Microsoft Teams Phone vs Zoom Phone: Which Is Best for UK SMEs?

Yes, in most cases. Teams Phone via Direct Routing typically costs £5 to £10 per user per month through a provider like AMVIA, and your team already has the Teams desktop and mobile app. Zoom Phone requires a separate licence at £10 to £15 per user per month plus a separate application. Teams Phone has surpassed 26 million PSTN users worldwide (UC Today), reflecting its growing dominance in the business telephony market.

Both platforms deliver comparable call quality when running on adequate internet connectivity. Teams Phone benefits from integration with Microsoft's global network infrastructure, whilst Zoom has invested heavily in its own backbone. For UK businesses, call quality depends more on your underlying internet connection than the platform itself. UK broadband average download speed is 69.4 Mbps (Ofcom Connected Nations 2024), which comfortably supports either solution.

You can, but it adds complexity and cost. Your team would need to switch between Teams for collaboration and Zoom for calling, managing two separate apps and admin consoles. Teams Phone eliminates this friction by embedding calling directly into the same application used for chat, meetings, and file sharing. For Microsoft-centric businesses, the consolidation benefit is substantial.

Both platforms support the transition from traditional phone lines to internet-based calling before the UK PSTN switch-off scheduled for completion by January 2027 (Openreach). However, Teams Phone via Direct Routing offers greater flexibility with UK number management and call routing, and integrates with your existing Microsoft 365 environment without requiring additional platform adoption.