Moneypenny
Human PAs + AI add-onQuote-based, billed per minute. AI receptionist reportedly from ~£99/mo on top of a human plan
Reported ~£250 setup for the AI; 24/7 human cover +£35/mo; 3-month minimum on smaller plans
Sayora vs Moneypenny → Cost guide
How much does a telephone answering service cost in the UK?
Most answering services won't put a full price on their website, which makes shopping around slow. So we've pulled together the published and reported prices for the UK's best-known services, what the per-minute model really adds up to, and where the flat-rate AI alternative lands. Updated July 2026.
Cards on the table: Sayora is one of the options below (the flat-rate AI one), so read us with that in mind. Every figure is published or attributed to independent reviews, and the sources sit at the bottom of the page.
The short version
Five numbers before the detail.
- Entry plans
- Published bundles start around £35–45/mo for 25 minutes or fewer
- Realistic volume
- Expect £150–400/mo across the established human services
- Overage
- £1.75–£1.85 per extra minute on published UK plans
- Setup fees
- £0 up to a reported ~£250, depending on provider
- Flat-rate AI
- Sayora is £49/mo with unlimited minutes, 24/7 included
Provider by provider
Published and reported prices, June 2026.
"Reportedly" means the provider doesn't publish that figure and it comes from independent reviews; treat those as indicative and confirm on a quote. US services bill in dollars.
AnswerConnect
Human, 24/7Published: £45/mo for 25 mins; £205/mo for 150 mins; overage £1.75–£1.85/min
£49.99 setup on some tiers
Sayora vs AnswerConnect →alldayPA
Human call centreQuote-based; reportedly from ~£90/mo, per call or per minute
Reported 30-day minimum plus 30 days' notice
Sayora vs alldayPA →JAM
Human PAsPublished entry from £35/mo; per-minute rates on a quote
Answering since 1977; no full public rate card
Sayora vs JAM →Smith.ai
AI + human (US)From ~$97.50/mo for AI; live-agent plans from ~$292.50/mo, per call, in USD
US-based; live-agent handoffs and add-ons billed per call
Sayora vs Smith.ai →Ruby
Human (US/Canada only)From $250/mo for 50 mins (USD), plus overage
Not available to UK businesses
Sayora vs Ruby →Davinci Virtual
Human (US)From $129/mo for 50 mins (USD), plus overage
Business hours only; UK numbers only as a paid add-on
Sayora vs Davinci Virtual →AnswerForce
Human (US-built)Reportedly from ~$349/mo (USD), per minute, plus a setup fee; UK pricing on a quote
Reported 90-day minimum; strong trades integrations (Jobber, ServiceTitan)
Sayora vs AnswerForce →Sayora
AIPublished: £49/mo flat, unlimited minutes
24/7 included, no setup fee, no contract
See full pricing → Reading a quote
Six things that decide your real bill.
The billing model
Per-minute and per-call plans look cheap at the entry tier, then climb with every call you take. Flat plans cost the same in January and July.
Minute bundles and overage
A "£45 a month" plan buying 25 minutes is really a deposit. Published UK overage runs £1.75–£1.85 a minute once the bundle is gone.
24/7 surcharges
Several services default to weekday office hours and sell round-the-clock cover as an add-on. Moneypenny's 24/7 human cover, for example, is reportedly +£35 a month.
Setup fees
The easiest cost to miss: £49.99 on some AnswerConnect tiers, a reported ~£250 for Moneypenny's AI receptionist, £0 elsewhere. Always ask.
Minimum terms and notice
Quote-based services often carry minimum terms: three months on Moneypenny's smaller plans, a reported 30 days plus 30 days' notice at alldayPA.
Currency
The US services bill in dollars, so your cost moves with the exchange rate on top of the per-call meter.
Worked example
The per-minute maths, honestly done.
Say your business takes 40 answered calls a month, averaging three minutes each: 120 minutes of answering. On AnswerConnect's published plans you'd need the £205-a-month, 150-minute tier. Try to save money with the £45 entry plan and the same month costs the 25-minute bundle plus 95 minutes of overage at £1.75–£1.85, which works out at £211–221.
That's how "from £35–45 a month" so often becomes a £200 bill, and it's before any setup fee or 24/7 surcharge. The same month with Sayora is £49, whatever the call volume.
Try your numbers
What do missed calls cost you?
Back-of-an-envelope, not a promise: plug in your own numbers and see what an unanswered phone is worth over a year. For scale, Checkatrade puts the average emergency boiler repair at around £450.
Revenue at risk each year
£0
A year of Sayora
£588
The sum: missed calls × average job value × your win rate, over 52 weeks. Answering every call won't convert every caller, but it does put you in the running for jobs that currently go to whoever picks up.
Fair questions
Answering service costs, answered.
What's the cheapest telephone answering service in the UK?
On headline price, published entry plans start around £35–45 a month (JAM, AnswerConnect), but they cover a small bundle of minutes. On total monthly cost at realistic call volume, flat-rate AI comes out cheapest: Sayora is £49 a month with unlimited minutes. If you only take a handful of short calls a month, a small human-service bundle can be enough.
Why don't answering services publish their prices?
Several of the biggest UK services (Moneypenny, alldayPA, and JAM's full rates) quote per business rather than publish a rate card. Per-minute billing makes a headline price hard to promise, and a quote lets them price to your call volume. It also makes comparing services slow, which is partly why this guide exists.
What does a per-minute answering service really cost?
Published UK overage runs £1.75–£1.85 a minute, so a three-minute call costs £5.25–£5.55 once your bundle is spent. A business taking 40 answered calls a month at three minutes each needs roughly 120 minutes: on published plans that lands around £205 a month, or £211–221 on an entry plan plus overage.
Are AI receptionists cheaper than human answering services?
At realistic call volume, usually much cheaper, and always more predictable. Sayora is £49 a month flat with unlimited minutes and 24/7 included, against a typical £150–400 a month for the established human services. The honest trade-off: you get a consistent AI trained on your business rather than a human team.
Do answering services charge setup fees?
Some do. AnswerConnect lists £49.99 on some tiers, and independent reviews report ~£250 for Moneypenny's AI receptionist. Sayora charges no setup fee. It's worth asking directly, because setup fees rarely appear on pricing pages.
Sources
- https://www.answerconnect.co.uk/plans-direct
- https://www.jam.co.uk/
- https://www.alldaypa.co.uk/pricing-packages/
- https://www.moneypenny.com/uk/
- https://fitsmallbusiness.com/moneypenny-review/
- https://www.norango.ai/blog/ai-voice-technology-14/moneypenny-ai-pricing-444
- https://smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist
- https://www.ruby.com/plans-and-pricing/
- https://www.davincivirtual.com/live-receptionists
- https://www.answerforce.com/uk
- https://www.checkatrade.com/blog/cost-guides/boiler-repair-costs/
One flat price, no meter.
Sayora answers every call 24/7, captures the lead, and texts it to you in seconds, for £49 a month with unlimited minutes.
Book a 15-minute callNo setup fee. No contract. Cancel anytime.
Next: the best UK answering services, compared → What Sayora's telephone answering service includes → All guides →