How much does an AI receptionist cost in the UK?
Short answer
Most published UK AI receptionist plans cost £19.99 to £299.95 a month on prices checked in October and November 2026, with Fasthosts from £39 and Ringmere from £49. A custom voice agent costs from £8,000 to build at one London agency, plus $0.07 to $0.31 a minute to run on Retell before telephony. A part-time receptionist on 20 hours a week at the £12.71 National Living Wage costs £13,218 a year in wages alone.
Deniz SancarFounder of Yarigai, London. Updated .
Yarigai is a done-for-you AI agency that builds these systems, so read this with that in mind. Every price and figure links to its source below. Read this page as Markdown.
At a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Entry-level AI receptionist plans | £10 plus 85p a call to £49 a month (Answer.co.uk, Team-Connect, Moneypenny, Ringmere, Hey Jodie) |
| Unlimited plans | £49 to £199 a month (Hey Jodie unlimited minutes, Fasthosts unlimited calls) |
| Higher-volume plans | £249 to £1,249 a month (Ringmere Pro, Intavia) |
| Extra minutes on minute-based plans | £0.20 to £0.60 a minute |
| Custom voice agent build | From £8,000 plus £499 a month (Softomate, October 2026) |
| Voice platform usage for a custom build | $0.07 to $0.31 a minute on Retell, about $0.08 to $0.13 on Vapi (USD) |
| Human answering service | £2.20 a call plus VAT (Answer.co.uk) |
| Part-time receptionist, 20 hours a week | £13,218 a year at the £12.71 National Living Wage, before employer costs |
Plan prices come from Ainora's 14-provider comparison (checked 11 October 2026) and Ringmere's own pricing page (checked 7 November 2026). Ainora sells its own AI receptionist and does not publish its price.
AI receptionist prices in the UK
An off-the-shelf AI receptionist answers your calls on a monthly plan, priced by minutes, calls or a flat unlimited fee. These are the published UK plans, in pounds.
| Provider | Monthly price | Included | Extra usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answer.co.uk AI | £10, £30, £120, £300 | Pay per call, then 50, 200 or 500 calls | £0.85 a call |
| Team-Connect | £19.99 (£14.99 on annual), £79.99, £199.99 | 30, 250 or 750 AI minutes | Top-ups from £34.99 for 150 minutes |
| RingCentral AIR | £32 per account | 100 minutes | £0.40 a minute |
| Fasthosts and IONOS | £39, £69, £99 | 30 calls, 100 calls, unlimited | £0.49 or £0.39 a call |
| Hey Jodie | £49, £99, £199 | Unlimited minutes | None |
| Ringmere | £49, £99, £249, before VAT | 150, 240 or 700 minutes | £0.25 a minute, £0.20 on Pro |
| Norango | £69.95, £189.95, £299.95 | 60, 200 or 500 AI minutes | £0.40 to £0.60 a minute |
| My AI Voice Agent | £200, £350, £500, plus £500 to £1,000 setup | 250 calls up to unlimited (fair use 2,000) | 50p a call |
| Intavia | £249 to £1,249 | Up to 2,600 minutes | £0.48 to £0.54 a minute |
| Moneypenny AI | From £25 | Priced on quote | Priced on quote |
Plans differ in what they do as well as what they cost. Ringmere's £49 Starter plan includes in-call booking into Google Calendar or Outlook and live transfer to your team, and its Growth plan routes calls to up to five departments. Fasthosts, which sells its own AI receptionist, puts entry-level plans at £30 to £100 a month and advanced plans with booking and integrations at £100 to £500 (July 2026).
What a custom voice agent costs
A custom voice agent costs thousands to build and pennies a minute to run. Softomate's UK price list (updated 1 October 2026) starts a GoHighLevel AI receptionist at £2,000 plus £99 a month, or £1,500 as an add-on to a suitable existing account. A bespoke AI voice agent starts at £8,000 plus £499 a month, with telephony, model usage and hosting billed separately.
Running costs on the main voice platforms, in US dollars, checked 7 November 2026:
- Retell charges $0.07 to $0.31 a minute for the voice agent. That covers $0.055 for voice infrastructure, the voice and the language model. Telephony on Retell's own numbers adds $0.015 a minute in the US and $0.10 in the UK, and costs nothing on your own SIP trunk. It includes 20 concurrent calls, then charges $8 a month for each extra one, and Retell's own phone numbers cost $2 a month.
- Vapi charges $0.05 a minute for hosting and bills model, voice and transcription costs separately, with models passed through at cost. Its calculator estimates $82 to $129 for 1,000 minutes, or about $0.08 to $0.13 a minute, with telephony billed by the phone provider.
A 3-minute call costs $0.21 to $0.93 on Retell and about $0.25 to $0.39 on Vapi, before telephony. Answer.co.uk's human service charges £2.20 a call plus VAT.
Worked example comparing an AI receptionist with a part-time receptionist
Take a business that gets 300 calls a month at an average of 3 minutes each, which is 900 minutes. Those call numbers are an assumption, so swap in your own from your phone bill.
| Option | Monthly cost | Yearly cost | Working |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part-time receptionist, 20 hours a week | £1,101.53 | £13,218.40 | 20 hours at £12.71 is £254.20 a week, for 52 weeks |
| Human answering service (Answer.co.uk) | £660 plus VAT | £7,920 plus VAT | 300 calls at £2.20 |
| Ringmere Growth | £264 before VAT | £3,168 before VAT | £99 for 240 minutes, plus 660 extra minutes at £0.25 |
| Hey Jodie Basic | £49 | £588 | Unlimited minutes |
| Custom voice agent on Retell, usage only | $63 to $279 | $756 to $3,348 | 900 minutes at $0.07 to $0.31, before the build fee and telephony |
On these numbers, a £49 to £264 a month plan costs £10,050 to £12,630 a year less than the receptionist's wages, before VAT on the plans. The wage figure leaves out employer National Insurance, pension and holiday cover, so the real gap is wider. Fasthosts' guide puts a full-time receptionist at £24,000 to £35,000 or more a year once those costs are included, though that is a figure from a vendor that sells AI receptionists.
The receptionist also does work the AI can't. A person greets visitors, handles post and sorts out problems that need judgement. The AI answers at 3am and on bank holidays, which a 20-hour receptionist doesn't. You can run both, with the AI taking overflow and out-of-hours calls.
What an AI receptionist handles well and badly
An AI receptionist does well on routine, predictable calls and badly on anything that needs judgement or a person.
Handles well
- Answering every call, including out of hours and when the line is busy.
- Common questions about opening hours, prices, location and services.
- Taking messages and capturing the caller's name, number and reason for calling.
- Booking into a calendar during the call, which Ringmere includes on its £49 plan.
- Routing calls to the right person or department.
Handles badly
- Callers who want a person. In a Gartner survey reported in July 2024, 60% of customers worried that AI would make it harder to reach a person, the most common concern in the survey.
- Complaints, emergencies and emotional calls.
- Anything that needs a system the AI isn't connected to, such as a live stock level or a job record.
- Unusual requests it hasn't been set up for, where it should take a message instead of guessing.
This guide found no independent study of AI receptionist answer rates, booking rates or hang-up rates. The published results come from vendors or from owners' anecdotes, so test one on your own calls before you commit.
How Yarigai approaches an AI receptionist build
Yarigai builds AI agents and lead capture and booking flows inside the client's own accounts, so a phone build runs on the client's own phone and calendar accounts. The client owns the code, the data and the accounts from day one, and pays AI and hosting bills at cost.
The free 30-minute scope call comes first, and the client keeps the notes. The blueprint that follows takes about a week and sets out the monthly running cost, a fixed price and the payback maths against what answering calls costs today. Yarigai quotes a fixed price after the one-week blueprint. Its guarantee reads "If the build isn't profitable for you, we won't build it." If the build doesn't come out ahead within the first year, Yarigai doesn't take the job.
A person approves anything that sends money, emails a customer or deletes data. See AI customer support or book a scope call.
Call recording, PECR and UK GDPR rules
A UK business can use an AI receptionist lawfully if it tells callers about recording, handles the data under UK GDPR and keeps outbound marketing calls within PECR.
Call recording
Under regulation 4 of the Investigatory Powers (Interception by Businesses etc. for Monitoring and Record-keeping Purposes) Regulations 2018, a business that records calls must make all reasonable efforts to tell everyone who uses the line that calls may be intercepted. In practice that means a short announcement at the start of each call and a line in your privacy notice. One opening sentence can cover both points, for example "You're speaking to our AI assistant, and this call is recorded."
UK GDPR
Recordings, transcripts and caller details are personal data. You need a lawful basis, a privacy notice that explains the AI and how long you keep recordings, and a data processing agreement with the vendor. The ICO's guidance on AI and data protection covers transparency and data protection impact assessments. It was last updated on 15 March 2023 and is under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act.
PECR and outbound calls
Answering inbound calls is not marketing, so PECR's marketing rules don't apply to it. Outbound marketing calls are different. The ICO says automated marketing calls need the person's specific consent to that type of call, and general marketing consent is not enough. Its guidance defines automated calls as recorded messages played by an automated dialler and does not mention AI voices, so take advice before an AI agent makes marketing calls. PECR fines rose from a £500,000 cap to £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover on 5 February 2026.
Common questions
Do callers hang up on AI receptionists?
No independent data on hang-up rates exists in what this guide found. A Gartner survey reported in July 2024 found 64% of customers would prefer companies didn't use AI for customer service. A clear option to reach a person, and a voice that says up front it is an AI assistant, deal with the main objection.
Can an AI receptionist book appointments into my calendar?
Yes, on many plans. Ringmere's £49 a month Starter plan books during the call into Google Calendar or Outlook, and its £99 Growth plan adds scheduling across several staff. Check that the plan connects to the calendar or booking system you already use.
What does an AI receptionist cost per call?
On a custom build, a 3-minute call costs $0.21 to $0.93 on Retell and about $0.25 to $0.39 on Vapi, before telephony and the build fee. On Ringmere, extra minutes cost £0.25, so a 3-minute call over the allowance costs £0.75. A human answering service such as Answer.co.uk charges £2.20 a call plus VAT.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than an answering service?
At 300 calls a month, Answer.co.uk's human service costs £660 plus VAT at £2.20 a call. Ringmere's Growth plan covers the same 900 minutes for £264 before VAT, and Hey Jodie's unlimited-minute plans start at £49. The human service handles unusual calls better, so you can keep it for overflow.
Is it legal to record calls with an AI receptionist in the UK?
Yes, if you make all reasonable efforts to tell callers the call may be recorded, as the 2018 interception regulations require, and you meet UK GDPR. Tell callers at the start of the call and explain recording in your privacy notice. Keep recordings only as long as you need them.
Can an AI receptionist make outbound calls?
It can, but outbound marketing calls fall under PECR. The ICO says automated marketing calls need specific consent to that type of call, and fines now reach £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover. Get advice before you use an AI voice for any outbound calling.
Sources
Checked on or before 7 November 2026. Prices change, so check the live page before you decide.
- How Much Does an AI Receptionist Cost per Month in the UK? (2026 Prices), AInora, published 11 October 2026.
- Pricing, from £49/mo with a 7-Day Free Trial | Ringmere, Ringmere, checked 7 November 2026.
- How much does an AI receptionist cost in the UK? 2026 pricing guide, Fasthosts, updated 9 July 2026.
- AI Automation Pricing for UK Businesses: What Every Service Costs and What ROI to Expect in 2026, Softomate Solutions, updated 1 October 2026, checked 7 November 2026.
- AI Phone Agent Pricing | Retell AI, Retell AI, checked 7 November 2026.
- Vapi pricing, Vapi, checked 7 November 2026.
- National Living Wage increases to £12.71 per hour, Low Pay Commission on GOV.UK, published 1 April 2026.
- The Investigatory Powers (Interception by Businesses etc. for Monitoring and Record-keeping Purposes) Regulations 2018, regulation 4, legislation.gov.uk, checked 7 November 2026.
- Telephone marketing, Information Commissioner's Office, checked 7 November 2026.
- Guidance on AI and data protection, Information Commissioner's Office, last updated 15 March 2023, checked 7 November 2026.
- Key aspects of the Data (Use and Access) Act take effect, Clifford Chance, published 6 February 2026.
- 64% of People Don't Want Companies to Use AI in Customer Service, DIGIT, published 9 July 2024.
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Book a free 30-minute scope call. If the build isn't profitable for you, we won't build it.