"How much does an AI receptionist cost?" is the wrong first question. The right question is: "How much are missed calls costing me?"
If missed calls cost you $75,000 annually (average for small businesses) and an AI receptionist costs $0-30 monthly, the ROI math is straightforward. But let's examine actual pricing, compare options, and help you understand the true cost picture.
This guide breaks down AI receptionist pricing in 2026, compares cost to alternatives, identifies hidden fees to avoid, and helps you calculate whether the investment makes sense.
AI Receptionist Pricing Overview: 2026 Market
The AI receptionist market offers options at every price point.
Free Tier Options
Several apps offer genuinely free AI receptionist functionality:
TTYL: Free on iOS with full features—unlimited calls, natural conversation, instant summaries, spam filtering. No catch, no credit card required.
Limited free tiers: Some apps offer free plans with restrictions—limited minutes, calls, or features.
For individuals and small businesses, free options often provide everything needed.
Budget Tier: $10-30/month
The sweet spot for most users:
- Unlimited or high-volume call handling
- Natural AI conversation
- Instant summaries and notifications
- Basic customization
- Spam filtering
This tier serves freelancers, solopreneurs, and small businesses well.
Professional Tier: $30-100/month
More features for growing businesses:
- Advanced customization
- Calendar integration
- CRM connections
- Analytics dashboard
- Priority support
- Team features
Appropriate for businesses with higher call volumes or integration needs.
Enterprise Tier: $100-500/month
Large-scale solutions:
- Multi-location support
- Custom AI training
- API access
- Dedicated support
- SLA guarantees
- Compliance certifications
Typically overkill for small businesses and individuals.
TTYL AI Receptionist
Answer every call, get summaries instead of voicemails.
Pricing Models Explained
Understanding how you're charged helps avoid surprises.
Flat Monthly Rate
How it works: Pay fixed amount monthly, unlimited usage.
Example: $29/month for unlimited calls
Pros: Predictable costs, no usage anxiety, scales with call volume
Cons: May pay for unused capacity if low volume
Best for: Anyone with consistent or high call volume
Per-Minute Pricing
How it works: Pay for actual AI talk time.
Example: $0.10-0.25 per minute of AI conversation
Pros: Low cost at low volume, pay only for what you use
Cons: Costs spike with high volume, unpredictable bills
Best for: Very low volume users (careful: 100 calls × 2 minutes × $0.15 = $30/month anyway)
Per-Call Pricing
How it works: Fixed fee per answered call.
Example: $0.50-2.00 per call
Pros: Simple to understand, somewhat predictable
Cons: Expensive at moderate volume, spam calls still cost you
Best for: Very specific use cases with predictable low volume
Hybrid Models
How it works: Base fee plus usage charges.
Example: $15/month base + $0.05/minute after 100 minutes
Pros: Balance of predictability and low baseline
Cons: Can get expensive, complexity in tracking
Best for: Variable volume users wanting some cost protection
Usage-Based with Caps
How it works: Per-usage pricing with monthly maximums.
Example: $0.15/minute, max $50/month
Pros: Cost protection while paying for actual usage
Cons: Still requires tracking, caps may not be generous
Best for: Users wanting per-use efficiency with expense limits
AI Receptionist vs Alternatives: Cost Comparison
How does AI stack up against other options?
vs Human Receptionist
Human receptionist costs:
- Salary: $35,000-50,000/year
- Benefits (health, retirement): Add 20-30%
- Payroll taxes: Add 7.65%
- Training, PTO, sick time
- Total: $45,000-70,000/year ($3,750-5,833/month)
Human receptionist limitations:
- 40 hours/week (not 168)
- Vacation, sick days, lunch breaks
- Variable quality
- Turnover and retraining costs
AI receptionist:
- Cost: $0-100/month
- Hours: 24/7/365
- Consistency: Perfect every time
- Annual savings vs human: $45,000-70,000
AI costs 95-99% less while providing 4x the coverage hours.
vs Live Answering Service
Live answering service costs:
- Base plans: $100-300/month
- Per-minute charges: $0.75-2.00
- Setup fees: $50-200
- Minimum commitments common
- Typical total: $200-600/month
Live answering service limitations:
- Often limited hours
- Shared operators (not dedicated)
- Variable quality across operators
- Per-minute costs add up fast
AI receptionist:
- Cost: $0-100/month
- Hours: 24/7
- Consistency: Always the same
- Savings vs answering service: $100-500/month
AI provides better coverage at lower cost.
vs Doing Nothing (Voicemail)
Voicemail costs:
- Direct: Usually free
- Indirect: 80% of callers hang up
- At 62% missed call rate with $75,000 average annual loss
- True cost: Massive opportunity cost
AI receptionist:
- Direct cost: $0-100/month
- Captures calls voicemail loses
- ROI: Typically 10-50x
"Free" voicemail is the most expensive option when accounting for lost opportunities.
Try free AI receptionist—no cost risk
Hidden Costs to Watch For
Not all AI receptionist pricing is transparent. Watch for:
Setup Fees
Some providers charge $50-500 to "set up" your account. Quality apps don't require this—setup is self-service and takes minutes.
Red flag: Any setup fee over $50
Per-Minute Overage Charges
Plans advertising low base rates may have steep overage fees. 100 minutes included at $30/month seems cheap until your 150-minute month costs $80.
Protection: Choose unlimited plans or clear overage rates
Feature Upsells
"AI receptionist for $9.99!" may exclude critical features—summaries, spam filtering, customization—available only at higher tiers.
Protection: Verify what's included before choosing based on price
Contract Lock-ins
Annual contracts with steep cancellation penalties lock you in before you've verified the service works.
Protection: Start with month-to-month, even if slightly higher price
Integration Fees
"CRM integration available!" may mean "$200 setup fee plus $25/month extra."
Protection: Ask specifically about integration costs if relevant
Number Porting Fees
Moving your existing number to the platform may incur fees.
Protection: Ask about number porting costs upfront, or use call forwarding instead
Calculating Your ROI
Let's math out whether AI receptionist makes financial sense.
Simple ROI Formula
Annual value of captured calls - Annual AI cost = Net benefit
Example Calculation
Assumptions:
- You receive 50 calls monthly
- You miss 30% (15 calls) due to being busy
- 20% of missed calls would have become customers (3 calls)
- Average customer value: $1,000
- Lost revenue: 3 × $1,000 × 12 months = $36,000/year
With AI receptionist:
- Cost: $30/month × 12 = $360/year
- Capture 75% of previously-missed leads: 2.25 × $1,000 × 12 = $27,000
- Net gain: $27,000 - $360 = $26,640/year
- ROI: 74x
Even with conservative assumptions, ROI is massive.
Break-Even Analysis
Question: How many captured leads justify AI cost?
At $30/month ($360/year):
- If average customer = $1,000, need 0.36 additional customers/year
- That's roughly one additional customer every 3 years
- Or one additional customer/year for 75x ROI
The bar for positive ROI is remarkably low.
Time Value Calculation
Beyond captured leads, consider time savings:
- Voicemail processing: 30 minutes/week
- With AI summaries: 5 minutes/week
- Savings: 25 minutes/week × 52 weeks = 21.7 hours/year
- At $50/hour: $1,085 annual value
Time savings alone may justify AI cost, before counting captured leads.
Choosing the Right Pricing Tier
Start Free When Available
If a quality free option exists (like TTYL), start there. Test with real calls. Determine if you need paid features before spending.
Match Tier to Volume
- 5-20 calls/month: Free or budget tier
- 20-100 calls/month: Budget to professional tier
- 100+ calls/month: Professional to enterprise tier
Don't overpay for capacity you won't use.
Prioritize Unlimited Plans
Per-minute and per-call pricing creates anxiety about usage. Flat monthly rates let you use the service freely without tracking.
Avoid Long Contracts Initially
Test month-to-month before committing annually. The slight price premium buys flexibility.
Factor Integration Needs
If CRM or calendar integration matters, include that cost in comparison. Basic AI without integration may cost less than premium with integration—but integration may save manual work that has value.
Start Free—Upgrade If You Need More
AI receptionist that answers calls and sends you summaries. Free on iOS.
Free AI Receptionist: Is There a Catch?
TTYL offers free AI receptionist on iOS. Natural question: what's the catch?
How Free AI Receptionist Works
Business model: TTYL monetizes through optional premium features and enterprise plans. The core product—answering calls, conversations, summaries—is genuinely free for individual users.
What's included free:
- Unlimited call answering
- Natural AI conversation
- Instant push notification summaries
- Spam filtering
- Customizable greetings
- Full transcript access
What might cost extra:
- Team features
- Advanced integrations
- Enterprise compliance
- White-label options
For most individuals and small businesses, free provides everything needed.
Why Offer Free?
Several reasons free tiers make business sense:
- User acquisition: Free users become paid users as needs grow
- Network effects: More users improve AI quality for everyone
- Market positioning: Free undercuts competition
- Upsell path: Percentage upgrade to premium features
Free isn't charity—it's strategy. But for users, the benefit is real.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does AI receptionist cost on average?
AI receptionist pricing averages $0-50/month for individuals and small businesses. Free options like TTYL provide full functionality at no cost. Budget tiers run $10-30/month. Professional tiers with advanced features range $30-100/month. Enterprise solutions can reach $100-500/month. Most users find free or budget tiers sufficient.
Is AI receptionist cheaper than hiring a receptionist?
Dramatically cheaper. Human receptionists cost $45,000-70,000/year with benefits and taxes. AI receptionists cost $0-1,200/year. That's 95-99% savings. AI also works 24/7 versus 40 hours weekly for humans. The comparison isn't close.
What's the ROI of AI receptionist?
ROI typically ranges from 10-100x. If you miss calls worth $1,000 each and AI helps capture one additional call monthly, that's $12,000 annual value versus $0-360 annual cost—33x ROI minimum. Most businesses recover AI cost within the first few captured leads.
Are there hidden fees with AI receptionist services?
Some providers include setup fees, per-minute overages, feature upsells, contract lock-ins, and integration charges. Protect yourself by choosing apps with transparent pricing, no setup fees, and month-to-month options. TTYL's free tier has no hidden fees—what's advertised as free is actually free.
Should I pay for AI receptionist or use a free option?
Start with a free option like TTYL if available. Test with real calls. Determine if you need features only available in paid tiers. Most individual users and small businesses find free options sufficient. Only upgrade when you identify specific paid features you need.
The Bottom Line on Pricing
AI receptionist pricing in 2026 ranges from free to enterprise-expensive. For most readers of this article, the answer is simple:
- Start with TTYL's free tier on iOS
- Test with real calls for a week
- Evaluate if you need more—most won't
- Upgrade only for specific features you'll actually use
The math favors AI receptionist at any price point compared to missed calls. At free, it's a no-brainer. Even at $30-50/month, ROI is virtually guaranteed for anyone whose calls have value.
Your missed calls are already costing you. AI receptionist costs almost nothing. The calculation isn't complicated.
Try TTYL AI Receptionist
AI receptionist that answers calls and sends you summaries. Free on iOS.