Free calculator

    Receptionist, answering service or AI?

    Price all three at your own call volume and hours, see which hours each one covers and what the calls it still misses are worth. Every price is yours to enter, and nothing is submitted.

    Starting profile (optional)

    These fill in starter numbers for call volume, hours and job value so you are not staring at a blank form. They are guesses, not benchmarks. Replace them with yours.

    Your calls and hours

    Every incoming call, answered or not. Your phone's call log has the real number.

    Calls that arrive outside the hours you take calls, set in "Hours a week you take calls".

    Your call log or a vendor's usage report shows the real average.

    The hours someone should be answering. Enter 168 if you are always open.

    What one new booking is worth to you: an average job price, a first-year patient value or an average commission.

    Voicemail, rang out or busy. Count last week's calls that nobody answered.

    What each option costs

    Every price below is an example to get you started, not a quote, and not OMII AI's price or any vendor's. Replace each with a real quote. The reference points under the price fields show where public prices sit.

    In-house receptionist

    The starting figure is the U.S. median for receptionists in 2025 (BLS, see the reference points below). Use your local rate.

    Example only. For context, BLS reported $15.61 an hour of benefit costs on top of $33.85 in wages and salaries for all civilian workers in June 2026. Use your own.

    Answering service

    Example only, not a quote. Leave 0 if the service bills per call.

    Example only. Leave 0 if it bills per minute. If both apply, both are added.

    Any monthly minimum or platform fee. Quoted a bundle of minutes? Divide its price by the minutes you will use and enter that as the per-minute price instead.

    Spread over 12 months in the result.

    AI voice agent

    Example only, not a quote. Prices for AI voice agents range widely; see the reference points below.

    Any platform, plan or maintenance fee. Whatever you are quoted, by anyone, goes in these boxes.

    Spread over 12 months in the result.

    Price reference points, checked 3 October 2026

    These are figures printed on public pages when we looked, shown so you can compare your quotes with something. They are not offers and none of them is a price for your business: plans, regions, discounts and the date all matter, so check the vendor's own page. We do not list OMII AI's pricing here; ask us for a quote like any other vendor.

    • Receptionist pay

      National median pay for receptionists in 2025: $38,010 a year, $18.27 an hour.

      Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Receptionists, checked 3 October 2026.

    • Employer benefit costs

      All civilian workers, June 2026: $33.85 an hour in wages and salaries and $15.61 an hour in benefits.

      Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, checked 3 October 2026.

    • Answering service plans, billed by the minute

      Moneypenny (U.S. site), plans listed under People Answering: 50 minutes for $165 a month with extra minutes at $2.28, and 500 minutes for $985 a month with extra minutes at $1.67. The page labels these monthly prices "Original price", so an offer may differ.

      Worked out from the listing: $3.30 and $1.97 a minute if every included minute is used.

      Source: Moneypenny U.S. pricing page, checked 3 October 2026.

    • Answering plans, billed by the call

      Smith.ai: 30 calls for $300 a month with extra calls at $11.50, and 300 calls for $2,100 a month with extra calls at $8.50.

      Worked out from the listing: $10.00 and $7.00 a call if every included call is used.

      Source: Smith.ai pricing page, checked 3 October 2026.

    • AI answering plans, billed by the call

      Moneypenny (U.S. site), plans listed under AI Answering: 25 calls for $69 a month with extra calls at $2.49, and 250 calls for $435 a month with extra calls at $1.89. The page labels these monthly prices "Original price", so an offer may differ.

      Source: Moneypenny U.S. pricing page, checked 3 October 2026.

    • AI voice agent platform, billed by the minute

      Retell AI pay-as-you-go plan: $0.07-$0.31 per minute for AI voice agents.

      Source: Retell AI pricing page, checked 3 October 2026.

    Whatever the headline price, ask what is included: setup, tuning to your business, phone numbers and support may be extra or may be built into the price.

    Assumptions you can change

    These decide how many missed calls turn into lost bookings and how well each option answers. They are starting guesses, not measured facts. Replace them with your own numbers and the result updates.

    Count new-business calls. Existing customers, vendors and wrong numbers pull this down.

    Some leave a message or try again. This is the share who go to someone else.

    Of the calls nobody answered, how many came outside your hours? Your call log shows it.

    Breaks, a call already in progress, time off and sick days.

    Busy lines, dropped calls and outages in the hours it covers. Ask each vendor for its real figure.

    Revenue at risk from missed calls today, each month

    $15,288

    About 91 missed calls a month, each worth about $168 in bookings lost for good

    A tick marks the lowest of the three on that line.

    In-house receptionist

    Paid for the 45 hours a week you take calls. After-hours calls stay as they are today.

    $4,631 a month

    195 paid hours a month at $23.75 an hour with payroll taxes and benefits

    Hours covered a week
    45 of 168123 not covered
    Calls that arrive while it answers
    70%
    Calls still missed a month
    7328% of all calls
    Revenue at risk from those a month
    $12,230
    Cost plus revenue at risk
    $16,862
    Cost per answered call
    $24.74
    Jobs a month needed to cover its cost
    3.9
    Jobs a month it would win back vs today
    2.5

    Does not win back its cost on these numbers$3,058 won back vs $4,631 cost, a month

    Answering service

    People answer every call. Covers all 168 hours if the plan does, so confirm the hours.

    $1,560 a month

    780 minutes and 260 calls a month

    Hours covered a week
    168 of 168none uncovered
    Calls that arrive while it answers
    100%
    Calls still missed a month
    83% of all calls
    Revenue at risk from those a month
    Lowest of the three: $1,310
    Cost plus revenue at risk
    $2,870
    Cost per answered call
    $6.19
    Jobs a month needed to cover its cost
    1.3
    Jobs a month it would win back vs today
    11.6

    Wins back more than it costs on these numbers$13,978 won back vs $1,560 cost, a month

    AI voice agent

    An AI answers every call. Covers all 168 hours if the plan does, so confirm the hours.

    Lowest of the three: $390 a month

    780 minutes a month

    Hours covered a week
    168 of 168none uncovered
    Calls that arrive while it answers
    100%
    Calls still missed a month
    83% of all calls
    Revenue at risk from those a month
    Lowest of the three: $1,310
    Cost plus revenue at risk
    Lowest of the three: $1,700
    Cost per answered call
    $1.55
    Jobs a month needed to cover its cost
    0.3
    Jobs a month it would win back vs today
    11.6

    Wins back more than it costs on these numbers$13,978 won back vs $390 cost, a month

    Or keep a receptionist by day and cover nights another way

    The service or the AI answers only the 78 after-hours calls a month, at the same prices and the same flat fee. Many plans cost less for less use, so ask.

    Receptionist plus answering service after hours

    Cost a month
    $5,099
    Calls still missed a month
    218% of all calls
    Revenue at risk a month
    $3,451
    Cost plus revenue at risk
    $8,550

    Receptionist plus AI voice agent after hours

    Cost a month
    $4,748
    Calls still missed a month
    218% of all calls
    Revenue at risk a month
    $3,451
    Cost plus revenue at risk
    $8,199

    How to read this: it is a planning estimate built from your inputs and the assumptions above, not a quote or a forecast. Revenue at risk is what the calls an option still misses could have been worth; it is not money you will certainly recover. Cost per answered call, jobs to cover cost and jobs won back all use the same assumptions. The assumptions about who books and who calls back move the answer most, so check them against your call log first.

    Questions to ask any vendor

    Use them with an answering service, an AI voice agent or anyone else who quotes you, and ask for the answers in writing.

    Coverage

    1. Exactly which hours do you answer, including nights, weekends and holidays, and who picks up outside them?
    2. How quickly are calls picked up, and what happens when several calls arrive at once?
    3. Which languages can you answer in?

    Price

    1. What would a typical month cost at my call volume? Please put the full figure in writing, with every fee: setup, monthly minimums, included minutes or calls, overage, add-ons and taxes.
    2. How do you count a billable minute or call? Is it rounded up, and do hold time, transfers, voicemail, spam and wrong numbers count?
    3. What is the contract length, how much notice do I need to cancel, and is there a fee for leaving early?

    What happens on a call

    1. What exactly happens on each call: take a message, answer common questions, book into my calendar or system, transfer to me live, or send a text? Which of my tools do you connect to today, and which are only planned?
    2. How do you handle an urgent or emergency call, and what do you do when you cannot help the caller?
    3. Can I hear real recordings or try a live demo in my industry before I commit?
    4. How do I get the details of each call (summary, transcript, recording), and how fast?

    Quality and risk

    1. What do you measure for answer rate and call quality, and what do you do when it slips? What happens to my calls if your system is down?
    2. Who writes and updates my script or knowledge base, how fast do changes go live, and what do changes cost?
    3. How are recordings stored, who can see them and how long are they kept? If callers share health information, what agreements and safeguards do you offer? Check the answer with your own compliance adviser.
    4. Can I speak to two customers in my industry who have used you for at least six months?
    5. If it is an AI voice agent: what happens when it does not understand the caller or the caller asks for a person, and how do I hear where it fails?
    6. If it is a human answering service: are the people who answer dedicated to my account, and how are they trained on my business?

    Check these numbers against real quotes

    A free call takes about 15 minutes. Bring any quotes you have and we will compare them with this, and tell you honestly whether an AI voice agent would earn back its cost in your case.

    Book a free callCall Emma, our AI: (347) 757-4410

    Save or share this result

    The link holds only the numbers you entered, nothing about you.

    Optional: have our team review these numbers with you

    Your result above does not depend on this. We use your details to follow up about these numbers. See our privacy policy.

    Want the yearly figure for missed calls? Open the Missed Call Revenue Calculator with your job value and missed calls filled in.

    How the comparison works

    OMII AI sells AI voice agents, so here is exactly what the tool does, and every number in it can be changed. Depending on call volume and the prices you enter, each of the three options can come out cheapest.

    Calls and minutes

    Calls a month is calls a week times 52, divided by 12. Minutes a month is calls a month times the average call length. After-hours calls are your after-hours share of the calls; if you enter 168 open hours, that share is treated as 0.

    What each option costs

    • Receptionist: one paid hour for every hour you take calls, so hours a week times 52 over 12, times the hourly wage, times one plus payroll taxes and benefits. Covering a full week usually takes more than one person; this counts that as extra hours at the same rate, not as a separate hire. Recruiting, training and software are not included unless you add them to the benefits percentage.
    • Answering service: every call that arrives, at minutes times the price per minute plus the price per call, plus the flat monthly fee, plus the one-time setup fee divided by 12. It assumes the plan answers all 168 hours and bills every call, which slightly overstates the cost if missed calls are not billed. Rounding up to the next minute or a monthly minimum is not modelled, so ask how minutes are counted.
    • AI voice agent: the same, with the AI's price per minute and its own fees.

    Example with the starting numbers (60 calls a week, 3 minutes, 45 open hours): that is 260 calls and 780 minutes a month. The receptionist is 195 paid hours at $18.27 with 30% on top, or $4,631 a month. The answering service at $2.00 a minute is 780 times $2.00, or $1,560. The AI at $0.50 a minute is 780 times $0.50, or $390. Those prices are the examples in the fields above, not quotes.

    Missed calls and revenue at risk

    Today you miss the share of calls you entered, and a share of those arrive after hours (an assumption you can change). A receptionist replaces the open-hours misses with the share a single person still misses, and leaves after-hours misses as they are today. A service or an AI replaces every miss with the share it fails to answer. Revenue at risk is missed calls times the share of answered calls that book, times the share of those callers who never call back, times the value of a booked job. It is what the misses could have been worth, not a forecast.

    Cost plus revenue at risk, jobs needed and jobs won back

    Cost plus revenue at risk adds an option's monthly cost to the revenue still at risk, so an option that costs more but misses fewer calls can still come out ahead. Jobs needed to cover its cost is the monthly cost divided by the value of a job. Jobs won back is the missed calls an option avoids compared with today, times the same booking and no-callback shares. If the jobs won back are worth at least the cost, the card says so; if an option misses more calls than you do today, the numbers go negative.

    Combinations

    The two combinations keep the receptionist for your open hours and add a service or an AI for the after-hours calls only, at the same prices and flat fee. They are shown because many businesses end up with a mix; other mixes can be worked out the same way.

    What it does not model

    How well each option handles a call: booking into your calendar, answering questions, taking a message or transferring to you. Also spam calls, volume discounts, contract terms, seasonality, callers who hang up before anyone answers, and your own time. The questions above are for exactly those gaps.

    Price reference points checked 3 October 2026. Method last reviewed 3 October 2026.

    See how this applies to your industry

    Real EstateContractorsMed SpasDental Practices

    Want to hear an AI answer before you decide?

    Book a free call and bring any quotes you have, or ring Emma, our AI receptionist, and hear how an answered call sounds.

    Book a free callTalk to Emma, our AI: (347) 757-4410