Everything worth knowing about transcribing calls in 3CX, on one page: how it works now, what changed, what you need, your options, and what it costs.
Transcription turns your phone system's audio into accurate, searchable text — every call, delivered after the caller hangs up. On a modern 3CX setup you also get sentiment scores: a quick read on how each conversation went, which turns a wall of text into something a sales manager or support lead can actually triage.
Businesses use it for dispute resolution ("let's replay what was agreed"), sales QA, support coaching, compliance records, and simply never losing a verbal commitment again.
3CX used to run its own cloud transcription service — you pointed your PBX at 3CX's platform and it handled the rest. That service has been discontinued; 3CX's documentation still mentions it in places, which causes regular confusion. (Full story and your options here.)
In its place, 3CX now ships the 3CX AI Server: the transcription engine moved from their cloud onto hardware that you (or a provider acting for you) provide and run.
The AI Server is a modern engine that installs alongside your PBX infrastructure (but on its own machine): a converter that prepares call audio, a transcriber that turns it into text, and an analyser that scores sentiment. Your PBX is authorised to the AI server through a secure connection link generated in your 3CX Admin Console — a few clicks, no engineering — and every processed call comes back into the 3CX GUI as searchable text with its sentiment score. One AI server can serve several PBXes.
The details, including how the connection works, are in our 3CX AI Server requirements guide.
The trade-offs, honestly compared: Pipertech vs DIY transcription.
3CX transcription used to be a cloud service; now it's an engine you run. You can run it yourself, build your own, or have Pipertech run it for you from £39/month — UK data, live usage portal, sentiment included. Talk to us to get started.