AI Voice Agents · Cost
How much does an AI receptionist cost in the UK?
Straight answer before anything else: our AI voice agents run from £95 a month, plus a one-off design and build quoted by complexity — and you get both figures in writing before you decide anything. The rest of this page explains what that money actually buys, how the market bills for it, and the costs nobody advertises.
- ● From £95/month
- ● Build quoted in writing
- ● Call costs itemised
- ● Family-run since 1995
/01 — IS THIS GOING TO COST THOUSANDS A MONTH? NO — HERE'S HOW IT'S PRICED
Is this going to cost thousands a month? No — here's how it's priced
If you run a small business and you’ve heard the phrase “AI receptionist”, it’s natural to assume the price tag belongs to companies with an IT department. It doesn’t. An AI receptionist — a phone service that answers your calls, takes messages and books callbacks when you can’t get to the phone — is now sold the way most small-business software is sold: a monthly fee.
Here is ours, plainly. Our voice agents are from £95/month for the service subscription, plus a one-off design and build quoted by its complexity. You get both figures in writing before you decide anything, and call minutes and telephony are itemised in the same quote, so the full running cost is visible up front.
For context: when we checked UK providers in August 2026, commonly advertised AI receptionist plans ran from roughly £49 to £200 a month, with some adding a one-off setup fee and a per-minute charge once calls go past an included allowance. Prices in this market change quickly, so treat any range — including that one — as a snapshot, not a rule.
The rest of this page breaks down what those numbers are made of, what makes them move, and the questions worth asking any provider — including us.
/02 — THE THREE PARTS OF THE REAL PRICE
The three parts of the real price
Almost every honest quote for an AI receptionist is made of the same three parts. If a price you see only mentions one of them, the other two still exist — they’re just not on the page.
The monthly subscription.
The recurring fee that keeps the agent running. With us that’s from £95/month — the agent answering your calls, our team watching that it’s working properly, and changes as your business changes: new opening hours, new services, new questions.
The one-off design and build.
Often called a “setup fee”. It isn’t flicking a switch: someone has to map how your calls should be handled, write the greetings and questions, load the answers you’ve approved, connect your diary or customer records if you want bookings, and test it with real calls. That’s why we quote it by complexity — a simple message-taking agent is far less work than one wired into a booking system — and why you get the figure in writing before you decide.
Call minutes and telephony.
Phone calls cost money to carry, however they’re answered. Some providers fold an allowance into the monthly fee; some bill it separately. We itemise it line by line in your quote so nothing turns up later as a surprise.
Two-part pricing — a subscription plus a one-off build — is a normal structure across this industry, not a quirk of ours. What varies is whether you see every figure before you commit. And if you want to know what the agent actually does on a call, that lives on our AI voice agents page — this page is just about the money.
/03 — WHAT A MISSED CALL ACTUALLY COSTS (NO MADE-UP STATISTICS)
What a missed call actually costs (no made-up statistics)
Search this subject and you’ll find pages claiming businesses lose eye-watering sums to missed calls, or that most callers never ring back. We won’t repeat any of those figures, because we can’t verify them — and you don’t need them. The only two numbers that matter are yours:
What one job is worth to you.
A boiler repair, a will, a full car service, a season of garden maintenance — you know your own figure better than any industry statistic.
How often the phone rings when you can’t answer.
Up a ladder, under a sink, with a customer, driving, evenings and weekends. A week of honestly counting these tells you more than any report.
Put those two together and you have your own ceiling for what call answering is worth to your business. Everything below compares the ways you can spend against that ceiling — from spending nothing at all to employing a person.
/04 — FLAT MONTHLY, PER MINUTE OR PER CALL — HOW BILLING WORKS
Flat monthly, per minute or per call — how billing works
Shopping around, you’ll meet four ways of being charged. None of them is wrong — but each hides its true cost in a different place.
Flat monthly with included minutes.
One fee covers a set allowance of call time. The number to find is the overage rate — the per-minute charge once your allowance runs out. A low headline price with a high overage rate can cost more than a dearer plan in a busy month.
Per-minute billing.
You pay for exactly the call time used. Fair in principle, but your bill moves with your call volume — so ask what a typical month would look like for a business your size, and get that estimate in writing.
Per-call bundles.
A set price for a set number of answered calls. Check what counts as a “call” — a wrong number or a ten-second hang-up may use the same credit as a genuine enquiry.
Flat fee, unlimited use.
The simplest to budget for. Check the terms for what “unlimited” excludes before relying on it.
The traditional routes price differently again. A human answering service typically sells a monthly bundle of a receptionist’s time, with a per-minute charge beyond it — and some services don’t publish prices at all, so ask for the full rate card before comparing. Employing your own receptionist means a wage plus everything that comes with employing someone — employer’s National Insurance, pension contributions, holiday and sickness cover. We won’t put invented numbers on either of those — plenty of pages do, rarely with a source — but the structural difference is real: an AI agent answers at 2am as readily as 2pm.
/05 — WHAT MAKES THE PRICE GO UP OR DOWN
What makes the price go up or down
Two businesses can buy the “same” AI receptionist and pay quite different amounts. These are the levers — and they apply whoever you buy from.
What you ask it to do.
Taking messages and booking callbacks is the simple end. Answering questions about your services, booking real appointments into your diary, or writing enquiries into a CRM — the software where you keep customer details — each adds build work, which is exactly why build costs are quoted rather than fixed.
How many topics it covers.
An agent that handles five common questions needs less design and testing than one that handles twenty-five. Every answer has to be written, approved by you and checked — a good provider won’t let it improvise.
Your call volume.
More calls means more minutes, which pushes up the usage side of the bill on any model. If your phone is quiet, that side should be small.
Hours of coverage.
After-hours only, overflow when your line is engaged, or every call around the clock — wider coverage usually means more answered minutes, and on some plans a higher tier.
This is also why a serious provider asks about your calls before naming a build figure. If someone quotes you a full price without asking what your calls look like, they’re guessing — and one of you will pay for the guess.
/06 — WHEN AN AI RECEPTIONIST IS NOT WORTH PAYING FOR
When an AI receptionist is not worth paying for
Honestly: sometimes the right amount to spend is nothing. An AI receptionist earns its subscription by catching calls that would otherwise be lost — and not every business is losing calls.
Voicemail is genuinely working.
If callers leave messages, you return them the same day and the work still books in, you don’t have the problem this solves.
A simple divert would do.
If the real fix is sending the office line to your mobile after hours, do that first — it costs little or nothing.
Your calls need a human from the first ring.
Some conversations — distressed callers, sensitive or regulated matters — shouldn’t open with software, however clearly it introduces itself.
You want it to use judgement.
An agent can capture, route and book. It shouldn’t price up complex jobs or make commitments on your behalf, and we won’t build one that pretends to.
The phone barely rings.
A subscription needs missed enquiries to pay for itself against; if there aren’t any, keep your money.
Where it does earn its keep is the everyday version of the opposite: you’re up a ladder or with a customer when the phone goes, enquiries arrive after 5pm, and a caller who gets no answer gives the job to whoever answers first. If that sounds like your week, start with what the agent actually does — it’s all on our voice agents page — then tell us what’s wasting your time and we’ll put both figures in writing. No pressure either way: the quote is yours to sit on.
/07 — QUESTIONS TO ASK ANY PROVIDER — INCLUDING US
Questions to ask any provider — including us
Keep this list open when you shop around. A provider comfortable with these questions is worth talking to; a provider who dodges them has answered a different question.
“What will a typical month cost me, in writing?”
Headline price plus minutes, plus any extras, at your realistic call volume.
“What is the setup or build cost — the exact figure, before I commit?”
A range is fine at first contact; a written figure should come before any decision.
“What is the overage rate?”
That’s the per-minute price after any included call time is used up. It belongs in writing next to the headline price, not in the small print.
“Is there a minimum term, and does it auto-renew?”
A minimum term is the shortest period you’re committed to paying for; auto-renewal quietly starts another one unless you cancel in time.
“Does connecting my diary or CRM cost extra — now or later?”
Connection work is sometimes quoted separately, or appears later as a change charge. Ask before you sign, not after.
“If you give me a phone number, who owns it?”
If you ever leave, you want to take the number with you — moving it is called porting, and it should be possible.
“Where do call recordings and caller details live, and for how long?”
Your callers’ data is your responsibility under UK data protection law, so the answer should be specific, not soothing.
“What happens when the AI can’t help a caller?”
The transfer or message path is part of what you’re paying for — ask to hear it.
Bring the same list to us. The money questions are answered above — both figures in writing before you decide, call costs itemised in the quote — and the rest we’ll answer in plain English, in writing, before anything is signed. Or put them to a person: call 01202 775566 and ask.
// SERVICE & BUILD
From £95/month — monthly service subscription
One-off design and build — quoted by complexity Both figures in writing before you decide anything — with call minutes and telephony itemised line by line in the same quote.
// GOOD QUESTIONS
Frequently asked
How much does an AI receptionist cost per month in the UK?
There is no single UK price, because providers bill differently — flat monthly plans, per-minute rates and per-call bundles all exist. Our AI voice agents are from £95/month for the service subscription, with a one-off design and build quoted by complexity, and both figures are put in writing before you decide anything. Call minutes and telephony are itemised in the same quote, so the full running cost is visible up front.
Are there setup fees, and what does a setup actually involve?
Many providers charge a one-off setup fee, and it pays for genuine work: mapping how your calls should be handled, writing and approving the agent’s answers, connecting your diary or customer records, and testing before launch. We call this the design and build and quote it by complexity — a simple message-taking flow costs less to build than an agent connected to a booking system. Whoever you talk to, get the figure in writing before committing.
What happens if I go over my included minutes?
On many plans you pay an overage rate — a per-minute charge for call time beyond your allowance — and it’s a common cause of a surprise bill. Ask any provider for that rate in writing, next to the headline price. In our quotes, call minutes and telephony are itemised line by line, so you can see how usage is charged before you sign anything.
Is an AI receptionist worth it for a sole trader?
It depends on two things you already know: how often the phone rings when you can’t answer, and what one new job is worth to you. If missed calls are rare, or a divert to your mobile already catches them, a monthly subscription is solving a problem you don’t have — keep your money. If enquiries regularly arrive while you’re working or after hours, the subscription is from £95/month and both figures go in writing before you decide.
Want your two figures in writing?
Tell us what your calls look like — when they’re missed and what callers usually want — and we’ll put the subscription and the build quote in writing. No pressure either way: the quote is yours to sit on.
01202 775566 · help@365techies.co.uk · MON–FRI 9AM–5PM