked us through every step, answered every question, and had our system running the same day it arrived. Couldn’t be happier.”
JC
Jose
Business Owner, CA · Shopper Approved
★★★★★
“Scott and his team are top-notch. Professional, knowledgeable, and always available when you need them. The system works flawlessly and the savings are real.”
★★★★★
“Very friendly, very supportive, and very prompt. They treat you like family, not a ticket number. Our firehouse has never had better phone service.”
FH
Firehouse Customer
Verified Purchase · Trustpilot
★★★★★
“Affordable enterprise grade equipment and great people to work with. We switched from a cloud provider and immediately noticed better call quality and zero monthly surprises.”
VP
Anonymous
Verified Customer · Trustpilot

Where 8x8 May Be the Better Choice

We believe in giving you the full picture, even when it doesn’t favor us.

🌐

Global Footprint and International Calling

8x8’s higher tiers bundle unlimited international calling to dozens of countries. If your team calls overseas daily, that’s a real advantage.

🎧

Omnichannel Contact Center

8x8 sells a full contact-center suite — agent dashboards, omnichannel routing, workforce tools. We build phone systems, not contact centers.

🎥

Native Video Meetings and Team Chat

Their platform bundles video and chat into one app; we cover voice.

🏢

Enterprise Scale Above 100 Seats

Past 100 users, their tooling is built for it; our sweet spot is 20–100.

For a business that wants a published price, a phone on every desk, and an engineer who answers — VPE wins, hosted or owned. Multi-site and remote teams are no longer a reason to pick them: Cloud Express connects every location natively, and hybrid (owned HQ + hosted branches) runs on one bill.

How to Switch from 8x8

Two paths, engineer-managed end to end — and you keep your numbers.

1

Tell Us About Your Office

Call 844-486-4766 or request a custom proposal. Our Certified Network Specialists build your quote both ways: Cloud Express hosted and SIP Express owned, side by side.

2

Pick Your Path

Hosted: $0 upfront, phones ship pre-configured, $15.75 per user. Owned: your system ships ~90% pre-configured and most offices are live in under 2 hours. Not sure? Our specialists will tell you which way your math favors — honestly.

3

Keep Your Numbers

Porting away from 8x8 is engineer-managed end to end, with temporary numbers so your business is never phoneless while the port completes.

4

Time Your 8x8 Exit Carefully

8x8 charges the full remaining contract term on cancellation, so map your renewal date before you commit — in many cases the monthly savings cover riding out the term, and we’ll run that math with you honestly. Get the cancellation in writing and don’t cancel until your VPE service is live and your numbers have ported.

Common Questions About Switching from 8x8

Find your renewal date first — 8x8 contracts auto-renew, and canceling mid-term means the full remainder billed to your card, per their own customers’ reviews. Sometimes the right move is timing the switch to the renewal window; sometimes the savings justify leaving early. Our Certified Network Specialists will run both scenarios with you. On our side there’s no contract to escape — Cloud Express is month-to-month, and an owned system has nothing to cancel.
You’d have to ask them — their pricing page lists plans with no dollar figures and routes everything to “contact sales.” We publish ours: $15.75 per user hosted with the phone included, or a 20-phone system you own at $4,950 $1,275 plus service from $161/mo. Bring us any written 8x8 quote and we’ll compare it line by line.
Yes — and two ways. Put every branch on Cloud Express, or run your HQ on an owned Cisco system and host the branches. Either way it’s one bill and one engineer who knows the whole setup, and numbers port with engineer-managed transfers and temporary numbers so no location ever goes dark.
A Cisco desk phone for every user (refurbished enterprise hardware with free advance replacement), Arthur Igloo AI receptionist and call analytics, call recording, ring groups and call queues built and maintained by an engineer, unlimited US/Canada calling, and unlimited moves, adds, and changes done for you. Month-to-month, 20-user minimum.
Owning wins the long-run math: a 20-phone SIP Express system runs $10,935 over five years vs $18,900 hosted. Hosted wins on $0 upfront, zero hardware on site, and speed. Our Certified Network Specialists show you both side by side and recommend owning when the math favors it — and switching later is a free, engineer-performed conversion, so you’re never locked into the choice.
Yes — the same enterprise Cisco hardware Fortune 500 networks run, pulled from corporate environments, fully tested, reconditioned, and warrantied. On Cloud Express, if a phone ever fails, a configured replacement ships free.

We Print Our Prices. They Print “Contact Sales.”

Tell our Certified Network Specialists about your office and get both quotes — Cloud Express hosted at $15.75 per user, and a SIP Express system you own from $975 — with the honest recommendation on which fits your business.

Get a Custom Proposal Call 844-486-4766
Or call us directly: 844-486-4766 (Mon–Fri, 8am–6pm EST)
All Trustpilot reviews cited are publicly available at trustpilot.com. 8x8 is a registered trademark of 8x8, Inc. VoIP PBX Express is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by 8x8, Inc. All pricing comparisons are based on publicly available pricing and may vary. Five-year cost calculations assume 20 users on standard business plans.
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