3CX vs KayakoA business phone system with live chat against a help desk: one prints a price and one quotes. What decides between 3CX and Kayako, and a third option for small teams.
By Khalid Nouri, founder of SellioPricing check dates are listed with each vendor below
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Pick 3CX if phone is your main channel and you want chat and WhatsApp to ring the same agents. Pick Kayako if you want an AI agent billed only per resolved ticket, with no seat fee. For five people it is $0 a month on 3CX, and a quote on Kayako, before AI; Sellio Mini is $45 for the workspace. 3CX and Kayako both include website chat in the price; only 3CX has WhatsApp; only Kayako has email. Neither 3CX nor Kayako includes Instagram and Telegram outright. A team of two to ten choosing between 3CX and Kayako for chat and tickets at one price has a third option below.
3CXKayakoEverything else on this page follows from these.
3CXAs a call, or as a chat that rings the same agent queue; there is no ticket behind it. Kayako raises a ticket where 3CX keeps a conversation.
KayakoAs a ticket that shows the customer's journey across the site and past conversations. 3CX has no ticket queue behind its conversations.
3CXThe licence is per system per year, sized by simultaneous calls, not per agent; the free tier covers ten users. $0 for five people; Kayako prints no figure to set beside it.
KayakoNo seat price is printed for Kayako One; older plans were $15 to $60 per agent. No figure for five people here; 3CX prints $0.
3CXNo AI agent for chat. Call transcription and analytics are listed as launching soon. Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats instead.
KayakoKay, the AI agent, is $1 per resolved ticket, with no seat fee; escalations are not charged. 3CX has no AI to bill (none for chat) instead.
3CXVoice, live chat, WhatsApp, Messenger and SMS through the phone system; no email queue. WhatsApp is here and not on Kayako.
KayakoEmail, live chat, Messenger and X; no WhatsApp, Instagram or Telegram in the inbox. email is here and not on 3CX.
3CXThe phone system itself: extensions, call queues, IVR, recordings and video meetings. Kayako is a help desk instead.
KayakoA help center, SLAs, automation rules and reporting. 3CX is a business phone system with live chat instead.
3CXA day for the phone system; minutes for the chat widget once the PBX is up. Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.
KayakoA sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding. 3CX is a day for the phone system.
Sources: 3CX pricing · Kayako pricing. Each vendor’s own comparison of the other is linked so you can weigh both sides against ours.
A look at the agent workspace. Interfaces can vary by plan and product version.
3CX. The 3CX web client: the call queue with a live chat conversation in the same panel
Kayako. The Kayako conversation view: the ticket with the customer journey timeline beside itPricing references: 3CX pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13); Kayako pricing page (recorded 2026-09-13; needs verification). Prices change; confirm current terms with each vendor.
Fifteen things a support team checks. A dash means the product does part of it or charges extra for it.
3CXKayakoSellioPricing
Channels
AI
Support operations
Apps
3CX: $0 a month for five (five users on the free tier); it does not print a per-seat rate to extend to two or ten. Kayako quotes per team, so two, five and ten people are three conversations with sales. Sellio: Free for two seats; Mini at $45 for five, more than 3CX's $0 and against a quote on Kayako for five people; Essentials at $95 for ten, the AI credit included.
3CX is a business phone system with live chat built around phone calls; Kayako is a help desk built around tickets and a customer journey. Only 3CX has a free plan (up to 10 users, 3CX-hosted); Kayako offers no trial. 3CX and Kayako both include website chat in the price; only 3CX has WhatsApp; only Kayako has email. Neither 3CX nor Kayako includes Instagram and Telegram outright. 3CX has no AI to bill (none for chat); Kayako meters AI ($1 per resolution) above the seats. Kayako has tickets and 3CX does not, and only 3CX ships desktop apps. 3CX is a day for the phone system; Kayako is a sales conversation, then a white-glove onboarding.
3CX: No AI agent for chat; call transcription and analytics are listed as launching soon. Kayako: Kay AI Agent $1 per resolved ticket; escalations and deflections are free. Beside 3CX's none for chat and Kayako's $1 per resolution, Sellio includes an AI credit with each paid plan. Usage consumes that credit; additional credits cost extra, and you can set a spending cap.
Kayako does not print the figures above in a form a fetch can read (Seat prices are not printed; the AI agent is $1 per resolution. Older plans ran $15 to $60 per agent.), so they are marked unverified here beside 3CX's, and Kayako's pricing page should be checked before you decide.
Anyone who replies is a seat. List the channels customers actually use.
5 people reply5 seatsEstimate monthly conversations the AI could close, then apply each vendor's per-resolution or per-session rate.
3CXSee vendorNot quotedKayakoSee vendorNot quotedIllustrative AI-only estimate; vendor units differ. Pack billing is rounded up. Sellio assumes Mini’s $5 credit and $0.05 per conversation.
Check each vendor’s trial, free plan or demo terms. Where access is available, test one real channel before committing.
3CX · Free tier, no trial clockKayako · None printed; book a sessionConfirm trial access and limits, then evaluate one real channel on each.
3CX is a business phone system with live chat built around phone calls; Kayako is a help desk built around tickets and a customer journey. Kayako has tickets and 3CX does not, and only 3CX ships desktop apps.
Sellio's side of the 3CX and Kayako rows is on the shared inbox page.
Still have a question? Contact us or browse the docs.
Sellio puts website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram and email in one inbox with tickets and an AI agent, for $45 to $295 a month per workspace.
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