An 0800 number (and its sibling 0808) is the UK's freephone range: the person answering pays, and the person calling pays nothing. Since Ofcom's UK Calling changes took effect on 1 July 2015, "freephone means free" — 0800 and 0808 numbers are free to call from mobiles as well as landlines, ending the old mobile-surcharges era.
Sources: Ofcom's UK Calling guidance and call-costs pages; gov.uk call charges.
What the caller pays
| Caller | Cost to call 0800/0808 |
|---|---|
| UK landline | Free |
| UK mobile | Free (since 1 July 2015) |
| Payphone | Free |
What the business pays
You pay two things: a monthly rental for the number, and a per-minute charge for the inbound calls you receive (forwarded to wherever you answer).
As a benchmark, DIDcomms' published pricing (checked September 2026) looks like this:
- Pay As You Go: £0/month — the number is free to start, calls billed per minute (up to 3 concurrent calls)
- Pay Monthly: £9.97/month inc VAT — includes a free minutes bundle, up to 10 concurrent calls, plus the full feature set (auto attendant, call queue, voicemail-to-email, call whisper, business-hours routing, alerts)
Providers differ in what's included — some charge extra for features like call whisper or auto attendant. Check whether the features you'll actually use are bundled.
Why businesses choose 0800
- Removes the biggest call barrier. If a customer is deciding between calling you or your competitor, "free" tips the balance — especially for support and complaints lines.
- National presence. An 0800 number says "established UK company", not "one guy in a spare room".
- Marketing you can measure. Put a different 0800 number on each campaign, website or van livery and the call log tells you which one pulled.
- Portable and future-proof. Numbers can port between providers and route over IP — they survive office moves and, importantly, the 2027 PSTN switch-off.
0800 vs 0808 vs 03
| Range | Caller pays | You pay | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0800 / 0808 | Free always | Rental + per-minute inbound | Sales & support lines where you want zero friction |
| 03 | Same as 01/02; included in bundles | Lower rental & per-minute | UK-wide presence without freephone running costs |
| 084/087 | Service charge on top of access charge | Often revenue share to you | Legacy lines; increasingly avoided for customer-facing use |
Rule of thumb: 0800 when you want to pay for the call because the call is worth money to you; 03 when you want a trusted national number but not freephone economics.
Do customers still trust 0800?
Yes — and after 2015 the "it'll cost me a fortune on my mobile" objection disappeared, which is exactly why Ofcom reformed the range. The remaining trade-off is purely financial: you fund every minute. Businesses with high call volumes and low margin per call often run 03 as the main line and reserve 0800 for sales or vulnerable-customer lines.
How to get one
With a modern provider it takes minutes: pick an available 0800/0808 number, choose PAYG or Pay Monthly, set your forward destination (mobile, landline or SIP), and it's live. DIDcomms lists 981 available freephone numbers with instant activation — see DIDcomms freephone numbers.
FAQs
Are 0800 numbers free from mobiles?
How much does an 0800 number cost a business?
Is 0808 the same as 0800?
Can I keep my 0800 number if I switch provider?
Do 0800 numbers work with call forwarding abroad?
Ready when you are
No contracts, no commitments — activate a UK number in minutes.
Browse UK numbers →