Dromlik vs 3CX: Which Business Phone System Is Right for Irish Businesses?

3CX is one of the most widely used business phone systems in Ireland. It’s powerful, feature-rich, and has a large install base built up over more than a decade. If you’re evaluating phone systems for your Irish business, you’ve probably come across it.

This guide compares 3CX and Dromlik honestly — what each does well, where they differ, and which is the better fit depending on how your business actually operates.

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What They Have in Common

Both Dromlik and 3CX are cloud-capable VoIP phone systems with a broad feature set covering the core requirements of most businesses:

• Inbound and outbound calling with IVR and call routing
• Mobile and desktop apps for softphone calling
• Call recording, voicemail to email, and call logs
• Ring groups and call queues
• CRM and helpdesk integration
• Microsoft Teams integration
• Omnichannel messaging (SMS, WhatsApp, chat)
• Video conferencing

For a business evaluating either system on features alone, the overlap is significant. The meaningful differences are in how each system is deployed, supported, and experienced day to day.

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The Biggest Difference: Managed Service vs. Self-Service

This is the most important distinction between Dromlik and 3CX, and it affects everything from setup to ongoing support.

3CX is primarily a self-service or reseller-deployed system. Businesses either configure it themselves or work through a third-party reseller or IT partner who sets it up and manages it on their behalf. 3CX itself does not set up or configure your system — that responsibility sits with you or whoever you’ve engaged to implement it. This model works well for businesses with in-house IT capability or an existing technology partner, but it adds cost and complexity for SMBs that don’t.

Dromlik is a fully managed service. Our team configures your phone system, sets up your call routing, records your IVR, connects your CRM integrations, and manages your number porting — all as part of onboarding. You don’t need an IT department or a third-party implementer. When something needs to change — new routing rules, a new number, an updated greeting — you contact Dromlik directly, not a reseller who charges per hour.

For Irish SMBs without a dedicated IT function, this distinction is significant. A feature-complete system you can’t configure yourself is less useful than a simpler system your team can actually use.

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Ease of Use and Intuitiveness

3CX’s admin interface is comprehensive, which is another way of saying it’s complex. For a trained IT administrator or an experienced 3CX reseller, this isn’t a problem. For a business owner or office manager who needs to update call routing or add a new user, the learning curve is real.

Dromlik’s platform is built around the assumption that the person managing it is not a telephony expert. The dashboard is straightforward, changes are made without requiring technical knowledge, and the visual call flow designer on the Orbit plan makes routing logic visible and editable without writing configuration files.

This extends to the end-user experience too. Dromlik’s mobile and desktop apps are designed for staff who just need to make and receive calls without navigating a feature-heavy UC client.

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Feature Comparison

Feature	3CX	Dromlik
Call routing and IVR	✓	✓
Ring groups and hunt groups	✓	✓
Call recording	✓	✓
Voicemail to email	✓	✓
Mobile and desktop apps	✓	✓
Visual call flow designer	✓ (separate app required)	✓ (built into dashboard)
Call queues and ACD	✓	✓
Real-time wallboards	✓	✓
Omnichannel messaging	✓	✓
CRM integration	✓	✓
Microsoft Teams integration	✓ (via Direct Routing, SBC required)	✓ (two methods, no extra MS licence required for direct integration)
Outbound call centre	✗	✓
Agent pause/unpause with reasons	✗	✓
Satisfaction survey	✗	✓
Boss-secretary feature	✗	✓
Call flip (desk to mobile)	✗	✓
AI receptionist	✓ (available as add-on)	✓ (+€100/month, managed setup included)
Managed setup and onboarding	✗	✓
Irish local numbers included	Via reseller	✓ (from €5/month)
Irish business hours support	Via reseller	✓ (direct)

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Microsoft Teams Integration

Both platforms integrate with Microsoft Teams, but the approach differs.

3CX integrates via Direct Routing — which requires a Session Border Controller (SBC) at the customer’s premises or a cloud SBC arrangement. This is a technically involved setup that typically requires an experienced implementer.

Dromlik offers two integration methods. The direct integration embeds the Dromlik calling client as a tab inside Teams — no SBC required, no Microsoft Teams Phone licence required, no additional Microsoft Calling Plan needed. The second method (via Call2Teams) uses Direct Routing with a Microsoft-certified SBC for businesses that want a fully native Teams phone experience. Most Irish SMBs are better served by the direct integration, which is faster to deploy and carries no additional licensing cost.

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Support: Who Do You Call When Something Goes Wrong?

With 3CX, support depends on your deployment model. If you’re self-hosted or deployed through a reseller, your first point of contact is the reseller — not 3CX. The quality, speed, and cost of that support varies significantly depending on who implemented your system.

With Dromlik, support goes directly to our team — the same people who set up your system and know your configuration. We’re reachable during Irish business hours by phone and email. There’s no reseller layer, no ticket queue routed to a third party, and no per-incident charge for changes that are covered under your plan.

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Pricing

3CX pricing is based on simultaneous calls (SC) rather than per-user seats, which makes direct comparison complex. At small business scale, 3CX can appear inexpensive — but the full cost typically includes reseller implementation fees, ongoing management charges, and hosting costs that aren’t always transparent upfront.

Dromlik’s pricing is straightforward per-user monthly:

Plan	Price	What’s Included
Nucleus	€12/user/month	Core calling, IVR, routing, voicemail, call recording, mobile and desktop apps, Teams integration
Orbit	€22/user/month	Everything in Nucleus plus omnichannel messaging, CRM integrations, call centre queues, AI transcription
AI Receptionist	+€100/month	24/7 AI call answering, 200 minutes included

No implementation fees for standard setup. No reseller margin. No separate hosting cost. Local Irish numbers from €5/month. Free number porting. Annual billing saves around 20%.

See the full pricing breakdown.

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Which Is Right for Your Business?

3CX may be the better fit if:

• You have in-house IT capability or an existing 3CX reseller relationship you trust
• You’re already deeply invested in the 3CX ecosystem and switching costs outweigh the benefits
• You need a self-hosted deployment for specific compliance or data sovereignty reasons
• You’re a larger organisation with dedicated IT resources to manage configuration and updates

Dromlik is likely the better fit if:

• You’re an Irish SMB without a dedicated IT function
• You want a system that’s set up and managed for you, not handed to you to configure
• You want to call one team when something needs changing, not navigate a reseller relationship
• You need Irish local numbers, Irish business hours support, and EU-hosted data as standard
• You want an AI receptionist that’s set up and configured for you, not self-managed

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