shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Asterisk?

Open-source PBX / telephony engine - asterisk.org

Depends. Asterisk is a powerful free PBX engine for teams with in-house VoIP/Linux engineers. Everyone else should buy FreePBX, a hosted VoIP service, or a supported appliance instead.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~50 public sources; many 'asterisk' review hits were unrelated noise (typography, hotels, a magazine) and only telephony-relevant sources were used.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Open source (self-hosted)

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
Hardwarefrom $995
Free tierYes
Digium appliance (legacy)from $995

Best for

  • Teams with in-house VoIP engineers
  • Custom IVR and call-center builds
  • Budget-driven self-hosters
  • Developers embedding telephony

Not for

  • Small offices wanting a phone that just works
  • Anyone without Linux/VoIP admin skills
  • Teams that can't patch CVEs within days
  • Buyers needing vendor support SLAs

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Internet-exposed Asterisk servers are frequent fraud targets; hardening is mandatory, not optional.

medium

"Free" means free software, not free operation — budget for servers, SIP trunks, and admin time.

medium

Raw Asterisk has no GUI; non-experts typically migrate to FreePBX, Switchvox, or PBXact.

medium

Support is peer-run forums; documented user complaints about help quality.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free open-source PBX engine, no license fees
  • Deep feature set: SIP trunking, PJSIP, IVR, custom dialplans
  • Large adoption: 5,390 companies tracked using it
  • Deployable via AWS Marketplace or self-hosted anywhere
  • Used by small businesses through large custom deployments

Cons

  • No turnkey UI — raw config files and dialplans
  • Support is peer forums; bad-experience threads exist
  • Self-hosters own all patching; recurring CVEs including RCE
  • SMBs frequently end up buying Switchvox or PBXact anyway
  • Exposed deployments historically targeted by vishing/fraud attacks

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/25/2026 - 8 sources - Mature project with a real security process — but a steady CVE flow, including 2026 RCE and privilege-escalation flaws; patching is your job.

official x2review x2security x2news x2
  • CVE-2026-23740 — ast_coredumper RCE, Remote code execution vulnerability in Asterisk disclosed via SentinelOne's database.
  • CVE-2026-23741 — privilege escalation, Privilege escalation vulnerability in Asterisk disclosed via SentinelOne's database.
  • CVE-2025-47780, Asterisk vulnerability tracked in NIST's National Vulnerability Database.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 8

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free software; costs are labor and SIP trunks
  • Ease of use: 2/5. Config-heavy; SMBs buy appliances instead
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Full PBX toolkit: SIP, PJSIP, IVR, dialplans
  • Support quality: 2/5. Peer forums only; poor-experience reports exist
  • Security posture: 2/5. Steady CVE flow including 2026 RCE
  • $0 Starting price Open source, self-hosted
  • Yes Free tier Entire product is free software
  • 5,390 Companies using Tracked by TheirStack
  • from $995 Appliance hardware Legacy Digium appliance (historical)

Pricing

Open source (self-hosted)

$0

  • Full PBX engine
  • Community support only
  • You supply server and SIP trunks

Digium appliance (legacy)

from $995

  • Pre-built hardware option
  • Historical Digium offering

Security

Mature project with a real security process — but a steady CVE flow, including 2026 RCE and privilege-escalation flaws; patching is your job.

  • CVE-2026-23740 — ast_coredumper RCERemote code execution vulnerability in Asterisk disclosed via SentinelOne's database.⁴
  • CVE-2026-23741 — privilege escalationPrivilege escalation vulnerability in Asterisk disclosed via SentinelOne's database.
  • CVE-2025-47780Asterisk vulnerability tracked in NIST's National Vulnerability Database.

What users say

Users value the flexibility and zero license cost but warn it demands real VoIP expertise, with community-only support.

“Terrible forum/support experience”
Asterisk community forum
“SMB Seeking to Deploy Asterisk On-Prem”
Reddit, r/Asterisk

Alternatives

Compare Asterisk with each alternative.

  • Hosted VoIP providers

    No servers, no patching; monthly fee replaces admin headcount.

Full analysis

Based on ~50 public sources; many 'asterisk' review hits were unrelated noise (typography, hotels, a magazine) and only telephony-relevant sources were used.

Free, powerful PBX engine — but pure DIY. Great if you have VoIP engineers; most small offices should buy turnkey.

Methodology

Based on ~50 public sources; many 'asterisk' review hits were unrelated noise (typography, hotels, a magazine) and only telephony-relevant sources were used.

Sources

  1. The official Asterisk Project repositorygithub.com
    official
  2. Asterisk — Get Startedasterisk.org
    official
  3. Asterisk Security Vulnerabilities (official docs)docs.asterisk.org
    security
  4. CVE-2026-23740: Asterisk ast_coredumper RCEsentinelone.com
    security
  5. SMB Seeking to Deploy Asterisk On-Prem (Reddit)reddit.com
    review
  6. Terrible forum/support experience (Asterisk community)community.asterisk.org
    review
  7. Companies that use Asterisk — TheirStacktheirstack.com
    news
  8. Digium Asterisk Appliance press releasesangoma.com
    news

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