bOnline Phone System Review: Features, Costs & Benefits

bOnline is a UK-only VoIP provider built specifically for small businesses and sole traders. At £7/user/month, it’s one of the cheapest business phone systems in the UK – and with 50,000+ customers and a 4.4/5 Trustpilot rating from 19,000+ reviews, it has genuine market traction behind it.

We go deeper on this in our telephone billing systems guide.

We’ve tested bOnline against RingCentral, Dialpad, and Google Voice to see where it fits. The verdict: bOnline nails the basics for UK micro-businesses – fast setup, GBP billing, auto-attendant on all plans, and a UK support team. But CRM integrations cost extra (£8/month add-on), call recording retention is capped at 30 days, and the Starter plan’s 100 outbound minutes won’t stretch far if you’re making frequent calls.

bOnline Pricing

bOnline plans start at £7/user/month (+VAT) for the Starter plan with unlimited inbound calls. The most popular Unlimited Calling plan is £9.95/user/month with unlimited UK calls.

All prices are in GBP and exclude 20% VAT. The Unlimited Calling plan’s £9.95 price is a promotional rate (regular price is £13.95). There are no setup fees, and bOnline offers a price match guarantee.

Add-ons worth knowing about: CRM integrations cost £8/user/month. AI call recording with transcription and scoring is £8/user/month. International calling bundles start from £5/month for 500 minutes to 100 destinations. These add-ons can push the monthly cost significantly higher for businesses that need them.

• The Unlimited Calling plan — at £9.95/user/month is the sweet spot
• it includes call — recording and unlimited UK calls
• The Starter plan's 100-minute outbound cap — makes it impractical for most businesses that make regular calls

Key Features

bOnline includes 45+ VoIP features across all plans: auto-attendant, call routing, voicemail-to-email, hunt groups, and apps for iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac – no hardware required.

For a broader view, see our guide to the best amplified phones for hard of hearing.

bOnline covers the essentials comprehensively. Every plan includes auto-attendant (IVR), call forwarding, voicemail with email transcription, hunt groups, time-of-day routing, hold music, and call screening. The mobile app (iOS and Android) and desktop app (Windows and Mac) sync calls, messages, and contacts in real time.

Call management is solid for the price point. You get call flows for rule-based routing, call queues with hold music, busy lamp monitoring, missed call alerts, and full call logs with analytics showing peak times and missed call patterns. Call recording on the Unlimited plans stores recordings in the cloud for 30 days with download capability.

The AI features (available as an £8/month add-on) are a pleasant surprise at this price level – automated call transcription, post-call summaries, and call scoring. These aren’t as sophisticated as Dialpad’s real-time AI coaching, but for a £7-17/month product they add genuine value for quality monitoring.

CRM integrations connect to 200+ apps including HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Pipedrive, QuickBooks, and Zendesk – but this requires the £8/month add-on. Click-to-call from your CRM, automatic call logging, and contact syncing are all included once activated. Without the add-on, your only contact sync options are Gmail and Microsoft 365.

Setup and Ease of Use

bOnline takes roughly 2 minutes to set up online with no engineer visit required. You choose a number, download the app, and start making calls – the interface is designed for non-technical small business owners.

Setup is genuinely fast. You pick a plan online, choose a local UK number (or port your existing one), download the app, and you’re making calls. No hardware installation, no engineer visits, no IT department needed. The MyBOnline dashboard handles all configuration through a simple web interface.

The dashboard is straightforward – call flows, auto-attendant menus, and voicemail settings are all point-and-click. Recording a professional greeting takes seconds using text-to-speech or uploading your own audio. Changes take effect immediately without any provisioning delays.

Where bOnline falls short on usability is the web app performance – some users report occasional lag during peak hours. And while the desktop and mobile apps cover the full feature set, the interface doesn’t feel as polished as RingCentral or Dialpad. For a £7-17/month product aimed at non-technical users, though, it gets the job done.

See our RingCentral vs Vonage comparison for a side-by-side breakdown of pricing and features.

bOnline Pros and Cons

bOnline excels on price and UK focus – it’s purpose-built for micro-businesses that need affordable, straightforward calling without enterprise complexity.

How bOnline Compares to Alternatives

bOnline is the cheapest UK VoIP at £7/user, but RingCentral (£12.99) offers far more features and integrations. For budget-first UK micro-businesses, bOnline wins on simplicity; for growing teams, it’s limited.

vs RingCentral: RingCentral costs nearly double at £12.99/user but includes CRM integrations, AI features, and video conferencing for 200 participants as standard. For a growing team of 10+ that needs Salesforce or HubSpot integration, RingCentral is worth the premium. For a sole trader who just needs a professional phone number and auto-attendant, bOnline saves you £6+/user/month.

vs Google Voice: Google Voice’s true UK cost (~£13/user including mandatory Workspace) is almost double bOnline’s entry price – and Google Voice lacks UK SMS, CRM integrations, and auto-attendant on its cheapest plan. Unless you’re already paying for Google Workspace, bOnline is the better value for UK businesses.

vs Dialpad: Dialpad’s AI features (real-time transcription, coaching cards, CSAT scoring) are in a different class from bOnline’s basic AI add-on. But Dialpad costs $15+/user (USD) and targets mid-market teams. If AI-driven sales coaching isn’t a priority, bOnline’s £7-17 range delivers more value per pound for UK small businesses. See our full UK VoIP comparison for more options.

Who Should Use bOnline?

bOnline is ideal for UK sole traders, freelancers, and small businesses under 20 people who want affordable VoIP with UK support, GBP billing, and no enterprise complexity.

bOnline is a good fit if you:

• Run a UK small business or sole trader operation and need a professional phone number on a tight budget
• Want auto-attendant and call routing without paying for an enterprise-tier plan
• Prefer GBP billing, UK local numbers, and a UK-based support team
• Need a system that’s ready in minutes without IT support or hardware installation

bOnline is NOT a good fit if you:

• Need CRM integrations included in your plan (bOnline charges £8/month extra for this)
• Require call recording retention beyond 30 days for compliance reasons
• Are growing past 20+ users and need advanced analytics, call coaching, or contact centre features
• Want the most polished app experience – RingCentral and Dialpad feel more refined

For a broader view of the UK business phone market, read our guide to the best telephone systems for small businesses.

Our Verdict

bOnline scores 7/10 – it’s the best budget VoIP for UK micro-businesses, delivering auto-attendant, call routing, and UK support at the lowest price point in the market. The 12-month contract and paid CRM add-on are the main drawbacks.

bOnline does exactly what it promises: simple, affordable VoIP for small UK businesses. The £7/user entry price is the lowest we’ve found in the UK market, and unlike Google Voice, you get auto-attendant, UK SMS, GBP billing, and a proper UK support team included from day one. The 50,000+ customer base and 4.4/5 Trustpilot rating aren’t inflated – bOnline has earned genuine loyalty in the micro-business segment.

The compromises are fair for the price. CRM integrations as a paid add-on (£8/month) will frustrate teams that rely on Salesforce or HubSpot – RingCentral includes these at £12.99. The 30-day call recording retention won’t work for regulated industries. And the 12-month minimum contract means you’re committed from the start.

For sole traders, freelancers, and small businesses under 20 people who need a professional phone system without enterprise costs, bOnline is the strongest budget option in the UK. If you’re scaling beyond that, step up to RingCentral or Dialpad.

Emma Clarke

Technology & Payments Specialist

Emma covers the full range of business technology, including EPOS systems, merchant accounts, telecoms, and web tools. Her experience as a retail systems consultant helps businesses choose the right digital solutions to improve efficiency and sales.

Reviewed by

Sarah Mitchell

B2B Commerce & Finance Reviewer