Are 1300 Numbers Free to Call?

No — 1300 numbers are not free, and any page telling you otherwise is selling something. A 1300 call costs the caller up to the local call rate from anywhere in Australia, and the business receiving the call pays the rest. That shared-cost split is the entire design of the 1300 format. The Australian format where callers pay nothing from a fixed line is 1800.

What callers actually pay

From an Australian fixed line, a 1300 call costs no more than a local call, no matter where in the country the business sits. If your landline plan bundles local calls, the call draws on that inclusion; if it bills per call, the local call rate applies. From a mobile, what you pay is decided by your carrier and plan — many plans include calls to 1300 numbers in the standard allowance, but providers differ, so check your plan if the charge matters to you.

The one thing that is never true: a 1300 call costing the caller more than a local call because of distance. There is no long-distance component — that is the point of the format.

What the business pays

The business carries the rest of every call. In practice that means:

• A monthly plan fee — 1300 plans run from $10 to $99 per month, with cap inclusions that cover the first slice of call time at a flat fee.
• Call charges beyond the inclusions — per-second charging at the plan's rate, which differs for calls originating from fixed lines versus mobiles.

So the format is "free" for nobody in the strict sense. It is deliberately cheaper for the caller than a toll-free call is for the business: every caller contributes something, which is why high-volume businesses often choose 1300 over 1800. The full bill structure is in 1300 number cost and pricing, and the plan ladder is on the pricing page.

If you want calls to be free for your customers

That is exactly what 1800 numbers are for. An 1800 call costs the caller nothing from an Australian fixed line and the business pays the whole call, on the same plan ladder and the same feature set. The trade is straightforward: 1800 maximises the caller's willingness to ring; 1300 minimises your bill per call. Both dial identically — ten digits, no area code — so the caller's experience differs only in what appears on their phone bill. 1300 vs 1800 numbers compares them line by line.

Getting a 1300 number if the split suits you

For most customer-facing lines the local-rate cost to the caller is barely noticeable, and the shared saving on the business side is real. Choose a number from the available 1300 numbers, pick a plan from the ladder, and point it at the phones you already answer. 1300 numbers covers the product, and how to call a 1300 number shows the caller's side of the experience.