How much does an AI receptionist cost?
There is no single price, because there are three different pricing models. Per-minute or per-call services charge for usage and scale with your call volume. Per-seat subscriptions charge monthly whether you use them or not, and stop working when you stop paying. A built system costs more up front, runs cheaply afterwards, and is yours. Which is cheapest depends on your call volume and how long you keep it — and anybody quoting a figure before knowing either is guessing.
The three models, and who each suits
Usage-based. You pay per minute, per call, or per conversation. Cheap to start, no commitment, and the bill rises exactly as your business gets busier. Best when volume is low or unpredictable, and worst when a seasonal rush arrives.
Subscription. A monthly fee per seat or per location, on somebody else's platform. Predictable, quick to launch, and rented — the system is not yours, your configuration is not portable, and it stops the month you stop paying.
Built. Designed for your workflow and installed in accounts opened in your name. Higher up front, low to run, and it keeps working if the relationship ends. Worth it when the intake is specific enough that generic software makes you change how you work.
What actually moves the number on a build
How many systems it has to reach. One inbox and one calendar is the small end. Keeping a practice-management system, a CRM, a phone line and a spreadsheet all agreeing is not, and integration is where most of the hours go.
Whether those systems have a way in. Modern software has an API and this is routine. Some scheduling and practice systems do not, and the workaround is real engineering. This is the single largest swing between two builds that sound identical when described out loud.
What kind of information moves. An enquiry with a name and a job to quote is one thing. Health details, immigration files or privileged matters bring consent, retention and residency requirements that are part of the build rather than a document written afterwards.
How much has to be decided first. If you already know what a qualified lead looks like and who it should reach, the engagement is shorter. If those rules live in one person's head and have never been written down, writing them down is part of the work — and usually the part that pays for itself first.
What to ask before you accept any quote
What happens at ten times the volume? A per-minute price is a different product at 40 calls a month and at 400.
What do I own at the end? If the answer is a login that expires, price it as rent, not as an asset.
What is excluded? Integrations are the usual answer, and they are also the expensive part, which is why they are so often quoted separately.
And what does it cost to leave? A system you cannot export from has a switching cost that is not on the invoice.
Why we do not publish a price
Because the four factors above move it by more than any headline number would convey, and a figure on a page would be wrong for most of the people reading it. The scope, the plan and the fixed price come together, before anything is committed, and the plan is yours whether or not you go ahead.
That is a real answer rather than a deflection: if a build here does not clear the bar, the honest outcome is two things to fix yourself and no build at all.
Measure before you spend anything. Count the calls that go unanswered in a fortnight and how many of those you never hear from again — if that number is small, no system on this page is worth buying, including ours.
Related questions
- Is there a cheap way to test whether this would work?
- Yes — measure first. Count how many calls go unanswered in a fortnight and how many of those you never hear from again. If that number is small, no system will pay for itself, and you have saved the cost of finding out the expensive way.
- Do I pay per conversation?
- With usage-based services, yes. With a built system the running cost is the underlying model and telephony usage, which is typically a small fraction of a per-minute service at the same volume — but it is a real cost and should be in the plan rather than a surprise.
- What is the cheapest option overall?
- At low volume, a human answering service, almost always. The build only wins once the volume or the specificity justifies it, which is why the first question should be about your call volume rather than about the software.