Who it's for
Which one sounds like you?
Same product either way. Pick the closest to see what you'd get and what it takes to set up.
A handful of private numbers, all genuinely yours.
A personal line, a side-gig line, one you hand over at the counter so your real number stays out of a marketing list.
Each rings differently, so you know which one it is from across the room. Each extra number costs about $2 a month — not another subscription.
What you need
- Somewhere to run it — a $5/month cloud server, or a spare computer at home. One command installs it.
- A free Telnyx account, in your name, for the numbers themselves (about $1–2/month each)
- An iPhone (Android is on the waitlist)
- A one-time sign-up with the carriers before you can text — about $20 up front and $1.50 a month, and a couple of days' wait. Not needed at all if you only want to make calls. (more in the FAQ)
What you get
- No software charge for extra numbers — add a fourth and our price is unchanged
- Its own ringtone and colour per number
- Texts, voicemail and recordings stored only on your machine
- Call recording and voicemail transcripts, included
- No ads and no tracking — there's nobody in the middle to do it
Straight answer: for a single number, Google Voice is free and this isn't. Pay for this when you want several numbers, or when you'd rather nobody else held them.
Get startedWork and personal, cleanly apart, on one phone.
A proper business number — or two, or three if you run more than one thing — alongside your personal line on the same iPhone. Each has its own ring and its own voicemail, so you know whether to answer it like a business before you pick up.
Three business numbers: around $323 a year all in (our $14.95 a month, about $2 a month per number to the carrier, and a $5 server), against roughly $360–540 a year with the usual small-business apps.
What you need
- Somewhere to run it — a $5/month cloud server or a spare machine; one command installs it
- A Telnyx account for the numbers, in your name (about $1–2/month each)
- An EIN — free from the IRS in about ten minutes, and you don't need an LLC to get one (why you want one)
- An iPhone (Android on the waitlist)
What you get
- Business and personal properly separate, one device
- Your business name on outgoing caller ID
- Automatic recording of incoming calls, kept as long as you like — an upgrade tier elsewhere
- A second or third business number for the carrier's ~$2/month — no extra software cost
- Client texts and call history that stay on your machine
Yearly figure includes the subscription, typical number fees and a $5/month server. Competitor rates: annual billing, checked August 2026.
Get startedCompany numbers for everyone — for less than one RingCentral seat.
One installation on your own server. Invite each person by text; they get their own company number (or several) and their own private space — their calls, texts and voicemail stay theirs, not pooled. You add people and buy numbers from a simple web page.
What you need
- A server to run it on — a $5/month cloud machine, or hardware you already have
- Your company's EIN — one sign-up covers the whole team's texting
- A Telnyx account for the numbers (about $1–2/month each)
- An iPhone each (Android on the waitlist)
What you get
- A private number and inbox per person — invited by text, no passwords to hand out
- Opening-hours routing per number — after hours goes to voicemail
- The main number can ring several people at once; first to answer takes it
- Buy a number in one click; cut off a lost phone straight away
- Everything stored on the company's own hardware
- Give sales two numbers if they need two — the carrier's ~$2/month, nothing extra from us
Where this stops being the right answer
Somewhere around twenty-five people, or the day you need a phone menu, a call queue or several people working one number's texts together. Those are real features and this doesn't have them. A larger-team version is the plan, but it isn't built and it has no date, so the honest advice today is RingCentral or 3CX if you need any of that now.
Under that, on numbers that belong to you, with texting that works properly and an app that feels like the built-in one — that's the part we think we're better at.
Work out what your team would cost → — put your own numbers in and it'll tell you straight, including the sizes where RingCentral wins.
Straight answer: this is a phone system for a business that needs to answer the phone, not a call centre. You get the front-desk essentials, but not agent queues, wallboards, fleets of desk phones or built-in video meetings — on purpose, and we're not planning to add them. Staffing a support floor? Buy call-centre software. Want your team reachable on numbers the company owns? Nothing comes close on price.
Already looking at 3CX? It's the other way to self-host, and good at it — more of a switchboard to administer, with desk phones and queues. Its per-system pricing wins above roughly 15 people; below that, this is simpler and cheaper.
Get startedReady to try it?
$49 to set up, $14.95 a month. Cancel whenever — your numbers and your messages were never ours to keep.
Get startedNot sure yet? Run the numbers for your own setup.