Pricing for AI receptionists varies more than it should. Some providers start under $200/month for entry tiers; others charge several thousand per month for full enterprise setups. That spread isn’t arbitrary — it reflects very different products. Here’s how to think about the number.

The short answer

For a small to mid-sized service business, expect to pay $500–$1,500 per month for a competent AI voice agent setup with calendar integration, lead capture, and routing. Lower tiers exist but usually drop key features. Higher tiers exist for businesses with complex integrations or high call volume.

VoiceIntego specifically starts at $500/month for service-business setups. See current pricing →

What you’re really comparing against

The $500–$1,500/month number sounds large until you put it next to the alternatives:

  • Full-time receptionist: $35,000–$55,000/year fully loaded (salary, benefits, payroll taxes). That’s $3,000–$4,500/month, and they don’t work nights, weekends, or holidays.
  • Part-time front desk: $15,000–$25,000/year. Still no after-hours coverage, and still misses calls when they’re busy.
  • Live answering service (per-minute): Typically $1.50–$3 per minute. A busy month with 500 minutes of calls = $750–$1,500. And that’s just for picking up — not booking.
  • Missed calls (the real comparison): If you’re missing one $200 service job per week, that’s $10,400/year of lost revenue. The AI cost has to be measured against this, not just against the front-desk budget.

The honest comparison is usually: AI receptionist costs more than a phone tree (which is essentially free) but dramatically less than the human alternatives that actually answer calls. Our AI vs live answering comparison covers the trade-off in detail.

The five things that move the price

What separates a $500/month setup from a $1,500/month setup is rarely the “AI” itself — today’s underlying models are similar across providers. The price differences come from:

  1. Call volume. A practice handling 100 calls/month sits at a lower tier than one handling 1,000. Most providers price in volume bands.
  2. Integrations needed. Connecting to Google Calendar is included. Connecting to Dentrix or ServiceTitan or a custom CRM costs more.
  3. Customization. A generic agent that says “thanks for calling [business name]” is cheap. An agent trained on your service menu, your specific FAQ, your routing logic, your insurance acceptance, your booking rules — that takes setup work, and providers charge for it.
  4. Setup model. DIY platforms have lower monthly costs but you do the work. Done-for-you services include setup, training, and tuning — reflected in the price.
  5. Support level. Self-serve support is cheap. Dedicated account manager, monthly tuning, weekly review calls — not cheap.

Typical price tiers (and what you get)

The market has roughly settled into three tiers:

Entry tier ($200–$500/month): Basic AI call answering. Limited customization. Usually DIY setup. Generic conversation flow. Good for solo operators or businesses that just need basic screening + voicemail-with-transcript.

Standard tier ($500–$1,500/month): Custom-trained agent. Real calendar integration. Lead capture into your CRM. Done-for-you setup. Human handoff configured properly. This is where most service businesses land — the work involved in building a good agent for a specific business doesn’t fit a sub-$500 tier sustainably.

Premium / enterprise ($1,500–$5,000+/month): Multi-location, multi-agent setups. Custom integrations with proprietary software. Compliance requirements (HIPAA BAA, SOC 2). Dedicated success management. Generally for practices/businesses above 5–10 locations or with regulated workflows.

Common pricing gotchas

Watch for:

  • Per-minute charges hidden in the contract. A “flat $399/month” plan that adds $1/minute over 200 minutes is not actually flat.
  • Setup fees that double the first-year cost. Some providers charge $1,000–$3,000 upfront. Fine if disclosed, painful if not.
  • Per-seat charges that scale unexpectedly. Pricing tied to dashboard users can balloon as your team grows.
  • Required annual contracts to get the “starter” price. Always ask about month-to-month rates and compare.
  • Integration costs charged extra. If your CRM connection is a $300/month add-on, the headline price isn’t the real price.

The ROI math, simply

For most service businesses, the AI receptionist pays for itself if it captures at minimum 1 to 2 additional jobs per month that would otherwise have been missed. Here’s how to do the math for your business:

  1. Estimate your missed-call rate. (Industry average for SMBs is 30–40%. Your actual number is probably higher than you think.)
  2. Multiply by your average job value.
  3. Compare to the monthly AI cost.

Example: an HVAC business getting 200 calls/month, missing 30% (60 calls), with $400 average job value. Even capturing 20% of those missed calls = 12 additional jobs × $400 = $4,800/month of recovered revenue. AI cost of $800/month nets ~$4,000/month. Payback period: days.

What an AI receptionist won’t save you on

Be honest with yourself about the limits. AI receptionists don’t:

  • Replace your front desk entirely — especially for in-person check-in.
  • Eliminate handle-with-care calls (complaints, complex billing, emergencies). Those still need humans.
  • Fix a bad service product. If callers don’t convert because your prices or reviews are off, AI handling more calls won’t fix that.

The honest framing: AI receptionists save you from missed-call revenue leak and routine front-desk workload. Within that lane, they pay back fast. Outside it, they don’t solve much.

FAQ

Are there free AI receptionists?

Free tiers exist (Google’s built-in call screening, some DIY platforms with limits). Sustained zero-cost full service isn’t a real product — running the underlying voice and language models costs the provider real money per call.

Should I pay setup fees?

Reasonable setup fees ($500–$2,000) for done-for-you configuration are normal. Larger fees can be justified for enterprise complexity. Always understand what you’re getting.

Can I start cheap and upgrade?

Yes — most providers tier upward. Many businesses start at standard tier and add integrations or features over time.

How is the cost different from a per-minute answering service?

Flat monthly aligns the vendor with handling your calls efficiently. Per-minute aligns them with handling more calls or longer calls. For most volumes, flat ends up cheaper and the incentives line up better.

If you want a specific cost picture for your business — not a generic quote — the easiest path is a 15-minute conversation about your call patterns. Pair that with our buyer’s guide for evaluation criteria, and you’ll have a clear view. Book a demo when you’re ready.