How much does an AI receptionist cost in the UK? (2026)

"How much does an AI receptionist cost?" has three answers, because there are three ways to get the phone answered. This guide gives all three, lists every UK AI receptionist with a public price in 2026, and shows you how to work out your own bill in four steps.

Every third-party price below links to its source. None of them is a guess.

The short answer

• In-house receptionist: about £24,000 to £29,000 a year in salary before employer costs. Office hours only. One line at a time.
• Human answering service: £0.60 to £2.50 per answered call, or £0.30 to £1.20 per minute. Bundles from about £49 a month to £350 a month for 200 calls.
• AI receptionist: about £10 to £199 a month, 24/7, more than one call at a time.

If you want to understand what you get for each of those numbers, read AI receptionist vs virtual receptionist first. This article is about the money.

The four pricing models

Every AI receptionist in the UK sells on one of four models. The model matters more than the headline price, because it decides what happens to your bill when the phone gets busy.

Flat monthly

You pay one fee. Calls and minutes are unlimited, or capped so high that you will not hit the cap. Hey Jodie charges £49 to £199 a month with unlimited minutes. Sayora charges £49 a month flat. AI Answerphone starts from £47 a month with no contract.

Flat plans suit a business with lumpy call volume. A cold snap for a plumber or a January rush for a gym costs the same as a quiet month in August.

Per call

You pay for each call the AI answers, or you buy a bundle of calls. The VoIP Shop charges £0.85 per call on its £10 plan, 50 calls for £30, and 200 calls for £120. IONOS charges £39, £69 or £99 a month ex VAT for 30, 100 or unlimited calls. Answer.co.uk's AI is about £30 a month for 50 calls.

Per-call plans suit a low-volume business. They are the cheapest entry point. They also punish you when a marketing campaign works. Check the overage price per call before you sign.

Per minute

You pay for talk time, usually as a bundle of minutes with a top-up price. RingCentral's AI receptionist starts from £32 a month with 100 minutes. ARROW charges £99 a month with 150 minutes, no setup fee and no contract. Team-Connect charges £19.99, £79.99 or £199.99 a month, with top-ups at £34.99 per 150 AI minutes.

Per-minute plans reward short, tidy calls. A booking takes two minutes. A rambling enquiry takes six. Your bill follows the caller, not the number of calls.

Included with a phone system

This is Line's model. You buy a business phone system: a UK number, calls, texts, WhatsApp and a shared team inbox. The AI receptionist comes with it. Molly is included with the Pro and Business plans and is a paid add-on on Starter. There is no setup fee and no separate subscription. Her calls are billed per minute in credits at your plan's inbound call rate, so a call Molly answers costs the same per minute as a call you answer. The rates are on the pricing page.

The reason this model works: you need a business number anyway. Paying a second supplier for a receptionist that sits in front of that number means two invoices, two dashboards and two places to look for a message. With Molly, every call she takes lands in the same inbox as your texts and WhatsApp messages, with a transcript, the caller's details and a next step.

UK AI receptionist prices in 2026

Every provider in this table has a public price. Quote-only providers are listed in the human table below.

Three things stand out. First, the entry price is low: five providers start at or under £32 a month. Second, "unlimited" means different things. Hey Jodie's unlimited is minutes. IONOS's unlimited is calls, and only on the £99 tier. Third, only one price in the table says "ex VAT" out loud. Assume the others need checking.

For a view of which of these is best rather than cheapest, read the best AI receptionists in the UK.

UK human answering service prices for comparison

Across the market, UK human services charge £0.60 to £2.50 per answered call, and £0.30 to £1.20 per minute. The cheapest human bundle costs about the same as a mid-range AI plan. The difference is what you get for it: a human bundle of 50 calls at AnswerConnect is £169 to £205, while 50 AI calls at The VoIP Shop is £30.

If you are on Moneypenny today and want a public price instead of a quote, read Moneypenny alternatives for UK businesses.

What an in-house receptionist really costs

A UK receptionist earns about £24,000 to £29,000 a year in 2026 before employer costs. Divide by twelve and the salary alone is £2,000 to £2,417 a month.

On top of salary, an employer pays employer National Insurance, pension contributions, holiday pay, sick cover and a desk. The exact amounts depend on the role and your business, so we do not put a figure on them here. Salary is the floor, not the total.

What you get for that money:

• One person, on one line, for about 37.5 hours a week.
• Nobody on the phone at lunch, on holiday, off sick or after 5.30pm.
• Warmth, judgement and the ability to handle an upset caller. That is worth paying for in a clinic or a solicitor's office.

What you do not get: 24/7 cover, more than one call at once, or a written transcript of every call. An in-house receptionist is the right choice when the phone is your front door and callers need a person. For everyone else, the salary buys a great deal of AI or answering-service cover.

Hidden costs to check before you sign

The headline price is the start of the conversation. Ask each provider these questions and write down the answers.

1. Setup fee. AnswerConnect charges £49.99. ARROW charges none. Line charges none.
2. Minimum term. A "no contract" plan can be cancelled next month. A 12-month term cannot. AI Answerphone and ARROW both advertise no contract.
3. Overage per minute or per call. What happens on call 51 of a 50-call plan? Team-Connect publishes its top-up at £34.99 per 150 AI minutes. Many providers do not publish theirs.
4. VAT. IONOS and ReceptionHQ quote ex VAT. Add 20% to compare with a price that includes it. £69 ex VAT is £82.80 on the invoice.
5. Call caps and minute caps. "Unlimited" has a definition. Read it. Fair-use clauses turn unlimited into a cap you find out about later.
6. Number porting fees. If you keep your existing number, ask what it costs to move it in and what it costs to move it out again. On Line you can port your UK number or start with a new one.
7. Per-message charges. Some receptionists charge to text you the message, or to text the caller a confirmation. Check whether the missed-call text back and the message to you are included.
8. Free trial versus free plan. A free trial ends and bills you. Answer4u's 30-day trial is a trial. Put the end date in your calendar.
9. The second subscription. If the receptionist is a separate product from your phone system, you pay for two things. With Molly there is no separate subscription; she is part of the plan.

How to work out what you would pay

Four steps. You need your call log, a calculator and ten minutes.

A worked example. A salon takes 60 calls a month at two minutes each, so 120 minutes.

• Per call at The VoIP Shop: 60 calls is above the 50-call £30 plan, so the £120 plan with 200 calls, or £10 + (60 × £0.85) = £61 on the pay-per-call plan.
• Per minute at RingCentral: 120 minutes is above the 100 included from £32; the extra 20 minutes cost whatever the overage rate is. Ask.
• Flat at Sayora: £49.
• Human at Answer4u pay-as-you-go: £19.99 + (60 × £1.75) = £19.99 + £105 = £124.99.
• Line: the Pro plan price plus 120 minutes at the inbound rate. See pricing.

The cheapest AI option is under half the cost of the human service, and the salon gets bookings straight into its calendar.

Is an AI receptionist worth it?

Yes, if you miss calls. An AI receptionist costs less per month than one lost job for almost every trade and service business in the UK. It answers at 9pm. It answers on a Sunday. It answers while you are on the phone to someone else. It writes down what the caller said.

No, if your callers need a person on the first call. Complaints, distress and regulated advice belong with a human. Molly does not give legal, medical or financial advice. She takes details and routes those calls.

For most small businesses the answer is AI first, with a rule for when a person steps in. Line's virtual receptionist page explains how that rule works.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an AI receptionist cost per month in the UK?

Public UK prices in 2026 run from about £10 a month for a pay-per-call plan to £199 a month for a flat plan with unlimited minutes. Most small businesses pay between £30 and £99 a month. Some phone systems, including Line, include the AI receptionist with the plan and bill her calls per minute.

How does AI receptionist pricing work?

There are four models: a flat monthly fee, a fee per call, a fee per minute, or an AI receptionist included with a business phone system. Flat plans stay the same when you get busy. Per-call and per-minute plans rise with volume.

How much does a human answering service cost in the UK?

UK human answering services charge about £0.60 to £2.50 per answered call or £0.30 to £1.20 per minute. Monthly bundles run from about £49 for a small plan to £350 for 200 calls. Some providers also charge a setup fee.

Is an AI receptionist cheaper than hiring a receptionist?

Yes. A UK receptionist earns about £24,000 to £29,000 a year before employer costs, which is about £2,000 to £2,400 a month for office hours only. An AI receptionist costs about £10 to £199 a month and answers 24/7.

Are there hidden costs with an AI receptionist?

Check for setup fees, minimum contract terms, overage charges per minute or per call, whether the price is ex VAT, call caps, number porting fees and per-message charges. Also check whether a free trial turns into a paid plan automatically.

How much does Molly cost on Line?

Molly is included with the Line Pro and Business plans and is a paid add-on on Starter. There is no setup fee and no separate subscription. Her calls are billed per minute in credits at your plan's inbound call rate. The rates are on the pricing page.