How Much Does an AI Receptionist Cost?

What an AI receptionist costs depends as much on your calls as on the vendor: how many you get, how long they run, and when they arrive. The same business can pay very different amounts on two platforms that look similar on paper, because they count different things. This guide explains the billing models, what drives the bill up, and how to check a quote against your own numbers.

If you are still deciding between an AI receptionist, a human answering service and a hire, start with AI receptionist vs answering service vs hiring, which compares all three.

The short answer

AI receptionists are typically billed in one of three ways: per minute of conversation, per call, or a flat monthly rate with an allowance of minutes. To compare quotes fairly, work out your volume first:

Calls per day × average minutes per call × days you take calls = minutes per month.

Then apply each quote to that same number, and add what each vendor charges on top.

The three billing models

Per minute

You pay for talk time, usually against a monthly bundle of minutes, with a rate for every minute beyond it.

• Works well when: calls are short and volume is steady.
• Check: how minutes are rounded (per second, or up to the next minute on every call), and whether ring time, hold time and transferred time count.

Per call

You pay a fixed amount for each answered call, whatever its length.

• Works well when: calls run long, such as intake calls or detailed service requests.
• Check: what counts as a call. Spam calls, hang-ups and wrong numbers can all count unless the vendor filters them out.

A flat monthly rate with an allowance

You pay one monthly price for a set allowance of call minutes, and a rate for minutes beyond it.

• Works well when: you want a predictable bill and your volume is roughly known.
• Check: the rate beyond the allowance, and whether you are warned before you reach it.

What actually drives the bill

• Call volume. The obvious one. Count the calls you get today, including the ones that go to voicemail.
• Call length and rounding. On a per-minute plan, long calls cost more, and a plan that rounds every call up to the next minute bills a 2-minute-10-second call as 3 minutes.
• After-hours calls. If your phone goes to voicemail at 5pm today, an AI receptionist can start answering those calls, if it is set to cover after hours. Volume goes up, which is the point: those are the calls you were losing.
• Transfers to your team. Some platforms bill the time a call spends being transferred, or the transferred call itself.
• Text messages. Booking confirmations and follow-up texts can be billed per message.
• Phone numbers. A new local or toll-free number may be included or charged monthly.
• Setup. A one-off fee on some plans, waived on others.
• Billing term. Annual plans are often cheaper per month than month-to-month.
• Features behind higher tiers. Booking, extra languages, integrations and call memory are sometimes only on more expensive plans.

Six questions to ask any vendor

1. What exactly counts as a billable minute or call? Ask about rounding, ring time, spam and hang-ups.
2. What does a transferred call cost? Ask whether the transfer is billed, and how.
3. What happens when I go over my allowance? Ask for the overage rate, and whether you get an alert before you reach it.
4. Is there a setup fee, and is it waived on any plan?
5. Which features cost extra? Booking, languages, integrations, call memory, recordings.
6. Can I see a sample bill for my volume? Give them your calls per day and average call length, and ask for the monthly total.

What a missed call costs you

The price of an AI receptionist only makes sense next to the cost of the calls you miss today. Work it out from your own numbers:

Missed calls per week × the share that would have become customers × the value of a customer × 52 = what missed calls cost you a year.

For example, if you miss 5 calls a week, 1 in 5 would have booked, and an average job is worth $400, that is 5 × 0.2 × $400 × 52 = $20,800 a year. Your numbers will differ: a dental office, a law firm and a home service trade each value a new caller very differently. The ROI calculator runs the full calculation with your call volume and conversion rate.

How Frontly is priced

Frontly is a flat monthly rate sized by call minutes, on an annual or a month-to-month plan. Every rate, and what each plan includes, is on the pricing page.

How Frontly handles the things this guide's checklist asks about:

• A dedicated local phone number for your AI receptionist.
• Every caller answered at once, with no queue and no hold.
• Your own knowledge base, with no cap on articles or lookups.
• Cross-call memory, so returning callers are recognized.
• A transcript of every call, and the full call history.
• No feature paywalls, and a usage alert at 90% of your included minutes (or any level you choose) before you reach the allowance.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an AI receptionist cost per month?

It depends on the billing model and your call volume. Work out your minutes per month (calls per day × average minutes × days you take calls), then apply each vendor's rate to that number and add transfer, text-message and phone-number charges, plus any one-off setup fee.

Is per-minute or per-call pricing cheaper?

Mostly it depends on call length: per-minute pricing tends to favor short calls, and per-call pricing long ones. Then check the fine print. A per-minute plan that rounds every call up to the next minute costs more than it looks, and a per-call plan costs more if spam calls, hang-ups and wrong numbers are billed. Check how transfers are charged under both.

Are there hidden costs?

Ask about transfers, text messages, phone numbers, setup fees and features that only come with higher tiers. A good vendor publishes these rates rather than leaving them for the first invoice.

Is an AI receptionist cheaper than hiring a receptionist?

A receptionist on the US median wage of $38,010 a year costs roughly $55,300 once benefits are added, before recruiting, training and office costs, and covers about 40 hours a week. AI receptionist vs answering service vs hiring works through the comparison.

Can I keep my existing phone number?

With Frontly, yes. You can forward your existing number, port it to Frontly, or connect it over SIP after a compatibility review, so customers keep calling the number they already know. How to forward business calls to an AI receptionist walks through each option.

Sources

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Receptionists (median pay, May 2025): bls.gov/ooh/office-and-administrative-support/receptionists.htm
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, Table 4 (office and administrative support, private industry): bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t04.htm

Checked on October 1, 2026.