Receptionist cost
What Does a Receptionist Cost? A Hire, an Answering Service, a VA and an AI Receptionist
Here is what each way of covering your front desk costs a month, and what you get for the money. Every price links to the page we read it on. An answering service answers your calls and takes messages. Your AI receptionist also books the appointment, answers the email and follows up, around the clock.
Your AI receptionist's role is filled in below. Add your website if you like, press Make my AI employee and meet yours in about a minute.
An example conversion. Bob, a receptionist, costs $38,010 a year as a human, before payroll taxes, benefits and recruitment. Converted into BobAI, the same role costs $750 a month, $29,010 a year less.
How it works
- Drop in a role
- Meet your AI employee
- Interview your AI employee with our team. When you hire, we onboard them for you.
The options side by side
| Option | Monthly cost (US dollars) | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| In-house receptionist | about $3,168 a month | The US median pay for receptionists, $38,010 a year, divided by twelve. One person on one shift, after recruiting and training, before benefits, holiday cover and turnover. |
| Live answering service (Ruby) | $720 a month for 200 minutes of calls, with plans from $250 a month for 50 minutes up to $1,725 a month for 500 minutes | This is Ruby's 200 minute plan. Calls are answered by people in a call centre who take messages. Every plan has the same features and only the minutes change. The page doesn't publish a rate for extra minutes. |
| Live answering service (Smith.ai) | $810 a month for 90 calls, with plans from $300 a month for 30 calls up to $2,100 a month for 300 calls | The Basic plan. Calls are answered by people, priced by the call, with a charge for each call over the plan: $10.50 a call on Basic, $11.50 on Starter and $8.50 on Pro. Plans include lead screening and intake, and spam calls are not charged. |
| Offshore virtual assistant (Virtual Coworker) | from about $1,210 a month | A full-time virtual assistant based in the Philippines, at the starting rate of $7 an hour, for forty hours a week over a year, divided by twelve. The assistant works the hours of one shift, not around the clock, and the rate depends on the role. |
| Your AI receptionist from Human Converter | $750 a month | Calls, messages, bookings and the front desk inbox, around the clock, with a work email and phone number, set up and managed by us. No lock-in. |
- In-house receptionist: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, receptionists, May 2025 (read 22 Oct 2026).
- Live answering service (Ruby): Ruby, virtual receptionist plans (read 23 Oct 2026).
- Live answering service (Smith.ai): Smith.ai, virtual receptionist pricing (read 23 Oct 2026).
- Offshore virtual assistant (Virtual Coworker): Virtual Coworker, pricing (read 23 Oct 2026).
- Our price follows our price rules: Your AI receptionist costs $750 a month, fully managed, which is our lowest monthly price. Onboarding is $1,500 and includes your AI receptionist's first month.
What missed calls could be costing you
Put in your own numbers: the calls that ring out in a week, how many of every 10 callers usually book, and what a job or appointment is worth to you. This is an estimate, not a promise.
Questions
- How much does an AI receptionist cost?
- Your AI receptionist costs $750 a month, fully managed, which is our lowest monthly price. Onboarding is $1,500 and includes your AI receptionist's first month.
- What's the difference between an answering service and an AI receptionist?
- An answering service answers your calls and takes messages, and you pay for the minutes or the calls. Your AI receptionist answers every call, books the appointment, answers the email and follows up, for one monthly price.
- Is a virtual assistant cheaper than a hire?
- An offshore virtual assistant usually costs less than a local hire, and works the hours of one shift. Your AI receptionist answers the phone and the inbox around the clock, with a work phone number and email of the role's own.
- Are these prices current?
- Each price shows the date we read it on the vendor's own page, with the link. Vendors change their prices, so check the link before you decide.
- What does cancelling cost?
- Nothing. There's no lock-in contract. You can fire your AI receptionist any time and billing stops at the end of that month.
More
See the AI receptionist and missed calls calculator.
By industry: AI receptionist for dental practices, AI receptionist for medical clinics, AI receptionist for plumbing businesses, AI receptionist for electrical contractors, AI receptionist for real estate agencies, AI receptionist for law firms and AI receptionist for accounting firms.
Or convert any role right here: type it in the role field at the top.
Don't hire a human. Convert the role.
We onboard your AI like a human and get them running in your company.
Your AI employee starts within 10 business days. Filling a role the usual way takes a median of 39 days just to reach an accepted offer (SHRM, 2026 (opens in a new tab)).
An example of an AI employee on their first day.
BobAI
Receptionist
- Work email: [email protected]
- Phone number: +1 (415) 555-0142
- Computer: Windows desktop, set up on day one
- Slack or Teams: Added to #general
- Meetings: Monday stand-up
- Weekly check: Reviewed by our team every Friday
Roles converted so far
0
Counted from real conversions on this site. Sample roles aren't included.
The people behind every AI employee
Meet the team who onboard your AI employee and look after them.
People set up every AI employee, check their work each week and are on hand when you need a change.
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The things you'd ask before hiring anyone.
What can an AI employee actually do?
We start by agreeing a set of deliverables for the role with you. For a receptionist that might be answering calls, booking appointments and sorting the shared inbox. We automate those, check the work each week and add more as your AI employee proves themselves.
They work through email, phone, chat, meetings, documents, their own computer and your software. They don't do physical work.
What if they get something wrong?
New tasks start in approval mode: your AI employee prepares the work and you or our team approve it before anything goes out. Once you're happy with a task, they can do it without waiting for approval. Our team checks their work every week either way. We agree your AI employee's main deliverables for the first month. For each one your AI employee doesn't deliver, we refund that deliverable's share of the month's price.
Why not just buy an AI tool for $50 a month?
For some jobs a tool is enough. A tool is software you set up, prompt and check yourself. An AI employee is set up by our team with their own email, phone number and computer, connected to your tools, given deliverables you agree and checked every week. You brief them like a new starter, and we handle the rest.
How long until they start?
Within 10 business days of you hiring them. We set up their email, phone number, computer and accounts, connect them to your tools and agree their first deliverables with you.
What does onboarding cover?
Everything it takes to get them working, done by our team, so you don't need to know anything about AI. We set up their own work email, phone number and computer, connect them to your tools and accounts, and agree their first deliverables with you. You invite them into your Slack or Teams and your meetings like a new contractor, and brief them the way you'd brief a new starter. Onboarding is $1,500 and includes your AI employee's first month.
What happens if they aren't working out?
You fire them. There's no lock-in contract, and billing stops at the end of that month. If that's in the first month, you've only paid the $1,500. We agree your AI employee's main deliverables for the first month. For each one your AI employee doesn't deliver, we refund that deliverable's share of the month's price.
Do they pretend to be a person?
No. They always say they're an AI, in their emails, on calls and in meetings.
What happens to the file I upload?
We read the duties, skills and experience, then delete the file. We never store the file or its text. A job description is the best thing to upload. If you upload a resume, we never show a surname or contact details from it. Your AI employee stays online for 30 days so you can share their profile.