How much does an AI receptionist cost in 2026?
A buyer guide to AI receptionist pricing models: what the market charges, how usage is metered, which costs are easy to miss and when AI reception makes financial sense. Use the calculator to test your own volumes. For Boafo Agent plans and tier contents, see the Boafo Agent pricing page.
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.
AI receptionist pricing has not settled on one model yet, which is why quotes for the same requirement can differ by an order of magnitude. The four models you will meet in 2026 are a flat monthly subscription, a subscription with an included allowance plus overage, pure usage based pricing charged per minute or per conversation, and a platform fee plus per seat or per number charges. The model matters more than the headline number, because it decides what happens to your bill when demand grows.
Flat subscriptions are the easiest to budget: you pay the same amount whether the assistant handles 200 enquiries or 2,000. Allowance plus overage plans look cheap at the entry tier and behave like usage pricing once you pass the allowance, so the question to ask is what the overage rate is and how it is measured. Pure usage pricing suits low or highly seasonal volume, but it penalises exactly the months when enquiries are strongest, and it rewards short conversations rather than resolved ones.
Beyond the recurring fee, the costs that move a business case are setup and configuration, content and knowledge preparation, integration work into a calendar, inbox or CRM, and the internal time spent reviewing conversations in the first weeks. Some vendors bundle these, some quote them separately, and some charge for changes after launch. Ask whether configuration changes, new answers and new routing rules are included, because a service you cannot change cheaply gets stale fast.
The comparison against human reception is rarely like for like, and pretending otherwise leads to bad decisions. A person handles judgement, negotiation and awkward conversations. An AI assistant answers repeated questions, captures enquiries in a structured way and holds the line outside working hours. The realistic financial question is not whether to replace a person, but how much of the repetitive intake you can hand over, and what that hour of freed staff time is worth to you.
AI reception usually makes financial sense when enquiry volume is steady, a meaningful share of enquiries arrive outside staffed hours, the questions asked are repetitive, and the value of a captured enquiry is high relative to the monthly fee. It makes less sense when volume is very low, when every enquiry genuinely needs specialist judgement, or when nobody internally owns reviewing and improving the answers. Use the calculator on this page with your own numbers, then see the Boafo Agent plans on our pricing page for what our own tiers include.
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 pricing models do AI receptionist vendors use?
Four are common: a flat monthly subscription, a subscription with an included allowance plus overage, pure usage based pricing per minute or per conversation, and a platform fee plus per seat or per number charges. Establish the model before comparing headline prices.
What actually drives the price up or down?
Expected volume, how the vendor meters usage, the number of channels and numbers, the depth of integration into your calendar, inbox or CRM, how much configuration is included, and whether you need support outside standard hours.
What should I expect to pay for setup and onboarding?
It varies from bundled at no extra cost to a one off configuration fee. Ask specifically what onboarding includes, who prepares the answers the assistant gives, and whether later changes are chargeable.
Which costs are commonly hidden?
Overage once an allowance is exhausted, minimum contract terms, charges per additional number or channel, charges for changes after launch, and the internal staff time needed to review conversations in the first weeks.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than hiring someone?
On raw monthly cost, almost always. The honest comparison is narrower: an AI assistant absorbs repetitive intake and out of hours enquiries, while a person handles judgement and negotiation. Compare the cost of the repetitive work you can hand over, not the whole role.
When does AI reception not make financial sense?
When enquiry volume is very low, when nearly every enquiry needs specialist judgement, or when nobody internally will own reviewing and improving the answers. In those cases the fee is real and the saving is not.
What questions should I ask a vendor before signing?
How is usage measured, what happens at the allowance limit, what is included in setup, what can I change myself, what data is stored and where, what happens when the assistant cannot answer, and what the exit terms are.
How do I compare quotes fairly?
Model your realistic monthly volume, then ask every vendor to price that same volume including overage and any setup. A flat plan and a per minute plan only become comparable once both are expressed as an annual total at your volume.
Does this page show Boafo Agent prices?
No. This is a market cost guide. Boafo Agent plans, what each tier includes and current prices are on the Boafo Agent pricing page.
How does a virtual receptionist service compare on cost?
Outsourced human services are usually priced per call, per minute or per message, which behaves very differently as volume grows. See our virtual receptionist cost guide for that comparison.
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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