Updated August 2026
In 2026, an AI answering service costs roughly $25 to $150 a month. A live human answering service costs $50 to $300 a month at light volume, rising to $235–$395 for plans covering 200 to 300 minutes. An in-house receptionist costs about $3,118 a month in wages alone. Below is every published rate, and what each tier actually does for the money.
By Felix de Balanzo, Founder, Perpetual Concierge · Last updated 17 August 2026
| Option | Typical monthly cost | Hours covered |
|---|---|---|
| AI answering service, entry level | $25 – $150 | 24/7 |
| AI answering service, qualification tier | $150 – $400 | 24/7 |
| Live human answering service, light volume | $50 – $300 | plan-dependent |
| Live human answering service, 200–300 minutes | $235 – $395 | plan-dependent |
| Part-time receptionist, 20 hrs/wk at $18/hr | ~$1,559 | 20 hrs/wk |
| Full-time receptionist, 40 hrs/wk at $18/hr | ~$3,118 | 40 hrs/wk |
Ranges compiled from published 2026 list prices across the category, retrieved August 2026; individual providers vary and change their pricing. Receptionist figures are wages only and exclude payroll taxes, benefits, holiday and sick cover. Human services commonly bill $0.65–$1.75 per minute or $2.50–$4.50 per call, with overages of $0.75–$1.50 per minute.
Because the tiers do genuinely different amounts of work, and the price tracks that rather than tracking quality.
At the bottom, a service answers, takes a message and perhaps books against a calendar. It is priced like a voicemail replacement because that is close to what it is. In the middle, human services put a trained person on the line who can hold a real conversation, and you pay for their minutes. At the top, an in-house receptionist knows your business — and covers 40 hours out of 168.
The useful question is not which is cheapest. It is what arrives on your desk after the call. A message tells you someone rang. A qualified summary with photographs tells you whether the job is worth your morning.
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Setup fee | $1,499 – $2,799 | One-time. Deferred until the agent is live and you have confirmed it works — you do not pay until it runs. |
| Monthly retainer | $300 / month | Hosting, monitoring and support. Billed on the 1st. |
| AI usage | $0.18 / minute | Billed monthly on the prior month’s actual call minutes. |
| Typical total | ~$313 / month | At around 71 minutes of call time — roughly 85 calls. |
Included: unlimited concurrent calls with no busy signal, voice intake, mid-call SMS photo collection, location confirmation, a structured lead summary by email after every qualified call, live transfer to you during business hours, after-hours capture, a provisioned phone number, and English and Spanish handling.
Not included: Twilio carrier fees for outbound SMS (typically under $0.01 a message), outbound calling campaigns, and CRM integrations beyond the standard email summary. Machine-readable version: pricing.md.
Only if your problem is the one it solves. If you need calls answered and messages taken, the entry tier does that, and you should buy it.
The case for paying more is narrow and specific: you sell time that gets wasted by information you did not have. An antique buyer drives forty minutes to look at “antique furniture” that turns out to be particleboard. A restoration crew arrives without the right equipment. A jeweller spends twenty minutes on the phone about a piece worth fifteen dollars.
Price that in the unit that actually costs you. One wasted round trip is two hours of owner time plus fuel. If a month of service prevents a single one of those, the difference between the two tiers has already been returned — and if it prevents none, you should be on the cheaper one.
That is the whole argument. It rests on photographs arriving during the call rather than a message arriving after it.
From a measured eight-day deployment at a New Jersey antique buyer: 85 calls, around 50 seconds each, roughly 71 minutes of AI call time. At $0.18 a minute that is about $12.75 in usage, across 74 qualified leads — roughly 17 cents of usage per lead, excluding the fixed retainer.
| Channel | Cost per lead |
|---|---|
| Inbound calls captured by the agent | ~$0.17 in usage |
| Direct mail / postcards | $5 – $20 |
| Facebook / Instagram ads | $10 – $30 |
| Google Ads (local services) | $15 – $45 |
| Directory listings | $20 – $50 |
With the caveat that matters: paid channels create demand that would not otherwise exist. This captures demand that was already ringing your phone and going to voicemail. They are not substitutes. Full method, calculation and limitations →
In 2026, an AI answering service costs roughly $25 to $150 a month. A live human answering service costs roughly $50 to $300 a month for light volume, and $235 to $395 for plans covering 200 to 300 minutes. Most small businesses handling 100 to 300 calls a month pay between $100 and $300 on a flat-rate plan.
Substantially. A full-time receptionist at 40 hours a week and $18 an hour costs about $3,118 a month in wages alone, before payroll taxes, benefits, holiday and sick cover — and that buys 40 hours of coverage rather than 168. Every answering service tier is cheaper, and all of them cover nights and weekends.
Because they do different amounts of work. Entry-level services answer, take a message and book an appointment against a calendar. Higher tiers qualify the caller against your criteria, collect information mid-call, and hand you a structured summary. The cheaper tier is priced like a voicemail replacement because that is close to what it is.
Usually per-minute overages once the plan allowance is used, which run about $0.75 to $1.50 a minute on human services and $0.20 to $0.48 a minute on AI ones. Setup fees, outbound SMS carrier charges and CRM integrations are also commonly excluded. Ask what a month at double your normal volume would cost.
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