How much does an AI receptionist cost?
An AI receptionist costs between $147 and $497 per month for a done-for-you service. At AiVoiceHost that breaks down into three plans: $147/month (plus a $297 one-time setup) for automatic text-back on every missed call, $297/month for a receptionist that answers your phone live 24/7 with 500 voice minutes included, and $497/month for the full front desk — live answering, personalized video messages, AI text replies, and follow-up automation. Every allowance and overage rate is printed on the plan.
Here is the full breakdown:
| Plan | Monthly price | Setup | What you get | Included allowance | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $147 | $297 one-time | Instant text-back on every missed call, pipeline capture, weekly missed-call report | SMS text-back (no voice) | — |
| Silver | $297 | $0 | AI receptionist answers live 24/7, books appointments, text-back built in, weekly report | 500 minutes/month included | $0.50/min |
| Gold | $497 | $0 | Everything in Silver plus personalized avatar video messages, AI text replies, smart follow-ups | 750 minutes/month included · 10 min of avatar video/month | $0.50/min voice · $10/min video |
All plans are month-to-month with no contract. Current details always live on the pricing page.
Why the price range is so wide across the industry
"AI receptionist" covers everything from $20 self-serve apps to enterprise call platforms, so quotes vary wildly. The real dividing line is who does the work:
- Self-serve apps are cheap because you are the builder: you write the prompts, connect the calendar, test the edge cases, and troubleshoot when carriers flag your number. Viable if you enjoy that work; most owners don't finish the setup.
- Done-for-you services cost more because the vendor builds the receptionist on your business — your services, prices, booking rules — registers your number properly, and maintains it. You get an answered phone, not a software project.
- Enterprise platforms price per seat or per thousands of minutes and make sense for call centers, not for a five-truck shop.
A useful anchor from the other direction: a human receptionist runs $4,000+ a month for 40 hours a week — one caller at a time, no nights, no weekends. A done-for-you AI receptionist covers all 168 hours for roughly a tenth of that.
Watch the minutes, not just the monthly price
The most common pricing trap in this category is the invisible cap. Some services advertise a low monthly rate, then bill steeply once your real call volume shows up — and you only find out in month two. Whatever vendor you choose, ask three questions:
- How many minutes are included, in writing?
- What does a minute cost after that?
- Will overages be itemized on the invoice?
We print the answers on the plan card: 500 minutes/month included on Silver at $0.50/min after; 750 minutes/month included plus 10 min of avatar video/month on Gold. If a vendor won't put their caps in writing, the monthly price isn't the real price.
What the setup fee covers (and when it's $0)
Starter carries a $297 one-time setup because launching business texting properly involves real work — number provisioning and carrier registration so your messages actually deliver. The voice plans carry $0 setup: the build cost is absorbed in the monthly price, and there's a free 30-day test drive in front of everything, so you hear it answering before you pay at all.
What "cost" misses: the other side of the ledger
The honest cost question isn't "what does it cost?" — it's "what does the unanswered phone cost?" Miss ten calls a week, recover even one job, and most plans pay for themselves several times over; the missed-call math post walks through it. Your own weekly report will tell you within a month whether the math holds for your business — that's the point of printing it.
One more cost question worth asking any vendor: who owns the receptionist you're paying for? Your number, your data, your voice — if leaving means losing them, the real price is lock-in. Ours is the opposite, in writing: you own your assets, and if you leave, we export everything and hand it over. Details on the FAQ, full terms on /terms/.
Bottom line: $147/month stops missed calls from vanishing silently. $297/month gets your phone answered live around the clock. $497/month runs the whole front desk. The free 30-day test drive is how you find out which one your call volume deserves.
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