"How much does a virtual receptionist cost?" — simple question, slippery answers. One firm prices per call, another per minute, a third sells bundles, and hiring someone is a different universe of money. Comparisons only work if you force everything into one number: cost per handled enquiry.
⚡ Key Takeaways
- Work out your monthly enquiry count first — calls plus messages. Divide each option's all-in monthly cost by it. Then weight for timing: a third of messages landing out of hours makes a 9-to-5 answer far dearer than its headline. Watch the add-ons (surcharges, setup, transfers, minimum terms) that separate quotes from invoices.
The models, honestly priced:
Per call — a flat fee per answered call. Easy to grasp, but check what counts: wrong numbers, spam, ten-second hang-ups often bill exactly like a genuine lead.
Per-minute bundles — a block of minutes monthly. Fine for short predictable calls; brutal when a talker eats the bundle. Unused minutes almost never roll over.
Monthly retainers — flat fee, agreed volume. Predictable, but quiet months still cost full whack, and overage rates above the line are usually punishing.
Hiring in-house — total control, a human in the building, full-time money. UK floor is the National Living Wage (£12.21/hr from April 2025) before employer NI, pension, holiday cover, and the desk. Even part-time front-desk cover lands in four figures monthly.
Do the one-month maths yourself. Say 60 enquiries: a £150 plan is £2.50 each; a £900 part-timer is £15 each. Then the timing weight: if a third of messages arrive evenings and weekends, a business-hours-only answer loses those leads outright — its true per-enquiry cost runs a third higher than the brochure suggests.
Then the small print that moves the total: out-of-hours surcharges (evenings and weekends, precisely when customers message), setup and onboarding fees for teaching them your business, per-transfer fees when they pass callers to you, minimum terms hiding behind "monthly rolling". None of it's dishonest — humans cost what they cost — but quote and invoice can be different numbers.
An AI receptionist breaks the cost-to-hours link. Susan answers on WhatsApp around the clock, no evening surcharge, no setup bill — you teach it the business by chatting. Try it free and run your own maths.
The honest caveat, both directions: cheapest for message-first firms, not automatically right. Mostly complex phone calls, or a regulated industry needing a human voice? The premium earns itself. Our three-way comparison of AI, answering services, and hiring lays out where each wins.
Rough guide: under ten enquiries a week, your own phone plus decent auto-replies probably covers it. Ten a week to dozens a day, scattered across all hours on WhatsApp — AI wins per-enquiry by a mile. Past that, or heavy regulated phone traffic, price the humans properly and compare on cost-per-enquiry, never the headline.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Five minutes — really the line?
Yes. Past it you're pitching to someone already talking elsewhere.
Hard questions?
Routine 80% end to end; sensitive remainder to a human with context. Standard split.
Why WhatsApp specifically?
~98% opened versus ~20% for email. The channel customers already chose.