How much does a virtual receptionist cost?
A cost comparison of the three services sold as virtual reception in the UK: outsourced human teams, message taking answering services and AI assistants. Understand how each is priced, then test your own volumes in the calculator.
Your numbers
All eight inputs. Conservative UK defaults shown.
Your results
These figures are a model, not a forecast. The 70% missed-call recovery rate is an illustrative example assumption you can adjust, not a measured Boafo Agent result or a guaranteed outcome, and actual results vary by business. After-hours call volume is informational and feeds the worked examples below.
Assumptions used in this calculator
- Monthly inbound calls are total live + missed inbound voice calls per month, across all numbers.
- Missed call percentage is the share of those calls that ring out, go to voicemail, or are abandoned in queue.
- Average lead value is the gross profit (not revenue) of a typical converted customer, including any follow-on work.
- Conversion rate is the percentage of answered enquiries that go on to become paying customers within 30 days.
- Staff hourly cost is fully loaded: salary, NI, pension, holiday cover and seat cost.
- Working hours is the number of hours per week your existing reception is actively covered by humans.
- Existing receptionist salary is the annual fully-loaded cost (or £0 if you currently have no receptionist).
- After-hours call volume is the share of monthly inbound that arrives outside your staffed hours.
- The 70% recovery figure is an illustrative modelling assumption you can adjust, not a measured Boafo Agent result or a guaranteed outcome. Actual results vary by business.
- AI plan cost defaults to £99/month flat; adjust if you are on a higher tier.
Virtual receptionist is a broad label. In practice it covers three quite different services: an outsourced human team who answer in your company name and follow your script, a traditional answering or message taking service that captures details and passes them on, and an AI assistant that handles enquiries automatically. They are priced differently because they do different amounts of work.
Outsourced human reception is normally sold per call, per minute or as a monthly bundle with an included allowance. You are buying trained people, so the price reflects handling time, and costs rise directly with volume and call length. It is the strongest option where conversations need judgement, tone or negotiation, and the weakest option where the same five questions arrive fifty times a day.
Traditional answering services sit at the cheaper end because the scope is narrower: take a message, pass it on. That is useful as a safety net, but the enquiry still lands back with your team to action, so it reduces missed contact without reducing admin. If your problem is workload rather than coverage, message taking alone tends to disappoint.
AI assistants are usually sold as a subscription, either flat or with an allowance, which makes the cost per enquiry fall as volume rises. They handle repeated questions, capture enquiries in a structured form and work outside staffed hours, and they hand over to your team when something needs a person. The trade off is that someone has to own the content and review conversations, and genuinely complex or sensitive conversations should still reach a human.
Choosing between the models is mostly about the shape of your enquiries. Low volume with high complexity favours human handling. High volume of repetitive, well defined questions favours automation. Many businesses end up with a blend: automation on the repetitive front line, people for anything that needs judgement. Work your own volumes through the calculator on this page, read the AI receptionist cost guide for how AI pricing models differ, and see the Boafo Agent pricing page for our own plans.
Worked examples
320 inbound calls per month, 28% missed, average job value £220, 32% close rate on answered enquiries, 1 receptionist at £31k fully loaded covering 40 hours per week, 38% of calls arriving out of hours. The calculator shows roughly £6,300 of lost revenue per month, £4,400 recoverable, an annual saving of £52,800 vs the human-only setup and a payback period of under one week against a £99/month Boafo Agent plan.
540 inbound calls per month, 22% missed, average new-patient value £680, 45% close rate, two receptionists at £29k each covering 45 hours per week, 31% after-hours volume. The calculator shows £18,100 in monthly lost revenue, £12,600 recoverable per month, and a 12-month ROI north of 12,500% against the entry plan.
210 inbound calls per month, 35% missed (heavy weekend / evening volume), £540 average enquiry value, 28% close rate, no dedicated receptionist, 52% of calls arriving outside Mon-Fri 9-5. The calculator shows £11,100 of lost revenue per month and a recovered revenue of £7,800, with payback inside the first booked package of care.
UK industry benchmarks
Use these to sanity-check the defaults above against your sector.
Human receptionist vs Boafo Agent
| Item | Human receptionist | Boafo Agent |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | £2,300-£3,200 | from £99 flat |
| Hours covered | 40 hrs/week, one seat | 24/7/365, unlimited concurrency |
| Answer speed | 8-25 seconds | < 1 second |
| After-hours coverage | Voicemail or none | Full answering + booking |
| Multi-channel | Phone only | Phone, web chat, forms, WhatsApp |
| Holiday / sickness cover | Agency cover £18-£28/hr | None required |
| Lead capture into CRM | Manual, error-prone | Structured, automatic |
| Onboarding time | 2-6 weeks | Same week |
Frequently asked questions
What is a virtual receptionist?
A service that answers enquiries on your behalf without sitting in your office. It may be an outsourced human team, a message taking answering service, or an AI assistant. The label alone does not tell you which.
How is outsourced human reception usually priced?
Typically per call, per minute or as a monthly bundle with an included allowance and an overage rate. Because you are paying for handling time, the bill tracks volume and call length closely.
How is a message taking answering service different?
The scope is narrower. It captures the caller's details and passes them to you, rather than resolving the enquiry or booking anything. It reduces missed contact but leaves the follow up work with your team.
How is an AI assistant priced by comparison?
Usually as a subscription, flat or with an included allowance, so the cost per enquiry falls as volume rises rather than climbing with it.
Which model works out cheapest?
It depends on volume and complexity. At low volume with complex conversations, per call human handling is often the sensible spend. At higher volumes of repetitive enquiries, a subscription based assistant is normally the lower total cost.
Can I combine the models?
Yes, and many businesses do. Automation covers the repetitive front line and out of hours enquiries, and anything needing judgement is routed to your own team or to a human service.
What should I check before signing any of them?
How usage is measured and billed, what happens beyond any allowance, minimum term and notice period, what is included in setup, who owns the script or answers, and what data is stored and where.
How do I compare quotes across the three models?
Express every quote as an annual total at your realistic monthly volume, including overage and setup. Comparing a per minute rate to a monthly fee without doing that is how businesses end up surprised.
Where can I see AI specific pricing detail?
Our AI receptionist cost guide covers AI pricing models, what moves the price and the questions to ask a vendor.
Where are Boafo Agent's own prices?
On the Boafo Agent pricing page, with each tier and what it includes.
Related pages
- Pricing
- AI Receptionist
- AI Call Answering Service
- Book a demo
- After-hours Answering Service
- Small Business AI Phone Answering
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