What does an AI receptionist cost a UK small business?
Most AI receptionist plans for small businesses sit between about £49 and £150 a month. The question that matters is how many calls you currently miss.
Typical prices in 2026
Published prices from UK providers selling AI receptionists to small businesses mostly fell between about £49 and £150 a month in October 2026. Some add a one-off setup fee of several hundred pounds. Several larger providers do not publish a price at all and ask you to book a call.
Lower prices usually mean a more basic setup: answering, taking a message and sending it on. Higher prices tend to include calendar booking, connections to your other systems, and someone keeping the setup tuned.
What a good one should do
- Answer in your business name and handle the questions you get every day.
- Take the caller's name, number and what they need, and send it to you straight away.
- Book appointments into your calendar if you take bookings.
- Flag urgent calls and pass a caller to you when a person needs to take over.
- Give you recordings or transcripts so you can check what was said.
Work out whether it pays for itself
Do the sum with your own numbers. Take the calls you miss in a typical week, the share of those that would have turned into work, and the average value of a job. If that comes to more than the monthly fee, it is worth a closer look. Our missed-call calculator does the sum for you on each of our AI receptionist pages.
Questions to ask a provider
- Can I ring a demo line and hear it before I sign up?
- Is there a setup fee, and is there a minimum contract?
- Who trains it on my business, and who updates it when things change?
- Can I keep my existing phone number?
- Where are call recordings and transcripts kept?
Ours
Our AI phone receptionist is £99.95 a month, fully managed, and set-up is typically completed within 5 business days. Monthly plans cancel with 30 days written notice. You can ring our own AI receptionist on +44 7418 374 570 to hear it before deciding.