TL;DR
Most offices of up to 10 people no longer need an EPABX box. Zoho Voice's Team plan gives up to 10 users desk-style extensions for ₹999 a month billed annually, Jio IP Centrex is a cloud PBX with short-digit dialling, and app numbers such as TalkEasy by GrowEasy put the office number on staff mobiles. Keep an EPABX only for many desk phones calling each other all day.
An office of up to about 10 people rarely needs an EPABX box any more. Zoho Voice's Team plan gives up to 10 users desk-style extensions for ₹999 a month billed annually, and app numbers put the office number on staff mobiles from ₹600 a month (Heyo Pro, 5 users), all plus 18% GST and call charges where they apply.
Buy an EPABX only if many people sit at desk phones, call each other by extension all day and share several outside lines. Everyone else gets the same jobs done by a cloud phone, with no box, wiring or maintenance visits.
What does an EPABX system do?
An EPABX (Electronic Private Automatic Branch Exchange) is a small telephone exchange installed in your office. It does four jobs, and each now has a cloud replacement:
- Shares a few outside lines among many desk phones. A cloud number is shared by the whole team instead: Heyo assigns a local landline-style number (starting 011, 022, 080 and more), and Zoho Voice includes a Mumbai landline number.
- Connects desks by short extension numbers (intercom). Jio IP Centrex offers "short digit calling between extensions", and Zoho Voice's Team plan includes direct extension dialling.
- Rings the next free person. Jio IP Centrex has call hunting in a set order, Zoho has call queues with ring strategies, and TalkEasy by GrowEasy routes calls by team, department or availability, with separate office-hours rules.
- Transfers a customer to a colleague. Jio IP Centrex transfers calls to any user in the same Centrex group, and Zoho Voice includes call transfer.
The practical difference is where the switching happens. An EPABX sits in a cupboard in your office; a cloud PBX runs at the provider, so staff can answer from a mobile, a laptop or a desk phone anywhere.
Do you still need an EPABX? A 5-question test
Answer yes or no:
- Do more than 10 people work at fixed desks for most of the day?
- Do those desks call each other by extension many times a day?
- Do you need several customers on hold or in conversation at once, on one published number?
- Is your building's mobile signal or internet unreliable?
- Do you already own a working EPABX with desk phones?
If you said yes to 1, 2 and 3, an EPABX or a cloud PBX with desk phones fits. If you said yes to 4, a wired EPABX on landlines is the safer choice; test any cloud phone on your premises before you switch.
If you said yes to 5, keep the box and ask your operator for parallel ringing, so the landline also rings on mobiles (JioBusiness offers it). If most answers were no, skip the hardware and use a cloud number.
EPABX vs cloud PBX vs app number: the options
| Option | Monthly cost (before GST) | Desk-to-desk extensions | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPABX box with landlines | Dealer quote, plus ₹426 per JioBusiness line | Yes | 10+ desk staff, several outside lines |
| Jio IP Centrex | Price on request | Yes, short-digit dialling | Offices already on JioBusiness |
| Zoho Voice Team | ₹999 billed annually, up to 10 users | Yes, direct extension dialling | Desk and laptop teams |
| Tata Smartflo Lite | ₹950 per licence, plus one-time ₹5,000 | Not listed; 1 DID per agent | Busy lines needing IVR menus |
| Heyo Pro | ₹600, up to 5 users | Not listed | 2 to 5 people on mobiles |
| TalkEasy Pro | ₹999, unlimited users | Not listed; shared number with routing | Growing teams sharing one number |
How we compared: prices and features from each provider's official page, checked in September 2026. Prices exclude 18% GST unless stated; Tata doesn't state GST, so we treat its prices the same way.
Zoho Voice and Jio IP Centrex are the closest thing to an EPABX without the box, because both keep extensions and transfers. Heyo and TalkEasy are simpler: one number that everyone answers from their own phone. A JioBusiness line works out to ₹426 a month because the 501 plan costs ₹5,112 a year plus GST for one voice line with 50 Mbps internet.
What does a 6-person office pay?
Take a 6-person office that receives 100 minutes of calls a day and makes 60 minutes, over 26 working days: 2 hours 40 minutes of calls a day in total. That is 2,600 incoming and 1,560 outgoing minutes a month.
| Setup | How the bill is built | Monthly, before GST |
|---|---|---|
| Superfone, 6 users | ₹599 for 3 users + 3 × ₹200 | ₹1,199 |
| Zoho Voice Team, free Mumbai landline | ₹999 + ₹1,040 incoming + ₹1,248 outgoing | ₹3,287 |
| Tata Smartflo Lite, 6 licences | 6 × ₹950, plus one-time ₹5,000 | ₹5,700 |
| TalkEasy Pro | ₹999; calls fit the 3 hours a day included | ₹999 |
| EPABX with 1 JioBusiness line | ₹5,112 ÷ 12 for the line | ₹426, plus box, phones and upkeep |
Our Zoho sum in full: incoming calls cost ₹0.40 a minute, so 2,600 × ₹0.40 = ₹1,040. Outgoing calls from a landline number cost ₹0.80 a minute, so 1,560 × ₹0.80 = ₹1,248. We charge every minute; if the plan's 1,000 free outgoing minutes a month cover these calls, the bill falls by up to ₹800. Recording is an optional add-on at ₹0.10 a minute, so recording everything adds 4,160 × ₹0.10 = ₹416.
Heyo Pro is left out of this example because it stops at 5 users.
The takeaway: a shared app number costs ₹1,179 to ₹1,415 a month with GST (₹999 or ₹1,199 × 1.18). Zoho, at ₹3,879 with GST, is the cheapest cloud option here that keeps real extensions, and Tata costs the most but includes unlimited calling within India under a fair-use limit. Superfone's quarterly plan caps outgoing calls at 2 hours a day for the whole account, which this office's 60 minutes fit. TalkEasy talktime beyond the 3 hours a day Pro includes costs ₹49 an hour.
How to switch from an EPABX without losing your office number
- List what the EPABX does today. Note the outside lines, extensions in use, the ring order and any greeting.
- Decide what happens to the landline number. TRAI's portability rules cover mobile numbers, so ask the new provider how it will take over a landline. If it can't, keep the landline and use parallel ringing or call forwarding to the new setup.
- Pick the replacement from the table above and complete the provider's KYC for your business.
- Rebuild the ring order: who answers first, who gets the call next, and what happens after office hours.
- Run both for a week. Keep the EPABX live, forward some calls to the new setup and check that nothing is missed.
- Update the number everywhere customers see it (board, Google Business Profile, visiting cards) only after the week is clean.
- End the EPABX maintenance contract and return or sell the hardware.
If unanswered calls are the real problem, a missed call alert service may fix it faster than new hardware.
When an EPABX is still the right call
Keep or buy an EPABX when staff sit at desk phones in one building all day, transfer calls to each other constantly, and the internet is patchy. A hotel front desk with room phones is the classic case. A factory with a reception and department desks is another.
For everyone else, the cost of a cloud phone is visible up front, and the office number follows staff onto their mobiles. Our guide to business phone numbers and their cost compares SIMs, landlines and app numbers in more detail, and the best virtual number providers in India lists each provider's plans. If you are setting up a small calling team rather than an office line, read our call centre setup guide for 3 to 10 agents.
Where TalkEasy fits
TalkEasy by GrowEasy replaces the shared outside line of an EPABX. The business number runs in the TalkEasy app alongside each person's existing SIM, the whole team can answer it, and every call is logged against the number whoever picks up. Pro costs ₹999 a month plus GST for unlimited users and includes call recording and an analytics dashboard.
It is not the right pick if your office depends on desk-to-desk extensions or IVR menus; Zoho Voice or Jio IP Centrex fit that better. See how the TalkEasy business number works.
Last reviewed 24 September 2026.
