Cradle
Compare Cradle

How Cradle stacks up against the other options

Three honest side-by-side comparisons. Where Cradle's the right pick, where it isn't, and the differences that actually matter once you're a year in: practice-tool integrations, AI summaries, self-managed setup, and total cost of ownership.

Not sure where to start? Model your firm with the Cradle ROI calculator, then come back to the comparison that fits.

Cradle vs VXT

Accounting and professional-services firms in AU and NZ

Both are New Zealand-born cloud phone systems. Cradle is built for accounting; VXT is built for law.

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Cradle wins when

Your firm runs on FYI, XPM or HubSpot. AI summaries land in the FYI activity feed against the right client, and on FYI Elite with FYI AI, time entries draft against the right job.

VXT wins when

Your firm runs a legal stack (Clio, MyCase, Smokeball, Filevine, LEAP or Actionstep). VXT already ships those integrations and a Karbon integration; Cradle has Karbon on the roadmap.

Cradle vs 3CX

Firms that want a phone system, not a phone-system project

Cradle is cloud-native SaaS bought direct. 3CX is a PBX bought through partners and MSPs, with deployment work to match.

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Cradle wins when

You want to manage the phone system yourself. Voicemail messages, after-hours routing and adding a new starter are settings you change in the admin portal, not tickets you file with an IT partner. Calls also need to write back into FYI, XPM or HubSpot without a build project.

3CX wins when

Your IT team or MSP already owns and supports 3CX, your phone usage is occasional, and the SIP-trunk and IT-management line items are accepted parts of the bill.

Cradle vs Microsoft Teams Phone

Firms on Microsoft 365 that still want a real phone system

Cradle runs alongside Microsoft Teams. Keep Teams for chat and meetings; use Cradle for calls that write back into your practice tool.

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Cradle wins when

Calls are central to billable work and the calling tool needs to write into FYI, XPM or HubSpot. Cradle ships those integrations today; Teams Phone needs Power Automate or a third-party connector to do the same thing.

Microsoft Teams Phone wins when

Your IT team is happy to configure SBCs, certificates and routing policies, and the trade-off of building practice-tool integrations via Power Automate is acceptable. Copilot for Microsoft 365 also covers in-Teams AI summaries with a separate licence.

What every comparison page covers

Each pillar page goes through the same six lenses, so it's easy to read across them:

  • Quick comparison. A headline feature table with the integrations, AI, pricing model and getting-started path side by side.
  • Integrations. What each product ships today for FYI, Xero Practice Manager, HubSpot, Microsoft Teams, Karbon and the legal practice tools.
  • AI features. Where call summaries and transcripts land, whether the prompts are customisable for your firm, and where time-entry drafting lives.
  • Pricing.The pricing model differences, what's bundled in each tier, and how to compare total cost of ownership rather than list price.
  • Getting started. The onboarding path, what porting takes, and who manages the system day-to-day.
  • FAQ. The questions accounting and professional-services firms ask us most.

Where Cradle's strongest

Accounting and professional-services firms in Australia and New Zealand who run FYI, Xero Practice Manager or HubSpot. The FYI integration ships AI summaries into activity feeds against the right client. On FYI Elite with FYI AI, Cradle drafts time entries against the right job, so nobody re-types the call after. XPM and HubSpot are live too. Onboarding, support and number porting all come from the same team that builds the product. No reseller or MSP in the middle.

Where Cradle isn't the right pick

Law firms running Clio, MyCase, Smokeball, Filevine, LEAP or Actionstep are better served by VXT, which ships those legal PMS integrations and a Karbon integration today. Firms whose IT team has standardised on 3CX, or who prefer 3CX's per-system simultaneous-call pricing at scale, should stay there. Firms whose calls are occasional and whose stack is fully inside Microsoft 365 with a Copilot licence can sit on Teams Phone without too much pain.

The pillar pages call all of this out directly, with the competitor link rails so you can verify each claim against the other vendor's own published material.

Get started

Book a 30-minute demo of Cradle

Bring your practice tool, team size and number-porting questions. We'll model the rollout for your firm. If another option turns out to be the better fit, we'll tell you.

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