Asterisk vs Plum DEV
Asterisk
asterisk.org
Plum DEV
plumvoice.comSide by side
| Figure | Asterisk | Plum DEV |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Interactive Voice Response Software | 8.1 (#5) | 7.1 (#15) |
| Founded | 1999 | 2000 |
| Integrations | The site says Asterisk can connect communications to applications, including Salesforce automation or CRM systems using AMI. | The documentation says DEV uses APIs to integrate with CRM, ERP, VoC, telephony systems, and other databases, and works with Plum Fuse. |
| Purpose | Asterisk is an open source framework for building communications applications and turns an ordinary computer into a communications server. | Plum DEV is a programmable VoiceXML platform for developers to build interactive voice response systems and automate customer interactions by phone. |
| Support | Sangoma offers five support levels for core components of current open source Asterisk versions, with Level 5 reserved for customers requiring an SLA and engineering support. | Plum's product documentation says the platform is backed by SLAs and offers documentation and a developer community forum for additional support. |
Plans
In their own words
Asterisk
Asterisk is a free, open-source framework for building communications applications and turning an ordinary computer into a communications server. It powers IP PBX systems, VoIP gateways, conference servers, call centers, voicemail servers, and IVR systems. Listed functions include call routing, recording, queuing, conferencing, voicemail, automated attendants, and call transfers. Computer-telephony interfaces include AGI, AMI, and the Asterisk REST Interface (ARI); listed VoIP protocols include SIP, H.323, IAX, Jingle/XMPP, MGCP, and SCCP. Asterisk can connect communications to applications, including CRM systems through AMI. The source code can be downloaded, and the project points users to installation on a modern cloud Linux instance. Building applications requires working knowledge of Linux, scripting, networking, and telephony. Asterisk is distributed under GPLv2; Sangoma offers commercial licensing for uses incompatible with that license. The Asterisk forum provides community help with installation, upgrades, and operation.
Plum DEV
Plum DEV is a cloud developer platform for automating processes through voice and building interactive customer self-service applications. Its VoiceXML foundation lets developers control customer interactions, including inbound IVR and inbound or outbound SMS. SMS requires an SMS-ready phone number. APIs connect DEV with CRM, ERP, voice-of-customer, telephony and other database systems, and it also works with Plum Fuse. Developers can customize branding, call flows and backend database integrations. Multiple text-to-speech and automatic speech-recognition engines are supported, including Amazon Polly, with dozens of languages and dialects. Integrated VoiceTrends tracks usage and performance, supports script A/B testing and provides granular reports. Plum says DEV runs on custom telephony data centers and AWS, with on-demand scalability and a 99.9% uptime SLA. It describes the platform as PCI-DSS Level 1 and HIPAA compliant, while customers remain responsible for configuring applications for applicable requirements. Pricing is available on request. Demo accounts have limited access and no call logging.